Monday Rally for Marathon Women Tree-Sitters

Monday Rally for Marathon Women Tree-Sitters

Six & Four Months in Redwoods Without Touching Ground, "Remedy" & "Wren"
Visited by Charles Hurwitz, Joan Baez, Remedy's Mom and now this Monday--Julia Butterfly

A rally to honor the 6 and 4 month marks of two women marathon tree-sitters will take place this Monday, Sept. 23 at Noon in Freshwater California,
just a few feet off Greenwood Heights Rd. "Remedy" and "Wren" have been perched on small platforms in giant redwoods since March 21 and May 23, respectively. The trees are slated to be cut by MAXXAM/Pacific Lumber and the active logging plan surrounds their vigil with the menacing whir of
chainsaws. Renowned tree-sitter Julia Butterfly Hill will present at the rally, along with other speakers and musicians. The sit has been visited by notables such as folksinger Joan Baez, MAXXAM CEO Charles Hurwitz, and Remedy's mother.

Many landowners have been protesting for years the flooding of their homes and roadways due to overlogging resulting in sedimentation of Freshwater
Creek. Under the Headwaters Forest Act passed in 1999 by the US Congress, MAXXAM is being allowed to clearcut five-hundred acres a year in Freshwater. \Ongoing lawsuits by the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), the Sierra Club and the United Steelworkers of America are attempting to halt the terms of that agreement.

"We are engaged in a struggle to preserve the last unprotected old growth trees and wilderness areas that are currently being laid to waste by the corporate industrial complex," said Remedy. "We do not approve of the sale of our children's future or the quality of our lives to a pompous corporation that has seized Humboldt County like a modern-day Al Capone," she said.

Remedy continued, "That our tax money pays the salaries of a litany of bureaucrats that sit on their hands while our watersheds are destroyed is
an outrage. However fun it might be to walk into the California Department of Forestry and tell them they're fired, it would be undermined by the fact that they already quit years ago. With every ancient tree they steal from the forest, and every acre of land they clearcut, the planet is less able to handle the constant burning of fossil fuels," she said.

Wren, offered her sentiments: "Until a few months ago I lived in the New York City metropolitan area my whole life. One of my classrooms in elementary school had a view of the Manhattan skyline. I looked out and saw the Twin Towers every day. Fifteen years later I watched smoke billow up from where the towers once stood. The loss of life that day so close to
home broke my heart. The impact that this had and will have on life around the world is unquestionable.

Now I've lived between the two trunks of an ancient redwood for four months. I have a view of this gorgeous forest around us as well as about
twenty-five ugly clearcuts. I hear these ancient towers fall every day. The loss of life so close to my new home breaks my heart every time. The impact this has had and will have on life in Humboldt, in California, across the continent and yes, across the world is unquestionable. People who do not live here can't believe that old growth is still being cut.
They know it is wrong. What they might not know is that Humboldt County has some of the most progressive and dedicated citizens I've ever had the
pleasure of meeting. Together we will see to it that life goes on in peace and to that end we will not let another tower fall."

Julia Butterfly applauded this current effort by new young women tree-sitters. "Freedom of expression and the tradition of direct action, eloquently addressed in the Declaration of Independence, continue powerfully in Remedy and Wren's tree-sitting action. In this time of focused patriotism, their tree-sits and the acts of others stand out, reminding us what true love of country is all about."

Directions: Hwy. 101 (So. of Arcata/No. of Eureka to Indianola Cut-off, drive until stop sign at T. Right at T, drive til 3 corners market and use public parking (don't park at market!). Shuttle will take you remainder of
1.8 miles to tree-sits. To get to tree-sit by car take Freshwater Road quick left on Greenwood Hts Rd. Go 1.8 miles Rally will be visible.