The Last Stand: The War between Wall Street and Main Street over California's Ancient Redwoods

by David Harris

The Last Stand is a compelling American saga of greed gone wild and a small town divided over a precious natural resource.
For three generations, the Murphy family ran the Pacific Lumber Company with a tradition of both sustainable forestry and a concern for employee well-being. Their Headwaters Forest in Northern California contained three-quarters of the world's old-growth redwoods in 1985, the year in which a Texas-based conglomerate engineered a hostile takeover of PLC. The new owners quickly increased the harvest of redwoods by 300 percent, gutted the employee pension plan, and began clear-cutting acre upon acre of virgin forest.
Local environmentalists took up the fight to reverse the takeover and save the redwoods. The conflict between conservation efforts and fears of unemployment came to a head at the end of "Redwood Summer," when protesters from across the country came into town and were greeted by residents shouting insults and slinging eggs and tomatoes.
Moving from the paneled boardrooms overlooking Wall Street to the banks of the Eel River, this engrossing account chronicles the ongoing battle between environmentalists and business over irreplaceable natural resources.

Genres: Environment, Nonfiction, History

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

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Reviews

[Angela Nitsche · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up in Fortuna and personally knew some of the players both mentioned and not in this book. I have mourned the entire sad affair for decades now and every time I look around at the decomposition of what was a vibrant company town, flourishing old-growth redwood groves, and a healthy labor force in Humboldt county I can't help but wish something, anything, could have been done to prevent Hurwitz from devastating my homeland. This book was so well written and engaging that it instantly transported me back to the mid-late 1980s and all of the turmoil our tiny rural town endured. I highly, highly recommend this book to anyone who is unaware of the devastation the high times of finance and low depths of ethical consciousness that were the 80s. We cannot forget what happened.

[Carol White · Rating 5 out of 5]

this would make a terrific movie. Go see the old growth forests in the Olympic Peninsula and northern California if you can.

[Lyndsie Bourgon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, while rich in detail and well-researched, often used what felt to me like a faux-rural tone that aimed to be casual but instead felt pandering.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a happy surprise. I'm generally interested in western forests, and the shady financial deals that have undone our economy are pretty gripping. This book sort of brings everything together. It explains how a financial wheeler-dealer gets involved with a small-town logging company, giving the company, the region, and the environment a working over for his profit. The book ends long before the story does. Happily, it recently "ended" (or at least began a new volume) pretty recently. I'm not sure this is really a 5-star book, but for a random used-bookstore pickup, it was an absolute homerun.

[Chason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harris weaves a very compelling recounting of a somewhat complicated hostile takeover of Pacific Lumber by Texas tycoon Charles Hurwitz. I love the coast redwoods and think it’s a massive tragedy that 95% of the old growth were cut. Pacific Lumber was unique in its method of harvesting the trees it owned, selectively cutting rather than clear cutting like the vast majority of other timber companies. They used this method because it would allow them to maximize the longevity of the production and profitability of the forestlands they owned. It was also healthier for the forests. After Hurwitz took over, the only motive was maximizing profits, so clearcutting became the new method, ratcheting up the cuts two and threefold. To me the biggest tragedy of this story is that it all came down to pure shortsighted human greed. Hurwitz was a crook who broke multiple laws in order to buy Pacific Lumber. He may view himself as just another businesswoman, but I see him as an evil villain. And John Campbell, Hurwitz’s toady sycophant at PL is just as guilty, enabling an ecological tragedy for short-term profit. Just as with most things in this modern world, it all comes down to money as the main motivator and that’s sad. The coast redwoods are a marvel of the natural world and seeing these trees that have lived for hundreds, often thousands, of years as just another commodity is gross. All that said, this is an engaging read full of interesting characters on both sides of the issue.

[Mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an ocasional visitor to the Northern California Coast and lover of the old-growth redwood forests, I was intrigued by this story. I lived in California as the events described in the book occurred, but I had never read the full narrative. Charles Hurwitz, and Doug Bosco were familiar as names of the villains in the story. Hurwitz is still alive, living in Texas on his riches, and undoubtedly a large Republican donor, while the forests he raped and the silt-filled streams he destroyed will never recover. The economy of Humboldt County now seems to be completely dependent on cannabis and welfare. This is a story of how rules favor the timber companies, the general incompetence of government functionaries against very smart lawyers, and the insufficient parameters of timber harvest plans.
Later in the book, Harris describes the horrific attack on two activists who suffered shrapnel wounds and psychological wounds exacerbated by an FBI which continued to accuse them of being the terrorists in the bombing of Judy Bari’s Subaru and never tried to find the actual attackers. All in all this is a narrative of a shameful period in California history and there is little evidence that a lot has changed in the past forty years.

[David Watts · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book but not for the reasons I thought I would. It was more about the corporate raiders of the mid to late 80’s and how they circumvented rules to accomplish their means. Pacific Lumber was employee owned and they fought as much as they could, but could only do so much. Environmentalists were also covered as they tried to fight the clear cutting of redwood forests that had not been historically done - but were implemented to finance the debt incurred by corporate raiders to take over the company. There was no happy ending for the redwood forests under Pacific Lumbers ownership. An interesting read regardless.

[Brett Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this retelling of the history of Pacific Lumber.

I was hoping for more specific details on the destruction of the Headwaters Forest before it was saved, but there was only a few fleeting mentions of the road building being done in the forest.

This book certainly talked about the Redwoods and the Headwaters Forest, but largely, this book mostly describes the power struggle within Pacific Lumber in the 90's.

[Matea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a hard time getting excited to read this book. Some chapters, I was completely engaged only to lose it with the following chapter. I enjoyed learning more about the old growth forests and the history/controversy behind protecting them.

[Zachary Gardner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story of rural economies and environmental activism and corporate greed. At points the detail was exhaustive and maybe important for a history textbook but could get in the way of the story. Made me want to go visit Humboldt County and see the groves where the story takes place.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very engrossing read. It was very easy to get into the flow of the book. Harris' portrayal of the highly disparate array of characters - from the super-wealthy and notorious junk bond barons of the eighties, to blue-collar timber workers, to vocal environmental monkeywrenchers - maintains their humanity while pointing out their moral and philosophical conflicts. These clashes resulted in some dramatic wins and losses, even violent tragedy, for many of the players.

I was surprised at how little time he spent on the ecology and science at the root of this fight; it's more of a social/legal/political telling of the battle over the Headwaters Grove and surrounding environs. Many strategies were put to work by the factions here, and Harris does a good job of showing what worked, what didn't, and why.

I'd recommend this to anyone interested in environmental science, environmental movements, or public policy.

It is also worth mentioning that this hardback is one of those well-made books that lies open, no matter what page you're on. I also like the rough-cut outer edges of the paper.