Tree sitting
From Free net encyclopedia
Tree sitting is a form of environmentalist civil disobedience in which a protester sits in a tree, usually on a small platform built for the purpose, to protect it from being cut down (speculating that loggers will not endanger human lives by cutting an occupied tree). Supporters usually provide the tree sitters with food and other necessary supplies.
Tree sitters have successfully prevented logging of ancient old growth forests for months at a time, and in some instances have convinced logging companies not to cut trees in some areas. Sometimes, tree sitting is used as a long-term resistance strategy, with activists occupying trees for months or years at a time. On the other hand, tree sitting is often used as a stalling tactic, to prevent the cutting of trees while lawyers fight in the courts to secure the long-term victories.
When tree sitting occurs on private land, it is trespassing. Sometimes logging companies will hire tree climbers to remove trespassers sitting in trees. Although the companies' claim it is their legal right to do so, some treesitters are suing Pacific Lumber to challenge this practice. Most tree sitting in California occurs on private land. In Oregon, where there are more logging projects on public land (National Forests and BLM lands), treesitting is usually not trespassing but treesitters can be fined for violating closure orders or camping limits, or for erecting illegal structures.
Mikal Jakubal was the first American treesitter. On May 20, 1985 he ascended a Douglas Fir in an area of the Middle Santiam region of Willamette National Forest that was in the process of being clearcut. While shortlived, his treesitting action inspired a group treesitting event by Earth First! activists that lasted from June 23rd to July 20th 1985, when two Linn County, Oregon sheriff's deputies wrestled Marylander Ron Huber from his tree after a daylong standoff. Since its inception in 1985, tree sitting has become a frequently used tactic by forest defenders around the world.
Julia Butterfly Hill, an activist in Humboldt County, California, is perhaps the most famous tree-sitter. She became known for her 738 day sit (from December 10, 1997 until December 18, 1999) in a 180-foot, 600-year-old Coast Redwood tree named Luna. Eventually, Hill and other activists raised money and paid Pacific Lumber $50,000 to spare her tree and a 200-foot buffer around it, something which some activists considered an unacceptable compromise.
Activists from Greenpeace and the Australian environmental organisation The Wilderness Society hold the record for the world's highest tree-sit, in the Styx Valley, Tasmania.
In 2002, two US environmental activists involved in tree-sitting protests died in separate accidents. [1] [2]
Tree houses
In the United Kingdom permenant tree houses is a common technique. One treehouse BattleStar Galactica at the Manchester International Airport held 12 people.[3] Treehouses can be occupied for a year or more. They often have lock-on points for protestors to chain themselves to during evictions. Tree houses have been used at Newbury bypass.
See also
Compare with: tree spiking