The long struggle to save one of the last remaining stands of old growth redwoods may be entering a new phase. This time the trees are not so sexy, and the crowd is somewhat smaller, but the need is no less. Katherine Cowy Kim (gogocowy@pacificnews.org) is an associate editor at Pacific News Service.

To understand the controversy in the Headwaters Forest Preserve, you must first take a look at a topographical map of the area, at the geometric grid of longitude and latitude superimposed on the intricate sinuous lines of elevation.

Some look at the map and see colors symbolizing the noble old-growth redwoods, the river runs of Coho Salmon. Others see boundaries, demarcations of ownership and value. And still others see both labyrinth and chessboard, a place of loopholes and dead ends, and ultimately the site of economic battles and a test of patience.

Throw a few star-studded celebrities into the mix and you've got a sexy, California soap opera.

In March of 1999, the Headwaters Agreement was signed. For $480 million, five groves -- including the two largest, privately-owned old-growth groves -- were transferred from Pacific Lumber Company (owned by Maxxam Corporation) to the State of California. The two ancient groves were permanently protected, the others are safe for 50 years.

This seemed an environmental victory, compounded by the much-publicized glory of Julia "Butterfly" Hill and the preservation of the 1,000-year-old redwood "Luna" where she lived for over two years.

But the deal was -- as deals often are -- flawed.

Some environmentalists say that the 3,000 acres of the Preserve could not have been logged anyway, because that would violate the federal Endangered Species Act, as the redwoods provide a nesting space for such threatened birds as the Spotted Owl and the Marbled Murrelet.

Others say the Act means nothing "up there" anyway, where forestry agencies are understaffed and cannot check into all the Timber Harvest Plans (THP).

Also, the March 1999 agreement gave Pacific Lumber 700 acres -- over 650 football fields -- right inside the Headwaters Preserve. This space, THP 520 -- dubbed "The Hole in the Headwaters" -- can be logged at any point, PL claims, because they acquired it from a company with an already-approved THP.

"As if birds can't fly," scoffed Owl of the North Coast Earth First! office, pointing out the absurdity of saving one grove and then eliminating its immediate neighbor.

"The Hole" consists of second-growth redwoods, and at points is a quarter mile from the old-growth Headwaters Grove and the South Fork of Elk River, one of the state's last wild Coho Salmon streams. If logged, erosion will affect the river, removal of the forest canopy would heat the water to temperatures unfavorable to salmon, and water quality downstream would deteriorate as logging has already ruined the North Fork.

So the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) and the Sierra Club sued the California Department of Forestry because it approved substantial changes in the logging plan without inviting public comment or environmental review.

On July 10, Superior Court Judge Quentin Kopp issued a preliminary injunction against the change, saying the Forestry Department "prejudicially abused its discretion," and that "a believer in orchestration might reasonably conclude" the department acted deliberately "to prevent public exposure or comment."

But Kopp also slapped a $250,000 bond on the environmentalists -- Pacific Lumber had asked for $1 million, arguing they would lose $8 million if they couldn't log. EPIC and the Sierra Club asked for a reduction, but Kopp denied the request, citing the Sierra Club's deep pockets.

He did extend the deadline for the bond and at the eleventh hour, the environmentalists came through, supported by the likes of Don Henley, Bonnie Raitt and James Gardner.

They paid, but protested that requiring a significant bond "flies in the face of the intent of these laws, that citizens be able to enforce laws when the government is actively engaged in violating them," said EPIC's executive director Paul Mason.

Though the injunction was heralded as a victory, the political game moves at a snail's pace. Court dates are pushed back, and Judge Kopp had to be brought hundreds of miles from San Mateo, because no judge in the county wanted to touch the case.

All spring, Earth First! set up direct action camps to fight the logging of the "Hole" -- blocking the logging road and chaining themselves to pickups owned by Columbia, which owns the squadrons of Chinook helicopters that would haul away the firs and redwoods.

Kopp's ruling halted the logging for now. No logging date is set -- but no court date is set, either. The "Hole" will never be safe unless the area is bought.

Purchase is a possibility, but it will be hard. This is not about big trees and it isn't a grove, and the urgency just isn't there.

In 1985, the Headwaters Forest spread over 60,000 acres. Only one eighth of that -- 7,500 acres -- was salvaged in the deal.

As corporate logging outfits continue their "cut and run" tactics in and near the Headwaters, it becomes clear that the "deal," with its promise of protection for ancient trees, was a travesty.