Unconventional Defense Operations of an Eco-War Fighter to Protect the Last American Rain Forests

In my early 20s I was lucky to have been invited to join forces with the regional ancient old growth forest defense community. There were many tree-sitting encampments that I would help support both by participating in the occupations when I was not attending university, and by engaging in various methods of organizing and activism in town while class was in session.

This experience was pivotal in my evolution as a radical environmentalist and primitivist. What was mostly theoretic book knowledge all came to life in these Ewok style eco-villages. All of the warrior action, human drama, and politics played out to the extreme. I learned so much, and lot of my most cherished lessons came from the many ex-military mentors who I was eager to learn from and volunteer for. It was like a guerrilla army ranger school.

We learned knots, tree climbing, rappelling, orienteering, land navigation, primitive tool making, wild-crafting, foraging, water procurement, operational security, covert operational tactics and strategy, recon, escape and evasion, and many other forms of field craft.

We didn't win every battle, and the war rages on, however we won enough to keep morale high and for many of us, for the time we served, we had the time of our life, peak experiences of solidarity and comradery through high stakes direct action.

Despite many set backs and problems ranging from tribalistic dynamics, to supply shortages, to infiltrators, and beyond...We managed to save a lot of trees lives, while risking our own and putting our own on the line, on the front line of the war against some of the last wild ancient forests in America.