Watch is a 2001 documentary written, directed and produced by environmental activist Briana Waters, who is currently serving a six year sentence for charges relating to the University of Washington firebombing incident

University of Washington firebombing incident

The University of Washington firebombing incident was an arson which took place in the early morning hours of May 21, 2001 when a firebomb was set off at Merill Hall, a part of the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture, causing an estimated $1.5 to $4.1 million in damages...

. The film portrays the cooperation between residents of the Washington logging town, Randle

Randle, Washington

Randle is an unincorporated community in extreme eastern Lewis County, Washington, United States. Randle is located on U.S. Route 12 and is notable as the northeastern access point to the Mount St. Helens Windy Ridge viewpoint, by way of forest service roads that cut through the Gifford Pinchot...

, and Cascadia Defense Network activists attempting to stop the clearcutting

Clearcutting

Clearcutting, or clearfelling, is a controversial forestry/logging practice in which most or all trees in an area are uniformly cut down. Clearcutting, along with shelterwood and seed tree harvests, is used by foresters to create certain types of forest ecosystems and to promote select species that...

 of old growth trees on Watch mountain (part of the Cascade Mountain range

Cascade Range

The Cascade Range is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, and the notable volcanoes known as the High Cascades...

) and along the nearby Fossil Creek. The film served as Waters' senior project at Evergreen State College.

Summary

The film opens with the Plum Creek Timber Company attempting to exchange ownership of 54000 acres (218.5 km²) of land to the federal government in exchange for 17000 acres (68.8 km²) considered more suitable for commercial logging, in what will become known as the I-90 land exchange. This exchange, if approved will give Plum Creek ownership of 5554 acres (22.5 km²) from the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, which includes Watch mountain and land surrounding Fossil Creek, near Randle. Residents of the town, in addition to young activists, express concern that Plum Creek logging operations will destroy old growth forest in the area and damage the local eco-system of the creek, resulting in mudslides.

Watch documents the responses of residents of Randle as well as the activists who come to engage in tree sitting

Tree sitting

Tree sitting is a form of environmentalist civil disobedience in which a protester sits in a tree, usually on a small platform built for the purpose, to protect it from being cut down...

 as a means of deterring Plum Creek logging. Footage includes two town meetings addressing the issue of the logging, protests outside of and inside of Plum Creek's offices in Seattle, confrontations with police, and acts of support by the Cowlitz

Cowlitz (tribe)

The Cowlitz are a group of Native American peoples from what is now western Washington state in the United States. The Cowlitz tribe actually consists of two distinct groups: the Upper Cowlitz, or Taidnapam, and the Lower Cowlitz, or Kawlic....

tribe.

In November 1999, Plum Creek agrees to remove the disputed areas from the draft of their land exchange agreement, and the finalized exchange grants them rights to only 11556 acres (46.8 km²) of land, primarily east of Cascades, with Watch mountain and Fossil Creek excluded from the deal. The film ends with the activists tearing down their own platforms in the old growth canopy, and gathering celebrate their victory.

External links

• Support Briana - A website made by supporters of Waters with regards to her imprisonment. Copies of the documentary may be ordered through this site.