EF! Press Release – Mendocino Commentary, August 27, 1987
“We’re having a mill-in,” is how Earth First!er Darryl Cherney; described the upcoming Monday, August 31 direct action at the California Department of Forestry in Fortuna.
It is at this office where Maxxam/Pacific Lumber’s Timber Harvest Plans (THPs) are reviewed. Although they are approved in Santa Rosa, Cherney states, “The buck stops in Fortuna!” The Green Party will sponsor solidarity actions at CDF in Fort Bragg and tentatively) Santa Rosa.
“People say Earth First! doesn’t work within the system.” said Cherney. “Well, we’re going to bring the masses to CDF and see how fast the system clogs up when we do use it. We will request hundreds of THPs, file dozens of challenges, and generally ‘mill-in’!”
The “Mill-in” is a response to CDF closing its doors two days a week to Earth First!ers after they began showing up a few times a week. “The untold story,” said Cherney. “is that we’ve used the system extensively, and it does not work
The bill of fare on August 31st will include: a real Demonstration Forest rally with the trees; a funeral for Old Doug Fir, (dress in black); the “Mill-in”—watch the system collapse before our eyes.
Earth First! wants the filibuster to continue past Monday. “We want Californians to submit hundreds of THP requests and challenges each month.”
Investigative journalist Greg King, editor of the Humboldt News Service, said, “The officials approving Maxxam/PL’s plans are mouthpieces for the industry; facilitating the last brutal grab for our tiny remaining old growth forests.”
King knows CDF’s methods well after two years of investigating and even hiking areas marked for cutting.
King, and Jude Waite recently challenged Maxxam/PL’s THP 1-87-427, which was recently approved and is being considered for a lawsuit. “THP 427 exemplifies Maxxam’s wanton brutality,” said King. “Although classified an ‘alternative prescription,’ it is a de facto clearcut. During my hike through that section I found every tree over one foot in diameter marked for cutting. Every merchantable tree will be cut.”
EPIC’s lawsuit is scheduled for its next hearing on September 2 in Humboldt Superior Court, when nine trespassers face pretrial on September 8 in the Fortuna Justice Court…