Headwaters Forest

USA / California / Hydesville /
 hiking, forest, interesting place
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From Wikipedia:

"The Headwaters forest is a series of old growth redwood groves measuring about 60,000 acres (240 km²). Located in northern California, most of it is owned by timber company PalCo, which is owned by Charles Hurwitz and Maxxam Inc. The Headwaters is the site of many tree sits and anti-logging demonstrations.

Julia "Butterfly" Hill was a notable tree sitter who occupied a tree known as Luna in the Headwaters forest. Julia lived in Luna for two years beginning in 1997. Due to her efforts, and thousands of other individual forest activists, a portion of the Headwaters forest was deeded to the federal government as a reserve. The cash price of the reserve was $380 Million.

The portion of the forest, called the Headwaters Forest Reserve was established in 1999. The reserve was created after a 15 years effort to save the ancient ecosystem (with some trees estimated at over two thousand years old), from being clearcut. This reserve of nearly 7,500 acres is public land and is under the stewardship of the US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The reserve is located about 6 miles southeast of Eureka, CA. According to the BLM, "the reserve is set aside to protect and preserve the ecological and wildlife values in the area, particularly the stands of old-growth redwood that provide habitat for the threatened marbled murrelet, and the stream systems that provide habitat for threatened coho salmon."

Marbled Murrelets make their nests on large redwood tree branches between March 25 and September 15. The seabird nesting can be disastrously disrupted by human activity. Visitors are restricted from entering the forest during breeding season."

A great trail for day-hiking is located at the end of Elk River Road.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   40°38'23"N   124°3'56"W

Comments

  • A groovy place for watching (or hey, participating in) hippie-bare-titty swirly-wristed psychedelic dancin' during Earth First rallies. Topless freedom now!
This article was last modified 13 years ago