From Redding.com http://www.redding.com/news/2007/oct/07/protest-ax-clear-cutting/
Demonstrators argue SPI's practice hurts environment
By Jim Schultz (Contact)Sunday, October 7, 2007
Photo by Julie Peters / Record Searchlight
TREE LOVER: Tammy Allan, a Montgomery Creek resident, brought her dog, Annie, to Saturday’s clear-cut logging protest.
Photo by Julie Peters / Record Searchlight
CLEAR-CUT MESSAGE: A crowd of demonstrators protesting clear-cutting practices by Sierra Pacific Industries included a group of children, who made it clear how they feel about the issue. The protest took place Saturday outside Redding City Hall.
Photo by Julie Peters / Record Searchlight
TREE LOVER: Tammy Allan, a Montgomery Creek resident, brought her dog, Annie, to Saturday’s clear-cut logging protest.
Photo by Julie Peters / Record Searchlight
CLEAR-CUT MESSAGE: A crowd of demonstrators protesting clear-cutting practices by Sierra Pacific Industries included a group of children, who made it clear how they feel about the issue. The protest took place Saturday outside Redding City Hall.
Car honks, friendly waves of support -- and at least one extended middle finger -- greeted a crowd of demonstrators Saturday as they rallied on the sidewalks outside Redding City Hall to protest clear-cutting practices by the Shasta County-based Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI).
The approximately 80 demonstrators, some toting signs deploring the timber practice, made it clear that they did not oppose logging.
"We aren't against logging," said 51-year-old Marily Woodhouse of Manton. "But we want responsible logging."
The two-hour demonstration, which also saw a group of children repeatedly chanting "Save our trees, help us, please," was designed to draw attention to SPI's use of clear-cut logging and its possible environmental consequences, organizers said.
It's their hope that SPI -- the largest private forestland holder in North America -- will halt that destructive practice, they said.
An SPI spokesperson could not be reached Saturday for comment, but a company official has said that it complies with strict California forest practice laws and regulations and that its practices are also reviewed by a number of state agencies.
Demonstrator Tammy Allan, a clinical social worker and three-year Montgomery Creek resident, brought along to the sidewalk protest her nearly7-year-old white boxer, Annie, who carried her own anti-clear-cut message on her flanks.
Allan, who said she fears Shasta County is one of several California counties being decimated by clear-cutting, thinks SPI should act more responsibly in its logging.
Woodhouse, who said she is also trying to fight an SPI plan to clear-cut more than 800 acres near the Manton area, agreed.
"What we want them to do is the right thing," she said.
Woodhouse, as well as others at the rally, say rampant clear-cutting can, besides destroying a forest's natural beauty, cause irreparable damage to watersheds and wildlife habitat as well as contribute to global warming.
"We're talking about serious ramifications here," Woodhouse said.
The Redding protest was one of many that are being set up by the San Francisco-based and nonprofit ForestEthics as part of its "Save the Sierra" campaign.
Reporter Jim Schultz can be reached at 225-8223 or at jschultz@redding.com.
The approximately 80 demonstrators, some toting signs deploring the timber practice, made it clear that they did not oppose logging.
"We aren't against logging," said 51-year-old Marily Woodhouse of Manton. "But we want responsible logging."
The two-hour demonstration, which also saw a group of children repeatedly chanting "Save our trees, help us, please," was designed to draw attention to SPI's use of clear-cut logging and its possible environmental consequences, organizers said.
It's their hope that SPI -- the largest private forestland holder in North America -- will halt that destructive practice, they said.
An SPI spokesperson could not be reached Saturday for comment, but a company official has said that it complies with strict California forest practice laws and regulations and that its practices are also reviewed by a number of state agencies.
Demonstrator Tammy Allan, a clinical social worker and three-year Montgomery Creek resident, brought along to the sidewalk protest her nearly7-year-old white boxer, Annie, who carried her own anti-clear-cut message on her flanks.
Allan, who said she fears Shasta County is one of several California counties being decimated by clear-cutting, thinks SPI should act more responsibly in its logging.
Woodhouse, who said she is also trying to fight an SPI plan to clear-cut more than 800 acres near the Manton area, agreed.
"What we want them to do is the right thing," she said.
Woodhouse, as well as others at the rally, say rampant clear-cutting can, besides destroying a forest's natural beauty, cause irreparable damage to watersheds and wildlife habitat as well as contribute to global warming.
"We're talking about serious ramifications here," Woodhouse said.
The Redding protest was one of many that are being set up by the San Francisco-based and nonprofit ForestEthics as part of its "Save the Sierra" campaign.
Reporter Jim Schultz can be reached at 225-8223 or at jschultz@redding.com.
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