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The Skagit River Post Page 3 - February 11, 1988 Fish Town protest was downtime for S-W logger By Cookson Beecher The Skagit River Post Chuck Hodgin hopes he's seen his last logging protest at Fish Town "Yes, it was the first protest I've been involved in, and I certainly hope it's the last. It's been an interesting experience, but I can do without this" said Sedro-Woolley logger Chuck Hodgin, who has first-hand experience with protesters while on a current logging job in Fish Town area near La Conner. Hodgin, who has worked in logging for 18 years, describes himself as a faller, who does a little bit of everything. "I do pretty much all of it but drive a log truck" he said. Recalling a family history that includes a grandfather who came to Washington from North Carolina in 1932 and started logging almost immediately, and a father who drove a log truck for 20 years, Hodgin said, "I kind of grew up around it, so I've got a lifetime's experience in it." Hodgin's job at the Fish Town 60-acre clearcut site began in October 1987, just before the state's logging ban due to fire danger was lifted. At that time, he said, there were a few protesters standing just outside the site on a country road, holding signs that said, "Save the Woods." "I didn't really much pay attention to them then" he said. When Hodgin returned to the site in January, the protesters were there again, this time with one of the signs saying, "It's going to look like Hell." "The local protesters out there were real good" he said. "But when they got Earth First! involved, that's when they barricaded the haul road a quarter mile into private property." Sometimes referred to as a national movement, Earth First! has members who respond to local requests for advice and help on environmental matters. The protest group of about 18 people barricaded the haul road on Thursday, Jan. 14, and were refusing to let a loaded logging truck pass through. "I'm the guy who made the decision to unload the logs" said Hodgin, who explained that his employer, Bill Welch, was not there at the time. Hodgin's decision led to the empty logging truck being allowed to leave on the haul road. "We were basically trying to avoid confrontations" he said. Hodgin discovered that the protesters were refusing to allow the log truck through when he took a break and started to walk down to an area he planned to eat lunch. The log truck was still there, he said, as well as Skagit County sheriff's deputies. While the protesters and the sheriff's deputies negotiated, Hodgin and the other loggers waited the 90 minutes it took for the landowners to be contacted. Hodgin said the owners told deputies not to arrest the protesters. "The message I got from the sheriff was that we could log but not haul if they were blocking the road. The driver was an independent hauler, and he did not want to leave his truck there. At that point, the weather conditions didn't permit further logging, so I went down to see if I could talk to the protesters and get the truck out." The conversation ended in a compromise. "It was a decent conversation" said Hodgin. They (the protesters) did not want to allow the truck out, so after some discussion they agreed to let the truck out if we unleaded the logs. We decided it was the best course of action to take at the time. I certainly wasn't happy about it though." Although the protesters indicated they believed they scored a victory, Hodgin measures the incident in time and money lost to the crew. "For that particular day, the truck driver lost at least three loads of logs, which is roughly a $300 loss to him for the work he didn't get to do that day" he said. "The time was just gone. He did get to haul logs later, but you can't really make time up. It did represent a loss to him and a loss to myself." Things started to heat up. On Tuesday, Jan. 19, when the logging crew arrived for work at 8 a.m., they discovered the protesters had the haul road blocked right at the county road. Meanwhile, hours of working time ticked by. "We ended up sitting there until 1:30 p.m." said Hodgin, who explained that the protesters were not arrested until one of the people of the Chamberlain Farms trust, owners of the property, signed a complaint for trespass and the sheriff's department rounded up enough personnel to arrest 11 of the protesters. "What upset me" said Hodgin, "was there were a number of cheering people urging the protesters on, but who made sure they themselves weren't arrested." In addition to the protest, an appeal was filed to the Forest Practices Hearings Continued on Page 19 Logging protest over at Fish Town? Continued from Page 3 Hearings Board. The appeal stated that the original permit for logging operations wasn't given proper review and that the clearcut endangers wildlife within the area. "I can't argue with them going to the Appeals Board if they this its (the logging operation) wrong" said Hodgin. "That's the proper way to do it. But blocking the road is not. that's just a publicity trick as far as I'm concerned, and they did get quite a bit of publicity." The three-day hearing, which ended Jan. 27, resulted in a decision that gave both sides two weeks to return summaries of their cases to the board. However, the board also determined that there was no reason to issue a stop-work order on the entire logging site, though a stop-work order remained in effect on about five acres just outside an eagle management area located within the logging site. Loggers inadvertantly worked in and built part of a haul road on that site. "The only thing I can look at after hearing testimony for three days" said Hodgin, "is that the board obviously didn't hear enough to warrant a stop-word order on the entire site. "What the protest boils down to is that the people involved felt they had more right to look at the trees than the landowners did to log them. "I think a property owner doesn't have many right anyway" he said. "I realize you have to have some environmental planning, but you can also have too much." As of Monday, Feb. 8, a new section of the haul road had been built outside the 660-foot radius surrounding the eagle nest and the crew was hauling logs out. "Some people have stopped on the county road and looked in at the site" said Hodgin, "but we've had no problems with protesters." |
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