Already Active ELF Extending Range
Jan. 30, 2001 -- The Earth Liberation Front has carried out more than 100 acts of destruction in the last five years, wreaking $37 million worth of damage. To date, police have one suspect, and the group, leading a rising wave of environmental extremism, is promising to escalate its attacks.
Last week, investigators got their first break, arresting Frank Ambrose, of Indiana, in connection with a tree spiking incident for which the ELF claimed credit. Law enforcers, however, are not calling it a major breakthrough in their five-year war with the elusive activists.
"It's always a positive when there is some success," said Tom Lyons, a U.S. Forest Service special agent in charge of law investigation in the Northwest. "That can only help to deter and show law enforcement agents' intent to deal with this issue nationwide. It's well publicized that organizations like ELF operate in small cells around the country, and this man's ties [to ELF] are the subject of speculation."
The "elves" of the ELF have become more and more active since they claimed responsibility for setting fires that caused $12 million worth of damage at the Vail Mountain ski resort more than two years ago. According to the activists and the law enforcement agencies that battle them, there's likely to be a lot more of their costly mischief.
"This year, 2001, we hope to see an escalation in tactics against capitalism and industry," ELF said earlier this month in a communique to Craig Rosebraugh, the Portland, Ore., man who acts as unofficial spokesman for the group. In the statement, ELF also claimed responsibility for a fire at a lumber company office in Glendale, Ore., that did $400,000 worth of damage.
Crime fighters in the FBI and the Forest Service are taking them at their word, especially considering that the Bush Administration has been talking about opening the national parks to mining and logging and stepping up the search for oil in the Alaska wilderness.
"It's a question that's been on my mind and on a number of people's minds," said Kim Thorsen, Forest Service department director of law enforcement and investigation. "The new administration's policies are different from those in the past. It's very possible that this coming summer season is going to be very contentious, if we start cutting more trees and we start mining. It's an issue we're going to have to be very aware of."
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