Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons^™

Lower Prairie Creek Project Redwood National Park "Forest Owners", Susie Van Kirk

Susie Van Kirk Papers

"This file addresses forest ownerships, using deeds, patents, and maps in the Humboldt County Recorder’s Office, Eureka Courthouse. Pretty boring to wade through, these records, nonetheless, document how the public domain of northwestern California—the ancient redwood forests—came to be concentrated in the hands of timber companies. ... Land in the Lower Prairie Creek Project area (plus much, much other forest lands) was obtained through fraudulent patents and deed transactions involving David Evans and his associates for transfer to Scottish investors and eventually to “legitimate” timber companies. The end result, of course, is that what once belonged to indigenous people and …