Please send as far and wide as possible. Thanks, Robert Sterling Editor, The Konformist http://www.konformist.com From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] H E A D W A T E R S . F O R E S T . U P D A T E 11-11-99 1 -- Ongoing treesits in Northern California 2 -- Pepper spray case appeal update 3 -- Protecting a public forest from the public ------------------------------------------------------------ 1 ONGOING TREESITS IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA Julia Butterfly Hill is approaching the two-year anniversary of her amazing defense of Luna. Doing up to 12 press interviews a day, Julia continues to raise public awareness of endangered forests while keeping the pressure on Maxxam. But Julia isn't the only determined treesitter in northern California. Following is a summary of ongoing treesits, including Julia's. ---- LUNA TREESIT, since October 10, 1997 Julia Butterfly's treesit began December 10, 1997, and she has yet to set foot on the ground. The forest surrounding Luna was cut down in October through January of 1997 and '98. Circle of Life Foundation PO 338 Garberville, CA 95560 http://www.circleoflifefoundation.org 707-923-9552 ---- GYPSY MOUNTAIN, since September 8, 1998 The defense of this mountain began with a sit in a tree named Aradia; it ended with another treesit in a grove of redwoods above a murder investigation. The death of David "Gypsy" Chain occurred when an outraged logger cut a tree in the direction of activists in the forest. Since then, many injuries among the treesitters have caused activists to take down most of Gypsy Mountain's treesits. The high canopy is no longer occupied. This fall, Maxxam/PL completed unit #2's clearcut. All previously occupied trees have survived this recent harvest! North Coast Earth First! PO 28 Arcata CA 95518 http://rivendell.fortunecity.com/crisis/359/gypsy.html http://www.humboldt1.com/~ncef 707-825-6598 ---- FRESHWATER TREESIT, since October 16, 1998 Nate just celebrated his one-year anniversary of his road-side sit in an old-growth redwood tree named Mariah. Nate occasionally comes down from his sit when replacement sitters are available. Mariah and Nate also periodically get shot at by disgruntled loggers who have clear-cut their way out of their own jobs. http://www.upatree.net [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---- ARCATA COMMUNITY FOREST, since October 15, 1999 Oregon treesitters from Red Cloud Thunder traveled to California to set up a tree village to stop logging in the community forest of the "greenest" city in America. The result is that folks of Arcata have begun to wake up to the threat and they are rallying to stop the cut. After a recent brush clearing crew was prevented from working, a dozen law enforcement and security personnel returned on October 25 to ensure that the public did not interfere with the brush clearing. Regardless of this show of force, planned fall cutting of the city of Arcata's Redwood Park has been put on hold until spring of 2000. Call the City of Arcata and tell them save their park! 707-822-8184 ------------------------------------------------------------ 2 PEPPER SPRAY CASE APPEAL UPDATE from EcoNews http://www.NECandEcoNews.to Earth First! activists who were pepper-sprayed two years ago while protesting Pacific Lumber logging filed an appeal last month of the federal civil rights case they lost, which aimed to end the use of chemical agents on nonviolent demonstrators. A videotape showing sheriff's deputies yanking back the heads and swabbing pepperspray around the eyes of four activists holding a sit-in at the office of then-Congressman Frank Riggs, outraged citizens around the country and elicited global condemnation. But in October 1998, after the civil rights trial ended in a hung jury, Judge Vaughn Walker declared the case had no merit and that law enforecement had acted appropriately and used reasonable force. The Activists and the America Civil Liberties Union are seeking a reversal of the judge's decision to grant qualified immunity to individual police officers and to not schedule another jury trial. A hearing is not likely until next spring. A video documentary, "Fire In The Eyes," which shows police footage of activists being tortured with pepperspray, can be purchased by emailing the Headwaters Action Video Collevtive at [EMAIL PROTECTED], or by calling 707-459-5490, ext 582. To keep up on the case or to send a donation, contact the Trees Foundation, PO Box 2202, Redway CA 95560, or call 707-923-4377. ------------------------------------------------------------ 3 CONTRA COSTA TIMES ARTICLE Following is a front-page article on Headwaters Reserve from the Contra Costa Times. The article was so good we thought we'd attach in its entirety for you. Contra Costa Times Published on Friday, November 5, 1999 PROTECTING A PUBLIC FOREST FROM THE PUBLIC By James Bruggers Times Staff Writer Humboldt County -- At first, you just feel so small and insignificant as you bend your neck back and watch birds flit from one tree crown to another 300 feet up. Then the silence hits you. There is no freeway noise. No boom boxes. No barking dogs. On this crisp, fall day, you can't even hear the wind -- just your own breathing. This is the Headwaters Grove, the closest thing California has to a forest primeval. It's where 1,000-year-old coastal redwood trees climb 30 stories into low-hanging clouds that blow in from Humboldt Bay, just 15 miles away. It's where black bears rustle through waist-high ferns, and morning dew lingers past noon, glistening like crystals on spiders' webs. In March, California and American taxpayers spent $380 million to buy the 2,800 acre grove, the nearby 300-acre Elk Head Springs grove and a 4,300-acre second-growth buffer zone. There, some of the tallest trees on the planet have already given way to consumer demand for such products as paneling and decking. The question now: Just how should the government manage the 7,400 acres of the Headwaters Forest Reserve and the millions of people who may want to go there someday? Very carefully, says Linda Roush, who is in charge of the reserve for the Bureau of Land Management, the agency in charge of it. "The first week of government ownership, we had so many phone calls. People wanted to go on hikes. They wanted to take their mountain bikes in there, and their horses. They wanted weddings. The price was so high, people want to see what their tax dollars bought." "And then some people were saying we shouldn't allow any access." Getting to the point of figuring out how to preserve the natural resources of the property while allowing some public access has not been easy. For 12 years, environmentalists battled Charles Hurwitz, whose Houston-based Maxxam Corp. bought Pacific Lumber Co., which owned the forest, in 1986 in a hostile takeover financed by junk bonds. The company tripled its logging rate, touching off an epic battle that, in 1996, precipitated the largest forest demonstration in United States history. Several thousand people, many from the Bay Area, converged on the tiny Humboldt County mill town of Carlotta, some 270 miles north of San Francisco. Hundreds were arrested for trespassing on timber company property. The Headwaters struggle produced charges of tree-spiking, intense regulatory scrutiny of Pacific Lumber, the death of an activist, and the still-unexplained 1990 Oakland car bombing of Earth First organizers Judi Bari, who later died of cancer, and Darryl Cherney. The final deal included public acquisition of the Headwaters Reserve, an additional $100 million for state purchase of two other groves and a 50-year conservation plan for 211,000 acres of Pacific Lumber property in Humboldt County. For the next five decades, Pacific Lumber cannot log 12 so-called "lesser cathedral" groves outside the reserve, and they must ensure 100-foot-wide buffer zones along fish-bearing streams and stay out of the most landslide-prone areas. For the Headwaters and Elk Head Springs groves, it was a close call. Some of these towering giants, their bark still scarred by 19th century flames that climbed more than 100 feet, bear the blue paint of "timber cruisers" who in the mid-1990s marked them for a date with the company's Scotia sawmill. Fast-forward to Spring of 1999 After saying people could drive on a gravel road right up to the southern edge of the forest, the BLM has backed off. For now, until a formal management plan can be completed in two years, public access in the reserve will be severely restricted. "The key is, we're managing it as a reserve and not a park," Roush says. The BLM allows people to hike 5.5 miles, following Elk Creek, to a clear-cut that overlooks the main grove. They're asked to stay out of the big trees. And they must hike back out the same day. A parking lot holds just 20 cars, and a $200 fine awaits those who leave their vehicle overnight. Later this month, the BLM may decide to temporarily let up to 10 cars a day drive on a gravel road to a trail head on the southern side of the grove. People could park at what the BLM is calling the Salmon Pass trail head. Then they could walk four miles round-trip on an old logging road that passes next to the Headwaters Grove but doesn't go inside. Reservations would be required. The agency expects to start planning long-term policy in January, answering questions such as: * How much public access should there be? * Should people be allowed inside the actual old-growth areas, or limited to previously cut areas? * Will backpacking and some kind of primitive camping be allowed? * Will the ban on horses and mountain bikes continue? * What's the best way to decommission and restore the 20 miles of logging roads in the reserve? Which ones can be safely turned into hiking trails? * What's the best way to encourage and support scientific research and ecological monitoring in the reserve? * What needs to be done to ensure the protection of endangered coho salmon and marbled murrelets? The coho spawns in the forest's streams; the murrelet, a robin-sized sea bird, nests high in the redwoods, nurturing a single egg in the crook branch. One serious concern is that blue jays, ravens and crows love to eat those murrelet eggs. "And those birds tend to follow people and food," Roush says. That means even small crumbs left behind at a campsite, or picnic area or hiking trail, could attract even more murrelet predators. People are already expressing their opinions. On a clipboard at the Elk River trail head, one Eureka resident writes: "Bikes are OK. We are careful." And this from a Fortuna man: "I'd like to take my 4X4 truck in here." Another Fortuna resident pleads for the BLM to "open it to horseback riding." Meanwhile, environmentalists who fought for more than a decade to save the Headwaters Grove and haven't yet given up trying to save tens of thousands of acres nearby are urging the BLM to put endangered species first. "Headwaters is being protected because it is relatively untouched by humans," says Michael Passoff, with the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters. "Not everything should be opened up to mass tourism." However, as always, the devil will be in the details. And right now, environmental groups have not reached a consensus on specific proposals. "I think a limited number of people should be able to walk through Headwaters, if they know what they are getting into," says Cherney, the Earth First activist. The forest's relatively high elevation, 1,000 feet above the sea along the ridge tops, and its rugged terrain saved the trees from loggers' chainsaws. That same geography will also limit tourism. "Headwaters is never going to be a park for out-of-shape tourists," Cherney says. "Not even on a good day." James Bruggers covers the environment. Reach him at 925-943-8324 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------------------------------------------ T H E S E . U P D A T E S . are prepared by Headwaters Sanctuary Project and distributed by Bay Area Action <www.baaction.org>. Others may repost in entirety at will; please include all contact info. <http://www.HeadwatersForest.org> | info: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> T O . 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