The Last Stand: The War Between Wall Street and Main Street Over California's Ancient Redwoods [B0904]

1995 HCDJ in nice clean condition. This "gripping and informative" (Publishers Weekly) account of financier Charles Hurwitz's takeover of the Pacific Lumber Company (PL) in remote Northern California is as much a story about the struggle for the soul of capitalism as it is about the fight to save the ancient redwoods on the company's lands. For generations the family-owned PL had operated on the banks of the Eel River in Humboldt County under the principle of long-term sustainability over short-term profits: employees were treated respectfully, and no more than seventy percent of old-growth redwoods would be cut in order to give the forest time to reseed. David Harris skillfully combines a journalist's astute eye for detail and an activist's moral outrage with fast-paced, thriller-like writing to chronicle the drastic changes that came to not only a corporation but its employees' entire way of life when the PL was bought out by a Texas-based conglomerate (MAXXAM, Inc. in a 1986 hostile takeover, financed by junk bonds)-and whose greed-fueled destruction of the redwoods ultimately doomed the enterprise.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "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. Prior to the takeover, 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."