Headwaters Agreement

* Lost amid the debate about whether the government purchase of the Headwaters Forest for $480 million (March 3) would be smiled upon by the ghost of Sierra Club founder John Muir or simply represents one more slick snooker perpetrated by Charles Hurwitz are two important facts.

Hurwitz agreed to a 50-year logging ban on about 7,000 more acres scattered through 10 old-growth redwood groves retained by Maxxam. Maxxam Inc., known nationwide as a ruthless resource-extraction company, will now be required to manage thousands of acres of nature preserves. This creates new incentives for Maxxam and federal banking agencies to settle $750 million in active claims against Hurwitz and Maxxam by agreeing to transfer these environmentally critical forest lands to the federal government. Maxxam could offer trees which have an extremely low commercial value, yet are priceless from an environmental standpoint. A debt-for-nature settlement could effectively double the size of the publicly owned Headwaters preserve.

Hurwitz could use the $480 million to pay off about half of the bond indebtedness that is crushing Maxxam’s Pacific Lumber forest subsidiary.

TIM LITTLE, Exec. Dir.

Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment, Oakland

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Your March 3 editorial in support of the Headwaters agreement is very much appreciated. However, I want to ensure that proper credit is given to my good friend and colleague, Assembly member Carole Migden (D-San Francisco).

The Headwaters agreement would not have succeeded without Carole’s strong and active involvement in the issue and her authorship of AB 1986, the Headwaters Appropriations Act.

BYRON D. SHER

State Senate, D-Stanford