COVE/MALLARD COALITION: EMERGENCY ACTION ALERT, WILD ROCKIES WILDERNESS WEEK, AND AN UPDATE ON THE OTTER-WING TIMBER SALE-AUGUST 5, 1999

EMERGENCY ACTION ALERT:

Road construction is now taking place on the Otter-Wing timber sale. We expect logging on the 694 acres of old growth to begin any day. Otter-Wing is the home of numerous old growth dependent species and has the last viable habitat for steelhead trout, bull trout, chinook salmon, and westslope cuttthroat trout on the South Fork of the Clearwater River basin.

We are asking people who can to travel to Idaho immediately and help us slow down and stop this senseless destruction.

*If you cannot come please call Supervisor Bernhardt at 208-983-1950 or write him at Nez Perce National Forest, Route 2, Box 475, Grangeville, ID 83530. Tell him to halt the Otter-Wing timber sale until the forest service responds to the violation reports and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals hears the case.

*call Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck at 202-205-1661 or write him at P.O.Box 96090, Washington, DC 20090. Ask him to buy back the Otter-Wing and Mackey Day timber sale and honor is commitment to protect endangered species and water quality.

* call or write Special Agent Dan Hawks at the same address and phone number as Supervisor Bernhardt. Tell agent Hawks to stop his officers from hurting non-violent protesters. Also tell Officer Hawks that you demand that he order his officers to allow support people to watch and record the activities of his officers as mandated by the 1st amendment to the constitution.

*We can always use donations of funds, climbing ropes, socks, rain gear, coffee, and food. You can send contributions to the Cove/Mallard Coalition, P.O.Box 8968, Missoula, MT 59806.

WILD ROCKIES WILDERNESS WEEK-

Friday, August 13 to Tuesday, August 17 -

This week will be a fun as well as educational. The coalition will host folks at our beautiful 20 acre in-holding near Dixie, Idaho. Activities will included workshops on tree climbing, blockades, non-violence training, timber sale monitoring, history of the Otter-Wing timber sale and the Cove/Mallard timber sales. and how to survey streams. The meals will be provided by Seeds of Peace out of our community kitchen. August 17 is Wild Rockies Day and the focus will be the Otter-Wing timber sale.

We will have action planning and affinity group formation prior to the action. If you think there will be no fun, think again. We will also have fun hikes, stories, and a party to celebrate the fact that Cove/Mallard may now be saved. Bring yourself and a friend, food for the community kitchen, camping gear, and a wild attitude. Contact the coalition at 208-882-9755 for more info and directions to camp.

Update:

This summer the coalition in conjuction with Friends of the Clearwater has conducted extensive field surveys of the Otter-Wing timber sale. Volunteers have found numerous violations of buffers designed to protect streams. We have also discovered that the constructed parts of the road system are failing to meet the standards required by law and dramatically increasing the amount of sediment being routed into streams in the sale area. The Nez Perce National Forest has admitted that three of the creeks in and near the sale provide the last healthy habitat on the South Fork of the Clearwater river for steelhead trout, bull trout, chinook salmon, and westslope cutthroat trout.

This makes the destruction of Otter-Wing all the more important to stop. These violations have been given to Bruce Bernhardt, the supervisor of the Nez Perce National Forest. Supervisor Bernhardt agreed to investigate the violations and respond in writing to them before any logging or road building started on the sale. In a blatant breach of trust the Forest Service notified the coalition that road building had been authorized and began on one of the spur roads on July 10.

This notification was given to the coalition on July 16 and not when construction started. At this time Supervisor Bernhardt notified the coalition and Friends of the Clearwater that because of our lawsuit over the sale he would not do a field review with us of the sale. He also said logging would continue while personnel responded to the reports of violations.

On August 2, 1999 workers were greeted by a citizen blockade of the access road to the Otter-Wing timber sale. The blockade consisted of a dragon, one bi-pod and a traverse line with a person in a hammock that went through the two legs of the bi-pod. After a brief confrontation with workers and supporters things calmed down as everyone waited for police officers to arrive. Around 7am forest service law enforcement officers arrived on the scene.

Officer Steve Dieder, who has a reputation for unsafe practices in dismantling blockades and the use of pain holds, took charge of the operation. Office Dieder ordered all the support people to move approximately 250 feet down the road. The supporters could not observe or video tape the actions of the officers from this distance. Primarily with the help of the cherry picker operator, Officer Dieder spent the next 6 hours trying to dislodge Locus from his dragon. The officers used a chisel, a rock pounding bar, and a diamond grinder.

Officers refused to let supporters observe the procedure and covered Locus throughout the process with a tarp. Finally after six hours Locus was extracted from the road. The police at times used the grinder on the lock box for 15 to 20 minutes at a time. Locus sustained numerous bruises and burns from the use of the grinder. At this time offices informed support people they were going to move the cables on the bipod.

It was at this point that Tree Song, having seen too much of the cop's crazy practices walked past the line to tell them not to move the cables. He was arrested for impeding the officers. Officer Dieder then proceeded to attach and anchor a new cable so the cherry picker could reach Pebbles. After Dieder retrieved and arrested Pebbles from her bipod, then the officer went back up to the bipod and insanely cut the top off with a chain saw right over the traverse line after anchoring the poles to the cherry picker.

Molly who was on the traverse then came down after making a deal with the cops. She got to smoke a cigarette with her friends and we got to keep the traverse lines. Most work was stopped for the whole day as the blockade was not removed until 4:30 PM. All the brave defenders were taken to Boise and arraigned in federal court on misdemeanor charges on August 4. They were all released, and have a trial scheduled for October 28.