May 19, 2000
Save-the-Redwoods League announced today at a press conference that they have negotiated the purchase of 1,075 acres of old growth and second growth forest and connecting lands in the Mattole River valley of Southern Humboldt County. These lands enhance the League’s 1999 purchase of 3,800-acres, which are the major stepping stones in the Corridor from the Redwoods to the Sea between Humboldt Redwoods State Park, the largest old growth redwood preserve in the world, and the King Range National Conservation Area, the longest unroaded coastal area in the lower 48 states. Eel River Sawmills has agreed to sell these additional lands before pursuing possible sale of all their assets to Pacific Lumber Company in a transaction announced in late April.
"The Corridor from the Redwoods to the Sea expands the wildlife benefits of public ownership through protection on a landscape level that avoids the fragmentation of habitat and eventual disappearance of many species" said the League’s Executive Director, Katherine Anderton. She applauded the commitment of Eel River Sawmills to pursue the transaction on the eve of their potential sale to Pacific Lumber Company.
The Corridor from the Redwoods to the Sea benefits the wildlife on 126,500 acres of surrounding public lands, used by spotted owls, mountain lions, red tree voles, golden eagles, pileated woodpeckers and Pacific fishers. Four tributaries of the Mattole River, spawning grounds for threatened salmon and steelhead populations, flow through the Corridor and will be protected as a result of the project.
The Corridor from the Redwoods to the Sea is a cooperative project that builds on the stewardship of local landowners, the grassroots advocacy and education of local conservation groups such as Ancient Forests International and the local Sierra Club chapter. Financial support for Phase I came from state agencies, several private foundations, and members of Save-the-Redwoods League. The League will seek funding from public and private sources to pay the $2.545 million acquisition price and to create a venture fund for future acquisition opportunities in the corridor.
Anderton also announced that Eel River Sawmills has agreed to sell another 280 acres of old growth douglas fir on the northern boundary of the King Range. This unentered old growth douglas fir forest is an anchor of fish-bearing Squaw Creek which joins the Mattole River North of the Corridor project. "The League deeply appreciates this purchase which caps a long history of negotiations and transactions between Eel River Sawmills and Save-the-Redwoods League that has resulted in permanent protection of many key forested lands on mutually acceptable terms." This land will be transferred to the US Bureau of Land Management.
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