The Earth Liberation Front is
keeping busy. On Jan. 16, it claimed responsibility for an arson
fire in southern Oregon – its seventh attack in just over two
years.
On Dec. 27, a fire destroyed the corporate
headquarters of U.S. Forest Industries in Medford, Ore. Less than a
month later, the Associated Press office in Portland received a fax
from the Earth Liberation Front.
“To celebrate
the holidays, we decided on a bonfire,” read the fax.
“Unfortunately for U.S. Forest Industries, it was their corporate
headquarters … This action is payback and it is a warning, to all
others responsible we do not sleep and we wont (sic) quit.”
The group has also claimed responsibility for an
October fire in Vail, Colo., which caused about $12 million in
damages to ski facilities and a restaurant (HCN, 11/9/98). After
each fire, the group sent a press release through Craig Rosebraugh,
an animal-rights activist in Portland, Ore., who says he does not
know the members of the group.
“I can only
speculate,” says Rosebraugh, when asked about the group’s reasons
for singling out U.S. Forest Industries. “It’s most likely in
response to, or in addition to, pressure from the environmentalists
who have been protesting (U.S. Forest Industries’) logging in
Colorado.”
The company owns a mill in southern
Colorado, and plans to log spruce, pine and fir trees on the
privately owned Taylor Ranch in Colorado’s San Luis
Valley.
Members of Ancient Forest Rescue, a
Colorado environmental group fighting the Taylor Ranch logging,
adamantly oppose the Earth Liberation Front’s tactics and say the
attacks have made their job even harder. “They’re not helping us at
all,” says Jeff Berman, a volunteer with the group. “They’re only
damaging our ability to raise awareness about these issues. Whoever
they are, I wish they’d get the hell out of Colorado.”
*Michelle
Nijhuis
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline ELF strikes again.
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