The Bird vs. the Bypass: Tree-Sitter Fights Mendocino Highway Project

By Deborah Svoboda

If you want to talk face-to-face to Warbler, you have to be OK with heights.

Warbler, the name adopted by a 24-year-old farmer, is living indefinitely in a ponderosa pine on the southern outskirts of Willits, up in Mendocino County. She's been up in the tree since the end of January to try to block construction of a four-lane, six-mile, $290 million highway bypass around town.

A couple weeks back, I drove north on U.S. 101 through Marin and Sonoma counties and up into Mendocino to interview Warbler (also known as Amanda Senseman) for a journalism class assignment. I brought along a camera (I'm a photojournalist first) and sound recording equipment (which I was just learning to use). And when I got to Warbler's tree, and she agreed that it was OK, I climbed the 71 feet to her platform--"two rooms," she calls it--overlooking 101.

Why is she up there?

To build the bypass, Caltrans will need to cut down trees along the superhighway-size right-of-way, and that could harm migratory bird species. It will need to fill wetlands along the route, the construction could impact spawning streams for endangered coho salmon and steelhead.

The agency has planned the bypass for decades, and says it's necessary to allow through traffic to avoid the bottleneck of downtown Willits, where U.S. 101 narrows to two lanes. There's debate about whether there's enough traffic through town to justify the project and whether diverting traffic away from downtown will help or hurt the local economy. But Caltrans spokesperson Phil Frisbie Jr. says that as the state's economy rebounds, "Traffic volumes will increase, both for commerce, and people will go out and they'll vacation more, so the need for the bypass as things recover is going to be felt even greater.”

Continued:  http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/03/12/the-bird-vs-the-bypass-tree-sitter-fights-mendocino-highway-project/

Bird nests halt construction of Willits bypass

By MELODY KARPINSKI

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at 6:26 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at 6:26 p.m.

The construction of the controversial Willits bypass off of Highway 101 has stuttered after the discovery Monday of a bird nest that interfered with the first day of construction.

Two bird nests were discovered on the site, the first of which CalTrans officials suspected to be man-made. A second nest was removed for analysis by a California Department of Fish & Wildlife environmental scientist.

The discovery of the second nest caused CalTrans to voluntarily suspend construction until consultations with Fish & Wildlife were complete, said Phil Frisbie, a Mendocino County CalTrans official.

The bypass project has met opposition from environmental groups and local busineses, and caused a 24-year-old Willits woman to stage a tree-sit protest. Environmental groups have said that CalTrans is out of compliance with the federal Migratory Bird Protection Act.

“Our main concern is that this is the migratory season,” said Sara Grusky, a leader of the group Save Our Little Lake Valley, which is protesting the bypass. “They shouldn't be allowed to remove that vegetation.”

CalTrans is abstaining from the removal of further vegetation pending re-evaluation of the area in conjunction with the Fish & Wildlife department, Frisbie said.

“We are working with them to make sure we are meeting with all state and federal regulations,” Frisbie said.

Prior to the discovery of the nest and the need for re-evaluation, Frisbie maintained that CalTrans followed the law and remained within their permit constraints.

One point of contention is the allegation that the first nest found on the site was man-made, something Grusky calls “outrageous.” Frisbie said a CalTrans biologist and permit compliance officer Jerome Washington made the allegation based on how the nest was woven and where it was found.

Construction briefly resumed Tuesday until two protesters, Grusky and Jamie Chevalier, stepped in front of the excavators, which paused construction a second time. Frisbie said the construction was stopped due to the crew running out of materials, and not because of the protesters.

The tree-sitting Willits woman calling herself “Warbler,” remains in a pine tree just off of Highway 101, still hoping to stop the bypass. “Warbler,” whose real name is Amanda Senseman, ascended the tree Jan. 28 and has refused to come down despite concerns from local law enforcement and a rash of snowy weather.

Senseman's actions have attracted a number of supporters and critics. Senseman disagrees with the stigma of some of the labels critics have attached to her, saying she does not consider herself a radical environmentalist or a hippie anarchist.

“I don't consider myself any of those things. I'm just someone with common sense who's looking towards the future,” Senseman said. “We don't need another four-lane freeway, we need more sustainability.”

Frisbie said CalTrans is currently taking a “hands-off” approach to Senseman's actions in an effort to respect her freedom of speech. Construction on the bypass is expected to resume by the end of the week.

You can reach Staff Writer Melody Karpinski at 521-5205 or melody.karpinski@pressdemocrat.com.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20130227/ARTICLES/130229579/1010/sports?p=2&tc=pg