Publications / The Bay Area Forest Activist Newsletter / Winter 2003 /
What Will it Take? Forest Defense Goes to New Heights and Depths
March 1, 2003
| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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| |  | Top: Remedy hanging out with Jerry. Bottom: Dec. 28, 2002: Howard Heights Rd. flooded by Freshwater Creek (bridge in background) | ![]() | | Photo: Top: Karen Pickett. Bottom: Humboldt Watershed Council |
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Dragon fly, wren, fireweed, lupine, sequoia, butterfly... Are these names of forest-dependant species? Yes, in a manner of speaking...They are the arboreal dwellers of the Homo sapiens variety who are standing--and sitting--strong to defend the remaining old growth trees. And then there are the names they have given their host trees: Luna, Mariah, Moment, Marvelous, Mesmerize, Jezebel, Jerry... A tree named Jerry?! It's not for me to second-guess the inter-species relationships that develop. Those bonds are deep and give strength to those riding out 50-mph winds and torrential rains under flimsy tarps on a 4-ft. by 6-ft. platform. (See Remedy's story in this issue and Julia Butterfly's stories of living in Luna).
The tactic of tree-sitting blossomed in recent months on California’s north coast. Julia Butterfly’s two year long residence 180 feet up in the redwood tree Luna, was celebrated internationally, and brought an injection of publicity and magic to the Headwaters Forest campaign. But tree-sitting neither began nor ended with Luna. California never had so many sits as today, replete with plans for tree villages, and a network of communication between the tree-sitters themselves. Most tree-sits rotate people through, and while PL-employed climbers dismantled some, a few have been up for an extended period of time. Remedy celebrated her 28th birthday in the tree Jerry on Jan. 3, about 2 weeks prior to her 10-month anniversary. Wren, a young woman from New Jersey, climbed into her perch within shouting distance of Remedy last May, and Mystique, who climbed a tree in September still remains aloft.
Those three women are in the Freshwater watershed, home to the majority of the tree-sits. There are also sits in the Mattole, on Gypsy Mountain (where activist David Gypsy Chain was killed by an angry logger in 1998) and in nearby Grizzly Creek where PL is logging in occupied marbled murrelet habitat. PL climbers recently dismantled a tree-sit in the company’s “Demonstration Forest” where old growth trees are being logged nearly across the road from the Avenue of the Giants. Tree-dwellers are holding strong there since early November, riding through assaults from PL employees, confiscation of gear, and on Nov. 16, the physical extraction of two young forest defenders from high in trees. PL’s climber Eric strapped harnesses on the two while they were naked, used pain compliance holds and lowered them down to the waiting cameras of other PL workers. After spending three weeks in jail with an outrageous $100,000 bail, 19-year-old “Abstract” Jane Marsh, along with her colleague Jaime who likewise spent 3 weeks incarcerated, filed a complaint against the climbers and Pacific Lumber. Prominent political attorney Tony Serra has taken their case.
The art of arboreal living has deep roots, as it were, both in the eco-direct action movement and otherwise. The aboriginal tree people of New Guinea called Mava live in tree houses 75 feet up and developed a sophisticated yodeling-like language to call from tree to tree. The Efe, an African pygmy tribe climb trees to gather fruit, and often gather in the canopy in numbers approaching two dozen, using vines to bridge their way between trees. Malaysia’s Dayak people are expert tree climbers and similarly employ direct action to defend their forests against destructive development.
Earth First! pioneered the tactic in the ancient Douglas fir forest of central Oregon’s Millennium Grove in 1985, when a rock climber, arriving on the scene to see what he could do to help, adapted the gear and techniques of his sport to tree climbing. Mike Jakubal (now building straw bale in Humboldt county) and Val Wade (now teaching martial arts in Washington) were the first EF! tree sitters, and were followed by others including one who perched on high in a tree for 45 days, then a record that dazzled observers.
An arboreal occupation of Georgia-Pacific Doug fir trees on a windy hillside near Ft. Bragg was California’s contribution to Earth First!’s 1989 “National Tree-Sit Week”. Activists shimmied up trees in more than 7 states, including Massachusetts, New Mexico, Colorado, Montana, and also British Columbia, mostly in national forests. The press materials urged alternative paper source material, wood conservation and recycling as well as policy changes in national forest management.
The creative technology used by tree-sitters to cook, keep their muscles from atrophying, and achieve a small measure of comfort makes for fascinating stories. Suffice to say that the bicycle Nate Madsen pedaled 130 feet up in a 2 –year tree occupation in Freshwater several years ago, and the wrap-around “love pod” tree platform in Headwaters Forest in 1997 are the tip of the iceberg. Nate also graduated from Humboldt State during his tree-sit.
Is it an effective tactic? Julia Butterfly’s tree Luna was saved by a conservation easement agreement (and then severely injured by a maniac with a chainsaw under cover of darkness), but tree-sits are rarely about one tree, and bring a powerful symbolism to any forest campaign. Tree-sits also tend to bring media. Julia conducted interviews nearly non-stop from her platform in Luna, and Remedy was featured in the New York Times. In January, when CBS TV crews trudged up from Los Angeles to interview her, they were also witness to the falling of giant trees mere yards away.
By the time the cops arrived on Jan. 10 to get John out of the 300-year-old oak tree he had occupied for 71 days to stop road widening in Santa Clarita, California, 500 people had gathered at the base of the tree and TV satellite trucks jammed the roadway. All this at 1:30 in the morning!
Tree-sits also bring mainstream support, fascination, magic and heart to a campaign. There is no more powerful way to exhibit a commitment to the forest than to embrace it as it holds you in its branches while its family falls around it. The level of risk and personal sacrifice is a statement of the urgency of an issue that needs no verbal articulation. There are also great rewards. Life in the canopy brings one close to a world most of us never have the privilege of observing. There are species, like tree voles, that rarely venture to the ground—a whole community of flora and fauna that is endemic to the forest canopy.
But what the sitters also bear witness to, all too often, is huge trees crashing to the forest floor, shaking their own tree, and low-flying helicopters creating wind storms high in the branches as they haul trees out on long cables. Tree-sitting is a tactic that is not an end unto itself, but an awesome act of commitment and courage that brings us all closer to our goals. Support your local tree-sitter!
Tree sits always need material support (gear, food, batteries), money for cell phone bills and ground support. For information, see the alerts on our website, call us, or call North Coast Earth First! at 707-825-6598. See also stories and photos on sf.indymedia.org and www.tree-sit.org
Other Articles in This Issue- Campaign For Old Growth
As a result of Susan Moloney’s heroic 52-day hunger strike to pressure Gov. Gray Davis to make good on his 1998 campaign...
- Pepper Spray Case Coming Back to Trial
Attorneys who represented Judi Bari in her successful lawsuit against the FBI for violating her civil rights joined the ...
- Redway Redwood Grove saved from Pacific Lumber's Saws
After seven years of negotiations, litigation, community organizing and lobbying, the California Department of Parks and...
- Challenge to PL’s Sustained Yield Plan Coming to Trial
After almost four years of delays and legal maneuvers, Pacific Lumber and the state agencies that approved PL's logging ...
- Public Lands: Wildfires and Smokescreens
In response to last summer's catastrophic forest fires throughout the West, the Bush administration is pushing a so-call...
- Freshwater Watershed Under Siege from PL’s Logging
State and federal officials hailed the 1999 Headwaters Deal for preserving 7,400 acres of redwood forest and imposing on...
- "Teflon CEO" Hurwitz Evades Federal Regulators Over Collapse Of Maxxam S&L
Charles Hurwitz, the notorious chairman and CEO of Maxxam Corp., proved to be a Teflon corporate raider by evading feder...
- Watershed Update from the Mattole Restoration Council
Greetings from the Mattole! The Mattole River watershed, located in southern Humboldt County, empties into the Pacific s...
- Once Again, the Fox Guards the Chicken Coop
The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board is the state agency responsible for protecting North Coast rivers, ...
- Controversial Logging of State Forest Approved!
Despite the public outcry, on January 8, 2003, the State Board of Forestry cleared the way for logging of 1,000 acres of...
- Civil, Criminal, Defensive, Offensive: Activists in the Courts Legal Update
Feb. 3: Criminal charges against tree-sitters Abstract Jane Marsh and Jaime LeRoy Harris were heard in Humboldt County S...
TOC for The Bay Area Forest Activist Newsletter, Winter 2003
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