Word: timber
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...MAXXAM (1995 sales: $2.57 billion), bought Pacific Lumber, the redwoods' owner. Hurwitz visited PL's Scotia, California, mill, and told workers he believed in the golden rule: "He who has the gold, rules." Then he drained $55 million from PL's $93 million pension fund, and cranked up the timber cut to pay off his debt. A redwood 300 ft. high and 18 ft. in diameter can bring $200,000 as a sawlog...
...remarkable to think that the issue of clear-cutting would trigger such a fierce debate in Maine, a state Ralph Nader once called "a paper plantation." Unlike the West, almost half the state is in the hands of private timber interests. This is the largest concentration of industry ownership in the country. Just 15 corporate landlords own 9.6 million acres, primarily in the North Woods, the great dark forest blanketing Maine's upper reaches. The same industry produced $5.5 billion worth of paper and lumber products last year, as well as 26,000 jobs for this hard-pressed economy. Such...
Today the timber industry no longer enjoys the absolute fealty it once did. Mainers have watched with alarm over the past two decades as some 2,000 sq. mi. of forest--roughly the area of Delaware--have been clear-cut. From the air, the rich coat of the North Woods looks like it has mange. In the past five years, softwoods such as spruce and fir have been chopped down at a pace almost double their rate of growth. "There is no question that clear-cutting was overused," concedes Roger Milliken, one of the most progressive of the large landowners...
Carter spooked the timber interests as never before. If passed, the ban would be the most severe restriction on timber harvests in the country. "It would devastate the forest-products industry," says Vic Berardelli, its spokesman in Augusta. The industry responded with a $1.8 million war chest to try to defeat the referendum--a huge effort in Maine...
...third alternative, forged among centrist environmentalists, Governor Angus King and the big landowners, emerged in June to blunt both extremes. Under the Compact for Maine's Forests, big timber companies could clear-cut no more than 1% of their land each year, and the maximum allowable clear-cut would shrink from 250 to 75 acres. More important in the long run, they would abide by voluntary standards to preserve sustainable levels of tree harvesting, and protect soil, water and biodiversity. The compact also would create a compliance system managed by independent auditors...