The TreeSpirit Project Blog

Calling all angels... to Charleston, SC, on Thurs. Nov. 3rd

2011-10-23T08:20:00.000-07:00

Dear friends of trees,

Note: this blog has moved—onto the big new... TreeSpiritProject.com website.

Join me, the TreeSpirit documentary film team, and the Save The Angel Oak community of Charleston, SC, for a night of film, fun and fundraising at Charleston's Terrace Theater on Nov 3, 2011 @ 7pm. See film footage from our May 2011 TreeSpirit adventure at the stunning, ancient Angel Oak tree. The Angel Oak remains threatened by a housing project and this event will raise community awareness and funds for the Angel Oak segment of the TreeSpirit documentary film. Preview footage screening followed by an on-stage Q&A with local environmentalists!

If you can join us in Charleston, support this event by getting your ticket now (and save $$): http://www.CharlestonsAngels.Eventbrite.com/http://www.CharlestonsAngels.Eventbrite.com/

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I'm thrilled to announce a new, bigger, modern, multi-functional TreeSpirit website! Thanks to master web dude and fellow treehugger Tom Steenhuysen, available to help you design/build YOUR new site: tom@justcallmetom.com

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Read about a great NY Times article by Justin Gillis, about the importance of trees on our planet: http://treespiritproject.com/the-vital-role-of-trees-in-our-ecosystem/

For the love of trees everywhere,

Jack Gescheidt
The TreeSpirit Project
email Jack

Rejoice! Great news for 1,000+-year-old redwoods in Richardson Grove State Park!

2011-07-08T13:02:00.000-07:00

Quoting directly from SF Chronicle writer Bob Egelko's article today:

A federal judge has blocked the state (of CA) from widening a narrow 1-mile stretch of U.S. 101 in Richardson Grove State Park in Humboldt County to make room for trucks, saying construction could endanger redwoods that soar 300 feet above the highway and are thousands of years old.

Read the article: http://tinyurl.com/RichGroveWin

This is wonderful news on many levels:

• Citizens groups and a local community can work passionately, speak up, go the courts—and spare priceless, towering, ancient trees from unnecessary harm. As Margaret Mead put it:

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

• The courts will listen. Thank you Judge William Alsup for placing a higher community value on old-growth redwoods than on environmentally destructive, ill-conceived and ultimately unnecessary construction project (through the middle of a State Park).

• These ancient living sentinels are granted a reprieve for at least a year. CalTrans can keep pushing their highway project, but for now trees and forest are spared this assault. And if I may expand the perspective, thousands, even millions of people in future generations will get to enjoy these roadside wonders, stirring in their hearts and minds awe and wonder that is beyond any dollar value...

"Here Before The Prophets" in The Richardson Grove

Learn more about this TreeSpirit photograph made in The Richardson Grove: click here.

We came, we got naked, we loved a tree!...The Angel Oak Tree.

2011-05-25T16:25:00.000-07:00

Dear friends of trees...we did it! On Saturday, May 14, 2011, about 40 of us Angel Oak Tree fans— plus the "Out On A Limb" (TreeSpirit documentary film) crew—made an unauthorized art photograph at The Angel Oak.

We did this to call attention to the Angel Oak's being threatened by a large housing development.

See the final TreeSpirit photograph, "Angels," and purchase a fine art print to enjoy—and support this and future TreeSpirit Project efforts: http://www.jackphoto.com/gallery.html?gallery=AngelOakTree

"Angels"

We knew Charleston city police might be called to the scene. We did NOT expect them called before anyone's clothing came off for the TreeSpirit photo. We had just 90 seconds to compose the photograph before the first young officer arrived. (Later he said all he saw as he drove up was "lots of naked butts running from the tree...")

Yes, I tried to get a permit, but park rules exclude any gathering over 25 people. I was also denied after-hours access. We decided as a group to proceed anyway, just before closing. A handful of other park visitors on the scene were surprised or amused, but none were offended; no one lodged a complaint.

Our two goals were achieved: 1) to make an artwork celebrating the beauty of the Angel Oak, and; 2) to call attention to the planned housing project that would cut down most of The Angel Oak's 40-acre surrounding forest and pave over an adjacent wetlands and irrevocably alter the surrounding rural environment. The issue is currently in court and public sentiment—which affects politicians' actions—is critical.

SEE TV and news coverage of the event:

• Post & Courier video by Sarah Bates: http://www.postandcourier.com/videos/2011/may/15/1769/
• Channel 4 ABC-TV news story by Valencia Wicker : http://tinyurl.com/channel4TV
• Channel 5 CSC-TV news story by Deja Knight : http://tinyurl.com/channel5TV
• Charleston City Paper story: http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/first-look-the-angel-oak-nude-shoot/Content?oid=3391208

Charleston police were professional and courteous. As were we. More officers arrived on the scene than I expected—at least 8—on up the chain of command to a 43-year veteran Lieutenant. He'd seen it all (except maybe this) and hid a wry smile beneath his game face. My guess is they didn't quite know what to do with us. We weren't technically trespassing. No other Angel Oak visitor complained. And large groups routinely make photos sans permit (albeit not sans clothing).

After 2 hours, we were all released without arrest or citation. And I must say I'm impressed with Charleston police response time on rural Johns Island, on the outskirts of town. Naked tree huggers beware.

Please share this story about the beloved landmark Angel Oak Tree and its forest. We traveled across the country, from California to South Carolina, to publicize the conflict here—between development and community green space—because it's occurring all over America. I am FOR development and jobs, but NOT old-fashioned environmentally destructive development. I believe we are gradually learning as a society, and as a culture, that our lives are enriched by trees, forest and wild places. For those who focus on dollars, open space has great economic value too, potentially greater than the developments that would replace them.

We can learn to earn our livelihoods while cherishing precious natural resources. Forests, wetlands, animal habitats, are not only environmentally critical to our survival, but can provide us the peace of mind and happiness we all seek.

Sincerely,

Jack Gescheidt
The TreeSpirit Project
email me

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PostScript: About Southern hospitality...

We, The TreeSpirit film crew and I, were delighted by the generosity of Johns Islanders and Charlestonians who opened their doors and homes and hearts to us. These new friends, and their friends, and the locals who braved public nudity for a worthy cause in a supposedly conservative town, frankly overwhelmed us with their encouragement and support. All to "hug" and preserve...a tree. Ah, but what a tree.

My sense is they may prefer anonymity, at least in this forum, so I'll say only, "You know who you are, and thank you." But watch the future film's credits.

Again I am reminded we all have more in common than we often imagine. And beneath the surfaces of our everyday, work-a-day lives, in whatever region of the country, of all countries, we are far from alone in our love for the natural world.

Join the next TreeSpirit photo event in May: save a forest and The Angel Oak Tree

2011-04-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

The Angel Oak, Johns Island, SC - threatened by development

Dear friends of trees,

The next large group TreeSpirit photo event will be held in May 2011. We'll gather on rural Johns Island, SC (near Charleston) to make art to help this community save thousands of trees—and one giant, ancient tree, hundreds of years old: The Angel Oak Tree. A housing development will cut down the 40-acre forest surrounding the Angel Oak on 3 sides—and fill in a wetlands—to erect 600 housing units local citizens don't want or need.

Email me now to join the guest list for the exact date and time of this event: CLICK HERE As always, people of all ages, sizes, shapes and ethnicities are welcomed and appreciated. The only requirement, what ties us always together, are our open hearts and love for trees and nature. See dozens of previous TreeSpirit Project photographs here: http://www.TreeSpiritProject.com.
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Support this trip and its mission! Purchase the fine art Angel Oak TreeSpirit photograph in advance—for half-price—to support this event to save this amazing tree and its forest. CLICK HERE.

Angel Oak FUTURE TreeSpirit photo

A signed 11x14" fine art print is $125, regularly $250. A 16x20" limited edition fine art print is $325, retail $650. Sizes up to 40x50" are available. CLICK HERE

Help TreeSpirit highlight the critical role trees play in our lives, help a community of fellow tree lovers in South Carolina save their beloved tree, and get a stunning print of The Angel Oak.

LightSource lab in San Francisco is generously providing the Angel Oak TreeSpirit prints on 100% virgin tree-free paper.
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Google "Angel Oak Tree" to see hundreds more photos of this famous, giant southern live oak; evidence of how many Americans have visited her...and felt moved to make and share photos of their own.

The majority of Johns Islanders wants to preserve the wooded sanctuary that surrounds The Angel Oak Tree. Business-as-usual interests don't care, want to sidestep community input, and start clearing the land of trees. A local citizen's group—http://www.SaveTheAngelOak.org—has challenged the development in court, and invites public scrutiny and involvement. A TreeSpirit photograph will help draw attention and media coverage, to make the devastating plans more public.

The forest protects The Angel Oak from storm winds. The water table—which would be filled in and paved over—feeds her extensive root system. Both have done so for hundreds of years. This forest's destruction would be a great environmental loss itself. Thousands of annual Angel Oak visitors would no longer enjoy this wooded retreat, but instead see and hear a housing project yards away. Wildlife habitat would be destroyed. (See the Before and After pictures.)

BEFORE and AFTER "development"

The Angel Oak is ground zero for the latest of what I call an "Old Paradigm vs. New Paradigm" conflict. The Old Paradigm places profit and buildings above all else. The New Paradigm balances the benefits of development with the value and social and health benefits of parklands, trees and open space in our communities. Construction in the 21st century CAN be environmentally sound, benefit a community, and therefore win its support. Citizens can powerfully and peacefully challenge business and political interests that seek profits while threatening our health. Development need not equal devastation. But we must speak out, get involved, let our neighbors know what's happening. This event is a safe, legal and dramatic way to do so.

SaveTheAngelOak.org has more information about the 2-year-old legal challenge, and shows a community caring about its trees, and precious rural countryside.

Our May gathering will be peaceful, simple, and dramatic. As always, the TreeSpirit photo event will be non-confrontational, respectful and sincere, all ingredients essential to the photograph's success. The result will be a timeless image showing a gathering of people demonstrating their love...for a tree. How unusual, how lovely, how revolutionary, how crazy, how wonderful that people making art can have such impact. As always, each participant will receive a digital image (prints 8x10") of the final photograph we make together.

To participate, join the Guest List for this event (emails are never shared or sold, not ever): CLICK HERE. Please share this posting with fellow tree and nature admirers.
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…The TreeSpirit documentary film, "Out On A Limb," continues production! Director Navyo Ericsen and producer Larry Schlessinger will continue filming TreeSpirit photo events at The Angel Oak. See footage from the last TreeSpirit shoot in Humboldt County to save old-growth redwoods from a highway expansion: CLICK HERE.

Adventure and wonder in The Richardson Grove

2010-10-08T09:23:00.000-07:00

Wow. What a (Sun)day, what a trip. We — I and the TreeSpirit film crew — entered Humboldt County the weekend of Sept. 11-12 with strong intentions, lots of passion, crazy optimism—and our share of concerns and fears. After all, we'd gone to a lot of trouble to PUBLICIZE this event, so we were expecting some kind of authorities to meet and, uh, greet us. The only question was WHICH AM: park rangers, CHPs, police, sheriff or mix 'n match?

What DID surprise me was the row of cars—and eager participants—already waiting for me at the meeting place along Hwy 101, one-half mile south of The Richardson Grove redwoods—at 6:55am. After being warned about "Humboldt time" - meaning everything's later than planned, scheduling is more relaxed, and chill out man, it's all good, ironically, perhaps poetically, it was WE traveling Marinades who kept enthusiastic tree lovers waiting, not the other way around. (To be fair, our The TreeSpirit film production schedule was ambitious—and we hit snags, like the ones to come this very morning.)

But here they were, fellow treehuggers awake before dawn to show their care for trees, trees over 1,000, over 2,000 years old. The kind of trees that almost every human, treehugger or not, feels SOMETHING different, something significant, while in their presence. The word had gotten out, thanks to many residents and fellow friends of redwoods who, felt compelled to join me in a peaceful but dramatic demonstration to save old-growth redwoods from being harmed. (CalTrans wants to cut into the roots of over seventy (!) old-growth redwoods, some 1,000 and 2,000-year-olds, to expand Hwy 101 through the middle of Richardson Grove State Park, currently posted at 35 mph. That's too slow for some, and already too fast for people like me (since, of course, people regularly buzz through at 40-45mph).

By the time we moved the cars out of sight from the road, put people in place to direct additional arriving cars, and finally gathered to talk logistics, we were about 50 people strong. That's when the (Richardson Grove State) park rangers came.

I spent a lot of time and energy planning this event to make it public and accessible. So did many people in Humboldt who generously offered THEIR time and energy. Our emails and leafletting made the local paper and radio station (KMUD). At the same time I did not fully disclose every detail because I thought we might have to play hide and seek with authorities who would respond to our invitation. The game began weeks before this Sunday, Sept. 12th.

A ranger stepped out of his SUV to address the group. He told us he had heard about the photo, and that we would be violating two park codes against large assemblies without special permitting, and against nudity anywhere in a state park. And of course he announced the code numbers in case any of us were interested. (I was not.) He was professional and polite. In my opinion—and the majority of our group agreed—given the job he was assigned to do, he couldn't have been more polite or low-key. (Although his not visiting us at all would still be my first choice.) He delivered his message, walked away, drove away.

I asked the group to circle up. I asked whether they were wiling to proceed despite this warning and the risks, whatever those might be. I asked for a show of hands...and everyone's hand went unhesitatingly, enthusiastically up. I realized (again), that this was Humboldt county, home to decades of logging demonstrations, protests, both nonviolent and violent, with feelings running strong and deep. (And on both sides of forest issues—and there are often more than just two sides. For instance, the well-known "Save The Redwoods League" has NOT come out against the CalTrans plan that many believe would harm and kill old-growth redwoods. Their stance is seen as a compromise or, worse, a sell-out, and cause of bitterness and anger for some in the "forest defense" community.)

Our next step was moving to a staging area much closer to the actual photo location, until now known only to a few: me, assistants, the film crew and volunteer coordinators. I had wanted to hike everyone in, about 30-45 min., get our blood moving and spend time enjoying walking among the trees. But the day before I changed my mind, and now I was sure of this new plan: our chances of traveling undiscovered were better if we, sorry to say it, carpooled in. This would avoiding an unusually long procession of hikers crossing Hwy 101 south of the grove where we stood. And then crossing Hwy 101 again, via walkways in the grove itself, again in plain sight, to finally reach the staging area 100 yards from the photo location.

Driving meant speed and discretion. One small group was set on walking anyway, but the visible majority of us began a car-shell game. The drive necessitated going through the park's entrance to buy a 3-hour pass giving access to the only roads to our staging area. Minutes later, at the little entrance booth where an attendant collect entrance fees, I saw on its window an 8.5x11" posted sign that read: "There will be no special photo event today." Well, that made our unofficialness official. The Parks Dept. sure didn't tell ME our photo event had been cancelled. I was the organizer and I still thought it was on, as did all the people in my car, and all the treelovers piled into the cars lined up behind us.

Plus, the park desperately needs—and deserves—all the funds it can get, and we happily paid. No matter what else happens this day, the park would get some extra money. With a welcoming smile from the booth attendant, we drove on in, leaving behind us a line of cars that, at 8AM on a Sunday morning, yelled out, to me, "Something's going on here!" At some point you just have to cross your fingers, say your prayers, and move forward, stealth begone.

By now, roaming about the park's interior roadways were ranger SUVs, mercifully bright and clean white and easy to spot amid dark redwood trunks. After dropping off my tripod and big, bright blue camera bag—more loud tip-offs!—at the staging area with a participant, I drove off to park my car 1/4 mile away. I wrangled some some other cars to join my parking spot, spreading the vehicular congestion around, hoping to throw the rangers off our assembly's trail. At 8AM on a Sunday in Richardson Grove State Park, "where there's cars, there's people."

We all regrouped behind a wooden amphitheater's facade, our staging area 100 yards from the photo location. This partially hid us from the parking lot and roadway where two ranger vehicles were sitting. I talked to the group, asked them to sign the usual TreeSpirit Project and Film releases giving us permission to use the final TreeSpirit photo, showed them test photos I'd made 2 weeks earlier to explain today's photo composition and location, and gave a quick demonstration of what I would ask them to do in relationship with the redwoods this morning.

All the while, I felt an internal growing pressure to get on with it, that we were already pressing our good luck. The rangers were inexplicably keeping a respectful distance. But really, I have to point out, if the rangers wanted to shut us down, here we were, and there we were, as visible as the redwoods we were here to make art and it now seemed, theater, for. This was the puzzling theme of the morning, for almost two hours, from about 7:20AM until almost 9AM. Why weren't they just walking over to us again, right now? They could say we did not have a permit for gathering lots of people, which park rules say we need and we did not have. The one advantage we had was knowing where we were going to make the photo while they did not. And perhaps they were giving us leeway because no one, so far, was naked, a state park no-no.

Finally, at around 8:30AM, we made our 2nd migration. We all walked, in separated clumps, along the interpretative trail paralleling Hwy 101 in front of the Visitor Center (which was closed before 9AM). We now stood adjacent to some of the largest, oldest redwoods rooted literally three inches from the pavement. (And why CalTrans wants to hack into and/or compress their living root systems beneath more road bed.) I asked for everyone to spread out in a line 50 yards long and wait for my signal. When I gave it, they were to remove all their clothing and move quickly through the brush to specific giant redwoods in my camera's composition. I asked for my assistants to join me at the roadway's edge. I set up my camera and tripod, leaving my big bright blue camera bag behind in the brush. I pointed out to them as best I could which trees to run to, where they would be human markers for the soon-to-be-naked participants. And off the ran, 40-100 yards north along empty Hwy 101 to those trees, human markers for all the other participants waiting on the trail just a few yards away.

I ran away from my camera & tripod, back to the trail where all the tree lovers were waiting for my signal. As if starting a Grand Prix road race, I moved my arm swiftly down from above my head to the ground, repeatedly. And they were off! First the clothes, and then the tree huggers. I ran back to my camera position and got ready for the action I'd waited months for. In just a few more seconds, beautiful naked tree people would appear at the trees along the roadway. After all the morning's maneuverings and dodging and planning and meetings, with park rangers still just yards away...

They ran to the redwoods and embraced them as planned. I figured I had only a few minutes to make this photo before the rangers would react to this flurry of activity, object to our being so close to the roadway, object to the nudity, who knows what. Adrenaline slowed down what little time I had. Someone behind me, I think it was Navyo, the documentary film's director, let out some sort of emotional cry, something like, "I don't believe it!" Indeed. I didn't have time to revel in success yet, or let land that it was actually happening, that after all our planning and being shadowed by rangers assigned to warn us off this activity, we as a community were bringing a vision to life. I've found that for anything I've anticipated and contemplated (or feared) doing for so long, the experience is always different than the imagining of it. Hence the necessity, the beauty of...doing.

I saw that people were not at all the exact trees I would have preferred. I thought to yell out to quickly move some from one tree to another I thought worked better in my composition. And then I thought better of it. We didn't have the time. "Work with what I had," I thought, "now or never." Better to make a photo with what was before me now, get something, rather than mess around and maybe get shut down and get nothing. I had already chosen my shutter and aperture and ISO based on the typically low light among redwoods, framed up what I saw the best I could and kept my mouth shut. I'm used to calling out directions numerous time but did so only twice I think: Plant your feet on the ground!" was one. "Melt into the trees!" was probably another. I don't know, don't ask me, ask the film director, maybe he knows.

But I knew the more I yelled the more likely rangers would step out of the brush, out onto to the road or, worse, at my camera position where the guy yelling was. That would be me. I kept my adjustments to a bare minimum, not taking full advantage of all my art director's suggestions. She knows what I like and can scan the giant scene more thoroughly than I can when I'm buried in my camera making sure I'm getting some images. Get some in the camera, I knew, and then get us all out of there. Hardly the peaceful, communing experience I prefer at TreeSpirit photo events, but in this case, with getting the photo seeming paramount to me, this would have to do.

Another thought flashed through me as I was concentrating on the amazing scene, and a rush of feeling accompanied it: "this is so BEAUTIFUL!" These people willing to hug trees, trees so big ten people can't link arms around them, were now doing this unusual, quiet, peaceful activity in these few moments of stillness we could savor, even with the occasional car or truck or motorcycle driving through the scene! All our planning and worrying and sneaking around, all our concern for legalities and logistics—and here it was, happening now. It was really so innocent and harmless and simple, people willing to be daring and ridiculed for, at its essence...being loving with trees.

Finally, a large, sleek motor home that looked more like a tour bus appeared, heading south on Hwy 101 toward us. When it was alongside the human-coated trees, it honked! It didn't slow or swerve, no one was endangered, but its honking was acknowledging, even celebratory. Thirty seconds later a dog belonging to one of the tree huggers, missing its guardian for too long, howled...and the tree huggers howled back.

And this also broke my—perhaps everyone's—sense that time was standing still. I had a gut feeling that our luck and time had run out, that the rangers would appear, that we should stop and get out of here...NOW. I asked my Art Director if she agreed. She did. I yelled out that we were done, watched to see people get the message and move off the trees, and then I grabbed my camera-on-tripod rig and ran off too—but not before pulling out the compact flash card with all the images on it. I'm from New York, after all, and have years of experience hiding film canisters I thought might, just might, be confiscated by an pissed-off authority. "Just a precaution," as my ol' hero Bugs Bunny once put it.

When I got back to my camera bag the director, Navyo Ericsen, was there with a gigantic smile on his face, bigger than mine because, despite my exuberance and our group's triumph, there was still the matter of the clean getaway. I handed Navyo the card and said take it, hide it, get it lost. He understood. Someone passed the news of a ranger, finally, on the trail headed our way. I immediately walked in his direction now, rather than hanging back anonymously as I did 90 minutes earlier for his first appearance. I would identify myself and take responsibility as the event organizer. (I've learned it's not always best to do this in advance because then, if I don't heed any official's warning, it may be taken personally, though there's nothing personal in this for me at all; the rangers are people doing a job they're assigned to do.)

The ranger asked to see my I.D. I told him it was in my car which was parked 1/4-mile away. We walked out together to get it. The ranger was polite and accommodating again, allowing me to stop on the way to address the group again, back at the amphitheater staging area, also where we had planned to regroup. I told some concerned participants there that I had business with the rangers and might see them later that afternoon. We had planned additional, far less public TreeSpirit photos for that afternoon at an undisclosed location.

To tell the rest far more compactly: I spent the next two hours getting to my car, my wallet, my driver's license, and finally to my citations for assembly without a permit and for "filming" which means "commercial filming" which is what CA State Parks call any filming by a professional photography. Their rules don't distinguish between a "commercial" photo shoot and a "professional" photo shoot. Nor between today's photo shoot and a major motion picture film company's giant one. It's a controversial and hotly-contested topic among professional photographers who can be cited for setting up a tripod and camera anywhere in a state park without a permit. A dentist with nice equipment can, be we pros can't. This same double-standard applies to National Parks. The thinking behind the odd rule is that we might make money off one of our photos in the future, never mind that many of us won't, or won't most of the time.

My date in court has not come yet, and I'll have to decide whether to challenge the citations (e.g., not a commercial shoot) or just pay them. I don't know if I'll have to appear in Humboldt County court in Eureka. For now I choose to focus on the many positives, and count my and our group's blessings. The rangers could have shut us down, walked unsettlingly among us, or stood right in my face. They did not, and I have not asked them why. They were polite and professional in our every encounter. I prefer to guess at the answers. Perhaps it was in part because we were peaceful, we were respectful, we were not intrusive to any other park visitor's experience early that morning. We didn't even block the roadway, Hwy 101, or impede the few vehicles that drove by us while we made the photo.

And perhaps the rangers even knew, or heard, or sensed WHY we did what we did. For the trees. For the very same redwoods they themselves are assigned to protect. I like to think so.

- Jack Gescheidt, October 2010

jack@treespiritproject.com
www.TreeSpiritProject.com

To permit, or not to permit, that is the question...

2009-04-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

After weeks of time and energy and thought and planning and scouting and coordinating, Saturday’s April 18, 2009 TreeSpirit photo outing on Mt. Tamalpais was welcomed with glorious, 75-degree weather and clear blue skies. About 45 gentle people, eager to play in the sunshine on a hillside, with a tree, gathered on our private public park location overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Some drove for hours to join in, all the way from Sacramento and Santa Barbara in fact. Mt. Tam state park was buzzing with spring fevered visitors. Anticipating this, I had changed my original plans for a TreeSpirit photo near the meeting place, a parking lot, deciding instead to make the photo with an old friend, a bay tree, just under a mile’s walk from all the human activity.

Another big reason for the more distant location: I had been given warnings a few day’s earlier by park/state/municipal officials, under two different jurisdictions, by phone and also by email, that what I was planning – hosting a group photo with nudity and without a permit – was not allowed. Apparently someone had forwarded my original open invitation to the authorities in Marin. (No, I do not know who, nor why, and the friendly officials I spoke with by phone didn’t know either.)

I was told I needed a permit for any large group assembly. I was told I needed a permit to take a “commercial” photograph. I was told I might be denied the permit anyway because of the nudity, disallowed on both state park land and municipal land (one has jurisdiction on one side of the road, another presides over the other). I learned officials label my plans “commercial photography,” categorized just like a big-budget advertising shoot. It didn’t matter that TreeSpirit was not for a commercial, had no budget at all, and that neither I nor the volunteer participants were being paid.

We came only to make art, have fun, and enjoy nature, a break from routine, and our spontaneous community—although if you have a connection to an appropriate (recycled paper?) environmentally-minded company that would like to fund or license a TreeSpirit photograph, please send them my way…

I’ve also learned, after the fact, you can’t get a permit for making a “commercial” photograph on Mt. Tam on any weekend because of the typically higher level of activity. I wonder if this applies to any summer Saturday or Sunday when the cold blanket of fog rolls in and drives everyone but the most adventurous nature lover off the 2,500-foot mountain’s chilly slopes.

I had a decision to make last week: obey the rules, cancel this springtime photo of celebration, apply for a permit for permission during the week, pay the applicable permit fee…and then try to assemble a group of volunteers on a weekday. I should also do it soon, before summer fogs roll in routinely and unpredictably.

I decided to proceed as planned. Perhaps from my formative years living in New York, I admit I have an aversion to red tape and beauracracies, and a willingness to sometimes break rules. I admit also that I chose, perhaps unwisely, to beg for forgiveness rather than ask for permission, a permit, and be denied, which would leave me few alternatives, and none in 2009.

I moved the photo location away from the parking area, and asked some participants to help me disperse the usual parking lot crowd before it formed. (Thank you, Claire, Kevin, Hans, Christina, David and Kevin for your on-the-scene help.) With a love for adventure—and walkie-talkies—they quietly guided over forty participants to the undisclosed location. If rangers came looking for us, they wouldn’t find the usual crowd of friendly, happy people milling about to find me, their host.

More strategy: I had decided NOT to tell the people on the guest list that park officials had been notified. I was concerned officials could be tipped off again. And this way only I was culpable for ignoring the warning; all the participants would be innocent (and therefore also behave innocently).

In one hour all but the parking lot valets were gathered at the location. I was ready to describe to everyone the image I had envisioned for the day, a group dance with a lone tree. And that’s when our team told us by walkie-talkies, “…They’re coming!” In just a few more minutes we saw who “they” were…first one…and then another…atop the hill looking down on our secluded spot…

They were a quarter-mile away, standing ironically enough, right next to the tree we would pose naked below. The deepening blue sky behind them showed their tans and dark greens in crisp relief. Sunglasses, walkie-talkies bigger and more powerful than ours, utility/gun belts, one topped with a park ranger hat…You knew from their body language, not just from their paraphernalia, they were NOT here to free themselves from their clothes and gear and join in today’s playful art-making...

My first thought: Don’t look! Pretend not to see them coming! Like a kid hiding from a monster by ducking under the covers. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide all our gear. Besides, I really wanted to make this photograph. Hidden from the park’s crowds as we were, I also couldn’t see how we would be bothering anyone—if we were even SEEN by anyone.

When TreeSpirit began six years ago it was just me, a camera bag, and a tripod. Now, as Sacred World Productions is developing the documentary about the challenges and dramas involved in the making of more and larger TreeSpirit photos, an entourage has formed: bigger, more visible, slower-moving. Today, this was two camera bags, another still photographer, her assistant, two videographers, sound person, and of course all their gear. A third camera crew had cancelled today at the last-minute and now I’m glad it did. In 2009 TreeSpirit has evolved into a small, mobile media crew. And today, we were also conspicuously without a “commercial photography” permit for our non-commercial shoot.

I look for the teachings in obstacles and setbacks; I believe they exist if I do. TreeSpirit’s media troupe exists to publicize our mission: what we’re doing and why, which is making dramatic, compelling humans-in-nature photographs to celebrate the natural world and to raise environmental consciousness. One of my many lessons from this day: it’s time I acknowledge that with TreeSpirit’s growth I must, at least in some situations like this, change my old one-man-band, run-and-gun mentality. Growing pains.

Several of us noted the rangers approached from more than one direction, like coyote circling their prey. I figured this is part of standard procedure. I learned later that some ranger “prey” actually try to run for it. True, in this magnificent rolling landscape it would have taken an HOUR to surround us from all four sides. Two sides, from above, would have to do. They couldn’t have known one would have sufficed because I don’t think we COULD have run if we wanted to. And I was crystal clear didn’t want to. Mostly because I wanted to stay, show these men in tan & green that we were completely harmless. Maybe they would warn us off, then leave us alone for 30 minutes to make our photo and then leave—and of course they were welcome to join in…

My past experience with park rangers has been only positive, like the time in Yosemite my brother threw his back out ten miles into the backcountry. The two rangers we hiked out to retrieve hiked back in with us, at dusk, carrying a litter (metal “stretcher”) so we could haul my brother out if need be. But that’s another story, involving a miraculous recovery and a helicopter...Suffice to say the rangers I’ve met love the outdoors as I do. It’s why they choose a job with as much work in the field as in the office, same as me.

I decided to wait for them to come all the way down to us from their perch above, rather than isolate myself from the group by going up to them. I also wanted them to get our vibe, see this gathering of gentle if permit-free nature lovers who were waiting quietly for this drama to play out. They hadn’t known they’d be ignoring a park official’s warning, only I did. I had made sure of that.

When the rangers reached us I introduced myself. After fact-finding (fact-confirming) I’m a photographer, I was going to make a nude photo, etc., I was told I was holding a “commercial shoot” without a permit. And that I’d made things worse by ignoring the warning I’d received. But of course. I spoke at length with two of the rangers then—and again while being escorted out to my car. They could not have been more polite, professional and respectful. Unfortunately they were equally unyielding. They were going to do their job assigned by their superiors, enforce the ordinances to the letter of the law. I don’t like the ordinances, don’t think it really applies to what we were doing and why—but their job of enforcement is one I DO support. We, the society, make these rules, not the rangers alone, and if we don’t like them we can expend energy to change them.

I’ve encountered officials over the last six years making TreeSpirit photographs, but realize today this was the first time any law enforcement personnel arrived BEFORE a photo even began. Perhaps I should consider that a great run of luck that has finally run out, and it’s time to go through the proper channels and paperwork. Ah, paperwork…the stuff I love to leave behind when I head for the woods…

I’m also saddened for a few reasons. The first: it was such a beautiful, warm, day, bursting with greenery and bird song and lupines and relaxed, smiling faces. The location, a steep hillside on Mt. Tam in Marin was a deepening blue as the sun lowered in the sky. The bushy dark green bay tree I wanted to play with remains, for now, an image only in my dreams. Over forty eager, peaceful, fellow outdoor enthusiasts made the effort to attend, to play boldly. They reminded me, before I was walked out by the men in uniforms, that it was a beautiful place to be that day regardless of the outcome.

I’m also sad acknowledging we have created rules which make it illegal for forty people to drive into a state park on a lovely Saturday or Sunday, walk to a secluded spot together and take off their clothes for twenty minutes to make a playful photograph that most likely no one else would even witness. If a group nude photo goes down on a hillside, and no one is there to see it, does it make a commotion?…

I was issued a citation for shooting without a permit. I don’t yet know how many dollars this fine is. I can choose to contest it in court, but I’m not convinced there is anything to contest. I’m responsible for what happened, and what didn’t happen. I took my chances, chose NOT to apply for a permit I thought I would be denied. I can of course request a permit in the future, but only for a shoot during the week. If it is granted—and this is progressive, art-minded Marin County so it’s possible—I can then see if enough TreeSpirit fans can attend mid-week. To my surprise and delight, many of yesterday’s would-be participants—you know who you are you beautiful souls—said they might.

Finally, I’m also sad because it’s all so…ridiculous! The rangers aren’t to blame, they were sent after us by officials. The officials of the CA state parks system—a park system that presides over millions of acres of land protected from development—simply enforce code. In fact there is no “them” to blame. Or them is US, we the people, as a collective. We have in us—and this includes me too—so much fear. Fear of people assembling in groups and acting destructively. Fear of accidents and injuries. (Fear of being denied a permit, in my case.) And of course fear about people being naked, which in my opinion is often related to fear of sexuality, our culture’s forbidden/insatiable hot topic.

One other ridiculousness: When officials use their misnomer, “commercial photography,” what they really mean is “professional” photography. I’m a professional photographer, not a commercial photographer on a commercial assignment. Oh how I wish this were a “commercial” shoot, meaning either literally one for a commercial in which case everyone is paid for broadcast rights, or in the more general sense that someone, anyone, was being paid. Or if I must be categorized with the Mercedes-Benz shoot I saw two nights earlier on the mountain, then cite me if you must, but then please give me their $1 million camera car rig. And a budget of any kind would increase the likelihood we could all assemble for a future, mid-week, ranger-escorted, permitted command appearance.

I have another question, from the artist-philosopher in me: “Do we really need all these rules?” Yes, rules can keep us safe. But too many rules can also make a cage. You’re alive in the cage, yes, live, but not fully alive. Read your Edward Abbey, he knew. All we did was gather quietly in a parking lot, walk 3/4-mile on gentle terrain to a warm hillside on a sunny day. From there we would have shed our clothes and peacefully, playfully posed for a photograph for about 20-30 minutes. Very few others would have seen us. That’s it. End of story. That’s all we wanted to do. Where’s the harm in it?

Difficult for me, too, is feeling the heat again rising today…it will top 80 degrees, warmer even than yesterday…it will be the warmest day of 2009 with spring arriving in full, languorous mysterious force…and I would LOVE to go out and play in the land with friends old and new, to make what I call a TreeSpirit photo…

I also know Sunday’s conflict was a tempest in a teapot, because much larger issues currently face our nation and planet. One of the biggest being how we often treat our mother Earth so unconsciously, fowling her air, land and water, simultaneously killing ourselves, but so gradually we usually don’t realize we’re doing it. The good news is we people are increasingly aware of this scientific reality. Hence the environmental, socio-political purpose behind The TreeSpirit Project’s celebration of our beautiful planet—humans and trees are interdependent. Put simply: if they die, we die.

I may decide to re-attempt making this photo with official permission, applying for the weekday permit, seeing who can take off early from work and hope, too, the summer fog doesn’t roll in as it often does. Then at least I could bring the film crew and relax. That would be sweet.

In peace,

Jack Gescheidt

TreeSpirit update, March 2009

2009-03-13T14:07:00.000-07:00

Dear friends of trees,

TreeSpirit Project photographer Jack Gescheidt here, with news that the recent photograph on Sat., Feb 21 went splendidly—the rains stopped, the skies parted and 40 fellow nature lovers joined together to make a new TreeSpirit image depicting our communion with Mother Earth, pictured here. Titled, “We Are The River,” it's also atop the Gallery page of The TreeSpirit Project website.

A reporter from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Point Reyes Light newspaper attended— and also enthusiastically participated to write from her direct experience. Read the whole cover story on TreeSpirit’s Press page: http://www.treespiritproject.com/Press.html

Also on the Press page, to the right of the Point Reyes Light, is a KUSF radio interview with sexologist Dr. Claudia Six which aired last September. We talked about TreeSpirit in some detail, so you can learn more about what motivates me to make TreeSpirit photographs.

The next TreeSpirit photo event is already in the planning stages, likely on Mt. Tamalpais in Marin county on Saturday, April 18. By then Mt. Tam’s lush green springtime hills will receive more and warmer sunshine. If you’d like to join this next—and likely warmer—TreeSpirit adventure, email me to join the Guest List: jack@treespiritproject.com. I'll update you with the details (exact date, time, meeting place).

Meanwhile, I remind you—as I remind myself—to set aside time each day to step outside to breathe the spring air deeply. Enjoy the calm this simple act brings, especially during times of economic uncertainty and cultural change. Nature is always here to comfort us and bring us peace.

With appreciation,

Jack Gescheidt
jack@treespiritproject.com
http://www.TreeSpiritProject.com
Tel: 415.488.4200

First 2009 TreeSpirit participatory photo event set for Saturday, February 21st

2009-01-20T10:34:00.000-08:00

Dear friends of trees,

If you've wanted to participate in a TreeSpirit photo, here's your next opportunity to artfully, tastefully, vulnerably and safely demonstrate your affection for trees and the natural world.

IN BRIEF:

TreeSpirit Project photographer Jack Gescheidt here with the news I’ll be hosting the first large group TreeSpirit photograph of 2009 on Saturday, February 21st @ 11am in San Geronimo, CA. (This small town in west Marin is five miles west of Fairfax, one mile (west) past Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre.)

Save the day—Saturday, February 21st—on your calendars if you’d like to join the fun. As with all TreeSpirit photos, it’s fun, it’s safe, and it’s open to everyone. In these challenging economic times, it’s also FREE (but for the price of transportation)—one of the many joys of being in the great outdoors.

All ages, sizes, body types and levels of fitness are welcomed and appreciated. No tree climbing ability is required.

The only requirements are an appreciation for trees and the willingness to be respectful of your fellow participants. Come play, make art, and be together outdoors with like-minded, warm-hearted tree huggers and nature lovers for a memorable, one-of-a-kind adventure.

Email me if you’d like to be on the guest list for this event, read all the details below, and save this email.

Yours in the trees,

Jack Gescheidt
San Geronimo, CA
jack@treespiritproject.com
http://www.TreeSpiritProject.com
Tel: 415.488.4200

• • • • • • •

DETAILS, DETAILS:

The TreeSpirit photo will be held rain or shine (or cold). February weather, skies and light are unpredictable and changeable, but rest assured we can make a dramatic photograph with whatever weather we’re presented: sunny and warm, rainy and cold, or completely fogged in (see attached jpeg of San Geronimo trees).

A tolerance for cold helps, but you need not be unclothed for more than 15 minutes. Bring warm clothes, a blanket or bathrobe to stay warm just before the photo, and a thermos of hot liquid to warm up with afterwards. (See “What To Bring,” below.)

As with every TreeSpirit photo event, you will be asked to sign a photo release so the final image may be used (only) as part of the TreeSpirit Project and website. In return, you will receive a print or digital file of the artwork we make together.

Magic typically happens at these gatherings; our collective intention to peacefully make art together in nature is a powerful force that creates not just an artwork, but community and an unforgettable experience.

WHEN & WHERE:

Meet @ 11am, Saturday, February 21st, 2009, at the San Geronimo town post office on San Geronimo Valley Drive, across from the Two Bird Café @ 625 San Geronimo Valley Drive. (Google map aficionados, Google: Two Bird Café, San Geronimo, CA.) From here we’ll go to the private location as a group, approximately 1 mile along a hilly single-track trail, not wheelchair or vehicle accessible. If you are late, you may not be able to find our private location.

We will be done by 2pm, but then of course, we (and you) must hike back out to civilization, another 20-40 min.

Note this is a participatory event; no spectators please. To maintain a safe atmosphere, women who are undecided about joining in may attend and decide in the moment. Clothed male observers may not. (Their presence can be unsettling to some women.) I take great care to keep TreeSpirit events safe and fun. Email me if you have questions about this policy.

WHAT TO BRING:

1. Warm clothes, even if it’s warm. Weather is changeable in February; it may become overcast or windy or rainy, or differ dramatically from the East Bay or SF weather. Better to have three too many layers and shed them, than one too few and shiver;

2. Blanket or bathrobe for quicker, easier readying for the photo;

3. Water bottle and snacks;

4. Thermos of your favored hot beverage;

5. Backpack for all of the above;

6. Footwear for rocky trail (2 mile r/t walk).

MEDIA COVERAGE:

Only credentialed media (newspaper, magazine, radio, TV) that have spoken with me in advance of the photo may attend. Interested journalists may contact me by email, jack@treespiritproject.com, or phone, 415.488.4200.

DIRECTIONS to San Geronimo Post Office from Fwy 101:

I urge you to print & bring these directions if you're new to west Marin.

From Fwy 101 EXIT Sir Francis Drake Blvd. WEST (toward San Anselmo)

Go 10 miles (west) on Sir Francis Drake Blvd (SFD). For those new to Marin, you’ll pass through the small towns of Greenbrae, Kentfield, Ross, San Anselmo and Fairfax. In San Anselmo watch for small signs pointing you west (left at light at "the Hub") toward Fairfax. In Fairfax, pass The Good Earth Market on the right, after a traffic light.

Continue west on Sir Francis Drake (SFD). SFD climbs a steep 2-mile-long hill (White’s Hill), then descends back to flatland. Pass signs for the town of Woodacre and Spirit Rock Meditation Center. When you see a golf course (San Geronimo Golf Club) on both sides of the road, get ready to…

Turn LEFT onto little Nicasio Valley Rd. (If coming from Pt. Reyes and points west, turn RIGHT onto Nicasio Valley Rd.)

Go 50 yards to STOP sign, turn RIGHT onto San Geronimo Valley Rd.

Go 100 yards to see San Geronimo Post Office on right. Park in dirt parking area on left, near The Two Bird Café.

************

Jack Gescheidt
San Geronimo, CA
jack@treespiritproject.com
http://www.TreeSpiritProject.com
Tel: 415.488.4200

Paradigm shift in the Berkeley Memorial Oak Grove

2008-06-23T20:52:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - “Muffin,” short for “Dumpster Muffin,”—her tree sitter nickname hiding her identity from police—is alternately sitting and standing in a plywood box measuring about 2 feet by 4 feet with sides about 3 feet tall. The box is bolted to the top a 10-foot tall 4 by 4 inch post. And the post is strapped to the top of a redwood tree sixty or seventy feet tall. This description won’t even make sense without an accompanying photo or video because most people, including me, have never seen this kind of rig before. She is actually above the redwood (not an oak like so many in the grove) supporting her; the oversized star of her evergreen Christmas tree. She is farther off the ground than all but two of the hundreds of people watching this spectacle. Later, as this drama continues on and off for over six hours, three TV news helicopters will hover and record some of the events. Only she may not be alive for long because everyone watching can plainly see her life is in danger. And it’s not Christmas, it’s June in Berkeley, CA and at least 85 degrees in the baking sun of this cloudless day.

Those only two humans higher off the ground than Muffin are not her friends. They wear hard hats and safety harnesses attached to a much larger metal construction platform about 5’x10’ with waist-high railings. This box, their box, is much bigger, stronger— and safer—than her box. And their box is attached to what must be the biggest crane in the city of Berkeley today, maybe 110 feet tall, its top towering at least 50 feet higher, dwarfing star Muffin. The massive, telescoping crane lowers them down on steel cables to reach her. She’s too high up to attempt “extracting” her from below so instead of chasing her up the redwood, they’re coming down from above.

U.C. Berkeley’s P.R. guy, Don, unfailingly, and always with a straight face, calls the men in hard hats, her would-be captors, “arborists.” Have YOU ever heard of an arborist trained to forcibly remove people from treetops? He will also this day repeatedly tell reporters that the sitters throw human feces and urine at his “arborists.” What he WON’T say is the sitters have such, um, weapons because the 24/7 guards and fences prevent them from removing their waste. He also doesn’t provide context for this admittedly unpleasant tree sitter behavior. The EXTRACTORS are so desperate today they’ve brought knives and chainsaws and cherry pickers they threaten the kids with while sawing down their platforms, cutting their supply lines and worse, the support lines their bodies hang from.

By Sunday, Don the P.R. guy will up the ante in the war of words and stop calling this grove of trees a grove of trees. He will stick to his new, improved script and repeatedly tell the press it is “a 1923 landscaping project.” Which is not technically incorrect, but ignores other facts. The Berkeley Memorial Grove was planted as a living war memorial to California WWI veterans. Also, this GROVE OF native oak TREES has, against the odds, matured and become self-sustaining. Orwell was not the first to point out how powerfully words shape our perceptions.

The university also refers to the tree sitters as criminal trespassers who are resisting arrest. Again, from one perspective this is true. But of course it was also true of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day and so many political activists we honor today, now that our society’s views have evolved to match these visionaries’. These kids in the trees, many only in their 20s, are a new breed and the real deal; 21st century nonviolent environmental activists.

Muffin is part of the longest-ever tree sit in a U.S. city—542 days and nights long as of today. She herself has been living in these trees for about seven months. Despite greatly increased efforts again today by U.C. Berkeley to forcibly remove these environmental activists, this record-long civil disobedience to save a grove of trees continues. Anywhere from ten to a dozen young adults, men and women, many just in their twenties, inhabit the trees, 24/7, on the U.C. Berkeley campus, since December of 2006. They refuse to come down until the trees are legally protected from death by U.C.'s proposed development. The project has been frozen by court challenges from several groups (not just tree sitters) for numerous reasons, including earthquake safety concerns (the stadium next to the proposed new gym sits on top of the active Hayward earthquake fault, increased traffic and noise in a residential city neighborhood, and environmental impact reports.

More than once the crane’s boom moves within a few feet of striking Muffin’s small wooden box. Oh, and did I explain that there is a second, smaller but still huge crane that does this same scare tactic, coming within inches of banging into her rickety perch? No one can know whether she would be instantly knocked off her treetop or not. No one wants to find out, least of all Muffin, so each time either crane approaches she screams bloody murder to get them to back off. I’m of the opinion they don’t plan to actually strike her, but they’re so desperate to end this televised spectacle they’ll say and threaten all sorts of nasty stuff we on the ground can’t hear. But the men’s platform sways on its steel cables and I’m also of the opinion they don’t have subtle control over their heavy rig and could easily knock into her, knock her over, and severely injure or even kill her. But no one knows this better than Muffin and she is not going to give up, nor go quietly, and she lets them know this at the highest, craziest volumes her body can generate.

A crowd of onlookers, a mix of sympathizers, supporters, curiosity seekers, passersby, reporters and TV cameras are watching Muffin in her exposed perch, high above the tree tops, the only sitter not obscured by tree branches. Many think her crazy, especially those not on the scene who will later see just a few seconds of video out of context, the inevitable distortion of events delivered by media in bite-sized pieces. No witness would disagree with the assessment that her life is in jeopardy. But examine this scene, realize what she’s up against and realize how much it means to her to prevail, and I don’t think she’s crazy at all.

What other defense does she have? Being a nonviolent demonstrator, she employs no weapons (not chainsaw, knife, nor human waste). Wouldn’t you scream and yell and act like a lunatic if it kept these men away from you? Think about it. What would you do in her place? I bet I know your answer because I’ve given this thought. I’d bet it’s a variation on mine: “I wouldn’t be 70 feet in the air, alone, in a rickety plywood box on top of that tree in the first place.”

Let me stop preaching to the environmentalist, tree hugger choir for a moment and toss a question out to you few out there—mostly men I’d bet—who think Muffin is out of her mind and this tree sit is all one big joke. When you’re done laughing, tell me, When was the last time you put your life on the line for something you believed in?

And if you can answer that one, try another one I can’t keep from wondering, over and over: What would happen if U.C. Berkeley just pulled back? Meaning, removed the tree sitter extractors. Reassign the dozens of university police to return to patrolling the rest of the campus; Lord knows they’d enjoy this after months of this endless, thankless, pointless duty. Send the additional security guards home too. And take down all three layers of chain link fences and metal barricades that encircle the grove as if the trees themselves were criminals confined to a compound. Then, with this mess of metal cleared, just walk away. Let the university continue the court battle if they must, against all reason, argue for building a new gym and rebuilding an old stadium directly on an earthquake fault, despite massive and sustained community outrage.

What then would happen in the grove? What would the tree sitters do? What harm would befall anyone or even any property? I bet the sitters would…continue to sit and sleep in their trees, with 1/100th the noise and drama and bad publicity and all the meanness the attempts at containment, control and eradication cause. U.C. repeatedly says all the police and fencing are necessary for safety, that the sitters could drop belongings or fall from the trees. But no one could claim this current circus without nets is anything but more dangerous to everyone on the scene, as well as a colossal waste of money they keep trying to blame on the demonstrators.

If you live in the SF Bay area, visit the site of this record-long nonviolent demonstration on Piedmont Ave. near Bancroft Way in Berkeley and see for yourself. It’s perfectly safe to do so, despite the university’s hope you’ll be scared off. They want to isolate the tree sitters, pretend they don’t have a good amount of public support, and put an end this 18-month-long civil disobedience that obstructs their ill-conceived building project. They want this whole uncontrollable mess to go away, but it won’t because the issues at stake are bigger than one grove of trees. The university’s aggressive reactions—fences, police, arrests— to good old American Constitutionally protected civil disobedience only fan the flames of outrage and dissent.

As things stand, with tensions rising under the summer sun, as the university now intensifies its assault on a handful of kids living in trees, their public image will continue to blister. Heaven help them if someone gets seriously hurt or killed. Not only would this likely turn public opinion FOREVER against them—and then they surely wouldn’t get their stadium built here—the regents would actually have to live with this on their consciences for the rest of their lives. I hope instead they can still remember what it was like to be young and idealistic and full of passion with the courage to act on their beliefs and ideals.

Muffin’s dramatic act of defiance today has me wondering if it’s most of us down here on the ground who are crazy, going about our business as usual as our icecaps melt and global temperatures rise. Maybe we’re the crazy ones, watching calmly and quietly as a giant, impressive machine of our own making threatens to knocks us off our perch atop the food chain. And Muffin, screaming like a crazed animal backed into a corner, screaming for her very survival, is screaming for us all.

Good News from The Berkeley Memorial Oak Grove

2008-06-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

Dear friends of trees,

Photographer Jack Gescheidt here with more big news from The Berkeley Memorial Oak Grove.

Yesterday you received an email from me reporting that UC Berkeley had moved dozens of personnel (UC police and tree workers) into the Berkeley Memorial Oak Grove to again forcibly remove tree sitters and their structures and supply lines (food and water in; waste out). This, to end a record-long 1.5 YEAR civil disobedience action to spare an oak grove from unnecessary destruction.

Today, one day later, I have wonderful news to report. Judge Barbara Miller’s decision, issued last night at about 6:30pm, clearly states that—despite UC Berkeley’s inevitable spin you'll see in some headlines—the court injunction that has been in place, which prevents the university from cutting down the oak grove, will remain in place.

This long-awaited legal decision prevents UC Berkeley from cutting any trees. (It does NOT, take note, prevent them from attempting to remove tree sitters, which is an entirely separate matter.) The case has 20-28 separate points depending upon how you count them and the judge’s rulings were mixed. The university won some points, the many plaintiffs including the Save the Oaks foundation (http://www.SaveOaks.com) won others. This mixed bag ruling is why the university will claim it won because they did win on some issues. But the plaintiffs had only to win on one substantive point to keep the injunction against cutting trees in place—and they did more than this. UC may appeal the decision, but doing so opens up, in non-legal terms, a can of worms (appeals of appeals, and so on).

UC wanted desperately to begin cutting trees yesterday (and for over 1.5 years) and they still cannot. I’m being brief here about a complex case but you SF Bay area residents can hear more about it on radio today, Thursday, June 19th on KPFA, 94.1 FM, between 5 and 6PM, from Save the Oaks director Doug Buckwald on the program Flashpoints with Dennis Bernstein.

Make no mistake; this is a big David vs. Goliath victory story. The David here is thousands of citizens who have invested huge time, energy, money and love to successfully challenge a wealthy semi-private institution (increasing corporate sponsorship) that does not want its large construction projects challenged. Like the UC in Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley wants expansion—even when it is flouts local earthquake safety laws, and environmental common sense, despite their P.R. to the contrary. And they make little effort to work with the local community, also despite their P.R. to the contrary.

Another big deal: this is apparently the first time the university has ever lost a court battle over a construction project in Alameda County court. Davids everywhere, take note: large institutions CAN be held accountable to surrounding civilian populations who are directly affected by their decisions. Noise, construction, environmental concerns, preservation of precious and globally cooling green space all matter, and now more than ever.

I hope the university will resist the urge to divide people, attempting as they have so far, pitting environmentalist against sports fans—because there is no such real division. In simple terms, most sports fans love trees and most tree fans love sports. We can have it all in our communities: large, environmental sound development projects, including new gymnasiums and even a brand spanking new AND SAFER stadium, one that need not straddle an active earthquake fault.

It’s tough to find a balanced news report since we all have biases. (Mine is for trees and clean air and green space.)
I like this story by IndyMedia.org:http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/06/19/18508929.php
And this one by Berkeley Daily Planet’s Richard Brenneman: http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2008-06-19/article/30303?headline=Judge-s-Ruling-Blocks-UC-Berkeley-Gym-Project

I was moved yesterday, bearing direct witness to so many different kinds of passionate, involved citizens—attorneys, volunteer organizers, tree sitters, tree sit "ground control," tree sit sympathizers like me, and hundreds of other community members of all ages, races, religions and ethnicities—all actively engaged in big issues affecting us all.

This story can be easily dismissed by those who don't look carefully, just "crazy Berkeley kids living in trees." But it's really about so much more, all worthy of national news: issues like local vs. state politics, accountability of public institutions as their privatization increases; public safety vs. private profit; and of course environmental concerns of all sorts including trees.

Ah, trees: just plain ol' trees, always around; always here for us; always doing what trees do by their very nature, which includes making Earth more habitable for other creatures including us humans. They have been doing this for so long, for so many, it's so easy to take what they are and what they do for granted. I am so happy to report that yesterday I learned that so many of humans really do care about them in return.

In peace,
Jack

Jack Gescheidt
San Geronimo, CA
jack@treespiritproject.com
http://www.TreeSpiritProject.com
A photographic celebration of our interdependence with nature.

Tree News from Berkeley's Memorial Oak Grove 6.17.08

2008-06-20T08:53:00.000-07:00

THE SHORT STORY:

TreeSpirit photographer Jack Gescheidt here. With sadness I relay news of today’s events from the Memorial Oak Grove in Berkeley, site of two of my TreeSpirit Project photos. At 6AM today, Tuesday, June 17, the university (UC Berkeley) sent in over 40 police officers and hired arborists to remove structures and cut supply lines the tree sitters use to get food and water and remove waste with. Both sides of this conflict agree UC did this today in preparation for tomorrow’s (Wed. June 18) court case ruling, due anytime after 9AM.

If you support the tree sitters and their 18-month-long peaceful, dramatic, successful attention-getting civil disobedience designed to spare a grove of oak trees from the axe (to make way for a proposed gym 100 yards from the Hayward earthquake fault), now is the time to pay a visit to the oak grove. There is a candlelight vigil in the grove tonight (Tuesday).

Join us tomorrow, Wednesday, June 18, there is a large gathering of supporters from 9AM on. Please come to show your support for this historic environmental demonstration.

DIRECTIONS to the grove off Piedmont Ave in Berkeley, one block north of Bancroft Way: http://saveoaks.com/SaveOaks/Find%20The%20Grove.html

I suggest, as always, a strong, peaceful support of trees and tree-loving demonstrators. We are exercising our American rights of free speech and nonviolent demonstration. For every person with the courage to put his or her body up in a tree, there are hundreds who have supported them on site and thousands more who support them from afar. We people with a deep and abiding love for trees and nature and animals are actually in the majority. As we act from our hearts, and with conscience, to tread more lightly on Mother Earth, we can make a difference and inspire others to safely join us in expressing our deepest beliefs.
Come on out and be the change you wish to see in the world. Your openhearted presence, especially as witness to conflict if it occurs, will make a difference.

More about this complex landmark case is on the SaveOaks.com website: www.saveoaks.com/SaveOaks/Main.html

In peace,

Jack Gescheidt

jack@treespiritproject.com
http://www.TreeSpiritProject.com

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The LONGER Story (more if you want it): The university repeatedly claims that the tree sitters should stop, get down and go away; that they’ve made their point, that their actions are inappropriate, or have gone on too long, or break campus rules against trespassing, or is even somehow a threat to public safety. Of course they would make just about any claims to put an end to this public relations disaster. What large business, public or private—and UC is really now an awkward mix of the two—wants demonstrations on its property that are critical of its large development projects? (Especially one just yards from the active Hayward earthquake fault.)

Claiming tree sitters pose a threat to public safety, and to themselves (!), they have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on police and fences and then blamed the tree sitters as if these expenses were necessary. In my humble opinion the UC administration’s response is motivated by a desire for control. They’re afraid if they don’t do something about this demonstration—contain and control it—others might flourish on campus. We certainly wouldn’t want to have all that again at Berkeley! Won’t you young, outraged, passionate and idealistic people just get down, shut up, go away and behave? Stop all this nonsense about trees and tree hugging and global warming; we have a new multi-million dollar gymnasium to build and it can’t possibly go up a few blocks away.

Still, I remain amazed the university doesn’t have the wisdom to exercise restraint. What would happen if a few people were left to sleep up in trees? Wouldn’t they eventually just come down—unless of course you feared the precedent of allowing? Instead, UC continues to build fences, literally and metaphorically, and scores of poor police officers given the unenviable duty of stopping kids from…stopping them from what?…from sitting and sleeping in trees?

I invite YOU kind tree loving people to come show support for these trees and for these brave souls on the front lines who are living in these trees, and for trees everywhere. Let’s wrap a blanket of peaceful support around this contentious situation, so no one on either side gets hurt if tempers flare.

At stake here is much more than meets the eye, which is why this grove repeatedly makes national and international news. In my opinion what’s happening right now in Berkeley is a microcosm for huge issues facing our nation and our planet: When will environmental concerns take priority over concerns for development and profit? The university wants to remove most of these trees in order to build a big gym that can be more safely built elsewhere. A nearby parking lot could be replaced, rather than killing a grove of precious trees. If we as a community show the tremendous value of these trees and trees everywhere, change is possible and a new gym can be built elsewhere.
CBS5.com has this news story on-line: http://cbs5.com/localwire/22.0.html?type=bcn&item=SITTER-REMOVED

Stalwart videographer B Citizen has posted this YouTube video made today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofV6ecpm5rw

The Daily Cal posted this article: http://www.dailycal.org/article/101916/ucpd_attempting_to_take_tree-sitters_down

Judge Barbara Miller is expected to return her decision in the lawsuits against the stadium expansion project tomorrow. UC Berkeley officials have stated that no matter what Judge Miller decides the University will try to end the tree-sit protest—tree sitters are still up there – a few were violently taken out – please come and stand for the trees.

There is a candlelight vigil and all night sleepover is planned for tonight (Tuesday, June 17) thru tomorrow (Wednesday, June 18).

The grove is located in the 2000 block of Piedmont Ave in Berkeley, one block north of Bancroft Way.

The SaveOaks.com people— www.SaveOaks.com — are requesting supporters of this peaceful demonstration go to the grove NOW and support them as you see fit. I strongly advocate peaceful support, needed now more than ever because impatience and frustration and anger are running high on both sides.

Demonstrators have been in the trees since December of 2006. (This 18-month long tree sit is the longest-ever URBAN tree sit in U.S. history.) The university (UCB) wants them isolated and then removed to make way for cutting down many of the trees so a new gym can be built on the site. They say they'll replace each tree with many young ones but I, like so many other environmentalists, believe this is a public relations story, ignoring the real and tremendous value of mature oak trees. They are undervalued and underappreciated to be sure, providing precious oxygen and shade in a hot city and a haven for numerous humans and mammals and birds and insects. Does anyone think we need fewer trees? Or fewer green spaces in our urban centers? And if we don’t act to save these trees, now, then which trees do we save, and when? Here’s your chance to act locally while thinking globally.

In peace,

Jack

Jack Gescheidt
jack@treespiritproject.com
http://www.TreeSpiritProject.com
A photographic celebration of our interdependence with nature.

2007-09-15T16:38:00.002-07:00

Dear friends of The TreeSpirit Project,

Photographer Jack Gescheidt here. Last March, with the help of over 100 fellow tree-lovers, I made a TreeSpirit photograph in The Memorial Oak Grove in Berkeley, CA. Our intention was to make an artwork to save this grove of mature oak trees from death at the hands of UC Berkeley developers. (UCB wants to remove the trees to make room for a gymnasium; one that could be built elsewhere, sparing the trees and also not directly over the Hayward Fault.) Since December 2nd, fellow tree-lovers have been living up in these trees to draw attention to the trees and the issues. Many more Berkeley citizens on the ground supply treesitters with food, water, practical and emotional support.

Yesterday, Friday, September 14, 2007, I was honored to witness another dramatic chapter in the ongoing effort to save this grove of over 140 trees from the axe (while the court cases are still pending). I was moved to tears by what I saw.

About 35 UC Berkeley students—kids paying UC Berkeley for their education—wore yellow T-shirts that read "Free Trees" on one side and "Free Speech" on the other. They spoke passionately of their rights to free speech and free assembly, including sitting in and around trees. These rights were denied them when 2 weeks ago UCB put up a chain-link fence around the trees and sued the treesitters.

The students spoke about the ecological importance and value of these mature, living trees. (Many were planted over 80 years ago as a supposedly permanent, living, World War I memorial. They are old, beloved members of a healthy self-sustaining ecosystem, and a healthy community that includes us humans.

And then the students performed an "action." They climbed over the new fence that blocks access to the trees. They were energetic, but peaceful throughout. The police acted with professional restraint but, presumably under orders, eventually arrested many of the demonstrators. These young adults simply refused to concede what they see as their constitutional rights to assemble and dissent to the same institution of learning which teaches them about these rights. (Remember, campus police simply do the bidding of the university; it is the university that apparently still has something to learn about civil rights, community will and environmental health.)

These students, decades younger than me, demonstrated qualities that inspire me to write you, including:

Sincerity
Integrity
Courage
Innocence
Wisdom
Determination
Belief in democracy and justice

But don't take my words for it. Thanks to the same documentary filmmaker who recorded my March photographic demonstration, listen and see for yourself some of yesterday's events on this YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5AO2jL8LMM&feature=PlayList&p=D97BB4921A65B7ED&index=0

The Oakland Tribune also ran the story today:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_6903803

Thank you all for bearing witness—Go, Cal Bears!

And thank you for caring about trees everywhere in this era of global warming.

Sincerely,
Jack

Jack Gescheidt
San Francisco, CA
jack@treespiritproject.com
http://www.TreeSpiritProject.com
A photographic celebration of our connection to nature.

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An issues addendum for those new to the controversy: The University of California wants to kill many/most of the trees in order to build a gymnasium next to the existing stadium, a stadium sitting on the Hayward fault. Two weeks ago they erected a chain link fence around many of the trees, saying this was for "safety," reducing potential weekend conflict between treesitters and (Cal Bears) football fans. As if all football fans hate trees, as if all tree lovers hate football, as if the gym couldn't be built a few blocks away in a UC Berkeley parking lot. As a student sign yesterday put it: "Old trees AND new buildings."

And if the fence were erected only to prevent conflict, as the university claims, then why do they prevent treesitters, ground support, and Berkeley citizens from entering the grove, which is what the fence does? It seems more likely UC is simply sick and tired of the treesitters, the demonstrations and the continuing resistance to their development plans made without community involvement. So put up a fence, sue the demonstrators, and deny their rights to free assembly and free speech, especially when their speech advocates building the gym elsewhere.

In my view, it comes down to money and effort. It would take money and effort and more reports and red tape to switch gym sites. It's expedient for them to dig in their heels and ignore the sound objections. They still don't see the value of these trees, which is what the resistance is about. But the surrounding community in Berkeley and beyond does, and both football fans and tree lovers can be served. As another big sign in the trees yesterday put it, "BEARS LOVE TREES."

You can learn more about what's going on in the grove, here:
SaveOaks.com.

And from a recent SF Chronicle article by Carolyn Jones here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/13/BAPSS5049.DTL&hw=Memorial+Oak+Grove&sn=002&sc=843

And more YouTube videos coverage of actions in the grove is here:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=D97BB4921A65B7ED

TreeSpirit Project film in the making

2007-07-15T01:18:00.000-07:00

Filmmaker Tamara Gurbis has recorded a few of the larger TreeSpirit Project photographic events in 2006 and 2007. She and I have concluded that the process of making each TreeSpirit photo—all populated with volunteer participants—is a great story worth telling on video.

So what began as a series of still photographs depicting human interdependence with trees and nature, then grew to receive lots of media attention, has evolved to include a documentary film project.

Tamara and I want the large and diverse number of regular people drawn to participate in TreeSpirit photographs to tell their compelling stories of connecting to nature in their own voices. We expect to mix these voices with more from me about my process and motivations and experiences making these photographs, and include special guests we'll invite to speak about the practical and miraculous reaons why trees matter.

A teaser trailer for the film will be posted on the TreeSpirit Project website in the near future, to generate excitement and funding for the production budget, which includes making both the film and more TreeSpirit photographs around the U.S.

We'll also be looking for future TreeSpirit participants who would enjoy sharing their experiences on camera.

I'll keep you posted on this exciting news in the weeks ahead.

In love with trees,

Jack Gescheidt
jack@treespiritproject.com
http://www.TreeSpiritProject.com