For twelve years, Ecotopian activists have been standing in the way of corporate profits, harming no person or property. In the past two years, with the rise in numbers and frequency of folks getting arrested on the frontlines, local authorities have ordered an escalation in aggressive maneuvers designed to intimidate and threaten people from taking nonviolent action. The question has never been whether we have a legal right to trespass -we choose a path of protest for which we are prepared to take total legal responsibility. Excessive force and selective enforcement, however, are questions of basic human rights, and since we believe the higher cause for which we speak justifies civil disobedience, we have a right to be tried for the "crime" before being punished.
For the last two years, citizens have descended on the timber community of Carlotta, CA. on September 15th to protest "open season" on marbled murrelets, and show support for preservation of the ancient redwoods of Headwaters Forest. Local and State Police cooperated in a choreographed nonviolent civil disobedience action at the main gate to the complex, as arrest numbers grew exponentially from 1995 to 1996.
This year, Headwaters supporters who showed up at our rally site in Stafford found a dramatically different situation. Just as the Sheriff had warned us this summer, the authorities were out in full force, flaunting riot gear and "chemical agents". Not only were they intent on sabotaging our efforts to sponsor a smooth, well-planned, nonviolent civil disobedience action, they put on a tremendous show of force they hoped would intimidate supporters from even participating, issuing threats of felony assault charges, police lines, and road closures.
On the day of the rally, we took a collective step in a new direction. After two years of mass confrontation, organizers felt compelled to change our September 14th tactic from civil disobedience to an expression of mutual aid and cooperation, by sandbagging Stafford resident Mike O'Neill's property. Mike's home was barely missed by a debris torrent from a PL clearcut last winter that destroyed 7 Stafford homes. Our direct action was a gesture of solidarity, illuminating PL/MAXXAM'S disregard for the lives and homes of longtime Humboldt residents living in the shadows of Charles Hurwitz's cut and run economic motives.
After the rally site cleared out, we transformed the site into basecamp, and dove right into action. On Monday the 15th, 200 folks marched from CDF in Fortuna to the Newburg Road gate to the main Headwaters Grove, where fifteen women held a line across the gate, and 40 woods elves hiked up around the gate to the road above. The Humboldt County Sheriffs and California Highway Patrol stood stone faced as we rallied, ranted and prayed, until reinforcements arrived in riot gear and got into military formation. After removing activists from the road above, using pain compliance holds, the police focused on the crowd which was peaceably assembling, declared us an illegal assembly and ordered us to disperse by threatening the use of chemical agents! When the police line charged us, most of us moved, but a handful of rallyers at the back of the crowd were tackled, including a videographer and a lawyer. Over 40 arrests were made that day, many of whom were caught far up the Pacific Lumber road, and at least 12 activists visited the main grove while a few played cat and mouse with loggers working on a second growth Timber Harvest Plan.
On September 25, 7 activists boldly locked down in a circular "lockpod" in the lobby of Pacific Lumber's Scotia headquarters- an action that would later be televised around the country. A street theater "trial" of Hurwitz, complete with testimonies from forest critters and loggers, and a unanimous guilty verdict from the jury, kept spirits high out in front of the office. Inside, spirits were not so high. In what's become typical "Hurwitz County Sherrifs" fashion, the cops applied pepper spray to the activists' eyelids with cotton swabs. Three activists complied and unlocked, while two pairs of two withstood the agonizing tactic, and were eventually carried out of the building on stretchers, still locked together!
Weeks later, when activists locked down around a stump in Congressman Frank Riggs' (R-CA) Eureka office, Eureka police and Humboldt Sheriffs were on the scene immediately. Within minutes, they were pepper swabbing the four activists, pulling their eyelids open for a more painful effect, and police yanked Terry Compost's head back and sprayed the irritant directly into one eye. Although we immediately alerted media and the public to this abuse of power, the significance of these three incidents wasn't completely felt until weeks later, when a civil lawsuit was filed in Federal court in San Francisco, and the graphic footage, videotaped by the cops was released to the media.
Amidst the controversy, Riggs spewed a barrage of misinformation and flat out lies to the National media, in hopes of discrediting Earth First! as terrorists, saboteurs and vandals. First, he held a press conference to introduce "the real victims" of the incident, the two secretaries who were in the office that morning. The women claimed they were terrorized and feared for their life, but our own video footage from the initial office entry shows one secretary calmly narrating events on the phone, while the other locks the front door shouting angrily "nobody's getting out of here!"
Riggs next circulated a forged flyer that EF! had found this past summer and turned over to Sheriff Lewis. The flyer was a classic COINTELPRO-style attempt to associate Earth First! with sabotage, the Unabomber, and a variety of other false messages concerning Headwaters Forest. It was found at HSU, CR, Eel River Sawmills, and Wildberries Market in Arcata.
Beyond the Beauty Strip
MAXXAM'S PL never began salvage logging operations in the ancient groves this fall. Instead, they logged outside the 60,000 acre Headwaters Complex. These areas contain thousands of acres of ancient trees, providing hillside stability and vital habitat for salmon and marbled murrelets. We are committed to defending the 60,000 acres from the incredible devastation threatened by the Clinton-Feinstein-Hurwitz negotiations, but more fundamentally we are committed to the vision of a locally controlled economy based on sustainable resource stewardship. Maxxam out of Humboldt County!!
Since October 1, Earth First! occupied the Bear Creek watershed in a residual old growth area adjacent to the ancient forest of the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Four tree platforms interconnected by traverse lines housed activists high above the forest floor, protecting these endangered trees until the season's operations ended. Bear creek is only one of many potential sacrifice zones under the compromise "deal" being negotiated in the form of a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) on Maxxam's entire 207,000 acres of redwood holdings. On two different mornings, courageous activists locked down to heavy machinery backwoods.
On October 3, Humboldt County corporate law enforcement officers swabbed and sprayed the noxious pepper solution on activists who had locked down to machinery at Bear Creek. Two of the four remained locked and were removed with grinders at the end of the day, in what would become the second of three incidents of pepper spray use on activists. The county dropped the charges soon after the lockdown, so the police footage couldn't be obtained as evidence until pre-trial motions were made through other swabbed activists' criminal cases.
On a steep ridge above our Stafford basecamp, another MAXXAM Timber Harvest Plan looms over the barren, muddy field where houses stood just one year ago. A lone tree known as "Luna" supports a 4 person treehouse that has remained untouched by authorities. Deep within the Headwaters Forest complex, a third tree village featuring a 15 person occupancy tree "pod" continues to protect a 2 mile creekbed and the residual ancient forest that lines it. These canopy squats will be maintained throughout the winter, so come on up! Periodic hikes and climbing trainings will be scheduled as needed through Northcoast EF! (707) 825-8911, and we've started an Adopt-an-Activist program to help support tree sitters through the winter. Call Garlic at (707) 268-1315 to sponsor a sitter.
Our dream is to occupy the canopy wherever and whenever Pacific Lumber is stripping hillsides bare. We believe that ecological stewardship of the land cannot coexist with corporate greed, and that the workers of Pacific Lumber deserve a future in the forest-based economy. "Not one more ancient tree!" is our rallying cry, as we vigilantly defend the places that politics has intentionally ignored.
Taking the Streets
For a refreshing change from our defensive position, the Art and Revolution convergence brought activists and artists together at basecamp for a weekend of giant puppet making, street theater and dance! We took to the streets of Eureka on Monday, October 6, climaxing in a theatrical dance and theater performance on the Humboldt County courthouse lawn, where we ousted King Hurwitz from his position of corporate plutocracy in the redwoods, and built a symbolic bridge between the labor and ecological concerns that have divided our communities for so long. The gathering gave us a unique opportunity to express our political sentiments collectively through metaphor and symbolism, and to represent our future visions for social change. Thanks to the Art and Revolution Convergence for this creative inspiration!
On October 22, 200 energetic forest supporters took to the streets of Santa Rosa, rallying at the State and Federal Buildings, and closing at the CDF Region1 headquarters. On Halloween in San Francisco, an artistic procession followed a four-poster bed carrying Charles Hurwitz and Senator Dianne Feinstein to the Pacific Stock Exchange. Days later (11/3), we rallied in front of the State Capitol in Sacramento, then marched to the State Resources Building. An Earth First! lockdown in the lobby drew the attention of the conflict-hungry media, office workers and visitors, as an energetic 4 hour rally out front captivated participants and spectators alike! This time, Sacramento authorities cut the metal lockdown pipes with a mechanical pipe cutting tool in a half hour, proving that pepper spray is absolutely unnecessary.
Frontline activists know firsthand the incredible devastation hidden behind MAXXAM property lines, and that to expose such abuse requires a multi-level effort, including community based alternatives and legislative reform. Nonviolent civil disobedience is both a spiritual practice and a political tool. We use direct action tactics to propel the issues of species survival and land stewardship into the hearts and minds of average citizens, hoping to inspire the popular support necessary to save what little is left of this endangered ecosystem from the greedy jaws of capitalism.
Headwaters activists need the financial and material support of the greater earth-loving community, but more basic is the need for public participation on every level of the struggle. To offer your skills, interests or $ donations to the Headwaters campaign, call the MEC at (707) 468-1660.
Editor's Note: As we go to press, MAXXAM/Pacific Lumber receives contradictory messages from the California Department of Forestry: Timber Harvest Plans have been approved for old growth and residual buffer zones within the 60,000 acres commonly referred to as Headwaters Forest. At the same time, CDF has announced in the media that they are investigating the possibility of revoking PL's timber license. Concurrently, the once-invincible treesit village called "Liberty" has been dismantled by Pacific Lumber climbers. Every tree surrounding "Luna" is down, but activists are continuing plans to defend the Headwaters' ancient forests throughout the winter. To support their effort, call Northcoast Earth First! at (707) 895-8911.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 1997
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited