New Treesit and Banner In The Mattole

NEW TREESIT AND BANNER AT RATTLESNAKE CREEK
100 DAYS OF BLOCKADE, NO LOGGING AT RAINBOW RIDGE!

A new treesit, complete with its' own billboard-sized banner, was unveiled Friday, March 8th on Maxxam/Pacific-Lumber's timber harvest plan (THP) 1-00-309 near Rattlesnake Creek in Humboldt County, a tributary to the upper North Fork of the Mattole River. A community rally and barbeque was also held at 2pm at Fox Camp gate (see directions below) to celebrate the 100th day of the mass blockade at Rainbow Ridge, some twelve miles to the north west where scores of protesters have halted clearcut logging of old-growth Douglas Fir since last November on THP 1-99-475.
100 feet high in the branches of an enormous old growth Douglas Fir tree, activist Bob, originally from Quebec, but recently from the Rainbow Ridge occupation said: "I'm sitting up here to protect the last of these ancient trees and to call attention to the Company's continuing practice of clearcutting on extremely steep slopes and liquidating the remaining old growth."
The banner, easily visible from the County Road which borders on Humboldt Redwoods State Park, reads: "LOCAL CONTROL OF THE MATTOLE: SCRAM MAXXAM--STOP HCP SCAM!" The HCP, or Habitat Conservation Plan, a document required as part of the Headwaters Forest Deal, has been criticized by environmentalists as a major end-run around the Endangered Species Act. Many predicted that Maxxam's nearly 14,000 acre holdings in the Mattole watershed would become a "sacrifice zone" as the Company accelerated its' rate of cut there to compensate for the Redwood lands it sold to the public in 1998.
"Packaging the liquidation of a functioning ecosystem as a Habitat Conservation Plan is misleading and dishonest", said twenty-four year Gilham Butte resident, Gabrielle Roach. " No watershed analysis of the Mattole has been done. The HCP should not be applied to the Mattole, because this habitat, with up to 200''of rainfall some years and located on the triple Junction fault line, is unique". The Mattole, a Federally listed Impaired Watershed, is home to endangered Coho Salmon and has been the focus of 25 years of local restoration efforts. Only 5% of historic salmon runs remain.
Using fallers from Oregon and Washington, Columbia Helicopter crews leveled two thirds of the 63 acre THP 309 in a matter of days, but 15 acres of scattered old growth Fir remain standing. Four activists have been arrested during several protests.
Standing at the gateway to the Mattole, the new treesit serves as sentinel for the Mattole Forest Defenders' ongoing campaign to protect Long and Rainbow Ridges by placing a citizens' moratorium on seven timber harvest plans. The blockade has attracted an array of activists from local community members to international students. "These young people have braved winter weather, assault and arrest to save these trees, the largest unprotected old growth Douglas Fir forest left in the Pacific Northwest", said Gil Gregori, longterm downstream landowner. "The community is working on a serious acquisition offer and would like to buy standing trees, not stumps", he said.

Directions: Take Highway 101 to Humboldt Redwoods State Park and exit at the Honeydew/Rockefeller Grove area. Head through the park and climb Bull Creek Road for several miles. The rally and banner will be on your right.
Contact: Mattole Forest Defenders (707)-629-6598