Posted on 04/14/2002 6:11:49 AM PDT by SpyGuy
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A woman who climbed 150 feet up a tree to protest a timber sale fell and died from her injures before rescuers could reach the remote site in the Mount Hood National Forest.
The timber sale she was protesting had been canceled three days before her death Friday, and the protesters expected to leave the area within a week.
It took rescue crews over two hours struggling up snow-clogged dirt roads to reach the tree-sitters' camp after fellow activists called rescuers, Clackamas County Sheriff's spokeswoman Angela Blanchard said.
The caller said the woman, identified as Beth O'Brien, 22, of Portland, was unconscious but still breathing, Blanchard said. But by the time rescue crews arrived at about 9:30 p.m., O'Brien was dead.
She had unhooked herself from one platform and was trying to reach another by a rope ladder when she fell, Blanchard said.
Sarah Wald of Cascadia Forest Alliance, which organized the demonstration, said protesters remained in the trees Saturday evening.
Ivan Maluski, a longtime Eagle Creek protester, said tree sitters were days away from leaving the site after a three-year vigil.
About four people take turns living year-round in tree platforms in the area, Maluski said. After the cancelation was announced Tuesday, protesters said they wanted to see a final signed contract before they pulled out.
Sen. Ron Wyden (news, bio, voting record), D-Ore., an opponent of the timber sale, announced Tuesday that the U.S. Forest Service had reached an agreement to cancel the logging contract after an independent review determined the deal required significant modifications to prevent environmental harm.
At issue was the problem of blowdown, or trees not intended for logging being felled by winds on the edge of areas where cutting was planned. The Forest Service said tree sitters didn't influence the decision.
The Forest Service and the timber company, Vanport Manufacturing, agreed to cancel the deal, but tree sitters said they would remain until the final paperwork was signed.
Tree sitters live in plywood platforms attached to the upper limbs of trees slated for logging.
At least two others have fallen in the past year. In June, one man fell in the Eagle Creek area but refused treatment. In October, another fell in the Tillamook State Forest and suffered multiple broken bones.
Seriously, I'm all for reasonable protection of the environment, but these enviro-terrorists are engaged in criminal behavior and have to be stopped.
Btw, I wonder where these hypocritical idiots get the PLYWOOD to build their little tree houses.
Unless they have to remove the cadaver..............
No, no, no. "Stay out da Bushes" should have been "Stay out da trees!" I wonder how many so-called endangered critters she wiped out when she landed.
Be patient. One case at a time...
Just like all those Palestinians who blew themswelves up get counted and spoken of as if they had been killed by the Israelis.
Damn, why doesn't the blasted search engine on this site ever work properly? I did a search on the word "tree" and it did not turn up the previous post.
Being a full-time moron? I could think of better things to die for...
Same things could be said about the Homicide Bombers attacking Israel. No parallel you say? Have any LOGGER's ever been hurt, maimed, or killed by the sad actions of these people on a great adventure?
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