McKenzie Bridge Tree-Sit

Press release from Occupy the Trees, and Cascadia Forest Defenders.

Photos of McKenzie River Tree Sit-In courtesy: Occupy the Trees, and Cascadia Forest Defenders

(EUGENE, OR.) - On Sunday April 22, in celebration of “Earth Defense Day” and in solidarity with Occupy the Trees, Cascadia Forest Defenders installed a tree sit in the Goose Project timber sale known as “Golden”.

We are occupying the Golden Goose in advance of the scheduled auction on Tuesday April 24th to draw attention to the Forest Service’s lack of transparency and reckless commitment to timber quotas. In response to a large community outcry, we are calling for the immediate withdrawal of the proposed sale and a moratorium on all logging operations on public forest in the McKenzie Bridge.

“We cannot continue letting the Forest Service exploit our watershed for the profit of the timber barons,” says Daniel Bowman of Cascadia Forest Defenders.

The Goose Project is a management area that would subject the forest to commercial logging on over 2,000 acres of public land, generating 38 million board feet for the timber barons. While the forest service claims that this project is for restoration, the intrusion of industrial logging practices on mature forest would suggest that Goose is more about making timber quotas than creating habitat.

For the week of Occupy the Trees, April 22nd-28th, Echo Glynn of Elmira, Oregon is committed to occupying a 150 year old (approx.) Douglas-Fir tree in the “Golden” Goose unit 320.

Glynn recalls visiting Mckenzie Bridge as a little girl. “Everything’s been cut around Elmira—those were some of the biggest trees I’d ever seen,” she says. “Our forests are priceless, and I want them to still be here for future generations.”

Cascadia Forest Defenders invite everyone concerned for the true health of their public forests to come out to protest the “Golden” timber auction on Tuesday. We invite the public to join us on Saturday, April 28th for a picnic with the tree sitter and a hike of the “Golden” timber sale. Event details listed below.

Timber Auction Protest

Meet at the Grower’s Market at 9:30am on Tuesday April 24th for carpool or head directly to the US Forest Service Supervisor’s Office (3106 Pierce Parkway Suite D, Springfield, OR) by 10am

Saturday Picnic in the Forest

To attend the picnic, meet at Harbicks (on Hwy 126, 6 miles past Blue River) at noon.

Cascadia Forest Defenders are the last line of defense between the forest and the sawmills. We are decentralized activists working together to stop the ecologically devastating and economically exploitative industrial timber harvest practices through community outreach, grassroots organizing, political pressure and non-violent direct action.

Friend Cascadia Forestdefenders on facebook or check out forestdefensenow.com for updates.