Cove/ Mallard Resistance: Jack Road HiJacked

On a hot day in early July, 11 activists gathered in the heart of the Nez Perce National Forest near Dixie, Idaho, which contains the largest roadless area in the lower 48. Unfortunately, this area, known as Cove/Mallard, was sold to Shearer Lumber to do with what they please. Since 1992, activists have been fighting against the wholesale destruction of this beautiful place.

Shearer has already gutted Noble, one of the timber sales in Cove/Mallard. They have also made plain their intention to log the Jack timber sale and indeed must do so before the next sale (Lone Park) can proceed.

The plan of these 11 activists was to blockade Forest Service Road 9553, also known as the Jack Road. Early on the morning of July 5, they hiked five miles up the Trapper Creek trail, loaded down with all the food and gear necessary for a lengthy stay. Everyone was so tired upon reaching Jack Road that they all fell asleep.

The morning of July 6 was spectacular. Not only were there moose nearby, but two bipods had miraculously appeared on the road! Two activists suspended themselves from the two, interdependently cabled bipods (some say co-dependent; but that's a matter of interpretation), making it impossible to take one bipod down without the other coming down as well. The tiny seed of the High Jack blockade had been germinated.

Walking the length of Jack Road, one can easily see how destructive it is. The road cuts through one stream, and it's been washed out in numerous others. The sediment running into Little and Big Mallard creeks is fatal to the creatures living there, including the Chinook salmon, an endangered species.

On July 9, after being discovered by timber cruisers, an Idaho County Sheriffs came by with cameras and stern looks. A few days later, a Forest Service law enforcement officer (LEO) named Steve Didier came by and talked, pretending to drink our coffee from a dirty Mike Roselle plastic mug.

Some time in mid-July, an activist was asleep on the road right next to one of the bipod's cable anchor. A pair of old-growth culverts sprouted underneath him and bore him aloft. We didn't know how we were going to get him down or how the Freddies would get him down, either. It was impossible to take the culverts down without endangering the second bipod and, consequently, the first bipod.

Forest activism can be dangerous. In late July, another activist was playing fiddlesticks in a logging slash pile. The whole pile collapsed, upended and left him hanging from a pole, suspended between two tripods right behind the back cable of the second bipod. It was impossible to take down the tripods without endangering the second bipod, the culvert, etc...

On one evening in August, two snockered locals pulled up to the slash pile that now buries the Jack Road gate. One of them had recently been featured on the front page of a local paper in an article entitled, "Loggers Environmentalists Too." Siphoning gasoline from their running engines, they attempted to set the slash pile on fire. It took them three tries to start a sad fire that ultimately sputtered out on its own. They drove off and ignited a firecracker a while later.

Two days later, Monty Haight came to visit at the gate. Monty used to be a security guard for the roadbuilder. He's infamous for firing shots and threatened to kill people at the "dirty pagan" action in '95. He's also facing domestic violence charges... swell guy. After locating our watch person at the front gate, he and an accomplice fired off a number of rounds. Our watch person didn't hang around long enough to find out if the bullets were actually aimed at him.

Later that week, a drunken logger pulled up to the gate, bellowing, "You chickenshits come down and talk." After a while, the bellowing stopped. An investigation soon revealed that he was pickled unconscious in the cab of the logging foreman's truck, which he'd borrowed for the occasion. Eventually, the cops came and took him home. We are continually overwhelmed by the dexterity and strategic savvy of our opponents. Nevertheless, we persist.

All in all, it was a hectic week. Along with the local welcome wagons, the Freddies came by nearly every day to use their cameras, warn us that the 14-day camping limit was long overdue and generally look intimidating. It's worth noting that, within minutes of the attempted slash pile arson, an LEO named Peter Dean pulled up, claiming he just happened to be in the area. Peter Dean is the same Freddie who took a chainsaw to a tripod with a person in it when Jack Squat was busted last year. Don't let the long hair fool you; this guy is a jerk. Likewise, five minutes after Monty's armed showdown with his own vindictiveness, Agent Chuck Wilson, who was "just in the neighborhood," stopped by and took info. Idaho County caught up with Monty, who admitted to the incident but wasn't arrested or charged. This place is remote; a dozen cars in a day is heavy traffic.

Meanwhile, the summer waxed and waned. The blockade itself only waxed, though. Another bipod sprouted from the roadway right behind the two tripods and snatched another activist right off the ground in a tangle of cables that effectively prevented any heavy machinery from coming in from behind. Oh, my God! Co-dependent bipod triplets! The first of its kind anywhere, and it's impossible to take the third bipod down without endangering the tripods, etc., etc.

It should be noted that this blockade was largely carried out by a strong contingent of the Rainbow Family of Love and Light. That's right, we're talking Rainbows on security; Rainbows locking down on an ugly and illegitimate roadway on the edge of the big wild. Laugh if you wish, but the Rainbows were here; EF!ers were not.

To top it all off, mining claims have been filed in the headwaters of the Controversy Creek in or near the Jack sale. Not a single unit of the sale has been cut, and already some yahoo has a claim to mine quartz in here, presumably for gold extraction. Basic remedial quiz: "What's the problem with roads into roadless areas?" Answer: "No way are they going to pack out quartz in backpacks through trackless woods. They're going to bring in their Tonka Toys, which they couldn't dream of without this logging road which didn't exist three years ago."

Nonetheless, the Jack Road is in sad shape, mostly because it's a shabby piece of roadbuilding. It's slumping and sliding into Controversy Creek. One more winter, and Mama will take this road out surer than anything.

During the pre-dawn hours of September 17, the blockade was rudely awakened by camo-ed super Freddies wielding high-powered flashlights and large guns. The support crew was rounded up on the hill side, and, after allowing us to get our kitchen supplies off the road, a closure was issued. Daylight brought about 30 cops, a boom truck cherry picker, an excavator, a timber cabling expert and Nez Perce National Forest smoke jumpers.

After clearing the first few obstacles, the excavator could go no further because a concrete-filled, 55-gallon barrel with a locking device (a "dragon") was buried in the road with a person attached to it. Blazing chainsaws began the tedious task of chewing apart the main slash pile, which, to the chagrin of the chainsaws and their operators, was supercharged with yarn, nails, wire and various other saw-unfriendly additives. Several saws left that encounter in far worse shape then they came in (he, he). After hours and hours of cutting and moving slash, they were finally faced with the prospect of removing the dragon and its occupant-a task that ultimately took two and a half hours with an industrial mining drill.

During the rock drilling operation, two federal cops climbed ladders onto the now-vertical-culvert, "Dragon's Roost." To their dismay, they found that someone was also locked down to the culvert. The feds used a diamond grinder to make a window into the Roost. Then they pulled out some rocks, unclipped the rooster and carried him off.

The cops then moved on to deal with the first bipod around two in the afternoon. Their original insane plan of cutting and reconnecting cables was foiled by the sitter who U-locked his neck to the front support cable. After yet another confused cop huddle, an excavator was used to build a new 30-foot section of road. This allowed the cherry picker to move in. The cops eventually cut the lock and carted "Chipmunk" off to join his fellow forest defenders, dragging him for almost 200 feet by the bandanna around his neck.

The feds then started the most dangerous and crazed part of their determined efforts on the second bipod. The first problem they faced was that the first bipod was connected to the second, and thusly directly in their way. The bipod's occupant, "Echo," was locked down around both legs of the structure, under the supporting cables. Apparently this was not enough to discourage a mob of pre-programmed timber thugs with machines and guns. They simply (just try and picture this, please) used the cable connecting the two bipods to support Echo's (a task for which it was not intended), cut both of her support cables, sawed off the top of the pod (holy shit), and plucked her body from her perch-a series of maneuvers that would make anyone's hair turn white.

Having disposed of the first four structures and superficially repairing the road, they tackled the double tripods and the final bipod. Unfortunately, one tripod was not occupied. Fortunately, it was positioned in such a way that it could not be tampered with without killing "Millhouse" in the last pod, so (surprise, surprise!) they built yet another circumventing road. Unfortunately for them, the third bipod was a scant few feet taller than the others (practice makes perfect), and Millhouse was able to position himself, death defyingly, just out of reach. The boom truck went up, then came down, then up, then down and a new gaggle of cops gathered to try and figure it out.

When the sun had long set, Millhouse, who had no gear (the feds cut it down), agreed to come down. He gave Agent Didier a lecture on his complete lack of competence in stopping the Forest Service and the roadbuilding company from breaking the Clean Water Act, Endangered Spices Act and National Environmental Policy Act, to name a few. The exhausted cops left with their prisoners immediately thereafter, not bothering to enforce the closure order and leaving all their Subway wrappers for us to clean up.

Through the 20 hours of craziness, activists stood by shouting support for the lockdowns and warnings to the cops. There is power in people willing to put their lives on the line for their beliefs. Amazement and tears were even seen on the faces of some of the people from the "other side."

The High Jack bust seems to have been the spark that ignited the hearts of people around the area. The "High Jack Five" were the first of 15 arrests in 15 days. On Sept. 18, a tripod appeared on the University of Montana campus in solidarity with the activists blocking illegal logging. Four days later two huge banners in support of Cove/Mallard appeared on highway overpasses in Boise, Idaho. Later that day, two activists locked themselves to the doors of Boise's federal building stating that if the federal government wouldn't do their jobs then they should take the day off. Two nights after that, another tripod sprouted out of the Jack Road and a brave woman perched on it high above the road. The shocked Forest Service took all day to show up with their cherry picker. Late that evening, she had to unlock and was hauled way.

A week later, despite heavy security by both Shearer Lumber and the freddies, another tripod managed to sprout up in the road, hoisting a brave guy named Huckleberry and a lockbox. Additionally, a hammock was hung on a traverse line between the legs of the tripod. Inside this hammock were two folks with their necks U-locked together, hanging 20 feet above the road. It took the feds eight hours, several tree climbers, a cherry picker and some very risky tactics, including cutting apart "Huckleberry's" tripod while he was locked to two of the poles, to break the blockade.

That same week in Missoula, there were several lock downs at the federal building and a tripod erected which stood for nine days. Support from the local community in the form of housing, food donations and positive media have kept the campaign going.

Despite the successes of this summer, incredible destruction has occurred. The sales and cuts have been slowed but not stopped. With more help from activists in the field, the Noble timber sale could have been stalled, but it was cut and burned. The trucks and feller buncher have moved into the Jack timber sale. The Forest Service has thus far put in at least 25 miles of their 145 miles of planned roads. There are six of nine sales that have yet to be touched. If they finish cutting Jack Road they will go deeper and deeper into the wilderness. Resistance continues!

The Big Wild needs your help! We desperately need donations of gear (esp. climbing), cash, and most importantly, you, to help defend this large intact ecosystem. Please send help and your constructive ideas to the Cove/Mallard Coalition, POB 8968, Moscow, ID 83843; (208) 882-9755; cove@moscow.com and the Northern Rockies Preservation Project at POB 625, Boise, ID 83701; (208) 345-8077.

So, is Cove/Mallard a lost cause? Look, frybread, Cove/Mallard was always a lost cause. It's still a lost cause, despite the fact that it was supposed to be finished this summer and they've only been able to cut two out of nine sales.

PS. Hey kids! Be the first on your block to get the latest Cove/Mallard video "Road Use Restricted." Detailing the highlights and low lifes of the '96 Jack Squat blockade. Don't delay; get it today!

Grumblesocks, Chipmunk, Monkey Boy, Zan, C. Hellebore, Gary and Jeremy contributed to this article.