Earth First! Locks Down to Forest Service Office in NC

On Mon­day July 12th, Earth First! held a large protest out­side of the For­est Ser­vice office on Zil­li­coa St. in Asheville to protest the com­mer­cial log­ging of nation­al forests and their con­tin­ued plan to cut the Globe For­est in Blow­ing Rock, NC. One mem­ber u‑locked his neck to the office front door. As nego­ti­a­tions con­tin­ue on this tim­ber sale to remove an old-growth stand from the project, Earth First! wish­es to call atten­tion to the con­tin­ued exploita­tion of our dis­ap­pear­ing forests by tim­ber com­pa­nies. Recent stud­ies show the Unit­ed States now leads all devel­oped coun­tries in defor­est­ing its land the fastest, and this trend is most preva­lent in the South­east.
The Globe For­est pro­vides impor­tant habi­tat and nest­ing sites for wood­peck­ers and migra­to­ry song­birds whose num­bers are declin­ing due to for­est frag­men­ta­tion. The For­est Ser­vice con­tin­ues to cut stands of trees that are direct­ly con­nect­ed to old-growth for­est com­mu­ni­ties, caus­ing destruc­tive edge effects, and they have refused to pro­vide a buffer because it is not required in their “For­est Plan.” Treat­ing and cut­ting these stands will cause ero­sion, soil destruc­tion, and will pol­lute the near­by streams with her­bi­cides. Until all of Thun­der­hole Creek is pro­tect­ed, Earth First! will cam­paign to stop the cut.

Earth First! Demands That the For­est Ser­vice in North Car­oli­na:

-stop attempt­ing to cut old-growth habi­tats includ­ing any stands con­nect­ed

to these rare areas.
‑put an end to all com­mer­cial log­ging in our nation­al forests
‑imme­di­ate­ly revise the For­est Plan to include reha­bil­i­tat­ing pre­vi­ous
clear-cuts into ear­ly suc­ces­sion­al habi­tat instead cut­ting healthy, mature
for­est expans­es.
‑an end to road build­ing in our nation­al forests

“Any cuts with­in the Globe will affect vital old-growth ecosys­tems and our stance is to end all com­mer­cial log­ging of our nation­al forests,” says Joseph Fer­gu­son, a Croatan Earth First! activist. “His­tor­i­cal­ly the For­est Ser­vice has catered to tim­ber com­pa­nies, but we believe the pub­lic does not sup­port log­ging in our Nation­al Forests.”