New Blockade in California’s Mattole Forest Protects Old Growth from Timber Harvest Plans

Eco-defense of the Mattole Forest in Northern California is picking up again. The following report was originally posted on the Earth First! Newswire.

by wild hare

Logging season has started. Humboldt Redwood Company has repeatedly stated that they plan to start logging in the Mattole Forest. No way are we going to let that happen.

As the sun rose on the summer solstice, so did a blockade on the main logging road. There’s a new heavy tripod blocking on Rainbow Ridge, in the headwaters of the North Fork Mattole River. The blockade is tied into a threatened grove of this ancient forest via a 300+ ft long traverse.

Several hundred acres of this ancient forest are immediately under threat by two timber harvest plans (THPs) and another proposed road through old growth trees. One of the THPs is set to expire in September of 2019, another in 2021. In addition to the planned logging under the existing THPs, hundreds more are potentially under threat as well. Besides logging, HRC has already killed 170 acres of tanoak and hardwood forest with “hack & squirt” pesticides. The blockade prevents access to all of it.

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The Mattole Action Training Camp was a huge success thanks to the more than 40 awesome #blockadebabes that showed up and exchanged skills and knowledge! #oldgrowthhasaposse #dontfuckwiththemattole #savethemattolesancientforest #humboldtredwoodcompany

A post shared by Blockade Babes (@blockade.babes) on Jan 17, 2018 at 11:49am PST

Forest defenders have been fighting to prevent logging by HRC and other timber corporations in this ancient forest off and on for decades. This spring, the company abandoned plans to build a new road following a public pressure campaign. HRC had intended the new road to create a way to circumvent the spot where forest defenders have held this ongoing blockade.

Building on years of resistance and direct action to protect these ancient forests, the Rainbow Ridge blockade is up for the summer! The campaign has a strong base of support from the broader local community, but we want you to come join us! The blockade functions as a small autonomous zone, and is an active practice in living & working together outside much of the bullshit of industrial capitalism. The more people occupying the blockade, the more that is possible. Come out for a few days or a few weeks—as long as HRC plans to log, forest defenders will be out in the woods.

Get in touch at mattoleactioncamp[at]riseup.net

wild hare is a resident jackrabbit on Rainbow Ridge in the Mattole. They’ve been part of the ongoing blockades of logging there for several years, and like to hop around with the forest defenders.