Activists techniques questionable

November 26, 2000

By John Driscoll
The Times-Standard

Huge holes and mud-cemented stone walls in roads, a plugged culvert and diverted drainage ditches are among the tools environmental activists may be using to slow logging of old-growth Douglas fir in the Mattole.

Activists calling themselves the Mattole Forest Defenders, trespassing on Pacific Lumber Co. property, could cause some of the very problems they are trying to prevent while attempting to block vehicle access to the plan area.

Having lost a plea for a stay against the logging earlier this month, activists took to the woods. The Environmental Protection Information Center, the Petrolia-based Lost Coast League and the Humboldt Watershed Council filed the suit, alleging that the logging would damage the Mattole River and potentially cause landslides on steep slopes.

Several "Defenders" and Earth Firsters told The Times-Standard that the plugged culvert and damaged ditches were not their doing, and that they may have been framed by the company.

Many Mattole residents and environmentalists are hoping that the company may delay logging on about 53 acres of primarily old-growth Douglas fir forest. They hope to buy some or all of PL's approximately 14,000 acres in the area, but the amount of money that has been raised to do so is unknown.

Tracy Katelman, Mattole resident and environmental co-chair of the Portland-based Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment, would say only that "progress is being made."

PL insists it is not a willing seller.

The matrix of 2-foot deep holes on a main log-hauling road is small potatoes compared to the environmental problems that will arise if the company is able to log there, said Josh Brown of Earth First.

PL spokeswoman Mary Bullwinkel said that the company would receive violations or even citations if roads and culverts were in the condition that the affected two-mile stretch of road were in Wednesday.

"It just seems hypocritical, some of the things they're doing out there," Bullwinkel said.

Police twice have broken up groups of activists blocking gates to the plan. Police were unable to catch anyone, but did confiscate backpacks and sleeping bags.

Sgt. Pete Jimenez of the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department said the company has yet to file a formal complaint, and it is unlikely police would do anything until it does.

"It all depends how badly PL wants to log," Jimenez said.

The hilly terrain and open prairies in the area make it easy for the activists to signal to each other, and catching the individuals could prove exceedingly difficult anyway.

So far, PL has cut only one tree in the plan area. Wet weather potentially could stop logging for the winter, as company rules restrict road use following rain.

The California Department of Forestry said that it would not send inspectors out to view the road "alterations" while criminal activity is occurring.