By Louis Korn – Anderson Valley Advertiser, August 8, 1990
In the scheme of things, every little thing is not only seamlessly interconnected but, like living cells, contains the essence of the whole. Centuries before discovery of the double helix and atomic structure, a prophet saw:
“…the world in a grain of sand,
And heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.”
The atom, hologram of the universe, pregnant with life that comprehends it, is the light of the human mind that transforms it. This rational, creative light on the struggle to save Osprey Grove is the struggle to preserve the light itself. For light does not dispel the darkness that engulfs it. And everywhere light is swallowed by the dungeons that are this country’s fastest growth industry, swallowed in the wars, economic and military, this mightiest of nations wage on the poor of the world and the world’s defenseless flora and fauna sustaining its life and light.
Before attending Judge Luther’s hearing on the Temporary Restraining Order on cutting a small grove of ancient, towering redwoods hidden in Louisiana-Pacific’s 115 acre harvest of Navarro Ridge, I wrote him, “Any ruling based strictly on law would abdicate your greater responsibility to fellow beings, to many species whose extinctions are abetted by law.” [AVA 8/1/90, Letters.] Early in the hearing Judge Luther said he had received mail on both sides of the issue, but would not be influenced by them. His ruling would be based strictly on law.
That seems eminently fair, until one realizes that our laws are skewed to promote corporate profit, not our welfare or the welfare of other beings. Even a ruling saving the Grove, based solely on law, would be for the wrong reason. But when the law’s application serves genocide, diminishing all remaining life, judges must recognize the law’s hubris and humble it. Law cannot be -master of life. Law serves life, or destroys it.
Virgin Forests covered much of the world’s land until 150 years ago. Its disappearance over the last 15 years approaches that of the preceding 15 centuries. Even that long ago civilizations disappeared with the forests they removed. The small, isolated remnants of our ancient forests, unique now, are unique also for the beings that live only in such groves. Taxonomy has not catalogued the enormous biodiversity in these vestigial climax forests. We can imagine their vastness even 50 years ago. But knowledge of how that diversity sustained us is forever lost. The rate of extinction, recently several daily, is now hourly. Removal of strands of the web of life weakens every life. Damaged ecosystems are damaged immune systems. The rise of deadly new plagues coincides with loss of diversity. Perhaps a cure for AIDS or prevention of other maladies remain in these ancient pockets. Beyond speculation is their overpowering beauty, their message to the heart: preserve us for your sake.
Attorney Jared Carter, grandfatherly, genteel, the image of prosperous conservatism, won the decision for Louisiana-Pacific, permitted now to take the grove. He had argued that the date, July 23, the spotted owl was officially declared threatened, did not protect spotted owl habitat in THPs filed before that date, and certainly not in THPs active on that date. If it did, the law of contracts required market-value compensation for all of them. If it did, his witness, Robert Morris, L-P’s Resource Manager, testified that most of California’s lumber mills would close within a month, a prospect conjuring massive unemployment and economic ruin.
In vain, attorney Rod Jones argued that accelerated harvesting had glutted lumber mills with horizontal forests piled sky high, inventories that could supply peak demand for many months; that there weren’t that many spotted owls and their habitats left to significantly impact the industry.
Judge Luther’s decision turned, he said, on no
confirmation of evidence of a spotted owl nest within or near L-P’s harvest, acknowledging with a shrug, that independent search for one would violate trespass laws. (Defenders of the Grove had trespassed, but none were qualified to identify such nests.)
Carter successfully objected to Jones’ motion to continue the stay three days to appeal, demanding a $200,000 indemnity bond if granted. The next morning the Grove’s defenders were back there, but loggers weren’t. Rumor was that L-P was considering a bid to buy the Grove.
Osprey Grove is a microcosm of the natural world, on bloc to the highest bidder. What is left of the natural world, what is left of our hearts to grieve for our loss, what remains in us to fight for what remains, light the darkness engulfs—is being tested this Redwood Summer.