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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 22, 1999)
Earth Day Two hundred and seven feet up an old growth Douglas Fir, River, 19, reads poetry in the loft of Fanghom,’ her makeshift home! ^ ^ A A GROUP OF ACTIVISTS SPENDS A YEAR LIVING IN THE TREES TO SAVE AN OLD GROWTH FOREST By G. Jaros Oregon Daily Emerald Their lives hang by ropes. Their homes are only plat forms. Dinner is always do nated, and the bathroom is just a ^ bucket. This is life for the members of Red Cloud Thunder, a group of tree-sitting “forest defenders” who are celebrating their one-year anniversary occupying the Clark Timber Sale northeast of Lowell. They live on five platforms con nected by rope-walks 200 feet above the forest floor. Their makeshift nests are constructed from plywood found in dumpsters, old pallets, rope, tarps, duct tape and climbing carabiners. Spray painted across the bottom of one platform is the message, “No Way.” The tree-sitters have chosen to „ make their stand in a 96-acre patch of mostly old growth Dou glas Fir and Western Hemlock that averages between 200 and 500 years old in the Willamette Na tional Forest. Eugene’s Zip-O-Lumber Compa ny plans to cut 6 million board feet, which is roughly 1,200 log truck loads, from the site. They did not return the Emerald’s phone calls. Red Cloud Thunder hopes to turn back the chainsaws and alert the public to the fallacies of old growth logging. They say the old growth is lands that remain are the last refuge for animals headed for extinction. They vow not to come down until the Clark Sale is stopped. “I just want people to care and think about the fact that their grand children aren’t going to have these old growth trees,” said Sumak, 20. “We tree sit, we have informational tables, we talk to the media — we don’t know what else we can do. ” Logging season begins May 1 and continues until Aug. 31. If last year is any indication, then tree-sitters can expect more “gen tle persuasion” this logging season. That’s the phrase Forest Service public affairs spokeswoman Sue Olsen used to describe the meth ods used last June to dislodge the tree-sitters. Federal agents aimed bright floodlights at the platforms during the night and used govern ment tree climbers to cut away the ropes used to ferry food and water. “They have taken our posses sions, and they’ve burned down our camp multiple times — the last time was November,” Sumak said. “They’ve come in dressed as hunters and rounded us up and ticketed us.” Olsen said the law enforcement officers have been professional. “Items have been confiscated,” Olsen said. “The activity out there in the trees is illegal. It is illegal to reside on the national forest longer than 14 days.” Members of Red Cloud Thunder are supported by a University stu dent group called Campus Forest Action, located in the EMU. “We help tree-sitters through do nations and food runs,” said Sarah Kelly a senior international studies major with a minor in music. “They are doing the direct action in the na tive forests that the students in our group would also like to protect, but it isn’t possible for us, being stu dents, to take part in the tree-sits.” Campus Forest Action supports an end to all logging on public lands because, they say, not much old growth is left. Approximately 21/2 to 5 percent of original old growth remains, according to numerous sources. And the majority of that is on publicly owned forest land. “It is important to have a forest action group at the University of Oregon because old growth is as lo cal of an issue as you can get,” Kelly said. “The tree-sits in the oldest old growth in the area are less than an hour away from Eugene. ” The Clark Timber Sale was made available using guidelines set by “Option 9” or the “Presidents Northwest Forest Plan,” signed into law in 1994. The plan calls for an in-depth survey of species on pro posed logging sites. Olsen said an environmental as sessment has been done for Clark, and the sale is in compliance with environmental laws. The last as sessment for the Clark Sale was completed in the late 1980s. Activists say a biological evalua tion, not a survey, was done and that endangered species such as the red tree vole, which rely on the tops of old growth Douglas Fir for sur vival, were screened out of the For est Service evaluation. They also say spotted owls are in the area. An appeal was written by the Oregon Natural Resources Council in November 1997 in hopes of stop ping the logging. Ranger Rick Scott reviewed the appeal and affirmed that the sale would continue. For people who don’t under stand why anyone vvould go to so much trouble to save old trees, Kelly suggests they get out into the woods and take a closer look. “Anyone who spends any time in Oregon whatsoever hasn’t lived until they’ve experienced an in tact old growth forest.” All Ways Travel Honolulu^.$346.00* London.$403.00* Quito.$763.00* *tax not included, restrictions may apply. Subject^ change without notice. Traveling to Europe, remember § most European Rail Passes |issued instantly! E-mail: awt@luv2travel.com 1200 Hij-h St. xe' , 338-4199 Student I raw! I \iktI-. BIKE-AID ’99 - Pedaling for the Planet A program of JustAct-Youth ACTion for Global JUSTlce . .... 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