27 Arrested For Erecting Anti-Logging Blockade In Oregon

The blockade in the Elliott State Forest began on Monday and continued until yesterday when the last of the protesters were arrested

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27 Arrested For Erecting Anti-Logging Blockade In Oregon

AMY GOODMAN
JUAN GONZALEZ
July 10, 2009

The blockade in the Elliott State Forest began on Monday and continued until yesterday when the last of the protesters were arrested. The activists were blocking access to a timber sale on 79 acres of forest land. They say logging practices in the Elliot are damaging old-growth forests and endangering spotted owls.

Jasmine Zimmer-Stucky, activist with Cascadia Rising Tide, one of the groups that took part in the blockade.

JUAN GONZALEZ: In Oregon, 27 people have been arrested for erecting an anti-logging blockade in the Elliott State Forest. The blockade began on Monday and continued until yesterday, when the last of the protesters were arrested. The activists were blocking access to a timber sale on 79 acres of forest land. They say logging practices in the Elliot are damaging old-growth forests and endangering spotted owls.

For more were joined on the line by Jasmine Zimmer-Stucky. Shes an activist with Cascadia Rising Tide, one of the groups that took part in the blockade. Welcome to Democracy Now!

JASMINE ZIMMER-STUCKY: Hello. How are you all doing?

JUAN GONZALEZ: Tell us what happened.

JASMINE ZIMMER-STUCKY: Well, early Monday morning, both Cascadia Rising Tide and Earth First put up this blockade as the culmination of the annual Earth First, Round River Rendezvous, which was held in Oregon at the Umpqua National Forest.

The blockade was intended to block access to the active timber sale in the Elliot State Forest, which means that each day we were there, we turned away loggers from cutting this native forest land, which means it was burned by naturally In 1868, but was allowed to rejuvenate and is on its way to becoming an old growth forest and is habitat for the endangered species, the spotted owls, marbled murrelet and the coastal coho salmon.

AMY GOODMAN: And can you talk about the response and the level of community support you have? And also, just as you were listening, talking about this major protest on Mount Rushmore, urging president Obama to stop global warming, how you see your protest on the South-Central Oregon Coast to be related to these bigger issues, Jasmine?

JASMINE ZIMMER-STUCKY: We did get a lot of community support from this. The Elliot State Forest is something thats continually hit every year, harder and harder, as we lose funding for things like public schools.

In terms of what Obama is doing for climate change and Oregon forests, Pacific Northwest forests store more carbon per acre than any other forest in the world. And we know that, according to NASA, deforestation is the second leading cause of climate change, so we really see the importance in protecting these amazing carbon reserves in Oregon and other places in the Pacific Northwest.

Right now the direction that were going, and we continue to go, is liquidating our forests, turning them into tree plantations on short rotation cycles, you know, 40 to 60 years, which isnt good for carbon storage. Its not good for creating a sustainable economy. Its just not where we need to be going right now.

JUAN GONZALEZ: And when the police moved in, what were you actually charged with? And is everyone already out?

JASMINE ZIMMER-STUCKY: There are still four people in jail. Theres a bunch of different blockade structures in some various degrees of, you know, extraction. There are people locked down, so people in barrels around gatesthe main access point-and [locked] to a tipped-over van.

Lets see the 23 people who were arrested two days ago, they were all released yesterday and they have various charges: interfering with an agricultural operation, criminal trespass, and criminal mischief. Those are the three main ones.

We had four people airily [sic] suspended through whats called a Skypod, a Tripod, and a Bipod. And then a tree-sit in a platform. Those four people were also charged with various degrees of criminal mischief, trespassing, and interfering with an agricultural operation.

The blockade was really impressive. Ill describe it for you: If you were going to come up along the road, the first thing youd see is this massive fortress made of brush that was collected from the forest. It was about 15 feet tall and spanned the entire length of the road. And just behind that was a vehicle, a large van, that had been tipped over on its side with people locked down inside of it.

On the other side of that would be a gate which was the main access point to the logging site, with multiple people locked down around the gate, on the ground. And every anchor for the people up in the pods, those four people, was connected to the gate, so if that gate were to be opened, they would be all, obviously, severely injured.

It was a very impressive structure. It took them multiple engineers, multiple days to figure out how to get the people in the pods out. We still havent had contact with them yet. We hope that theyll will be released later today.

AMY GOODMAN: Jasmine Zimmer-Stucky, I want to thank you very much for being with us. Activist with Cascadia Rising Tide. 27 people were arrested in that anti-logging protest in Oregon.

And that does it for our broadcast. Democracy now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Aaron Mat, Anjali Kamat, Steve Martinez, Nicole Salazar, Hanni Masoud, and Robby Karran. On Saturday, tomorrow, at 5 oclock, Ill be in Tinmouth, Vermont at the Solar Fest, speaking there at the New England Renewal Energy Festival.

Our website is democracynow.org.

Im Amy Goodman, with Juan Gonzalez. Thanks so much for joining us.

Additional Information

Web Site: http://i3.democracynow.org/2009/7/10/27_arrested_for_erecting_anti_logging

Category: Forestry>Policies and Politics

Region: Oregon

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