The Plumas National Forest West Slope Project is a massive logging project of 275,000 acres, disguised as a "community protection" thinning program, weaponizing Californians' fire-trauma for profit. Instead of investing in scientifically proven strategies such as home hardening or defensible spaces, the Forest Service is giving the logging industry a $650 million handout to actually increase wildfire risks and further the climate crisis. How? By removing up to 75% of the tree canopy including old-growth, leaving behind piles of drying slash and making the forest dryer and hotter, all while releasing over 6 million tons of CO2 in the process.
This industrial logging project bypasses environmental protections by invoking an "emergency action" authorization under the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The Biden administration is using the climate crisis to push industrial logging plans in approximately 1 million acres of public forest land, with up to 45 million acres potentially impacted by this bill. This deceitful tactic of approving ecocidal projects under the guise of of climate legislation is not new, as seen with the Mountain Valley Pipeline as well.
SOME ACTION:
It's National Forest-Climate Action Day. We find ourselves on stolen Mountain Maidu land in the Plumas National Forest, that is home to immense biodiversity including the endangered Northern Spotted Owl and at least two wolf packs. In their honor, we choose to take action to slow down the grand logging machine, and for the greater joy of resistance in itself.
Under the light of the waning moon, our pack of two-legged wolves hits the road, inspired by tales of the Warner Creek blockade. Though the journey is frigid, we hardly notice the numbness in our fingers as we gaze at the giant trees and a sky strewn with stars, in the midst of each other's joyous company. As we arrive to the logging road, in canine fashion, some of us gleefully prance around gathering big sticks and logs to build as many barricades as we can, while others start digging a large trench. We make good time using a variety of tactics, a favorite being getting on our hands and knees (not for the first time that night) to dig out the softer dirt with our own paws. After a long night of hard manual labor, we're not exhausted but alight with laughter and comradery. The old growth pines and firs, our guardians, watch us make save travel back home.
SOME TIPS:
How to make your own wolf den!
Bring pickaxes, shovels, a rock bar and gloves (for paw prints). Shovel the dirt off the road downhill (but not into a creek!). Make sure your den has 90 degree edges and is deep enough to trap wheels. For extra fortification, pile downed logs and rocks at different points of the road to give your enemies a harder time. Mark your territory with caution tape to avoid distracted humans getting hurt.
SOME WOLF-CRIES:
One night of canine mischief won't save this forest, but 100 might. This action is a call to you: find your pack and bite back, take direct action in whichever way moves you, think out of the cage, go wild and stay free. Every day is National Forest-Climate Action Day. You are who you've been waiting for!