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           WOMEN DRAW THE LINE AGAINST LAWLESS OLD-GROWTH LOGGING

                                            *** For Immediate Release ***

Date: March 14, 2005

Press Contact: Francis Eartherington; 541.643.1309 Carol Valentine;
541.761.4746
Laurel Sutherlin; 301-8963

Cave Junction, Oregon - In this latest action driven by determined elders,
church members and conservationists, a large group of local women sat down
on the "Green Bridge", to block logging trucks at dawn on Monday morning -
offering themselves up for certain arrest - locking down in solidarity
against the lawless logging of federally protected Old Growth reserves
within the Siskiyou Wild Rivers Area of SW Oregon.

Already arrested last week, 72-year-old Joan Norman said, "I don't know what
else to do to stop this destruction to our forests, so I'm going to sit down
in front of the trucks again." Citizens are determined to halt the nation's
largest logging project in modern Forest Service history. The agency is
rushing to log these sensitive forests before a court case scheduled for
later this month can be heard.

Community elder and artist Dot Fisher Smith, 76, said "We are united in a
historic confrontation and we are wearing black today in solidarity with the
blackened trees; to give voice to the voiceless. These grandmother trees
must not be violently ripped from the Earth. Those trees want to fulfill
their birthright by providing shade, shelter and retaining moisture for the
newly regenerating forest, as has occurred naturally for countless thousands
of years."

According to Annette Rasch, "This wasteful project will increase fire
hazard, harm the local nature-based economy, hurt the regeneration of the
forest, and cost the taxpayers millions of dollars."

The powerful movement gathering at the "Green Bridge" on the Illinois River
reflects the voice of tens of thousands of citizens who have written letters
and made phone calls; crying 'foul play' on the Bush Forest Service. The
broad grass roots coalition: the "Biscuit Alliance", features citizens
ranging from local woodsmen, teachers, conservationists, artists, business
owners, scientists, retirees, sportsmen and students Sto Earth First!

This rugged and wild corner of Oregon received national attention with the
nation's largest forest fire in 2002 - the Biscuit fire. Critics complain
that instead of helping to reduce fire risk to our homes, the Forest Service
is busy arresting citizens and enforcing a 'log at any cost' agenda -
facilitating an illegal logging project in old-growth forest reserves
located deep in the backcountry, while the greatest threat to our
communities, the overgrown forests surrounding them is virtually ignored.

Background:   The "Green Bridge" encampment on the Illinois River in remote
SW Oregon continues to sustain a unique and elegant brand of non-violent
civil disobedience against the Bush Forest Service's so-called "Biscuit Fire
Recovery Project", an extreme logging scheme that intends to remove tens of
thousands of trucks loads from remote regions of unmanaged native forest.

This serpentine wonderland surrounding the Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area has
become ground zero - the poster child for the Bush Administration's
aggressive attempts to gut hard won legal protections for old growth
reserves, Inventoried Road less Areas, salmon-bearing streams and nationally
designated Wild and Scenic Rivers.

The forests of the Siskiyou represent a 40 million year old community of
life extending further back in time than any other forests west of the
Mississippi. This place has always been a refuge for species during the
extremes of ice ages, floods, and volcanism; evolving with fire over the
millennia. They have NOT evolved with logging.  Where logging has occurred
in the forests above us, soils have been impoverished and planted trees
struggle in the harsh post-logging environment.

Almost 13,000 acres under threat in the Biscuit Timber Sales are designated
Late Success ional Reserve (or Old-Growth Reserve). These nature reserves
are areas that until now, were off-limits to large-scale commercial logging.
Over 6,200 of the 13,000 acres of old growth reserves are also Inventoried
Roadless Areas. The Biscuit logging project will log over 8,000 acres of
Inventoried Roadless Areas in total. The logging is also highly concentrated
in the watershed draining into the first 17 miles of the National Wild &
Scenic Illinois River. The Biscuit logging project will log approximately
8,500 acres in this 66,000 acre area or about 13 percent. It will log 53
percent of the beautiful little Fall Creek's roadless area watershed which
flows directly into the National Wild & Scenic Illinois River.

Already 46 million board feet has been logged in the Biscuit fire recovery
area.  Yet the proscribed annual cut for the entire Klamath-Siskiyous is far
less; about 28 million board feet. The Bush Administration has used the
Biscuit Wildfire as an excuse to designate the largest single logging
project in modern Forest Service history; featuring huge logging units -
some over 300 contiguous acres.

Old-growth reserves were set-aside in the Northwest Forest Plan in order to
safeguard habitat for rare plants and animals that depend on older forests
to survive. In the Siskiyou Wild Rivers area, fire is a natural part of
these forests, and the reserves that burned in the 2002 Biscuit Wildfire
have begun rejuvenating naturally. Old-growth legacy trees created by fire,
and now targeted for logging, provide are a key building-block of this
recovery critical to protect soils and provide wildlife habitat, but the
Forest Service is targeting them for logging. Doing so destroys critical
habitat for birds and other wildlife, increases the risk of erosion, and
puts the region's fragile salmon and steelhead runs in danger.

Finally, the women are also outraged that of the 23 people arrested in
peaceful protests that began last week, some are still incarcerated, some
with untreated medical conditions and in several cases, are experiencing
cruel and unusual punishment before receiving any sort of trial. Numerous
protesters have been injured by Law Enforcement personnel and witnesses have
taped loggers "bumping" people out of the way with their trucks, while the
police look the other way. Several lawsuits are being filed.
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jimflynn AT efn.org  .  POB 96, Eugene, OR 97440  .  541.683.1645

Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's your last day on Earth.
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