STRIPTEASE FOR THE TREES!
To: !EcoNews! Service
From: Earth Film
Subject: "Striptease for the Trees" bares illegal logging near Montgomery
Woods"
Another "Striptease for the Trees" bares illegal logging near Montgomery
Woods"
1/29/01. Contact: James Ficklin 707/962-0547
La Tigresa / 415 - 331-1500 ex 322
Stills and video available for media use contact at www.earthfilms.org
415-820-1635 (Hi-res jpegs are downloadable with a photo credit of )
earthfilms.org.)
A small crowd of concerned citizens, fronted by the legendary
bare-breasted
poet "La Tigresa", successfully stalled timber operations that threaten
the world's two tallest trees at a logging site adjacent to Montgomery
Woods State Park in Mendocino County. Reciting her "Earth Goddess" poetry
topless, as the loggers respectfully listened, La Tigresa was supported by
local residents, mothers with babies, children and dogs, who were all
there
to express concerns over the environmental impacts of this logging plan.
The timber company was delayed long enough for the Calif. Dept of Forestry
(CDF) inspectors to come out and find violations of the forest practice
rules. Although the logging company was cited for violating the law, they
are still allowed to continue the cutting.
Two major concerns here are erosion and "blowdown" caused by cutting the
buffer zone around the park. Montgomery Woods is nestled in a narrow
canyon, where increased high winds can topple these exceptionally tall
trees, some over 350 ft. tall. The erosion caused by logging on the steep
terrain immediately above salmon spawning beds in the headwaters of Big
River, has been identified as a major factor in the dramatic decline of
salmon populations.
California Dept. of Parks & Recreation, which runs Montgomery Woods, has
been negotiating to purchase this property and add it to the park, but has
yet to satisfy landowner Bill DeRidder's asking price. Local residents
are
outraged at the so called "cut & run" tactics of "out-of-town land
speculators" such as Bill DeRidder & his partner Rick Priest. Both have
been reported to Mendocino County's environmental prosecutor, Barry Vogel,
by local residents for questionable logging practices.
Activists including, "La Tigresa," vow to continue to be present at the
Montgomery Woods logging site early every morning this week to stop this
"Timber Harvest Plan". The hillside contains important habitat for
Spotted
Owls, Peregrine Falcons, Mountain Lions, Pacific Fishers, and is
immediately above a known Salmon stream.
La Tigresa and 9 other forest activists are currently facing charges of
trespass, and are challenging a restraining order to stay off the nearby
property of Mendocino Redwood Company (MRC) . MRC is owned by the Fisher
Family of San Franciso which also own the GAP, Banana Republic and Old
Navy
clothing stores. They have been accused of unsustainable forest practices
by local residents and activists, despite recent "certification" as a
provider of "sustainably harvested timber". La Tigresa and the other
"Mendocino Ten" are holding a rally outside the Courthouse in Fort Bragg
on
Feb. 13, before their next pre-trial hearing, to "expose" the timber
industry's practices and the "watered-down certification process" - which
still allows the use of toxic herbicide spraying in forests, and the
cutting of old growth trees. Trial is set for May 7.
La Tigresa is the subject of a documentary due to be out in March called
Striptease for the trees info http://www.earthfilms.org.
Check out our web site at www.havc.org
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LA TIGRESA'S WOMANIFESTO
or WHY I GO BARE BREASTED INTO
THE FOREST
by La Tigresa
Traditional means of protest are no longer
enough.
Nearly 99% of California's old growth
redwood forests have been cut down.
Coho salmon are almost extinct. And still
the rape of Mother Nature continues.
I go bare breasted into the forest to embody
Mother Earth, pleading to be protected and
preserved.
The chainsaws, bulldozers and logging
trucks stop in their tracks when they see
me.
I am the Earth Mother begging them to do
no more harm to my naked, sacred body.
Mother's breast is the first nourishment a
baby receives.
Mother Earth gives us all of our
nourishment: food, water, air.
Every culture personifies the Earth as the
Great Mother.
The Earth has always been seen as a
woman's body.
I want the loggers to see in me an image
that is vulnerable, sacred, beautiful.
I speak my poetry to them saying, "I am the
Earth", so they can begin to see the Earth
as also vulnerable, sacred, beautiful.
I want them to see me as an image to be
protected and cherished, not hurt or
damaged.
I want them to see the Earth in that same
way.
And they are stopping work to listen to my
lengthy poem, "I Am the Goddess".
They are talking to me. They are getting my
message. And so is the world.
I get their attention dramatically -- and my
common sense request for sustainable
forestry then has a chance to be heard.
And heeded. "The most ancient name for
God in the Hebrew language is El Shaddai,
It means 'The Mountain-Breasted One'
Before you invented God, you remembered
Me."
(from La Tigresa's poem "I Am the
Goddess" complete text of poem available
online at www.earthfilms.org )