Breaking the law for trees
With
acts of civil disobedience reminiscent of the 1960s civil rights
movement, some people in Missoula, Mont., have begun protesting
emergency salvage timber sales. One week after President Clinton
signed the salvage sales into law, 15 people occupied Montana Sen.
Max Baucus’ Missoula office. They refused to leave until the
senator agreed to meet with them, which he said he would do,
sometime in September. In addition to the office sit-in, members of
the new group, Citizens Against Lawless Logging (CALL), picketed
for six hours in front of Baucus’ office. Three were arrested and
cited for criminal trespass after they strung a banner, and
themselves, from the roof of the senator’s office building. CALL
members are also gathering signatures on a letter to Montana’s
three-person congressional delegation. It asks their support for
repealing the salvage law. CALL spokeswoman Marion Hourdequin says
the salvage logging bill, which nullifies environmental laws,
targets every tree for cutting since it defines salvage timber as
any tree “imminently susceptible to fire or insect attack.” CALL
can be reached at 406/728-5733.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Breaking the law for trees.
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