Ukiah, CA— Tribal members and forest activists confront Mendocino Redwood Company at mill site, completing their four day, 54-mile “March to Let the Forest Heal”

The trek from Comptche to Ukiah called attention to Mendocino Redwood Company (MRC)’s ongoing practice of “Hack and Squirt”. The method uses the herbicide Imazapyr, injected into a wound, to kill millions of tan oaks and madrones, leaving a forest of standing dead trees. Roundup and Garlon are also used to kill brush, which is bulldozed into huge flammable “slash” piles throughout MRC’S 220,000 acre holdings in Mendocino County. Carrying a redwood log and dead tan oak branches to symbolize the destruction taking place in the forest, the marchers braved rain and traffic, including log trucks, along southern Mendocino County rural routes 128 and 253, eliciting “thumbs up” from drivers and picking up more marchers along the way. Led by an intrepid core including local grandmothers, the procession at times swelled to over twenty people walking together.

Marchers included Juan and Carlos from Puerto Rico and Brendan from Ohio, workers in sustainable agriculture and forestry. Juan and Carlos wanted to return a favor from Margie Chandler, a Comptche organic farmer and organizer of the March, for her help in a campaign to save forests in Puerto Rico while visiting the U.S. island last year.

The noon rally and ceremony at Alex Thomas Plaza in Ukiah welcomed the marchers and honored the trees and water on which all life depends. Speakers included Bernadette Smith, tribal member from the Manchester band of Pomo Indians, who spoke about her ancestral land being desecrated by Mendocino Redwood Company near the coastal town of Point Arena. She stated that MRC continues to destroy traditional acorn gathering grounds and poison the once abundant mature Tan Oaks trees her people have relied on as a staple food since time immemorial.

Albion resident and small mill owner Bill Heil debunked MRC’s “increasing tilt towards the heavy industrial management style of Sierra Pacific Industries”, in contrast with MRC’s “bogus claims of so-called green forestry”. MRC is certified “sustainable” by the Forest Stewardship Council, the green label fetching higher prices. “They’re doing something really destructive right now, called ‘whole tree logging’, Heil told supporters at a stop in Philo, “hauling un-limbed trees to the landings, disturbing the soil and making a mess that will wash into our creeks when the rains come, taking the herbicides with it.”

The Comptche, Philo, Navarro and Boonville triangle is in the heart of MRC lands and is dotted with dead standing trees.

Measure V, passed by a 62% vote in June to halt Hack’n’Squirt, is based on increased hazards to firefighters and public health and safety. Yet MRC has stated that V does not apply to them, arguing only the State has authority to regulate herbicide use. MRC has until Oct. 22 to file for an injunction against the public nuisance ordinance.

After the rally, the group proceeded to the MRC log deck, chanting “Stop the poisoning, let the forest heal!” Once in the main office at the mill site they confronted a company forester. When one of the children from the Manchester Point Arena Pomo Reservation posed the question “why are you guys doing this to our acorn trees?” the forester replied “Well for a variety of reasons, for one we’re trying to make more room for redwood to grow.”
A.C.O.R.N.
Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians
Manchester Band of Pomo Indians
Save Our Little Lake Valley
Earth First! Redwood Nation
Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters
Mendocino Environmental Center

A four day, 54 mile walk to honor and protect the land

October 1st – October 4th, 2016

We will be walking from 8 am to 6 pm each day, and camping en route
Call 707-357-5365 to join us along the way
Email laraanderson44@gmail.com to support the Forest Protectors 

event page go to: https://www.facebook.com/events/647369482094674/

WHY WE WALK

Day after day, Mendocino Redwood Company (MRC) continues to poison our watersheds, injecting the chemical Imazapyr into Tan Oak and Madrone trees to intentionally kill them. MRC’s use of “hack and squirt” on over 90,000 acres has killed over 14 million trees in almost 20 years. MRC also sprays hundreds of gallons of glyphosate herbicides on underbrush each year that end up in our water and food. Under the guise of “sustainability” they are destroying the land for profit without regard for living beings and ecosystems. We walk to honor the forest and water that supports us all. We call for an end to the destruction of the Earth.

For up-to-date information regarding herbicide use on timberland click here.

Walking Schedule

SAT 10/1 8:00 AM – Meet at Mile Marker 21 on Comptche-Ukiah Road to begin walking from the “Half-Way to Hell” Timber Harvest Plan that MRC is actively logging

SAT 10/1 12:00 NOON – Meet at the Comptche Fire Station (8491 Flynn Creek Rd, 95427-0164 Comptche, CA) to walk to lunch

SAT 10/1 6:00 PM – Stop walking, drive to Campground, Philo, CA 

SUN 10/2 8:00 AM – Leave Campground and begin walking from spot where we left off on Saturday, walking East along Hwy 128

SUN 10/2 5:00 PM – Meet in front of Booneville Fairgrounds to greet walkers

SUN 10/2 6:00 PM – Have dinner in Booneville 

MON 10/3 8:00 AM – Leave Booneville and hike over hwy 253 towards Ukiah 

MON 10/3 6:00 PM – Potluck at Mendocino Enviornmental Center (MEC) in Ukiah, CA

TUES 10/4 8:00 AM – Begin walking from spot where we left off on Monday

TUES 10/4 12:00 NOON – Meet at Alex Thomas Plaza in Ukiah, CA to greet walkers, hear speakers, have lunch, and WALK TO DELIVER OUR MESSAGE TO MENDOCINO REDWOOD COMPANY: STOP DESTROYING AND POISONING THE FOREST 

4 PM on 8.18.16 @ The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

JOIN US for an afternoon of creative disruption and artful disobedience, as we shame the Fisher Family of San Francisco, owners of Mendocino Redwood Company, regarding their dead-end logging practices. Outside the foyer of the SFMOMA Museum of Modern Art, whose recent expansion was financed by the Fisher Family and now houses some 260 core works from the Fisher’s private collection of contemporary and pop art, we will be exhibiting our own pop-up art. Serenaded by the sweet music of a blaring chainsaw orchestra, informational displays, skits, art pieces, and standing dead oak trees, we will send a clear-cut message to the Fishers regarding their role in poisoning the land, fueling global climate change, and exploiting the Earth’s people for profit.

MEET US at 4pm on August 18th at SFMOMA to participate in this public shaming of one of the most politically and economically influential families in San Francisco. Standing in solidarity with those who are most impacted by global climate change, we say LET THE FOREST HEAL.

WHY WE ARE DOING THIS
Mendocino Redwood Company (MRC) continues to poison tens of thousands of acres of “unwanted” trees in Mendocino and Humboldt County with Imazaypr, leaving millions of tanoaks and other hardwoods to die slowly, standing up. Routinely the company also broadcast sprays Glyphosate (“Roundup”) and Triclopyr (“Garlon”) to kill underbrush. MRC works under the guise of “sustainable” forest management, selling to retailers like the Home Depot based on a certification from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

Even after the Mendocino County Clerk’s authorization of the June 2016 election results regarding “Measure V” (an Emergency Nuisance Ordinance passed by a 62% majority which declares the intentional leaving of dead standing trees a local public nuisance on account of fire danger), Mendocino Redwood Company continues to use herbicides, creating more dead standing trees and dead vegetation all over western Mendocino County. Ignoring the spirit of the initiative and the will of the People, MRC continues to poison the land, water, and living beings, destroying habitat and biodiversity, and increasing fire danger, all under the name of “environmental sustainability”.

FISHER BROTHER SHAMING
The Fisher family of San Francisco are owners of Mendocino and Humboldt Redwood Company, as well as the founders and operators of The Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Athleta, and majority investors of the Oakland A’s and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). They also have a far-flung commercial real-estate business. We will be emphasizing the consequences of the climate change the billionaire brothers’ activities lead to—less fog drip, parched forests floors, the destruction of a mixed species redwood forest, an increase in lightning strikes, and the resultant wildfire escapes.

On Thursday morning, August 18, three contingents of Mendocino County folks will caravan to San Francisco to shame the billionaire Fisher Family. Our vans are leaving from Comptche, Fort Bragg, Mendocino, Albion (passing through Anderson Valley), Ukiah and Willits. PLEASE JOIN US for a DAY of innovative demonstrative activity. For rides from Mendocino County to San Francisco contact Beth Bosk 707-937-5703 nsi@mcn.org (inland coordinator) or Lara Anderson 234-3234; 357-5365 laraanderson44@gmail.com.

by Mendocino Forest Defenders Earth First! Newswire 7.20.16

Ukiah, CA- Calling for an end to Mendocino Redwood Company’s dead-end logging practices, twenty five protesters held signs and used large banners to blockade both entrances to MRC’s logging deck in Ukiah, CA. Six logging trucks stacked with redwood poles were stopped for over an hour. Protesters are demanding an end to Hack and Squirt, a practice which MRC continues to use in the face of measure V’s overwhelming voter mandate in mendocino county. MRC company officials met protesters at the second gate blockade, and made statements defending the herbicide practice, ignoring the will of the people.
The issue stems from the application of toxic herbicides on forests, killing so-called non-marketable hardwoods that are then left standing in place. Supervisors certified Measure V on July 12, just prior to the elapse of the required 30-day waiting period following the publishing of the official tally, thus clearing the way for the Measure to become law on July 22.

While Measure V focuses solely on the fire dangers posed by millions of dead standing trees in the fifth year of California’s drought, many people are equally concerned about the health and safety hazards of the herbicides themselves. However, local authority to regulate herbicides was usurped in the early 1990s by the State of California after a ballot initiative banning aerial spraying passed by Mendocino County voters was overturned by the Legislature. Public opinion finally forced cessation of the practice.

Speakers at the protest underscored the severe health hazards of herbicide use to the environment, as well as the workers and residents, from chemicals such as Imazypr, Glyphosate (brand name Roundup) and Trichlopyr (Garlon). Polly Girvin, legal aide for the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians, will document the devastating health effects on Latino workers who are among the most vulnerable to exploitation and who often suffer from chemical contamination associated with birth defects, which have been found to occur with higher frequency than in other populations. Those workers also have little recourse against wage theft and other labor violations.

Linda Perkins and Bill Heil addressed threats posed to the watershed by poisonous herbicides. The two well-known forest activists from Albion have long questioned Mendocino Redwood Co.’s (MRC) right to retain its profitable “certified sustainable” label, despite using herbicides.

“MRC makes money by using poisons, instead of cutting down and removing the trees. The Company claims manual removal would cost too much”, said Perkins. “Regardless of how they are killed, environmentalists oppose the whole-sale decimation of the tan oaks”, she emphasized, describing them as “nurse trees playing an important role in protecting the soil and encouraging biodiversity, which creates a healthier forest, rather than mono-cropping redwoods like tree farms.”

Bob Simpson, former CEO of MRC’s predecessor, Louisiana Pacific, recently stunned the public with his pro-Measure V statements before the vote, claiming tan oaks are “the most important trees in the forest” and decrying their mass annihilation. MRC had said they would phase out poisons, but instead, are actually applying more concentrated chemicals over a wider area. MRC, while not the sole timber company operating in the County, is the most egregious user of herbicides based on acreage, dousing thousands of acres of forestlands in 2016 alone.

Residents urged the Supervisors to be proactive in enforcing Measure V and holding the Company accountable for exacerbating the fire danger by continuing to create more dead standing trees, in the face of a clear voter mandate to stop. They also demand a Resolution for Full Disclosure to ensure that herbicide users notify the public before application. Currently, the contractor is only required to report information after herbicides have already been applied.

The message was carried from the County Seat directly to Mendocino Redwood Company at its mill site on North Sate St. where a protest was held under the banner of: “Let Our Forests Heal”. Activists call on MRC to stop poisoning Mendocino forests and workers and to adopt restorative forest practices.

“MRC masquerades as a sustainable business but it’s just an image, not the reality”, said longtime lay forestry expert, Bill Heil. “Their brand of greenwash is hogwash”.

• Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians
• Save Our Little Lake Valley
• Redwood Nation Earth First!
• Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters
• Mendocino Environmental Center
• Mendocino Forest Defenders

from Earth First! Newswire

Comptche, CA-Activists today blocked trucks and vehicles transporting logging crews, in a protest against Mendocino Redwood Company (MRC). The company uses a practice known as “Hack’n’Squirt” to kill hardwoods on their forest holdings.

Protesters called for a “lock’n’block” protest at noon at the gates of MRC Timber Harvest Plan #1-14-148 MEN, nicknamed “Half Way to Hell,” near the tiny town of Comptche, in the heart of southern Mendocino County.

On June 7, a two-thirds majority of voters in Mendocino County passed Measure V, declaring the practice of leaving of dead standing trees a public nuisance. Despite the overwhelming voter mandate, MRC continues the practice of dousing the forest with the chemical Imazypr, leaving thousands of tan oaks and other hardwoods dead but standing, exacerbating an already critically high fire danger by adding dry fuels to the forest during the fifth year of drought in California.

“We locked down today because MRC is continuing to hack and squirt after the people went to the ballot box and told them to stop. When the normal civil channels don’t work, that’s when you get civil disobedience and non-violent direct action,” said longtime County resident, Lara Anderson. “We’re putting our bodies on the line to stop this dangerous practice and to expose the MRC’s dead-end brand of forestry,” she said.

A large crowd of supporters carried signs with messages like “Poison is Bad Forestry”, “Fisher Family – Go Back to the Gap.” A large banner expressed the groups’ central demand, reading: “MRC Stop Hack’n’Squirt Now!”

Long-time forest activist Linda Perkins of Albion explained, “The ‘Half Way to Hell’ plan is 580 acres of total decimation. They are taking it down to the nub.” The plan includes three silvicultural prescriptions designated Group Selection, Transition and Variable Retention, all “forms of Even Age management leading to more tanoak growth, more poisoning and more dead, standing trees,” said Perkins.

“MRC is converting the forest to monoculture tree plantations, claiming restoration, but they’re actually doing the opposite, taking too much too fast, reducing diversity. This is bad for the earth as we know it. They should heed the will of the people or have their FSC [Forest Stewardship Council] Sustainable Certification revoked,” she concluded.

The plan also includes an unknown acreage of previously hacked and squirted hardwoods, which will become dead standing trees. The Company refuses to disclose to the public the locations where it is applying the poisons. Currently, the contractor is only required to report the use of chemicals to the Agriculture Department within thirty days after use. The Mendocino County Ag Commissioner has warned about breathing smoke from burning materials treated with Imazapyr.  The Initiative was heavily backed by local volunteer firefighters.

Measure V is awaiting certification after the required thirty-day period following the election. Proponents are bracing for an expected lawsuit by MRC challenging the law.

Save Our Little Lake Valley

Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians

Earth First! Mendocino

Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters

facebook.com/savelittlelakevalley

Thanks for visiting us! We are working on our website about defending the Mendocino forest from eminent threats of logging, herbicide use, destruction of watersheds and wild salmon habitat, and much more! Come see us again soon. -hackandsquirtalert