FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 15, 2004
Photos & Video Available
GREENPEACE ACTIVISTS
LOCKED TO THREE-TON CONTAIN ON LOGGING ROAD IN
SOUTHERN OREGON
Activists Deliver Message that
"Ancient Forest Protection Starts Here"
Medford BLM, Ore. - In a peaceful protest
to challenge
the assault on
U.S. public lands by the Bush administration,
Greenpeace activists put
their bodies on the line today in the ancient
forests of Southern Oregon.
A three-ton cargo container with two people
locked to the inside and one attached to the
outside, was placed between chainsaws and some
236 acres of old-growth forest designated for
a timber sale.
Jennifer Kirby, 26, of Washington, D.C.,
Kingman Lim, 23, of Berkeley, CA
and Anthony Villagomez, 22, of Northern Oregon
locked themselves to the giant container at
dawn.
The forest in Oregon represents
ancient forests on public lands throughout
the United States that the Bush administration
is fast tracking onto the chopping block. To
date, 70 percent of all old growth forest has
already been logged. Greenpeace is calling for
a moratorium on commercial logging on public
lands, and for increased protection and
restoration efforts.
Earlier this month, Greenpeace opened its
first U.S.
Forest Rescue Station in Oregon. The
station, which is open to the public, is just
one that Greenpeace plans to open in
endangered forests across the country.
"These beautiful, old trees are our
national treasures and the lungs of the
planet. But instead of protecting the last
remaining forests, the Bush administration is
attempting to destroy them," said Bill
Richardson, Greenpeace Campaigns Director. "If
Bush continues to ignore the public's wishes
to keep their forests healthy, it will be up
to the American people to rescue our public
forests from this imminent danger."
The U.S.
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and other
federal agencies have allowed extensive
logging and road building in ancient forests
across the nation destroying forests and key
fish habitats and costing taxpayers billions
of dollars in net losses and direct subsidies
to logging
corporations. Despite U.S. Forest Service
findings that recreation on public lands
generates more revenue and creates millions of
jobs, timber sales like the one in Oregon
threaten forests on public lands across the
Pacific Northwest and around the country.
"The BLM has been mismanaging our public
lands, ripping off taxpayers and stealing away
our heritage, our forests and our future,'
continued Richardson. "Keeping forests intact
and creating more protected areas
creates jobs and profits. It is time to put an
end to the boom-and-bust
economy of commercial logging, and create
family wage jobs through
restoration."
CONTACT: Celia Alario, media officer in
Oregon, (415) 297-0572; Nancy Hwa, media
officer in D.C., (202) 319-2432
