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/* Written 11:05 PM  Aug 24, 1994 by nec in igc:econews */

Title: 'Reclaim Redwoods'

Earth First! is staging direct actions in the forests of Humboldt
County for three weeks this month to stymie any logging around
Headwaters Forest in areas slated for possible federal
acquisition from Pacific Lumber.

A spokesman said that the "Reclaim The Redwoods" protests August
8-28 are meant to forestall logging while Congress considers
Representative Dan Hamburg's Headwaters Forest Act.

Since Hamburg introduced his bill a year ago, more than 2,000
acres of PL's residual old growth that are being considered for
protection have been approved for cutting by the California
Department of Forestry, the spokesman added.

Earth First! also is pushing for public seizure of PL's entire
198,000-acre ownership from the timber firm's parent corporation,
Maxxam, and its chief executive Charles Hurwitz, as compensation
for the collapse of a Texas savings and loan association which
Hurwitz controlled.

Congressman Ron Dellums has written to the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation saying that "compelling arguments exist for
the FDIC to pursue Maxxam's surrender of the entire Pacific
Lumber group and all its properties."

Maxxam, which took over PL in 1985, needed more than six pages in
its annual filing with stock exchange officials to summarize
major shareholder, employee and environmental lawsuits.

Jail Hurwitz

Protestors in June unfurled a "Jail Hurwitz" banner outside the
FDIC's San Francisco office. Under a proposed "debt for Nature"
swap, An FDIC claim for $548 million over the savings and loan
collapse would be forgiven in return for the Headwaters forest.

Earth first! contends that the money Maxxam used to take over PL
belonged to the public because when the savings and loan
association failed, taxpayers bailed it out.

Activists also staged rallies outside a PL sales office in Marin
County and CDF offices in Santa Rosa and Fortuna under the
slogan, "Pacific Lumber: We Own It." Some tried to cordon off the
sales office with barbed wire in order to jail Hurwitz, and
others urged CDF not to accept any more PL logging plans.

Organizers of "Reclaim The Redwoods" are setting up a base camp
in Honeydew. For details, call (707) 468-1660 and 839-5847 or
(510) 376-7329.

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From ECONEWS, Newsletter of the Northcoast Environmental Center,
August, 1994. Write for a free copy of the print version:
879 9th St., Arcata, CA 95521; e-mail: nec@igc.apc.org.
Reprints are OK in non-profit publications and networks if
credit is given to ECONEWS and the author; please send us a copy.
All others must write for permission.
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