February 24th 2000

By Lisa Norman
Mendocino Beacon
February 24, 2000

Two young adults using pseudonyms Daniel and Maya said they have been tree-sitting in Albion's Kaisen Gulch area since Jan. 21, "the first lunar eclipse of the millennium." The two issued a statement Monday, presumably written from atop a 4-foot-by-8-foot platform, 120 feet up a redwood tree they named, "Gypsy," they said. Their letter was delivered to the newspaper by Beth Bosk.

Though Bosk said on Friday that the tree-sit "just began," she revised her statement on Monday, saying the tree sit has been going on three weeks. "They were not discovered for two weeks, and when they were, I let you know," she said.

Also on Monday, a man identifying himself as the 17-year-old boy's father said his since has been up in the tree since Friday.

Mendocino Redwood Co. President Sandy Dean said on Monday that he has been aware of the two tree-sitters for about a week, "maybe two," adding "We expect this kind of activity from time to time."

In a press release, Albion Nation's Sal Eggleston said the protest over timber harvest plan 1-97-380 MEN began two years ago when "several hundred community members signed petitions…some locked down... protecting 100 year old growth slated to be cut from steep and unstable slopes historically known for landslides, on the Albion River in the Kaisen Gulch vicinity."

"We were sued on the plan when we stared in on business, the summer of '98," Dean said, noting the sale of Louisiana-Pacific's North Coast holdings to MRC in May of that year. The lawsuit was resolved relatively quickly, he said, adding the plan continues to be "fully approved" as it was in the spring of 1998.

An amendment classified as "major" was approved last fall, Dean said. Its purpose was to document on the plan that it was a good idea to harvest tan oak in a specific area, he said.

The harvest plan of about 300 acres is "a mixture of single tree selection and commercial thin, a type of single tree section but with a different way of marking trees," Dean said. "What's important is that we'll be retaining 60 percent of the standing trees, leaving more than we're harvesting. It will be well-stocked when we're done."

"There are better ways to work towards solutions in harvest practices in the woods than climbing up a tree," Dean added. "Tree-sitting is dangerous."

Harvest protesters, however, are fueled by what they feel are unjustified and damaging logging practices.

"The logging proposes miles of new roads, and the removal of tree cover which together increase sedimentation that smothers eggs and spawning gravels and affects water temperatures greatly impacting the federally listed and threatened coho salmon," Eggleston's press release said. "In addition tothe coho and steelhead, the scattered old growth areas on the Albion River support many species, some of which are federally listed as threatened or endangered."

Dean said three "independent experts in forestry," non-MRC employees, reviewed the plan in May 1998. "We were concerned by the questions raised by the activists," he said. "In this THP 1-97-380, we have a forest in good recovery," Daniel and Maya said in their letter. "And to allow THP to go through would allow the destruction of this healthy forest's vegetation and habitats. It will also create landslides on the THPs already unstable slopes. The Albion River that flows just south is another factor in this cut. If allowed, sedimentation will trickle down in the river causing more trouble for our coho salmon and steelhead… this THP…contains old growth redwoods and firs….a wide diversity of wildlife endangered…. creates life in all its beauty."

Bosk said that coastal businesses and restaurants have lent their support, offering pens to write with and gourmet dinners once a week. "There is good community support."

Tuesday, Russell Fieber of the Albion Nation reported that late Monday MRC marked old growth trees to be removed from the harvest plan.

"It's a good sign, we think," Fieber said, adding that the company still plans to make amendments for roads and may still be harvesting despite the signs of no cutting.