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Historic Opportunity to Protect Great Redwood Forests of Humboldt

Alliance of Private Investors and Conservation Interests Would Protect Forests and Jobs

Humboldt County, California — January 16, 2008 — Today an innovative alliance of private capital investors and conservation interests have joined forces to try to ensure that 197,000 acres of redwood forests be permanently kept in sustainable timber management, while 12,000 acres of old-growth and environmentally significant habitat are preserved.

The alliance brings a unique and powerful mix of conservation interests and private capital to its effort to resolve one of the nation’s most notorious and hard-fought environmental conflicts. The Nature Conservancy, Save-the-Redwoods League and the Community Forestry Team — a coalition of Humboldt County-based forestry, conservation and environmental advocates — are working with investment and forestry partners Atlas Holdings, Bank of America, Conservation Forestry LLC and the Redwood Forest Foundation Inc.

“What we are proposing is good for the timberlands, good for the workers and good for the watersheds,” said David Simpson of the Community Forestry Team. “It preserves old-growth forests while protecting jobs and our community’s economic base. Nearly 200,000 acres will be put under a permanent conservation easement that guarantees good, sustainable timber management in perpetuity and at the same time protects against development.”

The 209,000 acres of redwood and Douglas fir forest in Humboldt County, an operating sawmill and the town of Scotia are currently owned by Pacific Lumber Company and its affiliates. In January of last year, the company declared bankruptcy and efforts are under way in a bankruptcy court to determine the future of the Scotia community; the 327 square miles of iconic forest and the vital local industries of the sawmill and waste-burning power plant.

The coalition is working with a group of creditors to develop a proposal for the court, the goals of which are to:

• Place approximately 197,000 acres under a permanent conservation easement that ensures the forests are managed in an environmentally sustainable way while providing a continuous supply of timber to mills in Northern California
• Set aside nearly 12,000 acres of the most ecologically important habitat, including old-growth forests, in publicly protected wildlife areas
• Deploy the private capital and operating expertise of Atlas Holdings to maintain the operations of the Scotia sawmill
• Invest private capital from Bank of America, Conservation Forestry and Redwood Forest Foundation Inc. to create a sustainable timber operation
• Support the current local economy by keeping the forests in sustainable timber management in perpetuity regardless of future ownership
• Position Humboldt County to potentially take advantage of future economic opportunities, such as the emerging carbon market
• Offer the Humboldt community, through the Community Forestry Team, the opportunity for optimum participation and the option of a level of community ownership

“This is conservation on an epic scale,” said George Yandell, North Coast project director for the California chapter of The Nature Conservancy. “The only way to protect landscapes this big and this important is for conservation to work hand in hand with compatible economic activities. We don’t have to choose between lasting protection for our forests and the long-term success of the timber industry. We don’t have to choose between our natural communities and our human communities. The Nature Conservancy has proven in deals all across the country that not only is it entirely possible to have both, but that, in fact, it’s necessary to have both.”

The alliance combines several powerful elements. These include the scientific and conservation expertise of The Nature Conservancy and Save the Redwoods, the knowledge on the ground and in the community of the Community Forestry Team and the forest industry and investment experience of the financial partners. Atlas Holdings operates wood product mills and paper mills throughout the country. Bank of America, of course, is a global financial institution. Conservation Forestry is a successful private timber investment firm specializing in this type of partnership. Redwood Forest Foundation Inc. is a non-profit based in Northern California that acquires and manages forestlands for long-term public benefit.

Though unique, the make up of the coalition is modeled on previous partnerships of conservation interests and private timber investments that have successfully conserved huge tracts of forests, while developing sustainable timber harvesting practices that support local jobs and help ensure a healthy timber industry in the future. In the past two years, similar efforts involving members of this coalition have protected land across the country, including 50,000 acres of forest outside Fort Bragg, California, 161,000 acres of in-holdings in Adirondack Park in New York and 280,000 acres of forests spread across 11 southern states.

“Time and time again we have proven that maintaining conservation values is not mutually exclusive with keeping forests in timber production,” said Paul Young, managing member of Conservation Forestry. “We have worked with The Nature Conservancy in many transactions across the United States where long term conservation is achieved while the working forest provides jobs for the community, preserves the way of life for the region and provides a compelling return for our investors.”

“The Great Redwood Forest,” which includes the long-disputed Headwaters Forest, represents fully 10 percent of the redwoods left on Earth and connects four existing protected areas, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, Grizzly Creek State Park, the Headwaters Reserve and King Range Conservation Area. These majestic stands of redwood and Douglas fir are also home to a number of threatened or endangered species including Coho and Chinook salmon, spotted owls, marbled murrelets and tailed frogs.

The 209,000 acres, which represent nearly half the watershed of Humboldt Bay, have been heavily logged in the past and are currently afforded only temporary protection. The alliance is suggesting a solution that would extend and enhance the existing level of protection and add acreage to Humboldt Redwoods State Park and the Headwaters Reserve, increasing public access for Californians and visitors from all over the world.

“This is an once-in-a-lifetime chance to permanently protect these magnificent redwoods,” said Ruskin Hartley, executive director of Save-the-Redwoods League. “After decades of divisiveness we have a chance for a solution that protects the long term health of these forests while maintaining the local economy. If we miss this opportunity, it will be a huge loss for the community, for conservation and for California.”

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.