Forest Defenders Say They’ve Halted Logging Work North of Strawberry Rock

Photo from earlier this week posted on the Instagram account of Redwood Forest Defense.

Photo from earlier this week posted on the Instagram account of Redwood Forest Defense.

This is a press release from Redwood Forest Defense. Please remember that this is not neutral reporting but a press release from an interested party):

For two consecutive days this week a large group of forest defenders shut down logging operations northeast of Tsurai (Trinidad). Monday and Tuesday morning, protestors walked into an active clearcut, forcing machinery to shut off. After a long standoff with Green Diamond Security, Humboldt County Sheriffs arrived and the protesters departed into the forest.

One forest defender commented, “As wildfires, heatwaves, floods and other disasters become more frequent and persistent, more of us are waking up to the fact that the climate crisis is not a looming future, but a present reality, intensifying every day. It’s time for all of us to get creative and take direct action to slow and halt the incessant death-drive of industrial capitalism.”

Photo from earlier this week posted on the Instagram account of Redwood Forest Defense.

Photo from earlier this week posted on the Instagram account of Redwood Forest Defense.

Green Diamond is the fifth largest landowner in the country. They maintain certification on their California timberlands with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). This certification does not preclude them from clearcutting. Many of the logs are then transported to Humboldt Redwood Company’s Scotia Sawmill, and marketed as sustainable timber.

Another commented, “In the midst of a global climate crisis, the FSC and state bureaucracies do more to empower corporate-run ecocide than they do to prevent it. It’s up to everyday people to challenge this violence directly, halting their destruction whenever we can.”

Forest defenders have been protecting groves in the area around Strawberry Rock for several years using nonviolent civil disobedience, including tree sits, which have been continually occupied since April of 2020 after Green Diamond began clear-cutting in the area.

A sitter commented, “If we have any respect for life on this Earth, human or otherwise, we need to take agency, not as consumers, but as stewards and relatives of the marvelous beings who hold our habitats in balance.”

Earlier: ‘Large Group’ Protesting Logging on Green Diamond Property Near Crannell

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local observer
Guest
local observer
2 years ago

this is what this area looked like before the only fire in the area that mattered occurred. looks very similar to the image above with only dead redwood standing, which is like a match when baked in the sun.

avenuerider
Guest
2 years ago

I guarantee you every one of these morons lives in a house made of wood!!!

Yeah,sure
Guest
Yeah,sure
2 years ago
Reply to  avenuerider

Such a tired old refrain.
And you left out a toilet paper reference…

rollin
Guest
rollin
2 years ago
Reply to  Yeah,sure

“Such a tired old refrain.”

Translation: I have no rebuttal

rollin
Guest
rollin
2 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

So me pointing out that Yeah Sure’s response was not in argument is an attack? Is that kinda like words are violence?

Local
Guest
Local
2 years ago
Reply to  avenuerider

Sustainable, selective and responsible logging is one thing, clear cutting is another.

Third World County
Guest
Third World County
2 years ago
Reply to  avenuerider

I wish my house was made of concrete and steel with all of these wildfires. That seems to be the safest way to build these days.

Tim
Guest
Tim
2 years ago

Concrete and steel might be more fire resistant but the earthquake damage would likely go up unless really well engineered.

Plus both of those materials have a 10-20 fold larger carbon footprint than building with wood does.

treehugger
Guest
treehugger
2 years ago
Reply to  Tim

Most homes in Costa Rica are made of concrete and steel and they have much more frequent earthquakes with minimal damage.. so if they can do it, we can.. and if a concrete house outlasts the wood one, then the difference in footprints diminishes.

namer
Guest
namer
2 years ago
Reply to  treehugger

Maybe I should buy some gravel mines?

Do we need a Coastal Permit to truck out loads of sand for antifa colonies?

chopsolutely
Guest
chopsolutely
2 years ago
Reply to  namer

we would use buses to transport things to the antifa colonies.

Guest
Guest
Guest
2 years ago
Reply to  Tim

Tim,
There is an apology from me to you in the 44 cases in the report .

I owed you one.

I hope you will read it.

Dave Kahan
Guest
Dave Kahan
2 years ago

It doesn’t need to be concrete and steel:
https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8393.pdf
https://ucanr.edu/sites/fire/Prepare/Building/
https://disastersafety.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Wildfire-Retrofit-Guide-California_IBHS.pdf
https://www.firesafesonoma.org/wp-content/uploads/living_with_fire.pdf
https://legacy-assets.eenews.net/open_files/assets/2019/01/08/document_gw_02.pdf

In the last link, if all you do is check out figures 6 & 7, and 9a & 9b, you’ll get the idea. Manage the fuels properly around the homestead to preclude a wall of flame from arriving at the front door. Then harden the buildings to resist ignition from wind borne embers, which is far and away the most common ignition source for homes that burn in wildfire incidents.

It’s not brain surgery; it is a lot of attention to detail. The science is clear, just gotta do it.

Consultation and project management available — [email protected]

namer
Guest
namer
2 years ago
Reply to  Dave Kahan

Do you have any more links

rollin
Guest
rollin
2 years ago
Reply to  avenuerider

“halt the incessant death-drive of industrial capitalism.”

Communist scumbags, trespassers, eco terrorist losers who don’t believe in private property being relabeled by “The Ministry of Truth” as “Forest Defenders”.

thetallone
Guest
thetallone
2 years ago
Reply to  rollin

So as long it is private property, it’s okay to clearcut it? Or do whatever, divert all the water? How about respect for Mother Nature?

Alf
Guest
Alf
2 years ago
Reply to  thetallone

Yes. How about respect for property owners.

As far as water diverting, pot growers are much worse than loggers.

John
Guest
John
2 years ago

I can’t help but admire the people who stage these protests and work stoppages. They’re perhaps a little beyond the pale for my tastes, but I can still admire them and their mission. Myself, I’m sort of an armchair eco-defense militant, preferring to think of myself as being very aware and concerned by reading books by Edward Abbey, Helen Caldicott, et al. I’m content to let people such as this group do the dirty work, the actual front line fighting.

Trashman
Guest
Trashman
2 years ago

Hopefully private security will drag these idiots off.

blackwater
Guest
blackwater
2 years ago
Reply to  Trashman

😁 were coming soon..

Pharmstheproblem
Guest
Pharmstheproblem
2 years ago

When are they going to start defending the oceans of the world that are used for our trash cans. Until that problem is addressed nothing will change.

local observer
Guest
local observer
2 years ago

probably after they finish defending the forests of the world, which would be after they finish defending the forest of the US and maybe Canada. Canada has clearcuts the size of Humboldt County.

John Brown
Guest
John Brown
2 years ago

“halt the incessant death-drive of industrial capitalism.”…….because every one knows socialists and communists don’t harvest timber.

namer
Guest
namer
2 years ago
Reply to  John Brown

I’m actually really into this “Incessant death-drive” idea.

Would there still be time to get something going at Redwood Acres this summer?

Karl Marx probably already has the term copyrighted, but the t shirt sales alone would kill it.

Jeffersonian
Guest
Jeffersonian
2 years ago

Look at that young timber. A shame to harvest it at an age where it’s such poor quality. And clear cutting sucker redwood is not a preferred method.But green Diamond formerly Simpson is a privately owned washington outfit that has really butchered humboldt and del norte county especially the lower klamath, which is just destroyed. They have sold a lot of their land back to the govt. after butchering it too,for a fortune. The govt. will probably mismanage that too. But this is all being done with the dept. of forestrys blessing. I’m not against responsible logging at all, but something’s wrong with the rules. Why can’t they thin it and require it to be older. The simple answer is greed and short term profit.

Ben Round
Guest
Ben Round
2 years ago

Bless those who put themselves on the line to protect critical habitat and our precious environments!

PS: I live in a wooden house and support sustainable logging.

Nick
Guest
Nick
2 years ago
Reply to  Ben Round

These are twenty-somethings with nothing to do. They don’t know shit about shit!

Tim
Guest
Tim
2 years ago

What were the Forest Defenders doing logging north of Strawberry Rock?

justanotherperson
Guest
justanotherperson
2 years ago
Reply to  Tim

Well, you could always get out there next time to help out!

Guest
Guest
Guest
2 years ago

“Goals & Demands
Green Diamond Resource Company to return all the land currently in their holdings back to local Tribes and to fully fund the restoration of these areas

A complete moratorium on industrial logging

Green Diamond to withdraw Timber Harvest Plan (THP) 1-18-00157-HUM

Permanent protections for all pricklecone pine stands on Green Diamond land

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) to remove certification from all Green Diamond products

Humboldt County to ban clearcut and other forestry practices that strip canopy connectivity and fragment wildlife habitat

Green Diamond workers to be able to stay at home and be paid in full during the COVID-19 pandemic”

https://sites.google.com/view/redwoodforestdefense/current-campaign

Tim
Guest
Tim
2 years ago
Reply to  Guest

That’s the kind of demand list I would expect from a group that doesn’t really understand what they are talking about and has absolutely no clue about unintended consequences.

Give the land to the local tribes? Umm, you do know that the tribes are also logging don’t you. Commercial, industrial logging with some clearcuts.

The moratorium on industrial logging? That means the company would be forced to sell off their holdings to a fragmented ownership that would drastically reduce the connectivity they seek and seriously degrade the ecosystems. Not to mention adding to the demand for wood from unsustainable logging in other countries. Classic NIMBYism.

Not sure what their complaint is that specific THP and don’t feel like looking it up.

Pinus muricata doesn’t need any protection — it’s a fast-growing, short-lived species adapted to disturbance. The only real downside to it is that it is crappy lumber.

FSC and SFI have repeatedly examined GD practices and found them to meet the internationally described standards for sustainability. The very fact that they are harvesting 2nd- and 3rd-growth stands from the same sites demonstrates sustainability for wood production.

Clearcutting is a viable and valid method to regenerate a forest although it can be overused. THP regulations limit the size of clearcuts and most companies have moved towards using variable retention methods rather than a true clearcut. Fewer than a quarter of THPs involve clearcuts when last I checked.

Have you seen lumber prices? Forestry workers are essential workers the same as grocery store employees. And many are working outside in the field away from others — kind of exactly what you’d want folks to do.

S. Mander
Guest
S. Mander
2 years ago
Reply to  Tim

In 2019 green diamond clearcut approx 6000ac, and used selection logging in 3000ac, in Humboldt and Del Norte counties alone. Haven’t read their 2020 numbers yet but they mainly clearcut, and do selection when they have to around water courses. Not sure where you’re getting 1/4 from.

Perhaps repeatedly clear-cutting the same stands every 40ish years could be sustainable if done on a much smaller scale, but that’s far away from the reality we live in. Almost no forest older then 100 remains, and the clear-cuts are back to back with only 3 years for one stand to regrow before the one next to it is clearcut. Take a peek at satellite maps of the area, it’s not hard to understand.

The Yurok tribe does some logging, but most of their commercial forest use is carbon farming.

And this is a bit petty, but I fucking live here.

Guest
Guest
Guest
2 years ago
Reply to  S. Mander

They have over 400,000 in Humboldt, Del Norte and Trinity. At the rate of 10,000 per year, that works out to 40 years.

Admittedly logging is a matter of perspective. I live across the road from a lot of Green Diamond property that was heavily logged about 20 years ago. I still had lots of birds, deer, mountain lion, fox, bear, etc. Even Fisher cats. About 4 years ago 5 people in land around me “clear cut” their places in 2 acre exemptions. 3 to put in pot grows. The birds disappeared as did almost everything else. A year later a pileated wood pecker came through once and I had hope. But nothing since. No woodpeckers, phoebes, swallows, banded pigeons, flickers, thrushes, kinglets, winter wrens, chickadees etc – even juncos disappeared which I though was impossible. I have a lot more jaded views of those people than of Green Diamond.

Tim
Guest
Tim
2 years ago
Reply to  Guest

Thanks for that perspective Guest, this is one of the key points anti-logging folks don’t seem to get. Fragmented ownership into parcels is far more harmful to ecosystem function than even industrial logging under current rules. If you managed to force a stop to logging the companies would then be forced to sell their properties in parcels.

If you really believe that forests should be managed differently, put your money where you mouth is and have your group find the money to buy 10’s of thousands of contiguous forest and then give it the tribes or manage it like the Nature Conservancy does.

Tim
Guest
Tim
2 years ago
Reply to  S. Mander

There’s 139,000 acres of Redwood National Park that are being managed largely for old-growth characteristics. Green Diamond and other companies like it have a different role to play in supplying a renewable resource that’s the most carbon-friendly construction material we currently have available to consumers. Green Diamond currently uses a 45-60 year rotation for even-aged managed stands. Could they switch entirely to selection logging? Probably, given the species they are working with, but it would much more carbon-intensive because of decreased efficiency of equipment operation and a larger and more active road system. The main benefit would be that it would look prettier to most folks while the main costs would be increased fuel use and increased sediment from road use.

The 1/4 of THP’s being clearcuts was for all THP’s in Humboldt and Del Norte. I didn’t separate them by ownership.

Bushytails
Guest
Bushytails
2 years ago
Reply to  Guest

That is one of the most delusional lists I’ve ever seen.

Martin
Guest
Martin
2 years ago

Do us all a big favor and show your faces. Scared someone might come after you for protesting on the site. I bet your all live in wooden homes! Time to build your new concrete condo! I hear Surfside property in Florida is going cheap.

namer
Guest
namer
2 years ago
Reply to  Martin

Everyone is entitled to not to bust themselves, but maybe they’re just complying with health orders (or whatever the mask/vax deal is called.)

Do they have individual playing cards, or just the team photo?

Marc
Guest
Marc
2 years ago
Reply to  Martin

Like many at the capitol on Jan. 6th!

Guest
Guest
Guest
2 years ago
Reply to  Marc

And none in Minneapolis, Chicago and Seattle?

Marc
Guest
Marc
2 years ago
Reply to  Guest

I didn’t say that, only pointing out that this is not unique to only one side of the spectrum .

S. Mander
Guest
S. Mander
2 years ago
Reply to  Martin

Hey there! I understand that what you really want is for us to be injured, arrested, or perhaps outright murdered, but I’m gonna answer for the benefit of other folks reading this.

Arrest counts are not the only metric of successful resistance. Sometimes it’s necessary, strategic, or you just get grabbed…. but if it’s not – for heavens sake, don’t try to go to jail. Get in, fuck shit up, get out, stay free!

Guest
Guest
Guest
2 years ago
Reply to  S. Mander

Tree spiking like Biden’s BLM nominee for director? Or destruction of logging equipment? All ok?

S. Mander
Guest
S. Mander
2 years ago
Reply to  Guest

As an autonomous human being, I’m certainly not going out of my way to condemn sabotage…. But the fact is, it’s not happening. The company isn’t accusing anyone, the sheriff isn’t accusing anyone(you can go read their press release. It’s pretty boring). You’re reaching pretty far back to even try to make that relevant.

Bozo
Guest
Bozo
2 years ago

Hey… lets go protest some big dope grows.
Draining the rivers and introducing fertilizer/pesticide waste !
Sneak in there at night ! No issues ! Chain yourself to dope plants !

S. Mander
Guest
S. Mander
2 years ago
Reply to  Bozo

If this is what you believe should be done, I encourage you to do it yourself.

thetallone
Guest
thetallone
2 years ago
Reply to  Bozo

You’re right, Bozo, they are equivalent. Both a total disrespect for the land. Thanks for pointing that out ; ).

ataloss
Guest
ataloss
2 years ago

How bout they get a real job! Perhaps firefighting to help with forest fires – make themselves useful.

S. Mander
Guest
S. Mander
2 years ago
Reply to  ataloss

Some of our comrades are doing just this, others are involved in mutual aid supporting fire survivors. Others are out doing fuels reduction projects with our neighbors…. We just don’t do press releases about it.

Bruce anderson
Guest
Bruce anderson
2 years ago

Current USFS forest managment is a failure. If you believe global warming is here to stay, cut all the fir and pine trees down and replace them with species from a warmer climate. Also ban any new coastal construction on land less than 100 feet above sea level, since sea levels are rising so fast.

Humboldt Native
Guest
Humboldt Native
2 years ago

All of these protesters lost anything from me when they booby trapped logging equipment putting hard working men and women in mortal danger, chained their arms to old cars and when they were made to leave or left on their own they left so much garbage and filth behind and they care about the trees my ass. Then they boo hoo when some of their people were killed because they put themselves in harms way by being in dangerous areas where they were well aware that logging was being conducted. I was working in the lumber industry shipping lumber by rail at the time the “Butterfly” was in her tree. I saw nothing but hate from these people. They don’t give a rats behind about anything but themselves. I have nothing for these idiots! Don’t even get me started on what the hostile takeover of Pacific Lumber was done. They wonder why Eureka is so messed up now, everybody left because of no employment opportunities. I will say it, even thought its an old quote, “Wood and paper products no longer available, wipe your ass with a spotted owl. They are all complete idiots.

thetallone
Guest
thetallone
2 years ago

By all means, log until nothing is left.
As far as hate filled people, that is sadly almost funny. See the video of families, grandmas, people carrying toddlers, scads of caring people that hiked up that long, steep trail to the “Butterfly” tree. You will see no hate, just love of nature and concern for the commodification of Her for profit.

Alf
Guest
Alf
2 years ago

Losers, lowlifes and scumbags. That pretty well describes the idiots in the environmental wacco movement to bankrupt timber businesses. These people are so stupid, they even protest selecttive environmentally friendly logging and salvage logging. Lock them all up. Most are criminal trespassers and active environmental terrorists.

local observer
Guest
local observer
2 years ago
Reply to  Alf

please explain who is selective logging and who is bankrupting who. This is the area north and east of the subject rock. there are two small 2nd growth areas left, the remaining trees of value are in watercourse and can not be harvested. but they are currently working on that. just like blaming the seals, they plan to blame the trees.

Alf
Guest
Alf
2 years ago
Reply to  local observer

As far as I know the rock is still private property, so until it isn’t, hiking there is also criminal trespassing. I have personally witnessed deputies chewing out people who have gone there. I’ve personally never been and won’t without permission.

Guest
Guest
Guest
2 years ago

“This is a press release from Redwood Forest Defense. Please remember that this is not neutral reporting but a press release from an interested party):” but choosing to give it space is a management decision that is certainly not neutral. Can’t be that cultivating some groups and not others could be the most important factor?

Maybe press releases should be considered advertising, even if free, and not news at all.

Bushytails
Guest
Bushytails
2 years ago

I stopped listening to the “forest defenders” after the protest further south where they kept inventing blatant lies to try to bolster their arguments. You know, claiming third growth was old growth, inventing attacks by the sheriff’s department, etc. If you have to lie to make your argument sound good, go vote for trump.

And once again, they are protesting what is obviously a harvest of planted timber. You know, sustainable logging. Which is why it’s marketed as sustainable timber, by a local sawmill, providing local jobs, and being used to build local houses, which some percentage of these people presumably live in, with a sustainable, renewable, carbon-negative building material.

There are times when loggers have done things that are actually illegal or destructive, in recent times, not just historical logging. They’ve logged old-growth trees they were denied permits for, pushed hillsides into streams to make roads, 3Sed owls, and generally been bad people. But unless you have evidence of these things occurring at a specific site, you can’t just invent a protest because there’s been nothing to protest lately. And you especially can’t make up claims when you don’t have any valid ones.

Adam
Guest
Adam
2 years ago

Hey, Redwood Forest Defense. I hope you are reading the response to your press release and thinking about the response you are getting from the community.

I like stars
Guest
I like stars
2 years ago
Reply to  Adam

I think it’s likely that many of them are city folks who are not part of our community and do not care about it. They probably see the people who live here as ignorant rednecks and value our input accordingly.

S. Mander
Guest
S. Mander
2 years ago

They were all old growth forests before green diamond/Simpson got ahold of them – 2 million acres of it. Now, only 5% is left, most of the remainder is short-rotation tree farm, and logging industry science calls that “insignificant on a global scale” in regards to the climate crisis. They say forests are a renewable resource, but only if kept in infancy – dense, young, flammable, monocrops, until they get just big enough to clearcut again. They claim that they are locking up CO2 into timber products; but it’s shit quality wood – it’ll be decking, planter boxes, fences. Stuff that might last 20 years and then be discarded. Trees with the potential to live thousands of years, turned into slash, waste wood, and products that won’t even last a generation.

So, no. We’re not going to stay out of the woods, congratulating ourselves on the preservation of a few token big trees. We want all the forest to grow back.

Marc
Guest
Marc
2 years ago

“After a long standoff with Green Diamond Security, Humboldt County Sheriffs arrived and the protesters departed into the forest.“

S. Mander
Guest
S. Mander
2 years ago

Phew, that’s all the forest defender AMA I got energy for today! Catch ya on the next PR. 👋