Tree Sitter dies in fall [Earth First! alert]

Sacramento Bee ^ | 11:35 a.m. PDT Thursday, October 10, 2002 | AP

[timpad]

CORRALITOS, Calif.(AP) - A man with the environmental activist group Earth First! has died after a 50-foot fall from a redwood tree in which he'd lived for several weeks.

Rescue personnel were called to the scene of a logging operation in the Ramsey Gulch area about 20-miles south of San Jose on Tuesday night after loggers heard moans coming from the area where a group of tree-sitters has been camped since August, the group said. It was unclear how long the injured man had been on the ground.

[abclily]

The parents are probably very relieved.

[L.N. Smithee]

As a follow up, Butterfly called her tree - "Luna." Not long after she came down from "Luna" someone made some serious cuts on "Luna" and almost killed the tree. I'm surprised no one called this a "hate" crime. (Yipes! I might give these tree huggers some ideas.)

I'll never forget when someone carved up the trunk of "Luna" the news cameras awaited the arrival of Julia "Butterbrain" Hill, who didn't disappoint. She looked at the fresh cuts and collapsed as if she had lost a child in a car accident.

It killed me, because year after year, people whose homes are destroyed by hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, etc. walk through the ruins of their former homes, and while they sometimes have tears in their eyes, above all they are thankful -- often, to God -- that all they lost were material things, and their loved ones came through all right.

[Sawdring]

Sadly enough, I never got to watch all the acid freaks in all their glory.

[b4its2late]

See #101..... guess I was a little trigger happy.

[b4its2late]

Dumb $astard!

[b4its2late]

P.S. - I'd never make it as an earth firster.... My wife would kill me first then allow me sit in a tree for months at a time..... Who would mow the lawn with my environmentally unfriendly gas powered lawn mower, and who'd take out the garbage?

[archy]

Durn. Those trees are dangerous! Those timber companies better cut 'em down, so no more of those poor enviornmentalists get hurt....

Tim-buuuurrrrr!

-archy-/-

[Neophyte]

Why don't tree sitters use some sort of safety gear?

You're dead right! I suggest to begin a worldwide campaign under the following slogan:
Let's provide every tree-sitter with a matching baby-sitter!

[sistergoldenhair]

Possibly. But I'd be concerned with infected precious bodily fluids. Doesn't it take something like 2000 degrees to destroy preons (prions?)? (of Mad Cow and CJD fame)

30 minutes in a steam autoclave at 132 degrees C for human tissue or fluids.
Hard surfaces are decontaminated by bleach, sodium hydroxide, or formic acid.
Prions are tough but not indestructable.

[yield 2 the right]

Great posts:>)

[Glutton]

Beth Obrien died up here in Oregon, but it was at a closed tree village being removed because the sit was successful. SHe was not there sitting, she was visiting the site. She was very tired after snowshoing several hours to get into the site.

Tre Arrow was injured at a protest sit at "God's Valley" on the Oregon Coast when he fell, but he is alive.

Too bad about this person. I hope it isn't anyone I know, but I will likely go to California for a memorial service like I did when David Chain (Gypsy) was killed by a fallen tree in the North Coast area of California.

This saddens me, and my heart goes out to this person's souls, and family.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

How about a tree-sitting tax? The proceeds will be aimed at tree-sitting cessation programs.

And to pay for counselling services for the tree.

[Glutton]

I am former military, so I understand how to review and keep fresh the nessesary protocols and behavior to stay alive up in a tree. Many people get too comfortable up there, and I am actually surprised more people have not fallen.

We have Ferret Mike in town who I know who nearly died when he tangled with a security gurad at a Nike store construction site. I just E mailed him about this.

If he is in town these days (I haven't seen him for a few weeks) I will get his reaction to this. I'm sure it will be interesting to hear.

[Glutton]

Robin (last name unknown), called in the woods by the name Naya, had just arrived in Santa Cruz from Arcata, CA where he may have been involved with direct action in the Mattole area of Humboldt county. He was eager to go to the forest and defend against logging that would harm Steelhead Trout at the southern end of the coastal redwood forests. He was found Tuesday night by employees of Redwood Empire at the base of "Esparanza," the tree he had been sitting in for about 12 hours. He was taken by helicopter to Valley Medical Center in San Jose where he died earlier today. He would have been 22 years old on Thursday, 10 October. While he enjoyed rock-climbing, this was Naya's first treesit.

The location of the treesit, the Ramsey 2 Timber Harvest Plan in southern Santa Cruz county near Corallitos, is opposed by many local environmentalists, federal, state and county agencies. Santa Cruz Earth First! has been activiely defending Ramsey Gulch and nearby Gamecock Canyon for almost 7 years. The treesits in Ramsey 2 THP were established almost 2 months ago in the area where logging is going on.

Santa Cruz Earth First! activists met quietly tonight to talk over the situation in Ramsey Gulch and morn the loss of a fine, young forest defender. A public Memorial Gathering will be held on October 18 or 19, 2002 at a location to be announced.

http://members.cruzio.com/~cruzef

[Slings and Arrows]

DOG: "Err...I'm not with these people."

or

DOG: "Hey, bare-belly boy! You're ahead!"

FReegards,
Slings and Arrows

[DouglasKC]

She came down in 1999 after Pacific Lumber Co. agreed to leave the tree standing in return for $50,000 to make up for lost logging revenue.

lol...I would think that the logging companies are actually encouraging tree sitters if this is the payoff they get from just one tree....

[DouglasKC]

Anybody else find the following statement from the AP report a little baffling: "... Julia "Butterfly" Hill spent two years 180 feet up a 1,000-foot redwood.."
From the Guiness Book of World Records: "The tallest living tree today is the Mendocino Tree, a coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) found at Montgomery State Reserve near Ukiah, California, USA. In September 1998, it was 172 m (367.5 ft) tall, with a diameter of 3.14 m (10 ft)."
Another example of some eco-idiot not knowing what the hell their talking about.

lol..I bet they meant to say 1000 year old...but they still don't know what they're talking about..

[HetLoo]

"Maybe the tree killed him for food?"

That's Great! I love it.

[capitan_refugio]

No it doesn't, does it?

[Glutton]

A tree as large as Luna is much more valuble then 50,000.00 dollars in terms of clear, close grained old growth wood. I also doubt if staying in a tree in the tempermental weather of that area for as long as she did is any incentive either.