Eco-terrorist Rod Coronado

The author of this overly dramatic piece piece is Rod Coronado who is classified as an eco-terrorist, and has served time in prison for bombings.

"Rod Coronado has been living in Humboldt as a ground supporter for the Freshwater and Mattole treesits. He is currently organizing a direct action campaign against Maxxam/Pacific Lumber and Eric Schatz Tree Service that will not require a nonviolence training."

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Canopy Invasion in Freshwater
Rethinking Direct Action Strategies
Rod Coronado

Not far from where I write this, the last indigenous Mattole people made their stand. In the late 1800s, they were slaughtered by vigilante ranchers on nearby Rainbow Ridge. The Mattole were the caretakers of the land. They were the defenders of the forests.

Now, this very hillside of old-growth Douglas fir, oak and madrone forest is under attack from the same economic interests that led to the slaughter of the Mattole people.

The Rattle 9 Timber Harvest Plan (THP) has been approved. Blue lines mark the trees slated for death. All that stands in the way of the chainsaws at this point are our treesits and blockades. While treesits remain here in the Mattole and on Gypsy Mountain, it was the Freshwater treesits that fell under attack on March 17. This is not an official report from Earth First!, this is my story of the continuing battle to preserve ancient forests in Northern California and why I believe chants and singing are not enough.

Monday, March 17—The Canopy Invasion Begins

The day began with the eviction of Remedy and Wren from the treesits in the trees known as Jerry and Everlasting Life. They had continuously occupied these trees for 362 and 300 days, respectively. More than 50 California Highway Patrol officers and sheriff’s deputies illegally shut down the only road to the treesits. When the road was reopened, more than one hundred supporters gathered to witness as Remedy’s lockbox was cut, and she was lowered to the ground. The group I was in began to walk onto the road, and when the police ordered us back, we linked arms and sat down to block the road.

Wren’s lockbox took nearly two hours to cut. As darkness fell, we could see sparks fall to the ground from the climber’s handheld disc grinder. When PL’s hired climber, Eric Schatz (aka Climber Eric), lowered Wren’s bound body to the ground, the crowd surged forward. The police began jabbing us back with their batons. Arrests were made as more supporters sat in the roadway, and others chanted and drummed. Local residents and activists began to circle Everlasting Life, which still held Climber Eric’s crew. PL’s lackeys demanded police protection and got it. Deputies kicked activists who sat in the road and then pepper sprayed and batoned those who resisted.

My affinity group decided to shutdown PL’s helicopter logging operation above the Freshwater encampment. Twelve of us walked past the Columbia Helicopter Company security guard and climbed onto the redwood trunks as they were being lifted by the helicopter, disrupting it’s takeoff. Many of the trees were five to six feet in diameter. The helicopter operator gave up and left the area. We disappeared as the sheriff drove up the road. The helicopter has not flown again in Freshwater.

Tuesday, March 18—The Fight for Life Continues

As supporters arrived in the morning, they were greeted with hoots from another group of treesitters who had reoccupied Jerry and Everlasting Life in the middle of the night. Climber Eric and his crew were only able to remove one treesitter while eight other forest defenders were arrested on the ground.

In a cruel act of frustration, PL loggers and sheriff deputies formed an armed circle to protect one of Climber Eric’s crew who cut through the bark and girdled two ancient redwoods known as Wind Dancer and Robin. Meanwhile, two other treesitters evaded capture by traversing to other trees and climbing to the top.

Wednesday, March 19—Utopia Under Attack

Few forest defenders had slept more than a couple of hours when the cell phones began to ring. The community was alerted to the attack on Utopia, a tree occupied by Silver Willow, one of the Utopian Tree Pirates. That morning, PL security, loggers and the Sheriff’s deputies stood guard while Climber Eric cut the limbs off of Utopia and then bound and lowered Silver Willow from the tree. At the same time, a forest defender attempted to lockdown onto PL’s gate and was arrested as Utopia fell.

After the attack on Utopia, the police congregated on the helicopter log deck to watch for our next move. Our affinity group decided to stop a PL log deck construction crew in the forest. We ran to PL’s gate and locked the police in on the helicopter pad area with a Kryptonite lock. Then, we sped down the hill to the road construction site, and a defender locked down to an excavator, stopping the operation for the rest of the day.

Thursday, March 20—Tale of the Tree Pirates

Another tree pirate, AMD, climbed to the very tip of Jerry to avoid capture by Climber Eric. Meanwhile, two groups played cat and mouse in the forest to stop PL loggers from felling unoccupied trees. When we made our presence known to loggers, they chased us down, each carrying plastic handcuffs. We ran away; it’s how some of us avoid PL’s known violent attacks on nonviolent observers.

In the afternoon, the crowd watched Climber Eric balance precariously at the tip of Jerry and pull AMD from the limb that miraculously held them both. When she was lowered to the ground, PL loggers advanced toward the ancient tree. Climber Eric began cutting the top of the tree and then a majority of Jerry’s limbs.

More activists were arrested on the road for disobeying police orders, while individuals dove into the woods under Jerry’s canopy. Climber Eric continued to cut limbs from Jerry despite the knowledge that activists were beneath him. Never have I seen such determination to destroy something so beautiful as that brave tree. Away from the view of the cops, friends and I cried. For months, we have struggled to protect these few old-growth trees, creating a community of resistance to the destruction of the natural world. Now we were watching as one of our elders was being destroyed.

Friday, March 21—The Battle to Save Merize

Climber Eric came face to face with three brave forest defenders who were resolute in their commitment to keep the tree named Merize alive. Thursday’s actions had made it clear that PL, the Sheriff and Climber Eric were intent on continuing their reckless endangerment of our treesitters’ lives. Enough tears had fallen.

Stormy, Crazy Bird and Ozark were all witnesses to PL’s violence the day before, and I knew each one’s strong determination to make a stand for the trees. Three resolute treesitters was more than Climber Eric expected, and he was forced to abandon his attempted murder of Merize.

Forest defenders attempted to lockdown to Climber Eric’s truck and were violently pulled from underneath by him and one of his crew. The police made no arrests and announced that they were leaving. Without police protection, Climber Eric left Freshwater and headed to the Redwood Logging Conference where PL President Robert Manne was delivering the keynote address.

Our Nomination for Ecoterrorist of the Month

Over the weekend, forest defenders scrambled to fortify Freshwater’s 19 treesits. At the end of the first week, we’d only seen one occupied tree fall, though three others had been seriously wounded. Five treesitters had been arrested, and many more were put at risk by Climber Eric’s reckless actions. When AMD was released from jail, she told the story of how, as Jerry’s tip began to crack, Climber Eric said that if she should fall, he and his crew had already corroborated that they would testify she had committed suicide.

The fact that the destroyers of ancient redwoods already have contingency plans for their next human victims should be a wake-up call for Earth First! and other forest defenders. No amount of positive healing energy directed toward these hired murderers is going to stop them. It’s time to hold Climber Eric accountable for all the treesitters he has endangered and for the ancient trees of Freshwater, the Mattole and Gypsy Mountain whose destruction he is enabling. It is our movement’s obligation to stop him before PL’s ecologically destructive logging results in the death of another activist. Any individual who is making it possible for PL to kill old-growth forests must be a target for our movement.

Monday, March 24—Named and Shamed

On March 24, we didn’t wait for Climber Eric to show up in our forest. We went to his home, business and insurance company. We arrived at Climber Eric’s house at eight a.m. and stood at the end of his driveway. His wife came and demanded that we leave the property. We refused and she called the police. We stated that Climber Eric and PL are responsible for killing and injuring forest defenders, and that we weren’t going to allow him to kill or injure anymore. Within minutes, neighbors were coming out of their houses and six Sheriff’s patrol cars arrived, followed by Carl Anderson, head of PL security and Richard Pettis, PL’s land manager. When Climber Eric, appeared he was visibly distraught—not the confident, controlled person he is when he’s protected by his co-workers and police. He rushed up to me and demanded to know what we were doing there. I told him we knew what he said to AMD in the tree and that we weren’t going to allow him to enter any tree occupied by a forest defender. The sheriffs led red-faced Climber Eric away to be interviewed by the media that had just arrived.

Taking Out an Insurance Policy

The next stop was Climber Eric’s insurance provider, Northwest Insurance Agency. AMD, myself and videographers from the Natural Guard met with a representative and demanded accountability from the legal underwriters who allow Climber Eric to remove treesitters. The agent refused to watch a video of AMD’s eviction or to accept a formal complaint, so we announced our intention to target Northwest Insurance Agency until they cancel Climber Eric’s insurance policy.

The lives of the trees Climber Eric helps kill are worth more than our allegiance to tactics that comfort our conscience, but do little more than slow the THPs. We need to do more than simply respond at the eleventh hour, when Climber Eric arrives in the forests to evict treesitters. He is an untrained, unlicensed and contracted employee of PL, not a law enforcement officer. It’s his job to remove the people protecting old-growth trees so they can be cut down. If Schatz’s Tree Service continues to accept employment as a treesitter evictor for PL, we will continue a campaign of protests and demonstrations at his home and business.

A Canopy Perspective on a Ground War

I remember watching the swabbing of pepper spray onto the eyes of Earth First!ers by the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department while in prison in 1998, not long before PL employees murdered our brother, David Gypsy Chain. It’s time for the direct action forest protection movement to reevaluate its tactics before another activist is killed. In the meantime, let’s use new tactics and strategies that have been proven effective in other direct action movements, especially, the “name and shame” tactic of home demos. Our tactics and strategies have become less effective, once our opponents become familiar with them, as PL has in Humboldt County.

Earth First!’s battle to protect old-growth forests needs to be about more than just building a better lockbox or a bigger slash pile. We need to recognize that we are losing. We need to remember that it’s okay to destroy big yellow machinery that is left unguarded in the places they intend to destroy. There is no greater act of nonviolence than an aggressive, nonviolent act that prevents a much worse act of violence from happening. This includes the dismantling and eradication of weapons whose sole purpose is the destruction of irreplaceable biodiversity.

Remember, we are the warriors who must put the Earth first. We are the last lines of defense for the last wild places of the US. If we back down now, there will be no one else to stop the bulldozers and chainsaws. We will be the ones left to cry when the places and animals we have fought for are destroyed. This movement is not a lifestyle. It’s not something to do before you go back to your corporate-controlled college to be trained as a cog in the wheel of the most violent society on Earth. This is a Warrior Society. By calling ourselves the uncompromising defenders of our Earth mother, we are accepting the responsibility to do more than chant, drum and direct healing energy. That’s all good stuff, but not the appropriate response from warriors empowered to protect the natural and animal world.

On Sunday, March 29, Freshwater forest defenders celebrated the one-year anniversary of Remedy’s treesit and the successful defense of Jerry, which has been reoccupied for the third time. The rain has brought a temporary, yet welcome break from PL’s terrorist attacks. Until federal and state agencies do their jobs to protect our natural heritage, the defenders of Freshwater, the Mattole and Gypsy Mountain need your help. A week of assaults has both shaken and strengthened this community. The mood is far from defeatist. Clenched fists and howls filled the air Sunday when folksinger Ethan Miller sang, “This ain’t no peace song, this is a declaration of war.” PL and Climber Eric take note.

Rod Coronado has been living in Humboldt as a ground supporter for the Freshwater and Mattole treesits. He is currently organizing a direct action campaign against Maxxam/Pacific Lumber and Eric Schatz Tree Service that will not require a nonviolence training.

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