Greg King: History of the Redwood Ecosystem and the Struggle to Save It

Greg King will present an image and information-rich presentation tracing the natural history of the redwood forest and its collision with Western humanity. His talk offers a chronicle of the redwood ecosystem, its two hundred million-year journey across the globe, and an examination of redwood logging and protection efforts since the mid-19th century.

Headwaters Forest, discovered and named in 1987 by Greg, will be emphasized along with its place in the history of redwood logging and redwood protection. He will discuss key elements of state, federal and corporate policy with regard to regulations and their practical application (or lack thereof). Early on in Greg's investigations of Pacific Lumber's (PL) accelerated liquidation of the world's last unprotected ancient redwood groves, he discovered that PL's new parent company, Maxxam, and regulators themselves at the California Department of Forestry and the State Board of Forestry, were routinely interpreting court edicts requiring greater adherence to environmental laws by simply modifying language to achieve the same levels of routine violation.

Greg King is a UCSC alumni, and on a short guest lecture tour throughout western California from March 4 to 14. His talk reflects elements of his upcoming book, The Ghost Forest.

Sponsored by the California Native Plant Society, Santa Cruz County chapter.

Free