California Greens dump manure in redwood protest
10/01/96
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Subject: California greens dump manure in redwood protest
Organization: Copyright 1996 by Reuters
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 20:10:07 PDT
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuter) - Police said environmentalists dumped manure
and chicken feathers in a Democratic Party office in California
Monday to protest what they call a bad agreement to protect a redwood
forest.
About 50 demonstrators stormed the local party headquarters in
Eureka, a town close to Headwaters forest some 300 miles north of San
Francisco, police said.
They hurled manure and chicken feathers inside and a man and woman
chained themselves to a concrete block that demonstrators lodged
inside the door, they said.
``It was tumultuous, they were chanting, they had the primal drum
beat going,'' said Eureka police Capt. Bill Honsal. He said the
demonstrators belonged to environmental group Earth First!.
The tentative agreement, announced in Washington Saturday, would
protect 7,500 acres of forest, including Headwaters grove, the
world's largest privately owned grove of ancient redwoods.
Police removed demonstrators and arrested a man for trespassing and
obstructing an officer, Honsal said.
At the suggestion of police, the environmentalists later cleaned up
the mess inside the office, he said.
In another demonstration, several hundred environmentalists marched
to the headquarters of forest owner Pacific Lumber Co, a subsidiary
of MAXXAM Inc, in nearby Scotia and stood outside chanting.
Three people were arrested at Scotia, the Humboldt County Sheriff's
Department said.
Environmentalists have fought for years to preserve Headwaters and
five other nearby redwood groves from loggers. They say the forest
provides vital habitat for endangered species such as the marbled
murrelet, a tiny seabird.
Some activists were bitterly disappointed by the agreement that would
preserve Headwaters and one other ancient grove but does not prevent
logging in the four other redwood groves.
The agreement was hammered out in negotiations between Senator Dianne
Feinstein - a California Democrat, the Clinton administration and
California officials and Charles Hurwitz, head of MAXXAM.
The pact called for state and federal governments to pay $380 million
to create a Headwaters preserve of 7,500 acres environmentalists say
the deal depends on Hurwitz being satisfied with a logging plan for
another 207,000 acres of land that will be drawn up over the next 10
months.
Pacific Lumber had state permission to begin ``salvage logging'' --
removing dead, dying or diseased trees -- from the four ancient
groves not included in the agreement starting Monday, but a company
spokeswoman said the company had not yet decided whether to do so.
Environmental groups are seeking a court order to stop Pacific Lumber
from salvage logging in any of the ancient groves, said Paul Mason, a
spokesman for the Environmental Protection Information Center, one of
the groups involved. He said court hearings are scheduled for this
week.