Gaia Treesit in the Mattole

A little over a month ago 6 activists took to the trees in Rattlesnake Creek watershed which drains into the Mattole river. After 2 weeks of living in 3 trees in an active THP PL sent in their climbers, and began felling trees in the same unit.

With Sherrif deputies present to observe the illegal logging being done very close to one of the occupied trees (something Mary Bulwinkle a PL spokesperson stated would never happen ) not to mention the 3 trees that were fell in the occupied trees' direction. The climbers were able to take down 4 sitters after a full day of work, and then the fallers moved in to cut down the old trees that were occupied, breaking our hearts to see these wise ones fall.

The next morning after a short hold up by a blockade on the road into the unit the climbers arrived on the scene, again with the sheriff standing in the middle of the ruins of the previous days' illegal cutting. As the climber and his apprentices began their work the activists were in very high spirits, having already committed themselves to protect the douglas fir they were occupying regardless of what climbers tried.

After being warned that it was too dangerous for the climbers to come up to where the lockdowned sitters were, and one of the climbers having the branch he was standing on break, climber Erik ascended to the tippy wippy of Gaia, stating that everything would be just like the previous day, with him cutting us out and making sure that we got through this safely.

But, much to his surprise, things did not happen the same as the previous day. He was already endangering our lives by climbing up to our fragile position. He then cut out all of the food and sleeping gear and water, and told the sitters that he was hungry and was going down for lunch. What a long lunch he took, and has yet to finish the lunch he started about 3 weeks ago.

Meanwhile Gaia stands, along with a small hillside directly above her of beautiful dancing oaks and madrones, and although the local bear, mountain lion, squirrels and jays and an owl have lost a huge section of their home they still have a small place to be.

Being up in Gaia has taught me so much about the massive destruction being done out of greed and the importance of limiting my own consumption , this isn't just a product to be consumed. The forest that was cut can not be replaced. The forresters say in 5 years the bare hills will be a sea of green, but that sea of green will not be as diverse as the previous , not to mention the erosion factor or the impact of herbicides that will be sprayed on the seedlings that get planted.

It is a very sad thing for me that the next generation may not have a truly wild place to see, or real water without chemicals or have the opportunity to interact with nature on a non artificial level.

Gaia still stands and refuses to be killed, she has enlisted the help of a few kind souls who continue to stand with her, allowing her and the others on that hill in the mattole to dance their spiral dance and to celebrate life.