Associated Press recently dropped an article on the recent “saving” of the old growth here in Northern California. But I’ll say it again and again and again: The trees are not saved. Trees are still being clear cut. Habitat is still being destroyed for profit. Sure, we have a line of communication open with the president of Humboldt Redwood Company, Mike Jani, that’s great. I’m happy that we do. And I’m happy that HRC purportedly isn’t going to cut old growth, which is yet to be witnessed. But the battle isn’t over — long from it. It’s disturbing when 9 out of 10 people in Arcata come up to me and say: “Hey, why are you doing this?? The trees are saved.” We need to have some huge event to let people know what’s really still going on. The media surely serves a vital purpose, but skewing the facts in order to sell stories is horrible and detrimental to the defense of the forest.
Another Misleading “The Trees Are Now Saved” Story
Posted by on September 29, 2008
I stopped by the EF! info table in front of the Arcata Co-op the other day to say hi. Suddenly, out of my peripheral vision I saw someone take a picture of the table and everyone around it. I recognized him as a reporter based in Arcata, but not one that I’ve had a lot of interactions with. He walked up to the table and began visually browseing the literature. A tabler asked him, “Why did you take our picture?” He said, “I’m a reporter.” Then, in an incredulous manner he asked, “Didn’t you read in the paper that the timber wars are over? Why are you asking for money?”
I said, “The Associated Press isn’t known for it’s accuracy. As long as timber companies are assaulting the forest the timber wars are not over.”
I told him that Green Diamond is rapidly clear-cutting the redwoods, proposing developments, and that they’ve been hiding in the shadow of Maxxam/Pacific Lumber for years.
When I was in mid-sentence, a wing-nut wearing sunglasses and buddhist prayer beads walked up and interrupted me, thought he was trying to get my attention I ignored him and finished.
He then demanded my attention, questioning me about who our target audience was. He also said that if we stopped believing that the forest was going to be cut down then it would stop happening. The reporter grew bored of this and left.
One thing to note is that the tablers weren’t asking for money that day, people were just walking up and handing them donations the tablers. Some people around here are still aware of the seriousness of the situation. Anyone who knows about Green Diamond knows there are still major problems. They have pissed a lot of folks off in this county, esp those who live near their land.
Though the continual decline of the Spotted Owl Species is gaining little attention, people are hearing about the Salmon die-offs through mainstream and alternative media, and word of mouth.
I guess my main point is that the mainstream media appears to be fictionalizing this story. The tree-sitters in Nanning are still there waiting out the logging permit. Clearcutting is still going on and Timber companies are still threatening Old-growth trees.
The Timber Wars didn’t start with the Hurwitz and they didn’t end with his exit.
“with Hurwitz” that is…
Hey Farmer,
Awesome comment.
Yeah dude, it’s crazy what these media outfits are doing. This type of reporting is only obscuring the reality of what’s currently happened in the forests. A major event / public outreach gathering(s) are in order to combat the false messaging….
[...] misleading, as it declares the death of redwood treesitting. Not so, says Humboldt Forest Defenders read this comment on the misleading article below.) EVELYN NIEVES, Associated Press SCOTIA, Calif. (AP) - After more than 20 years of protests, the [...]