Not Out of the Woods Yet

People who know about the controversy over the Headwaters grove of ancient redwoods in Northern California could be forgiven for thinking that a government deal to purchase the land and save the trees from logging had been completed. That is almost true, but unfortunately the whole thing could fall apart if the state Legislature fails to appropriate $130 million by Monday’s scheduled adjournment.

The state money is required as a match for $250 million in federal money for purchasing from Pacific Lumber Co. 7,500 acres of Humboldt County forest, the largest old-growth stand in private hands. California should not let the sale slip away.

The state also has the responsibility to impose prudent controls on Pacific’s logging of its remaining 200,000 acres. One condition of the negotiated sale was a habitat conservation plan that was supposed to prevent shoddy logging practices that damage streams in which the endangered coho salmon spawn.

The draft agreement negotiated by the office of Gov. Pete Wilson, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), federal officials and Pacific is no help: It would allow logging to within 30 feet of streams, as opposed to a buffer of 170 to 300 feet required by federal officials on salmon streams in the Northwest. Even the 30 feet would be only an interim standard, with no assurance of adequate stream protection in the future.

These and other provisions have properly been challenged by state Sen. Bryon Sher (D-Stanford) and other lawmakers, with support from environmental organizations. Sher has worked with Feinstein, Wilson aides, the Department of the Interior and others to craft a better agreement. But Pacific, owned by wheeler-dealer financier Charles Hurwitz, has refused to budge from the position it took earlier and claims that any substantial change will kill the deal.

But will it? The federal offer expires next March; the ideal solution is for the Legislature to pass a Headwaters bill with adequate environmental safeguards now and for Wilson to sign it into law. Then it will be up to Hurwitz to accept or reject. Hurwitz says he wants the Headwater trees in public ownership. He should reasonably conclude that this is the best offer he is likely to get.