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http://www.abcnews.com:80/sections/us/DailyNews/earthfirst980917.html Earth First! Says Loggers Targeted Protesters Blame Laid in Logging Fatality Drop-quote: "They felled a tree and apparently heard some yelling, and then the feller was cutting the tree into segments when the body was found under a limb." --Pacific Lumber President John Campbell The Associated Press FORTUNA, Calif., Sept. 18 -A statement from the environmental group Earth First! said the tree that struck and killed one of its members was deliberately felled in the direction of protesters by loggers working on a grove of old-growth redwoods. The Pacific Lumber Co. said the death, the first in a decade of mostly peaceful protests against logging in the area, was accidental. Humboldt County sheriff's deputies said the victim, 24-year-old David Chain, was with a group of protesters who were standing among redwoods marked for logging and trying to dissuade tree fellers when the incident happened about noon Thursday. Earth First! planned a vigil and blockade early today near the mill town of Carlotta. Company Denies Responsibility Company officials said Chain's death appeared to be an accident. Pacific Lumber President John Campbell said the logging crew did not see anybody in the area and had no idea Chain was standing nearby. "They felled a tree and apparently heard some yelling, and then the feller was cutting the tree into segments when the body was found under a limb," Campbell said. He added that sheriff's investigators said Chain's death was "an unfortunate accident," and that the company would conduct its own investigation of the incident. Earth First! blamed the fellers. "Loggers were aware that activists were in the woods and deliberately felled trees in their direction," the group said in a statement early today. "Loggers were felling trees perpendicular to the hill rather than downhill in an apparent attempt to target activists." Angry Confrontation on Tape Earth First! says videotape taken at the scene captured an angry confrontation with loggers at some point before the tree came crashing down. Six other activists were standing six feet away when Chain was killed. Activists had staged a 12-day protest against the logging of an ancient redwood stand along Grizzly Creek, in a ravine near the mill town of Fortuna, about 300 miles north of San Francisco. Eight of the group's activists had been arrested Wednesday on trespassing charges. Thursday was the first day the group engaged in the more aggressive tactic they call "cat and mouse," putting their bodies in harm's way. The protesters say the logging, on land adjacent to a "cathedral" of centuries-old redwoods purchased under the $495 million Headwaters Agreement, is destroying the protected habitat of the marbled murrelet, an endangered sea bird that nests in the tops of the majestic trees. The state-federal agreement would turn about 7,500 acres of Pacific Lumber forest, including 3,000 acres of old-growth redwoods, into a public preserve. Environmentalists have protested the accord, saying it should include protections for the rest of the 60,000-acre Headwaters Forest Complex. Copyright 1998 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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