Karen Pickett – Page 4 – Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters

Passionate and Persistent Activism in the Pandemic

November 30, 2020September 25, 2020 by Karen Pickett

It’s been a while since we’ve communicated with you, and you can likely guess the reasons. Everyone is overwhelmed dealing with our world in 2020, and the hits keep on coming. But the issues we care about are not only still there, but most campaigns and work have higher stakes, sooner deadlines, and greater needs for active involvement. Some news from the inspiring activists out there “doing the work” follows. Redwoods, Frogs, Birds and Fish: They Need Each Other and We Need Them to Thrive. You may remember previous news we have sent you about the many-years-long efforts to protect …

News from the forest…and news from the streets

July 10, 2020July 8, 2020 by Karen Pickett

We haven’t posted in a while, so our solidarity statement is coming a bit late. But we have been acting on our solidarity, in the streets, and in our lives. After putting up tree-sits earlier in the spring to protect redwood forest in California’s far north coast, upon discovering active logging in April, forest defenders have ascended to the trees again to defend a redwood grove a few miles north of Trinidad in northern Humboldt County. Green Diamond Resource Company (GD) plans to clearcut the forest under an active Timber Harvest Plan (THP). The 40.5 acres of the THP is …

30th anniversary of the bombing of Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney ~ Sunday, May 24

July 10, 2020May 24, 2020 by Karen Pickett

Marking milestones and honoring fallen warriors in the age of coronavirus: “Starting from the very reasonable, but unfortunately, revolutionary concept that social practices which threaten the continuation of life on Earth must be changed, we need a theory of revolutionary ecology that will encompass social and biological issues, class struggle, and a recognition of the role of global corporate capitalism in the oppression of peoples and the destruction of nature. I believe we already have such a theory. It’s called deep ecology, and it is the core belief of the radical environmental movement. A revolutionary ecology movement must also organize …

Redwood Forest Defenders Occupy Trees in Strawberry Rock Timber Plan–Call on Green Diamond to halt logging

July 10, 2020April 1, 2020 by Karen Pickett

On Wednesday, April 1, Redwood Forest Defenders occupied tree sits in the contentious Strawberry Rock timber harvest plan, calling on Green Diamond Company to stop logging now! Green Diamond Resource Company (GDRC), a private timber company, has started industrial logging operations in the Strawberry Rock area in northern Humboldt County, a site culturally significant to the Yurok tribe. The group, Redwood Forest Defense is currently occupying the forest and a treesit platform has been raised into the canopy. The group is calling for GDRC to halt all logging in the area immediately. Link to photos in Google Drive with a …

Converging for the Forest and the Climate

December 31, 2019December 3, 2019 by Karen Pickett

Dear friend of the Forest, I arrived home from a gathering last month exhausted but excited. Energized. Inspired. My brain was racing—processing, analyzing, sorting through the conversations and questions. And, in keeping with the goals of this gathering, I arrived home ready to hit the ground running and work. Representing the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters and Earth First!, I had pitched in on organizing, and then attended this extraordinary gathering in October 2019. It was The Resurgence: the Forest and Climate Movement Convergence, that took place after 2 years of planning, in the beautiful deciduous woods of the Shawnee …

Mattole Forests Under Assault Again!

December 31, 2019November 7, 2019 by Karen Pickett

Earlier this week, Forest Defenders reported that the Rainbow Ridge forest in the Rattlesnake Creek watershed is being cut. The forest needs you to help protect it from further destruction! On Nov. 4, log trucks headed into Humboldt Redwood Company (HRC) timberlands encountered a 30-foot tripod blocking the road with a forest defender perched at the apex. The forest defender called for HRC to stop cutting trees on Rainbow Ridge, where the forest contains some of the largest unprotected Douglas fir and hardwood stands in Northern California. There is also an outcry from residents and forest defenders alike that the …

Save the Date! Friday, Sept. 27: The Buffalo people are coming to town!

December 31, 2019September 10, 2019 by Karen Pickett

The intrepid Buffalo Field Campaign roadshow crew has hit the highway out of West Yellowstone, Montana, heading west with their multi-media story-telling, music and video show, coming to our neighborhood soon! When: Friday, Sept. 27, 7 pm (doors at 6:30) Where: The Art House Gallery and Cultural Center, 2905 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley This event will be on the heels of the climate strikes and actions happening on multiple days in various locations around the Bay this month, so put it in your calendar NOW, and save some energy for the wild bison! If you can help bring flyers to events, …

Update from the Mattole Forest Campaign

September 3, 2019August 21, 2019 by Karen Pickett

Update from the Mattole Forest Campaign After 60 days in the canopy, Rook has returned to the ground… Message from Rook: “After two months living in Trickster, I’m on the ground again. I’m not some arboreal creature. I can’t live 100 ft. up sitting on a net, eating clif bars indefinitely. I did what I could as long as I could, and I desperately hope it was enough. All those weeks ago, when I lost the traverse to other trees, which would have blocked the road, I had to figure out my priority. Do I try for a more strategic …

Two events of interest with short notice:

September 3, 2019July 25, 2019 by Karen Pickett

** A community night cafe benefiting BACH… ** And our friend from Seattle-singersongwriter Jim Page playing at Heyday Books: Friday July 26 and Sunday July 28 BACH’s Karen Pickett will be speaking at an event (come heckle, add your story, have beans and a beer…). It benefits BACH! MERCURY CAFÉ’S MONTHLY COMMUNITY NIGHT Who: · Karen Pickett (B.A.C.H.) and Steve Ongerth (I.W.W.) on the legacy of the late environmental and labor activist Judi Bari · Michael Eisenscher, Labor Rise for Climate, Jobs, Justice & Peace · Neha Mathew-Shah, President, Progressive Workers Union · Jason Henderson, Professor of Geography & Environment at S.F. State on Street Fights in Copenhagen Bicycle and Car Politics in a Green …

Action Camps for Mattole Forests Celebration for and in Richardson Grove

September 3, 2019July 17, 2019 by Karen Pickett

There are two action camps coming up in the Mattole River area, to support the continuing activity in the all-out effort to protect the precious forests and habitat of Rainbow Ridge. Since the chronology we sent you in our June update, there has been another tree-sit, rallies, lock-downs, strategic work and pressure from the Lost Coast League’s challenge to Humboldt Redwood Co.’s dishonest sustainable certification and other work. You can listen to an interview with tree-sitter #1, Rook, (still aloft, at this writing) on KMUD. as they mark one month in the tree: https://soundcloud.com/kmudnews/forest-defender-celebrates-month-long-tree-sit-at-rainbow-ridge We got a brief update yesterday from the folks …