This collection is the product of a series of court cases filed by the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), Sierra Club, and United Steelworkers of America during the 1990s and early 2000s against Pacific Lumber Company (PALCO)/Maxxam. The litigation in these cases focused on the environmental effects of PALCO’s logging practices around what is now the Headwaters Forest Reserve in Humboldt County, California. The bulk of the collection consists of evidentiary documents provided by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) and the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) for the court case EPIC v. CDF, et. al. The strengths of this collection are materials that relate to local endangered species such as the Northern Spotted Owl, the Marbled Murrelet, and the Coho Salmon, as well as affected watersheds including the Bear/Mattole River, Eel River, Van Duzen River, Yager Creek, Freshwater Creek, and Humboldt Bay.

From EPIC’s website, http://www.wildcalifornia.org/ (retrieved 03/28/2013): The Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) is a community based, non-profit organization that works to protect and restore forests, watersheds, coastal estuaries, and native species in Northern California. EPIC was founded in 1977 when local residents came together to successfully end aerial applications of herbicides by industrial logging companies in Humboldt County. Our work played a pivotal role in bringing the plight of the Headwaters Forest to the world’s attention during the 1990s. Three of the six groves in Headwaters Forest are now in public hands and EPIC continues to pursue actions to preserve the forests left unprotected as part of the infamous Headwaters Deal. The Headwaters Forest Agreement, also known as the “Headwaters Deal,” resulted in the purchase of 7,472 acres of forest lands from PALCO at the cost of $380 million dollars in public funds. The forest, located approximately 6 miles southeast of Eureka, California, has been classified as a reserve and is under the stewardship of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

42 Cubic feet (35 boxes)

Copyright has not been assigned to Humboldt State University. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce in any format please contact the Special Collections Librarian.

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