Maxxam/PL Bankruptcy Options Hearing Leaves Trees Future Uncertain

FOREST UPDATES & EVENTS
March 6, 2008

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Pacific Lumber:
Are Hurwitz & Maxxam FINALLY on their way OUT of Humboldt County?
We hope.

Things have picked up considerable speed in the Pacific Lumber (PL) bankruptcy proceedings, unfolding both up on the North Coast and inside the courtroom down in Corpus Christi, Texas. A critical "Joint Disclosure" hearing took place on Feb. 28 to bring further details on those plans before the court-and to creditors who will vote on reorganization plans, , bringing us into the decision phase of this arduous process when the new managers of PL's approximately
210,000 acres of redwood and Doug fir forest will be chosen. It has become quite competitive; presented here in a nutshell are the contenders:

http://www.mrc.com/
(Mendocino Redwood Co.)

Marathon Asset Mgmnt, major creditor, teamed up with Mendocino Redwood, owned by the billionaire Fisher family of Gap fame, who has been operating in Mendocino County since the late 90's when they bought Louisiana-Pacific land. They maintain they will do a better job than PL has, though Mendo watershed activists have been battling them over their clearcutting and herbicide use since they moved in to that county;

info on MRC clearcuts @;
http://www.gapsucks.org

Noteholders:
Also referred to as the bondholders, this group of banking institutions hold the largest portion of PL's massive debt burden, secured by the forestland. Although they have at times argued a
convincing environmental ethic, they are primarily out-of-state investment firms. They propose to hold an auction of the assets in order to pay off the debts and determine a new owner. The one
advantage to this risky proposal is that it could allow a consortium of conservation organizations and community advocates who do not otherwise have legal "standing" to forward a reorganization proposal, to bid on the land (see below). But then others, Hurwitz clones et al, could also bid.

Pacific Lumber/Maxxam:
The way Chapter 11 corporate bankruptcy works, is it allows the debtor company who created the financial mess to remain in control until it is booted out by the court. We hope that juncture is close.
PL first submitted its reorganization proposal, as reported to you last fall;

http://www.headwaterspreserve.org/html/updates_update_77.html

(Oct. 2 BACH update), consisting of a plan to convert about 22,000 acres of redwood forest to luxury homes and sell the marbled murrelet Conversation Areas, along with the town of Scotia. Reaction from the community, including the county Board of Supervisors was swift and
dissenting, causing the company to retool the plan into three different versions, but it is not much changed, and would still have Maxxam in the picture. Particularly because PL's proposals have been condemned across the board, the bankruptcy judge on Feb. 28 nearly eliminated PL from the running, but stopped just short of scrapping their reorganization proposals.

The next phase involves voting by creditors (those entities owned money by PL) by March 25. Then everyone parades back to court, for hearings before presiding judge Richard Schmidt on April 4. That wouldn't be the absolute end of it, but much depends upon the proposal favored by creditors and the court. The noteholders' plan to sell the company and its lands, for example, opens the door to a whole other group of contenders vying to buy the land but who do not
currently have standing to submit a proposal in this round.

One of those contenders is a group calling itself the Community Forestry Team, whose plans were unveiled in January () bringing together the Nature Conservancy, Save the Redwood League, investment funds and representatives from community-stakeholders including;

http://www.asje.org
(Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment),

Humboldt Watershed Council and

http://www.mattole.org
(Mattole Restoration Council)

to collaborate on an innovative plan to sustainably manage and restore the damaged
lands, and keep jobs and forest management decisions in the community. A very tough play, given the impossible stage set by Hurwitz and Maxxam through years of self-serving refinancing, but the only proposal with such a keen eye to the future. If the Community Forestry Team plan were to become a winning proposal, it would stand as a model for so many timber-dependant rural economies facing a slow death.

Many people are looking favorably at the prospect of Mendocino Redwoods Co. running the show on PL land because they purport to have a "lite logging" plan coming in on the heels of PL/Maxxam's heavy-handed industrial logging in the streams and hillsides of Humboldt County. But just as we always specified that it was Maxxam/PL, knowing where the management decisions were made (i.e., in Houston, Texas), we should be calling Mendocino Redwoods Fisher's
Mendo Redwoods Co., because it is the Fisher family, known best for their GAP, Old Navy and Banana Republic stores that own the logging company. Because they are decidedly NOT a local company with a long history in the timber business, their promises to "cut logging down
to a sustainable level" deserve a second and third look. Those watch-dogging Mendo Redwood's logging, including the Greenwood Watershed Association, Save-the-Redwoods, Boycott-the-Gap campaign and others, maintain that while their hand may be not quite as heavy as L-P's, the streams, the fish and the slopes of Mendocino County are in a state of devastation a decade after their entry. They targeted the big trees in the Albion watershed first, logged in slide-prone areas, and submitted a plan for a 400-acre clearcut above a fragile coho fishery. Sound familiar?

There are not many entry points for public action and input in the bankruptcy process, but there are ways you can help! Right now, we need your help researching and compiling information about Mendo Redwoods. We need a web person, and also someone to help pull together news of recent events so we can have displays and handouts at our upcoming events. Please call us!

PS - What are options for reclaiming lands for regional Native American indigenous tribal nations, specifically the Round Valley Tribes, Wailaki Wintu and Wiyots who reside nearby Maxxam/PL landholdings and whose way of life is directly effected by any of the above proposals, either development and suburban sprawl of further clearcuts and herbicide spraying under MRC. There are several indigenous operated logging companies (ex., Hupa) that DO NOT practice either clearcutting or herbicide spraying. Time again the indigenous nations have shown their ability to remain as good stewards of the forest land, while corporations like Maxxam/PL (and MRC) have shown themselves to be failures at good ecological stewardship in forestry and succeeding at destruction for short term profit..

The concept of good forest stewardship is simple yet difficult to grasp under short term profit based capitalism, if there is no clearcutting, there is enough canopy cover from existing trees to slow the invasion of the competitive invasive non-woody sun tolerants that usually require herbicide spraying. In addition, loss of canopy cover from clearcutting greatly increases soil erosion during rainstorms and prevents roots of young trees from accessing good topsoil, thus slowing and stunting their growth despite additional solar access. Same goes for atmospheric moisture within the forest, following a clearcut there is greater localized drought and loss of soil moisture from lack of canopy cover. Finally, clearcutting employs less people in forestry and the increasing layoffs of Pacific Lumber employees is a result of switching from selective harvest (50% left standing in cut) to clearcutting (100% take in cut post Maxxam takeover), NOT because of environmental activists and treesitters. If anything the presence of treesitters saves a few groves for a few years time, thus keeping a few more people from being layed off. Maxxam's plan of increased harvest and cut and run forestry was delayed a few years by the courage and persistance of the treesitters. This is the goal Earth First! and IWW activist Judi Bari was working towards, a vision of sustainable forestry where loggers could make their own time and ecological value for the forests they worked in, not some white collar corporate criminal in Houston, TX calling the shots from afar..

Part of having a physically, spiritually and mentally healthy community remains in honoring the indigenous peoples (pre-Columbus) who were pushed off of their landspace by settlers and paying reparations in the form of land restoration and reclamation. The majority of the land held by Maxxam/PL was originally the forest homes of several indigenous tribes, which was stolen from them by force of relocation, military conquest and genocide following the Gold Rush. As modern day immigrants, we can only work to fix the mistakes of earlier immigrants by acknowledging this wrong was committed in the name of U.S. expansionism and repay the indigenous nations with their land lost to them. The recent intrusions by Maxxam corporation into Humboldt County presents an opportunity to reclaim illgotten gains from Maxxam (see TX S & L, junk bonds, stolen PL workers pensions, etc..), who has shown only contempt and disregard for good ecological stewardship, and return this land to the indigenous nations who practiced good forestry up until the day they were evicted..

We need to give Maxxam corporation the boot out of Humboldt County and reclaim this land in question, sort of a reverse squatters movement that occupies the forest land indefinitely until some restoration and land reclamation by indigenous nations can take place..

We witness daily the results of unsustainable, short-sighted and destructive logging methods as practiced by Maxxam/PL, yet where are any examples of good forestry methods? Is there such a thing as "sustainable" forestry during these times of corporate profit margins? How do we know when all we see around us is corporate industrial logging clearcuts and overharvesting for short term profit? When can we put the community back into forestry? This report by Mark Baker called "Against the Odds: Re-Building Community through Forestry on the Hoopa Reservation" may provide people with some answers on good forest stewardship found lanking in Maxxam's short term profit logging methods..

"The forest plan alternative that was eventually chosen for the 1994-2003 period sets the annual allowable cut at 10.4 mm b.f., significantly lower than any prior post-WW II allowable cut. The plan prioritizes stand rehabilitation and conifer restocking of areas that were captured by brush and tan oak following previous timber harvesting activities using manual release and planting methods (herbicide application was banned by a tribal resolution in the late 1970s). It identifies a wide variety of watershed restoration activities needed to protect domestic water sources and protect and enhance salmonid habitat. In response to issues raised by tribal members concerning cultural and socioeconomic issues, the plan identifies a large number of archeological and ceremonial sites as well as eight specific cultural areas, which include mushroom gathering areas, Port Orford Cedar areas, and camps and campgrounds, in which little or no timber harvesting is allowed. These cultural areas total more than 6,000 acres. Additionally, silvicultural prescriptions for timber harvesting in areas that produce mushrooms and other non-timber forest products that are not included in those areas are developed in a manner that is sensitive to the need to maintain and/or enhance their abundance. The plan also identifies forestareas important as viewsheds, wildlife areas (riparian corridors, travel corridors, falcon activity centers, traditional species activity areas, etc.), riparian areas, etc., in which timber harvesting is also restricted or not allowed at all. In short, the current forest plan effectively maps onto the tribe’s forest ecosystem a wide variety of culturally informed and traditional forest management practices and uses. The extent to which a cultural overlay modifies, shapes, and conditions the tribe’s timber harvest operations is unprecedented in this century in the 20th Century. It represents the landscapes effects of the integration of sovereignty, technical forest management capacity, and a participatory process that encourages the expression of culturally rooted values and interests that pertain to the forest resource.iii


The Northwest Economic Adjustment Initiative (NEAI) at Hoopa: its role in strengthening community-forest relations Many of the NEAI projects at Hoopa touch or engage directly with the dense web ofrelations that bind together the community and the forest ecosystem. In general, these projects were advanced on the assumption that enhancing community well-being and improving forest ecosystem health are interdependent goals. The focus of the following discussion is on those projects that most directly address the community-forest relationship. These include several grants by the Economic Development Administration to the Tribe’s Office of Research and Development for capacity building and training purposes, USDA Rural Development Department support for a revolving local program, U.S. Forest Service support for Tsemeta nursery to expand its native seed and medicinal herb collection and processing capabilities, and a Forest Service grant to support an oral history research effort of the Hupa Language, Culture and Education Program, among others. The largest NEAI grants, provided to the tribe by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, were for a variety of forest restoration efforts. The purpose of this discussion is to illuminate both the nature of the relationship and some of the ways in which the Tribe iscurrently trying to re-invigorate it. iv

Office of Research and Development forest-related grants The Office of Research and Development (until 1995 known as the Planning, Research,and Development Division) is responsible for planning and coordination of economicdevelopment activities. Its purpose is to stimulate private and public investments that provide employment and economic growth opportunities. All but two of the NEAI grants received by the Office of Research and Development came from the Economic Development Administration ofthe Department of Commerce, the non-Economic Development Administration grants came from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Business Enterprise Grant program. Several of thegrants that the Office of Research and Development received were for economic development planning, specifically to reduce the Tribe’s economic dependence on timber harvesting and to promote private sector growth. Some of the grants the Office of Research and Development received did directly relate to the forest ecosystem. For example, a 1995 Economic Development Administration planning grant enabled the Tribe to develop a feasibility study of a log sort yard for value added wood processing and a small mill. This was planned to take advantage of the Tribe's status as a SmartWood certified forest manager. While the log sort yard and mill has not been developed, there are currently efforts underway to develop value-added processing facilities for the Tribe's certified hardwood resource (primarily oak and madrone). Recent Economic Development Administration grants to Office of Research and Development include provisions for developing a small business incubator facility that will bemanaged in association with the Business Service Center. The business incubator will, among other things, provide floor space, kilns, metalwork facilities, and woodworking equipment to complement the business center’s technical and financial analysis services, and sales and marketing support for emerging and expanding small-scale business entrepreneurs. The incubator would also facilitate the development of food processing businesses, such as a cannery,through the provision of a commercial kitchen and other services. Many Hoopa entrepreneurs are artisans (basket weavers, metal workers, wood workers) whose work, materials, and creativity is closely linked with the forest ecosystem, both as a source of raw materials and culturally-mediated inspiration and artistic design. Oral history, Hupa identity, and forest relations In 1998 the US Forest Service, through its Rural Community Assistance program, made a grantto the Office of Research and Development and the Hupa Language, Culture and Education Program that focused on recording and preserving Hupa oral history, customs and traditions.The grant was supplemented by contributions from the Hoopa Valley Tribe and the National Endowment for the Arts. The purpose of the effort was to preserve existing Hupa oral histories, to interview and record elders, and to prepare a publication about Hupa oral history that could be used in educational contexts. A primary thrust of this effort was a focus on women elders and the transmission of knowledge concerning Hupa values, traditions, and culture from women elders to younger women and girls. Organizers of the project wanted to provide a vehicle for communicating to Hupa girls the"every day Native American world view" of Hupa women who were 70 and 80 years old, and to help Hupa girls find ways of being Hupa in the contemporary world. Hupa women college graduates interviewed several women elders as part of this project. In addition to recollections concerning their own lives, such as their experiences as children in the BIA boarding schools,many of the women elders spoke about the importance to them of the sacred dances and their role in some of the dances. Many also described their memories of making trips to the forest with older woman to collect materials for basketweaving and the strong relations that bound elder and younger Hupa women. Portions of the interviews with three women elders were developed into a booklet entitled "Collecting, Preserving, and Sharing Our Heritage." The results of this effort, including but not limited to the published booklet, have been used as the basis for a Hoopa summer school program for children in grade school, particularly those between the ages of nine and fifteen. About 30 girls participate in the summer program. Part of the effort to equip young Hupa women and girls to learn how to be Hupa in the contemporary world involves revitalizing and reacquainting their relationship with the forest. To accomplish this the summer program includes trips up into the forest to learn and practice some of the things the women elders discussed in their interviews. The links between identity, education, and the forest are reflected in this project. A revolving loan program and forest-based employment In 1998 USDA Rural Development granted the Tribal Loan Department $105,000 to be used as arevolving loan fund. Ms. Joyce Johnson, a loan officer in the department, applied for, received and managed the grant. In managing the grant, she made a concerted effort to make as many small loans to as large a number of people as possible. Of the approximately 30 loans madefrom this grant, the majority of them were for $2,000 or less. All of the loans were made toindividuals who either were starting or expanding a business. Many of the small loans supported small businesses that were directly or indirectly related to the forest. For example, several forest contractors used small loans to purchase equipment and supplies or for the bond money required to bid on jobs. And self-employed artisans, such as woodworkers, metalworkers, basketweavers, and jewelry craftspeople, were also able to purchase needed equipment and supplies. Some of the larger loans were used for purposes such as the purchase of a dump truck for a self-employed contractor, remodeling a downtown restaurant that had been damaged by fire, and helping establish a new downtown coffee house. These latter two establishments are both owned and managed by Hupa women entrepreneurs. Additionally, many of the artisans who were ableto purchase supplies and equipment using this loan fund were also women. Consistent with othermicro-credit programs around the world, repayment rates were very high, approaching 100 percent. That many of the loans were made to forest-related businesses underscores the closelinks between community, economy, and the forest at Hoopa.

Tsemeta Forest Nursery – expanding from conifer seedlings to the diversity ofnon-timber forest productsTsemeta Forest Nursery was initially constructed in the late 1980s as a state of the art glass-covered greenhouse for growing containerized forest planting stock. For the first ten years of its operation the nursery staff concentrated on producing containerized forest seedlings that were purchased under contract by the Hoopa Tribal Forestry Department, US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and California Department of Forestry for reforestation and forest restoration projects. However, by the late 1990s, with the dramatic reduction in forest harvest levels, especially clearcutting practices, the demand for forest seedlings for replanting purposes sharply declined. Nursery Manager Elton Baldy, recognizing the need to diversify the range of products and plants produced by the nursery, began exploring the potential for producing ornamental plants, shrubs, and trees, native plants and grasses, and medicinal herbs. As part ofthis diversification effort, in 1997 Mr. Elton Baldy applied for a Forest Service grant to support native seed and medicinal plant drying and processing facilities. In 1998 the US Forest Service Rural Community Assistance program provided such a grant. By this time relationships had been developed with wildcrafters in the region, including the High Mountain Herb Cooperative,Trinity Alps Botanicals, and other individual wildcrafters. It was envisioned that Tsemeta Nursery would be able to enter into partnerships with these wildcrafters through the purchase of their raw product and then drying, processing, and marketing it. Additionally, Tsemeta Nursery anticipated on site production and processing of medicinal herbs and native grasses. To this end a plot of land was certified for organic production by the California Certified Organic Growers Association.The enhanced nursery infrastructure that the grant enabled has allowed the nursery to purchase, process and sell a variety of different native grasses and medicinal herbs. The propagation ofnative grasses and other native plants used in ecosystem restoration projects has been relatively successful and is consistent with the forest restoration needs of the Hoopa Tribe and of adjacent public and industrial forestland owners. However several challenges have beset the nursery’s efforts to grow, process, and market medicinal herbs. For example, the High Mountain Herb Cooperative, at one time a promising partner for medicinal herb collecting and processing, is no longer in operation. One of the reasons for the cooperative’s demise is the fickle and cyclical market for medicinal herbs such as St. John’s Wort and Echinacea – where once these herbs fetched a good market price. In the last few years their prices have persistently declined. Unpredictable market shifts, in part due to the globalization of the medicinal herb market, have made it difficult for wildcrafters and the nursery alike to identify products whose prices are stable and that are economically viable to grow or wildcraft, process, and sell. While the Forest Service grant has helped Tsemeta Nursery to diversify its operation, the nursery has been challenged to diversify its operation to ensure its survival. Successful economic developmentthat draws on people’s local forest knowledge is constrained by both non-local factors and the ability of a small local enterprise to respond to these dynamic and challenging conditions, and local relationships. A healthy people-forest relationship may be a necessary but not sufficient condition for sustainable community-based development. Hoopa Tribal Forestry, forest restoration, and creating jobs in the woods. The dominant post-WW II forest management practices have bequeathed the Hoopa Tribe alegacy of thousands of acres of brush or oak dominated land that once supported old growth conifers, a heavily roaded landscape, and a current and potential sediment delivery problem thatthreatens the Tribe’s vital fishery as well as domestic water supply sources. It is widely accepted that erosion rates on reservation lands are quite high. For example, the magnitude of erosion from reservation roads is three times higher than for roads in the adjacent Redwood Creek watershed, which is mostly under industrial timberland management (Oldenburg 2001).Oldenburg, a Tribal forestry hydrologist, suggests that this difference is not surprising given the “size, type, location, and maintenance levels on these roads,” (2001:9). There is clearly a need to pursue vigorous forest and watershed restoration work and with that work provide employment to former timber workers. Hoopa Tribal Forestry has been working aggressively on these frontsand support from the Northwest Economic Adjustment Initiative has helped them to do so. The watershed restoration projects funded by the Initiative clearly illustrate the link between ecosystem restoration and employment generation. Between 1994 and 1998 the Forestry Division of the Natural Resources Department received five Jobs-in-the-Woods grants, all through the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The grants funded a combination of watershed assessment and restoration, monitoring, and contractor/worker training in Mill Creek, Bull Creek, Tish Tang, and Pine Creek. These four watersheds were prioritized for restoration work based on watershed assessments across the reservation. The assessments also guided the restoration activities within each watershed. The goals and objectives of these efforts were to reduce sediment delivery to anadromous or domestic use streams by treating sites of chronic or potentially catastrophic sediment production, to create jobs for heavy equipment operators and contractors previously employed by the timber industry, and to set up long-term monitoring stations to assess effectiveness of restoration efforts and general aquatic ecosystem health (Blomstrom 1:1996).By the end of 1996 these watershed restoration efforts had produced impressive results. A 1997 Watershed Restoration Status report notes that a total of 90,580 cubic yards of material had been removed from the Mill Creek, Pine Creek and Tish Tang Creek drainages and that 129,305 cubic yards of material was estimated to have been saved from entering streams. This latter figure represents a sizeable proportion of the total treatable sediment volume of 192,670 cubic yards estimated by Pacific Watershed Associates (a private consulting firm) for these three drainages. Prior watershed assessment work by Pacific Watershed Associates, as modified, updated and Geographic Information System mapped by the Tribal Forestry Division, provided the basis for prioritizing drainages and individual sites for restoration work. This allowed restoration funds allocated to the Tribe to be used most effectively. Because provision of employment was a key goal of these projects, contractor training for restoration work was made a priority for this work. Training workshops for road restoration, decommissioning, and obliteration were provided to local contractors. Not only were these free of charge, but contractors received a stipend for participating in them. Restoration efforts for calendar years 1995 and 1996 provided a total of 9 full-time jobs for the four month restoration season. All of these individuals had previously been employed by the timber industry. One of the contractors who participated in the restoration workshops and who was contracted to decommission several roads has subsequently been able to successfully bid on U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management watershed restoration contracts in other parts of Humboldt County.While the first grants to the Tribal Forestry Division focused on watershed restoration efforts, the later grants addressed on-going assessment and monitoring needs. One example ofthis is Supply Creek, which currently has impaired anadromous fish habitat and impaired domestic water supplies. Research by the Tribal Forestry Division shows that on average,between 1954 and 1993 Supply Creek background sediment yields were 4,585 tons per year, while sediment yields from roads and log loading sites were 25,930 tons per year. This high level of sedimentation has compromised the water supply of about 1,500 valley residents. The watershed assessment grant from the Bureau of Indian Affairs enabled Tribal Forestry to identify 15 major issues concerning the current condition of the watershed. The watershed assessment developed watershed restoration project objectives and then specified restoration activities, complete with field reviews and tentative restoration prescriptions. This workprovided the basis for the next Jobs-in-the-Woods NEAI grant, which requested funding for implementing restoration activities on Supply Creek. In 1998 the Tribe received a grant from the BIA to conduct watershed restoration activities inSupply Creek. The restoration work was designed to stabilize upland slopes and reduce the potential for future sediment delivery to Supply Creek. This approach is based on the assumption that it is more cost effective to prevent the input of new material into already degraded streams and allow the normal stream energy to flush previous sediment inputs, rather than attempting to excavate sediment from the stream. The proposed restoration work (most of which is now complete) is anticipated to prevent 193,000 cubic yards of material from entering the stream, thus reducing the time needed for the stream to recover from past sediment inputs,which currently total approximately 800,000 cubic yards of material. The work includes activities such as removal of stream crossings, reconstruction of existing rolling dips in forest roads and construction of new ones, reconstruction and stabilization of failing road fills and gullies, culvert installation, road decommissioning, and brush removal and moderate road construction work. All of the on-the-ground watershed rehabilitation work was contracted out to local Indian contractors, most of whom had attended the “Watershed Restoration for Heavy Equipment Operators” training workshops offered as part of the previous NEAI grants to Tribal Forestry.The last NEAI grant from the BIA was awarded to the Tribe in 1999 to fund baselineimplementation and effectiveness monitoring of the last five years of watershed restoration work and timber harvesting activities on the reservation. Monitoring will take place in thosewatersheds in which NEAI funded restoration work has taken place since the early 1990s plus a fifth watershed, Captain John Creek, which is relatively pristine and can function as a reference watershed. Captain John Creek is also an important domestic water supply. The project aims to test the implementation and effectiveness of forest and road management practices in terms ofeffects on water quality and fish productivity or habitat, to gather baseline data regarding Total Maximum Daily Limits (TMDLs) for the Tribe’s water quality control plan, and to support Geographic Information Systems mapping of forest management activity cumulative effects. By assessing the effectiveness of current best management practices governing forest management, in terms of their ability to maintain or enhance water quality, the monitoring will enable determination of whether or not adjustments are needed in these practices in order to protect water quality and fish habitat. Conclusion: When healthy community-forest relations aren’t enough Community-forest relations at Hoopa once again emphasize the interdependence of community and forest health. The interdependence between political sovereignty, cultural identity, and the control, management, and use of forest resources is clearly evident. At Hoopa,culture is encoded through the diverse ways in which Hupa people use, value, and manage the
natural resources on their reservation. The forest landscape of the reservation is as much a cultural landscape as it is an ecological landscape. Its structure and function in many ways encodes and reflects culturally informed resource management practices. Species important for basket weaving are actively managed for, as are a wide variety of medicinal herbs and other plants. Subsistence-oriented uses of the reservation’s natural resources, such as fishing for salmon and the gathering of other foodstuffs, are both crucial safety nets for un- or underemployed people and their dependents as well as activities that are important vehicles for transmitting lifeways and practices central to Hupa identity. Not surprisingly, the Hoopa Forest Management Plan acknowledges, provides for, and facilitates the cultural practices associated with these elements of Hupa culture, and they actively manage for those species that are particularly valued within this culturally-attuned natural resource management framework.

However, a vital relationship between community and forest does not guarantee economic well-being. Even before the decline in timber harvesting in the late 1980s, low income levels and high unemployment characterized the reservation economy. In 1971 the median family incomewas $3,389, one third of the national median family income of $11,106. The 1971 per capita income was $1,430, about one third of the state per capita income of $4, 610, while unemployment hovered around 30 percent (Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation, Comprehensive Plan 1973:2.202). Following the regional and reservation declines in timber harvests that began in the 1980s and the closure of all five mills located on the reservation, unemployment and associated hardships skyrocketed. Estimates of unemployment rate vary, but they are all high. A 1988 Bureau of Indian Affairs Labor Force Report estimates unemployment at 81.43 percent(cited in HVIR 1996-2001 Transportation Plan 1996:11). Estimates of the heads of households whose income is below the established poverty income level range as high as 81.57 percent(HVIR 1996-2001 Transportation Plan, 1996:11). The 1990 Census indicates a 40.7 percent poverty rate for households and a 29.6 percent unemployment rate for the reservation. The 1999 Tribal Census Project of the Tribal Data Resources Division reports an unemployment rate of 32.4 percent with an additional 5.3 percent employed only seasonally and 9.7 percent employed only part time for tribal members. By any measure, poverty and unemployment rates are several times higher than county, state ornational averages. Private sector investment and job creation continues to stagnate and addressing drug and alcohol abuse issues continues to be identified by the Tribal Council as a top priority. In short, travelling from the coastal portion of Humboldt County to the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation is still, in many respects, analogous to moving from a first world to a third or fourth world context, history, and economy. At least two sets of implications concerning community well-being can be drawn from these statistics. The first concerns the fact that developing a vital and self-sustaining community-forest relationship, as has been accomplished at Hoopa, is not enough to ensure community well-being because of the off-reservation factors that hinder or support economic development, the exercise of political autonomy, and the control and management of tribal natural resources. As the example of the difficulties that Tsemeta Nursery faced with processing and marketing of medicinal herbs illustrates, the local effects of globalization can seriously constrain reservation-based economic development initiatives. Other off-reservation factors also determine thesideboards of what can and cannot be accomplished on the reservation.

Perhaps the most dramatic example of this are the recent salmon kills on the Klamath River. As of the time of this writing, between 10,000 and 40,000 dead Chinook salmon, many weighing more than 40 poundsand laden with eggs, are rotting in the lower reaches of the Klamath River; many more carcasseswill never be counted. At least 100 dead Endangered Species Act-listed Coho salmon and steelhead have also been found. These fish, returning from the ocean to spawn in the gravel bars from which they hatched in prior years, have succumbed to diseases that have run rampant due to a lack of clean, cold water flows in the river and the consequent crowding and increased vulnerability of the salmon runs. While the science is predictably unclear, many suspect that upstream water diversions from the Klamath and Trinity Rivers for irrigation and hydroelectricpower generation are at least partly responsible for the lethal low flows and warm temperatures in the Klamath River. While the Bureau of Reclamation has agreed to a request by the National Marine Fisheries Service to a temporary release of water from upstream reservoirs on the Klamath River, many suggest that this is too little too late and that while the release may enable fish to make it further upstream, they will simply be trapped in smaller pools and holes when the pulse of water subsides. They also question an Interior Department decision last year to restore water deliveries for upstream irrigators who depend on Bureau of Reclamation water for farming and ranching. This decision reduced this year’s water flow in the Klamath to 76 percent of last year’s, which was already considered a drought year flow level. Furthermore, legal battles between the federal government and those who appropriate water from the Trinity River, such as Westlands Water District (which grows cotton in the arid San Joaquin Valley) and power generators prevent the federal government from releasing water from the Trinity River to save the fish.While the current crisis is acute, it is only the most recent manifestation of a process that began in the 1880s when salmon overharvesting to supply the canneries on the lower Klamath decimated the upstream salmon runs in Hoopa territory. And while it is not possible to convey in words what these historically unprecedented fish kills mean to native groups such as the Yurok and Hoopa for whom salmon constitute material, symbolic, and spiritual sustenance, it is clear that the struggles of the Hoopa and neighboring Native American groups for self-determination and the right to maintain their traditional lifeways and culture are far from over. For while the Hupa may have embarked on a cutting edge and sophisticated watershed restoration regime on their reservation, the cleanest gravels and purest cold pools and riffles will be useless for spawning fish if upstream diversions prevent the returning salmon from reaching them. Thus, achieving the goals for which the Hoopa have long struggled, and which have been described in this case study, requires an ability to reach beyond the reservation boundaries and effectively engage with some of the most powerful vested interest groups in the Western United States –hydroelectric power generators and corporate agriculture. When community well-being, through the presence or absence of salmon, is linked with political and economic forces of this magnitude, it is clear that healthy community-forest relations are necessary but not sufficient forits realization. The second set of implications regarding community well-being at Hoopa point to processes that are internal to the reservation and relate primarily to its economy. They concern the need for economic diversification, developing a strong private sector within the reservation economy, and attracting outside investment. Even in the early 1970s when the timber industry was “healthy,”the Hoopa Valley Business Council recognized the need for economic diversification to expand job opportunities, raise personal income levels and reduce dependence on the timber industry. These goals remain a high priority for the Tribe and they constitute the guiding principles for Tribal entities such as the Office of Research and Development, the Loan Department, and others. They also inform the innovative efforts of the Hoopa Valley Tribe to understand and respond tothe implications of tribal sovereignty for tribal economic development. As articulated by Mr.Daniel Jordan, the crucial, and missing link in the calculus of tribal economic development isacknowledgement of the importance of the relationship between sustainable economic development and tribal sovereignty. Jordan and others argue that the central impediment to sustainable economic growth on reservations is the lack of understanding of the implications of tribal sovereignty for economic development. The fact that tribes are sovereign entities fundamentally differentiates them from other non-tribal communities. Because tribes are sovereign entities, state laws and institutions such as business codes, court systems, and other legal frameworks governing business transactions do not apply on reservation lands. The federal government has constitutionally reserved the right to conduct relations with tribes, but it does not regulate business relations. The state government does regulate business transactions, but it has no jurisdiction on reservations. The result is a void of uncertainty on reservations regarding business activity unless the tribe itself has enacted its own business and other codes. Because of this essential difference between reservation and non-reservation communities, Jordan argues that economic development programs and initiatives will never succeed in bringing about sustainable economic growth unless they first acknowledge these differences, understand the implications for policies that promote economic development, and then tailor programs and interventions accordingly. Acknowledging the institutional and legal void at Hoopa, the Tribe has recently taken the lead in developing its own set of Comprehensive Business Codes, part of its effort to develop the courtrules and business codes and associated infrastructure necessary for supporting tribal and non-tribal business and economic development. These codes provide the “broad infrastructure and framework under Tribal law that is needed by any business to by successful” (Jordan 1999:4).The Tribe has developed at least 10 different business codes. For example the Title 50, theTribal Comprehensive Business Policy Code, approved in 1998, sets out tribal and private sector business policies, tax policies, preferences for supporting local businesses through local purchasing agreements, and establishes a 1 percent business tax on gross revenues to help maintain the Tribal Department of Commerce. Other business codes include the Tribal Corporations and Entities Code, Tribal Non-Profit Corporations Code, and Tribal Small Business Incentive Program, among others. The Tribe has also developed model Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws, and Commercial Leases as well as a publication entitled “Creating Business Opportunities on Indian Reservations.” With respect to court rules, the Tribe has developed and adopted a comprehensive set of rules concerning the structure and operation of a tribal court system, procedures for the appointment and removal of judges, the structure and function of a tribal appellate court, clerk and records, personnel policies, and jurisdictional issues.By taking the initiative in developing these forms of institutional infrastructure, the HoopaValley Indian Reservation is clarifying and improving its relationship with the state of California and establishing the conditions of certainty, stability, and security that are necessary in order forprospective investors to be willing to invest in Indian Country. Businesses seeking to locate on the Hoopa reservation can now apply for and receive a business license and articles of incorporation from the Tribe’s Department of Commerce. These documents are recognized by the State of California and banks and other lending institutions as legally binding documents, that for example, provide the necessary security for extending credit and making loans. Embracing and strengthening tribal sovereignty and governance institutions as a necessary but insufficient condition of economic development is an approach from which states will also benefit. The preponderance of evidence supports the contention that healthy, sustainable, and productive reservation economies benefit adjacent non-reservation economies through the provision of jobs, tax payments, and enhanced investments in environmental protection and restoration. Because sustainable reservation economic development depends on the effective exercise of tribal sovereignty, it stands to reason that states have a stake in supporting it.“Support tribal sovereignty, and you will make it possible for Indian nations not only to support themselves but to benefit non-Indian communities,” (Cornell 2000:5).This study of community-forest relations at Hoopa suggests that a positive and mutually beneficial relationship between community well-being and forest management and health is perhaps a necessary but not sufficient condition for overall community well-being measured in economic, cultural, and political terms. The elements of successful and sustainable forms ofeconomic development include the exercise of meaningful sovereignty and the development of effective and culturally appropriate governance structures and institutions are key elements ofthis process. An additional challenge concerns the need to develop effective institutional mechanisms and capacities for grappling with off-reservation phenomena (such as competing claims for water resources) that directly affect the tribe’s cultural and material integrity and identity."

this article found @;
http://www.sierrainstitute.us/Hoopa_case_cover.pdf

So why not provide the Round Valley tribes with some portion of Maxxam/PL's forest land so that the Round Valley Tribes can attempt their own autonomous forestry program similar to the Hupa Tribal Forestry? Given their past struggles and relocation by force, land reclamation from corporations is the least we could do for reparations..

Round Valley (Nome Cult) background info;

"The removal of the Indians from Chico to the Nome Cult Reservation in 1863 is one of the many forced relocations following the establishment of reservations in northern California in the 1850's. Several different tribes were moved to the Nome Cult Reservation after it was established in Round Valley in 1856. "Nome Cult" comes from the Sacramento Valley Wintun's term nome kechl or "western tribe."

Most of those removed from Chico were Maidu from the northern Sacramento Valley and adjacent foothills, but members of other tribes were also relocated. In September 1863, 461 Indians were marched under guard from Chico to the Nome Cult Reservation, nearly 100 miles across the Sacramento Valley and rugged North Coast Ranges. Only 277 Indians completed the journey. Some were killed, a few escaped, and others were left behind.

Although the path itself has disappeared, we now call this route the Nome Cult Trail. The most grueling part of the trail passed through what today is the Mendocino National Forest. The Nome Cult Trail was a tragic chapter in our state's history; it is also a story about the resilience and strength of California Indians. It is an important legacy for their descendants and for all Californians.

"....soldiers came on horse's and set the West people's [Maidu] roundhouses on fire. If anyone ran away the soldiers shot him, and if he did not run away they probably shot him anyway...."

-Coyote Man

Timeline

1849 Gold Rush spurs massive immigration and settlement of California. Native people forced off their lands; their numbers dwindle from killing and disease.

1850 California passes "An Act for the Government and Protection of Indians," permitting the slavery of Indian children.

1856 Nome Cult Farm established in Round Valley, Mendocino County. Two years later it becomes a reservation. Indian people from all over Northern California are forcibly sent to Nome Cult Farm.

1858 During the winter, more than 150 Indian people at Nome Cult Reservation are massacred by non-native settlers.

1861 Civil War begins.

1862 Nome Lackee Reservation in Northern Sacramento Valley abandoned. Soldiers establish a military post in Round Valley to protect Indians on the reservation from white settlers. The post is later named Camp Wright.

1863

JUNE: The much publicized killings of three children from the Hickok Valley, by Indians seeking vengeance for Indian people killed by settlers, enrages Butte and Tehama County settlers.

Citizens of Chico petition Governor Leland Stanford for men and means, and Army to assist in "quelling these Indian outrages." Indian people from many northern California tribes brought to Chico and detained.

Five Indian men hanged at Helltown east of Chico on suspicion of "committing depredations upon property."

JULY: Two children form the Lewis family in Butte County killed by Indians incited by the Helltown hangings. These killings touch off another wave of violent reaction against Indian people.

A "citizen's group" meets at Pence's Ranch to take action to end "Indian troubles" in Butte and Tehama counties. They adopt a resolution calling for the removal of every Indian in the area to the reservation in Round Valley within 30 days. Those not surrendering will be killed.

AUGUST: Camp Bidwell established in Chico with five officers and 102 enlisted men. Lt. Colonel Ambrose E. Hooker assigned as commanding officer. 435 Indians captured in the foothills and brought to Chico.

SEPTEMBER: Captain Starr of the California Volunteers commanded to serve as "escort to Indians en route to the Round Valley Reservation." 461 Indian people held at Camp Bidwell begin 100 mile journey to Nome Cult Reservation. Capt. Douglass of Camp Wright reports: "...all the Indians that were sent or brought on the reservation from Chico about 10 days ago are in an almost dying condition through sickness and gross neglect...I was informed that nearly 200 sick Indians are scattered along the way for 40 miles..."

OCTOBER: Lt. Col. Hooker informs his superiors that "..a part of the route [to the Nome Cult Reservation is] over almost impassable mountain trails.. [and] it became necessary for Capt. Starr's command to dismount and pack their horses over a great portion of the route with those who were either too old, too young, or too sick to march." Of the 150 left at Mountain House, [t]his body will go to the reservation in small parties and join their tribe as fast as they are able to move... The Indians now remaining in the [Sacramento] valley are all peaceable, quiet Indians, who are owned or employed by the farmers or rancheros on whose lands they live.... As to the mountain Indians in this vicinity, their number and character has been greatly exaggerated."

Some Indians escape the reservation but are returned if captured.

1864 More rumored "Indian troubles" in Chico vicinity due to friction between established landowners, who have had the advantage of Indian labor, and newer landowners who have not.

1865 Civil War ends.

Indians continued to escape from the reservation. By the late 1870's, they are generally left alone and not returned to Nome Cult."


visit Round Valley @;
http://www.covelo.net/tribes/pages/nomecult/tribes_nome_cult_history.shtml