Headwaters Forest

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

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."

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^[1].