Mattole Forest Defenders Statement Issued to the "Forest Peace Alliance"

This statement was presented to the “Forest Peace Alliance” on Tuesday on behalf of the Mattole Forest Defenders.


Written May 20, 2002

Statement from the Mattole Forest Defense campaign in response to the recent unfounded accusations made against ‘critics’ of the Pacific Lumber Company (PL), by the company and some of their associates.


Robert Manne’s ridiculous statement to the Board of Supervisors that activists have or are somehow on the verge of using violence in the forest is his justification for the request for the use of Homeland Security funding. This money would go to the sheriffs’ department to protect the county from terrorist attacks.
Since Manne recently apologized to the offended members of the Forest Peace Alliance (FPA) and “Earth First!;” who does this leave to accuse of future terrorist acts which could somehow justify the use of Homeland Security funds?

The goal of the Mattole Forest Defense campaign is to non-violently protect, to the best of our ability, the forests and other eco-systems of the Mattole river watershed from attempts at destructive corporate resource extraction, until a time that the threatened areas are preserved. As plants and animals have no voice and little to no rights granted by American society we feel it is up to us to represent this amazingly diverse natural community and advocate for its protection.

We wish to make the following facts clear and simple

1. Our methods of forest defense include:
a. Unobtrusive monitoring for and documentation of illegal company activity.
b. Initiating and engaging in constructive dialogue with company and government employees, locals, and others.
c. Non-violently blocking access roads with the purpose of stopping controversial timber harvest plans.
d. Occupying the ground and canopy of threatened stands of trees.

2. We do not now, nor have we ever, considered the use of violence or sabotage as a tactic in our struggle to save this ancient Douglas fir forest. This, we hope, has been proven through many incidents of physical assault perpetrated against us, and our enduring committal to non-violence

3. We seek to open a dialogue of all those concerned in this issue in order to come to a peaceful solution that respects all parties involved.

Therefore, we hope that together we can find the appropriate forum in order to work out a solution to these decades old issues. However, until such a time that we can be reasonably assured that the potentially illegal THPs’ in the Mattole will not be cut in our absence, we must continue using non-violent direct action to protect the Mattole watershed.