Rally to Protect Ancient Redwoods

5 minutes of highlights from the rally to protect ancient redwoods at Nanning Creek Grove. Check out the video of direct action and tree-sitting at wesavetrees.org. Time is critical. To join and support the campaign contact Bay Area Coalition for the Headwaters.

13 minutes of speeches and music from the rally to protest the logging of Nanning Creek Grove. Sam Johnston of EPIC, James Ficklin of Earth Films, Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters Forest, & music by Lim.

So when will it stop , the trees will be cut down any way - thats how it goes I have seen clear cuts most people havent even seen before in places .. never mind whats the point .

A protest only goes so far ... but the trees needs our help now not in voice but in action . So I'll say the words so many hate to here It's time to fight back - it has to happen .

It's Tuesday afternoon in downtown San Francisco. Office denizens scurry about the financial district foraging for food. I am with a small flock of displaced marbled murrelets descending on the office of Senator Dianne Feinstein to lodge an urgent plea for the conservation the murrelets 2000 year old redwood forest home, Nanning Creek (see more pictures of the 'fly in' here). It is the latest chapter in the fight to preserve the world's last remaining stands of ancient redwood forest. Unfortunately, most folks stopped following the story after Feinstein successfully brokered a deal to purchase and protect 10,000 acres of coastal redwoods from Pacific Lumber back in 1999. The deal, of course, was a good thing. Without it, those 10,000 acres would be facing the same fate as Nanning Creek. The tragedy is that just six years later, Charles Hurwitz, President of Pacific Lumber's parent company Maxxam is driving the company into a financial nose dive, and taking the forests down with it. According to a really excellent article by Christopher Helman in the latest Forbes,

"Absent some regulatory relief Maxxam's timber business, according to the latest filings, may be forced to sell off operations and file for Chapter 11. At a recent $33 Maxxam's shares are trading at half what they were six years ago. Any other chief executive would have been booted by now. But Hurwitz controls 76% of the voting shares."

The company is in its final death throws, making a last ditch effort to placate its creditors by liquidating a global treasure. Nobody--including the hapless 'consumer' who buys the decks and patio furniture that these forests will produce--wants to see an ancient redwood forest fall. What's missing is a critical mass of awareness and action to generate the political leverage to stop it. Groups like EPIC and WeSave Trees.org are working to keep the pressure on in the courts and in the woods, but they need help to get the word out. Click on the links above to lend 'em a hand and send a letter to the editor of your favorite paper while you're at it.