Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters

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:

*The Heritage Tree Bill (SB 754), those letters delivered to Sacramento when the bill was being heard by the Senate Natural Resources Committee,

*Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger's proposal to "streamline" the timber harvest plan approval process. "Streamlining" meant making the process significantly less accessible to the public and the proposal was fortunately dropped, with, ironically, the timber industry deserving much of the credit due to their outcry to the fee part of the proposal. Our many letters were part of what was loaded into the megaphone to the Governor and were also forwarded
to many other decision makers in state government.

BACH's market campaign work engaged a number of major lumber purveyors, including some large national chains, in communications about the ethics of marketing non-sustainably harvested redwood. We provided detailed information about Maxxam/PL, including the timber company's violations record, and an analysis of the environmental policies of some of these lumber retailers when lined up with the practices of Maxxam.

For more information please e-mail us at bach@headwaterspreserve.org, or call 510/548-3113 or the hotline 925/835-6303.



This article can be found online at www.treesfoundation.org/publications/article-152

Forest & River News is produced by Trees Foundation. For more information contact:
Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters
Karen Pickett
c/o Ecology Center
2530 San Pablo Ave
Berkeley, CA 94702
Email: bach@headwaterspreserve.org
Phone: (510) 835-6303 Fax: (510) 548-2240