Update on Pacific Lumber and Berkeley Oaks

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UPDATE and ALERT
from the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters
January 1, 2008
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:: Pacific Lumber Bankruptcy Update

::Update on the Oak Grove Tree Sit in Berkeley

PACIFIC LUMBER IS ONE YEAR INTO BANKRUPTCY AND A SHIFT IS FINALLY
MANIFESTING

The last lengthy update we sent you on the Pacific Lumber
situation was covering their long-awaited reorganization plan,
released publicly and submitted to the Texas bankruptcy court in
late September. Our Oct. 2 update detailed their plans to sell
their old growth for an exorbitant price tag to a non-existent
buyer, sell another 22,000 acres for high-end luxury homes,
retaining 181,000 acres of timberland for commercial logging by
PL, with Maxxam still in the picture. Not surprising, but still
boldly arrogant and delusional.

Response from creditors and Humboldt county was swift and
dissenting, and the road to a different entity than Charles
Hurwitz's Pacific Lumber managing the redwood forests has now been
laid out by the Corpus Christi bankruptcy judge, finally. After
court-ordered mediations failed in mid-December, the field was
opened for alternative reorganization plans by creditors and other
interested parties to be submitted to the court, ending the period
of exclusivity by Pacific Lumber. It took Judge Schmidt a while
to see the writing on the wall--that only "reorganization plans"
that produced continued rivers of cash to Maxxam would be
proffered by PL--but better now than never. Schmidt intends to
fast track reorganization, setting a January 30, 2008 deadline for
those alternative proposals, saying he intends to approve one plan
or another by April.

Who will submit proposals for management of this debt-burdened but
still operational company?

The bondholders, who carry the $700 million debt collateralized by
the standing timber, otherwise known as trees, for one. So-called
"unsecured creditors", those owed money without collateral backing
the debt include EPIC and the Steelworkers Union, owed legal fees
from the Sustained Yield legal case they won, and they, along with
others have been seriously exploring the possibility of an outcome
that would benefit the community, the workers and the natural
environment, that would include community-based management,
working forests, and preservation of ecologically critical areas
through land trusts and conservation easements.

The newest player is Mendocino Redwood Company (MRC), brought into
the discussion by Marathon Asset Management, a creditor owed $160
million, secured by the mills and other assets. MRC last week
expressed interest in investing $200 million, which would mean a
break up of the company's assets. While many met MRC's interest
favorably, since their operation is seen as "lite" industrial
logging, it would not mean an end to destructive logging in
Humboldt County. While MRC does have experience coming in on the
heels of heavy liquidation logging, purchasing mostly cut-over
land from Louisiana Pacific Co. in Mendocino a number of years
ago, they have long been boycotted (through the Fisher family
owner's GAP retail stores) for their unsustainable practices. They
were able to get FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification,
but contrary to popular belief, this "green" certification", while
seen as the gold standard in sustainable practices, does not
prohibit cutting of old growth, nor does it stop all clearcutting
and herbicide use. MRC is known for all three.

What all this means is is that this is a process to be closely
watched, monitored, while watching for those openings that let the
community and scientific and activist voices in. It was through
bold action on the part of the Humboldt County Supervisors, who do
not have standing in the bankruptcy court, that Judge Schmidt
finally saw the giant holes in PL's original proposals.

Stay tuned. The large lady still has a song to sing. Our friends
at the Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment have
posted on their website many of the legal documents, press clips
from Humboldt area news outlets and other pertinent information
related to the PL bankruptcy situation. Check it out.

http://www.asje.org/

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OAKS ON THE HORIZON!
TREE-SIT CELEBRATES ONE YEAR; STILL AWAITING JUDGE'S DECISION

The amazing year-long tree-sit in the Memorial Oak Grove in
Berkeley is over one year old and still going strong despite many
arrests, erection of prison camp-like fencing topped by barbed
wire and attended by 24-hour security, and frequent nighttime
harassment, including police raids, stadium bright lights and
noisy generators.

YOU ARE INVITED to visit the Grove any time of the day or night.
Support is always needed and welcomed.

Following a bountiful Thanksgiving delivery of food and water to
the tree-sitters by Berkeley Grandmothers for the Oaks, the
deliverance of sustenance has become a weekly event, EVERY
SUNDAY at 2 pm. This method of supplying needed food and water to
the sitters became necessary after the University secured a
draconian injunction prohibiting overt acts "in concert with" the
tree-sitters, which UC police interpret as supplying of water and
food. The group delivery of food and water, with community and
grandmother participation, has been uninterrupted by the police,
whereas prior to that, police singled out individual support
people attempting to send a jug of water or bag of oranges up a
tree. One such support person known to many--Ayr--is in court
this week wrapping up his case defending himself. In order to
support him, you can come to his closing arguments before a jury
in Oakland District Court Wednesday Jan. 2 at 9:30 am, on
Washington St. betw. 6th & 7th, Oakland, Dept. 109 on the 5th
floor.

There are lots of Utube clips and other news on the Save Oaks
website.

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Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters

2530 San Pablo Ave.
Berkeley, California 94702
510-548-3113
bach@HeadwatersPreserve.org




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