Redwood Summer was a 1990 series of protests against the Northern California logging industry, involving various groups. The goal was to raise awareness and appeal timber harvesting plans, but it caused tension between loggers and conservationists. Activists used direct action, but unsustainable logging continued. Some organizations shifted focus to conserving forests through parks and preserves.
Redwood Summer was a series of protests, rallies, and marches held against the Northern California logging industry in the summer of 1990. The organizational effort required to organize the event was formidable and involved the coordinated efforts of a number of groups, many of which were not directly affiliated with the environmental movement. The Redwood Summer events have been both enlightening and frustrating for attendees and have had a lasting impact on the environmental movement and logging industry.
In early 1990, Earth First! he began calling activists from around the world, asking them to participate in a series of coordinated events that were supposed to mimic the civil rights protests of the 1960s. Several organizations, including Food Not Bombs, Seeds of Peace, and International Workers of the World, have teamed up to help organize attendees, camps, and other logistics. Eventually, Redwood Summer had a number of base camps throughout Northern California, and thousands of activists, protesters, and ordinary citizens ended up taking part in Redwood Summer events.
The goal of Redwood Summer was to engage in nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience in hopes of raising public awareness of the Northern California logging industry. Additionally, environmental groups hoped to successfully appeal several major timber harvesting plans and change attitudes toward logging in Northern California. Ultimately, the demonstrations turned loggers against conservationists, causing severe pain in many small logging communities such as Humboldt and Fort Bragg.
Activists could participate in several forms of direct action during the Redwood Summer. Some activists have actually gone to logging sites to sit in front of bulldozers or chain themselves to trees in hopes of preventing active logging. Others have focused on fighting logging in the courts, appealing to logging plans and obtaining injunctions against logging of old growth forests. Many marched and demonstrated in cities up and down the Northern California coast, with an iconic image of Redwood Summer showing the blockade of the entire Fort Bragg Main Street right outside the entrance to the Georgia Pacific plant site.
The Redwood Summer events highlighted many of the problems facing the Northern California lumber industry. Many Northern California residents made a living from logging, even as the natural environment suffered heavily. Some logging communities greatly resented the presence of activists from other parts of the nation and the world, as communities felt that activists were unaware of the potential economic impacts of logging injunctions. Activists, on the other hand, felt that logging was not sustainable or good for the environment and wanted to see greater environmental awareness and a permanent end to the logging industry.
Despite the events of Redwood Summer, unsustainable logging continued in Northern California. Some of the old growth banks that saw heated battles during the Redwood Summer have since been torn down. While the logging industry is less profitable than it once was and many people are more environmentally conscious, some activists fear logging will continue until there are no more trees to cut down. Several organizations have shifted their focus to conserving Northern California’s forests through parks and preserves, rather than trying to fight logging.
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