In the Late 1990s Charles Hurwitz borrowed money from Michael Milken and bought the company Pacific Lumber Located near Eureka, California. Then Hurwitz increased the rate of logging in the Redwood Forest and cut down all the highly profitable trees. Then he split the corporation MAXXAM into two divisions. One division was used to do actual logging and sawing of boards and the other division was used to hide the profits. When the bill came due on the Junk Bonds, Hurwitz declared bankruptcy and took the money back to Texas. Including the pension funds that paid retirement benefits for employees…
Then the Pacific Lumber Company was purchased at a foreclosure sale by The Fisher Family. They had made a fortune selling clothes at a chain of stores called “The Gap”. They reintroduced the business plan called “sustainable logging” where the Lumberjacks would only cut down as many trees as grew during the year. This plan was invented by the original owners of Pacific Lumber… The concept was to cut 1% of the forest every year and plant new trees so that in a hundred years the new trees would have grown big enough to harvest.
During this time there were many ecology protests in Humboldt County. Including “Tree Sits” where forest protectors would build a treehouse in the upper branches of a giant Redwood in order to prevent Lumberjacks from Chainsawing the tree down. It would be possibly fatal for a tree sitter to be in a tree that was falling and the corporations were not willing to risk actual Human Life for profit. (Bad Publicity)… Others committed “Tree Spiking” where large metal nails were driven into the wood of a tree and then the heads of the nails were clipped off. That way, if a tree was at the sawmill and the blade hit the metal, the blade would explode killing millworkers.
Still others went to the Offices of Political Leaders and staged “Sit-Ins” where they would handcuff themselves to each other and chant/sing songs while being filmed by TV Cameras… At one of these events the local police used pepper spray on the protestors who were young women. When this was broadcast on the TV News it outrages the citizens of California… This lead to a massive protest Statewide and the California Legislature Bought a Large Tract of Land and created the Headwaters Forest… A park protecting a stand of Old Growth Redwoods near Fortuna, California. It is a pretty park with a paved trail that is popular with people that have wheeled vehicles like bicycles, wheelchairs, skateboards and baby buggies. The hike from the parking lot to the Giant Redwood Trees is about five miles and simply too far for most people to walk but it’s easy for people on wheels.
http://timberheritage.org/humboldt-county-history/
https://www.amazon.com/Trouble-Forest-Californias-Redwood-Timber/dp/0816653259
http://gvan42.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-headwaters-forest-coloring-book.html
Link to the Headwaters Forest Coloring Book.
http://gvan42.blogspot.com/2018/04/two-pinecones-in-humid-weather-and.html
Photographs of a Hike in the Headwaters Forest.
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