Houston Meets Humboldt: Activist Visits MAXXAM Devastation Sites in CA

Being a forest defender in Houston may be considered an oxy moron, but it is imperative for the future of our ecological environment that we fight for the small percentage remaining of old growth trees and wilderness areas. To bring it close to home, the redwoods in California are being unsustainably logged at 2-3 times the rate of re-growth by Pacific Lumber (PL), a company that is owned by Houston corporation MAXXAM and it's CEO Charles Hurwitz. As we launch Children of Earth, a national campaign dedicated to building the bridge between Houston and Humboldt County with a plan to increase pressure on Hurwitz/ MAXXAM in Houston, I decided the best way to be truly educated and immersed on this project would be to visit the devastation sites in person. So here I am in Humboldt County, California... and it is just as bad as I imagined.

The initial "scenic drive" into Humboldt contains large patches of clear-cuts on the hillsides, some very near the road. The lush, forested hills show a disparaging mix of bare spots and patches of scraggly, invasive brush directly contrasting the beautiful Redwood and Douglas fir trees that surround it. Clear-cutting, a method of logging that cuts every tree in a given area, whether it is two years old or two thousand years old, is the main method of timber harvest used by MAXXAM/ PL. The results are eroded hillsides that choke the streams and rivers, destroying habitat for the endangered salmon and filling in the wells that supply local families with drinking water.

The redwoods are part of a temperate rainforest. The loss of forest cover, which acts to shield the topsoil from the rainfall, causes mudslides that race down the steep slopes, and can torrent in a wall of debris that wipe out houses, which happened in the small town of Stafford in 1997. Stafford residents sued MAXXAM/PL and settled the case out of court. These cut over areas are robbed of the complex root systems of the trees that hold the hillsides in place and soak up the water. Aquatic populations suffer, as their oxygen supplies are overwhelmed by silt, which flows into the streams and rivers, and the residents of Humboldt County suffer as well when their water supply is ruined and they are forced to pay for new water systems. This heavy silt is largely responsible for the devastation of the Coho Salmon population in watersheds where MAXXAM owns property.

After the hillsides are logged, the “slash” from the clear-cuts are burned, and the barren patches are doused with a myriad of toxic herbicides to control any “competing” plants. The remaining trees suffer from the unnatural exposure to wind, sunlight and rain. These herbicides make their way into the drinking water of 80% of Californians. The herbicides are so toxic they have been shown to dramatically increase the levels of cancer and birth defects, causing prolonged and severe health problems, and even early death.

Erosion leads to increased flooding which floods both roads and houses. Certain areas of the county flood after just two inches of rain, endangering the homes and properties of its residents. This is a sharp increase from the nineteen inches of rain it took to flood the same areas less than fifty years ago.


The areas around the most recent tree-sits in Freshwater have been largely clear-cut, after a series of extractions by MAXXAM hired climbers who forcibly, and sometimes violently, removed peaceful tree-sitters from the old-growth trees they were protecting. The steep slopes are littered with stumps, branches and shredded redwood bark. Jerry, a twelve hundred year-old redwood tree that Earth First! activist Remedy sat in for 361 days without touching the ground, before being forcibly removed by MAXXAM/ PL, still stands although he has been topped and limbed by MAXXAM/ PL as some sort of vengeful reminder that they are in control and can do whatever they want to this environment. The tree is still alive, and holding up the steep hillside overlooking the village of Freshwater, the city of Eureka and Humboldt Bay, but is shorter by about thirty feet. The tree will recover if left to stand, although it will take hundreds of years to fully restore his full form.

Surrounding neighbors, who have been resisting the destruction of the watersheds where they live are not pleased and have voiced their displeasure at the noise and disruption MAXXAM/ PL cause in their lives. “Helicopters rattle the windows and cause extreme distress to the local veterans,” stated one homeowner who chose to remain anonymous. “It feels like we’re living in a war zone.”

It is time that Houstonians place full responsibility of these ecological devastations on Charles Hurwitz and his company MAXXAM/ Pacific Lumber, located in the heart of Houston at 5847 San Felipe. The longer we allow this corporation to destroy our environment, the sooner we will all suffer the repercussions of its ecological devastation.

For more information on this campaign, visit http://www.ChildrenofEarth.org, email FightMaxxam [at] aol.com, or call 713-858-0074.