PL starts cut in ancient redwoods and endangered species habitat

******Media Alert******
November 16, 2005
Contact: Kim Starr (707) 618-9185 pager

Activists Outcry
In Northern California, a grove of ancient redwood trees, some measuring 42 feet around, are part of a 250-acre logging plan in the Nanning Creek area by Maxxam Corporation's Pacific Lumber Company. Pacific Lumber (PL) has been clearcutting thousands of acres of old growth forests at
'liquidation logging' speed for the past 20 years, since Maxxam made a hostile takeover of the family-owned timber company. Civil disobedience, lawsuits, offers by well-funded conservation groups, and international attention have consistently aimed at protecting and bringing attention
to the importance of the forests and communities affected by Maxxam/PL's destructive practices. Now, PL is on its 5th day of cutting what is known to be the largest, contiguous tract of ancient redwood forest remaining in the world. "This logging is not just a local tragedy— it is a global travesty," says Earth First! activist, Kim Starr, who, over the years, has spent months at a time in jail for non-violent protests of Maxxam's Pacific Lumber.

"This area of Nanning Creek is intact. Corporate timber, when it hasn't turned forests into deserts, has left us with fragmented islands of trees, hardly worthy of being called forests. The Nanning Creek 'grove' is healthy functioning, pristine, and contiguous forest that has developed through time immemorial."

Due to the enormous size of the upper branches of the trees in Nanning Creek, the endangered, old-growth- dependent marbled murrelets are able to nest in the mossy canopy. Cutting in Nanning Creek, the plan that Pacific Lumber has named "Bonanza" will wipe out the highest quality marbled
murrelet habitat, heavily contributing to the extinction of the bird. Unfortunately, so-called regulatory agencies, charged with protecting wildlife and the public trust, including U.S. Fish and Wildlife, have once again favored industry over people and the environment by ignoring and giving the go-ahead to log Nanning Creek.

Activists currently maintain a tree sit about 300 feet in the air in Nanning Creek , which is only a mile east from the dying Pacific Lumber Company town, and are inviting other concerned people to mobilize at Redwood Winter Renewal Camp for non-violent actions to protect the Nanning Creek Grove. "Through the courts and the regulatory agencies, environmental groups and the public have exhausted available administrative remedies. Because those charged with preserving the area have failed to do so, other actions will be taken to save the ancient grove. The Redwood Renewal Camp is at Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park.

For more info, Humboldt Forest Defenders invite people to call (707) 825-6598.

Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters (BACH)

2530 San Pablo Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94702
phone: 510 548 3113
email: bach [at] headwaterspreserve.org

http://www.HeadwatersPreserve.org