The Battle Over Headwaters Forest and the Transformation of American Environmental Politics, 1850 to 1999
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ABSTRACT Dissertation Title: DEFENDING GIANTS: THE BATTLE OVER HEADWATERS FOREST AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS, 1850 TO 1999 Darren Frederick Speece, Doctor of Philosophy, 2010 Dissertation directed by: Associate Professor David B. Sicilia. Department of History The redwoods have long been a source of inspiration and conflict. By the end of the twentieth century, disputes over logging Redwood Country had helped transform American environmental politics. Historians have largely neglected the redwood wars, but their impact on environmental politics was great. After 1945, the redwood wars ended official corporatist timber regulation in California, established a series of legal precedents governing private property management, and prompted the reordering of the federal environmental protection regime. This dissertation describes those transformations in detail, and helps situate the long history of conflicts over logging the redwoods in American history. The history of the redwood wars demonstrates the ways in which local activism influence the development of environmental politics, Northcoast activists complicate our understanding of radical environmentalism and wilderness ideals, and conservation methodologies persist in the priorities of modern environmentalism. The redwood wars were one of the longest and most violent environmental disputes in American history, beginning during the 1970s and lasting into the twenty-first century. Northcoast residents had grown increasingly concerned about the future of the ancient forest, timber jobs, and their rural culture as the rate of clear-cutting increased and as corporate giants swallowed up land. Some residents organized and challenged the industrial logging regime because of its threat to the health of their rural society. Eventually, the Northcoast was awash in daily direct actions, persistent litigation, and intense media scrutiny. After 1986, the citizen activists focused more and more on Pacific Lumber’s plans to harvest its remaining old growth groves in Humboldt County. Pacific Lumber owned nearly all of the unprotected ancient redwood forest in the world, and the forest complex that contained those old-growth groves became known as Headwaters Forest. In 1999, after more than a decade of violent and protracted conflict, Pacific Lumber, California, and the federal government consummated an agreement to publicly acquire several old-growth groves and manage the rest of the company’s land under a comprehensive land management plan. Even so, the wars continued because of the uncompromising nature of the local activists. DEFENDING GIANTS: THE BATTLE OVER HEADWATERS FOREST AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS, 1850 – 1999 By Darren Frederick Speece Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2010 Advisory Committee: Dr. David B. Sicilia, Chair Dr. Robert Nelson Dr. Joe Oppenheimer Dr. Thomas Zeller ©Copyright by Darren Frederick Speece 2010 Acknowledgements I owe a heartfelt thanks to the many people and institutions that made this project possible. In particular, David Sicilia guided, supported, and challenged me from the first day I stepped into his office in August 2004 as a new advisee and Teaching Assistant. This project bares the indelible marks of his years of patience and mentoring, and I am deeply indebted to him. David forced me to challenge my own interpretations, writing, and research more times than he probably cares to recall, and this dissertation is orders of magnitude better than it would have been without his persistent presence in my life and work. Thomas Zeller read, reread and reread multiple drafts of research papers, article manuscripts, and dissertation chapters, and his insights and questions helped improve my analysis at every step, especially at those times I didn’t want to take a step back to rework ideas. Joe Oppenheimer, Robert Nelson, David Freund, and Whit Ridgway provided crucial feedback and support throughout my graduate education and dissertation work. I also owe a hearty thanks to Saverio Giovacchini who not only served on my comprehensive exam committee, but who I also suspect played a critical role in my acceptance to the Ph.D. program at Maryland. The research was made possible by the generosity of many individuals on the Northcoast. Kathy Bailey in particular, who opened her home, memory, and office to me on numerous occasions. Her files on her work related to Northcoast forestry and redwoods issues were invaluable, and the most organized I’ve ever encountered off a dirt road back in the mountains. Scott Greacen and the staff at the Environmental Protection Information Center literally handed me the keys to their storage unit, and my work would ii not have been possible without their archives. Additionally, Dan and Carrie Hamburg also opened their memories, home, and office to me, and Carrie even sorted through the Congressman’s boxes in the attic and found the ones related to his Headwaters bill for me. Many others on the Northcoast were vital resources as well: Robert Sutherland, Richard Geinger, Darryl Cherney, Alicia Littletree, Paul Mason, Kevin Bundy and Kate Anderton each provided me with marvelous oral histories. The Humboldt Historical Society mailed me copies of documents from their files at no charge when I was back on the East Coast. Finally, I owe a deep debt to the late John Campbell and his family for generously allowing me to interview John while he was in the final fight in his battle with cancer. On the East Coast, I am thankful for the assistance of Cheryl Oakes at the Forest History Society for her remote assistance with my Pacific Lumber research. The History Department at the University of Maryland, along with the Graduate School and the College of Arts and Humanities provided me with crucial funding throughout my graduate career. This project, of course, was made possible by the unending support of my family. In particular, my parents, Fred and Linda Speece, supported and helped fund my venture into the history of conflicts over logging the redwoods. I am forever in their debt. And finally, I cannot appropriately express my gratitude to my wife, Tiernan, who sacrificed a great deal in order to support my fascination with understanding the Headwaters Forest conflict. Thank you! iii Table of Contents List of Charts and Maps....................................................................................................v List of Acronyms ............................................................................................................. vi List of People and Associations...................................................................................... vii Chapter 1: The Battle over Headwaters Forest and the Transformation of American Environmental Politics ......................................................................................................1 Chapter 2: Deep Roots: 1850 - 1968...............................................................................35 Chapter 3: The War Begins: 1968 - 1985.......................................................................93 Chapter 4: Expanded yet Contracted: Radical Locals and the addition of the “New” Pacific Lumber to the Donkey Train, 1985 – 1989 .....................................................152 Chapter 5: Busting out of the North Coast and Forcing Property Rights and Forestry onto a Broader Public Agenda, 1990 – 1994 ................................................209 Chapter 6: The Transformation: Engaging the Federal Executive Branch, 1995 - 1999..................................................................................................................................267 Epilogue/Conclusion: The Uncertain Future of Headwaters Forest, yet a Certain Impact on Environmental Politics……………………………………………………331 Bibliography……………………...……………………………………………………355 iv List of Charts and Maps Figure 1: Map of the distribution of coast redwoods...........................................page 84 Figure 2: Map of the Northcoast ..........................................................................page 85 Figure 3: 1937 map of the northern California state redwood parks ................page 86 Figure 4: Map of the Humboldt – Mendocino coastal region...........................page 151 Chart 1: Pacific Lumber Net Percentages, 1970-1999.......................................page 207 Chart 2: Summary of Pacific Lumber Timber Harvest Plans, 1980-1990…..page 208 Figure 7: Map comparing Headwaters Forest Reserve with the Headwaters Forest Complex .................................................................................................................page 328 Figure 8: We Don’t Need a Tree Museum Ad................................................... page 329 Figure 9: Advertisement opposing the Deal .......................................................page 330 v List of Acronyms California Board of Forestry: BOF California Department of Fish and Game: DFG California Department of Forestry: CDF California Environmental Quality Act: CEQA California Forest Practices Act: FPA Endangered Species Act: ESA Environmental Protection Information Center: EPIC Habitat Conservation Plan: HCP Incidental Take Permit: ITP Timber Harvest Plan: THP National Environmental Policy Act: NEPA United States Fish and Wildlife Service: FWS vi People and Associations Kathy Bailey: