Mattole Struggle Continues On

Logging has once again resumed in the Mattole. Timber harvest plan 020 is going fast.
This plan is in an area with extremely steep slopes. So steep
that to run the wrong direction could mean serious injury or death. There are many landslides and cliffs and this area has been difficult to defend on foot.
There will be a rally held at monument gate near Scotia, on Fri. Also there will be a Forest Defense Teach-in on saturday in arcata, focusing on Tactics and Backwoods Living and also touching on non-violence and the legal system.
Early tuesday morning we were expecting loggers to show up, so we decided to try a new tactic. We spent the night building a monstrous blockade using wood from a nearby clearcut. We left a small room inside large enough for a person to sit up and lay down in. Once the walls of the room had been built one of our crew climbed inside. We then built a sturdy roof for him and proceeded to finish the slash pile. When completed, the barricade stood about 5 or 6 feet tall, 12 feet wide and spanning 14 or so feet across the road. With our friend deep inside, we took up positions to warn loggers of the danger of moving the pile and to observe their reaction. Just before dawn, about 3 or 4 pickups came tearing down the road. They drove right up to the barricade. Standing on the other side of the barricade, I told them of the situation but their only response was laughter. A few of them got out of thier trucks and one went running up the side of the hill next to the road. He chased the camera person and some others. Then he ran over towards me and tried to scare away me and my companion. He seemed to think that we would just leave if he screamed loud enough and shook his hands. Then he yelled " You little coyotes!" At which point we ( and the logger) all joined in on a chorus of howls and yelps.They extracted our friend within minutes using chainsaws. But the slash pile itself wasn't moved so quickly. The next day, a young man was lowered by climber eric and arrested. He had been occupying a hammok strung on a traverse in grove known as the Sanctuary. The head of PL security ordered the loggers to cut all of the trees around him, leaving only two trees in the village. Then climber Eric went up and began to lower one end of the traverse. This was extremely dangerous because the man in the hammok was not using a safety. He began to fear for his life and tried to climb (with prussiks) up the other side of the now slack traverse. Climber Eric then went down to the ground and climbed the other tree. He some how managed to lower the forest defender, who was then arrested on the ground.
Also, small groups have repeatedly approached the logging areas and made their presence known. This forces the loggers to stop for an hour or more, in order to search the woods.
If you are interested in the fight for the mattole, please get involved. Any level of commitment is usefull.

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