Feature Archives

Maxxam/Pacific Lumber clearcutting protests and blockades continue. See a video of the Mattole forest and actions at the declared Free State over the past several months. Maxxam/PL has launched a media blitz locally blaming Earth First! for recent layoffs. Read the real reason for the layoffs. Hear Maxxam/PL's resource manager Craig Anthony describe plans for liquidating old-growth forests.

San Francisco Indymedia is hosting a collection of FBI files related to the trial. Please continue to check this page for new documents as we add them, and join our FBI Bombing Trial Mailing List for continuous updates as the trial develops.

On May 24, 1990, Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney, who were in the midst of organizing a massive nonviolent campaign against clearcutting, were nearly killed when a car bomb planted under their front seat exploded as they drove through Oakland. FBI investigators, who had recently completed a course in carbombing held at a Louisiana Pacific lumberyard, arrived on the scene almost immediately; FBI and Oakland Police investigators told the press that they had evidence that Bari and Cherney had themselves planted the car bomb and would thus be facing criminal charges. The campaign to discredit and "neutralize" Earth First! had reached new depths.

The district attorney eventually dropped all charges due to lack of evidence, but the FBI utterly failed to investigate the bombing any further. A year after the bombing, Bari and Cherney filed a civil rights lawsuit against the FBI and Oakland Police; the defendants, however filed appeals and other motions every step of the way, delaying the trial for 10 years. Meanwhile, Bari died from breast cancer in 1997. The trial finally opens on April 8, 2002, before Judge Claudia Wilken at the U.S. District Court in Oakland. It was originally scheduled to begin on October 1, 2001, but was postponed at the request of the plaintiffs – due to the Sep. 11 terrorist attacks and subsequent pro-FBI public opinion.

The plaintiffs are suing the FBI and Oakland Police under the 1st, 4th, and 5th amendments for conspiracy, false arrest, unlawful search and seizure, interfering with their right to organize politically, and denying equal protection of the law in allowing the real assassins to go free. Evidence suggests that authorities falsified evidence, lied to the media and the courts, conspired to frame and demonize Judi Bari and Earth First! for political reasons, blamed the victims in spite of clear evidence of their innocence, targeted nonviolent environmentalists in a sham investigation of the bombing, ignored evidence pointing to the real bombers, and covered up their own wrongdoing.

Earth First! activists in Santa Cruz were fired at during treesit, and police did nothing. Activists responded by locking down. Latest Mattole blockade raided. The blockade went up July 19 and kept loggers out of the Long Ridge/Brushy Ridge area for over a week before being raided on July 27 resulting in the arrest of two activists. Old growth Douglas Firs have been leveled as fast as possible by PL, only being slowed by lawsuits and persistent non-violent direct action by forest defenders. Hear Maxxam/Pacific Lumber’s Resource Manager describe plans for liquidating old-growth forests. A Mattole home owner was served SLAPP suit papers during a rally at Fish & Game. Another photo. The SLAPP suit is an intimidation tactic by PL/Maxxam to try and squash public dissent. Meanwhile in Mendocino County on July 19th more than thirty people set up a blockade on Albion Ridge Rd. before the gates to Mendocino Redwood Company's (MRCs) new Timber Harvest Plans (THPs) on the Albion River. MRC is owned by GAP’s Fisher family. Blockaders dispersed after several hours rather than facing arrest but activists continued to occupy the cut area. Report Audio Photos 1 | 2 | 3

Employees of Lewis Logging, a Fortuna company and a Maxxam/PL subcontractor, attack treesitters in the Mattole on May 26, escalating the violence as PL attempts to begin logging again. A treesit was raided by Pacific Lumber security and Humboldt County sheriffs on May 24; three were arrested. A Mattole activist received a two month jail sentence on May 23. Another received a 30-day sentence and two year probation. That night, people spoke at a Humboldt County Board of Supervisors meeting, again requesting that a human rights observer be sent to the Mattole Free State.

The Maxxam Shareholder Meeting in Houston was protested in solidarity with Mattole actions on May 25.

In April, 2002 , the FBI and Oakland PD will be on trial in a federal civil rights suit for improper handling of the investigation of the bombing of Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney. A rally in remembrance of the bombing was held at the Oakland Federal Courthouse on May 24, 2001. Audio: 1 | 2