Since early June, a tree-sitter has been living in an old growth Douglas fir on Rainbow Ridge, a key logging area, attaching lines to neighboring trees to stop them from being felled by the Humboldt Redwood Company (HRC). Meanwhile, solidarity actions on the ground have blocked logging vehicles and workers while exposing the hypocrisy of HRC, a company that claims their industrial logging is “sustainable.” In reality, HRC not only logs old growth trees, a practice they claim to avoid due to sustainability reasons, but also practices a method of forestry known as hack-and-squirt. This refers to hacking around the base of an undesirable tree and then spraying pesticides into the opening. The goal is to get rid of trees that aren’t economically viable and make room for tree farms that consist of tightly-packed rows of, typically, one type of tree. This practice is not only unsustainable, it decimates complex ecosystems through the use of pesticides and the construction of monoculture greenery that can not sustain diverse plant and animal life. Meanwhile, the dead or dying tree carcasses left in the wake of hack-and-squirt operations provide astonishingly dangerous kindling for wildfires in a state that has experienced two straight years of record-breaking forest fires. Indeed, apart from providing buffers against wildfires, natural and old growth forests act as heat sinks for extreme temperatures, clean the air, and provide us with that most precious and mistreated element, oxygen. In other words, the direct action work of blocking logging access and protecting these trees in the Mattole is vital. It is immediate, resolute and side-steps the pandering between industry and government.
Eleanor Goldfield, 'Hit by heat: Extreme measures needed to tackle climate chaos before it’s too late', RT