Siskiyou Grandmothers Sustain Campaign for
Trees
By Kelpie
Wilson
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Wednesday 18 May 2005
On Monday, I attended what may have been my
379th protest against logging ancient forests. I don't know because I've
lost track over the years. Ever since I chained myself to a logging
yarder back in 1987, forests have been a passion of mine. You can read
about my first arrest and its consequences in an article I wrote back
then for the Progressive, but this article is about the people who
are standing up for trees today, and by and large they are not the young
radicals we were back then, but older concerned people. They are
grandmothers and grandfathers.
The Siskiyou National Forest has long been an
epicenter of forest protest. Earth First! got its start here in the 1983
blockade of the Bald Mountain road. That campaign was ultimately
successful - the road was stopped.
In the 1990s, I transitioned from civil
disobedience to mainstream activism. I worked for the Siskiyou Regional
Education Project during that whole decade on the major campaigns - the
Northwest Forest Plan and the Roadless Rule - that defined our success.
Looking back, those were banner years for forest activism. Although each
gain came in tiny, painfully won increments, at least we were gaining.
Since 2000, our fall has been swift and hard.
On every front, we are losing what we built in the 1990s. Two weeks ago,
Bush's forest chief, Mark Rey, announced the end of the Roadless Rule.
The government is systematically chipping away at the Northwest Forest
Plan protections and using the fear of wildfire to drive the logging
program. Scientific objectivity has been buried under a mound of logging
slash.
At 9 o'clock on Monday morning I joined my
neighbors and friends for a women's protest action at the Biscuit Timber
Sale - the largest timber sale in US history and one that will set new
precedents for busting down protections for old growth forest reserves
(set aside under the Northwest Forest Plan) and roadless areas. For more
background on the Biscuit Sale, see the article by Kathie Durbin from
High Country News, posted on Truthout.
Here is the story, in their own words, of a
community that refuses to stop caring about ancient forests, as they
turn out one more time to stand tall for the trees. On this day, seven
women decided to block a logging truck and get arrested to make their
statement. It was the second all-women's action since the logging began
in March. I also spoke with John West, owner of Silver Creek Lumber,
which has purchased the portion of the sale now being logged.
Joan Kalvelage - 55-year-old
professional
I'm
here today because I've known this part of the woods for 20 years. I've
backpacked here every summer. The last time I backpacked here, I came at
my son's request to scatter his father's ashes in the place that was the
first place they ever went backpacking, and I checked it out carefully
to make sure it wasn't an area scheduled for logging - it was where the
roadless area meets the wilderness - and now they are going to log it.
I'm here because I don't want to say to my
son that I didn't pay attention when our government showed a flagrant
contempt for 30 years of dialogue involving local citizens,
environmentalists, and also loggers who came to an agreement with the
Northwest Forest Plan that this would never come to pass. It's also
contempt of scientists who are in consensus that salvage logging is not
restoration and can only do harm to the forest. I'm also here to stand
up to a violation of the separation of powers of our government. This is
a case that is still pending in the courts and they are logging the
trees.
You think of these old growth trees as dead;
they may be black, but many of them are still supporting needles in
their branches and their roots are supporting new growth. There's a
tremendous life force out there that we are now tampering with. And
those that are doing the tampering know that they are not doing it in
good faith. That's why this road is closed. They don't want witnesses to
what they are doing. And that's why were going to walk up the road, to
witness it.
Annette Rasch (on right) - Illinois Valley
Enthusiasts
I
am here because I feel compelled to be a voice for the voiceless. We get
to hear from the timber companies, we get to hear from the Forest
Service, but the public is being blocked out of the process and has been
from the start. That’s one of the reasons why you’re seeing increasing
levels of civil disobedience. Of the 55 people who have been arrested so
far, a lot of them are first time arrestees. A lot of them are over 50,
but they have become so frustrated with the Bush Forest Service. All
these emergency exemptions, the refusal to hear appeals, and now the
unconstitutional blocking us out of our forests - we’re feeling like
what else can we do?
Q. Wasn't there a public comment period on
this project?
A. Yes. 23,000 comments came through. Maybe
the largest number of comments on a single project like this and they
were overwhelmingly against logging.
Linda Richards
Q.
Linda did you tell me that you are a Truthout reader?
A. I am. I love Truthout. It's a great way to
get information. Without Truthout I wouldn't know too much about what's
going on, because the mainstream press doesn't really report on what's
important. You can really tell when you read the Truthout articles.
Q. I am so glad you like our service. So
Linda, you're out here today and what's your purpose for being out here?
A. I wanted to draw national attention to the
fact that our forests are closed to the public, and I want people to
know what’s going on out here - that our old growth reserves have been
logged. They are being logged as we speak and it’s really
heart-wrenching for all of us. Earlier today a log truck went by with
some of the hugest old growth I’ve seen in a long time. We want people
to know it’s not burnt twigs they are taking out of there. They are
logging illegally, and we wish the Forest Service and the timber
companies could have waited until the court cases get heard. It’s a
huge, huge loss for our grandchildren, for us, for the world. This area
has the greatest variety of plants and animals that you can find
anywhere. And, right now there’s a lot of talk about global warming, and
we all know that old growth reserves help with that problem, so this is
the wrong time to be letting go of them and increasing the risk of
climate change. If people could see these trees, they would do something
about it, but they’re just not hearing it because the mainstream press
isn’t talking about it.
Q. In fact, the mainstream media is not even
here today. Only Truthout is here. Correct?
A. Yes that's correct. They didn't come. They
knew all about it. They just didn't come to tell the story.
Dot Fisher-Smith
|
 |
 |
Dot Fisher-Smith, left, and Joan Norman, right. Dot
and Joan are both veterans of the March 14th women's action
as well as many others.
| |
Q.
Dot, why are you here today?
A. Specifically, I came here to convey two
women whose consciences were strong enough that they are willing to put
their bodies at risk. I say convey, because it is a sacred matter. It's
like a ritual or a rite of passage. Because they came in response to
information I had given them, I wanted to be a witness for them and be
their support person. When people are so deeply moved to act on their
conscience, it moves me.
Q. You were arrested in the first women's
action on March 14th. How does it change you, to put your body on the
line like this for the forest?
A. So many ways. I’ll tell you, the most
amazing thing for me was when I came out of jail after two days, went
home and John, my husband, was all in a snit about all these piddly
little things in his life and I had this huge perspective. It gets your
priorities straight. You get really clear about what’s important. Making
a statement for the trees, for the voiceless, doing whatever I can to
preserve what’s left for future generations is top priority for me. When
we think about our children and their children looking back and asking:
“How could you let this happen?” I want to be able to say I did what I
could to stop it.
Sherry Borowski - legal observer
Q.
I wanted to ask you about the legal ramifications that protestors face
when they stand up for their conscience here today.
A. Well it's not as scary as you might think.
It was my first arrest back in March and there is such a feeling of
solidarity and strong feelings of standing up for our forests. The legal
ramifications for your first arrest are not all that serious. You'll
probably get charged with something like disorderly conduct, maybe
trespassing if you go over the invisible line that's keeping us out of
the forests now. We think that's illegal. The log trucks are coming out
with trees that aren't even burned - very big trees.
Barry Snitkin
I'm here because the Forest Service policy of
devastating forests is a travesty and should be stopped.
Q. Do you know this area well?
A.
Yes I've lived here for more than 20 years. I've hiked and kayaked all
over.
Q. What sorts of rules and principles are
being violated by this particular timber sale?
A. All the ecological rules of the universe!
The only way to create soil in places like this is to allow dead and
dying material to accumulate on the ground and become soil. There's no
other way to do it. The rocks don't turn into soil, so when you take
that material out of the forest you are actually stealing it from future
generations and future forests.
Q. So what they are doing is not going to
help the forest recover from that fire.
A. It's not possible for it to help. No.
Q. You are a kayaker and I know you have lot
of experience with the rivers around here. How will this timber sale
impact the Illinois River and its tributaries?
A. It's going to put mud into the river in
different spots and when we get heavy rains these streams that are
normally crystal clear are going to run too muddy for too long.
Q. This area is an important salmon refuge
and now there is an unanticipated crisis with salmon with the result
that they are shutting down the fishing season in many places. Why do
you think the Forest Service is not taking their mission to protect
salmon seriously?
A. It's political - the Bushies want to pay
back the timber industry for their campaign contributions. But the
Forest Service has never put as much importance on habitat for wildlife.
They always lean towards cutting trees.
John West - Silver Creek Lumber
Q.
I wanted to ask you, since we can't get up there to see what it looks
like, is there a big erosion problem up there? Do you see a lot of muddy
running water from where you've been getting in there and cutting?
A. We actually haven't had that. The ground
has been pretty dry. Even though we've had showers like this, ten
minutes later, with the hot sun, the ground is dry again. We haven't
gotten inches and inches of rain. We haven't gotten enough precipitation
to know. You're going to know more about anything like that when it
comes next winter.
Q. You've been logging since when?
A. March 7th is when we started cutting. So
we're on the spring and summer end of it.
Q. How do you feel about this timber sale
being subsidized by taxpayer dollars? How does that make you feel?
A. I don't know. When you say it's being
subsidized - the Forest Service is getting a million dollars and I know
it didn't cost them that to lay it out.
Q. That's what you're paying, a million
dollars?
A. I think it's a million-one.
Q. For how many board feet?
A. Well they said 14 and a half million but
we're not going to get 14 and a half million
Q. Really? Why not?
A. Because the riparian protections ate up a
percentage of it, wildlife trees ate up a percentage of it and then
there's a percentage of it, that's no good. The bark's coming off of
them and they're checking.
Kelpie Wilson is the t r
u t h o u t environment editor. A veteran forest protection activist
and mechanical engineer, she writes from her solar-powered cabin in the
Siskiyou Mountains of southwest Oregon. Her first novel, Primal
Tears, is forthcoming from North Atlantic Books in Fall 2005.
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