Press Release: More Logging Markers Removed From Mattole Logging Plans

For Immediate Release September 1st, 03'


Mattole Forest Defenders Remove More Pacific Lumber Logging Markers.



· Many Previously Removed Markers Still Not Replaced.
· Markers Taken From Brand New Logging Plans

Mattole Watershed, Humboldt County, Ca.-Last week, a group of forest defenders removed hundreds more of the markers that delineate logging plans in a remote area of the Mattole River watershed of southern Humboldt County. The four timber harvest plans or THPs' are located on Pacific Lumber company (PL) holdings.
"PLs' plans include cutting hundreds of acres of old-growth Douglas fir, cutting on unstable slopes, clearcutting and building destructive new roads to do so," said one flag pulling activist.
The markers were taken from the logging plans PL named; "Skookum"(#02-164), "Skagit"(#03-007), "Two Point"(#03-143), and "Matt Ole". The activists operated undetected while PL employees and logging contractors worked nearby.
"Two Point", was filed in mid-august but had a major setback, it was returned to PL by the California Department of Forestry (CDF), apparently unfit for filing. " Matt Ole" is so new that it is still being marked out by PL surveyors and has not yet been filed at CDF.
" Without these markers, the logging plans are incomplete," said Kestrel, one of the forest defenders. " We are intervening before the cutting starts by complicating the logging plan approval process."
Earlier this year the Mattole Forest Defenders removed thousands of markers from several PL logging plans in the Mattole watershed including "Skookum" and "Skagit". Activists report that many of those markers are still gone.
" While hiking through Skookum and Skagit this time we noticed that hardly any of the markers that were previously taken down had been replaced. Even those related to the new adjacent logging plan Two Point," said one activist.
"I think this type of action is safe and effective," said a forest defender who chose to remain anonymous. " This is the sort of thing that anyone can do, you don't need special training and there is a low risk amount of risk involved."
There have been many actions taken by forest defenders in this area over the past several years including road blockades, tree-sits and occupying groves where loggers are actively trying to cut.