1979 : (ECOTERRORIST GROUP “EARTH FIRST!” IS FOUNDED BY DAVID FOREMAN , LATER BOARDMEMBER OF THE SIERRA CLUB & COCREATOR OF THE WILDLANDS PROJECT) Most ecoterrorist activity seems to revolve around one group, Earth First! It was founded in 1979 by Dave Foreman who now serves on the Board of Directors of the Sierra Club. He is also a co-creator of the radical environmental blue print called “The Wildlands Project.”
From the beginning, the structure of Earth First! was “informal” in order to avoid prosecution. It called itself a “movement” rather than an organization. There was no bureaucracy, no lobbyist, no paid staff, and only a cadre of volunteers. There were no membership lists, no lists of names of any kind, and no way to trace anyone to any activity.
For his model of the new group, Foreman adopted Edward Abbey’s industry-killing novel, “The Monkey Wrench Gang.” The book described acts of sabotage. Forman would call Earth First!’s attacks “eco-tage.”
“Monkeywrenching” was a term used by Earth First! activists who poured sugar into the gas tanks of bulldozers to destroy the equipment of the hated timber companies. A favorite “Monkeywrenching” trick was to pound spikes into trees. At the mills, saws hitting the spikes would explode like shrapnel. One worker lost most of his face when his blade hit an undetected spike. Over the years, “Monkeywrenchers” have become fond of sending mail bombs and letters in envelopes lined with razor blades. It pre-stages today’s Anthrax-filled envelopes.
Today, Foreman’s vision of radical environmental action has spawned a violent network of eco-terrorists and it’s on the rise. They include the Earth Liberation Front, the Earth Liberation Army, and the Environmental Rangers, to name a few. Joining forces with the ecoterrorists are the equally violent animal rights terrorists. The most prominent of these is the Animal Liberation Front. Just as Earth First! is a violent offshoot of the mainstream Sierra Club, animal rights terrorists have links to the well-known People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). —————————The EcoTerrorist Anthrax Connection
CNSNews.com ^ | October 23, 2001 | Tom DeWeese
One of the offshoots, the Earth Liberation Front had a group known as The Family start in the NW. Fortunately they were busted after causing millions in damage and started ratting on one another to save themselves. There's still two or three that are fugitives but the rest of them either pleaded or were found guilty and are serving in federal prisons.