Corporate Fall actions continued after the Hot Tub part at Hary Merlo’s Shangri la in Sonoma County with a wild Halloween themed direct action on October 29 at the Pacific Stock Exchange in San Francisco commemorating Black Thursday, the 1929 crash of the New York Stock Exchange which ushered in the Great Depression. The action was called principally by Earth Action Network, one of the members of the Redwood Summer Coalition and involved Earth First!, the IWW, and Seeds of Peace as well.[1] The action was not just related to Redwood Summer but much greater issues, including the possibility that the United States was about to declare war in the Middle East—which it eventually did, becoming Operation Desert Storm. The Stock Exchange was an appropriate target. As explained by the Earth Action Network:
“It is profitable to cut trees, not plant them. It is profitable to minimize job and product safety, and not profitable to improve safety conditions and standards. It is profitable to keep health care expensive, not universally available and of high quality. It is profitable to pollute, and not profitable to clean up thousands of toxic sites. It is profitable to keep minorities and women as second class citizens, and not profitable to provide decent wages and job training. It is profitable to keep third world countries permanently indebted to international banking and corporate cartels, and not profitable to encourage local selfsustaining economies that truly serve their needs. It is profitable to dump banned pesticides and agricultural products in other countries with lax regulations, and not profitable to pursue organic farming methods.[2]
Members of Sonoma County Earth First! agreed and, like the various North Coast Earth First! organizers, understood that the preservation of wilderness and economic justice were not only not incompatible causes, but were in fact, the same cause:
“We’re talking about an economic war to control the world’s natural resources; irreplaceable resources.
“Whether these corporations operate in the Mid-East, Central America or the North Coast they are unconcerned with the local economies and ecologies of the communities in which they do business.
“The workers in a stricken industry, timber for example, already recognize what is happening. They know they are victims, not of environmentalists, but of corporate greed. Young Urban Professionals will also recognize their role in building corporate capital, but not until it hits them in the pocketbook with the plant closures and layoffs that are inevitable. We are not working for the American Dream but for global economic domination by the few.
“The men who run these corporations have names and addresses. Those of us who are able will be in the streets; others will write letters and make phone calls. We are unwilling to allow war to support the right of a few men to get rich by destroying the natural riches of the Earth.”[3]
The EAN called for a cluster of affinity groups to organize a series of direct actions creating “an Economic Theater of the Absurd” which would call attention to the destruction of the Earth by corporate capitalism and greed. Suggested actions included floats depicting scenes of environmental destruction and renewal, bulldozers and oil tankers, street puppets, wild costumes, pipers, jugglers, mimes, and other assorted chaos.[4] Props illustrating the difference between a healthy and an unhealthy environment were suggested.[5] The one overarching demand was divest globally, invest locally.[6]
The action created quite a splash. It began at 6 AM, at the start of the trading day, and the coalition was able to mobilize over 300 protesters who marched to the Stock Exchange led by a giant banner reading “Corporate Fall”, chanting and drumming along the way, “scaring the shit out of the suit and tie set”. The demonstrators effectively shut down the Stock Exchange, although it would be more accurate to say that several hundred riot police with barricades actually conducted the blockade, because although the latter’s desire had been to keep the demonstrators from occupying the building, their heavy-handedness also kept out the stock brokers! Indeed, most of the physical confrontations took place between the police and the yuppies trying to get into the exchange. Thus distracted, the police were unable to prevent the activists from blockading the nearby streets, halting automobile traffic, and occupying a nearby McDonalds. The demonstrators then proceeded to a nearby Charles Schwab brokerage where they knocked on its windows startling the brokers who tried their hardest to remain stoic. Several of the latter finally lost their composure, including a few late arrivals who actually hit some of the demonstrators over the head with copies of the Wall Street Journal. At this point, in an incident that could easily have degenerated into another Haymarket riot, an unidentified person tossed a smoke bomb into the Schwab brokerage, setting off smoke detectors and fire sprinklers and utterly disrupting business within.[7] The police responded to this act by arresting demonstrators willy-nilly, ultimately nailing 25 in all. By now the demonstration had ended.[8]
The remaining Corporate Fall actions took place in Mendocino and Humboldt Counties, beginning with a series of road actions co-organized by Earth First!, Breakfast First!, the IWW, SherPa under the banner of “Ecotrans” which was a play on the California Department of Transportation, popularly known as Caltrans.[9] The much storied Ecotrans only organized two actions during Corporate Fall, though they would go on to organize several additional actions later all of which were immortalized—at least locally—in a song written by Judi Bari, Kay Rudin, Anna Marie Stenberg, Naomi Wagner, and others. However these actions were fondly remembered due to their creativity and due to the fact that though they may have seemed unrelated to Redwood Summer on the surface—no pun intended—in actual fact they were part and parcel of the summer long campaign.
The first such action took place near the Noyo Headwaters on Irmulco Road seven miles directly west of Willits at an Okerstrom Logging job of an L-P timber cut near one of the latter’s ostensible tree farms. Either obtusely stubborn or economically desperate, Okerstrom insisted on the continued use of his third and last “Killa Godzilla” feller buncher on the uneven, hilly terrain.[10] Approximately 30 demonstrators from Humboldt, Mendocino, and Sonoma Counties, including Tom Cahill, Lisa Henry, Louis Korn, Anna Marie Stenberg, “Gertrude Stein”, Noami Wagner, Brian Wyatt, and ex-logger Duane Potter, assembled in the pre sunup hours on Monday, November 5, 1990 to protest this, L-P’s clearcutting, and to bring attention to L-P’s failed tree farm, which was planted in a nearby clearcut.[11] L-P was hauling over a million board feet of lumber out of the headwaters of the Noyo River basin alone, which was but a fraction of the over 60,000 acres the corporation had listed in THPs throughout Mendocino County that year. Earth First! had called for a moratorium on logging until an independently verified stocking report was completed by L-P.[12] The protest also drew attention to L-P and G-P clearcuts near the “Skunk Train” which ran from Willits to Fort Bragg and served both tourists and commuters. The two logging corporations had cynically attempted to underestimate the intelligence of the average skunk train rider by deliberately hiding these cuts behind a very thin wall of trees adjacent to the tracks which was just thick enough, in some places, to hide them from view.[13] Louis Korn had volunteered, once again, to lock down to the fellerbuncher[14], but the activists instead chose to leave signs on the machine listing L-P’s corporate crimes. Additionally, the same banner which had been hung on the second of Okerstrom’s now ruined two other fellerbunchers, by loggers Brent Waggie and Joe Keating and read, “This thing kills both jobs and forests – Earth First!” was placed nearby.[15] The demonstrators then turned their attention to the nearby road and the tree farm.
The “farm” consisted of a pitiful collection of ten redwood saplings—planted in one of L-P’s far too numerous clearcuts—only three of which were still clinging to life.[16] The trees were struggling because, in the clearcut, the baby trees had no overstory coverage to provide shade and no understory biomass to provide nutrients.[17] A Corporate Fall Press Release read, “L-P’s promises of restocking rattle in the wind like echoing footsteps in the empty mills they leave behind.” When interviewed by the Willits News, L-P spokesman David Schantz defended the pathetic display as an experimental plot designed to test alternative planting methods, and that many of the trees were expected to perish under certain conditions.[18] To Earth First! – IWW Local #1, however, the experiment suggested a desperate attempt by L-P to demonstrate either the viability of clear cuts, twenty-year rotation fiber tree farms, or both.[19] “I don’t see any tree farm,” said an unnamed activist to Lisa Henry. All that could be seen were the mostly dead saplings in a vast, grassy clay field where an old growth forest once stood. Just to the south of the road, a small stream had been blocked by siltation due to Okerstrom’s crew having driven the fellerbuncher across it to avoid using a nearby bridge which would have been crushed under the weight of the heavy behemoth.[20]
The thirty activists split into two groups. The first focused its attention on the tree farm, planting shrub trees to shade the few redwoods that clung to survival, watered the latter and nurtured them with organic fertilizer.[21] They also planted white crosses behind the dead sisters of the few surviving trees. Then they planted seedling oaks, tick bush, and additional successional species in the form of the letters “EF!”, and behind that, placed a giant sign which read, “The incredible treeless forest.” One demonstrator with a taste for the macabre, placed a small TV hooked to a VCR and a car battery on top of a milk crate in the middle of the dead trees. The tape depicted footage of the fellerbunchers at work chewing up once healthy forests.[22] The second crew donned uniforms that parodied Caltrans road service workers.[23] Their uniforms and equipment included orange vests with an Earth First! raised fist logo rather than a familiar Caltrans logo, orange hard hats, shovels, picks, “loose gravel” signs, and walkie talkies, as well as lunch boxes and coffee thermoses (to complete the effect). The centerpiece of their stage props was a truck actually filled with gravel, which they soon to put to use with great effect.[24]
The Ecotrans crew, for all intents and purposes proceeded to act just like an actual Caltrans crew, including mimicking the latter’s perceived penchants for taking long coffee breaks and leaning on their proverbial shovels. They stationed two of their crew at either end of the stretch of road near the “tree farm” with reversible stop and slow signs and walkie talkies while the remainder actually filled in potholes with gravel. Most drivers actually seemed to think it was an actual Caltrans crew.[25] Any traveler on rural highways in the United States in the last half century is intimately familiar with such activity, including the curse of the one-lane road and the stop-and-slow flagger at either end, sometimes holding up traffic for as much as twenty minutes per turn. In this case, the “Eco-transvestites”, as Lisa Henry called them, scheduled their intervals at fifteen.[26] Although this display ostensibly took on the appearance of actual rural roadwork. Lisa Henry recalled:
“Both crews worked cheerfully but a little nervously for the first half hour; so far, no logging trucks had shown up, unusual for a site halfway between a highway and a fellerbuncher. Finally, five empty trucks drove past Ecotrans on their way to the loading site, but they stopped in a pinch to talk to each other just north of us. I was afraid they were planning a little ‘direct action’ on us involving shovels and Ecotranser’s heads, but we learned from listening on their conversation over a C.B. just what was going on; ‘someone’ had entered the logging site the night before, had lifted up the engine covers of all the equipment, including the ‘buncher,’ and had placed a note on the equipment warning the drivers to check all their engine fluids for dubious additives. In addition, a banner was hung from the ‘buncher’ which read: ‘This thing kills jobs and trees.’ Although no fluids were spiked, the logging crews would have to spend the entire day draining and replacing engine fluids just in case, so all logging was called off for the day…
“The empty logging trucks turned around to return to the highway, passed the ‘tree farm’ with smirks and smiles, only to meet up with the busy Ecotrans crew across the bridge. One woman held up a doctored Caltrans sign which read ‘STOP clearcutting.’ Undaunted, the trucks proceeded, until two women got in the road, and began working with their backs to the trucks. Busy in the ‘tree farm,’ I received crackling reports on a walkie-talkie from the laughing road crew, who said they had one group industriously filling up potholes with gravel, while another group just as busily removed all the gravel that had been shoveled into the potholes.”[27]
Meanwhile, members of Breakfast First! added their special touch by offering the truck drivers coffee and donuts. Don Smith[28], a curious log truck driver spied Anna Marie Stenberg, who was the woman holding one of the modified “stop / slow” signs and asked her who she was, to which she responded “Ecotrans”, to which the bewildered trucker responded by inquiring what happened to Caltrans, and why they weren’t the ones working on Irmulco Road.
“They can’t—there aren’t any more workers working for Caltrans.”
“Why?” replied the confused trucker.
“Oh, because Caltrans found out how to make shovels stand up by themselves.”[29]
The trucker exploded into gales of laughter and at once recognized Stenberg from her media exposure after she and her fellow demonstrators had literally exposed themselves in Merlo’s hot tub the previous month. Smith exclaimed, “Hey, I know you, you’re famous!”[30] This led into a discussion over the issues debated heatedly between the Greens and Yellows during Redwood Summer, though Smith and Stenberg remained civil in their dialog as other Ecotransers and truckers joined in. The dialog was productive, though not conclusive, and lasted for several minutes until at least a cordial agreement to disagree was reached at which point Stenberg reversed her sign so that it now read, “SLOW the overcut.”[31]
Meanwhile, the “tree farm” team continued their reworking of the L-P experiment until, after a time, an L-P security guard and David Schantz appeared on the scene to excoriate the demonstrators for trespassing. Naomi Wagner quickly responded angrily that L-P’s experiment was a failure, to which Schantz repeated his claim that some of the trees were expected to die. Many of the demonstrators were dissatisfied with Schantz’s response, asking the latter if that was his reason for becoming a forester, to watch trees die. The protesters and L-P spokesmen argued back and forth as the security guard “halfheartedly” recorded license plate numbers, until Steve Okerstrom arrived. The Gyppo operator, who had lost two fellerbunchers to still unsolved fires already, was livid and demanded that the other timber company spokesmen start taking photos of the demonstrators. The action ended with what Lisa Henry described as a “wu-wu” circle, after which the protesters got ready to leave. Just as they were on the way out, two Mendocino County sheriffs appeared heading in the other direction, but merely waved the demonstrators on at this point, though they did take a few random pictures with a low grade 100 millimeter camera.[32] The demonstrators then withdrew and some of them celebrated over dinner at “Stein’s” abode which was located nearby.[33]
Most of the members of the “Ecotrans” crew considered the action a success, because Okerstrom’s fellerbuncher logging operation had been halted for at least one day, though a handful were distressed to learn that—in defiance of the agreed upon plan—one lone activist acting individually had drained the machine’s fluids, or at least had placed a sign on it which read, “better check the fluids”. This same tactic had been used in the Sequoia actions. When Duane Potter, who was familiar with engine fluid disposal methods, heard of the alleged sabotage, he told Lisa Henry that such an act would do more harm than good, because often times logging crews would simply drain the fluids on the ground and cover them with dirt, in defiance of the law, and often nobody would know until much later. In the case of the fellerbuncher, this meant that potentially as much as 250 gallons of diesel and 250 gallons of oil may have been dumped, which would have cancelled out any benefit from saving the forests for one day. The equipment sabotage was unnecessary, according to Henry, and would have been no more effective than the blockade itself. Furthermore, Okerstrom was considered “one of the meanest gyppos in the piranha-stocked backwaters of Mendocino County.” He had ordered his logging crews to actually arm themselves during Redwood Summer.[34] This would not be the last time that Earth First!ers debated the efficacy of mixing civil disobedience and monkeywrenching, and many—including especially Judi Bari—ultimately concluded that the two should not be combined.[35]
The unidentified “individualist” responded to Lisa Henry, in the pages of the Earth First! Journal, by claiming that privately most of the demonstrators supported the placement of the sign, and that they told the anonymous actor so during the demonstration. The respondent didn’t argue that these demonstrators supported would have supported actual equipment sabotage however.[36] Tom Cahill, for example, spoke favorable towards the note, but also made it clear that he would not have supported actual sabotage.[37] The loner claimed that the plan for Louis Korn to lockdown to the machine had been scuttled by “the local liberals”[38], though Bruce Anderson wrote that the choice to abandon that part of the action was that, other than Korn, they could find no other volunteers[39], which may have been due to burnout from Redwood Summer as much as anything. The anonymous individualist claimed that they placed the note, because they found it to be the only effective replacement for the abandoned lockdown plan. They also declared that all of the actions they carried out, up to, but not including the act of leading the note had been agreed upon by all, but none of that had been in dispute. The Loner finished by exclaiming that they “(wished they’d) burned the damn thing.”[40] Had this happened, the likelihood is that the event would have received national media exposure, but the cost to Earth First!’s credibility would have been steep. As it turned out, the action received scant media coverage in a few local publications, warranting only a small story on the back pages of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, for example.[41] Four days later, in what Lisa Henry described as, an act of “vindictiveness”, L-P came in and uprooted all of the shrubs, leaving the remaining redwood saplings to face almost certain death.[42]
In the end, the debate turned out to be moot, because just over a month later, on December 7, 1990, this same fellerbuncher caught fire while in operation harvesting baby redwood trees near Daugherty Creek.[43] The damage down to the machine was estimated at $300,000, and although the timber industry tried desperately to prove that any of the fellerbucnhers’ demises had been due to arson, no such proof could be found.[44] The anonymous Earth First!er who wrote about the incident humorously opined:
“This third mechanical self-immolation will most likely be recorded as an “Act of God,” as were the last two fire-damaged Okerstrom fellerbunchers, proving that God is indeed on our side.
“Asked if He had intervened in human affairs to torch this pricey piece of logging equipment, God replied, ‘Of course it was an Act of God. Okerstrom isn’t insured for equipment sabotage.’”[45]
An “Act of God” indeed turned out to be the cause, because what investigators did finally determine was that the fires had resulted from simple misuse. Fellerbunchers were designed to harvest young even-aged trees on relatively level ground, such as a Christmas tree farm. Okestrom’s crews were attempting to use the “Killa Godzillas” on steep, hilly terrain. However, this is what L-P had wanted, and they had contracted Okerstrom to carry the plan out.[46]
On Wednesday November 7, two days after the action on Irmulco Road, Ecotrans organized a second action, this time to protest Caltrans continuing attempts remove six old growth redwoods along Highway 20 to facilitate its widening, which had been protested in May and August by SheRPA and Redwood Summer.[47] The plan to build “a four lane highway from Hell to Damnation” in the words of Bruce Anderson[48], had originally called for the removal of seven old growth trees, though negotiations between Caltrans and Mendocino County Supervisors Liz Henry and Norm DeVall had resulted in the removal of one tree from the plan. DeVall had working on the project all summer and had originally tried negotiating with the USFS to have the affected stretch of California State Highway redesignated as a “scenic highway.” The Forest Service was not receptive, so DeVall instead tried pursuing the designation via Mendocino County’s general plan, but these efforts had likewise stalled. Anna Marie Stenberg suggested that the craziness of Redwood Summer had placed a lot of other issues, such as this one, on everyone’s backburner. Ghilotti Brothers had been contracted to widen the road and they had called in John’s Tree Experts of Willits to actually cut the trees.[49]
Early on the morning of the 7th, Anna Marie Stenberg and Naomi Wagner had both witnessed John’s Tree Experts attempting to cut two of the trees on Highway 20 and they were able to quickly mobilize three others to join them at the sight. The five again dressed in Ecotrans outfits and, partly because they had mobilized quickly, but also because they were virtually indistinguishable from Caltrans workers supervising Johns, they were able to quickly blockade the latter from cutting more than the first two trees.[50] A photograph taken by an unidentified fellow demonstrator, who arrived soon after the protest began, reveals that the five original demonstrators each held a sign reading, in turn, “Don't Cut Old Growth”, “Old Growth Execution Ahead”, “Cal Trans Stop Cutting”, “Local Control, eh John?”, “No More Killing for Cars.”[51] From the perspective of Caltrans, Ghilotti Brothers, and Johns, it looked as though the demonstrators had chained themselves to the next tree slated to be cut. As described by Willits News reporter Carrie Switzer:
“(That tree) became a staging area for Sheriff’s deputies, officers from the California Highway Patrol, Ghilotti and Caltrans crew members. Everyone seemed to be waiting to determine who had the authority to arrest the protesters after deputies quarranteed off an area where protesters’ cars were parked.”[52]
Ironically, however, Naomi Wagner revealed nineteen years later, that the protesters only appeared to have chained themselves to the tree, because she had actually forgotten to bring the locks. The various law enforcement agencies were so busy passing the buck over jurisdictions that they had failed to notice. The bluff worked![53]
Lisa Henry was not at first present at this protest, but she happened to hear about it on KMFB radio when a listener called in and described the scene, declaring, “There are some demonstrators along the highway, but I don’t know how many. You can’t even tell them apart from Caltrans.” Henry quickly donned her Ecotrans gear and drove to a local Board of Forestry meeting in the Board of Supervisors’ Chambers in Ukiah, hoping to recruit local environmentalists who were attempting to make their case against continued liquidation logging of the county. She found them, including her mother Liz and fellow Supervisor DeVall, arguing with Don Nelson, Carlton Yee, and Steve Okerstrom, but was able to prevail upon them to follow her to the protest site. The activists were, in turn, followed out of the building by CDF police armed with walkie-talkies who nervously anticipated yet another big protest at the meeting. Instead Henry and Robert Parker led a small group of reinforcements to the action on Highway 20 and arrived at just before 10:30 AM. Henry recalls what followed:
“Two free-climbing tree sitters and several people chained to a tree were guarding two redwoods. The sheriff warned Ecotrans that arrests were imminent and that our cars would be towed, a move which distracted, Ecotrans just long enough to allow Ghilotti Bros. Construction to fall two old growth trees a mile or two down the road. Learning of this trickery, Ecotrans abandoned their cars and ran full tilt down the road. Some threw asphalt debris in the road to slow traffic.
“The scene was chaotic; a half dozen sheriffs with a paddy wagon were using a turnout as a staging area, and were grudgingly preparing to arrest all of us if Caltrans or Ghilotti Bros. made a citizen’s complaint, which they in turn refused to do.”[54]
The protesters realized just a little too late that the powers that be had been bluffing them and had led them to believe that work had ceased, when in fact John’s Tree Experts and Ghilotti Brothers were felling a different old growth tree. At this point Stenberg and Wagner ran over to the action. “Stop! You have no right, you should be ashamed of yourselves,” exclaimed Wagner.[55] Henry then described what followed:
“Naomi Wagner and Anna Marie Stenberg blockaded a Ghilotti Bros. truck further down the road, which, after a standoff, began pushing them off the road and nearly into a canyon. Naomi and Anna Marie then moved in front of a loader preparing to haul away a huge felled redwood. The loader began pushing them, whereupon the two women jumped up onto its blades. At this point Caltrans seriously considered calling off operations.
“Several miles down the road, several Ecotransers and I ran down the road after a Ghilotti Bros. truck which we were sure was preparing to fall two other redwoods. The situation was insane, I thought to myself.”[56]
Parts of the action had ironically been witnessed by Lisa Henry’s mother who also had driven by earlier that morning on her way to the aforementioned hearing. She had not witnessed any chainsaws, however, and was unaware of Caltrans plans for the day. She had also been under the impression that she would be notified before any further action was to be taken on the highway widening project. The Supervisor had remained at the meeting, but she had started receiving calls from demonstrators alerting her about the cutting. She along with DeVall, who had also remained behind, made urgent calls to the regional Caltrans office in Eureka who informed the supervisors that they would not stop the cut. The two then made a joint call to central Caltrans office in Sacramento who agreed to cancel the project until further review. The agency agreed to draft a letter explaining in detail their rationale for their plans to cut the contested trees in response to Liz Henry’s demand that the agency produce statistics proving that they represented an actual hazard instead of an arbitrary standard set by Federal Policy.[57]
Meanwhile, back at the protest site, the scene was increasing in intensity. Ghilotti project manager Hal Stober had ordered John’s Tree Expert to cease cutting, but the loader driver continued to advance with Stenberg and Wagner each standing on the blades of his vehicle. Stober again hollered to the driver to stop while simultaneously someone announced that Caltrans had postponed the project.[58] Lisa Henry recalled in detail what followed:
“We found the two marked trees at the 21-mile mark, and several women circled an unclimbable tree while another man scaled a second old growth redwood and perched in its branches six feet above the ground. A faller climbed out of his truck and began gassing up his chainsaw, and our group began seriously discussing who could spend some time in jail. But before we had the chance to decide, another truck pulled up. We spoke with the faller who then packed up and drove away. Apparently, operations had been called off, largely due to the bravado of the tree climbers, chained people and the loader-pouncers.
“We hopped into the car and began shuttling up and down the road trying to guard the trees in case operations hadn’t stopped. Totally disregarding Cal-trans workers with little stop signs, we drove past lines of stopped cars, sometimes escorted by a Ghi-lotti Bros. truck. It was truly a triumph against the false authority commanded by a bogus operation such as Caltrans.
“Ecotrans eventually left the scene, vowing to return the next morning to sit in the trees if the workers, who were notably upset themselves about unnecessarily cutting the old growth, resumed cutting. The sheriff vowed to return and arrest us.”[59]
Ultimately nobody had been injured and only two of the six trees in question had been cut.[60] Judi Bari had recently quipped that the situation on Mendocino County had grown so desperate that activists had been forced to fight for each individual old growth tree. Lisa Henry reflected as she drove away from the protest site that Judi Bari’s words had indeed been prophetic.[61]
Neither Stenberg nor Wagner decided to prosecute the loader driver. Explaining their declination Stenberg said:
“It would be a waste of energy. It was just like Osprey Grove. People had rocks thrown at them. One guy was beat over the head with an axe handle and another knocked unconscious, all while we wailed for a court order to stop the logging. There are virgin trees coming down all over the place, and all we have left to defend them is our bodies.”[62]
Wagner added,
“The way I viewed it is they were on a path to do their job and we were in their way. The workers felt bound to cut those trees because of their contract, and most of them admitted they didn’t want to do it. They felt powerless to do anything else because of the hierarchical system of responsibility.”[63]
However, Mendocino County sheriff sergeant Jack Stapleton, who had not been present at the action but had read about it in the papers the next day indicated that had he been present, he and his fellow deputies would have intervened. Stapleton declared that the loader driver’s behavior would not be tolerated and added, “You’ve got people who are trying to do their work and getting frustrated, and at the same time you have people who are very committed to doing what they feel is right for everybody. Usually strong feelings of this sort is the starter of violence.” Supervisor DeVall expressed similar thoughts on the matter. Neither John’s Tree Experts nor Ghilotti Brothers had any comment.[64] Stapleton’s perspective was about as fair and balanced as any expressed by law enforcement officials in northwestern California in response to a confrontation at any logging protest all year, and Stenberg’s and Wagner’s permissiveness spoke volumes in response to those who claimed that Earth First!ers and their allies merely sought to provoke confrontations from timber workers.
Notes:
[1] “Shut Down the Pacific Stock Exchange”, Santa Rosa Earth First! Newsletter, Fall 1990.
[2] “Crash of ’29 Anniversary Halloween Action at the Pacific Stock Exchange”, Earth Action Network Press Release, Mendocino Commentary, October 18, 1990.
[3] “Shut Down the Pacific Stock Exchange”, Santa Rosa Earth First! Newsletter, Fall 1990.
[4] “Crash of ’29 Anniversary Halloween Action at the Pacific Stock Exchange”, Earth Action Network Press Release, Mendocino Commentary, October 18, 1990.
[5] “Shut Down the Pacific Stock Exchange”, Santa Rosa Earth First! Newsletter, Fall 1990.
[6] “Crash of ’29 Anniversary Halloween Action at the Pacific Stock Exchange”, Earth Action Network Press Release, Mendocino Commentary, October 18, 1990.
[7] “Stock Exchange Crash”, Press Release, Ecotopia Earth First! Extra, Special Baby Treesus Issue, December 1990.
[8] “1990: A Year in the Life of Earth First!”, by Judi Bari, Anderson Valley Advertiser, January 2, 1991.
[9] “Ecotrans: They Chop it, We Stop it”, by Lisa Henry, Anderson Valley Advertiser, November 14, 1990; an abridged version with a coda not extant in the former also appeared in the Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1991.
[10] “Here and There in Mendocino County”, by Bruce Anderson, Anderson Valley Advertiser, November 7, 1990.
[11] “Ecotrans: They Chop it, We Stop it”, by Lisa Henry, Anderson Valley Advertiser, November 14, 1990; an abridged version with a coda not extant in the former also appeared in the Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1991.
[12] “Ecotrans Halts Logging for a Day at Irmulco Road”, Willits News, November 7, 1990.
[13] “Rainbow Warriors Expose L-P’s Phony Tree Farm”, by Tom Cahill, Industrial Worker, December 1990.
[14] “Here and There in Mendocino County”, by Bruce Anderson, Anderson Valley Advertiser, November 7, 1990.
[15] “Rainbow Warriors Expose L-P’s Phony Tree Farm”, by Tom Cahill, Industrial Worker, December 1990.
[16] “Ecotrans Halts Logging for a Day at Irmulco Road”, Willits News, November 7, 1990.
[17] “Rainbow Warriors Expose L-P’s Phony Tree Farm”, by Tom Cahill, Industrial Worker, December 1990.
[18] “Ecotrans Halts Logging for a Day at Irmulco Road”, Willits News, November 7, 1990.
[19] “Rainbow Warriors Expose L-P’s Phony Tree Farm”, by Tom Cahill, Industrial Worker, December 1990.
[20] “Ecotrans: They Chop it, We Stop it”, by Lisa Henry, Anderson Valley Advertiser, November 14, 1990; an abridged version with a coda not extant in the former also appeared in the Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1991.
[21] “Rainbow Warriors Expose L-P’s Phony Tree Farm”, by Tom Cahill, Industrial Worker, December 1990.
[22] “Ecotrans: They Chop it, We Stop it”, by Lisa Henry, Anderson Valley Advertiser, November 14, 1990; an abridged version with a coda not extant in the former also appeared in the Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1991.
[23] “Rainbow Warriors Expose L-P’s Phony Tree Farm”, by Tom Cahill, Industrial Worker, December 1990.
[24] “Ecotrans: They Chop it, We Stop it”, by Lisa Henry, Anderson Valley Advertiser, November 14, 1990; an abridged version with a coda not extant in the former also appeared in the Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1991.
[25] “Rainbow Warriors Expose L-P’s Phony Tree Farm”, by Tom Cahill, Industrial Worker, December 1990.
[26] “Ecotrans Halts Logging for a Day at Irmulco Road”, Willits News, November 7, 1990.
[27] “Ecotrans: They Chop it, We Stop it”, by Lisa Henry, Anderson Valley Advertiser, November 14, 1990; an abridged version with a coda not extant in the former also appeared in the Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1991.
[28] “Rainbow Warriors Expose L-P’s Phony Tree Farm”, by Tom Cahill, Industrial Worker, December 1990.
[29] “Ecotrans: They Chop it, We Stop it”, by Lisa Henry, Anderson Valley Advertiser, November 14, 1990; an abridged version with a coda not extant in the former also appeared in the Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1991.
[30] “Rainbow Warriors Expose L-P’s Phony Tree Farm”, by Tom Cahill, Industrial Worker, December 1990.
[31] “Ecotrans: They Chop it, We Stop it”, by Lisa Henry, Anderson Valley Advertiser, November 14, 1990; an abridged version with a coda not extant in the former also appeared in the Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1991.
[32] “Ecotrans: They Chop it, We Stop it”, by Lisa Henry, Anderson Valley Advertiser, November 14, 1990; an abridged version with a coda not extant in the former also appeared in the Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1991.
[33] “Rainbow Warriors Expose L-P’s Phony Tree Farm”, by Tom Cahill, Industrial Worker, December 1990.
[34] “Ecotrans: Collective and Individual Action”, by Lisa Henry, Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1991.
[35] “Monkeywrenching”, by Judi Bari, Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1994.
[36] “The Individualist Responds”, by “the Lone Asshole”, Earth First! Journal, Eostar / March 21, 1991.
[37] “Rainbow Warriors Expose L-P’s Phony Tree Farm”, by Tom Cahill, Industrial Worker, December 1990.
[38] “The Individualist Responds”, by “the Lone Asshole”, Earth First! Journal, Eostar / March 21, 1991.
[39] “Here and There in Mendocino County”, by Bruce Anderson, Anderson Valley Advertiser, November 7, 1990.
[40] “The Individualist Responds”, by “the Lone Asshole”, Earth First! Journal, Eostar / March 21, 1991.
[41] “Logging Foes Halt Timber Trucks”, by Tobias Young, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, November 6, 1990.
[42] “Ecotrans: They Chop it, We Stop it”, by Lisa Henry, Anderson Valley Advertiser, November 14, 1990; an abridged version with a coda not extant in the former also appeared in the Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1991.
[43] “Fellerbuncher Flambeau”, Press Release, Ecotopia Earth First! Extra, Special Baby Treesus Issue, December 1990.
[44] “Here and There in Mendocino County”, by Bruce Anderson, Anderson Valley Advertiser, December 12, 1990.
[45] “Fellerbuncher Flambeau”, Press Release, Ecotopia Earth First! Extra, Special Baby Treesus Issue, December 1990. In all likelihood, these sentences were written by Darryl Cherney as they are consistent with his offbeat sense of humor.
[46] “Here and There in Mendocino County”, by Bruce Anderson, Anderson Valley Advertiser, May 29, 1991.
[47] “Trees Fall While Protesters call for Help”, by Carrie Switzer, Willits News, November 11, 1990.
[48] “Ecotrans: They Chop it, We Stop it”, by Lisa Henry, Anderson Valley Advertiser, November 14, 1990; an abridged version with a coda not extant in the former also appeared in the Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1991.
[49] “Trees Fall While Protesters call for Help”, by Carrie Switzer, Willits News, November 11, 1990.
[50] “1990: A Year in the Life of Earth First!”, by Judi Bari, Anderson Valley Advertiser, January 2, 1991.
[51] The photograph appears in the second edition a self published Ecotopia Earth First! songbook compiled by Alicia Little Tree called Uprise Singing, published in 1996.
[52] “Trees Fall While Protesters call for Help”, by Carrie Switzer, Willits News, November 11, 1990.
[53] Author’s interview with Naomi Wagner, September 2009.
[54] “Ecotrans: They Chop it, We Stop it”, by Lisa Henry, Anderson Valley Advertiser, November 14, 1990; an abridged version with a coda not extant in the former also appeared in the Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1991.
[55] “Trees Fall While Protesters call for Help”, by Carrie Switzer, Willits News, November 11, 1990.
[56] “Ecotrans: They Chop it, We Stop it”, by Lisa Henry, Anderson Valley Advertiser, November 14, 1990; an abridged version with a coda not extant in the former also appeared in the Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1991.
[57] “Trees Fall While Protesters call for Help”, by Carrie Switzer, Willits News, November 11, 1990.
[58] “Trees Fall While Protesters call for Help”, by Carrie Switzer, Willits News, November 11, 1990.
[59] “Ecotrans: They Chop it, We Stop it”, by Lisa Henry, Anderson Valley Advertiser, November 14, 1990; an abridged version with a coda not extant in the former also appeared in the Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1991.
[60] “Trees Fall While Protesters call for Help”, by Carrie Switzer, Willits News, November 11, 1990.
[61] “Ecotrans: They Chop it, We Stop it”, by Lisa Henry, Anderson Valley Advertiser, November 14, 1990; an abridged version with a coda not extant in the former also appeared in the Earth First! Journal, Brigid / February 2, 1991.
[62] “Assault Charges Not Likely to Be Filed by Activists”, Willits News, November 11, 1990.
[63] “Assault Charges Not Likely to Be Filed by Activists”, Willits News, November 11, 1990.
[64] “Assault Charges Not Likely to Be Filed by Activists”, Willits News, November 11, 1990.