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December 22, 1998 Deal to Save California Redwoods May Collapse By Greg Frost SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 21, 1998 (Reuters) -- A proposed nearly $500 million deal to save the world's largest remaining grove of privately owned ancient redwood trees is in jeopardy of collapsing due to a new battle over environmental safeguards. U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who helped broker the accord two years ago, warned Thursday that a "major impasse" had erupted between logging company Pacific Lumber and the state and federal governments. With a funding deadline nearing, Feinstein scheduled a bargaining session Monday in her San Francisco office in the hope of resolving the dispute and putting the agreement back on track. Under the proposal, the state and federal governments agreed to buy 7,500 acres of the Headwaters Forest, the largest privately owned stand of virgin redwoods -- arguably the most majestic trees on Earth. As part of the agreement, Pacific Lumber presented a plan detailing how it would manage its remaining 210,000 acres of forest. Environmental activists, who normally support acquiring threatened land for the purpose of preserving it, attacked Pacific Lumber's Habitat Conservation Plan, calling it a "license to kill" endangered fish and wildlife. Government scientists also questioned the plan's protections for threatened species. The scientists' doubts led federal agencies to recently demand that the company's conservation plan include greater safeguards for threatened species, such as the coho salmon and the marbled murrelet, an endangered bird that depends on the huge trees for nesting places. But Pacific Lumber balked at the tougher environmental demands, saying they would cause economic hardship. "In total, the proposed changes would have left Pacific Lumber unable to operate effectively," Pacific Lumber President John Campbell said. "We simply could not agree to a package that would threaten our ability to survive and provide job security to our employees." With about two months left before the federal government's $250 million funding share of the deal expires, negotiations are at a critical stage. "A final agreement is going to have to happen very quickly, otherwise there won't be time to complete the deal and capture the federal money," said Phil Carroll, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Portland, Ore. To complicate matters further, California state Senate President pro tem John Burton threatened last week to introduce legislation that would yank the state's $245 million share unless Pacific Lumber complies with the new federal requirements. Environmentalists said they were encouraged by the tougher stance adopted by the federal agencies and state lawmakers, but expressed dismay it had not come sooner. "It's frustrating that a large number of prominent biologists and an overwhelming majority of the public have been calling for these kinds of protections to be implemented all along, and they're only now being demanded," said Robert Parker, an activist in Arcata, Calif. Pacific Lumber, now a unit of Houston-based MAXXAM Inc., has been in business for 129 years. With 1,600 employees, it is the largest private employer in California's Humboldt County and contributed an estimated $170 million dollars annually to Northern California's economy. Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.
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