TREE SITTER CELEBRATES HER 28TH BIRTHDAY HIGH IN A TREE

Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters

Jan. 3, 2003
Contact: Remedy, cell phone in the tree 707-498-
or Karen Pickett, BACH 510-548-3113

TREE SITTER CELEBRATES HER 28TH BIRTHDAY HIGH IN A TREE

Remedy, the young woman who has been living in a giant redwood tree she dubbed "Jerry", on Pacific Lumber property since March 2002, celebrates her 28th birthday today high in the branches on her small platform wrapped in tarps. However, instead of hearing friends strains of "Happy Birthday" and blowing out candles, she is conducting radio interviews, with a backdrop of noisy chainsaws.

After a short lull in logging due to fierce storms, logging crews are back to an accelerated level of activity. Maxxam/Pacific Lumber crews are active in at least 3 units in timber harvest plans in the Freshwater area, where Remedy's tree-sit is. She does have friends close by: there are a number of other tree-sits in Freshwater, including Wren's 7-month long occupation, tree-sits in the Grizzly Creek area, near Grizzly Creek State Park, where logging began a few weeks ago in prime endangered marbled murrelet habitat, and on Gypsy Mountain, where activist David Gypsy Chain was killed in 1998. Protests opposing the unsustainable logging have been stepped up and have an air of increased urgency, as Maxxam/Pacific Lumber moves into some of the best remaining murrelet habitat, getting the green light for destruction of endangered species habitat via the Headwaters deal.

As logging has increased on unstable slopes and more of the landscape is denuded through massive clearcuts, local residents are also dealing with flooding of their homes. A number of families have had to relocate during the holidays due to logging-caused flooding.

As to the prospect of spending her birthday in a tree listening to chain saws, Remedy commented that "There is no one I would rather spend my birthday with than this tree."
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