On September 25th, 2004, the Aradia Grove on Gypsy Mountain was raided by Maxxam Corp./Pacific Lumber Co. Three activists were forcibly removed by the contract extraction team (led by Eric Schatz), and the Aradia tree, along with the surrounding pristine grove, was clearcut.
Aradia was approximately 700 years old. It had been occupied by tree-sitters for two years and ten months. David "Gypsy" Chain helped to set up the original tree-sit in Aradia in 1998, just before he was killed when an enraged Maxxam/PL logger felled trees towards a group of North Coast Earth First! activists, on September 17th, 1998.
A 10-page proposal to save Aradia was created, complete with photos and maps, and submitted to Maxxam Corp. in Houston, TX, to Pacific Lumber Co. in Scotia, CA, and to the California State Parks, since Gypsy Mountain is adjacent to Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park. Copies of the proposal were also delivered to state representatives Patty Berg, Wes Chesbro, Mike Thompson, Gray Davis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, yet none of them replied.
One NCEF! activist, Shunka Wakan, traveled all the way to Houston, TX, for a Maxxam shareholders' meeting in May 2004, where he asked CEO Charles Hurwitz face-to-face to save Aradia in Gypsy's honor. Gypsy's mother also made a special trip from Texas to California, just three weeks before Aradia was cut, and had a meeting with Pacific Lumber president Robert Manne, asking him to save the tree in her son's honor.
Despite all of these efforts, Maxxam/PL disrespected Gypsy's life, death, and family, and cut Aradia. The struggle rolls on....
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TOC for Forest & River News, Fall 2004