Logging of Old Growth Spurs Controversy in Willits

The compromise struck by Willits Redwood Company and the Department of Fish and Game (which does not have veto power) is to partially protect the old-growth redwoods along water-courses and in stands of accumulated old-growth monarchs. There trees four-feet in diameter and below may be cut. Elsewhere, the remaining 300 acres of the parcel, trees are subject to the cut unless they show wildlife features. This is a complicated way of permitting the 20% reduction of the forest while trying to stand out of the line of public outrage. The local newspaper, the Willits News, has done little to broadcast or respond to letters regarding the Willits Redwood Company. It's co-owner is a city councilman, Bruce Burton. Another councilman, Greg Kanne, is effective father-in-law to Burton's partner, co-owner Chris Baldo. The subject of the logging, though it threatens to reduce the only tourist bonanza Willits has--the Skunk train trip through the redwoods--is taboo in the Willits City Council. This is small-town politics and how it can threaten without a voiced word Willits' world-famous identity as gateway to the redwoods.