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Protests have elevated since the issuance of a stay on all operations was issued by the superior court Judge John Golden. The stay was issued for all operations taking place under the guise of the Sustained Yield Plan and Habitat Conservation Plan resulting from the infamous "Headwaters Deal". Epic/Sierra Club and United Steelworkers are seeking an administrative challenge to the SYP and HCP with a trial date scheduled for January of 2003. The judge clarified his broad order late last week, yet PL has continued to log and has choosen to defy the court order. PL appears to be heading for contempt of court charges.
Meanwhile, over 15 trees throughout PL's holdings have become occupied with treesitters. At one point over twenty people were rumored to be occupying the canopy on one of the nights this past week. Lockdowns and arrests have taken place almost daily. Images: 1 2 3 EPIC's latest press release: 9/20/02
In a 14 page decision, Judge John Golden has issued a halt to all of Maxxam/PL's logging operations on August 29, 2002. The decision was a shock to EPIC and the Sierra Club who filed the lawsuit in 1999. The Kaiser Steelworkers assisted in initiating the lawsuit while on strike. At issue is the so-called "Sustained Yield Plan"(SYP). Apparently, the state agencies and PL had been dragging their feet turning over information regarding the "Headwaters Deal" and claimed attorney client privilege on the documents. The Judge felt it is in the public's interest to halt these operations until he's had a chance to review the totality of the situation.
The order isn't exactly clear as to what the judge has stayed after further review. It does appear that something is to be halted, but to what extent and whether it is just the current process for THP's in the hopper, is not known. It appears clarification will be required from the court, as PL continued operations as usual the following day after the ruling came out. EPIC's appears to believe that all of the permits obtained under the guise of the HCP and SYP are stayed. EPIC's press release More 1 2 3 Audio interview with EPIC
Meanwhile, Maxxam/PL claims in their latest press release to be following the law and labels non violent protesters as terrorist. This latest injuction indicates otherwise. Judge Golden's injunction debunks all the claims PL put forward in that press release regarding their operations being legal.
On Sep. 18 & 19, 2002, EPIC & the Steelworkers were back in court on the order. The judge stated he meant for his order to cover ALL logging operations which fall under the HCP and SYP. This is in addition to the CDF administrative processes which are stayed currently. PL has refused to obey the court order and continues to log THP's even though all of their operations fall under the SYP and the HCP. Residents have contacted the Sheriff's office, but they've claimed no knowledge regarding the stay. There have been 16 arrests of non-violent protesters since the order was issued and some of the protesters have had copies of the stay on them at time of arrest. Residents have also posted the order on the gates leading into the active harvest plans. Judge Golden is going to issue a written ruling on whether to extend the stay until the trial on the merits of these matters is heard in January of 2003 and it is expected to be filed with the court sometime during the week of Sep. 23-27th, 2002.
Mattole Forest Defenders have resurrected ongoing protests of Maxxam's liquidation of the Mattole Watershed on the Northcoast of California. The protests had taken a lull since October of 2001 when the logging in the Mattole had ceased. The Rainbow Ridge area has been dubbed the "Headwaters Sacrifice zone" by many in the community who helped to protect the infamous "Headwaters" area in the Elk River watershed.
One protester was arrested on August 13, 2002, while locking down to a front end loader off of Rainbow Ridge. The loggers grabbed slash and battered the protester along with tying her up, while she was locked down. Apparently, the hands off approach of, "wait for law enforcement policy" established in the wrongful death settlement of David "Gypsy" Chain has been revoked. There was also Forest Peace Alliance established in the Chain settlement to descalate the violence in the woods, but the talks have not developed into any credible policy or sensibility.
Other actions in recent weeks have included a road blockade off of Rainbow Ridge where a pod sitter was arrested on July 15th, 2002. The lockdown to a log truck on Highway 36 outside of Maxxam/PL's mill in Carlotta on July 25th, resulted in four people being cited on site and given court dates for the charges they face. Prior to August 5th, 2002, forest defenders had requested to open a dialogue with Pacific Lumber regarding their concerns in the Mattole, but the calls went unanswered. They parked a car in front of Pacific Lumber's corporate headquarters door in Scotia where another three arrests took place.
Meanwhile, the Freshwater tree-sitters remain strong and have vowed to stay up in the gigantic trees they are sitting in. The Gypsy mountain tree-sit has been ongoing since January of 2002, and indicates peoples resistance to Pacific Lumber's ongoing destruction of the environment and disregard for loss of life.
Recent actions in defense of the forest have included litigation and an early morning road blockade on July 8 on the Long Ridge/Taylor Peak area, where two logging plans are located. One person was arrested. The Taylor peak logging plan, under court challenge but with no injunction, contains old growth trees, like a number of other approved plans in the Mattole.
Meanwhile in Freshwater, Remedy, a tree-sitter in one of the old growth redwoods has been up for over one hundred days, and is holding strong. Wren, who sits in Everstine, has been up for over thirty days. PL owns over 3/4 of this watershed that has already been subject to flooding and loss of fish habitat.
On Gypsy mountain, the "Aradia" tree-sit has been going on since January, just up the ridge from where David "Gypsy" Chain was killed on September 17, 1998. Within weeks of the out-of-court settlement of the lawsuit filed by Gypsy's family last year, a new timber harvest plan was marked on Gypsy Mountain. "Aradia" is one of the last legally cuttable old growth redwoods left on Gypsy Mountain, and could be preserved as a living memorial to Gypsy.
Full Update from July 21, 2002 Video and Pictures 7/25/02 Lockdown and Images More Images 08/05/02 Lockdown Action
5/24: Jury deliberations are set to extend into their second week since closing arguments ended on 5/17 - read the jury instructions. On Friday 5/24, a Fiddle Down the FBI rally was held at the Federal Building in Oakland. In what the plaintiffs termed a last minute act of desperation, the FBI filed a motion to dismiss the entire lawsuit because the legal team was speaking at the time the jury was let out. The FBI complained that Tony Serra asked the public to pray that the jury remain "objective," while Dennis Cunningham stated that he needed to remain "mum" about the case. On Monday 5/20, the government made a motion to deny the jury's request for the text of the U.S Constitution's 1st and 4th Amendments. On 5/21 the jury requested a bottle of white-out, leading to speculation that the jury needed to make corrections on the official verdict form. The next day, Tony Serra reported that jurors arrived in the morning looking burdened, but left that afternoon looking more cheery. A question came late in the day about whether it would still be false arrest if police believed they had probable cause at the time of arrest, but later realized they didn't, and still kept Darryl and Judi under arrest. Judi Bari v. FBI feature page
