BACH was established in 1993 to educate and build support in urban areas for the preservation of the biologically rich Headwaters Complex redwood forest. A volunteer-driven grassroots organization, BACH collaborates with activists and organizations in Northern California who use diverse tactics and strategies to advocate ecologically sound solutions for the forest ecosystems of California's North Coast that also benefit forest workers and rural communities.

Since the completion of the Headwaters purchase, BACH is focusing on organizing participation in the Bureau of Land Management Headwaters Preserve* planning process to help shape the management of the Preserve. Through a massive outreach and public education campaign, including diverse media, BACH has been working to incorporate the knowledge and concerns of the public, non-profit organizations, and restoration and wildlife experts into the final management plan.

*BACH prefers "Preserve" rather than the official name of Headwaters Reserve, because it captures the idea of the preservation of biological diversity.


BACH Update
The Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters (BACH), in addition to its on-going public education, media work, activist support and organizing, is pursuing two new tracks, market campaign research, and lobbying for restoration funding. (read more)

Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters
April 24, 2007
After focusing a bit more locally the past couple months, other plans that we've been laying foundation for at Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters (BACH) are presently coming to fruition. We are embarking on an exciting collaboration with Global Exchange in San Francisco to launch "Reality Tours" of the North Coast, similar in political nature to Global Exchange's international (read more)


PACIFIC LUMBER BANKRUPTCY
April 24, 2007
When Pacific Lumber filed for bankruptcy on January 18, it didn't surprise many people. In fact, forest and community activists had begun meeting to strategize for expected changes more than a year and a half ago after PL had been rather loudly and pointedly threatening bankruptcy to pressure regulatory agencies to give them more logging capability. A lot has happened since Jan. 18. (read more)


BACH: Pushing the Spirit of Conservation in the Urban Jungle
November 15, 2006
When I look out my window, I see redwoods. I consider myself very lucky, particularly because I live in the Bay Area, albeit on the funky fringe of that teeming urban area. But the environment that I wake up to every morning connects me to my work, to my relationship with the Earth, and it also connects me to the North Coast, since the trees that I see constitute the southern remnants of a ribbon of a unique and mostly disappeared ecosystem that winds from 150 miles south of my cabin to spill over the northern border of California, all the while extending only 30 to 50 miles inland. (read more)


Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters
September 20, 2005
About 40 people from a dozen organizations came together March 26-27 for the North Coast Forest Summit for focused and productive discussion at Mattole Camp, a beautiful retreat center on the Mattole River. Participating were representatives from EPIC, Humboldt Watershed Council, Earth First!, the Mattole Restoration Council, Sierra Club, Ancient Forest International, Trees Foundation, the Campaign for Old Growth, the Campaign to Save Jackson State Forest, and the Northcoast Environmental Center. Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters (BACH) organized and participated in the Summit. (read more)


Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters: Strengthening the Grassroots Forest Protection Movement in Coastal Northern California: North Coast Forest Strategy Summit
April 4, 2005
Some readers might remember that, prior to the 1999 Headwaters Deal, activists from the Bay Area to the top of the state operated within a functioning coalition that included groups from the Sierra Club to Earth First!. The information-sharing involved in that coalition supported cutting-edge strategy development. That vehicle to collaborate no longer exists, leaving a gap in our ability to develop the best strategy possible for the long-term protection of the public trust resources of California's North Coast. (read more)


Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters
September 6, 2004
This spring, BACH's intrepid volunteers were out staffing info tables at fairs, concerts, and political events, handing out our fact sheets, newsletters, showcasing our displays and sample letters, and getting hundreds of letters written to decision makers. The primary focus was on two issues: (read more)


Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters
As we continue to develop our proposed Redwood Region Tour project and talk to potential partner organizations, we have become engaged with the Gateway Mountain Center in the Sierra. That non-profit carries out location-based environmental education and adventure classes for middle and high school-aged students. We recently collaborated with Gateway to bring a group of high schoolers from Marin County to the North Coast for a week-long field trip. Serendipitously, this collaboration worked to forward several agendas, as it was constructed on a parallel track in terms of engagement with organizations and activities we have been perusing for the Redwood Region Tours. Our field trip traveled first to the Mattole watershed, where the students got oriented with the watershed, the restoration history, and restoration ecology before digging in (literally) to work with Mattole Restoration Council (MRC) staff planting riparian zone trees, as well as visiting Gil Gregori's Mattole Creek Delta restoration project. We are indebted to the great folks at MRC as well as Gil, and also David Simpson and Jane Lapiner for their engagement with the students. We also took the students to the Headwaters Reserve to hike the 12-mile Elk River trail loop, along with two BLM staff people who joined us. We then traveled north to tour Humboldt Bay and environs, including Arcata Marsh, with films and speakers narrating the excursion. We see more of this kind of collaboration in the future, along with the Tours for other age groups. Highlighting the good work of the grassroots people on the north coast and engendering an understanding of economic and ecological changes in the Bay Area's forested back yard, as well as bringing urban people to grasp the value and real life experience of restoration efforts are among our goals. We invite ideas and participation from all north coast groups and individuals. (read more)



Contact Information

Email: bach@headwaterspreserve.org
Web Site: www.headwaterspreserve.org
Phone: (510) 835-6303 - Fax: (510) 548-2240
Karen Pickett c/o Ecology Center 2530 San Pablo Ave Berkeley, CA 94702