On July 10, 2000 we received a preliminary injunction against logging this 705-acre area pending our March 6, 2001 trial.

Following years of citizen activism and EPIC litigation, on March 1, 1999, the Headwaters Reserve was finally transferred to public ownership. Unfortunately, as an artifact of the complex land exchange, a 1,000-acre hole was left on the northern side of the reserve. This area is surrounded on all sides by the public reserve, and is the only mature forest adjacent to the old-growth redwoods of the reserve.

The mature forests of this area will be the first new habitat to become available for the ancient forest dependent Marbled Murrelet, and the South Fork of the Elk River is one of the best salmon streams in Northern California. For these reasons this area has always been a high priority for acquisition. Unfortunately, Pacific Lumber has an approved Timber Harvest Plan that covers 705 acres of this area. Worse yet, the logging plan does not even conform to the standards that were agreed to as part of the 'Headwaters Deal' and the company is refusing to comply with the basic conditions that they agreed to as part of the $480 million deal.

PL is trying to log this area without complying with either its Habitat Conservation Plan or its Sustained Yield Plan. This is a critical area that we would ultimately like to add to the reserve. EPIC and Sierra Club sued PL and the California Department of Forestry over this plan. We succeeded in receiving a Preliminary Injunction on July 10, 2000 but were stunned when the visiting judge required that we post a $250,000 bond in order to keep the injunction in place until trial.

Although we firmly believe in the publics right to seek unrestricted judicial review of situations where government and private industry are colluding to violate the law and damage the environment, we did not believe that this was the right time or place to make that case. Instead we undertook a phenomenal short-term fundraising effort to try to raise the bond money. With substantial loans from Don Henley and Bonnie Raitt, as well as a number of other anonymous donors, we were able to post the bond. The trial is currently scheduled for March 6. Were looking forward to a quick and decisive win so that we can minimize the damage to this critical area, and return the money loaned to us