Forest Defender's Blog

Mattole Forest Defenders Block Log Trucks in Scotia

2018-08-30T22:43:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018, protesters used their bodies to stop log trucks from entering the HRC mill in Scotia, California.

Rally in Scotia for the Mattole Forest

2018-08-02T19:38:00.000-07:00

Dozens of protesters rallied today in Scotia to protest against logging in the Mattole forest.

Mattole Forest Occupation Enters Eighth Day

2014-07-15T09:07:00.000-07:00

A blockade on Long Ridge that started on July 8, continues to prevent logging by the Humboldt Redwood Company. Long Ridge is located in Humboldt County in Northern California. A tree-sitter is occupying a platform suspended 100 feet in the air with their main support line attached to,a barricade in the road. This will cause the person to be seriously injured or killed if the barricade is moved unsafely. One activist has been arrested at the blockade, and has been released.

From the Earth First! Newswire:

This marks the second action in as many weeks. Last week a tree sitter going by the name Skunk climbed into the canopy, insisting, “Our main demands to Humboldt Redwood Company are very simple—don’t cut unlogged forest, and don’t cut old-growth. This road threatens to destroy forest that has never been logged before, and will pave the way for logging even more important habitat if the community does not rise up to stop it.”

From Save Ancient Forest:

We need your support! Please let people now that the Mattole is being threatened by sheriffs and company officials. We intend to defend the Mattole. We need more defenders and more resources please get in touch if you are able. Please contact us at savemattolesancientforest@gmail.com Please also call the Humboldt Redwood Company and tell them not to log the Mattole!(707) 764-4253

Tree-sit in the Mattole

2014-06-30T15:20:00.001-07:00

A tree-sitter named Skunk has climbed into a grove on Long Ridge in the Mattole. One of the trees tied in is old growth that Humboldt Redwoods Company plans to cut.

HRC Cuts Trees Near Protestors

2014-05-31T06:22:00.000-07:00

Rising Opposition to Mattole Logging Plans

2014-04-29T11:04:00.000-07:00

A banner went up this morning on the Mattole road, to protest against The Humboldt Redwood Company's plans to log in unentered old growth forest. The banner says: "DEFEND THE WILD MATTOLE FORESTS STAY OUT OF UNLOGGED AREAS".

Update: The following is from an email to the Earth First! Newswire

Resistance is growing as Humboldt Redwood Company prepares to log over 500 acres of rare forest habitat in the Mattole River watershed in Northern California. The area is home to Golden Eagles, Pacific Fishers, Spotted Owls and many more rare species. The forest is a mix of tree species including Douglas Fir, Tanoak, Madrone and Big Leaf Maple. Old-growth trees of all species intermingle throughout the forest. Though the company claims to not log in old-growth forests, their narrow definition excludes forests with less than 8 old-growth trees per acre. They also define old-growth trees as being alive in the year 1800. Though much of the forest has never been cut into, the company has gone to lengths to define the whole area as previously logged, in order to appease their “sustainability” certifiers, the Forest Stewardship Council, who would otherwise consider the area to have a high conservation value.

Local forest defenders have hung a banner where logging and road building are planned directly bordering Humboldt Redwoods State Park. This area was a hotbed of community actions in the late 90′s and early 2000′s to resist the devestation of this forest by Maxxam/Pacific Lumber. This included a series of lawsuits, road blockades and groups of forest defenders occupying the threatened areas to disrupt the logging. Some of the same forest that was successfully defended is now threatened once again.

Healing Ceremony On Bypass Site

2013-10-14T11:08:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Caltrans and the CHP allowed over a hundred protesters to enter the Willits Bypass construction site to conduct a healing ceremony. Julia "Butterfly" Hill was among those who crossed the 101 and entered the site that used to be wetlands before being destroyed by Caltrans.

Julia Butterfly to Speak at Oct. 12 Rally in Willits

2013-10-07T14:30:00.000-07:00

Activist Julia Butterfly Hill, whose 738-day tree sit in the roughly 1,500-year-old redwood tree Luna in the late-1990s made her an icon of eco-defense struggles, will speak at the Coalition to Save Little Lake Valley’s October 12th “Take A Stand For the Willits Wetlands!” event.

The event begins at 12 noon. Gather at Recreation Grove (E. Commercial and S. Lenore) to carpool, shuttle, or bike en masse to the festivities.

Guest Post From Earthworm

2013-09-06T15:42:00.000-07:00

This is from my friend Earthworm:

The Crisis of Imperial Colonization (Earthworm; reporting from the Earth First! Action Camp north of Willits opposed to the Cal-Trans Bypass. My views are solely expressed in solidarity with all living beings longevity.) I was born in Mendocino County, a State defined region in California nearby the Pacific Coast, a neo colony for resource extraction through corporate industry. A piece in the puzzle of the world market determined by past and present conquests, and what ends up missing in the grand picture: the land base and communal self sufficient organization of species. The diverse biology of the area, and its unique (sacred) situation within the natural geography is sacrificed continuously for the American Empire of Infrastructure and Commerce. This is demonstrated most clearly in the public management of subsides, funding the vineyard owning class, allowing them to profit off of draining the water tables for the sake of commodity alcohol. The Willits Bypass project, a Cal Trans production in progress, is another example of imperial colonialism upon the local local ecology for profit of multinational corporations (commodity trucking).Developing the Little Lake Valley, the nature made habitat has been destroyed explicitly for expansion of State control over the land base. The pretext for this war of annihilation in the wetlands is traffic congestion, a sorry excuse for devastation. 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement had set in motion a continental strategy of corporate takeover, deregulation of goods and services facilitated by a commitment to broadening the consumer base in the world. This in effect means labor is downsized, and the working population reduced to poverty in order to keep cost of hiring labor cheap. The dynamics of class rule are made most apparent when the interests of technocratic officials overrides the will of local communities collective determination, such as in Wilits over the Bypass issue. Government stimulus packages only paved the way for funding a project of Empire, concrete over the planets soil. Depression and addiction are the psychological residue of a generalized decline of a living world. The ecology is becoming a dead zone, as political economy eats away at humanities land base, our only true home, an intact Earth. Federal, State, and even Mendocino County representatives cannot seem to represent our planets best interest. Clearly shown in their public support of dams, vineyards, big box stores, financial banks, and the Wilts Bypass. Many social groupings and persons are disposed, isolated, externally represented, governed and pacified through power relations in the dictatorial economy of exploitative wages and debt/credit schemes. Society is eclipsed by mass institutional rule, an illusion of faith in progressive betterment at the expense of the here and now. Roads are a bigger priority than rivers, just as schools have a commitment to repression of creativity through repetition. We are in a social conflict between the forces of imperial command and natural autonomy of our collective anatomies. An unseen revolution is being fought. Machine against the Organism. Cal-Trans is attacking the commons by transforming the land base into a product through destructive means. Previous waves of colonization resulted in genocide and ecocide in large scales. Now the cultural and social realms are being com-modified and centralized by mass media and mass incarceration of formerly colonized. Expansion of the consumer base is by means of imperial road construction. When the industries of the government outlive the lifespans of the person involved, it is for predetermined control of the environment. Autonomous tribes in this same land subsisted many generations without a single Bypass or multiple timber companies. The Earth itself and all her specialized beings were basic a guarantee for the long term survival of common welfare. That truth remains forgotten by our false representatives. What if a multitude,a diverse population of human cultures and peoples, can co-exist with these green valleys and rolling hills, mountains and wetlands? This proposition would benefit the salmon, the elk, the trees and birds that cradle their young by branch. Self sufficient communities survived here long before the age of exploration by colonial masters, thousands of years without alienation from our nature within and without. The production of poverty is conditional and a negative phenomenon, the product of poverty sold to us as progress of mankind. The accelerated com-modification of relations in society, calls for a return to a way to subsist alternative to financial and state capital. Our being singular or plural, is linked organically to our lush surrounding, the survival of the land base will ensure our continuation of life over control. Generations have been unfortunately pacified and manipulated through anti cultural, educational standards, leaving the spirit of spontaneous and unmediated knowledge and practices out of curriculum. A class structure is taught to us, keeping our mental and physical being in sync with production of information and formal procedures, state ownership of the emerging human condition. Discipline towards obedience of state authority is programmed, rolling the mass assembly line of isolated individuals economically/politically dependent to live. The county employs apartheid regime structures onto indigenous/migrant populations in government management programs. Natives pushed onto reservations and introduced to alcohol and casino capitalism, immigrants excluded from equal participation and empowerment by an employment culture of wage exploitation. Engineering segregation of economic and social roles between the classes, a nature autonomous from imperial command is seen as alien. Such as the ecology of the wetlands, its inhabitants are being wiped from memory, covering over what was sustainable into something manageable to maintain hegemony. Centralization by commercial and state power and maintenance of the common is leading to the melting pot: boiling down to sheer corruption. Deportation is simply a nationalist identity action to enforce repression of labor mobility and border evasion, both are liberating to participants to escape imperial domination of the global south. In my own life, i honestly testify to have been seeing a civil war or breakdown amplified by a schism tearing apart my birthplace. The ghettos of urban planning based on property ownership, methamphetamine induced mass bodily pollution, and the genetically modified mass food supply have spawned no future. Long term survival is bleak as we exhaust our energies into self destruction of the planet. This reality led me to join with movements that oppose capitalist globalization and state development in attempt to reveal that society is now a mere abstraction of finance, investing in our debt to serving consumer slavery. Organisms under the gun of the law, life bound to representation, our servitude to monuments forged in genocide and class warfare still facilitate our regions plights. Inconsiderate to the rivers longevity is overly large marijuana crops and vineyard land pillage through irrigation. So much can be said about the life cycle of the salmon, the cycle of biological continuation, threatened by this Bypass and industries draining the water levels. This is a metaphor, our lives are interrupted by accumulated dependency and external reliance on the supermarket, super capitalism of mass economics. No force can represent life and all the boundless possibilities it holds. Representation over life, human or otherwise, by means of central authority of officials, is alienation of life itself. Decision made by the political and economic elite are possible to strike, with an intent of experiment, trial and error. Our very dreams are thought up unmediated, insurgent and yet within imperial command, a mutiny inside the machine. As well, our ancestors failed to escape forced assimilation to industrial production, now all of our interests are common: getting out alive by halting its further production of being, creativity beyond compromise. Democracy is presented as our only system to ensure equality, yet it relys on a delegation of social powers, and a hierarchy swamped in bribery. Genealogy of power relations in Mendocino come from institutions that summon force in representation of elite interests contradicting the local inhabitants. Police in the City of Ukiah, dead heart of this neo colony county, serve as mercenaries of corporate property and interest. The first chief of this organized effort to violence had experience in committing genocide on native for Tan Oak extraction. Now they serve the domination of laboring peoples and the unemployed to keep secure property status of workers. Detaining and arresting the many resisters to their verdict of justice is the criminal and protester, subtracting personal autonomy for population management. The grim everyday workings of this system are tied to past and present enclosures. From the first enforcement of property land ownership to the state intervention into Little Lake Valley. Yet we still have much wilderness to some degree. A vital inspiration of my methods and beliefs come from the observation and direct participation in natural liberty, free interdependence with each-other, and primal will of autonomy. These notions come from the land itself, not from the minds of businessmen or ideologues of development. Fragmentation of one link in the food web of our community results in the gradual decline of all. Migratory bird nests have been cut during construction on the south end and indigenous burial grounds are set to be developed. The site of development is on remnants of a Baku village. Many have stood up in defiance to the California Department of Transportation (40 arrests) including my friends Warbler (2 month tree sit and hunger striker) and Red Tailed Hawk (occupier of the north end wick crane) halting colonization of the land. Today we still stand in opposition in this county towards a machine endangering the health of all, we do not worship the idol of development and Empire. Globalization has harvested our well being in multiple forms to re-formalize power away from natural organisms and into automatons of representation guided by commerce. Recently myself and comrade Feather resisted this reality by locking down to the botttom of a haul truck on its way to fill 20 ft. by Oct. 15th in Little Lake Valley. This is a turning point: We rise above the current industrial system, or be consumed by it, land and body.

Will Parrish Extracted After 11 Days in Crane

2013-07-01T16:44:00.001-07:00

Little Lake Valley Defender, Will Parrish was arrested today after being cut out of his lockbox by the California Highway Patrol. Amanda Senseman was also arrested.

Day 8 of Crane Occupation

2013-06-27T12:49:00.000-07:00

Press Release: For immediate release: June 27, 2013 Contact: Freddie Long 707-459-5267 or Jamie Chevalier 707-354-4796 Photo credit: Steve Eberhardt, Willits News High-res photos on request 707-354-4796 Daring Aerial Resupply Reaches Parched Crane-Sitter on Caltrans Tower In an action combining daring, danger and comedy, Earth First! activists succeeded in putting a climber atop the second wick drain driver, and stringing a traverse rope to the crane-sitter who had been without food and water for a week. The bold action was carried out in broad daylight Wednesday afternoon. To get to the tower, the climber had to cross a wide belt of bare earth, guarded by 2 CHP vehicles. In spite of floodlights and guards, the climber delivered his life-saving supplies, and vanished into the night. One week ago Little Lake Valley Defender and writer Will Parrish set up residence on a 2-ft wide plank halfway up one of the two 100’ towers. About 40 people entered the worksite Saturday evening to bring supplies to Parrish, who had run out of food and water and was facing cold wet weather. In a dramatic confrontation, CHP officers cut his supply rope. After a standoff of several hours, six people were arrested, including a mother and daughter who were grabbed while attempting to comply with CHP orders to leave. Concern for Parrish’s safety after four days without food or water has been mounting, and a medical team sought permission to bring water. Communication was cut when his cell phone fell from the tower the first day. During Saturday’s resupply attempt, Parrish called down from his perch: “I’ll starve before I’ll let this machine install another wick drain.” According to Parrish, who now has a phone, “I’ve just been resupplied by a real-life superhero. The machine operator started to lower the crane with him on it, and the CHP just watched.” Bystanders and press recorded the life-threatening incident on camera and video. Carrying supplies and gear, the climber scaled the tower, and attached his safety harness about 60’ up. CHP officers were preoccupied with the effort to extract one of their vehicles from the deep mud near the site’s entrance, about 100 yards away. The officers summoned several passing protesters to help them, apparently taking them for passersby walking their dogs. The protesters helped free the car, which then got stuck again. The patrol cars next to the machine were apparently unmanned at the time. Surveying the sea of mud left by three days of rain, long-time Willits resident Freddie Long observed: “This is a perfect illustration of why the wick drains are such a bad idea. This should be wetland, not a freeway.” Bypass opponents say they will stop protesting when Caltrans stops work on the current version of the bypass, which they maintain is environmentally destructive and fiscally irresponsible. Sticker price for the 6 miles of road is $210 million dollars, not counting bond interest and cost overruns, or the $300 million dollar phase 2 of the project, which Caltrans says will be necessary to bring the current project up to safety standards. Local citizens and civic organizations have long advocated a set of cheaper, less destructive alternatives. A meeting between opponents of the current project and Caltrans head Malcom Dougherty is set for July 9th.

Six Arrested in Failed Crane-sit Resupply

2013-06-23T14:12:00.000-07:00

Willits, Ca. - Last night, about 40 people tried to deliver food and water to crane-sitter Will Parrish. Six of them were arrested by the California Highway Patrol. The resupply failed when an officer cut the end of Will's rope.

Will Parrish on Third Day of Wick Drain Crane-sit

2013-06-22T11:00:00.001-07:00

Will Parrish has been in the tower of a wick drain driver since Thursday morning. "We have seen the agencies involved in regulating this project roll over time and again. We have seen Caltrans install itself as a veritable occupying power in this Valley. In the last several years, it has used the threat of eminent domain - both explicit and implied - to gobble up 2,000 acres from valley ranchers to use for its sham 'environmental mitigation'
projects.

May 31 Protest in Willits

2013-05-31T16:08:00.000-07:00

Anti-bypass protesters protested at three locations in Willits today.

Memorial Day Protest Against the Willits Bypass

2013-05-28T16:25:00.000-07:00

Dozens of protesters came out in the rain to protest against CalTrans.

Two Activists Lock Down and Stop Wick Wells

2013-05-20T14:05:00.001-07:00

Three Arrested Today Protesting Bypass

2013-05-13T14:37:00.000-07:00

The California Highway Patrol arrested three people in Willits today at two locations where protesters were trying to stop work on the Willits Bypass.

Rally Against Willits Bypass in Sacramento

2013-05-04T14:50:00.000-07:00

On Friday, May 3, 2013, citizens protested against the Willits Bypass on the steps of the California State Capital in Sacramento.

Dozens of Anti-Bypass Protesters Meet with State Officials

2013-05-02T22:18:00.000-07:00

Mendocino County residents traveled to Sacramento on Thursday to meet with government officials and urge them to stop the Willits Bypass project.

75 Protesters Shut Down CalTrans HQ in Willits

2013-04-24T14:40:00.000-07:00

Two people were arrested Wednesday, April 24, 2013 at the Caltrans offices in Willits. 75 people protesting against the Willits Bypass shut down the building all morning. Two women were arrested by the CHP.

Bypass Tour

2013-04-22T13:35:00.002-07:00

I went on the Ceremonial Bypass Lands Tour yesterday and took these photos.

April 21-28: Week of Action to Defend Little Lake Watershed!

2013-04-19T13:55:00.000-07:00

Action Camp Opens April 20th! Week of Activities and Educational Events Taking Place in Conjunction with Earth Day Week! Caltrans’ freeway bypass would devastate the springs, ponds, wells, and wetlands of Little Lake Valley (aka, the Willits Valley). This four-lane highway would drain and fill in — with a massive quantity of soil and asphalt — roughly 86 acres of wetlands on the valley’s north end. This is the largest wetlands fill permit the Army Corps of Engineers has granted for any project in Northern California in the past half-century.

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New Tree-sit in Willits

2013-04-19T13:47:00.000-07:00

A tree-sitter named Crow has established a new tree-sit in an alder tree above Haehl Creek, in another attempt to stop the Willits Bypass.

Action Camp in Willits

2013-04-14T12:53:00.000-07:00

ACTION CAMP to Defend Little Lake Valley!
What's going on?

The California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) is attempting to construct a four-lane superhighway through Little Lake Valley, otherwise known as Willits.

This project would destroy some of the Valley's last remaining wetlands, draining 86 acres — the largest wetlands fill permit in Northern California in 50 years. It is in the process of destroying oak savannahs and oak forests throughout the valley and on surrounding hillsides, and generating a massive quantity of CO2 emissions. It would severely damage the local economy, while doing remarkably little to prevent traffic congestion.
Action Camp Kicks Off
Ree12

Defenders of Little Lake Valley are excited to announce the establishment of an action camp. This mobilization will begin on Saturday, March 30th and remain ongoing until we have stopped the CalTrans superhighway. We are calling on everyone interested in standing up against massive waste, destruction, and greed to travel to our fair valley and help us protect what we hold sacred.

In recent days, CalTrans has been on a rampage. Its contractors have laid waste to large areas of vegetation, installed more than three miles of construction fencing, and dumped gravel to reinforce their haul road. Owing to the strength of our opposition, CalTrans has called on an overwhelming California Highway Patrol officers, including 24-hour surveillance, to be able to carry forward its destruction.

Think of it! The California Highway Patrol's operation in Willits is likely its biggest mobilization in the state, in a town with a municipal population of roughly 5,000 people.

But the CHP cannot maintain this sort of mobilization for much longer, nor are we going away. We have only come together closer so we can fight harder. We have delayed CalTrans' construction start by roughly two months already. Meanwhile, a separate group has a federal Clean Water Act lawsuit pending, which will be heard in court in May. Early next week, we are also we filing a California Environmental Quality Act Lawsuit, which would stop this project in its tracks.

We can win this! But we need your help.
Action Camp Logistics

To register for the action camp or for more details, please contact:
littlelakeactioncamp@gmx.com

For updates and further information regarding Little Lake Valley:
http://www.savelittlelakevalley.org/

Action Camp start date: Saturday, March 30th

Come prepared! Bring food, water, bedding, warm clothing, rain gear, art supplies, acoustic instruments, songs, and volunteer energy. Please no weapons, drugs, alcohol, pets, or fires. Explain any special needs you may have at pre-registration.

We will be mobilizing creative action towards halting the construction of the Willits Bypass. Your ideas are needed! No special prior experience is required to participate. There are many simple yet important ways to contribute, such as sign and banner making and legal observation.

As an action camp participant, you will learn about the imperiled wetlands, oak woodlands, and migratory bird nesting areas along highway 101 through ongoing hikes, tours, and campfires.
Statement From The Warbler

“I have been tree sitting for 55 days, the past three of which have been taken over by CHP and CalTrans. Right now, CHP officers deployed from all over the state are here to occupy Little Lake Valley and prevent supporters from bringing in supplies. They are also covering up the crimes being committed by Caltrans RIGHT NOW. There is a legal term for that: 'aiding and abetting.'

No public presence has been allowed in some of the areas being destroyed, so I don't know the extent of the damage. There are two other tree sitters, besides myself. CHP is not interested in protecting us. If they were, they would not be arresting our protectors and trying to destroy our home. We need to be able to monitor what is going on.

So we need you to come and help. This is not just about Little Lake Valley, this is about the future of this fragile matrix of life we are a part of that. And we have a responsibility to protect it. This is about solidarity. And the struggle that is going on everywhere. If this is not stopped here and now, the destruction will continue.”

Please join us in Little Lake Valley! We've got no time to waste.
http://savelittlelakevalley.org/action-camp/

Rally Held to Stop the Willits Bypass

2013-04-07T19:25:00.000-07:00

Willits, California- Over a hundred people gathered at a park in Willits for the Save Our Valley Rally on Saturday, April 6. Most of the tree sitters that were taken down and arrested last week by the California Highway Patrol, were there. Speakers thanked them for their efforts, and pledged to continue the protests against the Willits Bypass.