ecosystem in the lower
48 states
Long
ago, or long to some, there was a
group called the Ancient Forest Bus Brigade,
another called Wild Rockies Earth First!, and
another called Seeds of Peace. The first two
groups came together in then a little known spot in
Idaho called Cove/Mallard in 1992. That year for
the first time ever people dared to get arrested in
Idaho. The locals
were amused and the
residents of Dixie
brought the activists
pies. The next year
brought Seeds of
Peace and a whole lot
of activists. The
residents of Dixie
were down right
unfriendly and openly
hostile. Highland
Enterprises filed a
SLAPP suit against a
lot of people and a
whole bunch of folks
were arrested. In
1994 there was an
injunction against the
“two timber sales too
terrible to ignore”.After
the watershed year of
1993, when lots of people came to Idaho, it came
down to a desperate band of activists. In 1996 the
Jack road was blockaded for 41 days and during
the RRR somehow much of that road got de-
stroyed. In 1997 the Jack Road was blockaded for
a total of 71 days. During those years three out of
nine sales were roaded and logged. The next year
the roadless moratorium was put into effect and
the forest supervisor declared that the agency was
not going forward with the other 6 timber sales.
In 1998 the coalition
chose to defend the
Wing-Twenty Mile roadless area just north of the
Gospel Hump Wilderness Area. The two sales,
Otter-Wing and Mackey Day,are exempt from
the
roadless rule because they were and still are
under contract. That year a crazy band of between
five and fourteen people set up five different tree
villages, managed to all get arrested, and stopped
Highland Enterprise from finishing 2.3 miles of
road. They also endured an attack by employees
of Highland Enterprises and Shearer Lumber
Products. The tree sit support camp and many of
the activist’s
belong-
ings were destroyed.
This is now the
subject of a 3 year
law suit against the
company and the
cops (who did
nothing about the
attack, threw away
evidence and appear
to have known it
was coming.)In
1999 the final
stretch of road for
Otter-Wing was
completed and more
people were ar-
rested.In
2000 the
same thing hap-
pened but the jail time (around five days in 1995)
had jumped up to 45-60 days. The forest service
cops have said that activists have routinely cost the
federal government at least six figures a campaign
season. Many people have come and gone and
hundreds have been arrested. But from year to
year the campaign to protect this huge area
stumbles along and proceeds, no matter how few
people we have. The wild woods of the Rockies
draw you in and inspire the passion and courage to
do activism in one of the most hostile parts of the
country.Wild Rockies Earth First! continues that
legacy and dedication with our Summer/Fall direct
action tour. We will stand with those who came
before and say “no more” to the corporations.
