Is there anything else you want to say?

I would have you stress we are talking about the forest and not individual trees. It takes many components to make old-growth forests. If you take any of those away, the forest loses its integrity. I am sad to say there are virtually no streams in old-growth forests that run clean and pure with fish like they used to. I can name only three.

"It is important to realize that the forest is really more than the trees." --Paul Hughes

Paul Hughes is Executive Director of Forests Forever in San Francisco. He has been involved in the environmental movement for 25 years. Forests Forever's mission is to protect and enhance the forests and wildlife habitat of California. Their top priority is to save the Headwaters Forest from logging.

What percent of old-growth redwood forests are left in California?

Just 4% and those forests are particularly important because they harbor unique parcels of land.

How much of the Headwaters is part of that percent that is still standing?

The 6,000 acres of virgin redwoods in the Headwaters constitutes almost all the privately-owned redwoods in the state. When you fly over the Headwaters in a private plane you can circle them in 15 minutes flying time. It is shocking to realize that this is all that is left of a 2.2-million-acre redwood ecosystem that existed just 150 years ago in California.

Have you spent time in old growth-forests and which is your favorite one?

Trinity Alps Marble Mountain Wilderness up near the Oregon border. It has the most spectacular old-growth trees with trunks covered in moss.

Do you believe trees have a spirit or soul?

I believe they have tremendous spiritual power. It is important to realize that the forest is really more than the trees. It is all so interconnected and interdependent. The trees are the most visible part, the most glorious part. Nowhere else but in a cathedral forest can you find such deep solitude and the silence.

Do you believe trees are living entities?

Some redwoods are 2,500-years-old. Any time you have a living being who has aged and grown that much, you are talking about a reservoir of energy beyond human comprehension.

How can you deny that when you walk through the forest and feel that magic and energy?

There is much that science hasn't taught us about these ancient forests. There is an extra dimension there we haven't plumbed yet.

Let's say trees have a life force and sense of family among themselves. Why are they allowing us to decimate them?

There are two sides to this coin. One is the forests have enlisted us to save them because we are part of the forest--we are part of a global ecosystem. You could say we are that part of the forest that is seeking to save itself with a human voice. On the other side, why is this destruction going on? Thomas Malthus said: "Nature is a cycle of boom and bust." It is inevitable that mankind will destroy the environment we depend on. But we have the ability to change if we make the effort. We know how to, but we have to muster the will as a species to do it.