The reserve was established in 1999 The reserve was created after a 15-year effort to save the ancient ecosystem, from being clearcut. The reserve was discovered and named in March 1987 by activist Greg King after a solo hike throughout Pacific Lumber's northern ancient redwood holdings. An journalist, King pioneered redwood tree-sitting and staged other direct actions over a five-year period to draw national attention to Maxxam's liquidation of the world's last privately held ancient redwood groves. Almost 60 per cent of what is now the reserve was harvested by mostly clearcutting with over of road construction and over a hundred stream crossings which greatly degraded watershed ability to store and filter water runoff. The untouched portion, however, is dense, old-growth forest with pristine watershed conditions. This reserve of is public land and is under the stewardship of the US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. Of the total area, are old-growth redwood stands surrounded by of previously harvested timberlands, which were included in the purchase to protect the watershed related to the old growth forest. The reserve is located about southeast of Eureka, California, but is managed by BLM officials from the agency's Arcata Field Office in nearby Arcata. 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, Northern Spotted Owl, native salmon stocks, and other old growth forest dependent species..." As well as the stream systems that provide habitat for the threatened coho salmon. Other forest trees in the reserve include Douglas-fir, tanoak, Sitka spruce, western red ceder, western hemlock and red alder. There are limited distribution plants in the reserve including the heart-shaped twayblade and Kellogg's lily. The Headwaters Forest Reserve is one of the few remaining refuges for the endangered seabird the marbled murrelet. 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, approximately June 25 to August 1. It is the only forest reserve in the United States and is managed as a nature reserve of the BLM's National Landscape Conservation System.
Background
The federal legislation authorizing the acquisition of the property resulted from an agreement between Department of the Interior and Pacific Lumber Company in September, 1996. This legislation established a specific boundary with access points, called for joint federal-state acquisition with the BLM the managing agency and the State of California having a conservation easement, and required a management plan for the forest. The California state easement gives the state oversight responsibility to ensure "all human activities with the Headwaters Forest shall be consistent with the stated goals and purposes..." The California Department of Fish and Wildlife represents the state's interest.
Agreement
The agreement had two main parts: first, it provided $380 million of public funds for the purchase of the reserve. Second, it required a Habitat Conservation Plan be developed and approved to allow limited logging on the remaining of Pacific Lumber Company timberland. Headwaters Forest Reserve is the largest area of old-growth redwoods protected as a result of the Redwood Summer protests.
Federal and state legislation
H.R. 2107 was passed by the US Congress on October 1997 which committed the government's share of $250 million of the purchase price. California provided its share of $130 million in Chapter 615, Statutes of 1998 with a requirement of stricter conditions regarding the Habitat Conservation Plan. Specifically, wider no-cut buffer zones, prohibitions on logging in certain areas, and a requirement for watershed analysis. Also, Chapter 615 authorized purchase of two additional portions, the Owl Creek, and the Grizzly Creek properties. Lastly, it provided Humboldt County with $12 million as economic assistance.
