Greg King is an award-winning journalist and activist credited with spearheading the movement to protect Headwaters Forest, in Humboldt County, California. King initiated the “redwood wars” following the notorious 1985 takeover of the venerable Pacific Lumber Company by the Houston energy and real estate conglomerate Maxxam. He identified and named Headwaters Forest in 1987. Greg King is a fifth-generation native of California's redwood country. His nineteenth century ancestors arrived in Sonoma County in 1873 and later owned one of the largest redwood mills on the Russian River.
King's articles and photographs have appeared in The Sun, Sierra, Smithsonian, Rolling Stone, Newsweek, the Portland Oregonian, the Sacramento Bee, Mother Jones and other publications. In 2016 the Environmental Protection Information Center presented King with its annual Sempervirens Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2023 PublicAffairs Books published King's new book, The Ghost Forest, the definitive history of redwood logging and protection efforts. King lives in Humboldt County, where he serves as President and Executive Director of Siskiyou Land Conservancy.