August 4, 2001
The Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters (BACH) has been building support through educational outreach and grassroots organizing in the Bay Area and other urban centers for the preservation of redwood forest ecosystems since its inception in 1993. BACH acts as the conduit for connecting local Bay Area environmentalists with North Coast forest activists in the fight to preserve the last of California?s old growth redwood and Douglas-fir ecosystems.
BACH?s primary focus throughout the 1990?s has been the Headwaters Forest campaign, which was undermined by elec-ted officials favoring corporate interests. As campaign organizers and supporters called for restoration funding and per-manent protection
of the 60,000-acre Headwaters Forest, state and federal government officials capitulated under political
and financial pressure from MAXXAM/Pacific Lumber. This resulted in the Headwaters ?Deal? of March 1999, which is generally considered to be a ?bad deal?. The only bright spot in this deal is a 7,400-acre transfer of the Headwaters Grove and the Elkhead Springs Grove (less than half of which is old-growth) from private to public hands . The final government-brokered acquisition, a mere fraction
of the original grassroots-
led acquisition proposal, left MAXXAM/Pacific Lumber nearly half a billion dollars richer, with a ?Habitat Conservation Plan? that permits the killing of endangered species and destruction of critical habitat, and left the fate of 7,400 acres of this fragmented ecosystem in the hands of the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
This transfer, however, brings with it no automatic protection or designation. The BLM and the California Dept. of Fish and Game (DFG), in conjunction with other wildlife agencies, are now preparing a Management Plan for the Headwaters Forest Preserve.1 The final Management Plan will determine what sort of activities will take place in the Preserve and how recovery and restoration of the land, hammered by decades of industrial logging practices, will proceed.
At present, the area has no official designation and is under the jurisdiction of the BLM in the Arcata Resource Management Area. Determining a designation and management plan is a public process.
Initially, BLM had proposed new trails through the Preserve, as well as the construction of two 10-car parking lots. These destructive encroachments would have further damaged the forest?s ability to sustain some of its last remaining populations of many rare and endangered species, and severely disrupted species? habitats. But during a short public comment period on this initial proposal, BACH organized an outpouring of more than 2,000 public comments, which almost unanimously insisted the BLM prioritize the needs of old growth-dependent species over recreational activities and public access. This public pressure influenced BLM to scale down its proposal to include just one parking lot, and docent-led tours rather than less restricted access. This suggests that the BLM is receptive to public comment on the management of Headwaters.
Federal legislation enabling the purchase of the Preserve established the management goal ?to conserve and study the land, fish, wildlife and forest occurring on such land while providing public recreation opportunities and [meeting] other management needs.? The issues the Management Plan will address include:
? Ecosystem preservation
? Public Access and Recreation
? Maintenance and Administrative Access
? Special Designations (wilderness characteristics)
? Ecosystem Monitoring and Sci- entific Research Management
? Budget and funding (i.e. fees)
BACH is leading the campaign to ensure the BLM recognizes habitat preservation and species recovery as the ultimate goal in drafting and implementing the Headwaters Preserve Management Plan. We must ensure the BLM adheres to these objectives and does not put recreational activities and public access ahead of habitat and species viability.
As of this writing, the BLM is developing its Draft Management Plan, which will be released August 2001. It will be followed by a 90-day public comment period with public hearings scheduled for October. During this time individual and organizational comments will be accepted, and public hearings will provide opportunities to address the BLM directly. BACH strongly encourages those concerned about the long-term management of this fragile ecosystem to get involved.
In developing comments to be submitted to BLM regarding the designation and Management Plan for the Headwaters Preserve, consider the following points:
1) Habitat values should be paramount and species recovery must be the ultimate goal.
2) Guiding principles for management decisions should be principles of conservation biology, with the goals of restoration to a roadless landscape, restoration of old-growth associated species populations to sustainable levels and restoration to late seral forest conditions.
3) All possible activities, such as scientific research, restoration, recreation or others, should be analyzed with regard to risk to species.
4) Alternatives that promote recovery should be favored.
5) Effects of noise, food debris, soil compaction, automobile emissions, and other impacts stemming from human presence should be analyzed with emphasis on endangered and threatened species.
6) No commercial logging should be permitted anywhere in the Preserve. No logging should be allowed in the old-growth areas.
7) At a minimum, no recreational access should be allowed in the old-growth areas. There are sufficient recreational opportunities elsewhere and HWP is not the appropriate place for recreation. An alternative of no human access should be considered.
8) Preservation is not enough. Over half of the Preserve area has been intensively logged, and laced with 40 miles of logging roads. Restoration of the forest is essential, and removal of logging roads should be a top priority.
9) Restoration should occur only in previously disturbed areas.
10) Abandoned roads, skid trails, and landings should be
re-contoured wherever it will
not damage the environment. Removal of invasive exotic species
should be aggressive and done by hand/mechanical/prescribed fire methods without the use of toxic herbicides.
11) Cumulative impacts must be analyzed within the context of the examination of impacts of the damaging industrial logging and road-building that has been carried out.
12) The 7,400 acre area is not large enough to maintain an intact functioning old-growth redwood ecosystem, because the patches of old-growth trees are islands in a sea of logged-over forest lands. Yet the BLM has stated that the planning area must be restricted to the existing Preserve since ?... expansion of the Reserve would require specific Congressional action...? However, the state of California is participating with the BLM in developing the management plan and is not constrained like the federal agency. So expansion of the Preserve should be considered in the management plan.
Preservation of the old-growth ecosystem must come first. The fight to save Headwaters Forest was waged to preserve its ecological values, not for mountain biking and other recreational uses or scientific research. Yet these potentially harmful activities are being considered. A prudent management approach must be adopted to prevent any negative ecological impacts from human activities. The fight to preserve Headwaters Forest has been a long and worthwhile struggle; but it is not over.
Please get involved in this public process and submit your comments on behalf of this threatened ecosystem and its inhabitants. Your written comments can represent the voice of the voiceless. We need your help to save the Headwaters from further destruction.
For the most current information on the public comment period for the Headwaters Preserve Draft Management Plan (DMP) including talking points for comments once the draft plan is released and the exact dates, times, and venues for the DMP release, public comment period, and public hearings please contact BACH at:
Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters
Ecology Center
2530 San Pablo Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94702
phone: (510) 548-3113
or
Headwaters Hotline:
510-835-6303
email: bach@igc.org
For bi-monthly short updates and action alerts subscribe to the BACH list by sending an e-mail to:
listproc@envirolink.org
-In the text of the message put the following:
subscribe BACH list (mail to:me@myaddress.com) i.e., your e-mail address (Note: replace me@myaddress.com with your e-mail address )
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TOC for Forest & River News, Summer 2001