Tree cutting creates eco-controversy in Caspar
CASPAR >> Two tree-sitters, going by the names of “Greasy Pete” and “Bugs,” are currently staging a protest in some of Caspar’s oldest redwood trees, in hopeful anticipation of saving the areas from a slated felling.
Located in Jackson Demonstration State Forest, near the town of
Caspar, a man known as “Greasy Pete” took up his post at dawn atop a platform 65 feet up in the “Mamma Tree” on Saturday, April 10, and a woman who wishes to be known as “Bugs” joined him in another nearby tree, even higher up, a few days later.
A long banner suspended from Greasy Pete’s platform reads “Save and Protect Jackson State, the Forest of the People,” and “If a tree falls in the forest, We, the Concerned Citizens, are here and we would hear it!”
The “Mamma Tree” is 77 inches at breast height, just off a wellused trail, and was recently marked for cut by CAL Fire with a blue spray-painted line around its circumference.
According to the protest group, coring shows the Mamma Tree is just under 200 years old.
“‘Mamma’ is in the growth stage known scientifically as mid-to-late Seral,” said a press release from Redwood Nation Earth First! group that is involved with the protest, “when redwoods acquire the characteristic large limbs and craggy cavities that make good habitat for Spotted Owls and other endangered species.”
Though they are not involved with the protest, The Mendocino Trail Stewards released a statement saying it “stands 100% in support of the right of young people to protect California’s publicly-owned forests from logging.”
“We are proud that these politically engaged youth and young adults are fighting for their — and all of our — future in the face of runaway climate change,” stated the press release. “These secondgrowth redwood forests are our greatest ally in the fight to sequester carbon. We must protect them to safeguard our children’s future.”
Nearby trees, including the “Mamma Tree” have been slated for timber harvest by CAL Fire and sold to Willits Redwood Company. Logging work will be done by Anderson Logging, and haul the logs inland over highway 20 to the Willits Redwood log deck.
Contact reporter Robin Epley at 707.969.6091.