The 7,472-acre Headwaters Forest Reserve (Reserve) was established in 1999 after a decade-long grassroots effort to protect the world's last unprotected, intact, old-growth redwood forest ecosystem. Several threatened species call the Reserve home, including coho salmon, the northern spotted owl, and the marbled murrelet. Deep in the heart of the Headwaters, old-growth forest is the beginnings or headwaters of the South Fork Elk River and Salmon Creek. This is how the area got its name. The Reserve is managed by the BLM in partnership with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.