etry but as fragile as an icicle. It lacks toughness. Toughness isachieved through a process called tempering. Place the pin in yourkitchen oven and bake (temper) for an hour at 525℉ immediatelyafter quenching. More than one pin can be tempered at a time.

Now you have a super pin.A simpler alternative is:2) Dowel Pins. These are used for aligning hunks of machinery,

like the two halves of a Volkswagen engine. Dowel pins are soldin the common fractional diameters (see your Yellow Pages underFasteners). Maximum lengths vary with the diameter. For example,3/16 inch pins run to 2 inches long, 1 /4 inch to 2 1/2 inches, and5/16 to 3 inches long.

These pins have been heat treated so that their interiors are veryhard and their outer surfaces are super hard. For a given diameter,the shear strength of dowel pins is over three times that of rebaror welding rod.

Soft, stainless steel dowel pins are sold as well as a heat treatedvariety of stainless. Skip the stainless products. Insist on commonalloy steel dowels. They’re the strongest and the least expensive.

Because drill rod and dowels are much stronger than other steelpins, they are effective tree spikes in smaller diameters. Thereforedrilling holes for them requires less effort. Hand drilling holes forthese pins can be done with an old-fashioned bit and brace. Twelveand eighteen inch long drill bits are available and “lean-against”braces make drilling easier. And drilling by hand is silent!

Placing pins deep in the tree by drilling farther into it is best.More expensive metal detectors are required to find deeply im-planted pins, and the deeper the pin, the more difficult it is to re-move it.

When using high strength pins instead of rebar or spikes, it’s thecross-sectional area that matters, not the diameter. Pins 3/16 inchin diameter are sufficient.

— Henry Bessemer

76

Ecodefense: A Field Guide toMonkeywrenching

Various Authors

1993

Other Pinning Techniques

Included here are three short articles detailing other monkey-wrenchers’ refinements on the original tree pinning technique.

Super Pins

At least two kinds of steel pins available are two or three timesmore resistant to saw blades than is welding rod. They are DrillRod and Dowel Pins.

1) Drill Rod. Most major steel companies sell this product (seeyour Yellow Pages under Metals). It’s round and comes in all thecommon drill diameters (one of its uses is as drill bits). It comesin three foot lengths and can be easily hacksawed into desiredlengths. It possesses about the same soft mechanical characteris-tics as spikes and rebar — until heat treated. It then acquires thestrength of the jaws of the bolt cutters that can be used to trim theheads off spikes!

Heat treating is not difficult. The best grade of drill rod steel touse is the water hardening variety designated grade W-1. Harden-ing requires only a propane torch, a cheap pair of needle-nosedpliers, and a container with at least 2 gallons of warm water. Cuta 7 inch length of drill rod. Hold one end with the pliers and heatthe rod by playing the torch evenly up and down the pin. Soon itwill begin to glow black-red. Continue heating until the pin glowscherry-red. Then drop (quench) it in the container of warm water.Don’t overheat the pin.After cherry-red, overheating begets red-orange, orange, orange-white, and white hot. Stop at cherry-red.You get but one chance and if you blow it, you can’t go back andstart again because the metal goes through an irreversible phasechange. If in doubt, check the finished pin with a file. Properlyheated pins will be harder than good files.

When the pin has cooled, remove it from the water and wipe itdry. Be careful not to drop it. It is harder than Japanese trigonom-

75

74

Contents

Introduction to the Third Edition 18

Forward! 22

Chapter 1: Strategic Monkeywrenching 26

Postscript (1993) 36

Chapter 2: The Future of Monkeywrenching 37

Chapter 3: Developments 44

Tree Spiking 46When to Spike Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Basic Spiking Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Advanced Tree Spiking Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Spiking Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Federal Anti-Spiking Legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Field Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Tree Pinning: The Art of Silent Spiking 70Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

3

Pinning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Targets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Other Pinning Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Super Pins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75An Advanced Tree Pinning Technique . . . . . . . . 77

The Increment Borer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Field Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Ceramic Spikes 80Foiling the Detectors: Non-Metallic Tree Spikes . . . . . 80Inserting Ceramic Tree Spikes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Rock Spikes 90Hard Rock vs. Heavy Metal: Quartz Tree Pins . . . . . . . 90Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Rock Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Lower Cost Alternatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Plastic and Wood Pulp: The Monkeywrencher’s Dream? 98

Non-Destructive Stopping of Logging 101Survey Stakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Roads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Construction Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Mining 118Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Powerlines 120Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

4

timber, from mountainside to mill door. Since metal detectors areoften used to locate nails, old fence wire, and other scrap metal inlogs before milling, observe this process from a safe distance to seeif you can infiltrate the work area at night and insert your pins af-ter the metal detection phase. If even greater silence is necessary,switch to a brace and bit (a crank-like hand drill available at allhardware stores). This entails more manual labor, but you don’tneed to pin fifty logs. Six to a dozen will do quite well. Make sureyou remove any telltale shavings or sawdust that can reveal youractivities.

— T.O. Hellenbach

Field Notes

• Jam a branch in a drilled hole after it is pinned. When thetree is debarked in the mill, it will not appear as suspiciousas a plastic-filled hole would, and will merely appear to be aknot.

• Normal drill bits are too short for old-growth trees. Use longones.

• Devise a system for keeping track of your tools in the dark— a fanny pack or a tool belt with holsters.

• Instead of using a drill larger than the pin, try using one thesame size and then driving the pin in. Driving the pin intoa drilled hole requires much less force and noise than ham-mering into undrilled wood and still eliminates the need forcaulking if you plug the hole with a wood dowel the samesize as the pin and cut it off flush.

73

Rags — Always have plenty of clean rags available to keep yourequipment wiped free of fingerprints.

Caulk — Buy a standard caulk gun and tubes of clear siliconcaulk (like GE’s Silicon II). This keeps it quick, clean, and cheap.

Pinning

Pinning is best accomplished by a two-person team using thefollowing five steps:

1. Drill a hole at a slight downward angle in the tree. Your drillbit should be slightly larger in diameter than your steel pins.

2. Use the caulk gun to squeeze clear silicon into the hole.

3. Insert the steel pin. If the hole is more than 4 inches deep,use a 4 inch pin. If the wood in a particular spot is too tough,don’t force it. Use a 3 or even 2 inch pin in a shallower hole.Use another piece of steel rod, from 6 to 12 inches long, topush the pin to the bottom of the hole. Glue the pin in placewith the silicon (otherwise a powerful magnet could pull itout).

4. Place another dab of clear silicon at the mouth of the hole.This seals the hole against invasion by bugs or disease.

5. Camouflage the opening with a chip of bark stuck onto thesilicon.

Targets

Because of the relative silence of this technique, it can be usedin sections of timber slated for immediate felling. You should notlimit yourself to standing trees, however. Effective monkeywrench-ing involves examining every step in the processing of old-growth

72

Seismographic Lines 127How Seismic Survey Crews Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Monkeywrenching Seismic Operations . . . . . . . . . . 132

Field Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Plugging Waste Discharge Pipes 135Choosing Targets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Plugging A Pipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Helpful Hints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141Hydro Plant Flood Gates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Grazing 143Salt Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146Water Developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147Cutting Fence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152Ranching Equipment and Machinery . . . . . . . . . . . . 154Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155Cautionary Notes About Monkeywrenching Grazing . . . 158

Chapter 4: Roads and Tire 160

Road Spiking 163Obtaining the Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Expedient Method of Cutting Stakes . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Building a Jig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165Using an Acetylene Torch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Emplacing the Stakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165Where to Place Road Spikes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

5

An Alternative Spike Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172Advanced Road Spiking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Spikeboards and Nailboards 176Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

How to Make Caltrops 178Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Other Tire Flattening Methods 184Roofing Nails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Field Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185Finishing Nails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185Valve Core Extractor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185Railroad Spike/Tie Plate Trap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Field Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188Slashing Tires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Snowmobiles 190Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Closing Roads 193Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194Undercutting a Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196Removing the Roadbed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196Culverts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197Bridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Plugging Culverts 201

6

and will do so more quickly due to its higher RPMs. It also has adetachable power pack that allows you to plug in a fresh set of bat-teries. The battery packs range in price from $25 to $50, but youmay have to check with a considerable number of retailers to findonewho stocks them on the shelf. Do not order them from theman-ufacturer unless you can have them shipped to a trusted friendwholives far away. Also, never return the warranty registration card tothe manufacturer since this creates a paper trail which could be ofgreat assistance to Officer Dogooder and his trusty bloodhounds.

Finally, read the instructions that comewith your drill and followthem to the letter. This is your best insurance against equipmentfailure.

Drill Bits — Use only high speed “twist” drill bits of a type nor-mally used to drill through metal. The flutes and grooves in thistype of bit (unlike the wood bit) force the sawdust debris out ofthe hole. On the first try, a twist bit can drill a 4 to 4-1/2 inch deephole. A second effort in the same hole (after clearing out the saw-dust) can double this depth. Usually, however, it is not necessaryto drill in more than 4 inches past the bark to accommodate a pinof up to 3 inches.

Apron — A simple cloth apron makes a handy pin holder. Italso allows you to wipe your gloves clean (of silicon — more onthis later).

Pins—At a welder’s supply, buy one-quarter inch steel weldingrod. It comes in thirty-six inch lengths, two rods per pound, at $1 to$1.50 a pound. For the sake of variety on different jobs, occasionallysubstitute either the threaded or zinc-coated steel rod found in thehardware section of most lumber yards.Keep in mind, however, thatzinc plating almost doubles a steel object’s detectability to a metaldetector. Do not use zinc-coated rods where this would be a problem.

Use a hacksaw to cut the steel rods into three and four inchlengths. This allows you to fit the pin to different hole depths.

SafteyGlasses—Buy andwear simple plastic safety glasses thatdo not block your side vision.

71

Tree Pinning: The Art of SilentSpiking

Just as spiking is named for the spike-like quality of the fifty andsixty-penny nails used, so “pinning” is named for a lowly steel pinwhich, buried in the tissue of a living tree, is designed to wreakhavoc with the butchering blade of the sawmill. As levels of pro-tective security increase to stem the swelling tide of tree spiking,silent new methods will become necessary for those courageousenough to infiltrate the guarded stands of condemned trees. Theloud ring of hammer on spike is replaced by the gentle hum of thecordless electric drill as it creates a small cavity for the insertion ofa steel pin.

Equipment

Because the basic equipment for tree pinning is more expensivethan that required for spiking, it is wise to “shop by phone” and getthe best price possible. Drill prices, for example, can vary as muchas $50 from one store to the next.

Drills — Many models and types of cordless electric drills arecurrently available, but the best, in terms of torque and price, areprobably those manufactured by Black &Decker.Their basic model9020 sells for $25 to $40. Its slow speed and limited battery storagecapacity allows for drilling only 15 to 25 holes, depending on thetoughness of the wood; but, you can buy three or four of this modelfor the price you’ll pay for the vastly superior model 1940 ($80 to$100). The model 1940 will drill twice as many holes as the 9020,

70

Chapter 5: Vehicles and Heavy Equipment 208

Disabling Motor Vehicles of All Kinds 210

Heavy Equipment 212Basic Tool Kit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212Abrasives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216Gaining Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217Oil-Access Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226Lubrication Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227Selection of Abrasives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231Other Sabotage Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Field Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240Trucks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240Related Targets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242Security And Heavy Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Cutting Torch 246Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Burning Machinery 250Pros And Cons Of Burning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250Igniting Machinery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251Preparing A Machine For Burning . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252Getting Diesel Fuel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253Delayed Ignition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253Water craft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Aircraft 256Helicopters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256Fixed-Wing Aircraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

7

Sabotaging Light Planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258Advanced Aircraft Ecotage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Vehicle Modifications for the Serious Monkeywrencher 262Part One: Electrical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Dome Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262Auxiliary Headlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263Brake Light Lock-out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264Back-up Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264Coil Lock-out System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Part Two: Fuel Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Water And Big Yellow Machines 268Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Chapter 6: Animal Defense 271

Trap Lines 273Where to Find Traps and Trap Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . 276Typical Trap Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278Trap Line Sabotage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Handling Trapped Animals 287Simple Noose Sticks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287The Ecodefense Deluxe Noose Pole . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288Using The Noose Pole: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291Special Release Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294The Trap Line In Snow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297Snares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Coyote Getter 302

8

extremely vigilant, but it also might provide the opportunity formonkeywrenchers to strike other, more vulnerable targets aswell. Going after logging equipment, for instance, causes moreimmediate financial losses to the industry than spiking. Themonkeywrencher should be aware, however, that with all thoseextra Freddie cops in the woods, seemingly unguarded equipmentjust might be staked out. Still, there are loads of other possibilitiesand some of them do not require any incriminating specializedequipment. Systematic plugging of culverts, to cite one example,hasn’t been employed nearly as much as it deserves to be. Doneon a large enough scale, it could do millions of dollars damage tothe bloated system of logging roads in the National Forests.

We should take heart from the passage of draconian laws; thismeans we are actually having some effect on the industrial state.We should also be flexible, and able to adapt to changing circum-stances. It is almost a cliché that generals are forever fighting warsusing the tactics of the previous war. Generals can afford to dothis, since it is the common soldier, not the general, who pays thepenalty. Monkeywrenchers are in the front ranks, and can’t affordto get careless. Keep on fighting, but be careful!

— Smokey Bear

Field Note

British Columbia recently established tree spiking as a majorcrime. Penalties are six months and $2,000 for spiking; three yearsand $10,000 fine if physical injury or property damage occurs forspiking any tree, whether living, dead, standing, fallen, limbed,bucked, or peeled. It is also an offense to aid, abet, or counselanother to spike timber; to carry spikes or other potentiallyhazardous objects with the intent to spike timber: six monthsand $2,000. (Of course, no one involved with the publication ordistribution of Ecodefense abets, aids, or counsels anyone to spiketimber.)

69

“simple spiking” the penalty is up to three years imprisonment. Fora spiking that results in bodily injury to someone, the penalty is upto six years in prison. For a spiking causing “great bodily injury” tosomeone, the penalty is up to nine years imprisonment.The secondlaw makes it a misdemeanor “to possess a spike with the intent tospike a tree.” The passage of these laws was widely reported in theCalifornia press at the time. Yet if newspaper articles are any indi-cation, several spikings occurred in the state during 1988, despitethe new legislation.

In part, the California laws were passed due to widespread pub-licity following the incident earlier in 1987 at the Cloverdale, Cal-ifornia, sawmill in which a sawyer was seriously injured when asaw in the mill came into contact with a log containing a metalspike.That spiking was apparently not environmentally motivated,but no matter. Radical environmentalists were widely blamed forcausing the injury to the millworker. This underscores somethingrepeatedly stressed in both Ecodefense and in the old Ned Ludd col-umn of the Earth First! Journal in the 1980s, namely, that monkey-wrenching should be aimed at machines, not people, and that thepurpose of spiking is to save trees. Every time a tree goes to a mill— spiked or not — that tree has been lost. Anyone spiking trees hasa moral obligation to notify the “proper authorities” that a particu-lar area contains spiked trees and that it would be hazardous to cutthose trees. This should be done with all due concern for the mon-keywrencher’s security, but it should be done before those trees arescheduled to be cut.

If the government does succeed in slowing down the waveof spiking (and this is dubious, given the method’s obviouseffectiveness) it will succeed only because monkeywrenchershave switched to other tactics, equally damaging to the industrialstate but perhaps not as widely anticipated as spiking. Right now,the Forest Service is watching especially for spikers; a majorarrest would boost the morale in the corporate boardrooms ofLP, MAXXAM, and their ilk. This means that spikers should be

68

Snares 303Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Fence Cutting 305In Your Neighborhood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305Just Passing Through . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307Animal Enterprise Protection Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Chapter 7: Miscellaneous Deviltry 309

Urban Monkeywrenching 311Attack on an Urban Residence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313Private Automobiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314Attacks on Corporate Offices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314The “Daring Daylight Raid” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Fun With Slingshots 319Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Condo Trashing 322Field Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Computer Sabotage 324Hardware Sabotage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328Records Sabotage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330Software Sabotage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Security Tips for Hackers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Stink Bombs 336Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Stink Grenade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

9

Smoke Bombs 343Smoke In Their Eyes! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343How To Use Them . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344Information Sources: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345Smoke Device Sources: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Jamming Locks 346Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Disrupting Illegal Activities 349

Trash Return 351Field Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

Mountain Bikes 354Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354Advantages of Mountain Bikes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354Disadvantages of Mountain Bikes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356Editor’s Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

Chapter 8: Propaganda 359

Advanced Billboarding 361Target Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364Sign-Cutting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364Metal Posts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367Other Targets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367Chain Saw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

10

several years of the Freddies and their friends in the timber indus-try dismissing spiking as a trivial matter, we have seen in someparts of the country a media blitz during the last couple of yearsportraying a veritable epidemic of spiking. Since even before thepassage of the recent law adequate legislation (albeit not as spe-cific) existed under which anyone caught spiking could have been(and certainly would have been) prosecuted, one might say thatthe current legislative effort to single out spiking is at least in partpropaganda to assure the media and timber industry that the gov-ernment is acting vigilantly to counter the growing wave of mon-keywrenching.

This is not to trivialize the import of the new law. The ForestService in particular has begun to feel the pressure caused by mon-keywrenchers, and they see that if current trends continue, their“business as usual” policy won’t be tenable much longer. They nodoubt see the new law as a tool with which to turn back the clockto those happy days of a decade ago when almost no one seriouslychallenged their policies. In order to turn back that clock, they willtry hard to catch wrenchers in the act, and to impose the maximumpenalty on them. Unfortunately for the Forest Service, it is too lateto go back to the days when there was no organized dissent. Toomany people realize that the Forest Service’s lip service to “pub-lic input in the forest planning process” and all their pious wordsabout “working within the system” are just that — words. Some ofthose people are so angry after “working within the system” foryears without seeing that system budge, meanwhile watching theplunder of the planet continue unchecked, that they are ready tobreak the law, even at the risk of their lives and liberty, to try tostop that plunder.

A case in point is this: In October 1987, the State of Californiapassed two laws (Senate Bill 1176 and Assembly Bill 952) aimed atdeterring tree spikers, even though a law on the books since the1870s already made spiking a felony. The first of these laws pro-vides graduated penalties for anyone convicted of tree spiking. For

67

The law also spells out the difference between “serious bodily in-jury” and “bodily injury”; the latter can be as simple as “a cut, abra-sion, bruise. ..” There are detailed descriptions of what constitutesa “hazardous or injurious” device. After describing the usual “gunsattached to trip wires” and “explosive devices” that we’ve all readabout in Reader’s Digest “drug menace” articles, the law gets intosome specifics obviously aimed at monkeywrenchers rather thanpot growers: singled out are “sharpened stakes,” “nails placed sothat the sharpened ends are positioned in an upright manner,” and“tree spiking devices including spikes, nails, or other objects ham-mered, driven, fastened, or otherwise placed into or on any timber,whether or not severed from the stump.

The well-read monkeywrencher will notice that the “hazardousor injurious devices” described in this law could describe road spik-ing devices as well as tree spikes.

Some other provisions of this law are also of interest to mon-keywrenchers. Both the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) andNational Park Service (NPS) are getting funds to beef up their lawenforcement presence (to combat drugs, of course) and the ForestService is to double the number of their new drug cops, from 500to 1000! These drug cops have already been employed to counterprotesting conservationists in the woods (including those practic-ing non-violent civil disobedience), and they can be expected tocontinue doing this. Anyone contemplating any variety of mon-keywrenching should be aware of this increased law enforcementpresence on the public lands. The “Anti-Drug Act” also gives For-est Service law enforcement officers authority to conduct investiga-tions on non-government lands, assuming that those investigationsare of crimes that took place on Federal lands. This opens the doorto the possibility that Freddie cops might conduct surveillance orinvestigate suspected monkeywrenchers in or around the activists’homes or places of employment, or anywhere else for that matter.

The swift passage of anti-spiking legislation is an indication ofhow effective spiking has become in deterring timber sales. After

66

Billboard Trashing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

Billboard Revision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374Field Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Burning Billboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

Paint Remover 380Field Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381

Etching Cream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381

Posters and Silent Agitators 383Posters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

Field Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384Signs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384Silent Agitators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

Field Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385Correcting Forest Service Signs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

Field Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387

Spray Paint Slogans 389Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

Stencils 393Cutting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394Transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394Painting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

Field Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

Chapter 9: Security 396

Basic Security 399Target Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

Field Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402

11

Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402The Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406Insertion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406Withdrawal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407Night Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Military Movement 411Direction and Distance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411Alternate Assembly Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412Silent Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412

Rules of Security 414Disposing of Evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418No Evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420Written Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

Avoiding Arrest 424Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

Camouflage 428Light Reflections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428Footwear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429Clothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431Gloves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433Headgear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434Vehicle Camouflage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436Field Notes — General Camouflage . . . . . . . . . . 437

12

the original legislation, that haven’t the remotest connection withfighting drugs.

One of these added provisions is of interest to monkey-wrenchers, for it specifically targets tree spikers who operate onthe public lands. This subsection is entitled “Hazardous or Injuri-ous Devices on Federal Lands,” and amends existing law (Chapter91 of Title 18, US Code). Rather than attempt to paraphrase thewording of this section, I’ll quote verbatim from some of the mostinteresting passages:

Whoever — (1) with the intent to violate the Con-trolled Substances Act, (2) with the intent to obstructor harass the harvesting of timber, or (3) with recklessdisregard to the risk that another person will beplaced in danger of death or bodily injury … usesa hazardous or injurious device on Federal land, oron an Indian Reservation … shall be punished undersubsection (b).

Subsection (b) spells out the penalties:

(1) If death of an individual results, [the person con-victed] shall be fined under this title or imprisoned forany term of years or for life, or both; (2) if serious bod-ily injury to any individual results, be fined … or im-prisoned for not more than twenty years, or both; (3)if bodily injury to any individual results, be fined …or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; (4) ifdamage exceeding $10, 000 to the property of any indi-vidual results, be fined … or imprisoned for not morethan ten years, or both; and (5) in any other case, befined … or im-prisoned for not more than one year.

The law goes on to specify that if anyone is convicted under thissubsection a second time, the minimum penalty shall be imprison-ment for up to ten years, regardless of the magnitude of the offense.

65

• In places where spiking is rampant, the authorities may goso far as to “dust” trees with dyes in powder form. Thesepowders are almost invisible to the naked eye, but will showup under an ultraviolet or “black” light. To avoid exposingoneself in such a situation, minimize contact with the tree(you need not hug it!), put your gloves in a plastic bag whenyou are done (if you’re not disposing of them immediately),and launder your clothes after you get home. You might alsopurchase an ultraviolet light (available from scientific supplyhouses, novelty and “head” shops). In this age of budgetaryrestraints, however, the Freddies are not likely to go to thisextreme except in special cases.

• Be cautious when buying large quantities of nails. Althoughnails are common items and their possession (in the absenceof other evidence) would con-stitute only the barest of cir-cumstantial evidence, it would be wise never to buy themwhere you are known or might be remembered.

• Be careful about leaving fingerprints on spikes. After pur-chasing them, carefully wipe them clean and place them ina cloth bag or wrap them up to be carried in your pack forfield use. Wear gloves while spiking trees (see below) and donot touch the spikes unless your hands are gloved.

Federal Anti-Spiking Legislation

The so-called “Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988” (Public Law 100–690, 100th Congress) became law in November 1988, amid greatmedia hoopla. This document is well worth perusing despite its350 pages. In addition to containing a number of provisions whichseem to sacrifice some of the most basic civil liberties for the “waron drugs,” PL 100–690 also contains clauses, added as “riders” to

64

Tools of the Trade 438Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439A Fanny Pack For Monkeywrenchers . . . . . . . . . . . 441Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443

Radios and Communications Equipment 444Types of Radios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444Practice and Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449Radio Fingerprints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449Military Surplus Radios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450Police Band Radios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456Further Comments On Radios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456Unusual CB Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458Cellular Telephones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460

Eyes of Night 461Flashlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461Standard Optics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462Infrared Spotting Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462Starlight Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463Thermal Imager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464Protection From Night Vision Surveillance . . . . . . . . 466Bionic Ear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466

Tracking 468Field Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

Car Camping 474Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478

Daily Routine 479Run repeated surveillance checks before any mission. . . 481

13

Mental Conditioning 482

Surveillance 487Anti-Bugging Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487Electronic Surveillance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488FBI Updates Eavesdropping Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . 490F-Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490Approaching A Forest Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492Automobile Trailing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493Drug Searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493Counterintelligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495

Advanced Investigation Methods 496DNA “Fingerprinting” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496

Field Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496Ultraviolet Tracing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497Advanced Fingerprinting Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . 500State-Of-The-Art Video Surveillance . . . . . . . . . . . . 500Telephone Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503Police Undercover Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504The Undercover Infiltrator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505Going Undercover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506Undercover Tactics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509Private Undercover Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512Confidential Informants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513Defense Against Undercover Activities . . . . . . . . . . 515Double Agents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516Exposing Undercover Agents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518Background Check on Suspected Infiltrators . . . . . . . 522

Countersecurity 527Locks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529

14

• Resistance to logging should not be restricted to tree spiking.Many of the other techniques described in Ecodefense canbe effective against logging. One other tactic is to cut thecable used in skidding logs through steep terrain. At nightthe cables are slack. Tape the cable before hacksawing anduse cable clamps to secure the cut end to a nearby tree.

• Keep in mind that metal detectors are not very reliable. Afterthe extensive and intensive spiking of old-growth cedar onMeares Island in British Columbia,MacMillan Bloedel timbercompany had poor success in locating tree spikes.

• Most experienced tree spikers argue for keeping tree spikingsimple: good old-fashioned plain steel 6 inch spiral spikesdriven in with a regular hammer and countersunk one inchbelow the bark with an industrial punch. More elabo-ratetechniques involve heavier equipment, greater expense,more time. Simple spiking is easier and faster.

• “Traditional” spiking, as described above, is relatively simpleand quite effective. However, the serious eco-raider might dowell to consider some of the alternative methods describedby T. O. Hellenbach later in this chapter. These methods re-quire more specialized equipment, and are therefore morecostly to the spiker, but they offer distinct advantages, bothin security and effectiveness.

Spiking Security

• Watch for maintenance crews working at night.

• Resist the temptation to use your spiking nails around thehouse. Examination of spikes can determine their manufac-turer, and it’s best not to have similar nails where you live.

63

Good quality, US-made 20”-24” bolt cutters (cost about $80) areadequate for 60d spikes or helix spikes 8” and smaller. You can eas-ily carry this size bolt cutters in the woods to de-head your spikesafter you drive them most of the way into the tree. You can thendrive them in the rest of the way without their heads.

For 10” and larger helix spikes, 30”-36” bolt cutters are necessary.De-head these spikes at home (large bolt-cutters are cumbersomeand heavy to carry in the woods). These larger spikes can be easilydriven in without their heads. You may prefer to rent one of theselarger bolt cutters for a day or two and de-head an entire box ofspikes at home. If you do rent one (to save the cost of purchase),do not leave your ID as security. Instead, leave a cash deposit ($150generally required) which will be refunded when you return thebolt cutters.

— Jeanne Carr

Field Notes

• Various exotic methods have been suggested for puttingspikes into trees, ranging from crossbows to muzzle-loadersto shotguns to spear guns. None of these seem to be worththe trouble, according to serious tree spikers who havetried them. Stick to the basics. Similarly, suggestions havebeen made that shooting bullets into trees would havethe same effect as spiking. We discourage this for severalreasons: the hydrostatic shock to the surrounding tissue inthe tree from a bullet; the possibility of poisoning the tree ifcopper-jacketed ammo is used; the unlikelihood of bulletsin trees being effective saw-dulling agents; the increasedlegal risk that comes from using firearms; and the securityproblem of noise from firearms. Previous suggestions forusing nail guns (“power-actuated fastening systems”) arealso now rejected due to noise, ineffectiveness, and greatercomplexity.

62

Combination Locks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530Fences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532Closed-Circuit Television . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532Alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533

Field Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533Guards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536Guard Dogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537

If Attacked by a Guard Dog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542Field Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543

Pursuit and Evasion 544Vehicular Pursuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545

Field Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547Self Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547Cross-Country Evasion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554

Arrest 557If You Are Arrested . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557

Field Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559

Media Relations 560Communiqués . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561

Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564Advanced Communiqué Sending . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565

Field Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568BLM Procedure for Ecotage Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568Telephone Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570Advanced Telephone Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571Personal Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572

15

Photographs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573Field Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574

General Security Field Notes 575

Epilogue: Marine Monkeywrenching 584

Sinking Whaling Ship 587

The Marine Eco-Mechanic 588

International Engine Room Colorcode 589

Tools 590Tool List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590Optional Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591

Secondary Sabotage Techniques 601

Infiltration 602

Ramming Ships 603

Destruction of Drift Nets 604

Engaging Naval Forces on the High Seas 605

Anti-Boarding Deterrents 606

The Eco-Navy 607

16

stop a saw blade but they will frustrate the piss out of the guy orgal with the detector. It also helps to camouflage where I put thereal spikes.

— Banana SlugAn amusing sidelight on tree spiking is that the Inyo National

Forest has spiked snags with 14 to 16 penny nails to “armor” themagainst wood cutters. The Forest Service is protecting the snags forwildlife habitat.

Advanced Tree Spiking Techniques

Helix (spiral) nails are the ultimate in metal spikes — these arethe type of nails that were used in large quantities on Meares Is-land. The spiral makes the nail extremely difficult to remove, andremoval is virtually impossible when the head of the nail is clippedoff. These nails come in three sizes suitable for tree spiking: 8”, 10”,and 12” long. While the 8” size is adequate for most jobs, the 10”and 12” sizes can be driven even when the head has been removedin advance — a great advantage. Driving these spikes is not easy.You will need to be in shape. You may want to use a heavier ham-mer. A flat-faced, 3 pound sledge with a long handle (18”) is idealfor driving large helix spikes.

You may have to look around to find helix spikes; not all build-ing supply stores carry them. They are expensive, but much lessso if bought by the box. Call around (use a pay phone) to checkon availability and price (prices may vary widely). If you need anexcuse for buying them, say you are building a bridge to a piece ofremote property owned by your uncle. Use the same pre-cautionsto protect your identity in buying helix nails that you would usewith any unusual item — never buy such nails in your own com-munity (unless it is a large city), never go back to the same storetwice, and never leave such things lying around your house or car.

61

go rancid. The bottom line is that nothing belongs in a treeexcept wood.

• Some concerned folks have recommended that spikes be ster-ilized in rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. But medicaladvisers argue that rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxidewould be more harmful to the tree than anything on rela-tively clean spikes.

• In addition to the security reasons for wearing gloves, theywill protect your hands. A hard day of pounding spikescan blister the hands of the toughest. Besides being painful,blisters might be considered evidence against someonesuspected of spiking.

• Some experienced tree spikers suggest that notification ofspiking is best done by issuing a blanket warning after mark-ing a few trees for demonstration purposes (with a spraypainted white “S”), and spiking every tree in the poten-tiallogging area.

• Tree spiking is noisy. Some spikers suggest drilling a hole toaccommodate the spike — thus reducing the amount of noisyhammering. The problem with this is that it severely limitsthe number of trees that can be spiked in a given amount oftime.

Here in the Northwest, security is a major concern. What I’vefound to work well is spiking in the rain. (You get soaked, but youdon’t leave tracks!) Rain drastically reduces the noise produced byhammering. Rain also seems to keep the Freddies indoors.

I also write my communiqués in the winter, after the snows havecome. It annoys the hell out of the loggers when they know theycan’t look for your work until late spring.

One last suggestion: Since metal detectors are the rage of late,I also pound in scores of small standard-type nails. They may not

60

This book is dedicated to:Edward Abbey 1927–1989John Zaelit (Mr. Goodwrench) 1954–1986Bill Turk (The Mad Engineer) 1953–1992

Wilderness needs no defense, only more defenders

17

Introduction to the ThirdEdition

into the tree as it will go. (4) Remove your “center punch,”caulk the hole, and disguise it.

• Avoid imported (Korean, Taiwanese, etc.) spikes; buy US orCanadian brands. Cheap imports may be softer and bend eas-ier when driving.

• In spiking a large timber sale, concentrate on the part of thesale closest to the main road as this will tend to dissuadethe contractor from cutting the rest of the sale. (The ForestService has allowed some logging firms to cancel the timbersale contract after encountering spiked trees.)

• For extra effect, combine large and small nails. Use only onelarge spike per tree, but pound in several smaller nails as well.This is a good job for a partner who cannot drive in largespikes, and it further protects the tree. The metal detectorcan’t tell the difference between large and small spikes.

• A military surplus green canvas ammo bag is perfect fortransporting spikes in the woods.

• You can use a fanny pack to carry your spikes. The weightis easier to carry on the hips than on the back. During theactual spiking, put the fanny pack in front to use like a car-penter’s apron.

• For a major spiking operation, you may wish to stash a boxof spikes in the woods in the summer (when access is easier),and then ski in during the winter and do the spiking. Be sureto hide the spikes where you can find them even if they areburied under several feet of snow.

• Do not lubricate spikes for easy driving. Most lubricants arepetroleum derivatives, all of which are poisonous to trees.Vegetable oils are nearly as toxic. They have the added disad-vantage of attracting decomposers (bugs and fungi) as they

59

• The distinctive marks left by your particular bolt cutters willbe destroyed by pounding in the spikes. The marks on thejaws of the bolt cutters can be removed by simply filing thejaws. Such distinctive marks could constitute evidence if youwere charged with the crime.

• When using bolt cutters to de-head spikes, always wear gog-gles or other eye protection. The heads of the nails can reallyfly.

• Most large (8” to 12”) spikes are either 5/16 or 3/8-inch indiameter. Choose bolt cutters with a slightly larger capacitythan your spikes, i.e., one-half-inch or larger. (Spike metalfalls into the “soft” or “medium” category on the “capacitychart,” which is a small metal tag affixed to each set of boltcutters.) Cutters with greater capacity cut easier and fasterand last longer.

• The type of tree may dictate the size of your spikes andwhether or not you de-head them before driving. Pinesand cedars are relatively soft, allowing even de-headed 60dnails to be driven in without bending (a de-headed 60dnail would likely bend in harder wood). Douglas-fir is abit harder; spikes smaller than 5/16-inch diameter shouldnot be de-headed prior to driving. Old-growth hemlock isextremely hard. Experiment with the various tree species inyour area.

• Some field reports indicate that with large spikes (60d orlarger) it is possible to employ the following method: (1)Drive the spike half-way into the tree. (2) Cut off the portionof the spike protruding from the tree, using bolt cutters or ahacksaw. (3) Using the loose portion of the nail as if it werea center punch, drive the imbedded part of the nail as far

58

Ecodefense is a historical artifact. It be argued that it is themost controversial environmental book ever published; moreimportantly, though, it is a key exhibit in the legal history offreedom of the press in the United States. The First Amendment tothe United States Constitution was ratified in 1791. It reads in part,“Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech,or of the press.” That enshrined freedom of the press and speechsets the United States of America apart from all other nations. Noother country so jealously defends the right of its citizens to speakand publish controversial ideas.

Several years ago when Australia banned the importation andsale of Ecodefense, it was not possible for the United States to fol-low suit — because of the First Amendment. Instead, the UnitedStates government spent several million dollars, employed a smallarmy of FBI agents, and entrapped a number of citizens in 1987–89in an effort to suppress publication and distribution of Ecodefense.That attack on free speech and the freedom of the press glares likea pustulating boil in American history just as do the Alien and Sedi-tion Acts, the Palmer Raids, and McCarthyism.

We at Abbzug Press believe that the Bill of Rights is like a set ofmuscles — if they aren’t exercised, they atrophy.Therefore, it is ourpatriotic duty to defend the First Amendment to the United StatesConstitution and publish a newThird Edition of Ecodefense: A FieldGuide to Monkeywrenching.

Efforts to suppress Ecodefense and to entrap its co-editor, DaveForeman, have been well covered elsewhere and we will not gointo them here. Nor will we here attempt to justify the practiceor necessity of monkeywrenching. Edward Abbey’s Forward! andthe first two chapters of this edition do that. Monkeywrenching isalso justified in Ed Abbey’s novels The Monkey Wrench Gang andHayduke Lives!, Howie Wolke’s Wilderness on the Rocks, Christo-pher Manes’s Green Rage, and, in greater detail, Dave Foreman’sConfessions of an Eco-Warrior.

19

We will here, however, rebut two myths about Ecodefense. First,it is widely believed that Ecodefense (or Abbey’s Monkey WrenchGang) launched the practice of monkeywrenching. In fact, ecologi-cal sabotage was widespread before Ecodefense was first publishedin 1985 and even before The Monkey Wrench Gang was publishedin 1975.

The second myth is that Dave Foreman wrote Ecodefense. Thefirst edition of Ecodefense was a compilation of articles and letterssent to the Earth First! Journal by dozens of individuals. This ThirdEdition has over two dozen major contributors and at least onehundred other contributors. In this edition, we have given aliasesto credit all articles and significant field notes where the author didnot offer her own alias. In the previous editions, Dave Foreman andBill Haywood compiled, edited, and arranged the contributions.Wehave retained their names as editors for the Third Edition since itis largely based on the previous editions.

There are changes in the Third Edition, however. Some materialdeemed to be irrelevant or counterproductive has been dropped.Incorrect information has also been dropped. Much new informa-tion has been incorporated. Most of it was contributed between1987 and 1989. A professional editor was retained to rewrite, copyedit, arrange, and otherwise clean up all of the text. Some previousmaterial has been rearranged.

Edward Abbey and two other contributors, John Zaelit and BillTurk, have died since the First Edition of Ecodefense.ThisThird Edi-tion is dedicated to their memories and to the fierce green fire thatburned in their eyes. They were heroes, defenders of their nativeland.

We thank the other defenders of the land who contributed toEcodefense, though they must remain anonymous. It is their book.

When we began work on the Third Edition we asked Dave Fore-man for any thoughts hemight offer to today’s reader of Ecodefense.He responded:

20

glue, liquid wood, or cement over the nail is best, but pitch mightbe used, or in a pinch, paint the color of the bark. A brown feltmarker can also be used to disguise the shiny head of the nail afterit is driven into the tree.

— Bill Haywood

Field Notes

• For large old-growth trees, “bridge timber spikes” (aboutone foot long) can be particularly effective. These spikescost about 70 cents each and require a stout arm to drive.A heavy hammer (small sledge) that can be gripped withboth hands may be the best tool. Building supply storessometimes have these large spikes in bins with the rest ofthe nails.

• A hand-operated bit and brace can be used to drill holes intotrees for insertion of “super spikes.” After drilling the hole,a section of sharpened rebar can be driven into the tree. Besure to cover the hole with bark (liquid wood or some otheradhesive can be used to secure the bark).Thismethod of spik-ing is very labor-intensive, but it shouldn’t take many suchspikes to deter cutting.

• Field experience in using 60d spikes in pine, fir, and spruceshows that they can be de-headed prior to driving them.Thiseliminates the necessity of carrying bolt cutters in the field.Always bring a punch to drive the de-headed nails below thesurface of the tree. This makes removal nearly impossible.

• To avoid leaving telltale nail heads around a spiking site, gluea plastic magnet on the top jaw of your bolt cutters.This way,the heads can be collected when cutting off the heads of nailsin trees.

57

56

Is your act a strategic one, or is it merely an inarticulate yell, con-veying only rage, alienation, and despair? Monkeywrenchers mustconstantly ask themselves:

• Who is my audience?

• What is my message?

• Will this deter destruction?

• Are there legal means not yet used?

Of course this Third Edition of Ecodefense, like those before it, ismeant only to entertain. No one should take it seriously.

— Matthew Lyon for Abbzug Press

21

Forward!

be noted that on Meares Island in British Columbia, opponents oflogging, working systematically and in teams, have spiked literallythousands of trees to great effect. But spiking does not have to beon this scale to be effective.

Trees should be spiked at various heights above the ground.While it is acceptable to drive some of the nails in at the height ofa standing person — the most convenient place — an effort oughtto be made to place them higher. There are a couple of reasons forthis. First, nails placed above head height will be more difficultfor investigators to spot, and second, if all the nails are drivenin at the same height, the searchers’ task will be easier. Thereare a number of ways to place nails high. Climbing spikes (metalspurs which attach to boots, used in conjunction with a waist belt)work well. Climbing spikes are fairly expensive when purchasedfrom forestry supply houses, but it may be possible to locate anold pair (they are used by smoke jumpers and others in forestrywork) or to improvise a pair. Or, a spiker can fabricate a light,portable ladder which can be carried from tree to tree. Anothermethod would be for the spiker to stand on a partner’s shoulderswhile driving the nails. Climbing tree stands, used by archeryhunters, are easily carried, quiet, and allow you to climb a treefairly quickly. The good ones will not harm the tree or leave marks.(Practice first! Inexperienced users have been injured when theirtree stands collapsed under them.) In regions that get considerablesnowfall, a good solution would be to spike in the winter, usingskis or snowshoes when several feet of snow cover the ground.

Some effort should be made to cover the signs of the work in aspiking operation. Again, the ideal spiking would take place sev-eral years before a timber sale, giving nature a chance to hide theevidence by growing over the nails.

However, in many cases a spiker will not be able to do the job farenough in advance for bark to grow over the nails. In such cases,after driving the nail in flush, the head of the nail should be coveredso as to camouflage all signs of the work. A piece of bark fixed with

55

Basic Spiking Techniques

Basic spiking requires a large hammer and large nails. It is dif-ficult to drive large nails into a tree with an ordinary carpenter’shammer. The best type of hammer to use is one of the “single-jack”variety (a one-handed sledgehammer) with a head weighing 2-1/2 or 3 pounds. Nails should be large, but not extremely large; thelarger the nails, the more time and energy are required to drivethem. A 60 penny (60d) nail is a good size. This is about 6-1/4inches long and is the largest “common” nail readily available inmost building supply stores. Larger nails (called spikes) are soldby their size in inches. Spikes should not be needed in most cases,although they are useful for extremely large trees.

Another tool should probably be added to the basic spiking kit:a small pair of bolt cutters, powerful enough to cut the heads offthe nails. The reason to add this tool is that in several cases, theFreddies have sent crews into the woods to locate (with metal de-tectors) and remove (with crowbars) as many spikes as possible.Cutting the heads off the nails (after driving them nearly all theway into the tree) should make the Freddies’ task all the more fun.Drive the nail almost all the way into the tree. Cut the head off withthe bolt cutters. Then, drive the now headless nail the remainder ofthe way into the tree. Remember, the more time and money theFreddies expend removing spikes, the fewer trees will be cut andthe more wilderness saved. We cannot overestimate the value ofremoving the heads from the nails. We have heard of at least onecase in which the Forest Service has located trees with spikes sotreated — and has been unable to remove the nails. Although theFreddies publicly announced that they had removed all the spikes,the sale was quietly scuttled.

Since the more trees spiked, the greater the deterrent factor, onenail per tree ought to suffice. To deter a major timber sale, the spik-ing of several hundred trees might be a worthy goal, but even afew dozen spiked trees will be of some deterrent value. It might

54

by Edward AbbeyIf a stranger batters your door down with an axe, threatens your

family and yourself with deadly weapons, and proceeds to lootyour home of whatever he wants, he is committing what is uni-versally recognized — by law and morality — as a crime. In such asituation the householder has both the right and the obligation todefend himself, his family, and his property by whatever means arenecessary. This right and this obligation is universally recognized,justified and even praised by all civilized human communities. Self-defense against attack is one of the basic laws not only of humansociety but of life itself, not only of human life but of all life.

The American wilderness, what little remains, is now under-going exactly such an assault. Dave Foreman has summarizedthe character and scale of the assault in the first chapter ofthis excellent and essential book. With bulldozer, earth mover,chainsaw and dynamite the international timber, mining andbeef industries are invading our public lands — property of allAmericans — bashing their way into our forests, mountains andrangelands and looting them for everything they can get awaywith. This for the sake of short-term profits in the corporate sectorand multi-million dollar annual salaries for the three-piece-suitedgangsters (M.B.A., Harvard, Yale, University of Tokyo, et alia)who control and manage these bandit enterprises. Cheered on,naturally, by Time, Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal, activelyencouraged by those jellyfish Government agencies which aresupposed to protect the public lands, and as always aided andabetted in every way possible by the quisling politicians of ourWestern states (such as Babbitt, DeConcini, Goldwater, Hatch,Garn, Symms, Hansen, Wallop, Domenici — to name but a few)who would sell the graves of their own mothers if there’s a quickbuck in the deal, over or under the table, what do they care.

Representative democracy in the United States has brokendown. Our legislators do not represent those who elected thembut rather the minority who finance their political campaigns

23

and who control the organs of communication — the Tee Vee, thenewspapers, the billboards, the radio — that have made politicsa game for the rich only. Representative government in the USArepresents money not people and therefore has forfeited ourallegiance and moral support. We owe it nothing but the taxationit extorts from us under threats of seizure of property, or prison, orin some cases already, when resisted, a sudden and violent deathby gunfire.

Such is the nature and structure of the industrial megamachine(in Lewis Mumford’s term) which is now attacking the Americanwilderness. That wilderness is our ancestral home, the primordialhomeland of all living creatures including the human, and thepresent final dwelling place of such noble beings as the grizzlybear, the mountain lion, the eagle and the condor, the mooseand the elk and the pronghorn antelope, the redwood tree, theyellowpine, the bristlecone pine, even the aspen, and yes, why notsay it?, the streams, waterfalls, rivers, the very bedrock itself ofour hills, canyons, deserts, mountains.

For many of us, perhaps for most of us, the wilderness is as muchour home, or a lot more so, than the wretched little stucco boxes,plywood apartments, and wallboard condominiums in which weare mostly confined by the insatiable demands of an overcrowdedand ever-expanding industrial culture. And if the wilderness is ourtrue home, and if it is threatened with invasion, pillage and de-struction — as it certainly is — then we have the right to defendthat home, as we would our private rooms, by whatever meansare necessary. (An Englishman’s home is his castle; an American’shome is his favorite fishing stream, his favorite mountain range,his favorite desert canyon, his favorite swamp or patch of woodsor God-created lake.)

The majority of the American people have demonstrated onevery possible occasion that they support the ideal of wildernesspreservation; even our politicians are forced by popular opinionto pretend to support the idea; as they have learned, a vote against

24

the many differences in marking practices, you should know thesystem being used in your area.

National Forests list timber sales years in advance. Some evenindicate if they are in roadless areas and which roadless areas. Thesafest and most effective tree spiking is done in proposed timbersales years in advance. Spiking ideally should occur before anyroad building or even surveying is under way. Such advance spik-ing should be announced to prospective timber buyers and the For-est Service, but not the media. The presence of spiked trees in tim-ber sale areas will reduce the commercial value of such sales andturn off potential bidders. The cost of identifying and removingspikes may make the sale so expensive that even the Forest Service— which habitually sells timber at a loss to US taxpayers — willdrop it.

Spiking trees many years ahead of their scheduled sale has sev-eral advantages. Little money has been invested in surveying, roadbuilding, preparing environmental assessments, and the like; so theauthorities have less incentive to go ahead with a timber sale. It’smore difficult for the Freddies to locate spiked trees years after spik-ing, and without easy road access they are less likely to search forspikes. Timber buyers have not committed resources to the areaand it may be easier for them to simply not bid on a risky, pos-sibly expensive proposition. Also the monkeywrencher’s chancesof being encountered are slim. The advantage of advising only theagency and prospective timber buyers and not the general media, isthat there will be no public loss of face if the sale is quietly droppedor left without a bid because of the spiking. In some cases, spikedtimber has been sold and cut at a considerable financial loss to boththe Forest Service and the logging company so that they do not toappear to be intimidated by a widely publicized tree spiking.

53

knows exactly where to work without any guessing. Nevertheless,with proper intelligence monkeywrenchers can have a good ideaof where future timber sales will be long before the marking stage.

The Forest Service earmarks specific timber sales five years in ad-vance. Moreover, in their 50-year Forest Plans, the Freddies conve-niently identify all of the concentrations of “commercial” timber ineach National Forest — and all too often, they openly acknowledgethat they intend to cut almost all of it, sooner or later. (See “Tar-get Selection” in the Basic Security section in the Security chapterfor secure means of keeping posted on what an agency is up to.)Study the data and identify areas of critical interest to you that ap-pear to be threatened. With plenty of advance warning, you canact deliberately and precisely.

Since activists may be unable to attend to all timber sales wellin advance, much monkeywrenching will occur at the last possibleminute; so it is helpful to have a basic knowledge of timbermarkingpractices. Unfortunately, there is no uniform system, and practicesmay change from time to time. Timber markers generally use spraypaint, although sometimes flagging (or flagging and paint) is usedtomark the boundaries of the area (the “unit”) withinwhich cuttingwill take place. One color will be used to mark the perimeter, whileanother color will be used to mark individual trees to be cut withinthe unit. In a clearcut, only the perimeter is marked, since everythingwithin is to be removed.Agiven timber salewill usually have severalunits within it, and they may be widely scattered or close together.You may see numbers painted on some of the trees — these arethe unit numbers. At the present time in the Northern Rockies —the region with the most roadless areas threatened by the FS — theFreddies are using red or orange paint to mark unit boundaries,and yellow or blue paint to mark the trees within the units whichare to be cut. Trees to be cut are sometimes marked with an “X,”although sometimes only a horizontal slash of paint is used. Butbeware — in timber sales in which most but not all of the trees areto be cut, the trees which are to be left may be painted. Because of

52

wilderness is a vote against their own re-election. We are justifiedin defending our homes — our private home and public home— not only by common law and common morality but also bycommon belief. We are the majority; they — the greedy andpowerful — are the minority.

How best defend our wilderness home? Well, that is a matterof strategy, tactics and technique, which is what this little book isabout. Dave Foreman explains the principles of ecological defensein the complete, compact and conclusive pages of his short intro-duction. I can think of nothing I could add nor of anything I wouldsubtract; he says exactly what needs to be said, no more and noless.

I am happy to endorse the publication of Ecodefense. Never wassuch a book so needed, by so many, for such good reason, as hereand now. Tomorrow might well be too late. This is a book that willfit handily in any saddlebag, in any creel, in any backpack, in anyriver runner’s ammo can— and in any picnicker’s picnic basket. Nogood American should ever go into the woods again without thisbook and, for example, a hammer and a few pounds of 60-pennynails. Spike a few trees now and then whenever you enter an areacondemned to chainsaw massacre by Louisiana Pacific and its af-filiated subsidiary the U.S. Forest Service. You won’t hurt the trees;they’ll be grateful for the protection; and you may save the forest.My Aunt Emma back inWest Virginia has been enjoying this pleas-ant exercise for years. She swears by it. It’s good for the trees, it’sgood for the woods, it’s good for the earth, and it’s good for thehuman soul. Spread the word-and carry on!

Edward AbbeyJuly 1984Oracle, Arizona

25

Chapter 1: StrategicMonkeywrenching

51

team is spiking in a remote roadless area and takes full securityprecautions, they can operate securely in daytime. In daylight oneis more likely to encounter other humans in the woods, but almostany activity in the woods at night, if detected, will be deemed sus-picious and investigated.

Assuming that spikers are working in a remote roadless area,and are not working during the hunting season (a dangerous timeto be out in the woods, since on much of the public lands the high-est period of use occurs at this time), the greatest danger will befrom casual encounters with Forest Service field personnel — tim-ber markers, survey crews, and the like —whomight be working inor near your area. Try to know where these crews are working atall times. If you have a source within the agency, fine, but you canmore safely get this information from continued observation andfrom knowing your area well. Crews tend to work in the same areafor weeks at a time, and often live in temporary field quarters (trail-ers or even tents) rather than commute every day from the DistrictRanger Station or Supervisor’s Office. Another type of people youmight encounter in the woods, especially if you are working in thearea of a timber sale which has already been announced for publicbidding, are representatives of logging companies who might bechecking out the timber before deciding their bids. Needless to say,you do not want to fall into the hands of these people.

When to Spike Trees

A general rule on when to spike might be, “the earlier the better.”If one waits until just before the timber is sold, security problemsare greater, and it will be easier for the authorities to locate thespikes. If one spikes several years in advance of a sale, nature hastime to disguise the work by growing completely over the spikes.Of course, if the Freddies have already marked the boundaries ofthe sale area (or even the individual trees to be cut), the spiker

50

By Dave ForemanIn early summer of 1977, the United States Forest Service began

an 18 month-long inventory and evaluation of the remaining road-less and undeveloped areas on the National Forests and Grasslandsof the United States. During this second Roadless Area Review andEvaluation (RARE II), the Forest Service identified 2,686 roadlessareas of 5,000 acres or more totaling 66 million acres out of the187 million acres of National Forest lands. Approximately 15 mil-lion acres of roadless areas were not included in RARE II becauseof sloppy inventory procedures or because they had already gonethrough land use planning after the first RARE program in the early’70s. All in all, there were some 80 million acres on the NationalForests in 1977 retaining a significant degree of natural diversityand wildness (a total area equivalent in size to the state of NewMexico or a square 350 x 350 miles).

About the same time as the Forest Service began RARE II, theBureau of Land Management (BLM) initiated a wilderness inven-tory as required by the Federal Land Planning and ManagementAct of 1976 (FLPMA) on the 189 million acres of federal land thatthey manage in the lower 48 states. In their initial Inventory, BLMidentified 60 million acres of roadless areas of 5,000 acres or more(a total area approximately the size of Oregon or a square 300 x 300miles).

Along with the National Parks and Monuments, NationalWildlife Refuges, existing Wilderness Areas, and some statelands, these Forest Service and BLM roadless areas represent theremaining natural wealth of the United States (though much ofthe roadless acreage inventoried in the 1970s has been butchered).They are the remnant of natural diversity after the industrialconquest of the most beautiful, diverse, and productive of all thecontinents of the Earth: North America. Turtle Island.

Only 150 years ago, the Great Plains were a vast, waving seaof grass stretching from the Chihuahuan Desert of Mexico to theboreal forest of Canada, from the oak-hickory forests of the Ozarks

27

to the Rocky Mountains. Bison blanketed the plains — it has beenestimated that 60 million of the huge, shaggy beasts moved acrossthe grassy ocean in seasonal migrations.Throngs of Pronghorn andElk also filled this Pleistocene landscape. Packs of GrayWolves andnumerous Grizzly Bears followed the tremendous herds.

In 1830, John James Audubon sat on the banks of the Ohio Riverfor three days as a single flock of Passenger Pigeons darkened thesky from horizon to horizon. He estimated that there were severalbillion birds in that flock. It has been said that a squirrel could travelfrom the Atlantic seaboard to the Mississippi River without touch-ing the ground so dense was the deciduous forest of the East.

At the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, an estimated100,000 Grizzlies roamed the western half of what is now theUnited States. The howl of the wolf was ubiquitous. The CaliforniaCondor sailed the sky from the Pacific Coast to the Great Plains.Salmon and sturgeon populated the rivers. Ocelots, Jaguars, andJaguarundis prowled the Texas brush and Southwesternmountainsand mesas. Bighorn Sheep ranged the mountains of the Rockies,the Great Basin, the Southwest, and the Pacific Coast. Ivory-billedWoodpeckers and Carolina Parakeets filled the steamy forests ofthe Deep South. The land was alive.

East of the Mississippi, giant Tulip Poplars, American Chestnuts,oaks, hickories, and other trees formed the most diverse temperatedeciduous forest in the world. In New England, White Pines grewto heights rivaling the Brobdingnagian conifers of the far West. Onthe Pacific Coast, redwood, hemlock, Douglas-fir, spruce, cedar, fir,and pine formed the grandest forest on Earth.

In the space of a few generations we have laid waste to paradise.The Tall-grass Prairie has been transformed into a corn factorywhere wildlife means the exotic pheasant. The Shortgrass Prairieis a grid of carefully fenced cow pastures and wheatfields. The Pas-senger Pigeon is no more; the last one died in the Cincinnati Zoo in1914. The endless forests of the East are tame woodlots. With fewexceptions, the only virgin deciduous forest there is in tiny mu-

28

Anderson, these agencies employ such tactics as surveillance (ofsuspicious persons), and mail interception (presumably again in-volving those who have for some reason attracted their suspicions).They may have agents in the woods in plain clothes, posing as hik-ers, campers, or fishers; and it is even possible that agents mightbe in the woods at night on stakeouts, equipped with night-visiondevices.

If a monkeywrencher is contemplating spiking trees in a remoteroadless area long in advance of a timber sale, the chances of en-countering cops are relatively slim. Conversely, if a highly contro-versial timber sale is involved, especially one in which monkey-wrenching already has been committed or at least threatened, thedanger to the monkeywrencher is very real. For this reason alone itis preferable to spike trees preventively, rather than as a last-ditcheffort to save a seemingly doomed grove.

Most veteran tree spikers agree that tree spiking should neverbe done alone. In addition to the person or persons who are doingthe actual spiking, at least one person should have the sole dutyof acting as lookout. Some experienced tree spikers recommendthree lookouts for both spiking and silent pinning. At the first signof any other people in the vicinity, spiking should cease and theteam should quietly withdraw. The team should use the drop-offand pick-up method of access, and should follow all recommendedprecautions as to clothing, footwear, and tools (see the Securitychapter).

Some experienced tree spikers, however, argue that it is best toalways monkeywrench alone, even with tree spiking, so that younever have to worry about the reliability of your partner. They ar-gue that careful reconnaissance of the area to be spiked, a plannedand scouted escape route, and frequent stopping to listenmake soli-tary tree spiking safe.

Spiking is much easier done in daylight than in the dark. A teamcan work much faster in full light, and in darkness it is all too easyto be sloppy and fail to cover up the signs of your activities. If a

49

value of spiking is as a long-term deterrent. If enough trees in road-less areas are spiked, eventually the corporate thugs in the timbercompany boardrooms, along with their corrupt lackeys who wearthe uniform of the Forest Service, will realize that timber sales inour few remaining wild areas will be prohibitively expensive. Andsince profits are the goal, they will begin to think twice before vio-lating the wilderness.

In many cases, people have spiked timber in a threatened area,and then have sent (anonymous!) warning to the authorities. If thisis done before the timber has actually been sold, the effect on com-petitive bidding can be considerable. (The Forest Service plans tim-ber sales years in advance, but actual sale of the timber to a loggingcompany is one of the last steps in the process.) In fact the sale maybe quietly dropped. In cases where the timber has already been soldprior to spiking, the Freddies (upon receiving a warning) have sentcrews into the woods to locate and remove the spikes — at sub-stantial expense in overtime to the agency. If this happens oftenenough, it can not fail to reduce the total number of timber salessubstantially, particularly in this era of federal budget deficits.

We will describe here several methods of spiking trees, go intothe “when” and the “where” of spiking, and deal with the sensitivematter of when and how to announce a spiking. First, though, westress some basic security considerations.

Spiking trees is potentially dangerous. The Forest Service hasincreased its law-enforcement budget considerably in the last fewyears, and one reason has been the increased incidence of mon-keywrenching. Another reason for increased law enforcement hasbeen the stepped-up campaign by the Feds to eliminate marijuanagrowing from the public lands, but it should be obvious that a copin the woods looking for dope will arrest any monkeywrenchershe or she might encounter by chance as well.

The Freddies (and other Federal land-use agencies as well) arebecoming increasingly sophisticated in law enforcement, and it isfoolish to underestimate them. According to a 1986 column by Jack

48

seum pieces of hundreds of acres. Fewer than one thousand Griz-zlies remain. The last three condors left in the wild were capturedand imprisoned in the Los Angeles Zoo. (An expensive reintroduc-tion effort has since been started.) Except in northern Minnesotaand northwestern Montana, wolves are known as scattered indi-viduals drifting across the Canadian and Mexican borders. Fourpercent of the peerless Redwood Forest remains and the ancientforests of Oregon are all but gone. The tropical cats have been shotand poisoned from our Southwestern borderlands. The subtropicalEden of Florida has been transmogrified into hotels and citrus or-chards. Domestic cattle have grazed bare and radically altered thecomposition of the grassland communities of the West, displacingElk, Moose, Bighorn Sheep, and Pronghorn and leading to the vir-tual extermination of Grizzly Bear, Gray Wolf, Cougar, and other“varmints.” Dams choke most of the continent’s rivers and streams.

Nonetheless, wildness and natural diversity remain. There are afew scattered grasslands ungrazed, stretches of free-flowing river,thousand-year-old forests, Eastern woodlands growing back to for-est and reclaiming past roads, Grizzlies and wolves and lions andWolverines and Bighorn andMoose roaming the backcountry; hun-dreds of square miles that have never known the imprint of a tire,the bite of a drill, the rip of a ‘dozer, the cut of a saw, the smell ofgasoline.

These are the places that hold North America together, that con-tain the genetic information of life, that represent sanity in a whirl-wind of madness.

In January of 1979, the Forest Service announced the results ofRARE II: Of 80 million acres of undeveloped lands on the NationalForests, only 15 million acres were recommended for protectionagainst logging, road building, and other developments. In the big-tree state of Oregon, for example, only 370,000 acres were proposedfor Wilderness protection out of 4.5 million acres of roadless, un-cut forest lands. Of the areas nationally slated for protection, mostwere too high, too dry, too cold, too steep to offer much in the way

29

of “resources” to the loggers, miners, and graziers. Most roadlessold-growth forest was allocated to the sawmill. Important Grizzlyhabitat in the Northern Rockies was tossed to the oil industry andthe loggers. Off-road-vehicle dervishes and the landed gentry ofthe livestock industry won out in the Southwest and Great Basin.

During the early 1980s, the Forest Service developed its DARN(Development Activities in Roadless Non-selected) list, outliningspecific projects in particular roadless areas. DARN’s implicationsare staggering.The list is evidence that the leadership of the UnitedStates Forest Service consciously and deliberately sat down andasked themselves, “How can we keep from being plagued by con-servationists and their damned wilderness proposals? How can weinsure that we’ll never have to do another RARE?” Their solutionwas simple: Get rid of the roadless areas. In its earliest form, DARNprojected nine thousand miles of road, one and a half million acresof timber cuts, 7 million acres of oil and gas leases in National For-est RARE II areas before 1987. More recent figures from the ForestService are far more disturbing:The agency plans over half a millionmiles of new road, and up to 100,000 miles of this will be in roadlessareas! In most cases, the damaged acreage will be far greater thanthe acreage stated, because the roads are designed to split undevel-oped areas in half, and timber sales are engineered to take placein the center of roadless areas, thereby devastating the biologicalintegrity of the larger area. The great roadless areas so critical tothe maintenance of natural diversity will soon be gone. Species de-pendent on old growth and large wild areas will be shoved to thebrink of extinction.

The BLM Wilderness Review has been a similar process of attri-tion. It is unlikely that more than 9 million acres will be designatedas Wilderness out of the 60 million with which the review began.Again, i