NEWS
ELLIOTT LOGGING
TAKES A PAUSE
The news that clearcutting would be suspended on 914
acres of the Elliott State Forest came to logging opponents
through a September memo that was posted on the Oregon
Department of Forestry (ODF) website, Josh Laughlin of
Cascadia Wildlands says. He says this was welcome news
for an endangered sea bird that nests in Oregon’s coastal
old-growth forests. Cascadia Wildlands and other groups
fi led a suit in federal court in July to try protect the threat-
ened marbled murrelet and its habitat, and that suit has led
to the temporary cease in clearcutting.
Six timber sales were deferred on the Elliott, Kevin
Weeks of ODF says, and one, Moon Creek on the Tilla-
mook. Weeks says there are no plans to defer additional
sales at this time.
The lawsuit alleges that specifi c timber sales and
ongoing timber practices on the Elliott, Tillamook and
Clatsop state forests are violating the Endangered Spe-
cies Act by harming the murrelet’s nesting habitat. The
state had been working on a plan called a Habitat Con-
servation Plan for the forest, Laughlin says, he says but
“walked away” after federal agencies wouldn’t approve
“egregious” streamside logging that could affect feder-
ally listed Coho salmon. Instead Laughlin says, the State
Land Board voted to “ramp up” clearcutting on the state
forests.
The increased logging has been not only been the sub-
ject of a lawsuit, but a number of protests from treesits
to occupying state offi ces have drawn attention the state
forest logging issue.
The memo dated Sept. 19 is in regard to the 2013 Coos
GWENDOLYN IRIS AT CITY HALL
District operations plan, and it says that due to Cascadia
Wildlands vs. Kitzhaber et al timber operations on a num-
ber of areas in the Elliott will be suspended until the case
is resolved.
The land board, made up of Gov. John Kitzhaber, Sec-
retary of State Kate Brown and Treasurer Ted Wheeler, is
scheduled to have an executive session, which is not open
to the public, Nov. 26 at noon in Salem “to consult with le-
gal counsel concerning current litigation or litigation likely
to be fi led,” but a representative would not say if the meet-
ing was in regard to the Cascadia Wildlands case.
Weeks says ODF will soon open a comment period on
the Coos operations plan proposing six new sales in non-
murrelet habitat.
Laughlin says conservationists will continue to “call on
Kitzhaber to take a timeout on old-growth clearcutting on
state forests and commence efforts to create balanced forest
plans for our coastal state forests.” — Camilla Mortensen
ECO-SABOTEUR PRISON
RELEASE AND PARTY
Eco-saboteur Daniel McGowan, the subject of the
Oscar-nominated documentary fi lm If a Tree Falls, will
be released from the secretive prison where he has been
held for the past several years on Dec. 11. The Civil Lib-
erties Defense Center, which has worked to expose and
oppose the Communications Management Units where
McGowan was held, is sponsoring a fundraising event at
Cozmic Friday, Nov. 23, support to help McGowan after
he is released.
McGowan was charged in federal court with arson,
property destruction and conspiracy for his participation
in ecologically motivated arsons in 2001 with the Earth
DANIEL MCGOWAN
PHOTO BY SHANNON FINNELL
HOMELESS SHIVER AS
CITY HALL STANDS EMPTY
Two Occupy Eugene protesters got cold and in trouble for calling attention to homeless people who are cold
and in trouble. The activists received citations for criminal trespass in the second degree around 1:30 am Monday
after scaling the chain-link fence that blocks off Eugene’s City Hall. The Occupiers were protesting the city’s lack
of action in providing homeless people with a safe place to sleep during the winter.
Gwendolyn Iris scaled the chain-link fence around 2 pm Saturday, Nov. 17, during a memorial to 20 Eugene-
ans who have died on the streets this year, and she locked herself inside the fenced-off area. At that time, she told
EW she planned to stay until arrested or until Monday morning, when she would leave for work. Jason Miller
later joined her behind the fence.
Iris says the city spent $70,000 on the fence that was erected around City Hall after the city vacated the build-
ing in August but no money is being spent to prevent the homeless from dying during the winter. After the closure
of the Occupy camp at Washington-Jefferson Park in December 2011, City Council approved the use of $100,000
to open a facility similar to the Egan Warming Center that would help house homeless people with substance
abuse issues through that winter, but the facility was only open Dec. 22-24.
“The fact that they spent this much on a fence to keep people out of a public building that could be keeping
people warm but can’t come up with the $100,000 to save lives in the middle of the winter really goes against
everything that Eugene claims to be when it says it’s a human rights city,” Iris says.
EW has asked the city to confi rm the cost of the fence. The city previously spent $2,000 to put a fence up
around Washington-Jefferson Park after the Occupy camp was closed.
In addition to monetary issues, Iris says that fencing off City Hall causes a practical problem. “They closed
down one of the few public restrooms they have in the downtown area, which forces people to fi nd other ways
to relieve themselves, kind of an ironic expense that they made to keep people from going in there,” she says.
Iris, who has been involved with Occupy for a year, says, “just because I’m on this side of the fence doesn’t
mean I’m going to stop talking about this issue.” — Shannon Finnell
8
November 21, 2012 • eugeneweekly.com
Liberation Front in Oregon. He was sentenced to seven
years in prison, and Judge Ann Aiken applied a “terror-
ism enhancement” to his sentence. Many of McGowan’s
years in prison were spent in CMUs in Terre Haute, Ind.,
and Marion, Ill., where his communications were restrict-
ed and monitored and he was not allowed to physically
come in contact with his visitors.
McGowan’s wife Jenny Synan says that since enter-
ing prison in July 2007, McGowan has lost around 40
pounds, none of his pre-prison clothes will fi t him and he
will need professional attire for when he starts work in
New York City. She says, “We hope that money and gift
cards raised at this time will help ease him back into the
outside world, with the least amount of stress possible.”
The Cozmic event will feature a screening of If a Tree
Falls. The fi lm focuses on McGowan and features many
local Eugene activists, including videographer Tim Lew-
is and attorney Lauren Regan of the CLDC. The event,
which starts at 7 pm, costs $7 and will also feature the
bands the Alder Street All Stars and Closely Watched
Trains.
Also in civil liberties news, at 6 pm Tuesday, Nov. 27,
the CLDC, the Survival Center and the Cascadia Forest
Defenders are hosting a “resist the grand juries teach-
in” at the Bascom- Tykeson Room, Eugene Public Li-
brary. The “know your rights training” will be followed
by a panel and Q&A with previous grand jury resisters.
— Camilla Mortensen