Title:  Activists destroy research trees: Attack near Rhinelander linked to group opposing bio-engineering
Source:  Copyright 2000, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Date:  July 22, 2000
By:  Peter Maller, of the Journal Sentinel staff

Activists Attack

"This group is sick. They damaged a program that is for the good of everyone. We feel personally violated." -- Jud Isebrands, scientist at federal forestry research center near Rhinelander.  Calling it "an attack against bio-engineering," a group of radical environmentalists said it destroyed 500 research trees and spray-painted graffiti on vehicles at a federal forestry laboratory near Rhinelander, officials said Friday.

The Seattle-based North American Earth Liberation Front, an underground environmental activist organization, claimed responsibility for killing rare nursery stock worth $750,000 and vandalizing eight vehicles at a research station run by the U.S. Forestry Sciences Laboratory.

Using saws and machetes to cut down the trees, and then trampling on them, the group short-circuited a 30-year project aimed at finding a cure for a cancer-like disease that attacks poplar trees, said Jud Isebrands, a scientist at the facility.  In the Thursday night attack, the group painted large green-and-black slogans on automobiles that warned: "ELF is watching the U.S. Forest Service." The group also spread acid on windshields, Isebrands said. Damage to vehicles was estimated at $20,000, he said.  The FBI, the Oneida County Sheriff's Department and other state and federal agencies are investigating the attack. The nursery, near a municipal airport, is on Oneida County Highway K, about one mile west of Highway 47.

The ELF, which has claimed responsibility for 13 attacks causing $31 million in damages over the last six years, opposes manipulating genetic matter in plants and animals, said Craig Rosebraugh, the group's spokesman.  At least four separate anti-bio-engineering groups have carried out more than 30 attacks this year at facilities that included strawberry and sugar beet fields in California, cornfields in Maine and a grass field in Oregon.

But researchers at the Rhinelander nursery had not used bio-engineering methods on any of the trees that were destroyed, said Isebrands, a member of a team working to find a cure for septoria canker, a disease that forms tumor-like swellings on poplar trees, causing millions of dollars in damage nationwide.

"This was not bio-technology," Isebrands said. "All of our work was done using traditional plant-breeding techniques that have been around for years. We simply took a genetically superior tree and matched it with another tree. Then you just hope to get a better plant."

Besides poplars, the attackers destroyed young red oaks and other tree species.   "This group is sick," Isebrands said. "They damaged a program that is for the good of everyone. We feel personally violated. We run this area like a public park. It's open to everyone. We don't want to put razor wire around here."

The attack set back the research project by 10 to 15 years, Isebrands said. About 10 members of the research team had been preparing stock that requires about 10 years for each generation to mature before scientists can move on to the next phase. Rosebraugh said ELF members attacked the Rhinelander station because scientists there assist corporations that exploit the natural environment for profit.  Rosebraugh said the attack was not aimed against just the Forest Service or a specific research project, he said. Rather ELF was striking out at the practice of manipulating genetic material in general. He called genetic engineering "sheer genocide."

"Obviously, there's risk to the people involved who carry out such actions," Rosebraugh said. "They feel it's more important to protect the future of the planet than to worry about getting caught."  LF has taken credit for six similar attacks this year, including a New Year's Eve incident involving a suite of offices at the Michigan State University's Agriculture Hall. ELF is definitely stepping up its actions," Rosebraugh said.  Strong protests against bio-engineering emerged in Europe, but similar sentiments seem to be gaining some momentum in the United States.

A recent poll by the International Food Information Council found 59% of Americans believe biotech will benefit them, down from 78% three years ago. A Gallup poll found 68% believe bio-engineered food should be labeled. Rosebraugh said he was not a member of the group, but he received information from members, who remained anonymous.

ELF members work in small cells, he said, and members do not know the identity of members in other cells. The Wisconsin attack probably was conducted by members from outside the state, he said. To avoid getting caught, members rarely conduct attacks in their home states, he said.