Tree sitter dies in platform fall

by: Andrew Kramer and Cascadia Forest Alliance

Oregon, Unites States: Beth O'Brien, a tree sitter with the Cascadia Forest Alliance, died after falling 150 feet from a tree she was trying to protect from logging in the Mount Hood National Forest east of Portland, Oregon. In a sad twist, the sale of timber the woman was protesting had been cancelled three days before her death on 12 April.

Local rescue crews struggled up snow-clogged dirt roads to reach the tree sitters' camp in the Eagle Creek wilderness area after a fellow activist called for help from a cell phone at about 7.00 pm, Clackamas County Sheriff's spokeswoman Angela Blanchard said.

The caller said the woman, who authorities did not immediately identify, was badly hurt and unconscious but still breathing, Blanchard said. By the time rescue crews arrived at about 9.30 pm, the woman was dead, said Blanchard.

Ivan Maluski, a spokesman for the American Lands Alliance, a group involved in protesting the now-cancelled Eagle Creek sale, said tree sitters were days away from leaving the site after a three-year vigil.

"People literally are waiting for the ink to dry (on the cancellation deal). Probably we're going to be packing up and leaving this week, assuming it is signed," Maluski said.

At a press conference on 13 April, a spokesperson from the Cascadia Forest Alliance said that they “view Beth's death in a tradition of courageous action to defend life that extends through decades of nonviolent protest in the US and abroad.”

A candlelight vigil was held in Beth's memory at Mt. Tabor City Park on 14 April at sunset.

Source: Cascadia Forest Alliance