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A Very Brief MEC History

The Mendocino Environmental Center (MEC) has long been an oasis in Mendocino County for activists working on environmental and social justice issues. Long before our most recent project, KMEC LP 105.1 FM radio, activists worked in and through the MEC, using it as a wealth of information, networking, media equipment, and meeting space.In 1986 a group of activists recognized the need for a center where they could work together and have access to resources. John McCowen, owner of the building that houses the MEC, remembers“In 1986 Pat Lawrence had noticed one of those obscure notices in the back of the paper that said a permit was about to be issued for a 49.5 megawatt power plant in the Ukiah Valley to provide peak power. This was the beginning of a campaign to stop the power plant… Following a series of hearings the permit was over turned. During the campaign Pat Lawrence kept saying that the community needed a space where people could meet and network on environmental issues.”This issue was big in the creation of the MEC. Two of the original founders, Betty and Gary Ball, began running the MEC as a resource center. “[They] ran the MEC very efficiently. One of their talents was their ability to attract people to the center, turn them into activists, and steer them onto a project that really needed work,” recalls Els Cooperrider, MEC member and long-time participant in MEC projects. There were many things the couple could direct people toward; Betty especially was a key in networking. She could put people in touch with others interested in certain issues very quickly. The Balls became known all over the North Coast as spokespeople for the environmental movement.People involved with the MEC have used nonviolent direct action and demonstrations to further social justice and environmental change in and around Mendocino County. Els Cooperrider describes the response from herself and other local activists when Cal Trans began spraying roads with pesticides and herbicides:

“After much deliberation Sequoia and I decided to stop Cal Trans…we chose the 101 freeway at the long straight stretch just before the Willits grade. We did stop them, and before we could get away, two Highway Patrol cars picked us up. We did not go to jail. When they let us out they thanked us for what we did! Cal Trans stopped spraying the roads in Mendocino County the next day, March 7, 1997 and have not sprayed since.” Logging-related actions and lawsuits have made up a big part of the MEC’s better known projects. Many lawsuits were successful and contributed to the funding of the MEC. Local and world wide ecological concerns are all issues commonly worked on by MEC volunteers. These include watershed and animal habitat protection and conservation (such as the successful preservations of Trout Creek and Cahto Peak), localization, GMO-free agriculture, and peace. Specific anti-logging actions including the Headwaters action/camp and Redwood Summer are well known beyond Mendocino County. Activists such as Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney became household names for their groundbreaking role in unifying mill workers and environmentalists.

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