Anti-Sprawl Direct Action in Montana

Flat­head Val­ley, Mon­tana, U.S. — A group call­ing itself Amer­i­cans Stop­ping Sprawl­ing Devel­op­ment (ASSD) has tak­en cred­it for a rash of inci­dents involv­ing the removal of sur­vey­or stakes and graf­fi­ti that is esti­mat­ed to have cost devel­op­ers as much as $20,000 so far.

Stop Sprawl!Flat­head Val­ley, Mon­tana, U.S. — A group call­ing itself Amer­i­cans Stop­ping Sprawl­ing Devel­op­ment (ASSD) has tak­en cred­it for a rash of inci­dents involv­ing the removal of sur­vey­or stakes and graf­fi­ti that is esti­mat­ed to have cost devel­op­ers as much as $20,000 so far.

A three page anti-cap­i­tal­ist man­i­festo was left behind by the van­dals after the first inci­dent which took place on May 17th. The doc­u­ment call urban sprawl “one of the great­est issues fac­ing our soci­ety” and promised more actions against it.

The non-prof­it envi­ron­men­tal group Cit­i­zens for a Bet­ter Flat­head has joined devel­op­ers and their allies and offered a cash reward for infor­ma­tion lead­ing to the arrest and con­vic­tion of indi­vid­u­als respon­si­ble for a cam­paign anti-sprawl van­dal­ism.

Cit­i­zens for a Bet­ter Flat­head pledged $100 towards the reward fund. A rep­re­sen­ta­tive at the Sier­ra Club’s Mis­soula office also dis­avowed the action.