Tree sitting

Protester climbing to a tree sit 35m high in Upper Florentine Valley, in Tasmania, Australia.

Tree sitting is a form of environmentalist civil disobedience in which a protester sits in a tree, usually on a small platform built for the purpose, to protect it from being cut down (speculating that loggers will not endanger human lives by cutting an occupied tree). Supporters usually provide the tree sitters with food and other supplies.

Tree sitters have successfully prevented logging of ancient old-growth forests for months at a time, and in some instances have convinced logging companies not to cut trees in some areas.^{[citation needed]} Sometimes, tree sitting is used as a long-term resistance strategy, with activists occupying trees for months or years at a time. On the other hand, tree sitting is often used as a stalling tactic, to prevent the cutting of trees while lawyers fight in the courts to secure the long-term victories.

When tree sitting occurs on private land, it is considered by some to be an act of trespassing. Some activists stand up to this charge in court, claiming a necessity defense – that the harm done by trespassing is negligible compared to the potential harm to the environment caused by the proposed logging. Sometimes logging companies will hire tree climbers to remove trespassers sitting in trees.^{[citation needed]} Although it's argued that it is the companies' legal right to do so, some tree sitters are suing Pacific Lumber to challenge this practice. Most tree sitting in California occurs on private land^{[citation needed]}. In Oregon, where there are more logging projects on public land (National Forests and BLM lands), tree sitting is usually not trespassing but tree sitters can be fined for violating closure orders or camping limits, or for erecting illegal structures.

Extractions

Tree-sitters in trees claimed by Pacific Lumber in Humboldt County have been subject to forced removal by hired tree-sit extractors. The practice started with a single extractor in the late 90’s but in 2003 Pacific Lumber hired teams of climbers to remove dozens of tree-sitters, particularly in the Freshwater area East of Eureka, California.

The extractors are not actually deputized but police often show up to assist extractors and arrest tree-sitters. On March 17, 2003, more than 30 police arrived and enforced the closure of a public road to assist in the removal of two long-time tree-sitters from old-growth redwoods.^{[citation needed]}

Most of the extractions in Northern California are done under the leadership of Eric Schatz of Schatz Tree Service, a well known professional arborist. Schatz testified in court that he has removed 42 tree sitters from trees.^{[citation needed]}

List of tree sits

The tree-sitters' camp in Berkeley, California protesting the planned removal of coastal live oaks as of 2008-07-08. The protesters were in the trees from 2006-12-02 to 2008-09-09, making it the longest running urban tree-sit in history.

Some of the more notable tree sittings include:

• Tree sitting in 1978 (the first tree sitting action) led to the protection of what is now the Pureora Forest Park in New Zealand.

• Mikal Jakubal was the first American tree sitter.^{[citation needed]} On May 20, 1985 he ascended a Douglas Fir in an area of the Middle Santiam region of Willamette National Forest that was in the process of being clearcut. While short-lived, his tree sitting action inspired a group tree sitting event by Earth First! activists that lasted from June 23 to July 20, 1985, when two Linn County, Oregon sheriff's deputies wrestled Marylander Ron Huber from his tree after a day-long stand-off.

• Native Forest Action used tree sitting during its campaign to save the West Coast, New Zealand native forests. In April 1997, the logging company, Timberlands West Coast Limited destroyed one of the sites by deliberately swinging a tree from a helicopter into it without ensuring that it was fully clear of protesters. The CAA cleared the helicopter pilot of wrongdoing in a controversial judgment that was appeared to have been interfered with, according to leaked internal documents.

• Julia Butterfly Hill, an activist in Humboldt County, California became known for her 738 day sit (from December 10, 1997 until December 18, 1999) in a 180-foot (55 m), 600-year-old Coast Redwood tree she named Luna. Eventually, Hill and other activists raised $50,000 to spare her tree and a 200-foot (61 m) buffer around it.

• In 2002, two US environmental activists involved in tree-sitting protests died in separate accidents.

• In 2004, activists from Greenpeace and the Australian environmental organization The Wilderness Society hold the record for the world's highest tree-sit at 65m, in the Styx Valley, Tasmania. Peter (Peck) Firth spent 51 days up a giant Eucalyptus tree nicknamed Gandalf's Staff.

• In 2004, at least six tree sits were erected in Tuart trees at Ludlow Tuart Forest near Busselton in South Western, Western Australia.

• In 2006, two sits were built in Jarrah (Eucalyptus) trees at "Arcadia" Jarrah Forest near Collie in South Western, Western Australia. Two activists were removed and arrested but one had his charges dropped and the other went to court and was acquitted.

• In 2006, following a successful protest lasting over one year, tree sitters in Cathedral Grove (also known as MacMillan Provincial Park), British Columbia, halted the removal of a number of old growth Douglas Fir trees which were scheduled to be to taken down in an attempt to calm traffic and improve the parking facilities.^{[citation needed]}

• In May 2006, protesters at Titnore Wood began a tree-sitting campaign against a major urban extension to the town of Worthing in West Sussex. Around 25 protesters created tree-houses and a network of tunnels. In March 2010, after nearly four years of tree-sitting, the local council voted unanimously to turn down the application for development.

• In 2006, 2007, and 2008, protesters in Berkeley, California sat in coast live oak trees to prevent the construction of a new sports facility by the University of California, Berkeley. On September 5, 2008, the University began logging the grove, after winning court agreement. Four days later, after a little more than 21 months, the final four tree sitters surrendered to authorities, ending the longest running urban tree-sit in history.

• 2007, protesters of the University of California Santa Cruz's Long Range Development Plan set up a tree sit, in red wood trees, on the proposed site of a biomedical research facility.^{[citation needed]}

• In 2008, a tree-sitter climbed an oak tree on the University of California Berkeley campus to begin advocating the democratization of the UC Regents.^{[citation needed]}

• In 2000 after two years living in Mariah, a thousand-year-old tree, Nate Madsen descended. Both Pacific Lumber (PL) and the California Department of Forestry (CDF) signed off on the timber harvest plan, which means protection for Mariah for the moment. PL can still file another plan, but for now, Mariah seems safe. http://www.treesfoundation.org/publications/article-49

• In 2008, a tree sit was constructed in College Grove (remnant bushland), Bunbury, Western Australia and was removed after being occupied for three months. Another was promptly constructed nearby in the next stage that was threatened by housing development; it included a functional trampoline.

• In 2009, there are ongoing tree-sits in Humboldt County, Ca. to prevent logging of 100+ year old redwoods by Green Diamond (formerly known as Simpson). One of the tree-villages is defending the territory of an active Spotted Owl mating pair.

• In 2009, on August 25 two protesters with Climate Ground Zero halted blasting above Pettry Bottom in Raleigh County, West Virginia. Laura Steepleton and Nick Stocks climbed 80 feet in two trees in direct protest of Massey Energy's mountaintop removal mine. The trees were located within 30 feet of the Edwight mine, and within the 300 feet of blasting. Kim Ellis and Zoe Beavers were arrested for providing direct support, only to return later that afternoon at the behest of state police to serve as liaisons for the sitters. Kim Ellis and Zoe Beavers were then asked to leave the site at 5:30pm by mine security only to refuse and get arrested again by state police at 7:30pm. The tree sit halted blasting for six days while facing harassment from miners including threats of rape, trees being felled in close proximity, and chainsaws partially cutting the trees the sitters occupied.

• In 2009, environmental activists from the Still Wild Still Threatened group in Tasmania, Australia were forced down from tree sits in the Upper Florentine Valley by police acting in conjunction with Forestry Tasmania in two separate busts in January and May.

• In 2010, on January 20 three protesters associated with Climate Ground Zero and Mountain Justice halted blasting on a portion of Massey Energy's Bee Tree mountaintop removal mine on Coal River Mountain, West Virginia by ascending three trees, two tulip poplars and an oak tree. David Aaron Smith, 23 Amber Nitchman, 19 and Eric Blevins, 28 were on platforms approximately 60 feet up in direct protest of mountaintop removal mining and blasting near the Brushy Fork Impoundment. Joshua Graupera, Isabelle Rozendaal, Bernard Fiorillo and David Baghdadi were also arrested for providing ground support. The tree sit halted blasting for nine days. A federal judge granted a permanent injunction to Marfork Coal Co. Inc., a subsidiary of Massey Energy, ordering the defendants to keep off all company property.

• In 2010, One of the tree-villages in Humboldt County,Ca. remains and has grown to include over 30 trees that are tied together with tyrolean traverses. Though Earth First! Humboldt will not say exactly how many people or sits are up there, they do say there is a crew of tree-dwellers. The Earth First!ers withdrew from the village bordering the suburbs in order to strengthen their defense of the older and more secluded of the two groves where many more wildlife species find habitat and refuge.^{[citation needed]}

• In 2011, on July 20 two protesters associated with the RAMPS Campaign halted blasting on a portion of Alpha Natural Resources Bee Tree mountaintop removal mine on Coal River Mountain, West Virginia by ascending two trees, a tulip poplar and an northern red oak tree. Catherine-Ann MacDougal, 24, and Becks Kolins, 21, were on platforms approximately 80 feet off the ground within 300 feet of active blasting on the mine in direct protest of mountaintop removal mining. Becks Kolins stayed on their platform for 14 days while Catherine-Ann MacDougal remained for a total of 30 days making this the longest tree sit east of the Mississippi River. Elias Schewel and Junior Walk were arrested immediately for providing direct support on the ground. Criminal cases are still pending for the two sitters, while a civil suit seeking compensatory and punitive damages is pending for all four activists.

• In 2011, on December 14, Miranda Gibson climbed up a 60m old-growth Eucalyptus delegatensis tree, in the heart of Tasmania’s southern virgin rainforest. Gibson has vowed to stay until the forest is protected. The area is imminently due to logged, despite being part of the area supposed to be protected under the fraught Forests Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA).

Tree villages

A view of the Fall Creek village showing aerial walkway

A tree village is an extension of the tree sit/tree house protest, involving several more tree houses.

The Fall Creek/Red Cloud Thunder Tree-Village was a long running example. It was a 6-year occupation of a small timber sale in the Willamette National Forest at Fall Creek Oregon US which ran from February 1998 to November 2003. It comprised seven houses of up to 5 occupants each tied together with rope 'traverses' 200 feet (61 m) high and up to 125 feet (38 m) between 'platforms'. This tree village was designed to be totally self-sufficient with composting toilets, solar/wind power, communications, cargo lines between ground and other sits, individual rappel lines and hydroponic sprout farms. An estimated 1000 activists occupied the trees at various times. The forest occupied during the Fall Creek campaign remains uncut to this day.^{[citation needed]}

Winberry Tree Village in the Willamette National Forest was another long-term occupation undertaken by Cascadian tree-sitters. The village consisted of two treehouses (160 feet high and 175 feet (53 m) high) and one suspension structure hung between trees. The Winberry village was occupied for 5 years. One tree house was two story, situated in a huge Western Red-Cedar tree. It featured a bottom story built from branches in the manner of a bird's nest as well as a running water system.^{[citation needed]}

The Nanning Creek treesit ("Bonanza") is centered around Spooner, a 290-foot (88 m) Redwood with a near 40-foot (12 m) circumference, one of the oldest unprotected trees remaining in the area. This is also a village setup. Nanning Creek is located in the hills overlooking the town of Scotia, America's last company-owned town and the site of Pacific Lumber's headquarters. The area was long protected as a Marbled Murrelet nesting habitat, but recent changes in environmental law keep loggers out only for the nesting season.^{[citation needed]}

"Fern Gully" is located south of Arcata, California, and north of the Nanning Creek sit. It is one of the few remaining tracts of old-growth in the Freshwater area. Fern Gully was started as a "Pirate" sit, unconnected at first from any organizations such as Earth First!. By 2005, it had 22 trees tied together for transarboreal travel. The village was equipped with a raincatch system that transported water 40 feet (12 m) down to a running tap at the platform, as well as a solar panel at 207 feet (63 m) in a tree named Watsi. Around that time it was raided by Pacific Lumber contracted climbers. They did not extract a single person, instead cutting out unoccupied traverses, platforms and dreamcatchers. This was a major blow to the village, but the sit continues, and the area remains uncut.^{[citation needed]}

"Upper Village" was a set of 3 redwoods, Jerry, Everstine/Diversity (a double trunk tree) and Anastasia. Jerry was one of Humboldt County's most famous redwoods. A woman named Jeny Card (aka "Remedy") stayed without touching ground for 361 days, and later a young man named Willow did the same for over 18 months. Amy Gershman (aka "Wren") stayed in Everstine for almost ten months, and was later extracted, arrested, and jailed. After she was released, she went to court, and her case ended in a hung jury. Upper Village appeared on Da Ali G Show, and Willow was interviewed from the platform of Jerry by Tom Greene, who was doing a segment for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. No other tree has the extraction history of Jerry. Activists were forcibly removed from the tree on three separate occasions between March 17, 2003 and June 17, 2003. Each time, the tree-sit platforms were destroyed by climbers, but immediately replaced by activists. The Timber Harvest Plan for Upper Village expired in 2005, and the trespassers removed their platforms and traverses. These trees are located directly alongside Greenwood Heights road in Freshwater, California.^{[citation needed]}

The "Ludlow" tree village consisted of three basic sits, one large traditional Western Australian sit and two new sits that were two levels and three levels consecutively; each allowed the sitter a separate area for sleeping and relaxing and one for storage, cooking and other activities; one featured a "sun-deck" for outdoor living. The Ludlow Tuart Forest was targeted, by the Cable Sands mineral sands mining company, for Titanium Dioxide, for products such as white paint and toothpaste to fortify the coating of depleted Uranium weapons. One person remained in one of the sits for 29 days, without leaving the tree once. The sits were removed but the concept has been used several times since.^{[citation needed]}

Current EF! Tree-village in California (Spring 2011): A tree village is ongoing in the Ryan Creek watershed next to Eureka, California. Over 45 trees are now tied together, the tree-sits scattered amongst them. This is to interfere with clear-cutting and development plans by the Green Diamond Resource Company. The Earth First! Humboldt collective is organizing a campaign to disrupt logging of this Redwood forest. The company owns around 400,000 acres (1,600 km²) of Redwoods in Humboldt and Del Norte counties making them the largest single landowner of Redwood forest. In December 2010, Green Diamond announced they now have plans with non-profit groups to try to turn approx. 2,000 acres (8.1 km²) of the area, including the tree-village zone, into a community forest. The details on this plan are still mostly unclear as of May, 2011. EF! Humboldt website

Tree houses

In the United Kingdom permanent tree houses are common. One treehouse, BattleStar Galactica at the Manchester International Airport, held 12 people. Permanent tree-houses can be occupied for a year or more. They often have lock-on points for protesters to chain themselves to during evictions. Tree houses have also been used at Newbury bypass, Crystal Palace and Epsom.

See also

• Green anarchism
• Tree spiking
• Eco-terrorism
• Direct action
• David Chain, activist who was killed during a non-violent tree sitting in the Redwood Forest of Northern California.

External links

• Audio recording of first EF! tree sitter making first climb 5/20/85
• Movies of tree-sitters living in 'Tree Village' at Fall Creek Oregon
• July 23, 1985 group treesit coverage in Oregon newspaper
• Review of 1985 Earth First! - treesitting actions in Oregon.
• Greenpeace - Styx Valley: Global Rescue Station
• Timber firm begins bringing down tree sitter - Article from when Wren and Remedy were extracted.
• Hung Jury in Tree Sit Case - Information Wren's trial after her extraction
• Free Petition website
• Tree-sitting history
• Earth First! Humboldt - Current Tree-sits 2009