Humboldt DA, Pacific Lumber

Far up the coast of California, in Humboldt County, lies an ancient cathedral of redwoods called the Headwaters Forest. The trees in the grove are over a thousand years old. It’s as silent and peaceful as any spot on earth. It’s also a battleground.

For decades, “Headwaters” has been the symbol and the rallying cry of an all-out war between environmentalists, residents and the county’s largest, single employer, Pacific Lumber. A portion of the forest was spared from logging four years ago when the historic lumber company agreed to sell it to the state and federal government to be kept as a preserve. The “Headwaters Agreement” included complicated restrictions on the remainder of the company’s vast acreage.

Environmental activists say Pacific Lumber, often called “Palco” or “PL” by locals, has devastated Humboldt’s hillsides through increased logging. Some residents now side with the activists, claiming that the bare slopes have caused erosion and landslides. The result is serious flooding due to clogged-up creeks and rivers.

Palco blames the floods on “legacy” problems — inferior logging practices going back well over a hundred years. “People who point the finger at us are usually pointing back at the way things were,” says Palco’s Jim Branham. “Are we responsible and should we be accountable for our practices? Absolutely. I think we are.”

Enter Paul Gallegos, the newly-elected District Attorney of Humboldt who filed fraud charges against Pacific Lumber in his third month in office. The suit says that PL submitted faulty landslide information for the final environmental impact statement and report (EIS/EIR) related to the Headwaters agreement. Because of that data, the complaint continues, Pacific Lumber was able to log more trees. The DA wants PL fined and stopped from logging until another EIS/EIR is submitted.

But the lawsuit may cost Gallegos his job. Pro-logging forces are predicting that it will wreck not only Pacific Lumber but the local economy too. They’ve started a recall election to remove Gallegos from office. The earliest a recall election could take place would be in November of this year but would more likely occur in the March 2004 presidential primary. Recall proponents will need eleven-thousand signatures to put their effort on the ballot.

But the new DA does have supporters. “When I heard Gallegos had filed that suit, I actually started to cry,” says Tisa Cook. She has had to literally “pick the children up” after school — riding them piggyback through floodwaters. Her husband, Alan Cook, says their neighborhood is often impassable.

Gallegos says he had no choice but to file suit when Assistant DA Stoen presented him with evidence of alleged wrongdoing. “The people of this community will decide what they want. I’m an instrument of their will and I will find out what they want.”