Now that a portion of Headwaters Forest has been acquired and placed under
control of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the agency is beginning to
develop a management plan for the area. The National Environmental Policy
Act (NEPA) requires that agencies seek the input of the public to help
define the values that their management plan will promote and protect.
Scoping is the first step in developing a management plan. BLM will accept
your letters, faxes, emails, and responses to their website (see contact
information below) until August 18, 2000. The agency will base its draft
management plan (due for release to the public in February 2001) on that
critically important expression of your concerns, and the values that you
want protected in Headwaters. Those values could range from timber
extraction to wilderness protection, from roaded recreation emphasis to
maintenance of the refugia for endangered species that the groves now
provide. After the bitter fight to save the forest from the chainsaws, it's
up to you to help define what Headwaters Forest will be for future
generations!
The Headwaters Forest Reserve is composed of 7,500 acres of Humboldt County
forestland transferred from Maxxam's Pacific Lumber Company to public hands
via the Headwaters deal. It includes the 3000-acre Headwaters Grove and
Elkhead Springs Grove, two of the six ancient redwood groves within the
larger Headwaters Forest.
The legislation that enabled acquisition and establishment of the
Headwaters Forest Reserve and designated BLM as the managing agency
included some language about the values for which the area was acquired.
Your comments will help establish how the agency will fulfill that duty.
Examples of concerns that public interest groups have submitted to the
agency include the following:
Public acquisition in 1999 was only the beginning of the Headwaters
preservation process. Until a management plan is implemented based on
habitat protection and species recovery, the forest remains at risk. The
management plan needs to provide not only for the forest's long-term
restoration, but also its ability to sustain its resident species.
Headwaters Forest's species of special concern include the Northern spotted
owl, Marbled murrelet, Steelhead trout and Coho salmon.
The forest and its inhabitants will surely suffer if the management plan
allows excessive public use. Federal legislation for the purchase of the
reserve established the following management goal: "To conserve and study
the land, fish, wildlife and forests occurring on such land while providing
public recreation opportunities and other management needs."
Public input will help determine the scope of activities, options, and
concerns to be evaluated in the management plan and the Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS) for the Headwaters Reserve. Ecological protection
must be stressed in this review process to counteract the influence of
special interest groups. The destructive activities that these groups
promote-including road development and off-road vehicle use-would undermine
the unique, fragile ecosystem of Headwaters Forest. Excessive recreational
uses could seriously hurt the survival of the ancient forest species.
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TOC for Headwaters Update, Summer 2000