October 2, 2000
Henry Gundling
P.O. Box 589
Philo, CA 95466
Tel. 707-895-3781
Dr. Nick Brown
World Wildlife Fund
1250 Twenty-Fourth St., NW
Washington, DC 20037-1132
Dear Dr. Brown,
I have been involved in forestry and other environmental activities in Mendocino county including the Forest Advisory Committee and Forest Council since my retirement in 1987. During that period I was also president of the Napa County Land Trust for four years, having been a resident of Napa County for many years. I have enjoyed the privilege of owning Redwood tree farm properties in Mendocino County since 1968, and in fact, now reside on one of those properties.
My purpose in writing this letter is to give you my personal impression of Mendocino Redwood Company and it's management of 350 square miles of the most beautiful place on earth. As you must be aware, the previous owner of tbe property, Louisiana Pacific Corporation, pratically destroyed a magnificent resource. In fact, the history of industrial ownership on the entire Redwood Coast is dreadful. Thus I can say to you with significant personal knowledge of the facts that MRC is the first breath of fresh air we have had from a large corporate owner during my memory. They are responsive to public concerns. They have reduced the harvest rate to significantly less than their growth rate, and they bave taken many other positive steps, too many to mention in this letter. Unfortunately, an important part of their resource is in several sensitive watersheds. Even though this land is designated Timber Production Zone, changing demographics have produced a strong opposition to almost timber harvesting in these areas. So therein lies the problem. All I can do is assure you that MRC and it's very competent executive staff are doing all they can to satisfy their critics and still stay in business.
Please don't hesitate to contact me if I can be of any help.
Yours truly,
Henry Gundling
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