Blockade Halts Logging in Mattole Forest, US

July 9th, 2014  A block­ade was deployed on a log­ging road in the Mat­tole for­est yes­ter­day morn­ing, pre­vent­ing the extrac­tion of over 1,000 acres.of old-growth for­est

There has been com­mu­ni­ca­tion between the com­pa­ny and the block­aders, but efforts to remove the tech­ni­cal­ly com­pli­cat­ed mono­pod-tri­pod com­plex had not been made as of last con­tact with the for­est defense team.

This marks the sec­ond action in as many weeks. Last week a tree sit­ter going by the name Skunk climbed into the canopy, insist­ing, “Our main demands to Hum­boldt Red­wood Com­pa­ny are very simple—don’t cut unlogged for­est, and don’t cut old-growth. This road threat­ens to destroy for­est that has nev­er been logged before, and will pave the way for log­ging even more impor­tant habi­tat if the com­mu­ni­ty does not rise up to stop it.”

The Mat­tole for­est is host to sev­er­al species of old growth trees, and endan­gered species like the Spot­ted Owl and Gold­en Eagle.

The Mat­tole riv­er sys­tem has also been the site of hero­ic salmon restora­tion efforts in North­ern Cal­i­for­nia, as doc­u­ment­ed by the book Totem Salmon by Free­man House.

This area has been the site of suc­cess­ful for­est defense cam­paigns since the Tim­ber Wars in the ear­ly 1990s, and Earth First! con­tin­ues to main­tain a vig­i­lant pres­ence.

 

Update: Help Need­ed!

The block­ade in the Mat­tole con­tin­ues amidst pres­sure from local law enforce­ment and log­ging com­pa­ny rep­re­sen­ta­tives. The block­ade was deployed on a log­ging road in the Mat­tole for­est yes­ter­day morn­ing, pre­vent­ing the extrac­tion of over 1,000 acres of old-growth for­est in South­ern Hum­boldt.

This morn­ing, 4 Sher­iffs and HRC com­pa­ny execs showed up to the road block­ade. They threat­ened to rean­chor the lines of the tri­pod block­ade, putting the sit­ter at risk. We have con­firmed they have arrest­ed and released one per­son, but that the block­ade of old growth log­ging remains. The cops have said that they will return tonight with dogs.

This block­ade marks the sec­ond action this month. Last week a tree sit­ter going by the name Skunk climbed into the canopy, insist­ing, “Our main demands to Hum­boldt Red­wood Com­pa­ny are very simple—don’t cut unlogged for­est, and don’t cut old-growth. This road threat­ens to destroy for­est that has nev­er been logged before, and will pave the way for log­ging even more impor­tant habi­tat if the com­mu­ni­ty does not rise up to stop it.”

The block­ade could use more sup­port! Please con­tact savemattolesancientforest@gmail.com if you want to vol­un­teer with the cam­paign or donate mon­ey and mate­ri­als. More updates to come on saveancientforest.org.