CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : FORTUNA : Earth First! Protests Logging; 6 Arrested

A week of Earth First! protests began with the arrest of six activists who tried to halt timber-cutting on land bordering old-growth forests in Humboldt County. The six, who had chained themselves to logging equipment, were arrested on suspicion of trespassing near the Headwaters Forest, according to witnesses and sheriff’s deputies. Earth First! said that Pacific Lumber Co. had renewed cutting second-growth timber on land along the Headwaters Forest. Protester Laurel Johnson said shrinking the “buffer zone” could affect old-growth trees. Pacific Lumber spokesman Dave Galitz declined to comment. Environmentalists consider the 3,000-acre forest a symbol of the last unprotected remnant of Northern California’s virgin redwood forests. Protesters two weeks ago blocked cutting and organized a phone campaign that resulted in a state-imposed 48-hour cutting moratorium. Pacific Lumber agreed, and did not resume harvesting until 10 days after it ended. Johnson accused Pacific of bringing in extra crews “to get the trees down and out of there fast.”