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And now the strike has been over for awhile! Go us!
The new cause is the pipeline. Or stopping it anyway. The tree sitters have been doing their damnedest to halt the land clearing and have done a good job. On the VA side of the mountain, they have rigged up a monopod in the middle of the logging road. It's brilliant. It's held upright with cables and one of the cables is attached to the gate. If the pipeline workers open the gate, the monopod will drop and hurt/kill/maim the tree sitter inside. So they can't. Or at least they haven't.
I don't know if I'm lacking the courage or just the faith in human decency, but I don't think I could put myself on the line like that. To keep anyone from helping the tree sitter inside, the Forest Service has closed the road to the monopod. We had to walk up through the woods to take the ground crew some blankets and supplies. In the middle of a snowstorm, of course.
While we were there, the Forest Service showed up and told us that the whole area had been closed in a 125 foot range on either side of the road, so the ground crew (all there to keep an eye on the monopod and video tape anything anyone tried to do to the tree sitter) were required by law to move that far away and would be arrested if they came any closer. They had an hour to move their whole camp. They got this notice about 45 minutes before sundown. In a snowstorm. Of course.
Our plan had been to hike back out before it got dark, but the Forest Service captain or whatever she was promised us a ride out if we needed it. Since we had safe transport out, we stayed to help the ground crew move their camp 125 feet away. By then, the captain had left and the agents remaining had no idea we were promised a ride so they refused to do it.
So, me and my mom with a bad knee had to hike back out through the brush and briars (125 feet from the road) in the dark, in a snowstorm. Two of the ground crew gallantly escorted us to make sure we made it, but it took a long time and we were all cold and went and briar-torn by the time we got back on 'legal' public land.
It's pretty clear that the whole thing was planned from the beginning to be as inconvenient and miserable as possible for the ground crew, and that the plan is to starve out the tree sitter by not letting anyone close enough to bring her food or water. I'm personally miffed that promises were made and then bailed on.
Our response? Today we went to a Direct Action activism class and took Legal Observer Training so we can be Legal Observers next time. It's not much, maybe, but it's something.
The new cause is the pipeline. Or stopping it anyway. The tree sitters have been doing their damnedest to halt the land clearing and have done a good job. On the VA side of the mountain, they have rigged up a monopod in the middle of the logging road. It's brilliant. It's held upright with cables and one of the cables is attached to the gate. If the pipeline workers open the gate, the monopod will drop and hurt/kill/maim the tree sitter inside. So they can't. Or at least they haven't.
I don't know if I'm lacking the courage or just the faith in human decency, but I don't think I could put myself on the line like that. To keep anyone from helping the tree sitter inside, the Forest Service has closed the road to the monopod. We had to walk up through the woods to take the ground crew some blankets and supplies. In the middle of a snowstorm, of course.
While we were there, the Forest Service showed up and told us that the whole area had been closed in a 125 foot range on either side of the road, so the ground crew (all there to keep an eye on the monopod and video tape anything anyone tried to do to the tree sitter) were required by law to move that far away and would be arrested if they came any closer. They had an hour to move their whole camp. They got this notice about 45 minutes before sundown. In a snowstorm. Of course.
Our plan had been to hike back out before it got dark, but the Forest Service captain or whatever she was promised us a ride out if we needed it. Since we had safe transport out, we stayed to help the ground crew move their camp 125 feet away. By then, the captain had left and the agents remaining had no idea we were promised a ride so they refused to do it.
So, me and my mom with a bad knee had to hike back out through the brush and briars (125 feet from the road) in the dark, in a snowstorm. Two of the ground crew gallantly escorted us to make sure we made it, but it took a long time and we were all cold and went and briar-torn by the time we got back on 'legal' public land.
It's pretty clear that the whole thing was planned from the beginning to be as inconvenient and miserable as possible for the ground crew, and that the plan is to starve out the tree sitter by not letting anyone close enough to bring her food or water. I'm personally miffed that promises were made and then bailed on.
Our response? Today we went to a Direct Action activism class and took Legal Observer Training so we can be Legal Observers next time. It's not much, maybe, but it's something.
