On Monday July 12th, Earth First! held a large protest outside
of the Forest Service office on Zillicoa St. in Asheville to protest the commercial logging of national forests and their continued plan to cut the Globe Forest in Blowing Rock, NC. One member u-locked his neck to the office front door. As negotiations continue on this timber sale to remove an old-growth stand from the project, Earth First! wishes to call attention to the continued exploitation of our disappearing forests by timber companies. Recent studies show the United States now leads all developed countries in deforesting its land the fastest, and this trend is most prevalent in the Southeast.
The Globe Forest provides important habitat and nesting sites for woodpeckers and migratory songbirds whose numbers are declining due to forest fragmentation. The Forest Service continues to cut stands of trees that are directly connected to old-growth forest communities, causing destructive edge effects, and they have refused to provide a buffer because it is not required in their “Forest Plan.” Treating and cutting these stands will cause erosion, soil destruction, and will pollute the nearby streams with herbicides. Until all of Thunderhole Creek is protected, Earth First! will campaign to stop the cut.
Earth First! Demands That the Forest Service in North Carolina:
-stop attempting to cut old-growth habitats including any stands connected
to these rare areas.
-put an end to all commercial logging in our national forests
-immediately revise the Forest Plan to include rehabilitating previous
clear-cuts into early successional habitat instead cutting healthy, mature
forest expanses.
-an end to road building in our national forests
“Any cuts within the Globe will affect vital old-growth ecosystems and our stance is to end all commercial logging of our national forests,” says Joseph Ferguson, a Croatan Earth First! activist. “Historically the Forest Service has catered to timber companies, but we believe the public does not support logging in our National Forests.”
