Bill Bertain reads from the Saturday Evening Post article “Paradise with a Waiting List”.
Paradise with a Waiting List
Once upon a time, the Pacific Lumber Company was a family business owned by the Murphy family since the 1920s. The Murphys were proud stewards of the land and savvy corporate citizens who understood that logging sustainably was good both for the forest and their workers. As a result, Pacific Lumber held the largest stand of ancient redwoods in private ownership.
They also owned Scotia, the last company town in the state of California. In the 1950s, Scotia was featured in the Saturday Evening Post as Paradise with a Waiting List.
But then times and economics... changed.
Charles Hurwitz, CEO of Maxxam, Inc. orchestrated the hostile takeover of Pacific Lumber.
The Takeover
The 1980s, known by some as - The Decade of Greed, a time when rules and regulations designed to protect Main Street were changed to increase profits on Wall Street.
It became the era of the hostile takeover.
Charles Hurwitz, a corporate raider from Texas, set his sights squarely on Pacific Lumber. Trashing generations of enlightened forest management.
This triggers Redwood Summer – an idea sparked by environmentalists Darryl Cherney and Judi Bari, who had become leaders in the protest against Pacific Lumber. A marathon struggle erupts between protesters pitted against Hurwitz - with the loggers and their families stuck in the middle.
Darryl Cherney recalls the 1990 bombing in Oakland, CA.
The Bombing
Then one day while driving to a meeting in Oakland, Darryl and Judi’s car explodes. Judi is almost killed. The FBI accuses them of being domestic terrorists who were carrying a bomb when it exploded.
By 1998, the battle over ancient redwoods now turned both dangerous and deadly; local police began dabbing pepper spray into the eyes of protestors, and eco-activist David Gypsy Chain was killed by a felled tree during a confrontation with an angry logger.
Laws were ignored, regulations were abused, jobs were lost, and lives were destroyed—all in the pursuit of profit.
Landslides and flooding due to clearcutting destroyed local communities.
Former eco-activist, Jeny Card, lived in an ancient redwood for two years to prevent it from being cut down.
The Floods
President Clinton and Senator Dianne Feinstein created The Headwaters Deal, in which the government agreed to buy 5,000 acres of a grove of ancient redwoods. Hurwitz was paid 480 million dollars for ‘trees he couldn’t cut’ under the Endangered Species Act.
But the story doesn’t end here. The Headwaters Deal permitted Pacific Lumber to excessively log the rest of their property, resulting in massive flooding. Apple farmer Kristi Wrigley watched her family’s apple orchard, first planted in 1903, slowly rot away.
From the 1980s until Pacific Lumber declared bankruptcy the Earth First! and Environmental Protection Agency worked hand in hand in the fight against clearcutting.
Activist and author Greg King discovered Headwaters Forest.
The Recall
When all hope seems lost - something entirely unexpected happens.
A new District Attorney is elected in Humboldt County - and he's not afraid of the corporate political establishment.
Who Owns Government?
Rather than fight it out in court, Pacific Lumber decided to remove the District Attorney from office, pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into television and radio ads in a massive recall campaign.
But after decades of watching their government manipulated, their environment destroyed, and their Main Streets boarded up, the people of Humboldt County have finally had enough of Hurwitz. They band together to fight back with thousands of small donations, thousands of hours of their time, and a thousand percent of their dedication—and in the process, they rediscover their own power.
For Paul Gallegos the message is clear, “In the United States, we're super fortunate, we actually get a voice, we get to participate, we get a vote… it's tough, but participate. Trust me, the decision will be made with or without your participation”.