More Tree-Sitters Evicted in Freshwater

Tree-sitter evictors hired by Maxxam/Pacific Lumber made another appearance in Freshwater on Thursday, April 10, increasing the amount of violence they have been using against non-violent protesters. Three climbers went up the ancient redwood called Allah to evict the tree-sitter who was locked down 160 up and out on a branch. A second forest activist climbed up after Maxxam’s thugs were already in the canopy to help defend the tree. The two tree-sitters were repeatedly kicked, as well as one of them being left dangerously hanging upside down from thin rope that had been tied around his leg. The other, after having prussic cord tied around his ankles, was forced to endure one of the goons repeatedly stomping on the rope, cutting off the tree-sitters circulation.

After the sitters were evicted and arrested, the ancient redwood, which measured about 13 feet in diameter at the base, was cut. Most of the tree shattered, proving once again that Maxxam/PL is not motivated just by greed, but also by the need to destroy these watersheds once and for all. As Freshwater Watershed faces permanent damage due to Maxxam’s liquidation logging practices, the corporation continues to cut no matter what, even if the tree is worth little or nothing timber-wise. It is doubtful that the money to be made from felling this ancient tree, which offered habitat and intact hillsides in this devastated watershed, will equal the money spent to pay off the thugs used to evict the tree-sitters, nearly killing them in the process.

No cops were on the scene until a witness called 911, and even then it took a half hour for just one sheriffs deputy, officer Bolton, to arrive. This follows the pattern seen in Freshwater since the current tree-sits went up in March of 2002 – if PL says jump, the cops, especially the sheriffs deputies, get out their pogo sticks. If a tree-sitter calls for help (or in this case, an observer), they get around to responding in their own sweet time, if they do at all.

Allah sat just 400 feet from Jerry, the ancient redwood where Remedy lived for a year before being forcibly removed. This Timber Harvest Plan calls for 138 acres of clear-cuts. It is in Cloney Gulch, where Maxxam nearly wiped out the coho salmon population during their war on Freshwater during the 1990’s.