On April 22, 1989, Earth Day, the Ancient Forest Rescue Expedition launches from Pike Place Market. Mitch Friedman, a young environmentalist, gives a speech to a crowd calling for a slowdown of the logging of the Northwest’s old-growth forests. The expedition will tour the United States with a truck and flatbed trailer carrying a 731-year-old Douglas fir log to educate a curious public. The spectacle of a Northwest log being shown around the nation will attract attention to old-growth logging controversies and help nationalize the issue. The expedition, supported by dozens of organizations and donations, will stop in 44 states during its successful monthlong journey before ending its tour in Portland, Oregon.
Bringing Northwest Forests to the Nation
By the mid-1980s, controversies in Northwest forests had become a leading political conflict. The U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigated the ecological harms caused by logging old-growth forests. The northern spotted owl became the symbolic center of the battle because it depended on large acreages of ancient forests. When federal land agencies proposed limits to timber sales to prevent endangerment of the owls and other species, they upended the Northwest’s economic and political order.
Meanwhile, many Northwest environmentalists had grown tired of the compromises hammered out by mainstream organizations and turned to more radical activities. Activists organized tree sitting to stop logging old-growth forests. These activists in organizations such as Earth First! sought actions that would produce drama and attention more than long lobbying efforts in boardrooms. But stunts, like dumping sawdust in Forest Service offices and blockading logging roads, often backfired in public opinion. In addition, some activists, including Mitch Friedman, who founded Conservation Northwest in 1989, worried that such actions obscured the cause they were seeking to protect: the old-growth forests.
During a wilderness conference, a somewhat bored and frustrated Friedman had a brainstorm. He wanted to drive a logging truck with a giant old-growth log across the country to illustrate to the broader public the scale of these trees and the issues surrounding their logging. This kind of action offered a different kind of spectacle from the civil disobedience happening in the woods. Part of the strategy emerged as Friedman and others realized they needed to wage the political battle outside the Northwest. Timber dominated the regional economy, exercising powerful influence among politicians and the public. To stop old-growth logging, activists had to take the issue national. The strategy made sense, because much of the logging occurred on national forest lands, which all the American people held stakes in. "Obviously, one can’t take an entire ecosystem on a tour of the country," wrote Michele Miller of Earth First!, who joined the Ancient Forest Rescue Expedition. "But perhaps people could get an idea of what is happening if someone brought part of the forest, even just one big tree, to the city" ("'The Big One' ...").
The activists rented a flatbed truck and searched for an old-growth log they could buy. According to journalist William Dietrich, they "told log yards that they represented a group of Indians and artists seeking a log for a totem pole or similar artwork" (Dietrich, 149). In Port Angeles, Friedman and Ric Bailey, a former logger and truck driver-turned-activist, bought and loaded an ancient log cut from the Olympic National Forest. It cost more than $3,000, lay 20-30 feet long (sources differ) with a 7-foot diameter and weighed 15 tons. The size astonished the public. "It was like hauling a dinosaur around," wrote Dietrich (p. 151). The expedition called it The Big One.
Activists pinned dates to the tree rings to show how old the log was. Dates included Marco Polo travels, the Declaration of Independence, and the election of President Ronald Reagan, during whose presidency the tree was logged. A sign attached to the side read, "Save Our Ancient Forests!" The truck’s mudflaps included messages, telling the public to contact their elected officials and to "Stop the Kill! On our public lands" (Bauman).
On the Road
The expedition garnered attention wherever it went, except for New York City, where a large log on a flatbed fazed no one. At the first stop, in Bismarck, North Dakota, only 14 people showed up. But Friedman saw that as an important start because the audience was intrigued. By chance, President George H. W. Bush was in Bismark the same day and planted a tree across town. Local news coverage juxtaposed the president planting a seedling with a federal agency allowing the massive tree to be cut in Washington.
In Utah, the Deseret News described the log as a "giant," "a monster of the vegetable kingdom" (Bauman). In both St. Louis, Missouri, and Long Island, New York, men saw the log and decided to move to Oregon to work on the issue. At a New Jersey rest stop, people wrote checks for up to $100. The expedition held two rallies in the nation’s capital, complete with slide shows and folk music. In Indiana, some 600 children ran out to greet the truck as it drove around residential neighborhoods. In Kansas, a trucker told members of the expedition that he knew trees had feelings, an acknowledgement of intrinsic value that "flooded us with hope," according to Miller in the Earth First! newsletter. When The Big One stopped at Ohio State University, Miller told students that the present cutting rate would doom old-growth forests within a decade, and they would be unable to grow back. "Destroying the last ancient forests for tree farms will not avert hard times in the Northwest," Miller said, "it will only delay them a few years. If we allow this destruction, the land will bear only regrets for future generations" (Gable). Bailey, one of the truck drivers, told audiences, "Cutting down ancient forests to make boards is like using the Mona Lisa to wrap hamburger" (Gable). Having earlier worked as a logger gave Bailey added credibility.
At each stop, the expedition sold t-shirts, posters, and other materials, and took donations to keep the truck moving and support the expedition. People signed petitions and pledged to write their representatives and senators. Others learned about and pledged to commit to civil disobedience.
The tour lasted a month and hit 44 states. Ahead of time, organizers decided to avoid stops in Montana, fearing damage to the vehicle. More than 60 sponsors participated, including a range from mainstream environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club and Audubon to more radical organizations such as Earth First! and Sea Shepherd, along with the Lummi Nation and foundations. At its conclusion, Miller wrote that it had been "successful and inspiring" (Miller, 8), convincing Friedman to organize similar cross-country expeditions in 1990 and 1991.
More: An interview with Mitch Friedman
