Fall from tree injures activist
Copyright 2001 San Jose Mercury News
June 15, 2001
BY KEN MCLAUGHLIN
EARTH FIRST!'S `SPARROW' HITS HEAD DURING PROTEST NEAR BOULDER CREEK
Two companions are arrested on charges of trespassing, but tree-sitters vow to continue action against logging being done by Redwood Empire company.
On the eve of the first anniversary of its aerial ``village'' in a remote forest near Mount Madonna, Earth First!'s attempt to establish a large tree-sitting operation near Boulder Creek has been marred by the serious injury of a young woman.
Jenna Griffith, 20, who uses the forest name ``Sparrow,'' was injured Wednesday when she fell about 30 feet from a tree and hit her head on a redwood stump.
Griffith's condition, originally listed as critical, was upgraded to fair on Thursday, officials at San Jose Medical Center said.
Despite the fall, the tree-sitters vowed to continue their protest, which began surreptitiously last weekend on a logging site off Highway 9 three miles north of Boulder Creek. The area is being logged by San Jose-based Redwood Empire.
``Sparrow was hurt doing her utmost to save those trees,'' said ``Blackbird,'' a 30-ish member of Earth First!, a radical environmental group. ``If we stop, what have we done?''
Griffith was climbing the tree with four others Wednesday about 3 a.m. when she slipped and fell, said Kim Allyn, a Santa Cruz County sheriff's spokesman.
An Earth First! member called 911 on a cell phone, summoning deputies and paramedics. Griffith was taken to Highlands Park in Ben Lomond and flown by medical helicopter to San Jose.
Two climbers, 24-year-old Paul Digennara and 19-year-old Halie Johnson, were arrested on trespassing charges, Allyn said.
Redwood Empire officials said they were saddened to learn about the accident but said that the protesters were trespassing and had been warned.
``This accident did not need to happen,'' forester David Van Lennep said in a prepared statement. ``The injured woman and her associates were illegally protesting a state-approved harvest for second- and third-growth trees.''
On Wednesday night, Blackbird visited Griffith, who has an infant daughter, in the intensive-care unit and said she seemed to be doing well considering the head injury.
``Sparrow was rolling over in her bed to get more comfortable, and she was clearing her throat,'' Blackbird said. ``She gave the nurses the peace symbol.''
Blackbird, who grew up in Pebble Beach, had come down from Oregon last June to take up residence in a 120-foot redwood tree in a 158-acre harvest area managed by Redwood Empire near Mount Madonna County Park.
He and other members of Earth First! argued that the logging would defile Ramsey Creek, a vital water source for the city of Watsonville. Redwood Empire maintained that the selective helicopter logging would actually leave a healthier forest.
Despite resistance from Redwood Empire, Blackbird and other Earth First members established a tree village above the ground with ropes and plywood. They carted in food, water and other supplies, spending their time reading books and poetry, drawing and making tarot cards.
At least one person has ``guarded'' the trees since last June 18, Earth First! says.
In what environmentalists hailed as an unprecedented decision and logging companies attacked as an erosion of their rights, a Santa Cruz County judge last July told Redwood Empire it couldn't remove the Earth First! members from private property because it would be too dangerous.
Judge Robert Yonts issued a preliminary injunction that technically prevented the group from trespassing. But he ruled that the tree-sitters should be allowed to stay because he feared for their safety if sheriff's deputies tried to remove them.
He made the decision after Redwood Empire foresters said that fewer than 1 percent of the redwood trees couldn't be harvested because of the protest.
Contact Ken McLaughlin at kmclaughlin@sjmercury.com or (831) 423-3115.