Ecotage—a
dangerous form of protest
In
TENDER MISDEMEANORS, Levi Bradshaw and some of his companions are engaged in
the business of monkeywrenching or ecotage. They see themselves as brave
defenders of the wild places left in America, specifically in the forests of
the Rockies and the Bitterroot. This particular movement has been going on for
some 50 years, organized in direct opposition to the Bureau of Land
Management’s inventories and classification of the old forests in preparation
for allowing loggers to harvest.
From Ecodefense:
A Field Guide to Monkeywrenching:
Monkeywrenching is done by individuals or very small groups
of people who have known each other for years. Trust and a good working
relationship are essential in such groups. The more people involved, the
greater the dangers of infiltration or a loose mouth. Monkeywrenchers avoid
working with people they haven’t known for a long time, those who can’t keep
their mouths closed, and those with grandiose or violent ideas (they may be
police agents or dangerous crackpots).
Various
actions constitute monkeywrenching, and they include such things as hammering
metal spikes into trees to discourage the use of saw blades, which can shatter
and harm the logger using them; spiking or littering a road with caltrops to puncture tires of loggers or
others who come to the anticipated logging site; disabling work vehicles,
stealing drill bits, and so much more. Other, less intrusive means have been
attempted by “tree-sitters”, who literally climb a tree slated for harvest and
remain there, hoping to dissuade loggers from taking down the tree. Greenpeace
chasing whaling ships would be another example of ecodefenders risking their
lives to save the oceans.
The
practices are, of course, illegal, though they are often seen in the eyes of
the ecodefenders as the sort of “civil disobedience” called for by dissidents
such as Thoreau. In light of the current administration’s actions to privatize
public lands and allow the destruction of the forests and other lands which
have protected wildlife and our history over hundreds of years, we may expect
to see more of such action in future.
In
TENDER MISDEMEANORS, heroine Caryn Orlane is an enforcement officer for the
Bureau of Land Management, which of course puts her in direct opposition to
Levi and his team. But when Levi’s people are infiltrated (as warned above) by
some highly-armed white supremacist “crackpots,” the lines between enemy and friend
blur considerably, and they’ve got to watch their backs.
Caryn Orlane has law enforcement in her blood; her father was a cop, and his father, too. She's a federal agent in northwest Montana, protecting the old forests and keeping the peace.
Levi Bradshaw also believes in protecting the forests, but has a very different MO. He's the leader of a group of eco-warriors, determined to save the trees of the Bitterroot by legal—and illegal—means.
When they meet in the woods at gunpoint, their encounter ignites a spark of interest, despite operating on opposite sides of the law. When their worlds turn on them, they only grow closer. If they don't work together, can either survive?
Alana Lorens (aka Barbara Mountjoy) has been a published writer for over 35 years, including seven years as a reporter and editor at the South Dade News Leader in Homestead, Florida. Her list of publications includes the non-fiction book 101 Little Instructions for Surviving Your Divorce, published by Impact Publishers in 1999, stories in A Cup of Comfort for Divorced Women, in December 2008, and A Cup of Comfort for Adoptive Parents, in June 2009.
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