In 1993, the Headwaters Forest campaign had gained significant momentum:
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EPIC filed the historic lawsuit Marbled Murrelet vs. Bruce Babbitt to protect marbled murrelet habitat under the federal Endangered Species Act.
In April 1993, CEO Charles Hurwitz refinanced Maxxam Corp., placing the 3000-acre Headwaters Grove in the hands of Scotia-Pacific, a new company not saddled with the huge junk bond debt Hurwitz incurred in Maxxam's take over of PL, earning him the moniker, "Houdini of high finance".
The "Jail Hurwitz" campaign was launched as an enormous white-and-red banner emblazoned Jail Hurwitz was sent cascading off the cliffs of Scotia bluffs, waving in the wind directly opposite PL headquarters.
We knew we needed an organizing base where large numbers of people are--here in the Bay Area. We knew that many, many people cared deeply about the redwood forest--ordinary people like schoolteachers, law students, computer programmers, health care workers, librarians--people interested in direct action and people interested in public education work. They needed the resources to get active, a place to plug in, and a place to find each other.
In 1993, several Headwaters Forest campaign veterans formed BACH as an ad hoc group to fulfill that need. We had no office, no budget, and we all had other "day jobs". And here we still are--10 years later! And after forming that organizing base, we did just that--we organized!
We brought thousands to forest rallies, created an awareness of what was happening to our precious redwood forests on the north coast, organized events in the Bay Area as well like big rallies at We the People in Oakland, Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco, a "Don't Be Fooled by the Headwaters Deal" April Fool's march San Francisco. We put on a scientific forum on Habitat Conservation Plans UC Berkeley, turned out hundreds of people to testify at the Headwaters HCP hearing, rallied at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp office in S.F. to lobby for a Debt for Nature swap, and traveled with over 200 steelworkers to the Maxxam Shareholders meeting in Houston, Texas to confront Charles Hurwitz directly.
More recently, we have generated media interest in the tree-sits and litigation against Maxxam/Pacific Lumber. We continue to keep the greater Bay Area and state media informed about the health and threats to North Coast forests.
We continue to work with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on the Headwaters Preserve Management Plan, which was just released in its final form in October. To find out about the 30-day comment period on that plan, call the BACH office or see it on BLM's website: http://www.ca.blm.gov/arcata/plan.htm.
We are celebrating, strategizing, and looking forward, and we want you to be a part of it! We are planning a 10th birthday celebration for BACH at La Pena Cultural Center in Berkeley on November 30th that will include a silent auction, gourmet munchies and music.
Call us at 510-548-3113 or email us at bach@headwaterspreserve.org (new email address!) for more info.
Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters
Ecology Center
2530 San Pablo Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94702
phone: 510 548 3113
www.HeadwatersPreserve.org
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