Me and Jesus Protest the Iraq War in SF

On my way to Santa Barbara I stopped in San Francisco to participate in the October 27 antiwar protest. I rode into SF on what's known as the Magic Bus.

LA Times covers Berkeley Tree-sit

I am currently in Santa Barbara and saw this article on the cover of the Los Angeles Times.

Shunka on Cover of North Coast Journal

Forest defender Shunka Wakan is on the cover of this week's North Coast Journal. The article focuses on the Kathryn Miller vs. Trees Foundation trial in Eureka. It talks about the internal conflicts and problems in the Humboldt forest defense movement. I often worry that these problems, that have been going on for many years, will discourage people from getting involved, resulting in the loss of forest to corporate greed. If there is a community of people in Northern California who care about saving what is left of the ancient forests, maybe they will see that they need to get involved and work to make sure that there is a strong, united and well organized forest defense effort.
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Now playing: Riders On The Storm - The Doors
via FoxyTunes

PALCO Files for Extension on Fern Gully THP

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I just learned today that Pacific Lumber has filed for another one year extension on THP 01-446 where forest defenders have been sitting in the Fern Gully Tree Village for several years. Sitters had hoped to come down next week on October 8, when last year's extension expired. An activist that goes by the name of "Song" said "We'll still be there, because it's a critical area, the front line of the woods, right above people's houses. It's on a 30-80% grade." Activists are working on finding gear, clothes, tarps and supplies to get them through another winter.

PALCO Submits Plan to Sell/Subdivide Timberlands

--- The Pacific Lumber Company has submitted a plan to the Federal Bankruptcy Court that calls for selling a large part of their holdings and subdividing 22,000 acres into 160 acre parcels. The new development will be called "Redwood Ranch". The plan was on the front pages of today's SF Chronicle and Eureka Reporter. A discussion of the project can be found on the Humboldt Herald blog. The Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment has posted the entire plan at their site.


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Now playing: Mysterious Ways - U2
via FoxyTunes

Lumberjack reports on tree-sitting

It's nice to see that The Lumberjack at HSU has started a series of articles on tree-sitting inTimes-Standard seem determined to ignore tree-sitting. The Lumberjack article can be found at http://www.thejackonline.org Humboldt. I have noticed that there has been very little newspaper coverage of tree-sitting over the years, even though people all over the world are interested in it. The North Coast Journal has done some articles, but most of the mainstream media like the /

More Evidence on "Marin Dan"

Someone suggested to me that I did not provide as much evidence as I should have. Here is some more, and if anyone has any doubt then let me know and I will post more. Click on photos to enlarge. I see that my blog is getting hits from the Pacific Lumber ISP address in Scotia very early this morning.

PL cyber-spy urges activists to go after SPI

In recent comments on forest defense blog posts, a "Marin Dan" has suggested that forest defenders should leave Pacific Lumber alone and protest against Sierra Pacific instead. He says he doesn't work for PL, but all of the evidence says he does. He claims to be a retired teacher living in Marin County, but his posts demonstrate an intimate knowledge of PL timber plans in Humboldt County. His post times coincide with hits from a PL ISP in Scotia. There are no doubt some good reasons to protest against SPI, but his suggestion that SPI would be tougher on trespassers sounds crazy to me. His comments can be found on this blog, Save Ancient Forests, and Humboldt Forest Defense Association.

Ninth Aniversary of David Chain's Death

Nine years ago today, David Nathan Chain, whose forest name was Gypsy, was killed when a PALCO logger felled a tree on top of him. I had just come to Humboldt County and was involved with the forest actions in the Grizzly Creek area where Gypsy was killed. I had been arrested the day before in the same logging plan. Despite evidence that the logger A. E. Ammons had threatened the protesters shortly before he cut the tree, no charges were ever filed.

David Chain Memorial Vandalized

While I was at Grizzly Creek State Park for our action camp, I visited the David "Gypsy" Chain memorial and saw how it has been defaced and vandalized. Shame on the ignorant, mean-spirited person or persons responsible. It is not enough for them that David Chain was killed by a logger, so they do this to his memorial plaque. A hole has been drilled into Gypsy's forehead and it has been defaced with red paint. Pacific Lumber Company should replace or repair the memorial. Please contact them about this matter.
PALCO Main Office
P.O. Box 37
Scotia, CA 95565
e-mail: info@PALCO.com

(707) 764-2222

Action Camp

Action camp went very well. Quite a few people learned how to climb a tree using a rope. People with the Midnight Special Law Collective came up from the Bay Area to give legal and non-violent direct action trainings, that were very popular.

Climber Eric at Spooner - Base Camp at Grizzly Creek State Park

About 15 friends and supporters of the Nanning Creek tree-sitters arrived last night at the logging gate to hold a vigil in support of the tree-sits. It was reported that Eric Shatz, who has extracted many tree-sitters in the past, was at the tree-village on Tuesday. Activists announced that the location for the Sept. 7th Action Camp will be Grizzly Creek State Park on Hwy. 36. The directions to the camp are:

FROM THE NORTH: 1.US-101 SOUTH PAST EUREKA 2. Turn LEFT onto HWY36. 17.1 miles 3. End at Grizzly Creek Redwoods Park: 16949 State Highway 36, Carlotta, CA 95528, US FROM THE SOUTH: 1.US-101 NORTH PAST SCOTIA/RIO DELL 2.Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto CA-36. 17.1 miles 3.End at Grizzly Creek Redwoods Park: 16949 State Highway 36, Carlotta, CA 95528, US FROM I-5: 1.FROM REDDING, CA, follow CA-299 W. 38.1 miles 2.CA-299 W becomes CA-3. 35.4 miles 3.CA-3 becomes CA-36. 54.8 miles End at Grizzly Creek Redwoods Park: 16949 State Highway 36, Carlotta, CA 95528, US

More info at http://mattolewild.blogspot.com/

Spooner Tree-sit Raided Today

Tree-sitters in the Nanning Creek tree village sent a text message today saying that Pacific Lumber climbers were raiding the tree-sits. Also two forest defenders were arrested on the ground for trespassing. Activists are heading to the gate to protest against Palco's actions. Some activists have raised concerns that the company is violating the law by cutting branches during Marbled Murrelet nesting season, which ends on September 15. Much of the tree-sitter's gear has been taken or destroyed.

Action Camp to Start September 6

A direct action forest defense base camp will be taking place September 6th-10th. The location will probably be somewhere in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Non-Violence, Solidarity, Backwoods and Climbing trainings will be offered. The camp is free, but donations are needed and appreciated. The focus of the camp is to prepare activists to be effective in non-violent forms of direct action, and to support the tree-sits in Fern Gully and Nanning Creek.We are brought together with the common goal of preventing old-growth logging, clear cutting, the use of herbicides and non-sustainable forestry in all areas of the region, the nation and the planet. For more information please call 707-834-3100 or 949-274-0998 or 707-845-9046 or email spooner@spoonerdirect.org.

Forest Defenders Table at Trinity Tribal Stomp

Humboldt Forest Defenders set up an information table at the 2007 Trinity Tribal Stomp in Junction City, California. There was a lot of great music and a strong sense of community. A sunrise ceremony on Sunday morning was dedicated to honoring the memory of long-time activist Corbin Harney, who died recently.

Ancient Redwood Spooner Still Threatened

Spooner is a huge, ancient redwood tree that is almost 300 feet tall and is estimated to be as much as 2,000 years old. Marked to be cut down by Pacific Lumber Company, Spooner is located in the Nanning Creek watershed, near Scotia, Ca. Activists began sitting in Spooner two summers ago and have set traverse lines to protect the surrounding grove of trees. For more information go to http://spoonerdirect.org

Some Photos from the Mattole

Arcata People Project Protests for Human Rights

For the past nine days the People Project has been protesting the criminalization of homelessness as a human rights violation. On Saturday, April 21 they established a protest encampment that was raided by the police on April 25. Eighteen protesters were arrested. Many suffered injuries during the arrest. The encampment moved to City Hall for two days, and then moved to 14th And Union Streets. Tomarrow the protesters will rally there and march back to City Hall to be at the City Council meeting. For more information visit http://peopleproject.wordpress.com

Demonstration Tree Sit at Arcata 420 Fest

Yesterday, Humboldt County forest defenders put up a demonstration tree sit and banner hang at the Arcata 420 Festival in Redwwood Park. They were trying to make the public aware that ancient forest is still being cut and get people interested in supporting the tree sits in Nanning Creek and Fern Gully. Police estimated that about 3500 people attended the annual event.

Step It Up 2007 - Cut Carbon 80% by 2050

Last Saturday, I was part of the Step It Up campaign to tell Congress to cut carbon 80% by 2050. Over 1300 actions were planned nationwide. Locally, people planted 500 native willow trees. It is very disturbing to me to see that some people still deny that global warming is a real problem. They seem to think that Al Gore just made it all up to further his own importance, and then hypnotized or bribed all the world's scientists into going along. I suppose they think that only the tireless effort of Exxon-Mobil to debunk Gore's idea- will save us all. It's the worst kind of insanity. Another disturbing development is that the timber industry is using global warming as an excuse to cut all the remaining old growth. The extreme craziness and evil is becoming overwhelming to me.

April 13: Day of Action Against SPI

Activists have called for a "Day of Action" on Friday the 13th of April to expose the devastating clearcutting done by Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) in the forests of the Sierra Nevada. These forests are rich in biodiversity, providing a home to bald eagles, giant sequoias and pacific fishers. People are being offered a variety of activities big and small, including delivering letters to stores that sell wood, calling SPI headquarters and handing out information. Sierra Pacific is the largest landowner in California. Although the focus of this action is logging in Eastern California, SPI is also causing terrible destruction here on the North Coast. The photo above is of a log truck that I recently saw coming out of an SPI logging plan in Davis Creek, right next to the Mattole watershed. Sierra Pacific has also been logging in the Bear Creek watershed. The logs in the photo are probably headed to the SPI mill on Samoa Blvd. in Manila (right next to Arcata). For more information go to forestethics.org or call 415-863-4563 ext.328.

New Blog

I just created a new blog about Arcata. The Arcata Reporter will cover news and entertainment events that I come across in Arcata, California.

Please sign my petition to the Governator to save Mattole

I just created an online petition to Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger, asking him to take measures to protect what remains of the old growth forests in the Mattole watershed. About 2000 acres of old growth is left. This unique ecosystem provides habitat for endangered species. A tiny pecentage of the original old growth forest in California is left. Pacific Lumber has been known for its unsustainable logging practices since it was taken over by Texas based Maxxam Corporation. These practices have harmed water quality and downsteam residents. Steps could be taken to purchase the land or to ban old growth logging. To sign this petition click here.

Redwood Peace and Justice Center

I want to thank the Redwood Peace and Justice Center for giving me use of their space and computers for my forest activism, and our People Project meetings. The Redwood Peace and Justice Center is a nonprofit community project which provides a resource network and physical space to empower local organizations and individuals committed to education and action in human rights, social justice, and nonviolence. Groups use the center for meetings, outreach, and organizing. The center brings different perspectives to the public through their retail space and info shop, and sells locally made handcrafts and fair trade imports as an alternative to corporate sweat shop manufactured goods. To contact them or make a donation go to http://rpjc.net/

Mattole Skillshare is Big Success

I spent last week at the Mattole Wildlands Defense Skillshare at the Mattole Beach. I thought it went quite well. The most surprising thing was that there was not a drop of rain for all seven days. One of the most popular wokshops was the Coyuntura, which is Spanish for conjunction. It taught us a new way of analysis and finding solutions to problems. Other worshops were: pocket pouch survival kit, plant identification, rebel media, foraging, yoga, and history of Mattole forest defense. As a blogger and photographer, I was particularly interested in the rebel media workshop.

Students Protest Cuts to Native American Studies Dept.

This morning, about sixty students entered the office of Humboldt State University President Rollin Richmond, and occupied his office for one hour. Ricmond tried to engage the protesters in conversation, but for the most part the students remained silent with arms locked together to make their point. Many of the students wore t-shirts saying "Support Native American and ethnic studies" and "Stop Academic & cultural & spiritual genocide". They are unhappy that two or three instructors are to be let go. University police showed up shortly after the protest began, but there were no arrests.

Anti-war Protest in Eureka

This morning, about thirty people protested against the Iraq war, at Congressman Mike Thompson's office in Eureka. After displaying signs and banners outside, the demonstrators went inside to express their concerns to office manager Liz Murguia. The protesters want Thompson to support Lynn Woolsey's House Resolution 508. They will demonstrate again at the office next Monday, and a larger protest will be held on Saturday, March 17 at noon at the Eureka Courthouse. Townhall meetings are planned for sometime after that, as local activists try to ramp up opposition to Bush's war policy.

Large Turnout for PALCO Bankruptcy Talk

There was a large turnout of concerned community members tonight, to hear Peter Clapp talk about the Pacific Lumber Company's Capter 11 bankruptcy. Clapp, a bankruptcy attorney and teacher, spoke at the River Lodge Conference Center in Fortuna. Clapp said the two key issues were the valuation of the company, and the feasability of sustainable harvests. Many of the questions submitted by the audience, indicated that members of the timber industry community are worried about their pensions. The company's debts total about $750 million. The company,s main asset is it's 200,000 acres of timberlands.

Mattole Forest Slide Show

Wildlands Defense Skillshare Gathering March 11th to 18th

Mattole Wildlands Defenders invite you to join us at our skillshare this spring. Tentative dates are from March 11th to 18th. Workshops will include; Direct Action Training, Backwoods Skills, Tree Climbing, Plant Identification, Fire Building, Shelter Building and Blockading. The gathering will be in Humboldt County, exact location to be announced. People planning to attend are encouraged to call ahead of time.We will be preparing to defend the Old-Growth Forest and waters of the North Fork Mattole River from Maxxam/Pacific Lumber. The company is expected to try and get the watercourse protections weakened this summer to allow logging closer to streams.contact # (707) 834-3100