Save the Redwoods/Boycott the Gap
December 16 Newsletter
Posted by Mary Bull (chalicenew@earthlink.net)
Wednesday, December 16, 1998
Hail, Courageous Forest Defenders, Far and Wide!
Despite the holiday crunch, the Campaign moves heroically forward with... Julia*s Anniversary!...Picketing Last Weekend (MORE Picket Line Tips)!....Redwood Mary Takes the Plight of the Redwoods on the Road!...Nearing the 10,000 Mark on Petition Signatures!...Last Big Picketing Push (Now Thru Dec 27)!...All Quiet on the Retail Front: What's Next on the Save the Redwoods/Boycott the Gap Campaign Trail!
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JULIA*S ANNIVERSARY!
As most of you know, December 10th marked Julia and Luna*s one-year anniversary: A day--and weekend--of great celebration! Many Bay Area forest defenders joined the festivities at Stafford, CA, where Julia Butterfly Hill has been living for the past year in a 1000-year-old ancient redwood that she named Luna. Julia's occupation of Luna has saved the magnificent tree from Pacific Lumber's chopping block, while trees all around them have been felled...
Susan Stansbury, the Executive Director of Bay Area Action, who was at the celebration, said that Julia danced at the tip-top of Luna!!! .....Wow, what a sight that must have been!!
COUNTLESS CHEERS FOR A HERO OF OUR TIMES: JULIA BUTTERFLY HILL!!!!!
Julia is a staunch supporter of the Save the Redwoods/Boycott the Gap Campaign. She spoke at our SF rally on November 27, and she will be going on the road (via cell phone!) with Gap Boycott Organizer Mary Rose Kaczorovski (Redwood Mary) on her East Coast Tour for the Redwoods (see article below).
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PICKETING IN THE BAY AREA LAST WEEKEND!
Despite the scarcity of forest activists due to Julia's anniversary celebration, there were picket actions in San Francisco and Berkeley last weekend:
--Forest defenders distributed ~2000 leaflets at the Gap and Banana Republic flagships! Cops and Gap employees laughed cheerfully, as we took up our usual position in front of the B.R., unfurling our wonderful banner: *Mendocino is NOT your Banana Republic!* Several shoppers returned their purchases to the B.R.!!! Sunday's forest defenders at the Gap flagship were drenched by a sudden squall and picketing was cut short (few shoppers, anyway, due to the storm)!
--Apparently, there was also an independent action at the Embarcadero Gap (two teenagers, en route to participate in the Embarcadero Gap picket, stopped to ask us directions as we were dissuading would-be Banana Republic shoppers on Saturday)!
--We also heard from BACH activist, Robin, and Berkeley Gap Picket Day Organizer, Mary Rose, that picketing was strong at the Telegraph Gap in Berkeley last weekend!
THREE CHEERS FOR OUR DIE-HARD BAY AREA FOREST DEFENDERS:
YOU ARE THE GREATEST!!!!!
Please keep us informed of any actions you plan in your city!!!
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M-O-R-E PICKET LINE TIPS!
--Eric reports that a fellow dressed like an FBI agent (gray suit, skinny tie, sunglasses?) wearing an audio headset (most likely a harmless Gap employee) tried to intimidate picketers into sticking to the sidelines during Eric*s shift at the Gap flagship. Seasoned activist that he is, Eric held to his prominent position IN FRONT OF THE DOOR! GOOD WORK, ERIC!!! FDs, you have a First Amendment right to occupy the public sidewalk as long as people can come and go around you--don't relinquish that right!!!
-At the Banana Republic flagship, we got a couple of very angry, very vocal people who insisted that Mendocino Redwood Company (MRC--the Fisher family logging company) is NOT clearcutting, spraying garlon, and so on...
If you encounter this, explain to these deluded souls that, first and foremost, EVEN MRC ADMITS to clearcutting, garlon spraying, and high-grading (taking all the big trees)!!!! Refer them to the MRC web site--where they try to greenwash these activities, but they certainly cannot--and do not--deny them! Refer them to the SF Examiner article, in which Fisher frontman Sandy Dean claims their use of herbicides is *very conservative* (we only use a teensy-weensy bit of deadly poison on your watersheds), and that they are clearcutting *mostly tan oaks,* (Note: 58%--yes, 58%, not 56%, as previously stated--of the trees earmarked for the 418-acre clearcut in the Fishers' 1-97-445 MEN plan are redwoods and Doug fir. See previous newsletter for why clearcutting tanoaks is extremely damaging to forest ecology).
If these fuming Gap loyalists are still in denial, explain to them that the Fisher family's logging plans are a matter of PUBLIC RECORD, available through the CA Dept. of Forestry!
Then GIVE THEM A FEW FISHER FAMILY LOGGING STATISTICS that they can get from these public records, such as, of the 27 Fisher family plans filed or purchased from L-P in 1998, 50% of them include clearcutting, 70--80% include other types of high-impact logging (logging that closely resembles clearcutting, e.g., shelterwood removal), and the remainder of them are selection cutting (taking the last of the big trees).
Finally--to extinguish the last of their dying embers--tell them that the Sierra Club and Rainforest Action Network have both asked the Fishers to STOP THESE DAMAGING LOGGING PRACTICES, while others, such as Forests Forever, Bay Area Action, the IWW SF GMB and East Bay GMB, and Action Coalition for Global Change have endorsed the Gap boycott!!! Can ALL these reputable organizations be so completely misinformed??? We know they are not!
--A good *shout* is *If you love the forest, please don't shop Gap! Find out why!* Bob suggests asking individuals, *Do you care about the redwoods?* If they answer *No!* and have any spec of conscience, it will gnaw at them and eventually prompt them to action!
--Last but not least, during these final weeks of picketing, we have been focussing more on simply getting the word out and less on getting signatures on the petition (as important as this is!) Why? Because dozens of shoppers slip into these stores without being briefed, while forest defenders are busy getting a single signature!
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REDWOOD MARY ON THE ROAD!
Mendocino forest activist, student of forest ecology, and key organizer of the Save the Redwoods/Boycott the Gap Campaign, Mary Rose Kaczorovski is taking the plight of the redwoods on the road to the East Coast in late Dec/early Jan. She plans to bring her presentation (including the videotape *Luna,* featuring Julia Butterfly Hill) to NY, PA, NJ, and NC. In NY, she will be speaking to UN NGOs (non-governemnt orgs). A presentation in Greensboro has already been scheduled.
If you want to host an informal evening with Mary Rose at your home, the local library, or a classroom at your college or university, contact Mary Rose (redwoodm@mcn.org 707-937-0239 or 707-877-3405; as of Dec. 29th--NYC: 212-963-8702). At these presentations, people will also have an opportunity to listen to and speak with Julia Butterfly Hill--a moving, unforgettable experience!
For more info, see the press release following this email.
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Petition Update!
I received another 2000 petition signatures in the mail this week--from all over the U.S. I faxed these signatures to CDF yesterday. We are very close to achieving our goal of 10,000 signatures by winter solstice! THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR TRULY WONDERFUL EFFORTS!!!
In addition, Jenny Ohlsen, our Chicago organizer, sent 45 hand-written letters to the Fishers! These were touching to read through! THANK YOU JENNY AND CHICAGO FOREST DEFENDERS!!! I will be sending them to the Fishers shortly!
Today is the close of public comment for timber harvest plan (THP) 1-98-266 MEN and Friday is the close of public comment for 1-97-445 MEN. Together these plans constitute an unparalleled assault on Elk Creek: over 1000 acres of extremely high-impact logging immediately upstream and immediately downstream of the only known Coho salmon population in a ~150 square mile area!
THE FISHERS KNOW THIS!
THE CA DEPT OF FORESTRY KNOWS THIS!!
THE NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE KNOWS THIS!!!
FISHERS, CDF, NMFS: Will any of you lift a finger to save this endangered species???
WE HAVE!!! All of our petition signatures are on record for demanding that CDF disapprove these THPs!!! THANK YOU, FOREST DEFENDERS ACROSS THE LAND!!!
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LAST BIG PUSH ON THE PICKET FRONT!!!
Forest Defenders, we have from now till the end of the post-Xmas sales (December 27th or so) to impact the Fishers this quarter--to get people to NOT SHOP GAP. January and February are typically dead months for retail. So, it's NOW OR NEVER!
If you've been pushing off the moment when you join the picket line--PROCRASTINATE NO LONGER!!! When you see how great you feel doing it, you'll wish you'd never delayed!!!
JOIN US!!!
(I will be issuing a Call for SF Picketers under separate email cover later today!)
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All Quiet on the Retail Front: What Next?!
Outreach!...National Media Coverage!...Media Events!...and More! The next Save the Redwoods/Boycott the Gap Campaign newsletter will discuss new grassroots strategies for saving the redwoods in winter 1999!!!
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Cheers, thanks, blessings, and love to you all!
Mary Bull
Save the Redwoods/Boycott the Gap Campaign, SF
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