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Media Advisory Contacts: April 5, 1999 John Reimann, Secretary for Carpenters Union Local 713: 510-534-3254 Karen Pickett, Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters: 510-548-3113 Woodworkers Union Present Care Package to Treesitter Representatives from Local #713 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners will gather Tuesday April 6 to present a "care package" for Julia Butterfly Hill, who has been sitting in and protecting an ancient redwood tree in the Headwaters Forest area for over 15 months. The package, containing organic dried fruit, juices, honey, chocolate, postage stamps and other goods, will be presented to Headwaters activists at the Berkeley office of the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters (BACH), who will deliver the package to Ms. Butterfly in her tree in Stafford, California. A press conference will accompany the presentation at noon Tuesday at the BACH office at the Ecology Center at 2530 San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley. After reading an article about Ms. Butterfly's long tree sit, a carpenter working on Berkeley's Civic Center remodeling asked his union local to support the 25-year-old activist by sending the needed goods. Those at the local meeting voted unanimously in favor of the aid. The woodworkers' support comes at a time when collaboration between labor and environmentalists is growing by leaps and bounds, evidenced by the joint organizing by the United Steelworkers of America (USWA), representing striking Kaiser Aluminum workers, and activists working to preserve the remaining ancient redwoods of Headwaters Forest in Northern California. Kaiser Aluminum is owned by Charles Hurwitz's Maxxam Corporation, also owner of Pacific Lumber Co., holder of over 200,000 acres of redwood and douglas fir forestland in Humboldt County. The carpenters went shopping and bought basic provisions for Julia, including organic fruits and juices. These provisions will be hiked up a hill to Ms. Butterfly's tree, Luna, which sits on a ridgetop above a landslide caused by a Pacific Lumber clearcut that buried seven homes in Stafford, California, about 250 miles north of San Francisco. Although government and PL officials recently signed a deal to protect fragments of the Headwaters Forest, the 1,000-year-old tree Luna sits in the over 85% of the forest still vulnerable to cutting. Only 7,500 acres of the 60,000 acre Headwaters Forest were purchased under the deal. -end- Press Statement from Carpenters Local 713 The brother and sister member of Carpenters Local Union 713, Alameda County, California, commend and support the concept and actions of Julia Butterfly in her ongoing effort to preserve old growth forest. We believe, along with Julia Butterfly, that the preservation of a healthy environment is of equal importance to humanity as our own economic well being. We also believe it is true that one is not exclusive of the other, but interdependent, both in the forest and the urban streets. To demonstrate our support we have voted to make a small contribution to her major effort. ------------ Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters (BACH) Ecology Center 2530 San Pablo Ave. Berkeley, CA 94702 phone: 510 548 3113 email: bach@igc.org
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