From: EcoNet via Jym Dyer <jym@mica.berkeley.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.activism,talk.environment,ca.environment
Subject: NEWS: Humboldt County Redwoods on the Chopping Block
Followup-To: alt.activism.d,talk.environment
Date: 11 Sep 1992 16:53:17 GMT
Organization: The Naughty Peahen Party Line
NNTP-Posting-Host: remarque.berkeley.edu
Originator: jym@remarque.berkeley.edu

[From EcoNet en.alerts Conference and Environet]
[Also Posted to misc.activism.progressive (by somebody else)]
 
ANCIENT REDWOODS ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK IN HUMBOLDT COUNTY 


On March 6, 1991, the California Board of Forestry voted to
overturn California Department of Forestry's decision to deny
Pacific Lumber Company's (PALCO) Timber Harvest Plan
(1-90-237-HUM) on Owl Creek.  Owl Creek is the second largest
unprotected old growth stand left in the world. It is known
habitat to many endangered species including at least two pairs
of Spotted Owls, the Marbled Murrelet, Tree Vole, Tailed Frog
and possibly the Pacific Fisher!  The severely flawed THP
provides only minimal protection to the known spotted owls while
ignoring and refusing to even study the other endangered
species.

The Board's decision to overturn the CDF's denial came on the
heels of a decision last January to uphold a CDF decision to
deny two THPs in the infamous Headwaters Forest.  At 3,000
acres, the Headwaters Forest is the largest unprotected redwood
stand and the only "redwood wilderness" on the planet!  Owl
Creek is a similar forest of approximately 500 acres located in
an adjacent drainage only a few air miles from Headwaters.  Owl
Creek drains into the Yaeger Creek, a tributary to the Van Duzen
River which meets the Eel River near its mouth.  Owl Creek is a
major part of the Headwaters Wilderness Complex that is
currently being proposed in Congress as a federal preserve.  The
Wilderness Complex encompasses several significant old growth
and residual stands surrounding the Headwaters Forest.

The decision to deny the Headwaters harvest plans in January of
'91 should have set a precedent for protection of the marbled
murrelet.  The marbled murrelet is a rare sea bird that flies
inland to nest in the branches of old growth trees.  It is an
endangered species in California, and a candidate for federal
listing.  There are less than 1,800 of these birds in California
and fewer than 2,000 in Oregon according to ornithologist C.J.
Ralph.  The marbled murrelet is even more dependent on the
ancient forest than the Northern Spotted Owl, and along with the
decimation of the these ecosystems comes the extinction of the
species.

The Board's decision is not only an ecological disaster, it is
illegal according to the California Forest Practices Act and
Endangered Species Act.  Because of the blatant legal violations
made by Pacific Lumber and the Board of Forestry, a lawsuit
filed by the Environmental Protection and Information Center
(EPIC) has an excellent chance of stopping the impending cut on
Owl Creek.  However, it will take time to get a judge to issue a
temporary restraining order (TRO), and a lawsuit won't put the
ancient redwoods back after the chainsaws come.  Your help is
needed to stop the massacre until the court silences the
operation in Owl Creek.

Help save the last redwood wilderness!  Come to Humboldt County
and take a stand for the last unprotected stands.  The redwoods
need us, and we can't count on the agencies or the Save the
Redwoods League to stop this one. People are needed for all
types of action, including support (non-arrest situations!).

Nightly hiking tours of Owl Creek are being held now!  Spend an
unforgettable night under the majestic canopy of the redwood
forest.  For information on this and other ways to help, call
707/839-5847.
Newsgroups: alt.activism