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Activists condemn ELF�s act By Paul Fattig The extremist Earth Liberation Front isn�t doing any favors for the mainstream environmental movement, says Kelpie Wilson. "I�m really angry with these people. Who do they think they are?" asked the longtime activist, now the executive director of the Siskiyou Regional Education Project, an environmental group based in the Illinois Valley. "Property destruction doesn�t help anything," she added. "I can�t imagine how they think they are helping things." The shadowy group, known as ELF, this week claimed responsibility for the Jan. 2 fire at the office of Superior Lumber Co. in Glendale. The fire, determined to be arson by Oregon State Police investigators, caused more than $400,000 in damage. How ELF got started The Earth Liberation Front was founded in 1992 in Brighton, England, by disgruntled members of the Earth First! environmental group who felt their organization was not extreme enough. In 1994, Earth First! leader Judi Bari, in an article published in the Earth First! Journal, recommended that Earth First! "mainstream" itself in the United States. Criminal acts should be left to the ELF, she said. Since then, the ELF has claimed credit for 16 acts of arson or sabotage, including eight in Oregon. Many of those claims were in conjunction with a group called the Animal Liberation Front. The Oregon Council Against Arson is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of anyone involved in the Glendale arson. The council can be reached at 800-452-7888. The fire is the latest in a string of arsons the ELF has taken credit for in recent years, including a 1999 Christmas Day fire that destroyed a $1 million Boise Cascade Corp. office in Monmouth and a blaze that gutted the two-story Medford headquarters of U.S. Forest Industries on Dec. 28, 1998. That fire caused $500,000 in damages. The ELF is an international underground organization that uses economic sabotage to stop alleged environmental destruction. The FBI describes the ELF, believed to be an offshoot of the radical Earth First! environmental group, as one of the nation�s leading domestic terrorist organizations. In a statement received Monday by Portland resident Craig Rosebraugh, a radical environmentalist who publicizes the group�s crimes but claims he does not know the culprits, the ELF warned that its hopes "to see an escalation in tactics against capitalism and industry" in 2001. "Superior Lumber is a typical earth raper contributing to the ecological destruction of the Northwest," the statement said. "What happened to them should shock no one." Its actions and statements are shocking, say mainstream environmental activists. "It sullies the reputation of everyone involved in the environmental movement," said Tom Dimitre, newly elected chairman of the Rogue Group Sierra Club. "We certainly don�t approve of the tactic," he added. "We don�t think that�s the appropriate way to get things done." Legal protests are appropriate to make a point, but firebombing or similar destructive action is not, he said. "It�s too bad � every time it happens the environmental movement gets a lot of bad press," he said. Bob Allen, board president of the Umpqua Watersheds, a environmental group based in Roseburg, called the Glendale arson an "atrocious act" that was indefensible. "These incidents of violence which endanger the lives of firefighters, police and the public cannot be condoned or excused at any level," Allen said. Also objecting to the arson is the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, one of the most fervent environmental groups in Southern Oregon in the past year and an opponent of Superior�s logging activity in the Applegate Valley. However, while the group didn�t agree with the tactic, preferring instead to use legal, organizational and collaborative tactics, a spokesman said it doesn�t criticize the outcome. Earth First! activist Jim Flynn, who works for the Earth First! Journal published in Eugene, says his group isn�t taking sides in the debate. "We neither condemn nor condone what ELF is doing," he said. "What we do is provide a forum for discussion." Flynn, an Earth First! activist for 12 years, says some within the environmental movement are ready to go to extremes to protect the environment. "There is definitely some younger people growing up today who feel Earth First! doesn�t go far enough," he said of the group whose slogan has been, "No compromise in the defense of Mother Earth!" "But they are certainly risking their liberty," he added. "I hope they aren�t caught. I applaud them for standing up and taking action." Flynn said he had no idea who belonged to the ELF. "I am clueless," he said. "It could be the person sitting next to me. It could be anyone." Wilson, the head of the Siskiyou Regional Education Project and former Earth First! activist, said she is puzzled by who would be committing the terrorist acts. "Most of the Earth First!-ers I was involved with weren�t in favor of property destruction," she said. "They concluded it wasn�t productive." But she said it is clear the arson is not helping the environmental community. "Environmental problems are complex," she said. "We don�t solve them by attacking each other. Creating a climate of fear and intimidation doesn�t help anyone. We need to be able to talk to each other." Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.