Feature Archives

After 10 months of occupying in 100-foot high redwood trees, tree sitters at UCSC's Science Hill are ready for students to return for school. The tree sitters say that their presence is more important than ever since the Santa Cruz City Council settled their lawsuit with the University. The settlement gives the City Council's blessing for UCSC to begin the first phase of their construction plan that will eventually destroy 120 acres of forest and add at least 4,500 new students to the area.

Starting on Friday September 6th, U.C. Berkeley's Memorial Oak Grove started being cut down. As of Sunday, all of the trees that the University plans to cut were down except for a redwood that still has four tree sitters in it. Five people were arrested as they peacefully pleaded with arborists not to destroy the trees.

On Thursday August 21st, the University of California cut off branches from trees used by tree-sitters. Limbs were cut off of two or more oak trees in the middle of the grove. The extractors then used a large crane with four people in a basket and cut down two five gallon jugs of water, several bags of food, other gear. They almost succeeded in cutting down one of the platforms but were prevented from doing so by those in the trees.

Glen Chase, a Professor of Systems Management, has released a second report identifying the California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) eradication program as a fraud. Professor Chase's first report revealed the falsehoods the CDFA delivered after June 19 when courts and public pressure stopped the CDFA from aerial spraying synthetic pheromone based pesticides directly on cities. This second report reveals the fraud and misinformation delivered by the CDFA from the fall of 2007 until June 19, 2008.

Eureka, CA-Community residents and forest activists from the redwood region and far beyond Humboldt County in Northern California, were relieved and elated as news spread of an unprecedented commitment by Humboldt Redwood Company (HRC) owners of what was Maxxam/PL land to spare the Nanning Creek and Fern Gully ancient groves where tree-sits have been keeping chain saws at bay. The message was delivered directly to tree-sitters and included a commitment to further protect from future cutting all old growth 250 years old or more.

On August 9, the Santa Cruz city council and Coalition to Limit University Expansion (CLUE) reached a settlement agreement with UCSC over campus expansion. In response, the tree sitters occupying the area released a statement declaring that although Chancellor Blumenthal speculated that the tree sitters "have accomplished their goals," they will not be coming out of the trees. The tree sitters accuse the city and CLUE of never intending their lawsuit to protect the north campus trees and ecosystem, saying "Let the city and university make their agreements. We are here for the forest."

"We don't need another parking lot" read one of over 30 stenciled cardboard signs erected on the evening of August 1st across the fences of various failed businesses in Santa Cruz by a group of bicyclists as part of a "Going Out of Business & Green Futures" community ride. Part protest against car culture, part living art project, and part prank, the bicyclists visited the sites of former gas stations, drive thrus, auto-dealerships, and more, planting wild flower seeds, and other decorations depicting a deteriorating economy and hopes for a greener, wilder future.