Where Are They Now? Earth First! Old Guard

Round I

Below is a glimpse into the lives of active longtime EF!ers and instrumental people who have moved on. Some names might be new to the whippersnappers, some may have been heard before (some you might wish you never had!)—what we lovingly refer to as the old guard of our movement, with some mid-guard in the mix.

We asked the following questions: name, age, residency; first and last EF! Rendezvous; what you’re most known for; your wildest memory; what you’ve been doing lately; message to younger generations; if you’ll be coming to another Rondy; and any pseudonyms you wanna divulge.

The following are excerpts from some of the answers we received. There were more responses than we had space for and they kept coming in past our deadline, so we chose a sampling. We will continue this feature into future issues throughout the year.

Randall Restless

Bozeman, Greater Yellowstone. First Rondy: 1986. Last: 1996. Helped to start the Cove/Mallard campaign, in opposing tion to a massive roadless area timber sale on the Nez Perce National Forest. “We mostly won that one.” Wildest memories? “Dang, where to begin? Maybe body-shots at the RRR in the Sanjuan Mountains. Or naked amoebas at the 1990 RRR in Montana. Or locking my neck with a U-lock to the axle of a loading machine in Murrelet Grove during Redwood Bummer... Or erecting North America’s first-ever tripod road blockade at Cove/Mallard, only to have the loggers light it on fire.” Lately: “Guiding touristas in Yellowstone. On the eco-front, working to stop the invasion of public lands by motorized morons, by documenting and exposing the damage these losers do to our public heritage.” Coming to another Rondy? “Probably not, but you never know where I might appear.” Message to the youth: “Fuck shit up.”

Peggy Sue McRae

Friday Harbor, Washington. First Rondy?, “mmm where was that?” Last: ’96. “I was proud of the Ecofeminist insert I put together and the Mona the Monkey-wrencher cover I designed for that issue. I wrote a “pagan blurb” for the Journal for a few years and did a lot of pen & ink drawings but I also held the record for jail time served on the Cove/Mallard Front...” Wildest memory? “After the initial 28 days the Noble Road Seven spent in jail, we arrived back at the Cove/Mallard basecamp to a full blown riot.” Lately, “blogging, painting, working at The Whale Museum in Friday Harbor and looking after my Mom.” To the youth: “Keep it nonviolent.” Coming to another Rbndy? “Not sure, but it could happen.”

Gnome Wolf Spirals

Aka “Nome Ansland,” 39, living in Austin, Texas. First Rondy: 1995. Last: 2002. “Poet and orator, and perhaps the ‘missing link’ between the old and young guards. I am from an anarcho-punk background in my youth but have the values of a ‘misanthropic” deep ecologist in many ways.’ Lately? “Working as a youth counselor. I was always an avid social worker/crisis counselor through the ‘90s... perhaps a closeted Humanist with a misanthropic image. Environmental work has been sporadic, but I am still there in my heart.” Wildest memory? “Sequoia lifting her shirt and cackling ‘I’ve killed these!’ in 1995.”

Mike Mease

Montana. On Rondies: "Never Simmers are my vacation, last thing I want to do is hang out with a bunch of hippies!” Known for: “Depends on how old you are”; founded Cold Mountain, Cold Rivers, guerilla media; occupied Paul Watson’s ship, in “revenge of the lily-livered banner hangers” action. Co-founded Buffalo Field Campaign ... has spent last 13 years “living on the frontlines with the buffalo.” Wildest memory: “Police brutality in Cove/Mallard, security guards playing Russian roulette with detained activists.” To the youth: “I’m not into breeding, but we need to be more tribal in how we relate to parents and families... [also] we gotta remember, government did this [Green Scare] to make us paranoid and to close us off to each other.” Last comment “Thanks for your work. The Journal is a real important piece of this movement."

Greta Grizz

California, 41, Aka “Fire Gruz.” “First Rondy: 1990, last: 2002. for: “Probably for my medical and organizational support at EF! actions.... Also helping start Greater Gila Biodiversity Project and what is now the Center for Biological Diversity.” Wildest memory: “You can’t put that shit in print! It’s either illegal or something you don’t want your children reading about! Find me around a campfire, put a bottle in my hand and maybe I’ll spin a wild yarn or two about the roaring ‘90s and the benefits of being able to run fast.” Lately: “Health care: working as massage therapist and clinical herbalist with focus of work on activist health, teaching and running low-income herbal wellness clinics, raising two children, milking goats, homesteading.” To the youth: “Hike and run a lot.... Learn GIS mapping. Get out in the woods monitoring timber sales, learn to write really well so you can help with appeals, grants and endangered species listing petitions. Get focused defending and creating Wilderness, or start your take baths, dress in the costumes of modern day Amerika, and slip into boardrooms easier. Washing your hands is cool, taking care of your body is cool, eating protein is cool. Eating soybeans as your main protein source will get you in trouble with your thyroid.... You are Gaia’s antibody, the warrior T-cells, and you need to be as effective as possible right now....” Coming to a Rondy again? “Probably not... the last one I went to was decidedly not focused on defending biodiversity, the only reason I became involved with EF!—in 1980 when I was 10 years old defending Jack Creek Road near Big Sky, Montana.”

Gigi

Tucson, Arizona, 48. First Rondy: Oregon Regional around ’92, last: 2001. “What am I known for, I don’t know... 1 was booted from a lot of fires for causing chaos. I’m not the queen of chaos, I mean I wouldn’t take on that title, but I’ve been called that... without drinking! But it always turned into fun.” Memories: “So many totally fucked up actions that we had to laugh about later... I was a main jail support person in Colorado (after the Rondy), people were getting arrested, and Agent Apple took my car Jto pie Barry) Clausen, leaving me with no fucking car for jail support, But people thought it was great cause he got pied right in front of the Jail.” Lately, “I’ve been finding myself, redefining my self... I think its called midlife crisis. I had to take a few years off ’cause I crashed... Can you make up something more glorious?!” Next Rondy: “I made a commitment to help Crusty with the rendezvous next year. I’m bringing my cats.”

Mitch Friedman

Bellingham, Washington, 47. First Rondy: ’85, last: ’89. One of the first treesifters, organized the first spotted owl protests, Ancient Forest Rescue Expedition, creative director for the Mudhead Kachinas. Wildest memories: “Some heavy Stumps Suck protest moments at the Gifford Pinchot and Okanogan National Forest headquarters.” Lately: “I’ve directed Conservation Northwest (originally Greater Ecosystem Alliance) since ’89.” He’s received conservation awards from Society for Conservation Biology, The Wilderness Society, Washington Environmental Council, and Northwest Jewish Environmental Project. Named by Washington Law and Politics Magazine as one of the “25 smartest people in Washington” in 2003. To the youth: “Eschew dogma.” Will you be coming to a Rondy: “Hard to say.” Mysterious. Our sources tell us that Mitch has “gone conservative,” but maybe we’ll get to see for ourselves.

Gary Lawless

Nobleboro, Maine, 59, “Only Rondy was a million years ago in southern Colorado... Art Goodtimes got the poets together to read, before the Warrior Poets had a name....’ Later I was poetry editor of Wild Earth magazine, also Jasper Carlton and I created the National Grizzly Growers Organization.” Today: “I co-own a bookstore, write poems for the lynx, the loon, the herring—try to speak for the critters. The poet Gary Snyder sent me a postcard, here in Maine, saying there’s this new bunch of folks you ought to know about—I wrote to Dave Foreman and got a stapled, mimeographed newsletter in return—the early beginnings of the EF! Journal. Because of that postcard I met Dave and Nancy, Jamie Sayen, Jasper Carlton, Walkin’ Jim Stoltz and John Davis... I’m getting older, but still trying to give voice to those critters through poems, through the books we make available at our bookstore, and through the way I live my life. To the youth: “Thank you for your hearts, your spirit, for what you do. Stay strong, and don’t compromise in your defense of Mother Earth.”

Jean Crawford

Albuquerque, New Mexico, 48. First Rondy: 1987, attended straight through 1997, last: 2005. Aka “Loose Hip Circles, my nom-de-plume for the Journal, lived several road crossings from the nearest convenience store.” Known for: “Most of the things 1 did were in the background. I might be remembered as a mouthy, feisty, funny woman who could keep a rowdy meeting flowing, and was the harmless looking one sent to deal with the unsuspecting public. Some of what seems significant to me: I kept the Aryans off the stage at the 1989 Jemez RRR (Ha to you, Lone Wolf Circles); signing the tax forms for the Journal because I was the only board member with an address.” Wildest memory: “Being a part of the Wild Women’s Circle that evicted the guy from the 1990 RRR in Montana for sexual harassment. That was the most empowering thing I’ve ever been part of.” Lately: “I used to run with the wolves, then I napped with the cats, now I’m dancing with trees....” To the youth: “Take all rumors, attitudes and stories with a big grain of salt. We may never know how much damage the FBI really did. But I suspect it was considerable... 1 have always believed that the work of protecting the Wild is more important than what name the work is done under... Evolution is healthy and inevitable; rigidity is dangerous.” Coming to a Rondy again? “Probably not, I have to camp with a 301b battery, and that’s a lot of extra weight for me to carry. But I’d love to have an Old Guard Rendezvous some day for the sheer pleasure of seeing old friends. But give me lots of early warning, money is hard to come by, I miss EF!'s place in my life.”

Paloma Galindo

Just moved from Knoxville, Tennessee to Boise, Idaho. First Rondy: ’95, but before that had participated in smaller regional gatherings; most recent Rondy, 2005. Co-founder of United Mountain Defense, a nonprofit dedicated to halting mountaintop removal coal mining in TN. Wild memories: “shutting down logging roads on Olympic peninsula, all night in the rain and cold; living in a tipi on Karen and Asante’s land; u-locked to truck attached to a tripod in Cove/Mallard; run-in with angry logger with gun while I was lost in Warner Creek and convinced him a whole group with cameras were surrounding us; going to Yukon, in 40-degrees-below weather to stop the wolf kill in ’96; falling in love with mountains, campfires and guitars; Casey Neill singing “Dancing on the Ruins”; the kind of moments where you said “yes, I am alive!”‘Yeah, she’ll be at the next RRR.

Rain Sanchez

Tucson, Arizona, 41. First Rondy: ’95, last: “regional in AZ a few years ago.” Known as “Always gung-ho, I’m gonna be there in the front, like ‘to the barricade!’” Craziest memory: “Bullets flying by my head, hearing them fly by my ears in Headwaters. I got dropped off at the wrong spot apparently.” Lately: “For five years I’ve been teaching a free self-defense class at Dry River anarchist community center,” often attended by us Journal folks. “Also working on the Border Opposition Action Fund and Autonomous Sustainability Project.” To younger generations: “Study the path, not only of direct action, but of revolutionary insurgents around the world. Learn from the past, try not to reinvent the wheel, don’t make the same mistakes, listen to your heart, listen to the Earth, and take care of each other.” You’ll see him around.

Editor’s Note: In Volume II of the 30^th Anniversary edition of the Earth First! Journal; John Davis, Karen Coulter, Mike Petersen, Dennis Fritzinger, Laura B, Art Goodtimes, Garlic, Peg Millett, Dirt, Daniel Barron, Slugthang, Dave Foreman and Christopher Manes.

Some other folks we’ve contacted: Mike Jakubal, Mike Howell, Jeanette Russel, Neal Tuttrup, Dana Stoltzman, Sasha Coulter, Michael Donnelly, Kelpie Wilson, Karen Wood, Kimberely Dawn, John Green, lagoff Kreilik, Tracy Bartlett, Faith Walker, Dana Lyons, Michael Robinson, John Johnson, Dave Parks, Dennis Davey, David Cross, George Wuerthner, Mark Williams, Phil Knight, Danny Dolinger, Roger Featherstone, Bob Kaspar, Andy Caffrey, Bill Oliver, Marc Baker, Alicia Littletree, Ron Kezar, Bart Koeler, Gary MacFarlane, Ivan Maluski, Doug, Frog, Theresa Kintz, Jesse White, Kris Maenz, Kim Marks, Laren Linder, Tracy Catelman...

If you know any of them, or others, please encourage them to take part in this effort to reconnect the Earth First! generation gaps.

Round II

As we promised in Voulme I of the 30^th Anniversary edition, below is another glimpse into the lives of active longtime EF!ers and instrumental people who have moved on. Again, some names might be new, some may have been heard before (some you might wish you never had!) These are what we lovingly refer to as the old guard of our movement, along with some “mid-guard” in the mix.

The questions: name, age, residency; first and last EF! Round River Rendezvous (RRR); what you’re most known for; your wildest memory; what you’ve been doing lately; message to younger generations; if you’ll be coming to another Rondy; and any pseudonyms you wanna divulge.

If we get more responses, we may continue this feature into future issues of the Journal. So keep ‘em coming!

Christopher Manes

Palm Springs, California, 53. First and last Rondy: 1985 and 1987. “I was the self-proclaimed ‘pseudo-intellectual’ of the movement.” Wildest memory: “At the Colorado RRR back in 87, Wolf arrived with a 5^th of vodka, some grapefruit juice and a hankering to get mightily drunk. So he, Bill Turk, the much under-appreciated Roger Candee, and I joined him, and plied with liquor, we decided that EF! had become too soft. So we wandered the area shouting “Fuck Humanity!” and “No Man’s Land!” with Turk cracking his bull whip for emphasis. (Yes, he carried a bull whip). At one point we almost fell into the Grand Canyon, which would have been an appropriate demise for us indeed. Now (stay with me here), unbeknownst to us, earlier that day, before we arrived, Ed Abbey had gotten into some kind of verbal altercation with some anarchists. Fair enough. However, when darkness fell and they heard some drunken men cracking a bull whip and making vague threats and apparently prowling the area looking for victims, they thought Abbey had somehow sent out his “shock troops” (their words not mine) to hunt them down for the ideological heresies. Shortly thereafter, the incident was printed in an anarchist journal as evidence of the “fascist” nature of Earth Firstl’s old guard, with the bull whip playing a major role in the narrative... But it was just us all along. After that the rift between the old guard (or as Roselle likes to call them the “buckaroos”), and the more traditional leftists widened. It was of course inevitable. But I think it all started with Turk’s bull whip and too many greyhounds.” Lately: “I wrote a couple books, and became an attorney.” To younger generation EF!ers? “Only young people can change things. It’s your world. The rest of us are just commentators now.” Pseudonyms: “Oh, I used many, which has caused a lot of confusion about who wrote what. Best to leave it at that.” Coming to a Rondy again? “I hadn’t given it any thought. It might be fun. As long as there are no bull whips present.”

Karen Coulter

Age 52; used psuedonyms in both the Journal and in the Earth First! Campfire Poetry Book (to shift the focus off a personality onto the ideas); residency: Cascadia—divided between a mountainside in eastern Oregon from late spring through fall, and Portland, Oregon for winter. First RRR: 1988 (involved since 1984), last: 2009. Most known for: “my ongoing legal forest defense in eastern Oregon and helping organize the End Corporate Dominance Conference and related workshops.” Wildest memories: “... the all night torch-lit building of the immense Jack Road blockades in the Cove Mallard sales area of Idaho, using nothing but our hands and cooperation; the hunt sabotage against the hunting of endangered Big Hom sheep in the Mojave, experiencing the diverse unique rock formations there and seeing Big Hom sheep rams standing on peaks against the blue sky; the first wild tribal dance at the Rendezvous in 1989... There’s too many wild memories to limit it to just one.” Lately: “struggling to keep Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project going financially, field-checking proposed timber sales in eastern Oregon with wonderful volunteers each summer, working on a book about the foundations of corporate rule in 19 Century US history, writing biocentric poems, making wine, dancing, hiking, hanging out with my son, friends, cats, dogs and wildlife.” To younger generations: “Really plan out a long-term strategy for meeting your goals as a group. Don’t stay in tactical ruts or be an exclusive clique. Don’t let your group die due to a few disruptive people. Read Brian Glick’s handbook for dealing with infiltrators: The War at Home. Keep developing a movement culture of resistance—with art, music, poetry, dance theater... Really get to know the wild and wildlife—ground yourself in wild nature. Don’t wait for a campaign, an action, or a group to come to you: start one. Follow your passion to find your focus. Ask me or other ‘old guard’ folks what else we’ve learned that might help your situation. We too were young and still are radical. I’m an anarchist too...” Another Rondy? “Of course... see you this year in Idaho.”

Ilse Asplund

Currently living in Cascadia and Atzlan. First Rondy: ’87; most recent: ’02. “Recently dealing with some health challenges, finding plants to be wonderful allies in healing.” Favorite EF! Memory: “Sending the KUTV News car back to Salt Lake City after the North Rim Rondy (-400 mile journey) with a new bumper sticker, Another Mormon on Drugs. To younger generations: “You are the present upwelling of life’s fierce impulse to renew itself once again. Humans and other critters have come to certain crossroads over the millennia and it is always the willingness to act against impossible odds that brought them through the breach... As bad as things are, we’re just a small part of the picture and we only have partial knowledge. Anyway, it’s arrogant to think otherwise.” Coming to another Rondy? “Is there a geriatric rendezvous planned? No, seriously, a token out of the way shtetl within the larger rendezvous for the old pre-post-modem relics of ancient times (the 1980s). No running water or flush toilets required, just a place where we can wear our red bandanas. We don’t really want to contaminate the minds of the young with our unpurged droppings of memory and experience, but we are always in danger of doing so if left on the loose! Was that a yes or no question?”

Dirt

Living in Olympia, WA, 42. First, EF! Rondy, 1994 Western Regional Lake Davis, Oregon; most recent, 2009 RRR, Umpqua, OR. Known for rigging tree sits in Luna, Fall Creek and two dozen other similar campaigns in 1990’s. Wildest memory. “Real Rendezvous’ with wild raucous and mostly naked drunken behavior around the campfire. Including side-splitting hilarious music with too many talented musicians trying to get a single song squeezed into a very musical campfire that went till nearly sunrise...” Lately? “Building an EF! Warrior Poets website... doing lots of environmental activism with mainstreamers too. Also earned a grad degree (Master’s Public Administration.}” To the youth: “Why don’t y’all smile? You smile at people who are the same age as you, why not the rest of us? Do you think older EF!ers are the enemy or something? Rendezvous’ used to be a place where we knew solidarity and trust and we smiled and said hi to everyone we passed on the trail. What made y’all so cruel, elitist and cold? Do you think because I don’t dress like you and am older than you that I’m not worthy of a smile back? You think I’m not down with your cause? The lack of respect for diversity from your generation is abysmal.”

John Davis

Westport, NY, 47. First Rondy 1986; last: 1990. Editedjoumalforafewyears with Dave Foreman. Wildest memories: “Camping in Sonoran desert with AZ EF! friends; glimpsing a wolverine as I took a hike at Rendezvous in Idaho; raft trips down Sanjuan and Green Rivers; Actions in the woods best kept as inside memories.” Lately? “On various conservation boards of directors, including Wildlands Network, Restore: The North Woods, Champlain Valley Conservation Partnership and Heron Dance. I serve as Conservation Director of the Adirondack Council.” To the Youth: “No matter how diverse your interests and causes, keep wild nature foremost in mind. Boldly confront its greatest threats: human population and over-consumption.” Coming to a Rondy again? “Not likely, as I attend too many meetings already, and I’m too old now to keep up with you young folks! May you succeed wildly in putting Earth first!”

Peg Millett

Bradshaw Mountains, central AZ, 57; used to be called Gristle, back in the ‘80s. First Rondy, 1985 Uncompodray Plateau CO; Last, Wyoming I think. I went to the AZ Winter Rondy in ’08. Known for “Dancing, singing, AZ 5, doing fed time (20 years ago), Woo Woo Queen.” Lately: “Playing with horses, going on a few river trips with the Usual Suspects.” To younger generations: “Learn from herstory, smile fiercely, live from a spiritual perspective, learn from the earth and the animals, celebrate.” Coming to another Rondy: “Probably.”

Dennis Fritzinger

Bay Area Bioregion, CA, 67. First RRR: Kalmiopsis, Oregon 1983; most Recent RRR: 2009. Most known for: “At rallies: the tea song. At campfires: my poem “Donuts Galore”. In the Journal: Editor of Armed With Visions. At OCs: the Night to Howl.” Wildest memory? “Seeing a mountain lion on the way to the 1987 RRR on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The funniest memory was being part of a herd of caribou at our post-rondy demo in Albany, NY in 1991.” Lately: “Writing stuff to send in for the 30^th Anniversary issue.” To younger generation: “Don’t get burned out. Taking time to go camping, hiking, river-rafting and just getting out in nature is a good antidote to living in cities and working on campaigns. Do your homework. It’s important to understand the science. Learn basic survival skills so you can be self-sufficient when you need to. Keep a sense of humor.” Coming to a Rondy again? “Definitely. I plan to go to next year’s and as many as I can after that.”

Mike Petersen

Spokane, WA, 57. First: 1986 in Idaho; last Rondy: maybe 2000? Organized 1988 RRR and the follow-up Okanogan Highlands Action. Wildest memory: “Going to northern BC in the middle of winter to stop the aerial wolf kill, setting up road blockades during Redwood Summer. Other things I can’t talk about.” Lately? “Executive Director of The Lands Council, and on many Boards.” To younger generations: “In my mind EF! inspired environmental activism in a unique way that was focused on direct action. The focus has been diffused by others wanting to capture some of that spirit, whether it be anarchism, prison activism, or any of the other isms that can be good causes, but not earth centered.” Any pseudonyms? “Better not, since I am unsure if the statute of limitations has run out...” Coming to a Rondy again? “Possible. I still get the Journal.”

Daniel Barron

Oakland CA, 48. First Rondy: Colorado 1985; last: Oregon 1998. Most known as: main San Francisco EF! contact 1986–1990; action with Mike Roselle & Helen to kick off part 2 of Kalmiopsis campaign (April 1987); organizer of EF! whitewater trips.” Wildest memory: “post-Rondy action 1988 at Okanogan Nat’l Forest HQ, a hundred of us shut down Freddie office for the day, blockaded the entrances, occupied the roof, put cowpies in the air conditioning intakes, played music, danced, yelled, drew chalk murals on sidewalks. Freddies brought in every law enforcement officer in 3-county area resulting in over 20 arrests, 3 days in jail, and jail solidarity on hunger strike so that all arrestees were released with equal minimum fine... shook the Forest Service nationwide.” Lately: “Disappearing into obscurity.” To younger generations: “think long and hard about appropriate tactics for each situation, study the history of the movement and of all eco-social change, learn from the successes and failures of your elders.” Coming to a

Rondy again? “No. Some of my best memories are from past Rondys; I remember past years by where the Rondy took place and who was there; but I’ve passed the torch on to others who can make their own memories.”

Angela Wartes Kahl

“Been Garlic for the last 14 years”, 35, Alsea, OR. “First Rondy was Twin Lakes in 1997 or 1999, don’t remember the year but the hike in was a nightmare.” Last Rondy: 2010, in the North Woods of Maine. “We drove all the way from Oregon with a three year old, that’s dedication folks...” Known for? “Jail and Legal support of the Headwaters Forest Campaign in Northern California, WTO, and volunteering with lawyer teams that represented the pepper spray plaintiffs and Gypsy’s family.” Wildest memories: “Fall of ’96 in Headwaters. The legal team saw more than 300 arrests in two months, every other day there was an action— tripods in the road, sleeping dragons, endless lockdowns, so many lock boxes and bags of concrete, I lost count. I felt like we were surviving off air, no sleep and pure adrenaline. All the old guards were firecrackers. Judi was still alive and very much involved. It was an incredible time to be in EF!” Lately, “Garth and I have an organic farm called Common Treasury. Recently I have been working on going back to college in the textile field, essentially working on sustainable fiber manufacturing. Joined the Seeds of Peace Collective after the RNC in St. Paul and enjoy cooking meals for 5,000.” To younger generations: “I am so happy you are here. Please stick around but breaks from activism are necessary no matter what.people tell you. Always be honest and open to new ideas, it is the only way we are going to succeed.” Coming to a Rondy again? “I’m helping organize the 2011 Rondy—Idaho! See you there!”

Art Goodtimes

Norwood, CO. A former poetry editor for Earth First! Journal and Wild Earth, Ed Abbey mentions Art by name in the 1987 Rondy scene from Hayduke Lives. He’s now a 4-term Commissioner in San Miguel County, with the Green Party. According to famed author Terry Tempest Williams, “If there’s hope in the American West, it’s that Art Goodtimes is one of our county commissioners.” He didn’t respond to our questions, but in another interview he said this of Earth First!, “It’s become a warrior clan whose effectiveness is limited...Every tribe needs its warriors, but their anger wasn’t always targeted very well. And (direct action), that’s dangerous and scary.” I guess that’s what the voters wanted to hear.

Laura B.

Eugene, Oregon, 29. “Can’t remember the first, late 90s, early 2000s? It was probably a regional affair. The last was the one in the Mount Hood area. Was that 2005?” (little young to be losing memory, no?) Known for: “Tree-sitting in Oregon. Biscuit fire campaign. Northwest Ecosystem Survey Team (NEST).” Wildest memory: “Getting arrested twice in three days at the Biscuit fire campaign trying to protect the Fiddler Timber Sale area. The second time, they weren’t as keen to let me out of jail.” Lately: “Law school. Finishing up my last year, then I’m going after the federal land management and wildlife management agencies in their own courts of law.” To the youth: “Keep on fighting, but don’t get stuck in a mt. Be creative in your tactics. Some of our most successful work came from someone’s random idea, thinking out of the box. Like, ‘Hey, I know, why don’t we try conducting our own surveys for red tree voles?’” Coming to a Rondy again? “If the Rondy and myself are in the same area at the same time, I would love to. People will probably judge me for being all old and normal, though.”

Dave Foreman

Lives in New Mexico, co-founded Earth First! and the Journal. Left the movement in 1990 to found Wild Earth, a magazine which has since folded, and The Rewilding Institute, which, among legitimate wildlands advocacy, also advocates for bringing elephants, lions and camels back to North America (yes, really). Foreman is, sadly, also now a leading voice in Apply The Brakes, a newly formed anti-immigrant coalition under the white supremacist network of John Tanton. He did not respond to us.

Slugthang

The following are excerpts from a poem sent by “Sluggo” in response to our Old Guard questionnaire: