LAND SWAP IDEA REVERBERATES

[Ted Schettler <tschettler@igc.org>]

From: "ted schettler" <tschettler@igc.org>

Aimee-

You and cpro are undoubtedly aware - but just in case. This 
is a good example of how the effects of base closure and its 
aftermath reverberate throughout an ecosystem. 
Ted Schettler

------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 14:11:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: <clairnet@igc.org>
Subject: air-mail: ALERT: Another Phony Grassroots Group
To: air-mail@igc.org

This message was originally posted to a wise use watch group listserv.

Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 15:24:09 -0500
To: clear-view@ewg3.ewg.org
From: "CLEAR View Mailing List" <clear-view@ewg3.ewg.org>
Sender: danimal@ewg.org (Dan Barry)
Subject: ALERT--Phony Grassroots Group Established

PACIFIC LUMBER CREATES PHONY GRASSROOTS GROUP
TO "SAVE" HEADWATERS

A new coalition has formed in Northern California. Pacific
Lumber has retained the Sacramento Public Relations firm of
Storza, Metzger, and Hunt to help set up a coalition called the
"Headwaters Consensus Council (HCC)." The HCC will promote
the message and consolidate support for the "permanent
preservation of the Headwaters 'Grove' through just
compensation to the current owner," Pacific Lumber. The HCC
purports to be "an independent, broad based group drawn from
the ranks of leading environmentalists, business and civic
leaders, academics, the clergy, and other respected, concerned
individuals and organizations."

The coalition, however, has only one member -- Pacific Lumber.

The HCC was created to advocate saving no more than 4,500
acres of the Headwaters Forest, the nation's last virgin old
growth redwood stand. Opposing the Council is a coalition of
environmentalists, church groups, civic leaders and business
groups who are calling for the preservation of the entire
Headwaters Forest which encompasses over 60,000 acres.

>From the beginning, environmentalists have maintained that in
order for Headwaters Forest to be a viable ecosystem, at least
60,000 acres of private land needs to be acquired. They are
concerned that the HCC will redefine the Headwaters Forest
into Headwaters "Grove."

The HCC has recently sent out fact sheets and a membership
application form. Recipients of the HCC materials were asked
to send support letters to government officials, participate
in a speakers bureau and write opinion articles and
letters-to-the-editor.

Maxxam Inc. (owner of Pacific Lumber) chairman Charles
Hurwitz acquired the Headwaters Forest through its $900
million junk-bond takeover of Pacific Lumber Company in 1986.
Shortly after, when Mr. Hurwitz doubled the rate of cutting in
Pacific Lumber's redwood forests to pay off the debt,
environmentalists protested. Subsequently, Pacific Lumber has
been blocked from logging the Headwaters by environmental
lawsuits over endangered species and other issues.

According to a 7/25 article in the _San Francisco Examiner_, San
Francisco Mayor Willy Brown agreed to pursue a plan to hand
over housing development rights on San Francisco's Treasure
Island to Maxxam Inc. in exchange for 3,000 acres of the
Headwaters Forest. The land-swap was addressed again last
week when the Department of Interior and Maxxam officials
began negotiating settlement of a lawsuit filed by the company.
The lawsuit accused the government of violating Pacific
Lumber's property rights by blocking logging in Headwaters.
The Sierra Club and Environmental Protection Information
Center said they would seek to intervene in a settlement to
prevent Maxxam from benefiting from a swap.

CLEAR has obtained the HCC materials. If you would like to get
a copy by e-mail, please contact us at: clear@ewg.org.

===end===

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