7/29/04: As a multi-million dollar fraud lawsuit against Maxxam percolates through the Humboldt County courts, direct action forest defenders have constructed a treesit village in defense of old-growth forest in the Mattole River watershed. This announcement came hot on the heels of two roadblocks on logging roads leading to active Timber Harvest Plans, where old-growth forest continues to be razed by Maxxam's Pacific Lumber. At one of the roadblocks, a bus was wedged into a bottleneck at an access gate, with two women locked down in steel devices that had been drilled through the floor and cemented into the ground below. North Coast Earth First! activists intend to protect "Heritage Trees" until the Heritage Tree Preservation Act can be passed. The act, if passed, would protect much of the remaining old-growth trees on non-federal land in California, defined as any tree older than the state of California (150 years). Reports: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Photos