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published Tuesday, November 10, 1998, in the San Jose Mercury News Tree deal is tricky Agencies endeavor to meet deadline for Headwaters buy SACRAMENTO (AP) -- A host of state and federal agencies are struggling to find the right way to spend $380 million set aside for the purchase of the Headwaters Forest, witnesses said Monday at a legislative hearing. With a March 1 deadline looming, there is no consensus on how to acquire from Pacific Lumber Co. the 7,500-acre Headwaters Forest, the world's largest privately held stand of ancient redwoods. The land is to be set aside as a public preserve. "This can't wait until the last minute," said state Sen. Byron Sher, D-Redwood City. "This deal's got to be wrapped up." It remained unclear Monday whether the land 280 miles up the coast from San Francisco will be owned and administered by the state, the federal government or both. The Bureau of Land Management has been designated to handle administration of the Headwaters Forest for the federal government, said David Nawi, a U.S. Interior Department attorney. The California Wildlife Conservation Board, part of the state Resources Agency, is handling California's end of the purchase. The Headwaters agreement is by far the largest and most complex purchase the board has handled, said Assistant Executive Director Jim Sarro. "It's a very short deadline, but we can meet it," Sarro said. The board is considering four purchase options and will present the Legislature with an agreement in February. The simplest of the four -- a direct purchase of the deed -- isn't feasible because there isn't enough time for the board to complete an appraisal required by law, he said. Other options include a grant of state money to the federal government and a court settlement that involves land-for-cash and a dismissal of Pacific Lumber's lawsuits against the state and federal government. Sher, a legislative leader on Headwaters, said he was worried that state lawmakers were being left out of the process as he claimed they were when the Headwaters agreement was first reached two years ago. "I'm concerned we're going to get into the same box where we don't know what's going on," Sher said. "You're asking for disaster if you proceed in talking to federal agencies and keep us out of the loop." Further complicating things, the Headwaters acquisition is linked to logging on Pacific Lumber's remaining 200,000 acres of timber, home to 36 federally protected species. Legislators authorized the Headwaters purchase as the clock ran down on the 1998 session after Pacific Lumber made some last-minute concessions. The company agreed not to log within 100 feet on either side of streams where the threatened coho salmon and other fish swim or within 30 feet of tributaries of those streams. Pacific Lumber said the no-cut zones lock up 12,000 acres of timber. Lawmakers said that part of the Headwaters price tag includes compensating Pacific Lumber for agreeing not to cut near the streams. "We want to get what we pay for," said Assemblywoman Carole Migden, D-San Francisco. Pacific Lumber says the no-cut zones and other logging restrictions represent a "quantum leap" beyond current forest practice rules in California, some of the most restrictive in the nation, and could set the standard for California's $1 billion timber industry. Other timber firms are concerned that Pacific Lumber has made too many concessions and agreed to restrictions other companies could not meet and still stay in business, said John Campbell, president of Pacific Lumber.
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