Redwood Grove Land Swap

* “Land Swap to Preserve Old Redwood Forest Takes Root” (July 25) discusses at great length about 11 square miles of privately owned redwood forest which needs to be saved from logging. These are admittedly not the oldest, largest, tallest trees, yet the article makes no mention of the nearly 550 square miles of redwood parks that can never be logged.

These include the 117 square miles of the Redwood National Park, 155 square miles in other locations of the oldest, largest redwood groves that ever existed, and all the parks that private timber companies owned and saved until they could be purchased for parks, such as Avenue of the Giants, Rockefeller Grove, or even Fern Canyon, which was donated by the Pacific Lumber Co. Redwood National Park, established in the 1960s, is our most expensive and least used national park.

STUART H. JONES

Claremont

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* The article says that the Headwaters forest “has achieved almost mythic status as the last unprotected stand of ancient redwoods on Earth.” While politicians see Charles Hurwitz as another power player to work with for electoral advantage, environmentalists want him to pay for his sins of wiping out 40 square miles of ancient redwoods in Humboldt County in order to pay off junk bond debts. The primary concern of environmentalists is that only the main Headwaters stand and a little buffer gets protected, and that the deal includes language that does not allow for court challenges to protect the other stands.

Concerned citizens must insist that 60,000 acres of the greater Headwaters forest area be protected. We need protection of the grand, life-giving redwood ecosystem, not a token move for electoral advantage.

BRUCE CAMPBELL

Los Angeles

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* Re “Saving California’s Giants,” editorial, July 27: Am I the only one who finds it inconsistent for The Times to call for the preservation of forests and continue to print its news on paper?

MATTHEW S. McDONALD

Newport Beach