Karen Pickett – Page 6 – Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters

Don’t commodify Mother Earth and her forests!

September 25, 2018August 23, 2018 by Karen Pickett

Calling tree-huggers, other-species defenders and all manner of biocentrists and forests activists to Rise Up together as linked affinity groups for the climate convergence and actions in the Bay Area Sept. 8 – 14! I’m sure you are aware that a great many individuals, organizations and affinity groups are rising up to say NO to a fossil fuel economy and future, NO to Jerry Brown’s climate policy based on false solutions, and YES to renewable energy, sustainable economies, community justice and sovereignty on Native lands. Much of the discussion focuses around environmental and economic justice, and just transitions for communities. WE …

Forest Defenders’ Blockade in Mattole Raided by Paramilitary-style Security

December 19, 2018July 26, 2018 by Karen Pickett

Two people have locked themselves to “Monument Gate” – five miles up the mountain from the town of Rio Dell – to prevent Humboldt Redwood Company (HRC) from gaining access to the Rainbow Ridge area of the Mattole River watershed, where HRC has two active Timber Harvest Plans to log in un-entered Douglas fir forests. On Sunday, July 22, HRC, through a paramilitary-style security contractor, Lear Asset Management, raided the tall tri-pod road blockade on Long Ridge, immediately threatened two forest defenders with tasers and called Humboldt County Sheriff’s to arrest them They also stole survival gear, and posted 24/7 security at the blockade. On Wednesday, July 25, HRC again had the security …

New tripod blockade in Mattole, new suit in Gualala forest

December 19, 2018June 25, 2018 by Karen Pickett

New Blockade Rises to Protect Old Growth in the Mattole! Logging season has returned to the north coast, and Humboldt Redwood Co. (HRC) remains adamant that they will cut in the previously unlogged forest in the Mattole River watershed. The blockaders, however are even more determined that they will not. After an effective and successful action training skill share camp in May, numbers of people monitoring, communicating, strategizing and holding the blockade line were boosted in the Mattole. Now, there is a new heavy tripod on the main logging road on Rainbow Ridge near the headwaters of the North Fork of …

Join us for Judi Bari Day May 24, 11:30 am in Oakland

December 19, 2018May 21, 2018 by Karen Pickett

May 24 is Judi Bari Day* **Please share with your networks** Please join us to COMMEMORATE the anniversary of the 1990 Oakland bombing of Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney CELEBRATE and STRENGTHEN Revolutionary resistance and movement solidarity May 24, 2018 is the 28th anniversary of the attack on Earth First! and Judi and Darryl by car bomb in Oakland in 1990 as Redwood Summer, a summer of resistance to forest liquidation logging, dawned. At 11:30 am, people will gather to mark the moment of the bombing itself (12 noon) at the actual location the bomb blew up Judi’s car, in an …

Mattole Forest Action Training May 24 – 27

December 19, 2018May 13, 2018 by Karen Pickett

Mattole Forest Defense Training Camp May 24-27 We just got this call out from the forest defenders in the Mattole: Come hang out, learn awesome skills, and get plugged in with your local forest defense campaigns! We will be gathering from the 24th until the 27th of May for an Action Training Camp in the Mattole River watershed. We recognize this land was stolen from the indigenous Mattole people. Please RSVP for directions. Workshops and discussions will include: Strategic non-violent direct action Know your rights and security culture, Plant walk! Tree climbing training and knots Ground-truthing Navigating in the Mountains …

North Coast Forest Update–Mattole, Gualala and more

August 7, 2018May 10, 2018 by Karen Pickett

Old Trees, River Habitat and Action: They Go Together No New Road for the Mattole! Forest Defenders on Alert for Logging Season Our last update to you concerning the magnificent old forests in the Mattole watershed [http://headwaterspreserve.org/2018/02/comments-needed-on-mattole-forest-road-building-offshore-oil-and-wild-smith-river/] addressed Humboldt Redwood Co. (HRC)’s new logging road proposal, which seemed to have no rational foundation for construction, except to get around forest defenders’ blockade. Thanks to strong public and organizational challenges, HRC withdrew their construction proposal. This is good news! But after a too-brief sigh of relief, Mattole area activists are shifting into vigilant alert mode, as the rains stop and logging season …

Court hearings on Richardson Grove and new alliance

August 7, 2018March 20, 2018 by Karen Pickett

Rumblings about Richardson Grove Redwoods from Caltrans Also: New Indigenous-Enviro Alliance Sees Success We were alerted by our colleagues on the North Coast that, after a long respite of no activity on the Richardson Grove front, there are things happening behind the scenes, in the courts, and in the County Supervisor’s chambers. Most of you will remember that Caltrans’ backward-looking ruminations for bigger, faster roadways yielded a plan announced over a decade ago, to widen and “realign” Highway 101 through the towering ancient redwoods of Richardson Grove State Park in southern Humboldt County. That plan, controversial from the beginning, has been …

Comments Needed on Mattole Forest road building, Offshore Oil and wild Smith River!

February 16, 2018February 14, 2018 by Karen Pickett

Deep in the fog-shrouded coastal forests in the hills above the ocean in southern Humboldt county, a new logging road is planned that has no good reason to be built. This area of old forest, mostly Doug Fir and other species in the Mattole River watershed, is one of the few areas outsides of the now publicly-owned Headwaters Reserve that was left in fairly pristine shape by the old, rapacious Pacific Lumber. But the timber company that bought the forestland from PL/Maxxam—Humboldt Redwood Co. (HRC)—is not leaving it alone. Activists have had a long-standing blockade (see previous Mattole BACH …

Action Updates: Mattole Forest Blockade and Richardson Grove!

December 6, 2017November 19, 2017 by Karen Pickett

UPDATE ON MATTOLE FOREST DEFENSE! An area in the Mattole River watershed on Northern California’s forested coast is called the “Lost Coast”, because of its relative remoteness from major highways and population centers. There lies mature Douglas Fir forest, unmolested by logging—left behind even by the rapacious Maxxam Pacific Lumber, in favor of more accessible redwood forest. Humboldt Redwood Co. (HRC), the current owners, have been threatening to log in an area known as Rainbow Ridge. They have been met with staunch opposition from local residents and stalwart forest defenders who have maintained a formidable blockade for five months. HRC recently …

More on Richardson Grove Redux: Trucks vs. Redwoods

June 22, 2017June 6, 2017 by Karen Pickett

Caltrans has been adamant ever since they lost their Richardson Grove Highway Realignment case* in Federal Court in 2014 and were chastised by the judge for their false data and sloppy analysis. The agency was determined to resurrect their plan to accommodate oversized STAA big rig trucks on Hwy. 101 through the heart of redwood country. So their announcement in May 2017 of new documents outlining the same plan many organizations fought for years came as no surprise—but it makes it no more palatable. *Plaintiffs in the case challenging Caltrans’ project were EPIC, the Center for Biological Diversity, Californians for …