Our Great Concert

EPFW's Valentine Day Concert, "Love the Forest," attracted about 170 people on February 15, filling the Black Bart Playhouse in Murphys to overflowing.

The Sierra Spiral Dancers opened the evening's performances. Then Harmony Grits, a Bluegrass Band from the Bay Area, sang a great set of crowd-pleasing favorites, including "Sunny Side of Life," "Live a Little," "Mystery Train", and "Broke Down Palace." After an intermission, Molly and Tanya opened with two vocal numbers. The Victims of Variety, a local group, followed with popular tunes, including "Red tailed Hawk," "Girl from Ipanema," and "Uncle John's Band."

Bruce Castle was on hand with his maps showing the unprecedented extent of industrial timber harvesting now underway in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties. On-site photos of some of the existing and proposed clearcuts showed continuously on a screen in the lobby while tee shirts and sweat shirts offered a way to show off the Ebbetts Pass logo in style.

During intermission, the film "Where have all the forests gone?" gave viewers an aerial look at the devastation of our forests and offered an alternative: selective harvesting such as that practiced by Collins Pine, a profitable, environmentally sensitive timber company committed to managing the forest not only for today's profit, but for the benefit of generations to come.

Gary and Ellen Old found out about EPFW at a Peace and Justice Committee meeting in Stockton, then drove up to Murphys to hear the concert and find out more about Ebbetts Pass Forest Watch. After studying the maps and watching the film, Gary talked about the difference in timber harvesting methods currently employed by SPI and those used by Collins Pine. "The difference seems to lie in attitudes toward what nature has given us. The Collins Pine approach comes out of a spiritual background [Collins' owners include the Methodist Church]. They believe they are here to take care of what been given to them. SPI's owners, on the other hand, seem to believe that life is a game in which you try to be the bigger guy. It's amazing how disconnected human beings can get from the environment and from each other."

Warren Alford, of the Sierra Club, called on people to support EPFW. "We need to reach a critical mass before we can make the kind of difference we want to make," he said, comparing EPFW efforts to those of Julia Butterfly Hill, who spent months living in Luna the tree before her supporters reached a critical mass. Then changes started happening.

EPFW thanks all who contributed time, effort, drawing prizes, and money. Starbucks donated coffee and tea, Big Trees Market donated sodas and bottled water, a bar served wine and Snowshoe beer, and the cookie table groaned under the weight of enough goodies to satisfy even Pooh Bear.

The drawing featured gift certificates, merchandise, and services from The Rusty Bear, Two Rivers Trading Post, Highland Books, Essentials, Marygold, Sierra Spiral Dancers, Anne Saunders, Nitya Prema, Ebbetts Pass Accounting, Janice at TJ Mac's, and of course EPFW. The evening raised more than $2,000 to save the forests.

We've already reserved the Black Bart Theater for next year. Mark your calendars for what we hope will be an annual event, February 14, 2004.