"Bare" Mountain tree-sit -- Indy Media centre established.
This is a CALL-OUT for SOLIDARITY & ACTION
For those who do not know already, there is a culturally significant area of forest in Langford that is slated to be destroyed by the new development of a proposed cloverleaf-style freeway interchange. Previously entitled the "Bear Mountain Interchange," it is currently known as the Spencer Road Interchange. Currently, the area is being protected by activists who are occupying several trees and a sacred cave in the path of the proposed interchange.
A statement made on behalf of the treesitters declares: "We are here to halt/prevent development of the interchange until further public discourse regarding the needs of the local indigenous peoples and residents of Langford are addressed, and the caves are protected."
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We, the Outspoken Wordsmiths (Blank Space & strong cottonwoods), are committing to providing a temporary independant media center, near the sit, in hopes of documenting the treatment of our comrades and the local ecosystem.
The 2 of us (alongside many volunteers and supporters) will be documenting the defilment and destruction taking place surrounding the Sacred Cave and UNCEDED Songhees Territory. All activities regarding the Towering Cedar Groves, Douglas Fir Elders, Arbutus / Garry Oak Meadows and those individuals 'sitting' there, passivley resisting arrest, will be recorded, archived and circulated to the masses. Unmediated.
Check out the daily reports in print at Camus Books (Quadra & King) or Darkhorse Books (Johnson near Broad);
or on the web @ http://treesit.blogspot.org and our website (To Be Established).
We need your support because we cannot do this alone. Many other individuals and associations, local and abroad, disagree with the 'Bear Mountain Interchange's' proposed plans for development and their 9 phase development project. Together we can make change!
Independant Media can bridge our groups and spread our words & ideas. Lets take advantage of this now!!!
WE NEED YOU!!!
1) To come out to the treesit and TAKE PICTURES & VIDEO of how we are being treated.
In past experiences of passive resistance & civil disobedience, individuals have been treated very horribly by 'peace officers', in hopes that they will move the protesters. It is also a known fact that those resisting arrest are denied thier basic human rights by the same individuals. This is what we hope to record. The Denial of Food and Water for starters!! In other treesits, loggers and police have used pressure points, pepper spray, various gases (tear/CS and smoke), and of course intimidation to remove protesters. Yet we have stood strong many times over and have won numerous battles as a result of having documentation of police mistreatment. Please come out with a friend or group to document our comrades defending our Sacred trees and waterways.
2) To volunteer at our media center.
We are looking to have daily reports available on many outlets as soon as the Center is up and running. VIRTUALY: through the blog ( treesit.blogspot.com), emails/listserves and our website updates (sson to come); and PHYSICALY: by article writing, postering and pamphleting. We are also looking for people to HELP DISTRIBUTE our pamphlets and daily reports to other locations via bike or motor vehicle. You could comeover for a sleepover too, just let us know first. Graphic designers, Writers, Reporters, Videographers and Web Designers, Radio hosts, and all other individuals interested in creating media surrounding this event are welcome to participate.
3) To cook and bring food to us.
This is soooooooo important! We have this healthy food addiction that is so easy to sastiate. We are looking for non-perishable and/or prepared food & snacks, hot drinks and meals. Ready-to-eat food donations of all sorts are whole-heartedly appreciated. There will be a calendar at the centre which will help us stay organized as to when we need food. This food thing is very serious, please help us out directly with this if you can!!
Thank you for your solidarity.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Peace and Justice,
the Outspoken Wordsmiths
theoutspokenwordsmiths@gmail.com
I think it is time to go to the mountain for a little camput in the trees. Can we go NOW? I think so.
F.Y.I. for Greater Victoria.
----- Original Message -----
From: Protect Goldstream
(From: Ingmar Lee )
Hi All,
As we approach the "mid December" start date for the clearing of forest along the proposed $35,000,000 Bear Mountain Clover-leaf Interchange route, -a date which has been announced, and is currently posted on the
City of Langford website-, direct-action, non-violent civil-disobedient efforts to defend the forest are in full swing. Numerous platforms have been installed at canopy level and stocked with food, traverse lines have
been rigged, personal lock-down devices have been built and distributed, and work continues. The forest defenders are determined to protect the trees at all cost, and the many other significant values which abound
on the site.
The project proponents, namely, the City of Langford, the Ministry of Transportation, Golder Associates and the Bear Mountain developers, have ignored concerns that the Golder Associates "Environmental Assessment"
(EA) and "Archaeological Impact Assessment" (AIA) are both seriously flawed. The Golder EA was completed in December 2006, but was only released for public view a month ago.
It has since been altered. In the original document, which first appeared on the City of Langford website last month, "Archaeology" was listed as being one of the 4 parameters to be examined within the scope of the
report, but discussion of the significant 80 meter long karst cave, known as the Langford Lake Cave (LLC) is missing. The City of Langford's Bear Mountain Interchange Project Manager Tim Stevens was asked about the
omission, but there has been no explanation. Since then, "Archaeology" has been removed from the Golder Associates EA entirely, and there is still no discussion of the cave. Golder Assocates did see the LLC during their EA survey after a local resident showed it to them, but they determined that the cave was too dangerous to enter, so they did not do any assessment. It is also significant that Golder makes no mention of the numerous CMT's which can be seen directly in the middle of their new alignment. They will be destroyed, without proper examination if the project proceeds.
The Bear Mountain Interchange (this was the official terminology for the project until last year when it was mysteriously changed to "Spencer Road Interchange") route was previously "realigned" to avoid the cave, -but
with no scientific basis whatsoever. Without any examination of the cave, the developers altered the route to avoid the LLC by about 20 metres, presumably because of the public outrage which resulted from thedestruction of the sacred Spaet Cave by the Bear Mountain developers last year. The new alignment was based on a 20 year old map of the cave, which indicated that it was 40 metres long, but the cave has recently been re-mapped to 80 metres. And whereas the original alignment centerline went right through the LLC, it has now been diverted to run directly through a series of significant karst sinkholes, which were not noticed by Golder Associates in either their EA or their AIA. In addition to the more than 30 sinkholes, there are also a number of much larger "kettles" in the area which received no mention in the reports. Karst formations often result in
enormous cathedral-sized subterranean caverns, and all these sinkholes are clear evidence that something is going on under there which needs to be examined. The crater-like sinkholes are so obvious that the forest floor
looks like Passchendaele after WW1.
Caves hold numerous important values, which include speleological, paleontological, archaeological, hydrological, environmental, natural historic, historic, cultural and recreational values. In section 4.2 of
the AIA Golder claims to have done "..a surface inspection of the interchange alignments using parellel traverses with approximately 2 to 5 metre spacing....A total of 142 shovel tests were excavated within the
proposed 50 m wide by approximately 2,500 m long right-of-way. In addition, 58 geotechnical pits were monitored for archaeological materials."
Nevertheless, they missed all these sinkholes. It is extremely concerning that Golder, -the Gordon Campbell government's environmental assessor of choice for numerous large projects across the province would miss these
significant features, -features which are important enough to be potential show-stoppers. In this case, such a serious omission from these Golder Associates tax-payer-funded assessments, which purport to be conducted to
examine for potentially show-stopping features, can only be characterized as ignorant, or purposely negligent.
In spite of the imminence of the announced mid-December start-up date, there remain several obstacles which the City of Langford, Ministry of Transportation, Golder Associates and the Bear Mountain developers need to
overcome before they can commence cutting down the forest. The flawed Golder reports have not, apparently, been approved by the BC Archaeology Branch yet, and the project cannot proceed until that happens. As far as I
am aware from my communications with the Ministry of Transportation's Bear Mountain Interchange spokesman, Ed Storm, no machinations have yet taken place regarding what to do about the tree-sitting protesters who now
occupy the site. Their choices are to get a court injunction to remove the protest, or to make arrests using ample existing laws. The court injunction may not be forthcoming, as was seen in the precedent-setting
decision of Justice Quijano, who refused to issue the Campbell government an injunction to remove protesters from Cathedral Grove in 2004. The government was unwilling to make arrests using existing laws, and their
150-slot parking-lot project in the forest there was finally defeated after a two year treesitting stand-off. Perhaps the Campbell government did not believe that their arguments for the giant pay-parking lot would stand
up in court. Given the outrageous collusive evolution of the Bear Mountain development on the outskirts of Victoria, currently Vancouver Island's largest and most hideous development project, we think that they will be
very reluctant to have all the wheelings and dealings exposed before the court, which would happen if the protesters get arrested using the existing legal options.
And the fact is, they've got a lot of tricky work ahead of them to dislodge the protesters, should push come to shove. I have repeatedly requested information about whatever processes are being undertaken right now to deal with the protesters.
Yesterdays exhaustive visit to the forest by undercover RCMP officers notwithstanding, they've got their work cut out for them before they can proceed. And on that point about the RCMP officers, I have appealed to the
government to avoid a surprise-attack of the site with a taser-brandishing SWAT team. At Cathedral Grove, the RCMP had the decency to advise us that we would receive ample warning prior to them arriving to remove the
protest. They did that out of concern for our safety. Sending out undercover officers to scope out the site an obvious provocation. People at the treesits are already risking much and are putting their lives on the line by the very nature of what they are doing. The RCMP should avoid making the situation even more dangerous.
If any of Victoria's professional environmental organizations should have a change of heart and wish to contribute to this important grass-roots effort to stop the appalling Bear Mountain development, their support will be most welcome.
Cheers, Ingmar
The police and the Langford bylaw enforcement officers were out there today. They took pictures of everything and everyone they saw in a very thorough search of the forest trails. They took pictures of us, we took pictures and footage of them taking pictures of us taking pictures of them...They took down the two huge banners that were hung on the side of the Trans-Canada. The banners urged people to honour Coast Salish people and halt the destructive development. They threatened us with arrest if we crossed an invisible line they had 'drawn' in front of the trees that the banner was hung on.
The RCMP even took GPS readings of certain spots within the camp, and the bylaw guys were flashing their camera at everyone. This is the evidence they are collecting for the injuction they will probably try to file this Monday. They took a picture of one of the protesters using the shitter. When asked why they would want such a phot they responded that they were to take pictures of 'everything.'
So we need more people out there with video cameras, cameras and lots of spare batteries for the cameras so we can get all the action.
and he will be interested in any action by police to remove trees for developers. he can be reached at 595 2911. great article igmar. Also i noticed very little advertisement on the hwy. Could whoever is in charge of notifying the public get in touch with me re my tarpaper revolution. Ancient clown told me that the first four letters of evolution are love. rev-evolution.
also to public who visit forest area. I went in last week and encountered a ninja warrior. In playfull encounter jousting with sticks ;my stick was far larger then his; i almost lost my eye .i was happy to meet that most beautifu; forest nurse who qave me neccesary care and compassion. And to the ninja who was conveniently up a tree in a 125 foot perch yesterday when i went in. I will be back and I am getting smarter.david