Mattole Action at Maxxam/PL Headquarters In Scotia, Ca.

(July 31, 2002)

Proposal to End the Conflict in the Mattole Watershed.

As concerned community members of Humboldt county, we present the following proposal as a means of resolving the ongoing dispute over the Pacific Lumber Companys’ logging operations in the Rainbow Ridge area of the Mattole River watershed. It is our goal to ensure that further destruction of the Mattole eco-system can be averted, and that adverse impacts to company employees and contractors can be minimized. We hope that the company will consider our requests while keeping in mind that such an agreement would prevent any future tragedies such as the death of David “Gypsy” Chain, who was killed during an attempt to halt illegal logging in 1998. This is a something that no one wants to see repeated. Also, we are afraid that logging operations in the Mattole area greatly increases the likelihood of a Sudden Oak Death (SOD) outbreak there. The Mattole is home to many SOD hosts for instance; Bay-Laurels, Madrones, Maples, and several species of Oak. All these species are common to this area and can be found in large quantities throughout the Mattole watershed.

1. We ask that all timber harvesting related activities in the Mattole be halted at once, until a solution is created that all parties involved can agree to. Activities that we wish to see end include tree felling, road building, and the creation of new timber harvest plans. This does not include legally required surveys.
2. We ask that the company compensate employees and contractors whose work is interrupted by conservation efforts.

If these two steps are implemented at this time, direct action to stop logging operations in the Mattole area will cease.
If the following practices were abolished by your company, we find it likely that direct action on all of your holdings would cease.

1. Clear-cutting.
2. Logging Old-Growth.
3. Logging on steep and unstable areas.
4. Spraying Herbicides.


We hope that you will respect our attempts to resolve this issue in a way that you have suggested you would be open to. Please remember that there is much community support for the effort to save the Mattole watershed.

Any day that someone locks down to P.L.s front doors, is a good day for me! I wish that there were more great people to lock-down to maxxam everyday! Congradulations and Thank-you very much for your action!

Being able to have a chance to communicate with the logging community was a highlight and a wonderful step towards healing the rift that has been created in part by the corporations, specificly Maxscam. I would love for the workers to unite and rise up to reclaim their rights declared by the constitution. The corporations are the tools of the people, not the other way around. The company obviously lies to the workers and their families because many of the residents didn't know that the company was still clearcutting old-growth on steep slopes. The Mattole is in the middle of an essential wildlife habitat corridor and exhibits geological instabilities as well as a habitat for many species, the Pilliated Woodpecker and Golden Eagle being only two of the varied wildlife. The North Fork of the Mattole River must be prevented from being filled with silt caused by road building and logging. This county is under corporate attack.

Mattole forest defenders' action of driving a car within a foot or so of the glass doors of PL's headquarters door violated the non-violent code that protestors vowed to uphold. The car was a junker, burning oil and belching smoke. The receptionist was in full view of the action. If the defenders could have put themselves in that receptionist's shoes, they would have reacted with fear for their safety or life upon seeing a car jumping the curb and driving up the walkway right up to the door. Causing another to experience fear does not square with the non-violence code that has characterized the protests for over a decade.

It doesn't matter that the occupants of the car were entertaining non-violent thoughts or that the action was planned with no thought of committing harm to persons or things.

It doesn't matter that the protestors were sure that the receptionist (and other occupants of the office) had no reason to fear their action or that the receptionist was wrong in assuming it was a car bomb like what the television news had conditioned her to think of.

What matters is that they drove a car off the road and aimed it at a building, stopping just short of the front door. It was using a moving car as a projectile.

Even though the action turned into a lockdown, it does not erase the memory and feeling of fear that the receptionist and occupants initially experienced.

The non-violence code strictly forbids threats of bodily harm. It has never led to a positive solution of differences; it has never led to a meaningful dialogue. It only creates fear, mistrust, and counter-threats or actions, that is, more violence.

Mattole defenders who participated in this action must apologize to the Pacific Lumber Company and to the Mattole community who have worked to save the old growth forest through the years. It takes a larger person to admit a mistake and ask for forgiveness than it takes to rationalize why one was not at fault. Pacific Lumber has never been large enough to admit mistakes and that has always resulted in a diminished standing in the community.

Consequences for violating the non-violent code are increased fear and violence, danger to life and limb, and damage to the cause of saving the forest.

Michael, you are wrong. Driving a car within a foot of a closed door does not violate any "non-violence code". Your logic is skewed. You really sound like you're bending over backwards to try to kiss PL's butt so that you can keep up "constructive negotiations" over the "potential" purchase of PL's Mattole holdings. The problem is that at the rate they are clear-cutting up there, by the time you're done with all this nicey-nice compromising, the forest will be gone, and all these years of butt-kissing diplomacy will be for - what? So you can say you held the "moral highground" while the forest was being cut?

There are 8, count them, 8 active THP's in PL's Mattole forestlands, with many more on deck. And no, they didn't stop clear-cutting, nor are they planning on stopping due to EPIC's "amazing" victory. Do you think they actually took a 3-day weekend off? We'll find out next week if EPIC can get a TRO, until and unless that happens. More direct action is needed, pronto!

"using a moving a car as a projectile" ??? Please. They were probably driving at about 2 miles per hour when it pulled up to the front door, if that. Maybe if they had launched the car from a giant catapult onto the roof of PL then your logic would add up.

I applaud any direct action that slows down the murderous pace of deforestation and greed that PL/Maxxam represents. They fully intend to cut/liquidate all thier old growth as soon as possible. They don't give a rats ass about their workers or the community or the environment. PL's "outrage" over this incident and trotting out the receptionist who was "in fear of her life" is a classic PR tactic. I can't believe you're falling for it. Getting "community members" like you to criticize the Mattole Forest Defenders instead of criticizing PL's accelerated clear-cutting is like icing on their PR cake. Hill & Knowlton may have a job opening for you Michael.

Apologize to PL? for what? They are the ones who are destroying Rainbow Ridge and your quaint little, not-so- utopian watershed. PL/Maxxam deserves neither apologies nor respect, only condemnation and onoing resistance.

F UCK THEM A$SHOLES,THEY SHOULD GET A LIFE,AND STOP ACTING LIKE JERKOFFS.

I was involved in an Action in the Mattole angainst Maxxam and PL. We stayed the loggers for 4 hours.the time that i am talking about was around 5 weeks ago. We were on our way into Gia where we have a tree sit going on. We were originally link elbows around the base of Gia's trunk. But on our way in we ran into to re-supply on the way out. So we stopped to tell them what we were up to when we saw the trucks coming. So we sat on the road with our elbows linked. The water truck back up and turned around. So we got up and ran as fast as we could to get to Gia. We made it about 500 yards before the trucks came back up the road. So we sat down again and linked our elbows back up. Then we sat there passing granola back and forth. Then the forman and the water truck man come up and ask us to move. We tell them 'That we are not trespassing and we are not going to move' and stayed right where we were at. Then they started joking about how 'If we thought it was cold now (36degrees) then we are going to be freezing in a few minutes. Then the water truck driver postioned his truck and the water nozzle about 10 feet from my face if not closer. He said we have one last warning to move or else. So we stayed right where we were at. So he went back to the truck and opened up both valves on us. One of them positioned right on my head. Keep in mind that I had my head bowed the whole time we were getting hosed. So he drenched us for like 2 or 3 minutes. Then we sat there in the shade for four hours freezing or hinnies off. They yelled at us telling us that we were stupid for what we were doing. they tried evrything on us. Talking about how or parents would be ashemed and we told them that our parents support us. One logger even tried to say that if Jesus was here he would be cutting down these trees himself. So those of us who knew the Bible started qouting scriptures. So he hushed up when he realized that we were not what they thought there average hippie was. About 20 minutes before the cops showed up they hosed us again. This time we stood up and turned our backs to the truck. While they were hosing us down we were yelling at the tops of our lungs "We love you!!!" After wards on of the P/L security gaurds felt bad about how clod we were and respected us for what we were doing and gave all of the sisters in the line a flannel shirt to wear. Not to long after that the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department showed up and asked us to leave. That was all we were waiting for so we got up and left. Meanwhile, while all of this was going on we saved the freedom of two tree sitters and a backwoods man. Apparently they had gotten lost in the awful slash that night and had laid down to go to sleep after wandering around in the slash for hours and hours. All they had in between them to sleep with was one sleeping bag and a snow jacket. That night the temp had dropped to 31 degrees. Keep in mind that this is the coldest that is has gotten in Humboldt since winter started. When they woke up the morning it was around 6:30. The loggers should have found them by then. They would have to if it had not been for our action. We didn't know that they were lost. We were just doing this action because they had cut down Jen-Fir (163 yrs. old) and Bertha Justice (200 yrs. old) earlier that day and arrested the 4 kids sitting in them. The third tree Gia is still standing as of December 1,2002. She still has a tree sit in her and we have many more tree sits going on in the Mattole. We need your help or anyone who can help us. Take care and Jah bless. Always loving you, Mourning Star

The car was not belching smoke. It did not jump the curb it drove over the concrete ramp on the edge of the sidewalk. The car was far enough away from the front doors that they could still be used and were, occasionally.

We the loggers of Humboldt are sick of you dirt bag dead beats trying to stop uss from making a honest living. Leave Humboldt to the locals and move back to where you came from. The time will come when you are no longer needed and we will make sure you leave one way or another!!!!

I can sympathize that your frustrated and tired of this shit. However, the blame of this mess is entirely on Hurwitz's shoulders and anyone aiding him in destroying the jobs and the environment. Both the protestors and the blue collar workers are just pawns in the game chucky is playing with this community. It is sad you have to endure through all this shit.

Some rage can be directed at the protestors for the lack of understanding the issues overall, but you definitely need to be directing most of your rage at Huriwtz.

I was reading the December issue of Forbes, and that magazine usually has profiles of people running various companies accompanied by photographs of them looking straight into the camera. They had this guy sitting on a stump, who runs Plum Creek which owns lots of Washington state (and they didn't purchase the state fairly... I think they got it through the railroad property gains plus other illicit giveaways to these first industries such as Weyerhaeuser. Anyway, he was describing how they usually cut 6% of their holdings but that this is good because some other companies try to push it by cutting 7%. But... if you cut 6% of your land each year, that would imply that you are cutting trees that are 100/6%=16 or 17 years old. But, douglas firs aren't that tall at 16 or 17 years old. They stay really short during the first few years, and then start making real gains in height around 15 years old, and then start stabilizing at a specific height when they're over 50 years old (adding girth but not height). Wouldn't 2% be a more appropriate level to cut? How are they able to cut 6%?

PL's latest president, Robert Manne used to work for Plum Creek, unlike John Campbell he's not such a bully. Rumor has it, he's a numbers geek. I'm sure there's some sort of logic for the six percent cut. 2% is probably more sustainable, but I suspect Plum Creek has debts or loans they owe on, and the banking system isn't set up to maximize profits over the long run. It's probably a short term gain constraint

Oh how great this gift of life is! How wonderfull it is to wander this great world and explore this gift! How exciteing it is to emagine all the possible ways that I can live this gift! Can you feel this too? Can you feel that little tingle when you remember that you are alive and anything is possible?
I think it is the opposite of the feeling you get when you realize that the vast majority of the people you see are living essentially in the same way. Most are struggling with the imperfections of this one way and it is hurting everyone' s gift, this great world that we can walk on and gives us life. Some of us see this and try to stop it, but all we can stop is ourselves. The only way we can show people how to stop hurting is by loveing them. (Even when they insult you, threaten you with violence, become violent, kill the oldest living things on the planet, outlaw plants that are good, and basicly rape all the good that gave us the gift in the first place.) We must continue to find a way to love and enjoy our lives.

"You are the part of the world that you want to change"
-Gandhi