Eagle Creek, Oregon: Tree - Sitter Dies in 150 - Foot Fall
Submitted by Reverend Chuck0:Tree - Sitter Dies in 150 - Foot Fall
April 13, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 10:52 p.m. ET
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- A woman who climbed 150 feet up a
tree to protest a timber sale fell and died from her
injures before rescuers could reach the remote site in the
Mount Hood National Forest.
The timber sale she was protesting had been canceled three
days before her death Friday, and the protesters expected
to leave the area within a week.
It took rescue crews over two hours struggling up
snow-clogged dirt roads to reach the tree-sitters' camp
after fellow activists called rescuers, Clackamas County
Sheriff's spokeswoman Angela Blanchard said.
The caller said the woman, identified as Beth O'Brien, 22,
of Portland, was unconscious but still breathing, Blanchard
said. But by the time rescue crews arrived at about 9:30
p.m., O'Brien was dead.
She had unhooked herself from one platform and was trying
to reach another by a rope ladder when she fell, Blanchard
said.
Sarah Wald of Cascadia Forest Alliance, which organized the
demonstration, said protesters remained in the trees
Saturday evening.
Ivan Maluski, a longtime Eagle Creek protester, said tree
sitters were days away from leaving the site after a
three-year vigil.
About four people take turns living year-round in tree
platforms in the area, Maluski said. After the cancelation
was announced Tuesday, protesters said they wanted to see a
final signed contract before they pulled out.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., an opponent of the timber sale,
announced Tuesday that the U.S. Forest Service had reached
an agreement to cancel the logging contract after an
independent review determined the deal required significant
modifications to prevent environmental harm.
At issue was the problem of blowdown, or trees not intended
for logging being felled by winds on the edge of areas
where cutting was planned. The Forest Service said tree
sitters didn't influence the decision.
The Forest Service and the timber company, Vanport
Manufacturing, agreed to cancel the deal, but tree sitters
said they would remain until the final paperwork was
signed.
Tree sitters live in plywood platforms attached to the
upper limbs of trees slated for logging.
At least two others have fallen in the past year. In June,
one man fell in the Eagle Creek area but refused treatment.
In October, another fell in the Tillamook State Forest and
suffered multiple broken bones.
Beth O'Brien shown here in this undated file photo, died Friday, April 12, 2002 after she fell 150
feet from a platform to the ground during a tree protest in the Mount Hood National Forest east
of Portland, Ore. O'Brien was badly injured in the fall and died before rescue crews could reach
the remote site. (AP Photo/Cascadia Forest Alliance)
Sarah Wald, with the group Arcadia Forest Alliance, and friend of tree-sitter Beth
O'Brien, speaks to the media in Portland, Ore., Saturday, April 13, 2002, about
O'Brian's death Friday, April 12, 2002, when she fell 150 feet from a platform
during a logging protest in the Mount Hood National Forest east of Portland. (AP
Photo/John Gress)
