Editing Tree spiking

{{Short description|Radical environmentalist tactic}}
{{use mdy dates |date=September 2022}}
[[File:Nail in a tree.jpg|thumb|Nail sunk into a birch in Sweden.]]

'''Tree spiking''' involves hammering a metal rod, [[Nail (fastener)|nail]] or other material into a [[tree]] trunk, either inserting it at the base of the trunk where a [[Lumberjack|logger]] might be expected to cut into the tree, or higher up where it would affect the [[sawmill]] later processing the wood. Contact with the spike often damages saw blades, which can result in injuries to nearby workers. The spike can also lower the commercial value of the wood by causing discoloration, reducing the economic viability of logging in the long term, without threatening the life of the tree. It is illegal in the United States, and has been described as a form of [[eco-terrorism]] by logging industry advocates.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Bandow |first=Doug |date=12 April 1990 |title=Ecoterrorism: The Dangerous Fringe of the Environmental Movement |url=http://s3.amazonaws.com/thf_media/1990/pdf/bg764.pdf |url-status=live |journal=The Backgrounder |location=Washington, DC |publisher=The Heritage Foundation |issue=764 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119100949/http://s3.amazonaws.com/thf_media/1990/pdf/bg764.pdf |archive-date=19 November 2020 |access-date=11 July 2021}}</ref>

== History ==

It was first mentioned in the context of discouraging logging in [[Earth First! (magazine)|Earth First! magazine]].<ref name="watson-leroy" /><ref name="green-rage" /> It came to prominence as a contentious tactic within unconventional [[environmentalist]] circles during the 1980s, after it was advocated by [[Earth First!]] co-founder [[Dave Foreman]] in his book ''[[Ecodefense]]''. In the book, he discusses how to do it and how to avoid risks to the activist and the logger, such as by putting warning signs or marks in the area where the trees are being spiked.<ref name="ecodefense" /><ref name="stammer" />

On 8 May 1987, George Alexander, a millworker, was severely injured when a saw blade shattered after contact with a tree spike and cut his jaw in half.<ref name="la-times-1"/><ref name="washpost" /> [[Louisiana-Pacific]], Alexander's employer, offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to the alleged tree spiker, but no charges were filed in this incident.<ref name="bari-secret-history" /> The spiking itself was thought to be inconsistent with Earth First! tactics,<ref name="ecocentrists" /> as the trees were not in an [[old-growth forest]]<ref name="stammer" /> and the placement of the nail suggested it was inserted after the tree was cut.<ref name="bari-secret-history" /> Alexander later filed a lawsuit against Louisiana-Pacific<ref name="bari-secret-history" /><ref name="green-backlash" /> claiming that the band saw had been weakened from previous strikes with nails,<ref name="tree-spiker" /> but that he was forced to work with the saw or face dismissal.<ref name="watson-paul" />

This industrial accident led the leaders of Earth First! to denounce tree spiking.<ref name="ecocentrists" /><ref name="green-backlash" /><ref name="tree-spiker" /> Tree spiking is labeled as [[eco-terrorism]] by logging advocates who claim it is potentially dangerous to loggers or mill-workers,<ref name=":0" /> although by 1996 only this single injury resulting from tree spiking had been reported.<ref name="green-backlash" />

== By country ==

=== New Zealand ===
[[Nothofagus|Beech]] trees that were being logged in 1998 in the [[Tuatapere]] area were spiked. Police were unable to trace those who were responsible.<ref name="Nixon">{{Cite news |last=Nixon |first=Tina |date=1998-01-06 |title=Spikes put workers' lives at risk |publisher=The Southland Times}}</ref>

[[Pat O'Dea (mayor)|Pat O'Dea]], while he was the mayor for the Buller District, suggested in 2000 that [[Native Forest Action]] (NFA) had spiked trees during a direct action campaign against native forest logging on the [[West Coast, New Zealand|West Coast]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Madgwick |first=Paul |date=2000-04-14 |title=Public backlash around NZ feared |publisher=[[The Press]]}}</ref> This was denied by NFA spokesperson Dean Bagient-Mercer.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bagient-Mercer |first=Dean |date=2000-04-27 |title=West Coast forests |work=Letter to the Editor |publisher=[[The Press]]}}</ref> In 1998, [[Kevin Smith (conservationist)|Kevin Smith]] from [[Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand|Forest and Bird]] had said that tree spiking was proposed by some individuals involved in the NFA campaign.<ref name="Nixon" />

=== United States ===

Following the 1987 injury of California mill worker George Alexander, anti-tree spiking legislation was introduced as the Anti-Tree Spiking Act,<ref>{{USBill|100|hr|3075}}</ref> and was passed into federal law as an amendment, introduced by senators [[James A. McClure]] and [[Mark Hatfield]],<ref name="green-rage" /><ref name="ecocentrists" /> to the [[Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988]].<ref>{{USStatute|100|690|102|4181|1988|11|18}}, {{USBill|100|HR|5210}}</ref> In 1993, John Blount and others were convicted under this statute for spiking trees in the [[Clearwater National Forest]], after [[Tracy Stone-Manning]] agreed to testify in exchange for immunity from prosecution.<ref>{{Cite news |last=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.--> |date=8 June 1993 |title=Clearwater forest trial opens in Idaho tree-spiking case |url=https://lmtribune.com/northwest/clearwater-forest-trial-opens-in-idaho-tree-spiking-case-lawyer-denies-intent-to-harm-anyone/article_33420451-3859-576d-90b7-9a47e6032c9b.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623192237/https://lmtribune.com/northwest/clearwater-forest-trial-opens-in-idaho-tree-spiking-case-lawyer-denies-intent-to-harm-anyone/article_33420451-3859-576d-90b7-9a47e6032c9b.html |archive-date=23 June 2021 |access-date=11 July 2021 |work=The Lewiston Tribune |agency=Associated Press}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Partlow |first=Joshua |last2=Grandoni |first2=Dino |date=4 July 2021 |title=As a student, Tracy Stone-Manning sent a letter on behalf of eco-saboteurs. It's now complicating her chance to lead the Bureau of Land Management. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/07/04/student-tracy-stone-manning-sent-letter-behalf-eco-saboteurs-its-now-complicating-her-chance-lead-bureau-land-management/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210705105042/https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/07/04/student-tracy-stone-manning-sent-letter-behalf-eco-saboteurs-its-now-complicating-her-chance-lead-bureau-land-management/ |archive-date=5 July 2021 |access-date=11 July 2021 |work=Washington Post}}</ref> In 2021, President [[Joe Biden|Biden]] nominated Tracy Stone-Manning to lead the [[Bureau of Land Management]]. Leading up to her confirmation, significant press attention was given to allegations that she was a central member in the 1989 tree-spiking plot.<ref name="stone-manning">{{Cite web |last=Streater |first=Scott |last2=Yachnin |first2=Jennifer |date=July 15, 2021 |title=Convicted tree spiker: Stone-Manning knew plans in advance |url=https://www.eenews.net/articles/convicted-tree-spiker-stone-manning-knew-plans-in-advance/ |access-date=22 July 2021 |website=Greenwire |publisher=E&E}}</ref>

In 1990, Earth First! leaders, including [[Judi Bari]] and [[Mike Roselle]], issued a memo and press release to Earth First! activists in Northern [[California]] and Southern [[Oregon]], renouncing tree-spiking as a tactic on the eve of [[Redwood Summer]], a 1990 campaign of nonviolent protests against logging of the [[Redwood Empire|redwood forest]].<ref name="earth-first-press-release" />

== See also ==
* [[Ecotage]]
* [[Tree sitting]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="watson-leroy">{{Cite magazine |last=Watson |first=Leroy |date=21 December 1981 |title=Spikin' |url=http://www.environmentandsociety.org/sites/default/files/key_docs/ef_2_2_sm_0.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711191311/http://www.environmentandsociety.org/sites/default/files/key_docs/ef_2_2_sm_0.pdf |archive-date=11 July 2021 |access-date=11 July 2021 |magazine=[[Earth First! (magazine)|Earth First!]] |publisher=[[Earth First!]] |location=Salt Lake City, UT |page=6 |volume=2 |issue=2 |issn=1055-8411}}</ref>
<ref name="green-rage">{{Cite book |last=Manes |first=Christopher |url=https://archive.org/details/greenrage00chri |title=Green Rage: Radical Environmentalism and the Unmaking of Civilization |date=1990 |publisher=Little, Brown and Co. |isbn=978-0316545327 |edition=1st |location=Boston |pages=310 |access-date=11 July 2021}}</ref>
<ref name="ecodefense">{{Cite book |title=Ecodefense: A Field Guide to Monkeywrenching |date=1993 |publisher=Abbzug Press |isbn=978-0963775108 |editor-last=Haywood |editor-first=Bill |edition=3rd |location=Chico, California |pages=350 |editor-last2=Foreman |editor-first2=Dave}}</ref>
<ref name="la-times-1">{{Cite news |last=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.--> |date=16 May 1987 |title=Booby-Trapped Tree Was Felled in Area Known for Bizarre Protests |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-05-16-mn-9417-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629222254/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-05-16-mn-9417-story.html |archive-date=29 June 2021 |access-date=11 July 2021 |work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>
<ref name="washpost">{{Cite news |last=Anderson |first=Jack |last2=van Atta |first2=Dale |date=5 March 1990 |title=Tree spiking an 'eco-terrorist' tactic |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1990/03/05/tree-spiking-an-eco-terrorist-tactic/a400944c-a3a0-4c03-ab99-afada6f44e7a/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210705022859/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1990/03/05/tree-spiking-an-eco-terrorist-tactic/a400944c-a3a0-4c03-ab99-afada6f44e7a/ |archive-date=5 July 2021 |access-date=11 July 2021 |work=Washington Post}}</ref>
<ref name="bari-secret-history">{{Cite news |last=Bari |first=Judi |date=17 February 1993 |title=The Secret History of Tree Spiking |url=https://ecology.iww.org/texts/JudiBari/The%20Secret%20History%20of%20Tree%20Spiking%20-%20Part%201 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625041901/https://ecology.iww.org/texts/JudiBari/The%20Secret%20History%20of%20Tree%20Spiking%20-%20Part%201 |archive-date=25 June 2021 |access-date=11 July 2021 |work=Anderson Valley Advertiser}}</ref>
<ref name="ecocentrists">{{Cite book |last=Woodhouse |first=Keith Makoto |title=The Ecocentrists: A History of Radical Environmentalism |date=2018 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0231165884 |location=New York |pages=372}}</ref>
<ref name="stammer">{{Cite news |last=Stammer |first=Larry B. |date=15 May 1987 |title=Environment Radicals Target of Probe Into Lumber Mill Accident |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-05-15-mn-5213-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200911184421/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-05-15-mn-5213-story.html |archive-date=11 September 2020 |access-date=11 July 2021 |work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>
<ref name="green-backlash">{{Cite book |last=Rowell |first=Andrew |url=https://archive.org/details/greenbacklashglo0000rowe/page/153 |title=Green Backlash |publisher=Routledge |year=1996 |isbn=9780415128285 |page=[https://archive.org/details/greenbacklashglo0000rowe/page/153 153]}}</ref>
<ref name="tree-spiker">{{Cite book |last=Roselle |first=Mike |title=Tree Spiker: From Earth First! to Lowbagging: My Struggles in Radical Environmental Action |last2=Mahan |first2=Josh |date=2009 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0-312-55619-8 |edition=1st |location=New York}}</ref>
<ref name="watson-paul">{{Cite magazine |last=Watson |first=Paul |date=2 February 1995 |title=In Defense of Tree Spiking |url=https://www.environmentandsociety.org/sites/default/files/key_docs/ef_15_3_1.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711215006/http://www.environmentandsociety.org/sites/default/files/key_docs/ef_15_3_1.pdf |archive-date=11 July 2021 |access-date=11 July 2021 |magazine=[[Earth First! (magazine)|Earth First!]] |publisher=[[Earth First!]] |location=Eugene, OR |page=10 |volume=15 |issue=3 |issn=1055-8411}}</ref>
<ref name="earth-first-press-release">{{Cite press release |title=Northern California Earth First! renounces tree spiking |date=April 1990 |publisher=Earth First! |url=http://www.things.org/~jym/ef/tree-spiking-memo.html |last1=Bari |first1=Judi |last2=Cherney |first2=Darryl |last3=Roselle |first3=Mike |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509134622/http://www.things.org/~jym/ef/tree-spiking-memo.html |archive-date=9 May 2008 |last4=Cloninger |first4=Rick |last5=Cloninger |first5=Kathi |last6=Evans |first6=Larry |last7=King |first7=Greg |last8=Davis |first8=Pam |last9=Martin |first9=Daphne}}</ref>
}}

{{Portal bar|Trees|Environment}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tree Spiking}}
[[Category:Trees and humans|spik]]
[[Category:Eco-terrorism]]
[[Category:Radical environmentalism]]