Local Activists and Big Timber Clash in the Courtroom

The goal of the writing below is to invalidate Maxxam/PL's property ownership claim based on
1) initial theft from Wintun people during colonialism
2) destruction of ecosystem by Maxxam violates law of commons
3) people need a healthy ecosystem for survival


Returning Stolen Land to Wailakki Wintun

This writing will begin the process of returning the land known as "Gypsy Mountain" to the care and stewardship of the descendents of the Wailakki Wintu tribe, the people living closest to the mountain before the arrival of European colonialists. Currently the mountain is "owned" by the logging
corporation Maxxam/Pacific Lumber.

The issue of "property ownership" is different between a human and a
corporation. Even with humans, it is questionable whether property
ownership makes any logical sense. However, this writing will only address
the fallacy of corporate property ownership through corporate personhood.
The false idea of corporate "personhood" gives the corporation the same
rights as a human being. Initially the corporate personhood concept was
meant to hold corporations liable for breaking the law like any other
person. This would protect workers and neighbors from any health risks
posed by the corporation's activities. Unfortunately corporate personhood
got distorted into corporations now having the same rights as human
beings, including property ownership. This results in corporations having
the ability to cause massive destruction on "their" land without anyone
being able to object or attempt to protect the commons (air, water,
forests, etc.) without being arrested for trespassing. If forests provide
our source of oxygen, keep rivers and fisheries healthy, and are an
integral part to our physical and mental health, then it follows that we
need to access the land to maintain stewardship and care of the land. We
are unable to maintain stewardship for the land while Maxxam/Pacific
Lumber holds the land as their possession, continues destructive illegal
logging and refuses to allow forest defenders access to the land. We feel
this conflict could be resolved easiest by simply returning the land to
the care of the original inhabitants, the descendants of the Wailakki
Wintu. Below is an outline of reasons to return the land;

1) The land that Maxxam/Pacific Lumber corporation claims they "own" was
stolen via forced relocation and/or extermination of the tribe who lived
there previously. Though the current tenants Maxxam/PL did not commit
these acts, they were committed by a combination of European settlers,
squatters and government/military officials. During this process, the land
ended up being transferred from the tribe's care to the corporation via a
combination of force, deceit and theft. People living in a conscious
global community view this forced land transaction as extremely unjust and
in need of reparations.

2) Following the laws of the commons means showing consideration to one's
neighbors. Living on or tending land must be accompanied by being a good
steward and/or caretaker of the land. Maxxam/PL has proven to be unworthy
of taking proper care of the land, instead they show a pattern of
consistent abuse via clear cut logging, pesticide/herbicide spraying,
logging on unstable slopes and logging keystone old growth trees. The
actions of Maxxam/PL violate the laws of the commons by not showing
consideration to their neighbors. This violation is evidenced by the
flooding of homes downstream when rivers flood from excess erosion dumping
sediments into the river, a direct result of clear-cut logging on unstable
slopes.

3) Indigenous peoples need their ancestral land for autonomy and a
traditional lifestyle. Gathering native plants for food and medicine is
only possible if the ecosystem is functional and healthy. Returning
autonomy and self-sufficiency via land reparations is needed in order to
help restore the health and culture of the people. Pollution and
degradation of indigenous lands by profit driven corporations cannot
continue. It is in the best interest of the commons that care of the land
is returned to the ecological wisdom of the tribe.

Background on "Gypsy" Mountain

East of Grizzly Creek and north of the Van Duzen River is a moderate
mountain with an east west ridge. On the slope facing south a small
memorial exists to honor our comrade David "Gypsy" Chain, a forest
activist who was killed when Maxxam/Pacific Lumber logger AE Ammons fell
a large tree in David's direction. For the last five years forest
defenders attempted to save a near 700 year old redwood named "Aradia"
with a tree platform in her upper branches. On Saturday 9/25 afternoon we
lost Aradia in a few hours after climbers extracted the tree sitters who
tried in vain to save her.

Before forest defenders and loggers arrived on the mountain, the land of
ancient redwoods was home to indigenous people who enjoyed nature's bounty
in fishfull rivers. Medicinal plants and fungi were gathered and prepared
according to time-honored traditions.

Though the regions inhabited by tribal groups are not always exactly
marked, we can reasonably guess the people living on or around Gypsy
Mountain were Wailakki Wintu.

"One group of Wailakki Wintu (People speaking a north language) which
survived, was a small group that historians would call the "Lassik". You
may see the location of the so-called Lassik on the map at

http://www.mip.berkeley.edu/cilc-images/bibs/maps/tribemap.gif

The people called Lassik were also known as the Wailakki Wintu. Many
anthropologists, including Lucy Rogers Young have said that there never
was a group calling itself "Lassik".

"Lassik" was termed by anthropologist Alfred Kroeber after reading Stephen
Powers' stories. The name Lassik is phonetically similar to a Wailakki
chief named El-lai-saic who held out against the European onslaught the
longest. The tribe of chief El-lai-saic was then reffered to as the Lassik
tribe.

"As a result of Powers' short visit to the region, the traditional maps
showing the Lassik are not accurate. The "official" maps proclaim to show
a people who were "fictionalized" by Powers. Most likely the People he met
in the mountain region were a mixture of Mountain and Sacramento
River-Foothill Wintu, Hupa, some coastal people, and the Ukomnom (Yuki)
who lived to their south."

Even the term Yuki is another misconception of European settlers language
confusion. When settlers asked the Wintu's the name of another neighboring
tribe, they replied "Yuki", which meant enemy. Since early European
settlers never bothered to learn the Wintu language, they assumed this was
the Yuki tribe, and the name stuck.

Many peoples living along the Eel River were systematically rounded up and
relocated by force to the Round Valley Reservation near Covelo. Yuki,
Concow Maidu, Little Lake and other Pomo, Nomlaki, Cahto, Wailaki, Pit
River and others were marched from far away to the reservation, forced
together even though some were traditional enemies. Now the descendants of
many different peoples are living together as the confederated tribes of
Round Valley Reservation. Even with the confusion surrounding the exact
tribal group that lived near Gypsy Mountain, it is reasonably certain that
their descendents are currently members of the confederated tribes of
Round Valley reservation. This small geographical location is a fraction
of the land they used to live on.

Much of this missing land is currently in the possession of Maxxam/Pacific
Lumber, a logging corporation that clear cuts, logs on unstable slopes,
and sprays herbicides in the clear cuts. These unsustainable practices are
causing poisoning and sedimentation of the rivers, suffocating salmon by
restricting oxygen availability to gills and eggs. Medicinal plants like
redwood sorrel (Oxalis oregana) are canopy shade dependant, having evolved
to perform photosynthesis at lower levels of light. Redwood sorrel cannot
tolerate more than 3-4 hours of direct sunlight and do not survive in
clearcuts. Salmon and medicinal plants are intricately woven into the
culture of the people currently corralled at Round Valley, providing them
life and subsistence.

The commons is a shared place that is taken care of by everyone. People
cannot depend on a corporation to be the caretaker of the land when their
actions show they are mostly interested in short term profit. For the
ecosystem to be healthy, the ecological wisdom of the original caretakers
needs to be applied.

Sources;

"Resource Rebels: Native Challenges to Mining and Oil Corporations" by Al
Gedicks 2001 South End Press Cambridge

"We Are Here: Politics of Aboriginal Land Tenure" edited by Edwin N.
Wilmsen 1989 UC Press Berkeley

"The Wai-lakki (Northspeakers) and their Neighbors: Cultural Collision and
Genocide" by Kaiitcin (White Lily): Last Update 28 June 2004

http://northspeakers.org/_wsn/page3.html


"The Land Question in America: The Issue That Nobody Wants to Confront" by
Mark Fancher

http://www.blackcommentator.com/66/66_guest_land.html

Intl Humanities Center: Indigenous Land Rights Fund

http://www.ihcenter.org/groups/ilrf.html

Round Valley Indian Tribes
http://www.covelo.net/tribes/pages/tribes_history.shtml

redwood sorrel
http://www.scs.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html...

I can't help, but to think that you moth are not always flying around in the air, and that you must live somewhere, didn't this also belong to the native americans, or did you find that they were payed the true value of it?

Any word on what happened in the court rooms, would be greatly apprieciated!