EUREKA, Calif. (AP) Visitors would be kept mostly to the edges
of the 7,400-acre Headwaters Forest Reserve along California's
northern coast, under a U.S. Bureau of Land Management plan sent to
Congress this week.
Millions of dollars would be spent over eight years to restore
watersheds and the ancient redwood forest that was purchased in
1999 by the state and federal governments for $380 million to save
it from logging by Pacific Lumber Co.
The plan expected to govern use of the reserve for 20 years
includes limits on hiking and biking, including closing an historic
ridgetop trail and keeping mountain bikes out of steeper,
erosion-prone areas. Horseback riding would be banned, and the
southern portion of the reserve would be open only to guided tours.
Miles of logging roads would also be closed, and one
particularly steep road replaced with a hiking trail from the Elk
River Trailhead into a section of old-growth forest. Among changes
since a May 2002 draft plan is allowing mountain bikes on the first
three miles of the Elk River Trail.
Within the reserve, 4,400 acres would be managed as wilderness,
though they wouldn't be assigned an official Wilderness Study Area
designation. The BLM also has recommended that the Little South
Fork of the Elk River and a section of Salmon Creek within the
reserve be considered for listing as federal Wild and Scenic
Rivers.
The plan was praised by the Sierra Club's Diane Beck for its
protection of marbled murrelet habitat, and criticized by trail
riders.
Planners were conservative in allowing human use because of the
delicate nature of the area, BLM Headwaters manager Dan Averill
told the Eureka Times-Standard, but aren't ruling out changes if
studies show it can be sustained.
Congress will consider the plan early next year. Comments on the
plan are being accepted until Nov. 10.
On the Net:
http://www.ca.blm.gov/arcata
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)