Activists mark four years of protesting in the trees

The Olympian ^ | Sunday, May 12, 2002 | AP

[ValerieUSA]

LOWELL, Ore. -- They're still here, on plywood platforms and under blue tarps, watching the forest from the treetops and waiting for word that their efforts have paid off.

Four years ago two young men climbed 180 feet up an old-growth Douglas fir in the Willamette National Forest to block plans to log 96 acres of timber. Protesters say they've been there every day since, making it the longest continuous tree-sit against old-growth logging in the Northwest.

[ValerieUSA]

Who the hell is supporting these lazy morons? Ta and Fruit Fly belong in mental institutions.

[ValerieUSA]

A tree-sitter known as "Ta" stands on a platform April 19 in a forest that's home to demonstrators protesting the Willamette National Forest's plans to log 96 acres of timber near Lowell, Ore. The protest started four years ago. Activists say they're nowhere near ready to abandon their perches and roadblocks.

[cannonball]

What's with these people? Most bipeds came down out of the trees thousands of years ago.

[IronJack]

"It really tells you something about the commitment of these guys to protect what's left of mature and old-growth forests on public lands,"

It also tells me that these guys don't have day jobs.

Think of it. Years from now, they can be bouncing their grandchildren on their knees and recounting how they spent FOUR YEARS!!! of their lives sitting in a tree. They'll be a big hit at the family reunion.

[ValerieUSA]

I'm hoping their perch on the tree platforms is too precarious to facilitate reproduction.

[zoso82t]

Damn hippies.

[hinckley buzzard]

Read Gullivers Travels, where the orignal "Yahoos" are described...

[cannonball]

I'd forgotten about that.

[Free the USA]

Check the Bump List folders for articles related to and descriptions of the above topic(s) or for other topics of interest.

[poet]

Here's something I posted April 27th when that idiot fell from her perch:

The trees speak to the enviro-wackos

If a tree hugger perches on my branch
I'll see she buys the ranch
if another moron takes her place
sits upon me without a brace
I'll send them flying thru the air
screaming, it's not fair

I just wanted to give hugs
now I'm food for the bugs
No more spiking, you phony clowns
I'll send you toppling to the ground

[goodnesswins]

Hey....did he get a BUILDING PERMIT for that?

[Prodigal Son]

Well, it's their life I guess... But me- I woulda thought one year was sufficient to make your point. Four years? You need some therapy or something. Come down, talk to people, get some new ideas, move around a little. You isolate yourself like that- from the world, from ideas, from everything else- and you'll soon get to a situation where you can't see the forest for all the trees. Sorry, I had to throw that in ;-)

I'm surprised the landowner hasn't had them thrown out by now. If I were the owner, I'd turn it into tourist attraction and charge people admission to see the spectacle. I'd use the money to buy chainsaws. Let them (the treesitters) be the ones with the moral dilemna.

[irishtenor]

I wonder what kind of damage they are doing to that tree?