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Trucks Blocked from Logging Giant Trees
Activists Block Logging Roads Where Ancient Redwoods are Crashing Down
<br><br>
Contacts:
Karen Pickett, Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters (510) 548-3113 or <br>
David at Rainforest Action Network (415) 398-4404, x310
<br><br>
Contacts:
Karen Pickett, Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters (510) 548-3113 or <br>
David at Rainforest Action Network (415) 398-4404, x310
Nanning Creek, Humboldt County - In the pre-dawn hours today, two women put their bodies on the line for the ancient redwoods by locking themselves to gates and trucks entering the access roads leading to a controversial logging plan in Nanning Creek watershed outside Scotia, California in Humboldt County. The women and supporters unfurled banners reading “ Stop Maxxamum Greed/ Save Nanning Grove”, “Save Nanning Creek Ancient Forest,” “Extinction is Forever”, and “Save Scotia/ Kick Maxxam Out”.
Maxxam/Pacific Lumber (PL) subsidiary ScoPac began logging operations in the controversial plan on Nov.11, triggering protests that have included tree-sits high in the branches of the giant trees that measure more than 15 feet in diameter, vigils at the entrance to access roads, and a demonstration at Pacific Lumber offices in the company town of Scotia. The Timber Harvest Plan (THP) contains some of the highest quality murrelet habitat left on PL land, long seen by scientists as a crucial habitat area for the endangered bird. The plan was cynically named “Bonanza” by PL, and it is no coincidence that it is one of Maxxam/PL’s last shot at a sizable chunk of old growth before a possible bankruptcy reorganization forces a change in ownership of the timberlands.
THP # 1-05-097, at 249 acres, is in the Dean Creek and Nanning Creek watersheds and contains habitat for other sensitive and threatened species, including the northern spotted owl, and is upstream from coho and chinook salmon spawning habitat. Nanning Creek is a tributary of the Eel River, which is already listed as impaired under the Clean Water Act Section 303(d). The plan is adjacent to already clearcut forest, and impacts just about every sensitive ecological resource in the area.
Legal challenges to permits issued by US Fish and Wildlife Service, the federal agency charged with protecting threatened and endangered species, have thus far failed to halt logging in the rare habitat crucial to the endangered bird. At last report, logging was stopped by the blockade.
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Maxxam/Pacific Lumber (PL) subsidiary ScoPac began logging operations in the controversial plan on Nov.11, triggering protests that have included tree-sits high in the branches of the giant trees that measure more than 15 feet in diameter, vigils at the entrance to access roads, and a demonstration at Pacific Lumber offices in the company town of Scotia. The Timber Harvest Plan (THP) contains some of the highest quality murrelet habitat left on PL land, long seen by scientists as a crucial habitat area for the endangered bird. The plan was cynically named “Bonanza” by PL, and it is no coincidence that it is one of Maxxam/PL’s last shot at a sizable chunk of old growth before a possible bankruptcy reorganization forces a change in ownership of the timberlands.
THP # 1-05-097, at 249 acres, is in the Dean Creek and Nanning Creek watersheds and contains habitat for other sensitive and threatened species, including the northern spotted owl, and is upstream from coho and chinook salmon spawning habitat. Nanning Creek is a tributary of the Eel River, which is already listed as impaired under the Clean Water Act Section 303(d). The plan is adjacent to already clearcut forest, and impacts just about every sensitive ecological resource in the area.
Legal challenges to permits issued by US Fish and Wildlife Service, the federal agency charged with protecting threatened and endangered species, have thus far failed to halt logging in the rare habitat crucial to the endangered bird. At last report, logging was stopped by the blockade.
###
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Activists on the scene reported four arrests were made, one by CHP and the other three by Humbodlt County Sheriffs. Police also confiscated video tape shot by activists.
Four arrested outside Pacific Lumber headquarters
by Kara D. Machado, 11/30/2005
Three women and one man were arrested Monday morning during a direct-action protest at the Scotia headquarters of The Pacific Lumber Co.
The protest, according to Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters and Rainforest Action Network officials and one bystander, dealt with the cutting down of old-growth trees by PALCO.
Humboldt County Sheriff’s officials arrested two women, Emma Nation, 44, of Redway and an 18-year-old woman booked as “Jane Doe” after she refused to give her name.
Jane Doe, later identified as Brittany Roberts, 18, of Eureka, was arrested on suspicion of resisting or obstructing a peace officer and for trespassing, said Brenda Godsey, public information officer for the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office.
Godsey said Roberts had locked herself to a gate at PALCO, blocking the entrance and “interfering/obstructing the business.”
Nation, who was “standing in the roadway, blocking the entrance” to the business, was arrested on suspicion of trespassing, Godsey said.
Sheriff’s officials were alerted of the protest at PALCO at about 6:30 a.m.
Neither the authorities nor Chuck Center, director of governmental affairs and communications for PALCO, knew who placed the 911 call.
California Highway Patrol officials were also at the scene and arrested Nathaniel Hill, a 22-year-old transient out of Arcata, and Kimberly L. Starr, 33, of Eureka.
Paul Dahlen, public affairs officer for CHP, said both Hill and Starr were arrested on suspicion of failing to obey a lawful order from a peace officer, “failing to disperse.”
Starr “was also arrested for resisting arrest,” Dahlen said, and Hill “was also arrested for displaying a sign within a right-of-way in a highway.”
Starr, a CHP official said, had chained herself to an object using an L-shaped piece of metal tubing made at a 90-degree angle.
Hill’s two signs — which read “Extinction is forever; trees dying, rivers drying” and “Stop MAXXAM greed, save Nanning Grove” — were confiscated by authorities, Dahlen said.
Roberts, Nation and Hill all remained behind bars Tuesday on $5,000 bail, Godsey and a Humboldt County jail official said.
Starr was set to be released on her own recognizance, but she refused to sign a promise to appear in court so she is being held without bail until she sees a judge, Godsey said.
All four were scheduled to be arraigned by either Tuesday or today, Godsey said.
Susan Maloney, an observer at Monday’s “nonviolent, direct-action” protest — a protest in which protesters “put their bodies on the line” for their cause — said PALCO had begun logging old-growth trees Nov. 11.
“I (was) an observer,” Maloney said. “But I support what (those arrested) did.”
Maloney said she has been working on issues related to those as Monday’s protest for approximately eight years and is passionate about the cutting down of old-growth trees.
“There are 200 acres of old-growth forest being logged one mile east of Scotia,” Maloney said. “And many people around Humboldt County, throughout the country and around the world ... want to see the remainder of our ancient forests protected … in a nutshell.”
The old-growth forests, Maloney added, “are icons; ancient relics of history.”
“We consider this an environmental crime,” she said.
Brant Olson, San Francisco-based director for the Old Growth Campaign, described the cutting of old-growth trees as “ethically wrong.”
“It’s like killing an elephant for their ivory,” Olson said, who added his campaign is not engaged with Monday’s protesters but have been in contact with them and “certainly support their efforts.”
The forest in Scotia “has magnificent trees that have been around since the birth of Christ,” Olson said. “They are literally 2,000 years old.”
Both Maloney and Olson claim PALCO’s logging of old-growth trees — which Olson described as trees that are in the latest stages of evolution — is a last-ditch effort to liquidate PALCO’s forest assets.
Center said that claim is “absolutely not true” and added that the logging has been “approved by every federal and state agency.”
As for the protesters’ beliefs against old-growth logging, Center declined to comment.
“We try to ignore this because they are all trespassing,” Center said. “Apparently, with the highway patrol, they had blocked part of the roadway.”
Center said he was “unsure of what actually happened” Monday morning during the protest. Center, Godsey and Dahlen all commented on their concern for the safety of the protesters.
“We worry about their safety and the safety of others,” Center said. “If someone gets hurt, it’s a liability for us. Safety for others is our concern.”
Dahlen added that it’s “very unsafe to be walking in the middle of the roadway (as with Hill), even with a sign that can be seen; it’s just not safe to be in the middle of a roadway to get your point across … there’s plenty of shoulder space for you to do that.”
Godsey said the hazards of direct-action protesting, as with Monday’s, are known by protesters, loggers and law enforcement alike.
“They’re aware of the hazards,” Godsey said. “You have a group of people who feel passionately about their cause and that’s a risk they’ve proven they’re willing to accept.
“But unfortunately, they are putting other people at risk also.”
http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=6087
by Kara D. Machado, 11/30/2005
Three women and one man were arrested Monday morning during a direct-action protest at the Scotia headquarters of The Pacific Lumber Co.
The protest, according to Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters and Rainforest Action Network officials and one bystander, dealt with the cutting down of old-growth trees by PALCO.
Humboldt County Sheriff’s officials arrested two women, Emma Nation, 44, of Redway and an 18-year-old woman booked as “Jane Doe” after she refused to give her name.
Jane Doe, later identified as Brittany Roberts, 18, of Eureka, was arrested on suspicion of resisting or obstructing a peace officer and for trespassing, said Brenda Godsey, public information officer for the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office.
Godsey said Roberts had locked herself to a gate at PALCO, blocking the entrance and “interfering/obstructing the business.”
Nation, who was “standing in the roadway, blocking the entrance” to the business, was arrested on suspicion of trespassing, Godsey said.
Sheriff’s officials were alerted of the protest at PALCO at about 6:30 a.m.
Neither the authorities nor Chuck Center, director of governmental affairs and communications for PALCO, knew who placed the 911 call.
California Highway Patrol officials were also at the scene and arrested Nathaniel Hill, a 22-year-old transient out of Arcata, and Kimberly L. Starr, 33, of Eureka.
Paul Dahlen, public affairs officer for CHP, said both Hill and Starr were arrested on suspicion of failing to obey a lawful order from a peace officer, “failing to disperse.”
Starr “was also arrested for resisting arrest,” Dahlen said, and Hill “was also arrested for displaying a sign within a right-of-way in a highway.”
Starr, a CHP official said, had chained herself to an object using an L-shaped piece of metal tubing made at a 90-degree angle.
Hill’s two signs — which read “Extinction is forever; trees dying, rivers drying” and “Stop MAXXAM greed, save Nanning Grove” — were confiscated by authorities, Dahlen said.
Roberts, Nation and Hill all remained behind bars Tuesday on $5,000 bail, Godsey and a Humboldt County jail official said.
Starr was set to be released on her own recognizance, but she refused to sign a promise to appear in court so she is being held without bail until she sees a judge, Godsey said.
All four were scheduled to be arraigned by either Tuesday or today, Godsey said.
Susan Maloney, an observer at Monday’s “nonviolent, direct-action” protest — a protest in which protesters “put their bodies on the line” for their cause — said PALCO had begun logging old-growth trees Nov. 11.
“I (was) an observer,” Maloney said. “But I support what (those arrested) did.”
Maloney said she has been working on issues related to those as Monday’s protest for approximately eight years and is passionate about the cutting down of old-growth trees.
“There are 200 acres of old-growth forest being logged one mile east of Scotia,” Maloney said. “And many people around Humboldt County, throughout the country and around the world ... want to see the remainder of our ancient forests protected … in a nutshell.”
The old-growth forests, Maloney added, “are icons; ancient relics of history.”
“We consider this an environmental crime,” she said.
Brant Olson, San Francisco-based director for the Old Growth Campaign, described the cutting of old-growth trees as “ethically wrong.”
“It’s like killing an elephant for their ivory,” Olson said, who added his campaign is not engaged with Monday’s protesters but have been in contact with them and “certainly support their efforts.”
The forest in Scotia “has magnificent trees that have been around since the birth of Christ,” Olson said. “They are literally 2,000 years old.”
Both Maloney and Olson claim PALCO’s logging of old-growth trees — which Olson described as trees that are in the latest stages of evolution — is a last-ditch effort to liquidate PALCO’s forest assets.
Center said that claim is “absolutely not true” and added that the logging has been “approved by every federal and state agency.”
As for the protesters’ beliefs against old-growth logging, Center declined to comment.
“We try to ignore this because they are all trespassing,” Center said. “Apparently, with the highway patrol, they had blocked part of the roadway.”
Center said he was “unsure of what actually happened” Monday morning during the protest. Center, Godsey and Dahlen all commented on their concern for the safety of the protesters.
“We worry about their safety and the safety of others,” Center said. “If someone gets hurt, it’s a liability for us. Safety for others is our concern.”
Dahlen added that it’s “very unsafe to be walking in the middle of the roadway (as with Hill), even with a sign that can be seen; it’s just not safe to be in the middle of a roadway to get your point across … there’s plenty of shoulder space for you to do that.”
Godsey said the hazards of direct-action protesting, as with Monday’s, are known by protesters, loggers and law enforcement alike.
“They’re aware of the hazards,” Godsey said. “You have a group of people who feel passionately about their cause and that’s a risk they’ve proven they’re willing to accept.
“But unfortunately, they are putting other people at risk also.”
http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=6087
Hmmmmm. I live in Rio Dell. I see trees still growing, Palco's still mowing, the mill is still milling, and the tree huggers are chilling. Nothing new in the status quo.
doing their job.
Yep, Maxxam is still clear-cutting, the logging industry in Humboldt is still sinking, Freshwater and Elk River are still flooding on an inch and a half of rain, Charles Hurwitz is still reaping the benefits of destruction, and PL is still trolling indybay.
Thank you for being out there and defending the redwoods!
We all know that the legal system and the courts cannot protect these forests in time, they need our help to stall logging untill an injunction is filed. It is so obvious that this is an illegal sale, thanks for bringing it to the public eye!
We all know that the legal system and the courts cannot protect these forests in time, they need our help to stall logging untill an injunction is filed. It is so obvious that this is an illegal sale, thanks for bringing it to the public eye!
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