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Girls Tie Themselves to Tree to Defy Logging Crews

Early one Monday in October 2002, two young girls were awakened at about 7 a.m., but not for school like most other children. These two girls, Lindsay Carlson, age 11, and Brandee Van Donsel, 9 had something more important than a typical day at school planned. They were determined to do whatever they could to save a tree they had grown to love from being destroyed.

In an attempt to protect power lines and cut maintenance costs, Pacific Gas and Electric Company had contracted to remove possibly hundreds of fully grown trees along scenic Sutter Creek Canyon in California. PG&E needs to trim and sometimes remove trees that endanger power lines, but some concerned residents noticed that many of the trees marked for removal posed little or no danger to the lines, and it seemed that simply cutting one or more branches would suffice. Cutting the trees down could result in runoff and mudslides during the rainy season.

Lindsay's mom, Stella Carlson-Russell, remembers how when the cutting first began, Lindsay was grief stricken each day as they drove down the road to their home, not knowing which trees would be gone next. First a wild cherry-plum tree, next a giant ancient oak directly across from their house. Lindsay became worried about her precious L tree, and begged her mom to take her to see if it was marked for death. It was! The tree was named the L tree because of its unique growth. It had fallen completely over when it was young. The trunk remained horizontal and its would-be branches grew into trees themselves. When Lindsay was about three years old, she and her mom passed by the tree while out on a walk. Lindsay pointed to the tree and said, "Look mom, that tree has a bunch of L's on it!" Now, with the tree under threat from PG&E, Lindsay told her mom how much the tree meant to her.

And so the Lindsay and her friend Brandee decided that they would tie themselves to the tree so it couldn't be cut down. By about 8 a.m. that Monday morning, Lindsay and Brandee were preparing themselves for a day in the tree. When they heard one of the tree cutting trucks go by, they were out the door in a flash, equipped with snacks, water, cards, magazines, and jump-ropes for tying themselves with. The two girls didn't know who owned the property, and hadn't gone through any political channels to find out what could be done. They just wanted to save a small part of their precious environment from senseless destruction.

The girls stayed in the L tree all day to show how much they loved it. Lindsay's mom and the girls' neighbors Schimon Schwarzschild and Marelyn Johnson supported the girls from the ground below and helped them in their passionate effort.

After their one day in the tree, PG&E agreed to send out a forester to re-evaluate later that week. Even though their 10 hours in the tree were hot and uncomfortable, and Brandee picked up some poison oak, Lindsay and Brandee decided that they had to be in the tree when the forester came. So, later that week, they went back up again.

It worked! The tree WAS spared, and lives on a hillside by Sutter Creek-Volcano Road. Lindsay's jumprope is tied to it still.