Editing Earth First! (section)

== Early years, from 1980–1989 ==
Earth First was founded on April 4, 1980,<ref name=":0" /> by [[Dave Foreman]], [[Mike Roselle]], Howie Wolke, Bart Koehler, and Ron Kezar.<ref name=":1" />

During the group's early years (1980–1986), Earth First mixed publicity stunts (such as rolling a plastic "crack" down [[Glen Canyon Dam]]) with far-reaching [[wilderness]] proposals that reportedly surpassed the actions that mainstream environmental groups were willing to take (relying on [[conservation biology]] research from a [[biocentrism (ethics)|biocentric]] perspective). The group's proposals were published in a periodical, ''Earth First! The Radical Environmental Journal'', informally known as the ''Earth First! Journal''. [[Edward Abbey]] often spoke at early gatherings, and his inspirational writings led him to be revered by the early movement.{{Citation needed|date=January 2008}} An annual gathering of the group was known as the Round River Rendezvous, with the name taken from an [[Ojibwa]] myth about a continuous river of life flowing into and out of itself and sustaining all relations.{{Citation needed|date=January 2008}} The rendezvous is a celebration with art and music, as well as an activist conference with workshops and recounts of past actions. Musicians such as Dana Lyons, Judi Bari, Daryl Cherney, Joanne Rand, Bart Koehler, Casey Neill and others performed regularly on Earth First! promotional roadshows as well as at gatherings, protests and blockades.<ref>{{Cite web |last=3CR |first= |last2=McIntyre |first2=Iain |date=2019-04-01 |title=Treesits, lock-ons and barricades: Environmental blockading in the 1980s |url=https://commonslibrary.org/treesits-lock-ons-and-barricades-environmental-blockading-in-the-1980s/ |access-date=2024-08-12 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU}}</ref>  Another project led by the organization at this time was the creation of ''Earth First! Foundation'', a tax-deductible fund which was established to provide financial support for research, advocacy and education by Earth First activists. The fund was later renamed the [[Fund for Wild Nature]] in 1991.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Rebirth of Environmentalism: Grassroots Activism from the Spotted Owl to the Polar Bear |last=Bevington |first=Douglas |publisher=Island Press |date=2009 |isbn=978-1-59726-656-7}}</ref>

In the spring of 1985, a nationwide call to action against the logging company [[Willamette Industries]], published in the [[Earth First! (magazine)|''Earth First! Journal'']], brought Earth First members from around the United States to the [[Willamette National Forest]] of Western [[Oregon]].<ref name=EJ-199805>
{{
cite journal
|journal=[[Earth First! (magazine)|Earth First!]]
|title=Santiam Camp
|first=Marcy
|last=Willow
|volume=5
|issue=5
|at=p. 10, col 1
|date=1 May 1985
|url=https://www.environmentandsociety.org/sites/default/files/key_docs/rcc00098005-5-5_2.pdf#page=11
|access-date=30 April 2025
|url-status=live
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240723090710/https://www.environmentandsociety.org/sites/default/files/key_docs/rcc00098005-5-5_2.pdf#page=11
|archive-date=23 July 2024
|via=[[Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society#Outreach|Environment & Society Portal]]
|quote=The Cathedral Forest Action Group, sponsor of the camp, invites anyone concerned with the fate of old growth to join them at House Rock Campground off Highway 20 in Oregon's Willamette National Forest. 
}}</ref> After finding road blockades (carried out by [[Corvallis, Oregon|Corvallis]]-based Cathedral Forest Action Group) were not an efficient form of protection against logging, [[Maryland]]er Ron Huber and [[Washington (state)|Washingtonian]] Mike Jakubal devised [[tree sitting]] as a more effective [[civil disobedience]] alternative.<ref>{{cite web|last=Huber|first=Ron|date=June 1985|title=Earth First's first treesitting civil disobedience action|url=http://www.penbay.org/ef/treesit_first1985.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051016222643/http://www.penbay.org/ef/treesit_first1985.html|archive-date=2005-10-16|work=penbay.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=3CR |last2=MacIntyre |first2=Iain |date=2018 |title=Treesits, lock-ons and barricades: Environmental blockading in the 1980s |url=https://commonslibrary.org/treesits-lock-ons-and-barricades-environmental-blockading-in-the-1980s/ |website=Commons Social Change Library}}</ref>

On May 23, 1985, Mike Jakubal led the first Earth First tree sit.<ref>{{cite web|last=Huber|first=Ron|date=May 28, 1985|title=Doug Fir Defends Doug Firs: the first Earth First! Aerial Blockade opens 1985.|url=http://www.penbay.org/ef/mikejakubal_1sttreesit85.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051016224709/http://www.penbay.org/ef/mikejakubal_1sttreesit85.html|archive-date=2005-10-16|work=penbay.org}}</ref> When [[U.S. Forest Service]] law enforcement official Steve Slagowski arrived, [[Mike Roselle]], Ron Huber, and others were arrested for sitting at the base of the tree in support. The first "tree-sitting" lasted less than a day—Jakubal came down in the evening to look over the remains of the forest that had been cut down around him, and was arrested by a hidden Forest Service officer—but the tree-sitting concept was deemed sound by Earth First! members. Huber, Jakubal, and Roselle demonstrated the concept at the June 14 Washington EF Rendezvous;<ref>{{cite web|date=June 14, 1985|title=Flogging treesitting to the '85 Washington Rendezvous-ers|url=http://www.penbay.org/ef/washefrendez85.html|url-status=live|work=penbay.org|publisher=EarthFirst! Journal|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050507224101/http://www.penbay.org:80/ef/washefrendez85.html |archive-date=2005-05-07 }}</ref> on June 23, a convoy of activists arrived at Willamette National Forest and set up tree platforms<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.penbay.org/ef/milleniumlog85b.html|title=Earth First! 1985|work=penbay.org}}</ref> in "Squaw/Three timbersale",<ref>{{cite web|last=Huber|first=Ron|date=July 1985|title=The Battle for Millenium Grove|url=http://penbay.org/ef/ronhuber_millenium85.html|url-status=live|work=penbay.org|publisher=Earth First! Journal, Vol. 5, #7|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050507224134/http://www.penbay.org:80/ef/ronhuber_millenium85.html |archive-date=2005-05-07 }}</ref> a location the group thought was threatened with imminent destruction. While at one point, up to a dozen trees were occupied, on July 10 a clash<ref>{{cite web|last=Christensen|first=James A.|date=August 8, 1985|title=Region: Pacific Northwest Forest: Willamette File: 5330|url=http://www.penbay.org/ef/ronfedstatements85.html|url-status=live|work=penbay.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050507224121/http://www.penbay.org:80/ef/ronfedstatements85.html |archive-date=2005-05-07 }}</ref> took down all the trees with platforms except for Ron Huber's after the other sitters had left for an overnight meeting elsewhere. Huber remained at his tree, dubbed [[Yggdrasil]], until July 20 when two Linn County [[sheriff]]'s deputies were lifted in a crane box<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.penbay.org/ef/ronhuber_treesitter1985.jpg|title=Tree sitter|access-date=2023-08-11|format=jpg}}</ref> and wrestled him from the tree.

=== Direct action ===
After 1987, Earth First became primarily associated with [[direct action]] to prevent [[logging]], building of [[dam]]s, and other forms of [[Subdivision (land)|development]] which may cause severe destruction of [[wildlife]] [[habitat (ecology)|habitats]] or the despoliation of wild places. The change in direction attracted many new members to Earth First, some of whom came from a [[leftist]] or [[anarchist]] political background or were involved in the [[counterculture]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}  Dave Foreman has suggested that this led to the introduction of activities such as a "[[puke]]-in" at a shopping mall, a [[flag burning]], the heckling of Edward Abbey at the 1987 Earth First rendezvous, and back-and-forth debates in the ''Earth First! Journal'' on topics such as anarchism, with which Foreman and other Earth First members did not wish to be associated.  Most of the group's older members, including Dave Foreman, Howie Wolke, Bart Koehler, Christopher Manes, George Wuerthner, and ''Earth First! Journal'' editor John Davis, became increasingly uncomfortable with this new direction. This tension reportedly led several of the founders to sever their ties to Earth First in 1990.  Many of them went on to launch the magazine, ''[[Wild Earth]]'', as well as the environmental group, the [[Wildlands Project]]. On the other hand, Roselle, along with activists such as [[Judi Bari]], welcomed the new direct-action tactics and leftist direction of Earth First.

Starting in the mid-1980s, Earth First increasingly promoted and identified with "[[deep ecology]]", a philosophy put forth by [[Arne Næss]], Bill Devall, and George Sessions, which holds that all forms of [[life|life on Earth]] have equal value in and of themselves, without regard for their utility to [[human being]]s.