On the early morning of March 2, 1999, the Pacific Lumber Company agreed to the Headwaters Forest acquisition and to an unprecedented Habitat Conservation Plan that will govern logging on the company's 211,000 acres.

The following is Senator Feinstein's statement on the agreement:

"We now have an agreement to save the Headwaters Forest and thousands of acres of ancient redwood trees thanks largely to the incredible hard work and diligence of federal and state officials, who held onto their belief that we could preserve this priceless resource through an environmentally and economically sound plan.

From what seemed like sure defeat, the State of California and the Federal government came together to convince Pacific Lumber to support the Habitat Conservation Plan and the Sustained Yield Plan vital to the acquisition and preservation of the last remaining major groves of ancient redwood forest in private ownership.

The Headwaters Agreement provides for the Federal government and State of California to acquire the 7,500 acre Headwaters Forest. These trees, some of which are over 2,000 years old, are a national treasure in and of themselves. They also provide vital habitat for endangered species such as the marbled murrelet seabird.

In addition to the acquisition, the Headwaters Agreement requires that the Pacific Lumber Company's entire 210,000 acres be governed by the terms and conditions of the Habitat Conservation Plan, which is unprecedented in its strength and thoroughness.

The Habitat Conservation Plan will protect 12 additional groves of ancient redwood trees, comprising over 8,000 acres, as habitat for the marbled murrelet. The plan will also provide the strongest protection in history for the endangered coho salmon and other aquatic species.

I am very proud of this agreement because it saves all of the Headwaters Forest and all of the 12 lesser groves of ancient redwood trees.  This is something that at the beginning of this process and even two years into the negotiations I didn't think possible.

However, I was absolutely convinced that the absence of an agreement would have meant continued warfare over the Headwaters Forest and long and costly courtroom battles. I genuinely believe that the Habitat Conservation Plan and Sustained Yield Plan and the commitment of the biologists and other scientists to see that it is carried out can result in the company being able to keep its mills open, log in an environmentally sensitive and sound manner and employ its people.

Getting to this point has not been easy. It has taken over five years of negotiations in which I have been involved. Senior officials of the Clinton, Wilson, and Davis administrations committed an extraordinary level of time to getting this deal done. Federal and state biologists have spent literally thousands of hours crafting the Habitat Conservation Plan. The end result is a strong plan on which all of us will have to work closely together to implement satisfactorily.

I want to thank those who have worked so hard on this project, especially at the Department of Interior: Secretary Bruce Babbitt, David Hayes, John Garamendi, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. I also want to thank the Department of Commerce, particularly Secretary William Daley, Terry Garcia, and the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the Department of Justice, where a number of attorneys worked long and hard to make sure this agreement went through.

I additionally wish to thank President Clinton, who steadfastly stood by this agreement, his Chief of Staff John Podesta, along with the President's Council on Environmental Quality.

Also, Governor Davis, Secretary of Resources Mary Nichols and Cabinet Secretary Susan Kennedy deserve thanks for their extremely constructive involvement in the final days of this process.

Challenges still lie ahead. It is up to all of us to ensure that implementation of the Habitat Conservation Plan proceeds smoothly, so that Pacific Lumber may continue its logging operations while also being a responsible steward of the environment. I believe it can work if we all work together – the federal government, the state, the environmental community and those who earn their living through logging -- to see that this historic plan is successful.

I know there will be some who will say that this agreement is not enough, but throughout the last ten years, during which time we have looked for a solution, no one has come forward with either the dollars to buy Headwaters Forest or a successful methodology to save the forest until this purchase agreement and Habitat Conservation Plan were developed. This agreement was truly the last, best chance to save Headwaters. I could not be happier that we were able to take advantage of that chance."