The Aldwell Forest clearcut in Washington State illustrates extensive logging practices led by the Murphy Company, emphasizing the destruction of a mature forest for hardwood and wood products. Stumps dominate the landscape, and the forest floor has been destroyed, now filled with herbicide-covered debris. Contrastingly, nearby legacy forests, over a century old, abound with native vegetation and biodiversity. After further logging threats emerged, activists and community members organized to halt the destruction, culminating in direct actions including a tree-sit, which ended due to safety concerns after violent confrontations.
The Murphy Company's devastation of the landscape slaps you in the face. Here on land owned by the state's Department of Natural Resources (DNR), a beautiful mature forest has been logged for hardwood, plywood, and other wood products. Hacked-off stumps are visible in all directions, a few trees left to stand. The former forest floor, once rich with organisms, now stands heaped into huge slash piles to be burned.
The contrast with the remaining intact Elwha legacy forests couldn't be starker. There, in naturally regenerated forests more than a century old, large Douglas fir, western red cedar, and big-leaf maple trees festooned with moss and licorice ferns surround you. Native vegetation in multiple shades of brilliant green abound.
Environmentalists, citizens, and forest defenders are fighting to stop Murphy's logging through lawsuits and direct action after DNR put more Elwha legacy forest on the chopping block during a November 2024 auction.
A tree-sit launched by the Olympic Forest Defenders (OFD) blocked the road into the Parched forest site scheduled for destruction. The sit received broad support from community members through rallies and supply efforts, but faced police and violent vigilantes.
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