#32 Why We Can't Wait Any Longer

Crow in his tree in Willits; photo Steve Eberhard

"Crow" is sitting in a tree now, the lastest of seven tree sitters who have taken to Willits' tree tops in hopes of stalling CalTrans and the California Highway Patrol in their work to deforest and drain. More information here.

I asked a Willits friend recently if he was following the news on the Bypass. He blasted me, “I’ve been following it for 25 years? Have you? I don’t see why everyone’s so upset and taking action now when we’ve all known the bypass was coming.” I hear reports of this complaint all over town in the newspaper, at information tables in front of stores, by neighbors, in churches.

This criticism of the anti-bypass movement reminds me of the conflict over global warming: Some of us have been alert to the consequences of global warming for three decades now, despite all the nay-sayers, but in another thirty years, the human-made threats to our environment will be obvious even to those who want to blame volcanoes for the extreme weather, the melting of glaciers, the desertification of once green areas, droughts that destroy agriculture and access to drinking water, and the flooding of low-lying islands and coasts, just to name a few effects. I for one will have no satisfaction in saying, “We told you so.”

Global warming deniers typically see any form of regulation that preserves the environment as 1)impinging on their (God-given) right and pleasure to do what they want when they want, and 2) a threat to financial profits derived from activities that negatively impact the environment. Some of us are more oriented toward the benefits for future generations to enjoy this planet with the same relative comforts as we have. (It's the struggle of paradigms: Adam Smith's self-interest vs. altruism.)



Little Lake Valley wetlands, photo by Steve Eberhard

And so it is with the Willits Bypass deniers. Most of us didn’t know what the danger to the local wetlands and other consequences of the Bypass were, much less how eminent they were. “Oh, the fate of the Bypass is being debated in court. The Bypass will never happen.” I heard that just last fall. But others of us have realized the threats and come to our senses. 

 

Ellen and David Drell are two Willits community environmental activists who have been involved in the anti-Bypass movement for nearly 25 years. They were among the original litigants in a court case against the bypass on behalf of the Willits Environmental Center, the Farm Bureau, the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Environmental Information Protection Center. David Drell’s letter in the Ukiah Journal of June 2012 is at this link, for those interested in more of the history of this Bypass conflict from his perspective.

Sometime in the early summer of 2012, the litigants requested to impose a preliminary injunction against CalTrans, an effort that would prevent them from going forward in their construction. The request for injunction was denied in the late summer. The case was immediately appealed, to be decided in June of 2013. But in the meantime, CalTrans decided that they could proceed with construction. And thus they scheduled cutting down trees in January before migratory birds would nest in them.

 

Warbler in her tree, photo from S.F. Gate

Those more alert to the pending doom of the forest and wetlands jumped into action, and a woman calling herself Warbler took to one of the finest trees in January in order to prevent the chainsaws from taking down the regal entryway to Willits. Her action made more of us wake up and think.

 

Other local residents have been raising their voices consistently over decades, the voices now getting louder. Freddie Long, a Willits resident and CPA, wrote a letter in June 2012 pointing out problems with the impending bypass construction (see her attached letter below). Will Parrish wrote an excellent article in January, putting the bypass construction in perspective of other mega-projects that have dominated small communities historically. (Click to connect to Will's letter here.)

Most recently, a young woman from Willits admitted she, like many of us, had been "distracted," but she is making up for her past ignorance with a hunger strike since April 3. She explains why:

         “I am 27 years old and have lived in Mendocino county for 25 of those years. Like many distracted locals, I was uninformed of the bypass plans until early this year, and I am disgusted by what I have seen unfold. The blatant disregard for the land, logic, and the law is a microcosm of the ignorance and destruction ravaging the planet. The Willits bypass isn’t about helpin’ out a little town with traffic issues, it’s about corporate greed and hidden agendas. There are sensible alternatives to these ridiculous plans, such as simply re-striping Main Street, which CalTrans transformed into a chaotic mess 20 years ago. We can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to this madness.”

         (More about her story can be found at this Save Our Little Lake Valley website.)   

Now, three months into the renewed protests, many actions, discussion, and communication have been flying around the valley. Letters in the local Willits News are filling the editorial pages. Crowds of 30 or 50 or 100 show up at board meetings and rallies to learn, speak, and show opposition. A small town so rapidly mobilizing indicates the spirit of the place and the new urgency of the threat.

Mural of the Little Lake Valley Watershed by Rosamond Crowder, located on Main St across from the PO

 And it’s not easy to get informed about all the details involved: the history of the proposed Bypass from the perspective of CalTrans; the history of the local opposition; the science of the wetlands; the impact of the drilling of wickdrains on the wetlands, local wells, and aquifer; the contribution to global warming during construction with the thousands of trucks traveling back and forth through the valley to haul wood, rock, cement—this last item is bitterly ironic in a community where the pro-Bypass folks say we need the Bypass to prevent having traffic pollution coming through town. The letters from David, Freddie, and Will each touch on some of the many details relating to these problems, both historical and current, with this Bypass.

With so much to learn, it’s far easier not to know and to take a simple stance: “The Bypass will make it easier for me to breathe when the traffic goes around the town,” as one person told me. Another said, “The Bypass will make it easier for me to get to the dentist so I don’t have to wait for ten minutes in traffic.”

But one key problem of the traffic is from the Bottleneck (described in Blog #31), where, going into town, 4 lanes become 3. The Bottleneck was created in 1994, seemingly to squeeze more pro-Bypass sentiment into being, but CalTrans is planning to “restripe” that area and reduce the squeeze in 2014. So odd! If that project will take a pittance of the $300 million planned for the whole Bypass traffic conundrum, why not just restripe now and see how much that alleviates the problem. And if I can figure that out, why can’t the brilliant Army Corps of Engineers and the engineers working for CalTrans. Kinda makes you wonder, huh?

Meanwhile, we're spending $300 million for the Bypass in a state that is broke and subject to sequestered funds, which reduces the quality of our public services, so why spend this money on a huge cement structure we don’t need? (And we know, of course, construction will end up being far more than that the projected $300 million, as anyone who’s done any renovation or construction knows.) The alternative routes could be worked out and implemented if the political will existed, which is what those of us in the movement are pressing for, before the valley is irrevocably destroyed.

So some of us just can’t wait around and allow CalTrans to proceed with its plan when we do not trust this huge leviathan to have the best interests of local citizens in mind. We don't want to have to say, "We told you so."

 

In fact, I interviewed CalTrans spokesman, Phil Frisbie, about the Bypass, to get the CalTrans perspective. I asked him why the alternative route, a two-lane truck route along the unused railroad, was not accepted. He said that the federal monies that CalTrans needed would not come if the Bypass were only two lanes. I countered, “But the community only wants and needs two lanes. Are you saying that CalTrans is only building the Bypass in order to get federal money without caring about what Willits wants?”

He replied that this project is NOT about what Willits wants, but about the larger regional needs. In effect, to serve the through traffic of those 8000 cars and trucks a day heading north.

Makes you wonder why those cars and trucks are so important and the people living here are not.

 

Letter from Freddie Long to the Willits Community

Why the “Half-Freeway”?

            I enthusiastically support the lawsuit against Caltrans, et.al. and here is why.  I will borrow a description of Caltrans (paraphrased) that I heard recently.  “There are two Caltrans.  One is the ‘Local’ Caltrans – those hard-working employees we see repairing the roads, cutting the brush, spreading sand on roads when they are icy, etc.  The second is ‘Corporate’ Caltrans.” 

            “Corporate” Caltrans is determined to construct an elevated bypass I call the “Half-Freeway” because it is one half of a 4-lane freeway that will take a long, long time to build and will be nearly useless to Willits residents for local travel needs.  I don’t think that most Willits citizens understand the full extent of what this project will bring about in the short term and in the long term.  Allow me to elaborate:

·         The two-lane bypass is to be built across our valley as if it were a 4-lane freeway, erected on 1,600 piles driven as deep as 100 feet into the ground.  Pile driving is extremely noisy. Each pile will take up to 2,210 strikes with decibel levels of 187 – 220.  The equivalent of a jet taking off is 140 decibels.   See charts: http://www.sengpielaudio.com/TableOfSoundPressureLevels.htm  & http://www.controlnoise.com/decibel-chart/ .  This noisy pile driving will go on for upward of three years from early morning to late evening (7am – 7pm is the CA standard). How will this affect local life? What will happen to our tourism industry?  (Much of the above technical information came from The Environmental Impact Statement.)

·         Because the noise from pile driving will kill the fish in near-by streams, Caltrans is required find the fish and TEMPORARILY relocate them to some area safe from this noise (info from the Biological Opinion from NMFS National Marine Fisheries Service). [We are already seeing how CalTrans does not live up to its mitigation requirements.] 

·         It is estimated that trucks will make 100,000 round trips from Oil Well Hill to deliver close to 1.3 million cubic yards of earth.  Note that the noise created by trucking alone is rated at 70-90 decibels.  With the completion of the 2-lane “Half-Freeway” will take 4-5 years, if not more, that is a long time to endure the noise, dust and other inconveniences.

·         A 2-lane elevated bypass is unsafe.  In early negotiations Caltrans was unwilling to consider a 2-lane, ground level bypass as “unsafe.”  Now they want us to believe that THEIR elevated bypass is just fine.  I, for one, question this assertion by Caltrans.  In the event of an accident where would the collision vehicles go? Off the edge of a raised viaduct the height of a three story building?  How will the emergency vehicles get access to victims of the crash?  If the shoulder area is blocked or traffic is backed up , how will emergency vehicles gain access?

·         The cost will be $300 million for this “Half-Freeway.” Proponents of the Caltrans bypass point out that the state has already allocated the funds. What about cost over-runs – where will the additionally needed funds come from? Already over $33 million has been diverted to Caltrans for the bypass from county coffers that were originally designated for COUNTY roadwork, and Caltrans has recently asked for an additional $2 million from our county discretionary funds.  We will surely continue to be asked to share in cost over-runs when we really need money for county and city road projects.   

·         Of the 14 or more bids received by CalTrans for the “Half-Freeway” all but one bid came from outside Mendocino County.   Granite Construction out of Ukiah does plan to bid on the job but will be competing with mega-contracting companies from all over the country.  The low turnout of local bids defies Caltrans claims about creating lots of local jobs, but is that a surprise?  I’d bet that local contractors are not willing to even try to outbid these big companies? 

·         This project has never really been about local traffic abatement.  CalTrans claims that when the new Half-Freeway is up and in use local traffic will diminish because locals will go to the north or south of town to access the bypass and then get off at the south or north end of town.  Ask yourself how often you are going to go an extra two miles out of your way to do this. 

·         Another BIG disappointment is that the “Half-Freeway” offers no direct connection to highway 20 and no second access road for the large Brooktrails community.  Traffic coming from the north would be expected to travel past Willits to the Walker Road exit and then double back.  Right!

There is another solution.  I hope that the lawsuit will bring about an end to the ELEVATED bypass as currently designed by CalTrans.  Why not a GROUND LEVEL, two-lane highway? 

·      Constructing a ground level highway would cost less than half the amount needed for the “Half-Freeway.”  We could use some of these funds for other much needed road repairs and improvements.  Main Street -- still the responsibility of Caltrans -- could use a lot of improving!

·      The greatest cost of the “Half-Freeway” is from constructing it in a wetland. If the highway were not in the floodway, it would not require a viaduct and no pile driving. If it were not in the wetland, it would not require extensive mitigation.

·      No pile driving would be necessary for a ground level highway and it would be ready for use MUCH sooner and with less disruption, noise, and chaos than building the elevated bypass.

·      A ground level highway could have intersection access where major roads cross it thus making it accessible to local traffic, including emergency vehicles.
 

I do understand that this is an extremely volatile and polarizing issue in our community and sincerely hope we can find some “common ground” moving forward.  I have chosen not to address the many environmental aspects of this issue – others will speak to that complex and important aspect.  I will point out that a year or two ago the city of Willits  was presented with a petition signed by 90% of the local businesses AGAINST the proposed bypass but, strangely, the majority of the city council members continue to support the bypass as currently designed. 
 

Yes, we have a big traffic dilemma here in Willits, but please ask yourself if the currently designed Caltrans “Half-Freeway” is the right way to fix it.
 

Freddie Long, Willits resident

 

 

 

 

#31 Going Against the Flow

Warbler's Tree exposed, trees down around her

Before: Warbler's Ponderosa second big tree from left

After: Warbler's Liberty Ponderosa Gone

           All six tree sitters were forcibly “extracted” from their trees on Tuesday, and Warbler’s beautiful “Liberty Ponderosa” was cut down. These 3 photos show Warbler’s Treesit site, before her tree was cut down, when many trees were cut down around her, and after it was destroyed on Tuesday.
             I have gone to the Treesit site three times and cried each time, not just for a beautiful tree destroyed unnecessarily, but for what seems to be so much nefarious intent accompanying the whole CalTrans+CHP operation.

            Warbler was removed with a cherry picker and no observers were allowed. At another site, many protesters witnessed the intensity of the dozens of police in riot gear making their “attack” on the treesitters.    One of the young men in the tree was shot at with rubber bullets to make him release his grip on the tree. All of the paramilitary presences makes you wonder why this big bureaucracy of CalTrans feels so threatened.          

            Here are some links to a couple of articles about the extraction of the tree sitters; at least the Bypass conflict is getting press attention. Press Democrat article and Sacramento Bee article  and YouTube video of that process:YouTube film of "extraction"

         

Warbler herself is pictured here on Wednesday with one of her big supporters who spent many nights under her tree to be sure she was protected.  (Thanks to Judi Berdis for the photo) She has said that she is processing what has happened over these last three months.

           Friday I went back out to the Treesit Site to continue my protest with a sandwich board and my sign that asks, “Do you understand what is happening?”

            As I think about who is for and against the Bypass, I imagine the irony that many Willits people who support the Bypass are probably the same ones who hate Big Government, yet they are happy that Big Government is going to ram through this cement freeway if it means they will get work. It’s kind o

f like senior citizens receiving Medicare who complain ardently about the government subsidizing healthcare for everyone.

            One police car is permanently stationed at the Treesit Site, with others stopping in frequently. Once I arrived on foot, having walked along the highway for about a quarter of a mile, so did another police car shortly. An officer took a movie of me standing there alone by the road. Soon a third police car pulled up on my side to tell me that I couldn’t just stand there or I would be arrested for loitering.

            So I started walking. Within 20 minutes, yet another police car came up and told me I was in violation of walking by the freeway, where I could create a traffic disturbance with people trying to read my signs.

            Gotta love it! I’m disturbing the peace by walking along the road with a sign where a forest is been cut down, with bulldozers and humongous trucks pulling in and out by the minute. 

            I was asked to leave or I would be arrested. I am not against getting arrested in opposition for breaking laws that promote unethical actions. In his essay “Civil Disobedience,” Thoreau said, “If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law”

            I just needed to be sure that my dog Sata would have someone rescuing her from the car, first. So I left.

            I continue to plug away at educating myself, to learn whether CalTrans and their supporters are right, or those opposed to the Bypass are harbingers of a disaster in the making. After all, George W. Bush called those of us who protested the Iraq War a mere “support group.” It turned out that we were right: No Weapons of Mass Destruction existed in Iraq, and the American people were hoodwinked into going to war there, leading many valiant soldiers to give their lives and their limbs. The same was true in Vietnam. Jefferson himself encouraged critical thinking and dissent, so let’s give it a chance.

            What I’m learning about the Bypass conflict just gets weirder and weirder. Here are a couple more reason to hold the Bypass suspect.  

1. Traffic Flow A California Department of Transportation graph  documents traffic volume along Highway 101 in Northern California from 1992-2011, registered via video monitors at the southern and northernmost traffic lights.

            It notes that traffic in Willits has remained fairly steady at around 20,000 cars entering Willits and about 8000 cars as traffic leaves the north side of town.

            Sorry to get technical on you, but isn’t God in the details? At the southern end of town, Highway 20 goes out to the Mendocino coast. When I told people I moved to Willits, lots said, “I know Willits. I go through there to get to the coast.” Actually, they don’t go through Willits because the HW 20 turn off to the coast is south of town. About 30% of traffic leaves 101 there. Part of the problem of the Bypass is that that traffic will still come into town to get to Highway 20, which is over a mile from what is supposed to be the only southern Bypass exit for Willits.

Turn off left to HW 20 to Coast south end of Willits

            If you’re still with me, we’re still doing the numbers on what happens to all that traffic going through Willits. (And it’s all about the numbers—especially the $300 million and rising that CalTrans will get for this job.) Apparently, another huge chunk of traffic exits at the last stoplight in town, Sherwood Road, which leads to Brooktrails, a large development of suburban homes, and to back country homes beyond, like that of yours truly, with over 5000 residents.

            As relates to traffic flow, the large number of Brooktrails residents heading off of Highway 101 at the northern end of town means that the actual flow of through traffic is fairly minimal. That is, most of the 20,000 cars coming into Willits at the south end winds up being around 8000 cars on average still on 101 at the north. Certainly, the traffic is far heavier in the summer with tourists, including those continuing north, but you can count on that traffic at limited times Friday evening and Saturday mornings, and then again on Sunday evenings.

            SO, the question for those studying the Bypass carefully: why did CalTrans push through a plan for a four-lane highway to handle 40,000 cars when it isn’t necessary? Even the two-lanes they’ve planned as a temporary route are designed for 20,000 cars, still unnecessary.

2) Bottlenecks by Design? One of the most disturbing aspects of this whole process that I’ve learned relates to the infamous BOTTLENECK at the Safeway on South Main. Two lanes of traffic come into town, and then the two are forced to merge into one, just before coming to the HW 20 light. This merge is the source of much ire in town. Many pro-Bypass people I’ve spoken to have said that the bottleneck creates unhealthy pollution and that’s why we need the Bypass. Really? A $300 million

cement freeway to resolve a merge.
            The hell of it is that there used to be four lanes there, but long-time Willits resident Judi Berdis informed me that the bottleneck was created in 1994, and she is not alone in thinking that the purpose was to manufacture support for the Bypass.
 

           The community has provided many alternatives to increase the flow right there, including a traffic circle. Those suggestions were overrun.

          As someone who has lived through Bay Area and even Sacramento traffic, Willits traffic problem (see photo left) does not seem worthy of a $300 million bypass!

            I really don’t want to join a league of belittled conspiracy theorists who like to come up with larger schemes to understand why community criticism of a plan continues to get shot down (so to speak), but sometimes you have to really wonder what is in the minds and hearts and plans of those who have power and money. For anyone studying the machinations of big corporate and government interests over time (read Howard Zinn’s The People’s History of the United States, for starters), the drive for profit is a hungry beast. And hungry working people are all too ready to put their chainsaws to the trees if the rich will pay.

Pro-Bypass? Show me why

            If you want reasons to support the Bypass, I encourage you to go to the Environmental Impact Report produced by the US Department of Transportation, the California Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration and start picking out the reasons that make you feel like this is gonna be really good for Willits and good for California. Clearly, CalTrans is winning so far, given their ability to mow down forests and garner paramilitary support to extract tree sitters, and we’ve learned that might makes right. CalTrans Website on Willits Bypass Plan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#30 Do You Understand What's Happening?

DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT'S HAPPENING?


I

Kim standing across Highway 101 from Warbler's treesit

I decided to make that my sign’s message for the day because, as I’ve said before, I’m just learning, and I’m trying. What about everyone who isn’t even trying?

I finally downloaded two parts of the long Environmental Impact Report from 2006. Volume 1 is 112 pages.  It has this useful map (the left side here is south) showing the current route of 101, and the red line is the Bypass route going east through Little Lake Valley. I also downloaded Appendix G “Final Alternatives Analysis” which is 148 pages long. These documents are located at the CalTrans website: http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist1/d1projects/willits/reports.feir.htm

 I have yet to dip into the other 3 volumes and multiple appendices (bet you can’t wait to hear about Appendices A-F!). Like the Bypass, I plan to wade through the swamp of information, but since the Bypass will take 6 years, so might I. Knowing that many of my readers want the facts, ma’am, I share two paragraphs from “Section 1.6 Potential Impacts,” enticing harbingers of what is to come. Please read (more photos to come if you promise to read first):

The primary environmental impacts associated with the proposed bypass project consist of temporary and/or permanent impacts to biological resources (see Sections 3.7 and 3.17). Among the biological resources that would be affected are sensitive plant communities and habitats (including wetlands, riparian woodlands, oak woodlands, and Baker’s meadow foam habitat), as well as federal and state wildlife species that are listed as rare, proposed, threatened, or endangered (including three federally listed salmonid species, the Northern spotted owl, and the Pacific fisher).

The potential for permanent and/or temporary impacts have been investigated for the following areas of concern: Geology and Soils (Section 3.2); Community Cohesion (Sections 3.3 and 3.18.1); Farmland (Section 3.4); Water Quality (Sections 3.5 and 3.18.2); Floodplain (Section 3.6); Cultural Resources (Section 3.8); Hazardous Materials (Sections 3.9 and 3.18.5); Visual Resources (Section 3.10); Noise (Section 3.11 and 3.18.3); Air Quality (Sections 3.12 and 3.18.4); and Growth Inducement (Section 3.16).

Are you still with me? Or did you cheat and skim? If you can’t get through just two paragraphs of this stuff, how do you expect all the residents of Willits to read and understand the messages in hundreds of pages of this environmental analysis?

From just these two paragraphs, I take away the following ideas:

1) The environmental impacts are potentially substantial, including impacts on “sensitive plant communities” and on the salmon we hope to keep running in our creeks; and

2) The list of “areas of concern” to think about are so numerous that most people don’t even want to begin thinking about them, such as the nature of our soils in the valley and what that means when CalTrans will drill their 55,000 holes 85 feet deep to pump the water out of our wetlands, or the impact of hazardous materials in the construction of the Bypass, or what the extraction of gravel for the production of cement for the Bypass at Outlet Creek will do to Outlet Creek and the Eel River, for which Outlet Creek is a tributary.

Men with chain saws just doing their job

Mostly, we don’t want to think about it. We just want to get our paychecks, like all the truly hard working police officers, chain saw operators, and CalTrans engineers, the fence builders and truck drivers, who are happy to reap the benefits of the $300 million dollar project. I get that.

When I encountered these three men who had just been cutting down trees, they told me, “This is private property.”

I said, “I’m just taking pictures of these beautiful trees while we still have them,” including this one that will be gone soon. In my congenial and sincere way, I asked, “Do you live in Willits?”

 

One replied, “Yes, we do.”

“Good!” I called out, and I meant it, adding, “I’m glad some folks in Willits are receiving the benefit of the work.” Because the reality is that many of the folks driving the trucks and doing the other work don’t come from Willits. (In my fantasy life as a reporter on this job I’ll go get stats on who in Willits is benefiting economically from the $300 million CalTrans payouts.)  I always remember the guy who stopped by the tree sit and told me he was in favor of the Bypass because, he said, “My son needs work.” I do understand the press for a paycheck.

Nevertheless, last Friday I held a sign that said, “THE JOBS WILL DISAPPEAR, THE DESTRUCTION WILL STAY.”

So while I’m trying to make sense of the economic and environmental factors here, I’m asking lots of questions. I learned that the reason the alternative railroad route was not accepted is because it was only going to be a two-lane road, and CalTrans requires a four-lane route for the ultimate bypass. However, CalTrans now plans a two-lane route through the valley, aviaduct route raised on stilts above the wetlands. So why is the proposed Bypass allowed to be two lanes, but the already existing, unused railroad route that would be two lanes was not allowed? Well, the two-lane Bypass that CalTrans plans to build is supposed to be expanded “one day” to four, which makes it permissible to build just two now.

Does that make sense to you? I mean, really, this stuff is dizzying.

Meanwhile, at a truly dizzying speed, one oak forest comes down. I have not even had time to look at the mile beyond Warbler’s tree sit that has also been decimated—perhaps for my next post.  I leave you with as much of a photo essay as my little point-and-shoot camera can provide focused just on the land around Warbler’s tree sit where I’ve been hanging out two or three times a week for two months. I go out as much as my work schedule allows. One guy flipped me off from the highway screaming, “Get a job!” I actually do have a job, as do most of the folks I meet out there, who come at the end of the work day or on the weekend to stand witness for the trees and for Warbler who still sits in her tree.

In fact, Warbler is now on a fast, seeking to pressure CalTrans to rescind their onslaught (see the SOLLV website for an update: http://www.savelittlelakevalley.org/2013/04/01/hunger-strike-demands/



Tree sitter called Falcon in his nest, west side of 101

 



5th Tree sitter in tree to left; CalTrans woman on right

Now four other tree sitters have joined her throughout the remaining forest.  

Protestors at tent site on west side of HW 101 Friday

I’m sure it’s hard to imagine all this activity. No image can capture what it feels like to see tree after tree being eaten up for a purpose that appears negligibly rational. I need a video to show that.

But here (left) is an image taken high up the hill across from Warbler’s tree sit on Friday showing the tent allowed the protestors just off Highway 101. We used to be across the street where police officers now prevent us from getting to Warbler’s tree.

 

Trees down around Warbler on Monday

And here (right) is that same hillside today, Monday, three days later, with the trees down around Warbler’s ponderosa pine. This image of Warbler in her platform shows she is much more exposed. 

I like this photo below of my friend Alex standing by the roadside as it represents the loneliness I sometimes feel standing there by myself, holding a sign, getting flipped off for every 5 waves and honks I get, just meditating on the meaning of it all.

 

Today I was joined for a little while by a family of three. Amelia (right) had visited Warbler before and was distressed to see the trees coming down, the bulldozers hauling them away—it is rather like seeing a body dragged off if you actually love trees and might even be thinking about the 300 species that make their homes in an oak forest. Amelia wasn’t thinking about the 300 species, but when she arrived, she said, “I feel sad!” Her parents and I had found some bitter irony in all the police cars guarding a woman in a tree and the sign that pointed out more irony in having an army of police protecting a building project (below). Amelia told us, “It’s not funny!”And she was right.
It’s midnight, and my job requires that I do sleep. I will return to dredging up the history and future of the Bypass anon, as well as return to the forests that graced the entrance to Willits—already I use the past tense.

But still we rise. I begin to engage utter strangers in Willits to ask, “What do you think?” Theresa at the Laundromat said, “Thank you for asking! I’m anguished over the Bypass, but it’s so hard to talk about.” A woman at the toystore launched into a tirade against the Bypass, but admitted she wasn’t doing anything about it. A Channel 3 TV poll registered 70% against the Bypass.

When will the silent majority be heard? When we have enough facts out there floating in what’s left of the wetlands?