Feature Archives

According to the Mattole Forest Defenders, THP 520, the so-called "Hole In Headwaters" plan, could be approved at any time; CDF has been silent on the issue since public comment closed on Jan 11. This present incarnation of THP 520 was in direct response to the EPIC/Sierra Club lawsuit which was granted an injunction on logging last July and is set to go to trial in March. Palco has also filed five new logging plans (THPs 1-00-352, 1-00-387, 1-00-388, 1-00-448 & 1-00-452) that span both sides of the South Fork Elk River and total nearly 700 acres of mature second growth forest. The land inside the "Hole" and across the river from it, some 7,000 acres of forest, were traded to Maxxam/Palco as part of the Headwaters "Deal." This 7,000 acres of forest was identified in the state law that funded the "Deal" as a priority for acquisition with whatever funds remain after the purchase of Owl Creek, for which $80 million was allocated. The state just announced that it is buying Owl Creek for $67 million, potentially leaving $13 million for this acquisition. These new logging plans pose a serious threat not only to the proposed acquisition area, but also to the biological integrity of the Headwaters Reserve itself. New logging on the South Fork Elk River (except on THP 97-520) is currently constrained by a so-called "moratorium" that was imposed by the CDF in January 1998. This moratorium requires additional information on aggravated flooding and public safety concerns for downstream Elk River residents. However, in nearby Freshwater Creek, the same so-called "moratorium" has been lifted under a substantially weaker standard than that originally imposed by CDF.

During the week of February 5th through 9th, the Mattole Forest Defenders defended another Mattole plan along Rattlesnake creek. THP 309 is in the lower north fork of the Mattole, about 12 miles from the Mattole Free State blockade and Long Ridge Area. Mattole Forest Defenders confronted Maxxam/Palco-hired Columbia logging crews three days in one week, halting logging until almost noon each of those days. Four activists were arrested over the week while shadowing timber fallers as they attempted to cut trees. THP 309 is 63 acres in size and calls for clearcutting and selection of second-growth douglas fir forest and 15 acres of old-growth douglas fir. Rattlesnake Creek is directly adjacent to Humboldt Redwoods State Park and logging crews parked within the state park to hike to the units which in some cases are only 200ft from the county road. THP 309 was opposed by a number of community groups for its lack of proper cumulative impact analysis on the effects on late successional forest and threatened Mattole fisheries. No watershed analysis was conducted by Maxxam in the Mattole before THP 309 and four other THPs in North Fork of the Mattole were approved. It's another example of clearcutting in unstable areas and targeting pockets of old-growth left on Maxxam holdings.

"Dragon" lockdown at the entrance to the Free State	Second lockdown structure on logging road	Any vehicle attempting to drive past "the Spatula" would send it, and its occupants, crashing to the ground
Marked trees face the axe	Preserving old growth hasn't exactly been a priority of state authorities like the CDF

Feburary 2001: Since November 2000, a citizens' blockade known as the the "Mattole Free State" has prevented Maxxam/Palco from logging old-growth douglas fir on Rainbow Ridge. The Mattole Forest Defenders include many local residents as well as activists and students; some are permanently stationed at critical locations in the forest and on logging roads, while others travel in and out of the forest ferrying supplies and providing logistical support. Maxxam's choice to not challenge the blockade and the near constant presence of 30 nonviolent Forest Defenders in the wood has effectively shut down their operations for 12 weeks, a Humboldt County blockading record. It was on November 28th that Maxxam/Palco last sent in Columbia helicopter loggers accompanied by Humboldt County Sheriffs to log old-growth douglas fir in the Mattole. Since then Mattole Forest Defenders have moved almost 2 miles up Long Ridge to create the Mattole Free State, a blockade complete with several lock downs, a junked car, a wall of debris and a hanging pod across the road. Forest Defenders have endured some of the harshest Humboldt County winter weather seen in years.

In 1999, PL/Maxxam sold several thousand acres of old growth redwood to the government. This “Headwaters deal” was publicized to the public by the Clinton administration and others as an unqualified environmental success. In fact, the deal gave the company almost half a billion dollars plus the latitude to log heavily on it’s other holdings under a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP). These HCP’s have come to be the preferred tool for abetting resource extraction that “endangered species considerations” might have otherwise prevented. Residents in the Mattole and in other watersheds in the area began to think of their valleys as “Orphans of Headwaters” since their old growth and associated endangered species seemed to have been thrown up for grabs. When PL began to submit a series of eight timber harvest plans for Rainbow Ridge over the past two years, all calling for clear-cutting in old growth, people in the Mattole began to fight back. How they have fought is a combination of legal challenges, public relations campaigns and, when all other means to stop the logging failed, direct action in the woods and at the gates.

Sheriffs search activists in state park	Naomi is arrested after leading law enforcement away from fall zone	Sheriffs escort loggers into THP 309
County Sheriffs pick off douglas fir defender	Mattole defenders keep warm while waiting for loggers to arrive

Pacific Lumber Company (PL) owns over 211,000 acres of Northern California land zoned for commercial timber production. Company headquarters are in Scotia, California, and other sawmills are located in Fortuna and Carlotta; its 1,300 employees make PL the largest private employer in Humboldt County. In 1986 PL was the victim of a hostile takeover by Maxxam, Inc., a Houston, Texas holding company also engaged in aluminum production, real estate development, and horse racing. Since the takeover, Maxxam has attempted to quickly recoup its investment by overharvesting Palco's redwood and douglas fir holdings. Clearcuts have impacted the water quality of streams and rivers, dramatically increased the loss of topsoil, and depleted such species as the northern spotted owl, marbled murrelet, bald eagle, peregrine falcon, western snowy plover, bank swallow, chinook salmon, coho salmon, coastal cutthroat trout, steelhead trout, California red tree vole, Pacific fisher, California black bear, northwestern pond turtle, southern torrent salamander, red-legged frog, tailed frog, and foothill yellow-legged frog. Now that Maxxam has locked out union steelworkers at the Maxxam/Kaiser Steel Mills and raided Maxxam/PL pension funds, becoming "one of the most worker unfriendly companies in the world" (according to the Timber Workers Industrial Union), a new alliance of environmentalists, labor unions, and concerned local residents has taken action.