1,200 Protest Plan to Log Old-Growth Redwood Stand
About 1,200 demonstrators rallied at a Pacific Lumber Co. mill Friday to protest plans to log the Headwaters Forest, the state’s last stand of old-growth redwoods in private hands.
Police made several dozen peaceful arrests in late afternoon as the protesters approached officers in single file and refused to leave the property.
A small number of loggers and their families held a counterdemonstration nearby.
The Headwaters, home to several endangered species, including the marbled murrelet and the northern spotted owl, is owned by Pacific Lumber. The company has said it will begin salvage logging in the forest now that the murrelet’s nesting season has ended.
Pacific Lumber has a special salvage exemption issued by the state Department of Forestry that permits logging of fallen, dead or dying trees on the contested land after the nesting season.
The state Senate, by a 32-2 vote, Friday approved a bill by Assemblyman Byron D. Sher (D-Palo Alto) that would direct the state Resources Agency to begin negotiations with Pacific Lumber to buy the Headwaters Forest.
It also would require the agency to send the Legislature a plan by next May 1 on how it hopes to acquire the forest. The bill is backed by Pacific Lumber.
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