Student activists gathered in the EMU Amphitheater Friday at noon, then marched down 13th Avenue in protest of the Western Oregon Plan Revisions. Chanting “Put a stopper in the WOPR” over a portable loudspeaker and carrying signs that read “We speak for the trees,” the group partially blocked traffic as it marched to the Wayne Morse Federal Courthouse.
The group of approximately 50 protesters marched into the lobby of the courthouse to deliver petitions to Representative Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) to request that they, too, take a stand against the WOPR. The group was sent outside and stayed on the front lawn while two group leaders delivered the petitions “with a hassle.”
The Eugene Police Department received two complaints of protesters blocking traffic and hitting cars near 13th Avenue and Hilyard Street. No physical damage was reported and the EPD did not issue citations. The EPD gave OSPIRG coordinator Colleen Kimball a warning and plans to work with the group in the future to improve public safety.
Sergeant Eric Klinko with EPD said that a parade permit is required to have a protest on the city streets, but the group marching Friday didn’t have one. He said EPD was “caught off-guard” by the protest and the police didn’t get complaints until the march reached 13th and Hilyard.
Samantha Chirillo, a graduate student and co-director of Cascadia Eco-Advocates, said the group was told to be careful and walk on the sidewalk on the way back.
“We need to plan ahead of time,” she said. “This is something we need to agree upon before hand. We’ll save our energy for next time.”
Six areas will be affected by the outcome of the WOPR: Salem, Eugene, Coos Bay, Roseburg, Medford and Klamath Falls. The WOPR is unique because the changes must fit to the requirements of the Northwest Forest Plan, which calls for the reduction of logging in California, Oregon and Washington in order to protect the habitat of threatened and endangered species, and the Oregon and California Lands Act of 1937, which calls for continuous and sustainable logging for the economic stability of local communities.
Environmentalists and scientists from federal agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency have voiced concern over the WOPR’s plans to drastically increase logging.
“We need to do at least as good as Washington and California,” Chirillo said in reference to Oregon’s forest protection plan.
Singing “Power to the people, power to the trees,” the group waited peacefully in front of the courthouse for activist Day Owen to speak.
Owen, a member of the citizen-activist group Pitchfork Rebellion, purchased an organic farm three years ago in the Triangle Lake area off Highway 36. Owen said his family thought they had found a piece of paradise until helicopters flew overhead and sprayed pesticides on clear-cut land adjacent to his property. The chemicals “came through my windows and made my family sick,” Owen said.
After noticing that his neighbors experienced similar illness after aerial sprays, Owen invited them to his house and started compiling a list of their complaints. Owen contacted PARC, the agency that handles chemical trespass complaints.
“It’s been three years and not one state or federal agency has come out to talk with the people made ill by pesticides,” Owen said. The meetings and lack of response to his requests led to an investigation by the Pitchfork Rebellion into the backgrounds of government agency officials.
The Pitchfork Rebellion’s investigation says that the BLM, Department of Interior, Department of Agriculture, and Department of Public Health are all run by former big-business, chemical manufacturer and timber CEOs.
The Department of Agriculture controls all national forest land, Owen said, and the heads of this department are former Monsanto and Dow chemical employees.
Owen proposed creating a new group called Our Homeland Security, which would hold mock trials of chemical company CEOs in front of Wayne Morse Federal courthouse. He calls the series “Guerilla Street Theater.”
“As we progress, the trials will become very real indeed,” Owen predicted.
Chirillo wore a “Roadless is Priceless” T-shirt to the event. The WOPR is not all bad, Chirillo said, but “there are still loopholes, and that is unacceptable.”
Lane County Commissioner Peter Sorenson also spoke at the rally.
The student activists returned to campus peacefully and no further incidents were reported to the EPD.
The BLM will release a final decision on the WOPR pending Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s approval in September.