By Danny Pardini – Ukiah Daily Journal, July 26, Anderson Valley Advertiser, August 1, and Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 7, 1990
Today Earth First! representatives announced to me that they are setting up a “Logger’s Relief Fund” to try to compensate for all the hard working loggers (some with families to feed) that have been recently put out of work due to their restraining order against the Barton Gulch job.[1] Any minuscule amount of cash they could manage to muster up could not begin to compensate for the damages and losses suffered.
I come from a fourth generation logging family.
Timber is what we know and have been exposed to all of our lives. Our company does a very good job, our jobs and clean, we have a good reputation in the industry and we’re proud to be loggers. We are as concerned about the planet as much as any other group of people, maybe more so than these terrorists. Earth First! claims to be a nonviolent group, but what about law-abiding? They promote the spiking of trees[2], pulling up of survey stakes, and severe damage of heavy equipment. The spiking of trees hurts innocent people—fallers, mill workers, etc.
I deeply resent these Earth First! people being out on our job this last week. One person in particular that I spoke to there on our job could not tell the difference between an old growth tree and a third growth tree.
The real issue here should be that the trees they are trying to save are on privately owned property. I can only speculate the outrage Louisiana Pacific is experiencing over this situation. L-P generously allowed the bordering property owners to mark the specific trees along their property lines that they did not want cut, and L-P agreed to leave those trees. They could have cut those as well, but didn’t.
I was hired to do a job—get L-P’s logs to the mill. These logs will in turn be made into lumber and paper products for the people. When the Barton Gulch harvest plan is reapproved we will complete the job we started.
What is Earth First! going to do when the “Redwood Summer” party is over? How about looking into some either issues affecting us all—like the outrageous amount of taxes we are forced to pay. Or maybe it’s been so long since some of these people have earned an honest paycheck that they hadn’t noticed.
So they think the “Logger’s Relief Fund” will keep peace between them and the Loggers? Just one more of the many inconsistencies found within this organization. My philosophy is “People first, owls second, Earth First! last.”
Bruce Anderson’s response: Any so-called logger who feels sorry for L-P won’t find much sympathy any place else. L-P is a scab company that rapes the land, operates unsafe mills, and exports logs and jobs to Mexico. And, your taxes are high enough because the rich don’t pay taxes anymore. And what evidence do you have to support your statement that Earth First! is a terrorist organization?
Notes:
[1] This is what Pardini, L-P, and the CDF called the THP that was later renamed “Osprey Grove”.
[2] This is of course, not true.