Our Message to Green Diamond
First published Dec. 3rd, 2008 following a banner hang protesting clearcutting and development on forest lands next to Eureka, Ca.
To Neal Ewald of the Green Diamond Resource Company,
We were surprised to read in the North Coast Journal that you are interested in hearing our concerns with your companies logging practices. We’ve written this letter to express these concerns.
Earth First! and other forest defenders in Humboldt County have long been opposed to the following;
• Old-Growth logging
• Clear-cutting (and other “Even Aged Management”)
• Herbicide use
• Logging unstable slopes
Additionally, we are opposed to your plans for residential development on forestlands and the threat it represents to fish and other wildlife.
These practices do not fit within an ecological definition of sustainable forestry. We believe that the sustainability certification that you received from SFI is meaningless as long as you continue to employ these methods of logging.
Ecologically sound logging methods go hand in hand with long term sustained productivity of high quality timber products. The fast rate at which your company clear-cuts jeopardizes both the health of our environment and the viability of the company itself.
Your logging practices are threatening the prospects for long-term survival in a rapidly changing world. The U.S. economy is failing and our planets climate is changing.
Endangered species like the Coho Salmon, Marbled Murrelet, and Spotted Owl continue to decline in numbers. We need to not only put an end to the destruction of the habitat of rare, threatened, and endangered species but to begin to promote their recovery from near extinction. Areas of second growth forest that are next in line to become Old-Growth need to be protected. Without room to expand and with a dwindling amount of habitat left, there is no hope for these species to escape the fate of extinction.
One of our favorite mottos is “No compromise in defense of Mother Earth.” We do not negotiate our terms.
We suggest that you open a discourse with other local environmental groups along the same lines as what we’ve witnessed with Humboldt Redwood Company.
As long as the forest and our future prospects for survival are threatened we will continue to take direct action.
- Earth First! Humboldt