Tree-sit Blockade and Hunger Strike Launched in Defense of Redwoods in Humboldt

Action report on recent tree-sit and hunger-strike in defense of redwoods in Humboldt County, CA.

On February 19th, forest defenders set up a sky-pod blockade, occupied by a protester commencing a hunger strike (statement below). In January 2023 Humboldt Redwood Company (HRC) filed commencement to begin logging in Freshwater, California.

The forest that is being logged contains massive Redwood and Douglas Fir trees that are providing critical habitat to many endangered animals in the area. HRC claims to log sustainably but there’s no such thing on an industrial scale when profit margins are the only concern.

Forest defenders are determined to stop this logging plan. Email [email protected] for more info and to join the frontlines. Follow @lost_coast_forest_action on Instagram for updates. Venmo @forestdefense to support.

STATEMENT FROM FOREST DEFENDER “ARISTOTLE”:

As you’re reading this I am suspended above an entrance to one of Humboldt Redwood Company’s (HRC) industrial timber harvest plans, blocking this entrance by the support lines of the net that is holding me. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and these are desperate times indeed. On January 18th a forest defender named Tortuguita was murdered by state troopers while occupying the Weelaunee forest in Atlanta. They have since held activists with no bail or extremely high bail to prevent people from defending the forest. I am doing this to try and honor Tortuguita’s life and wish for the land to be protected, and in solidarity with activists in Atlanta facing extreme police repression.

I will not leave nor eat until HRC commits in writing to abandon this Timber Harvest Plan indefinitely. The police may try to use this as justification to extract me for “health concerns.” I am taking supplements which will allow me to subsist without food for months without endangering my health or safety. Any attempt to extract me is for the companies profit, not a concern for my well being.

This forest is filled with huge Redwoods and Douglas Fir trees which are becoming increasingly rare as private timber ravages the landscape. It is already too late for 97% of the worlds native forests. Northern California is one of very few places in the so-called “United States” where there are still intact forests. But not for long, if the industrial logging and commercial builders get their way.

These lands don’t belong to privatized companies. These are lands stolen from the indigenous people of this area and stolen from the many animal and plant species that call these forests home. The bears, Redwoods, huckleberry, hummingbirds, mushrooms, newts, owls and every other species need this forest to continue surviving in an increasingly unlivable planet. Please stand with all of them and come defend this land!

LET THE FORESTS GROW!