Walking before dawn to Elfland, where the trees, animals, and people live in peace. But not today; today progress loomed. Not progress in the development of human compassion and respect for that which is free and beautiful but doesn’t bring profit and convenience, but the cold relentless progress that crushes life and beauty without regard for its intrinsic value and right to exist. Walking across the bridge and up the hill, I was quickly startled by movement up ahead. “Is it animal, human or cop?” I asked myself. An upright stance quickly clued me that it was one of the latter. I ducked into the shadows of a circle of trees. Blankets wrapped about their shoulders told me they were probably not cops. But just then, I heard a group of jovial laughs, then a car with searchlights blazing came around the trees that were blocking the road, followed by about twenty cops on foot making a sweep through Elfland. They passed me, making light of the situation by joking about elves and the silly student protesters. I just layed there until they passed. But there were still about six cops standing on the sidewalk in a circle, shooting the bull and what not.

As the sun rose, I saw that the circle of trees I was in would not continue to shadow my hiding place for very much longer. So I decided I had to exit out the side of Elfland and down the ravine that the bridge crosses. As I quietly exited, keeping the trees I had been hiding in between myself and the circle of babbling cops on the street, I was frozen by motion toward the ravine. I could barely make out about four white tales bobbing up and down. TO my delight, I realized that they were deer, on their way in for a morning feast of autumn grass. I allowed them to pass undisturbed; and sadness filled my heart for the first of many times that day. They had no way of knowing that their favorite morning grass-eating area was to be desecrated this day. And the swarms of hired thugs masquerading as “peace” officers offered them a fine welcome in the meadow–I’m sure. This reaffirmed to me that my cause was just.

I quickly ran into the ravine, listening for sounds of pursuit; there was none. I ran down it and then up the other side to a hiding place. As I caught my breath and gathered my thoughts, the chainsaws began.

The obvious up and down throttling was clearly a ploy for attention; and knowing there was an ambush waiting, I went toward it anyway. My reasoning? I figured they were trying to assess whether it was safe to start cutting as well (I was wrong about that, our safety was never taken into account that day. Trees were falling all around us as the emphasis was clearly upon arrest and continuing the cutting.) By the time I reached the loggers, the chainsaws had ceased and they were all just standing around in a circle smoking and waiting around for the O.K. to start the killing.

I got closer, breathed in deep a couple of times, and let out a high pitched wolf howl that startled the loggers and brought their attention in my direction. I whooped a couple short howls for good measure and then quickly fled down the raving and up the other side to a hollowed tree that obscured all vision of me but had some peep holes to view pursuers. Nobody came.

Shortly, I began to wonder and despair that I was the only one out there directly opposing the killing. Or maybe the cops had already caught the people in the forest and the only people left were those protesting on the sidewalk. As I sat there, thinking about the futility of protest in such and undemocratic society, a chainsaw started again; and I ran toward it.

I heard the nauseating grind and scream of the chainsaw cease; and it felt as if the whole forest paused for a moment. The pause was broken by movement toward the tops of the majestic trees that are home to owl, woodpecker, squirrel, termite, and fungus. One was falling. The silence was broken by the last fibers holding the tree upright screaming as they gave way to the relentless torque of gravity pulling the tree down. The falling tree continued faster and faster on its downward arc–ripping as it fell, the limbs from still standing trees in its path as far away as it was tall. The sound of breaking limbs grew to a crescendo. Then came the worst part. The full, low, and powerful thump as the tree hit the Earth. I was not prepared for this part. My heart felt as if it had fallen to the ground with the tree. The sadness reverberated through my body as I took complete responsibility for my species behavior toward the Earth and everything that would be free.

Then came anger. I stood there watching this idiotic beef-fed logger holding his chain-saw like it was his dick and shoving it into another of Mother Earth’s creations. I though of the government of California disregarding the will of the people of Santa Cruz County and denying our appeal to this stupid tree-killing plan. Then I thought of the Regents, appointed by Reagan, Deukmeijian, and next Wilson; and I wanted to blow this fucking worthless government and all it stands for into smithereens! But I calmed down knowing that this government will perish soon, and the most immediate problem was stopping the killing in front of me and avoiding the hired thugs trying to arrest me.

I breathed in deep again, and let out a wolf howl as loud as my lungs could push. My voice cracked a few times as my howl turned into crying. As tears ran down my cheek I heard the other howls start, and others in all directions! My spirits lifted as the number of howls grew. The chainsaws stopped as our voices were heard. Then the cops came. Noisy and laden down with guns, helmets, and billy-clubs, the sight was almost pathetic. These people seemed so out of touch with the beautiful place they were in. It’s no wonder that they beat and abused those of us they did catch; to their patriarchal dominance-oriented minds we were just like aboriginal people that must be crushed for their cancer-like progress to continue. But they were coming none-the-less.

I ran, dodged, and then hid between some trees. My Heart pumping, lungs begging for air, head and hands concealed behind camouflaged clothing. The cop passed me by. Smiling as I crouched, I could hear the howls of my fellow “wolves.”

After resting I made my way quickly toward the logging area again. Running quickly, I was suddenly passed by several people running the opposite direction yelling “Cops coming!”

I switched directions and quickly ducked behind a tree to find a familiar face looking at me. “Hey brother,” I said, “I thought you were going to stay out front with the protest.”

“Yeah, so did I,” he said, “but when I heard the chainsaws, I had to come in.”

“Excellent,” I said, “let’s give ‘em hell!”

The day went on similarly all day long. We would howl, stop the chainsaws for maybe twenty seconds, and then be chased away by the cops while more trees fell. Our numbers slowly thinned as more and more were caught–and abused. We would hide and rest, or take a break from the action by going up to the protest along the street and talking to friends until depression was replaced by anger. Then back into the forest filled with energy and determination. We knew that this struggle would be lost. But it takes many days and nights to build a college. And if it was wrong then, it is still wrong today. The struggle continues…

Over four hundred days ago, a handful of activists climbed up into the trees on Science Hill as a symbol of resistance to the university’s plan to destroy 120 acres of campus forest. For the past 13 months, the tree sit has drawn attention to UCSC’s reckless plan to develop upper campus without regard for the welfare of one of Santa Cruz’s last wild ecosystems.

At approximately 8 AM this morning, the tree sit drew to a close as police seized control of Science Hill, arresting one Tree Sitter. Later, a tree cutting service hired by the university cut down a grove of 100 year old redwood trees to make way for construction of a new Bioscience building.

The three clusters of redwoods which have now been clearcut were inhabited since November 7, 2007, when over 500 students, alumni, and community members rallied in opposition to the University’s “Long Range Development Plan”. The Tree Sit and the University entered mediation to find a solution to this conflict, but the University was unwilling to modify any of their plans, despite the devastating effect that upper campus development will have on the Santa Cruz ecosystem. Precious watershed regions, unique manzanita groves and hundred-year old redwood forests will be destroyed by the University’s development of the wild lands just north of campus. The homes of such rare native animals as the burrowing owl and the endangered red-legged frog will be irreparably damaged.

The Tree Sit tactic was employed due to the University’s failure to meaningfully address the concerns of Santa Cruz city and county officials, community members, environmentalists and UCSC faculty and students. Instead of acting upon the concerns of the thousands of people who have voiced opposition to increased University construction, UCSC has spent tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to hire riot police to intimidate community members who oppose their plans.

The end of the Tree Sit is not the end of resistance to the Long Range Development Plan. The determination and integrity that sustained the 13 month occupation will continue to incite action against the Long Range Development Plan. The diverse communities that united to oppose the destruction of upper campus are renewed in their commitment to resistance.

In opposition to the Long Range Development Plan:

Tues., Nov. 25: Meet at the Kresge Student Lounge (UCSC), 6pm
(followed by potluck and screening of “Broken Rainbow,” a documentary
on indigenous resistance to coal mining in Arizona)

The LRDP affects everyone here.
Obviously it affects the 120 acres of forest and chaparral that would
be destroyed, the living beings
who will be tortured and the genetic heritage tampered with in
corporate-subsidiary labs, and the water supply and ecological
stability of the Santa Cruz area. But the LRDP is way more than a
“green,” “hippie” issue about the forest and the animals. It’s about
an institution that’s run by people who care about nothing but money
and power. UCSC
has turned Science Hill into a police state for the benefit of
pharmaceutical companies: already over half a million dollars have
been spent on security to harass the Tree Sit; that’s half a million
dollars that didn’t go towards regular workers’ wages, housing,
lowering tuition, students services of any kind, or anything else
useful to students and other living things. Expanding admissions (when
the UC system has already cut next year’s admissions by 10,000 due
to budget cuts—will not solve UCSC’s
money problems, but only stretch already strained resources. The
administration says the guards and cops are there to protect “public
safety,” but when they intimidate, arrest, chase and assault us, all
they are protecting is the flow of corporate profits into the
chancellor’s and regents’ pockets. They are suppressing, not
protecting, our ability to make ourselves heard, and our desire to
live in a healthy landscape. The school has sued its own students and even arrested a
faculty member who participated in peaceful protest. Students,
faculty, trees, animals—we are all just sources of profit in their
eyes, just like how the medicines developed in the new lab will be
produced not to heal people, but because they make money.

Our time is short.
Winter break is approaching and if the past is any indication, this is
the time the school is most likely to move in and attempt to forcibly
evict the Tree Sit.
Five supporters have been arrested in the past few weeks, a level of repression
that hasn’t been seen in almost a year. What can we do to resist the
plan and put pressure on the administration? Tuesday, Nov. 25 at 7pm
there will be a meeting in the Kresge Student Lounge (followed by
Indigenous Film Night). We will also be gathering for a speak-out at
the Tree Sit in the Science Hill Parking Lot on Dec. 7, and a large
crowd there could show the administration that people care and are
willing to mobilize and resist. They need their corporate sponsors to
see UCSC as a nice, calm, safe investment for their schemes, and
community action can threaten that. What else? Talk to people about
the LRDP, make your own flyers (or download these) and put
them up or hand them out, organize protests, do public art projects
and creative publicity stunts, do class projects about the LRDP’s
potential impact, educate yourself about government and corporate
power and the struggles against them, think about what you can do to
draw attention and obstruct their plans!

We are the people and we can make an impact! And we must. Or else
someday, the last tree is gonna fall and kill us all…

LRDPresistance.org
StopUCSC.org

–
LRDPresistance.org

On Nov. 7, 2007, people took to the redwoods at the site of the proposed Biomedical Sciences building to show their opposition to destroying 120 acres of upper campus and having an additional 4,500 student taking from Santa Cruz’s limited resources.  The protestors were surrounded by police as they hoisted platforms into the redwoods on Science Hill.  Meanwhile, a rally in opposition to the University’s plans met at the Baytree Bookstore to hear people speaking on why UCSC’s Long Range Development Plan was bad for students, faculty and the community as a whole.  The rally turned into a march that headed towards the newly-launched Tree Sit in order to supply food and water to the people in the trees.  The police, with large forces called in from Berkeley, tried to prevent the rally from sending up humanitarian aid.  The crowd did not back down, even when the cops turned violent, and eventually the cops backed down.  The protestors celebrated by sending food up to the Tree Sitters and setting up a ground occupation in the parking lot under the trees.

A year later, and the Tree Sitters have been through a lot — pepper-spraying cops, ninety-mile-an-hour winds, and disgruntled administrative messages — but they are still holding strong.  The city and the University made a deal in which the University agreed to pay “normal city taxes” for their construction, but the deal did nothing to change the degradation of upper campus nor did it change the projected enrollment.  The need for grassroots community involvement is greater than ever.  Now is the time to tell the University “No construction in upper campus!”

Read at the October 7 Gathering

Hello, hello and thanks for coming out here! Since we’re all gathered together to celebrate the 11 month anniversary of the Tree Sit, and since I have a lot of time on my hands, I thought I might write a few words to share with you all what I’ve been thinking about, why I’m up here and what it means to me to be involved in resisting the LRDP.

Like most of you, I’m sure, I love this forest and these mountains, especially the part I’m most familiar with which is called “upper campus.” If you haven’t been up there yet, go exploring for a while! It is a beautiful community full of amazing plants and animals that the indigenous people of this area knew as food, medicine, teachers, neighbors and relatives. Too many wild places like this have been destroyed and too many are facing destruction now. So why make a stand here?

Let me ask you to consider first that to have the idea of “wild places” we must have “tame” or “civilized” places. The native people of this area had no such concepts. They spoke an Ohlonean language and most of the year they lived in villaes of houses made of tule reeds from the marshes by the shore. Around this time of year, they would trek up to the mountains to gather acorns, which they stored and ate year round. When they came back down, they set fire to the meadows so that in spring, grass shoots would bear more seeds and attract more animals to hunt.

This way of life sustained their culture for thousands of years. The way of life brought by Spanish colonialism and, later, the industrialized U.S., enslaved and destroyed most of the Ohlone and much of their world, replacing it with lime kilns, railroads, highways, strip malls, suburbs and universities. There are the tame places. Henry Cowell cut down this forest once already to get rich and the UC Regents want to do it again for the same reason.

So this is why the forest is not the whole issue. The destruction of upper campus’ diverse ecosystem and endangered species habitat, as well as the genetic manipulations and the torture of our animal cousins they want this new lab for, result from the same source: a culture that regards the world and its inhabitants not as a sacred living community, but as resources to be used in its ever-expanding system of technological controls. UCSC is also involved in a project at Moffett Field in San Jose to blend biotechnology, nanotechnology and advanced computing. Who knows what horrors will be possible if they can penetrate our very cells with their machines?

We have a choice. We do not have to accept this. In 1792, native resisters burned down the mission of Santa Cruz, freeing hundreds of slaves. On Nov. 7, 2007, hundreds of Tree Sit supporters fought back effectively against police using batons and pepper spray to try to stop supplies from reaching the Tree Sit. Over the winter, police attacked and arrested a number of people they accused of supporting the Tree Sit… but here we are! Not just because a few people climbed some trees, but because a whole bunch of people stuck together. We don’t have to settle for alientated roles in this society and its institutions like so many gears in a machine. It’s true that this is a fight against the force of progress, but what they call progress is fighting a still more powerful force; the rhythms and cycles of the earth, of life itself and of living communities. We want to live in sustainable balance, like the Ohlone.

Even if you don’t agree with everything I’ve said I hope it’s obvious that the occupation of these trees has created a space for people to come together, not just to fight the LRDP, but to have this dialogue. What is progress? Do we really want it? why exactly is the LRDP unacceptable to me or to you? Those who rule us and who profit from the destruction of tribes, forests and other communities, who would bend and shape us all into parts in their machine, do not want people to have these kinds of gatherings and conversations.

This is a struggle for the kinds of relationships we want to have among people, and between people and the land. This didn’t start with the LRDP and it won’t end with it. Even if they tear down the Tree Sit, we’ll do something else. Let’s keep organizing ourselves and keep getting in their way!

Join us as we experience the beauty of upper campus together. We will walk through this special place, sharing stories, plants, local history and our connection to this place. We will talk about what makes the forest of upper campus special to us.

Bring plenty of water, some snacks, and be prepared to walk. The walk will probably last about 2 hours. Meet at the Tree Sit on Science Hill.

To get to the Tree Sit: From the UCSC main entrance, take a free shuttle to the Science Hill/Engineering bus stop. The Tree Sit is across the street next to the Physical Sciences building. We will be meeting under the trees at 3pm on Wednesday, October 15th to embark on this walk together. See you then!

Music! Food! Info!

1pm at Red Hill (aka Science Hill)

For almost a year now, forest defenders have been occupying trees in the Science Hill Parking Lot in resistance to the UC’s Long Range Development Plan (LRDP), which would destroy 120 acres of forest in Upper Campus, home to the critically endangered Burrowing Owl and Red-Legged Frog, and an important watershed area. By adding 4500 new students, the LRDP will raise rents, increase traffic and strain the water supply of the Santa Cruz area. New science facilities slated for construction included expanded programs in genetic engineering and animal torture as well as high-tech military research.

Since the settlement of the lawsuit between the city and the UC, grassroots community action is the only obstacle still standing in the way of the LRDP. Please come show your support for the Tree Sit and your opposition to the LRDP! Bring friends, food (especially non perishables), water (in sealed containers), instruments, your voice and your thoughts! With the school year starting up again it’s important not to waste time in developing our resistance. Only by coming together can we make an impact on the choices that will affect all of us living in this landscape.

After watching the destruction of the Memorial Oak Grove at Berkeley last weekend, the Tree Sitters at UCSC are on guard for this last week of summer. “It was hard to see those oaks get cut,” said Tree Sitter Raven, “especially knowing that it could happen here.”

The UCSC Tree Sitters say that their presence is more important than ever since the Santa Cruz City Council settled their lawsuit with the University. The settlement gives the City Council’s blessing for UCSC to begin the first phase of their construction plan that will eventually destroy 120 acres of forest and add at least 4,500 new students to the area. The first building slated for construction is the Biomedical Sciences Facility and the Tree Sitters are occupying the place where it is to be built.

UCSC Tree Sitters have taken a stand against construction before it begins. Precious watershed regions, unique manzanita groves and hundred-year old redwood forests will be destroyed by the University’s unfettered construction. The homes of such rare native animals as the burrowing owl and the endangered red-legged frog will be devastated. The University’s plan sacrifices the unique ecosystems, as well as the highly esteemed liberal arts education that attracts many people to Santa Cruz. Following the trend of privatizing public universities, current students are paying more for education and receiving less.

Three clusters of redwoods have been inhabited since November 7, 2007, when over 500 students, alumni, and community members rallied in opposition to the University’s plans. Other tree sits have been added, using the same technique of carefully securing pre-built platforms to several redwoods without harming the trees. Tree sitters have continued their vigil through police attacks, winter storms, ninety-mile an hour winds and the long days of summer.

We apologize for not getting a message out to our email list sooner, but have all been busy and exhausted by the mediation process with UCSC.

As you no doubt have heard from the recent press, a settlement has been reached with UCSC over all of the existing lawsuits with the City and County of Santa Cruz, CLUE, the Rural Bonny Doon Association, and eleven individual litigants.

While significant progress was made, this settlement falls far short of our objective of limiting the negative impacts of UCSC growth on our community.  UCSC is still allowed to grow to 19,500 students and we did not gain any concession to limit growth of any future growth plan.  But we did get some significant concessions and given the legal realities and the vast financial resources of the UC Regents, we feel we negotiated the best deal we could for the community under difficult conditions.

CLUE maintained that a reasonable settlement should have included no new vehicle trips to the main campus, just as Stanford University agreed to after a prolonged and bitter fight over their recent growth plans.  However, the City believes—astonishingly to us—that with “intersection improvements” key intersections on the Westside can accommodate another 20,000 vehicle trips per day.  This is about a 40% increase in traffic above today’s level, yet Mission Street is already the most traveled roadway (excluding freeways) in the entire County.  Though UCSC will pay for a portion of these “improvements”, all of us will endure increased noise, congestion, safety issues, and air pollutants. New traffic on the Westside from all UCSC growth — including the main campus, the Marine Sciences Campus, and 2300 Delaware Avenue — will add about 9,500 new vehicle trips, a 37% increase in UCSC-generated traffic.  When coupled with the approved project at 2120 Delaware, the Safeway expansion, and the New Leaf project, much of the 20,000 new trips the City believes is possible will be accounted for and other new traffic-producing development will not be possible.

While UCSC has promised to house a higher percentage of new students on-campus than it has in the past, in the best case, an additional 1500 students will seek housing off-campus. This will bring the total number of students housed on-campus to 52%, a far cry from the 70% it promised in 1988.

Unfortunately, the settlement did not resolve many significant environmental issues.  Increased traffic, along with the logging and urbanizing of over 120 acres of forest, will effectively preclude the possibility of Santa Cruz reducing its carbon footprint to 1990 levels as required by State law AB32.  There will also be increased pressure to augment water supply with expensive and fossil fuel hungry desalination.  UCSC growth will violate the Air Quality Management Plan of Monterey Bay.  UCSC also declined to develop a campus-wide Habitat Conservation Plan as recommended by U.S. Fish & Wildlife for rare and endangered species.

About two thirds of the UCSC growth and logging is slated for the undeveloped upper campus, beloved by hikers, runners, and cyclists.  UCSC agreed to seek approval from LAFCO (Local Agency Formation Commission) to have City water and sewer services extended to the upper campus.  This is in keeping with Measure J, which City voters approved with an 80% vote. Though the City and County agreed not to oppose UCSC’s LAFCO application, CLUE made no such concession.

CLUE will fully participate in the public LAFCO process to ensure that all relevant environmental issues in any UCSC development application are considered and hope that you and all concerned citizens will also do so.

Thank you for your past support, and we hope that you will continue to support us as we seek to limit negative impacts and restrain unreasonable UCSC growth.

Best regards,

Don Stevens
(on behalf of the CLUE Executive Committee)