Tree sitter's death highlights logging protest dangers

SAN FRANCISCO -- Tree sitting has become a popular way to protest logging operations, despite its danger.

A man with the environmental activist group Earth First! died this week after he fell more than 50 feet from a redwood tree, the latest fatality of tree-sitting protests.

The man, whose identity hasn't been released but who went by the forest name "Naya," had only been in the tree for about 12 hours on Tuesday evening when he fell, according to Dennis Davie of the Santa Cruz contingent of Earth First!

"Santa Cruz Earth First! is deeply saddened by this tragic event. We never like to lose an activist," said Davie. "This was a young man in his first tree-sit."

Earth First! has been staging tree-sit protests against logging company Redwood Empire's operation in the Ramsey Gulch area, about 20 miles south of San Jose, since August.

Another protester also died this year while tree-sitting. In April, 22-year-old Beth O'Brien of Portland, Ore., died after falling from a tree in Mount Hood National Forest.

"They think they're on a mission and they don't consider the risks involved," said Jim Branham, a spokesman for Pacific Lumber Co., which has about six protesters on its logging property in Humboldt County, 30 miles southeast of Eureka. "I do think they view their actions as being somehow heroic, instead of dangerous or illegal."

Davie said he acknowledges that tree sitting is dangerous, and that there is a heroic nature to putting one's body on the line to protect something. But he said all Earth First! protesters, including Naya, are given training on how to remain safe and healthy.

Davie said Naya came to the Earth First! camp saying he had rock climbing experience. After several hours of scrutiny, the group determined he was capable of climbing the tree, Davie said. He was also given some training on the ground before going up. Normally, tree sitters are given two days of training.

"They believed he climbed well, but it still was his first tree sit," Davie said.

A cause of the man's fatal fall has not been determined. He was taken by helicopter to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The county coroner's office had not determined the cause of death, or the man's identity Thursday.

Earth First! activists have protested logging operations in the Ramsey Gulch area for more than two years. The logging company issued a statement Wednesday saying its employees were saddened by the death.

Tree sitters can spend months camped on platforms in trees, hoping to call attention to the environmental effects of logging. In perhaps the most famous tree sit, Julia "Butterfly" Hill spent two years 180 feet up in a 1,000-year-old redwood in Northern California to save it from being cut down for lumber.

She came down in 1999 after Pacific Lumber Co. agreed to leave the tree standing in return for $50,000 to make up for lost logging revenue.

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On the Net: http://www.earthfirst.org