The Legislation
The Headwaters Forest Act (HFA) was introduced in early August by Congressmen Dan Hamburg and Pete Stark with 80 original co-sponsors. About 25 additional House members have signed on since then. The Clinton Administration has endorsed the goals and objectives of the Act without stating that they support a specific size or price of acquisition.
Because the Forest Service would administer the land and because the land is now considered by the federal government to be an agricultural "commodity", two committees are reviewing the legislation; the House Natural Resources Committee and the House Agriculture Committee. The two committees are composed of numerous sub-committees: for Natural Resources, the National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee and for Agriculture, the Specialty Crops and Natural Resources Subcommittee both of which held hearings on the bill in mid-October.
Three panels appeared at each hearing: an Administration panel of Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife experts, a panel representing groups in favor of the legislation and a panel of those opposed to the legislation. Cecelia Lanman, of Forests Forever, Kathy Bailey, California State Forestry Chair of the Sierra Club and Bill Stewart, a forest economist, were members of the second panel. Singer Bonnie Raitt also testified in favor of the bill during the first day of hearings in the Natural Resources Subcommittee.
The reception given the legislation during the first day of testimony in Natural Resources was very favorable, reflecting the progressive slant of the committee, the number of committee member co-sponsors and the chair's undisguised support. His statements and line of questioning set the tone for the hearing. The bill has not yet been scheduled for mark-up, but indications are that it should clear both the subcommittee and full committee unscathed.
The Agriculture subcommittee also held hearings and the same panelists, minus Raitt, testified. The welcome here was somewhat less auspicious because of the conservative slant of the committee: southern Democrats and Republican members from predominantly rural areas. Subcommittee members were most concerned about the potential cost of the 44,000 acres. The present owner of Headwaters, the MAXXAM Corporation, has consistently expressed its opposition to the bill, an obvious bargaining stance. It's the job of MAXXAM lobbyists to see that the corporation gets its price. Our testimony emphasized that current state and federal environmental statutes, if enforced, would substantially restrict future logging and thus, limit much of MAXXAM's potential economic gain.
We took this message directly to the subcommittee members following the hearings in visits to their offices. Once home, we set up phone banks to contact activists in several of the districts represented on the subcommittee. In mid-November, our effort paid off. The bill was passed out of the Specialty Crops and Natural Resources Subcommittee by a vote of 13 to 10.
There is currently no companion legislation in the U.S. Senate. We have met with aides of Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, California's Senators, on several occasions in DC and on the West Coast. Although they have not given firm commitments, we expect one or both Senators to introduce this legislation by early spring. Forest Forever's canvass program is now generating 75 letters each week to our Senators, requesting their introduction of companion legislation.
Campaign Strategies
The hurdle now facing us is the full Agriculture Committee's consideration of HR 2866. Mark-up will probably occur by the end of February. Headwaters Forest Act advocates are attempting to influence 15 members of the committee who have been identified by cross referencing voting records. In cooperation with the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the Sierra Club, the Audubon Society and the Western Ancient Forest Campaign, almost 2,000 activists in those 15 districts have been identified. Phone banks have been set up to contact those activists, and we are distributing information and press packets in those districts. Through Save America's Forests' fax networks, another 1000 district residents will receive action alerts. When HR 2866 reaches the full house, we'll expand these efforts to reach an additional 150 US Congressional districts.
Almost two years ago, we approached the Public Media Center (PMC) in San Francisco, one of the country's foremost non-profit public interest media consultants, to help us publicize the abuses of industrial forestry in California's redwood region. PMC sent us home with a list of organizational charges, and having accomplished those, PMC has agreed to assist us in developing our overall Headwaters campaign strategy. PMC will help to produce advertisements, a 12 to 15 minute Headwaters video, a brochure and congressional information packets.
Greenstone Grassroots Campaign in the San Francisco Bay Area has also been retained by Forests Forever to develop our membership base and disseminate the Headwaters story in California. They've been field canvassing the Bay Area since last November and have recently begun test canvassing in Southern California. Along with supplying information about the campaign, the canvass has generated over 500 letters to the Washington offices of Senators Feinstein and Boxer asking that they introduce companion legislation. Field contacts are followed up by Forests Forever's phone canvass with additional Headwaters information.
Other Facets of the Overall Campaign:
*Our evolving alliance with Lighthawk, the Environmental Airforce, in touring the area with members of Congress and the media and to aerially map and photo document the forest.
*Local nature photographer Doug Thron's current nationwide tour with his dramatic Headwaters slide show to over 50 targeted Congressional districts. (Doug's Houston show, home of MAXXAM, drew over 300 people and was covered by the city's major media - as a result, the office of Houston US Representative Gene Green was flooded with phone calls and mail).
*Our work with the Bay Area Coalition, an alliance of environmental groups in the San Francisco area committed to passage of the Headwaters Forest Act. The Coalition organized a headwaters event in Berkeley in early December attended by almost 400 that helped to both raise awareness and funds.
*The award of a $40,000 grant to the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), from the Columbia Foundation to secure a legal defense safety net around Headwaters, pending federal acquisition.
After many years of struggle, we're close to victory. We need your help to succeed.
How You Can Help Assure Passage of the Headwaters Forest Act:
¥ Write letters to your local papers supporting the Headwaters Forest Act (HR 2866)
¥ Write letters to Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer asking them to introduce companion legislation in the Senate. (Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510 is the address for both of them).
What Your Letters Should Say:
¥ Letters to your Senators should ask them to introduce and support legislation authorizing the federal purchase of the Headwaters Forest, a companion bill to HR 2866, the Headwaters Forest Act.
¥ You letter should point out that the Headwaters Forest is a national treasure on the brink of destruction and should be saved immediately.
¥ Please also point out that the entire 44,000 acre forest should be protected. The purchase of any smaller portion would create a "tree museum". We want to protect a viable ecosystem.
¥ Please also encourage your elected representative to urge the FDIC to recover the monies lost when the United Savings Association of Texas went under. Compensation for this 1.6 billion debt to taxpayers could be used to save Headwaters Forest.
Forests Forever is a member of a broad coalition of environmental organizations seeking to educate the public and mobilize a national grassroots movement in support of the Headwaters Forest Act, including the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), the Sierra Club, the Northcoast Environmental Center, Earth First! and the Mendocino Environmental Center (MEC).
The legislation has been endorsed by: the Wilderness Society, National Wildlife Federation, The Pacific Rivers Council, the Natural Resources Defense Council, World Wildlife Fund, Environmental Defense Fund, Greenpeace, Sport Fishing Institute, Trout Unlimited and B.A.S.S.
For more information, contact EPIC at (707) 923-2931.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 1998
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited