‘A Massive Vetting Failure’: Biden’s Nominee To Be Director Of The Bureau Of Land Management ‘Collaborated With Eco-Terrorists’

In 1989, Biden’s Nominee To Be Director Of The Bureau Of Land Management Sent An Anonymous Letter To The U.S. Forest Service Warning About Spiked Trees ‘And A Lot Of People Could Get Hurt’

“President Biden’s nominee to serve as the head of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) ‘collaborated with eco-terrorists’ in a tree spiking plot before trading her court testimony for legal immunity, according to court documents reviewed by Fox News.” (“Biden Land Management Nominee ‘Collaborated With Eco-Terrorists,’ Traded Testimony For Immunity,” 6/16/2021)

“One spring day in 1989, Tracy Stone rented a typewriter from the University of Montana library and began to retype a letter. The typewriter was to avoid using her personal computer. The letter was an anonymous warning to the U.S. Forest Service that someone had hammered hundreds of metal spikes into trees in an Idaho forest that was slated to be cut down for timber. An acquaintance in her circle of young environmentalists had asked her to send it. After fixing a few spelling mistakes and removing some profanity, Stone dropped it in the mail. … The four-paragraph letter she mailed put it more bluntly. Signed ‘George Hayduke’ — the fictional hero of Edward Abbey’s 1975 novel, ‘The Monkey Wrench Gang,’ about a group plotting to blow up a dam — it said that 500 pounds of eight- to 10-inch spikes had been pounded into the trees because ‘this piece of land is very special to the earth. It is home to the Elk, Deer, Mountain Lions, Birds, and especially the Trees.’ The postscript warned: ‘You bastards go in there anyway and a lot of people could get hurt.’ … Stone-Manning described in testimony that she had no formal or financial role in Earth First but participated in meetings and activities.” (“As A Student, Tracy Stone-Manning Sent A Letter On Behalf Of Eco-Saboteurs. It’s Now Complicating Her Chance To Lead The Bureau Of Land Management.,” The Washington Post, 7/04/2021)

At The Time, The Washington Post Described Tree-Spiking As ‘Eco-Terrorism’

“George Alexander, a third-generation mill worker, was just starting his shift at the Louisiana-Pacific lumber mill in Cloverdale, Calif., when the log that would alter his life rolled down his conveyor belt toward a high-speed saw he was working on. It was May 1987, and Alexander was 23. His job was to split logs. He was nearly three feet away when the log hit his saw and the saw exploded. One half of the blade stuck in the log. The other half hit Alexander in the head, tearing through his safety helmet and face shield. His face was slashed from eye to chin. His teeth were smashed and his jaw was cut in half. Alexander had never even heard of a sabotage tactic called tree spiking until he became a victim of ‘eco-terrorism.’ Someone who objected to tree cutting had imbedded a huge steel spike in the log that violently jammed the saw. … Tree spikes are among the most vicious of the strategies. While the tree is still in the forest, the spike is driven in at an angle so the head is hidden in the bark. It can shatter a chain saw on impact, sending pieces of razor-sharp steel flying.” (“Tree Spiking An ‘Eco-Terrorist’ Tactic,” The Washington Post, 3/05/1990)

A Federal Law Enforcement Agent Who Worked The Tree-Spiking Case Said Stone-Manning Was A Target Of The Investigation And Refused To Cooperate Until She Was Identified As A Conspirator In The Tree-Spiking Incident Years Later

“A retired federal law enforcement agent who investigated the 1989 tree-spiking incident that has consumed Tracy Stone-Manning’s nomination to lead the Bureau of Land Management said investigators suspected her of knowing about the crime before she began to cooperate with the probe. The official, who agreed to talk on the condition he not be identified, said she did not initially help authorities identify two men who were eventually convicted of spiking hundreds of trees in an Idaho national forest. This initial lack of cooperation with law enforcement set the investigation back by several years, he said. ‘She absolutely refused to do anything’ to advance the investigation, the retired officer said.” (“Agent: BLM Nominee Was An Early Target In Tree-Spiking Case,” E&E News, 6/25/2021)

• “The federal investigator said he considered her a target of the grand jury investigation. Stone-Manning, a graduate student at the University of Montana at the time, was required to submit hair samples, fingerprints, palm samples and a writing sample. That’s because investigators found a sweater at the tree-spiking site, along with a hair sample and short, handwritten note. The origins of the sweater and note were never identified, the former investigator said. … The case went dormant until 1992, when [activist friend John] Blount’s former common-law wife reached out to the FBI to identify Blount and [activist friend Jeffrey] Fairchild as the men who spiked the trees. The woman also told investigators that Stone-Manning is the one who sent the letter to the Clearwater National Forest, the retired investigator said. … The former investigator said that Stone-Manning agreed to testify after this information was presented to her. ‘The only reasons that Tracy Stone-Manning became a cooperator, if you want to call it that, is because she was caught,’ he said.” (“Agent: BLM Nominee Was An Early Target In Tree-Spiking Case,” E&E News, 6/25/2021)

However, Responding To A Senate Questionnaire, Stone-Manning Claimed She Had ‘Never Been The Target’ Of A Criminal Investigation

“Senate Republicans have accused Stone-Manning of misrepresenting her involvement in the case, particularly in her written responses to a standardized questionnaire submitted to the committee in May. The document asked whether she had ‘ever been investigated, arrested, or charged by any federal, state or local law enforcement authority for the violation of any federal, state, or local law, regulation, or ordinance, other than a minor traffic offense.’ Stone-Manning answered that she had ‘never been arrested or charged and to my knowledge I have never been the target of such an investigation.’ She did acknowledge in her written answer that, in 1989, ‘I testified before a federal grand jury in Boise, Idaho, as part of an investigation into an alleged tree-spiking incident related to a timber sale. I later testified in a trial that resulted in the conviction of a responsible individual.’” (“Agent: BLM Nominee Was An Early Target In Tree-Spiking Case,” E&E News, 6/25/2021)

SEN. JOHN BARRASSO (R-WY), Ranking Member of Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee: “Tracy Stone-Manning collaborated with eco-terrorists who had booby trapped trees with metal spikes. She mailed the threatening letter for them and she was part of the cover up. She did not cooperate with investigators until she was caught. Tracy Stone-Manning lied to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee by claiming the tree spiking was ‘alleged’ and that she was never investigated. Now, we have confirmation that neither of those things are true. President Biden must withdraw her nomination.” (Sen. Barrasso, Press Release, 6/28/2021)

SEN. JIM RISCH (R-ID), Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee Member: “Tracy Stone-Manning colluded with eco-terrorists who conducted extremist operations that aimed to maim and kill Idaho’s loggers and sawmill workers. Now she’s nominated to lead the largest land management agency in America… We cannot ask Bureau of Land Management employees to serve under a director who aided those who endangered the land users they work on behalf of each day.” (Sen. Risch, Press Release, 6/16/2021)

Stone-Manning Reportedly ‘Helped Edit’ The Earth First! Newsletter, Wild Rockies Review, A Publication That Defended Tree-Spiking And Monkeywrenching Tactics

“Stone-Manning also helped in publishing Earth First! ideas. The Associated Press reports that while she was a graduate student at the University of Montana in 1989, Stone-Manning ‘helped edit’ the Missoula-based Earth First! newsletter called the Wild Rockies Review, which according to its masthead sought to ‘further the Earth First! philosophy.’ Though the editors and contributors of the Wild Rockies Review at that time apparently used pseudonyms or just last names, the 1989 spring issue listed a ‘Stone’ as providing assistance to the issue. In 1989, Stone-Manning was known by her maiden name of Tracy Stone. That issue’s lead editorial included a defense of tree spiking and monkeywrenching.” (“Unabomber Praised Ecoterrorist Group Linked to Biden BLM Nominee,” Breitbart, 7/07/2021)

(“Unabomber Praised Ecoterrorist Group Linked to Biden BLM Nominee,” Breitbart, 7/07/2021)

The Unabomber Touted Earth First!, The Eco-Terrorist Group Stone-Manning Collaborated With

“[Ted] Kaczynski, after his nearly 20-year-long bombing spree that killed three people and injured 23, was sentenced to eight consecutive life terms in prison before he invited Earth First! journal editor Theresa Kintz to conduct his first media interview in 1999. Kaczynski said Kintz was the ‘one journalist’ he would ‘be prepared to trust.’ … Kintz asked Kaczynski, who authored the famous 35,000-word manifesto Industrial Society and Its Future, during their interview, ‘Did you ever think of yourself as an Earth Firster?’ Kaczynski replied, ‘Not really. As sort of a — sympathizer’s too weak a word — but sort of Earth Firster satellite.’ Kaczynski added that he did not want to subscribe to the Earth First! journal because he felt it might put him on law enforcement’s radar.” (“Unabomber Praised Ecoterrorist Group Linked to Biden BLM Nominee,” Breitbart, 7/07/2021)

• “Earth First! is a self-described ‘radical environmental movement,’ though it operates as a group with a symbol, publication, and the motto ‘no compromise in defense of mother earth.’ The FBI linked Earth First! to domestic terrorism because its members engaged in criminal activity in the 1980s and 1990s — such as tree spiking and property destruction — that the FBI identifies as ecoterrorism. Tracy Stone-Manning, Biden’s nominee to head the BLM, was a member of Earth First! when she was a graduate student at the University of Montana in Missoula and was involved in a criminal tree spiking case during that same timeframe, about 30 years ago.” (“Unabomber Praised Ecoterrorist Group Linked to Biden BLM Nominee,” Breitbart, 7/07/2021)

Stone-Manning ‘Argued In Her Graduate Thesis That Americans Need To Engage In Population Control To Protect The Environment’

“Tracy Stone-Manning, President Biden’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), argued in her graduate thesis that Americans need to engage in population control to protect the environment. … In her graduate thesis, a copy of which was reviewed by Fox News, Stone-Manning also urged Americans to have no more than two kids in order to protect the environment.” (“Biden Nominee Called For Population Control To Protect Environment: ‘We Must Breed Fewer Consuming Humans’,’” Fox News, 6/24/2021)

• TRACY STONE-MANNING’S THESIS: “The origin of our abuses is us. If there were fewer of us, we would have less impact… We must consume less, and more importantly, we must breed fewer consuming humans.” (“Biden Nominee Called For Population Control To Protect Environment: ‘We Must Breed Fewer Consuming Humans’,’” Fox News, 6/24/2021)

“Stone-Manning created a series of eight advertisements for her thesis that focused on the issues of overgrazing, overpopulation, a mining law from the late 1800s and the lumber industry. One ad refers to a human child as an ‘environmental hazard’ and encouraged Americans to only have two children and no more. ‘The earth is only so big, and we can tap into it only so often. In America, we tap in often and hard,’ Stone-Manning’s ad reads. ‘When we overpopulate, the earth notices it more. Stop at two. It could be the best thing you do for the planet.’ … ‘The point is a simple one,’ Stone-Manning wrote of the ads in her thesis. ‘Harshly, the ads say that the earth can’t afford Americans. More softly, they ask people to think about how their family planning choices affect the planet.’” (“Biden Nominee Called For Population Control To Protect Environment: ‘We Must Breed Fewer Consuming Humans’,’” Fox News, 6/24/2021)

President Obama’s First Director Of The Bureau Of Land Management Withdrew His Support For Stone-Manning’s Nomination Because Of Her Connections To Eco-Terrorism

“Republican opposition to Tracy Stone-Manning’s nomination for director of the Bureau of Land Management now has a Democrat and former senior Obama-era official on its side. Bob Abbey, who served as BLM’s Senate-confirmed director during President Obama’s first term in office, said unanswered questions surrounding Stone-Manning’s involvement in a criminal tree-spiking incident on the Clearwater National Forest in Idaho in 1989 are enough to disqualify her from leading the bureau. Abbey, who previously supported Stone-Manning’s nomination and had been a critic of Trump administration BLM policies, joins a number of Republicans who have raised concerns about the incident.” (“Obama BLM Director: Biden Needs A New Nominee,” E&E News, 6/21/2021)

“The Dallas Safari Club has rescinded its support for Tracy Stone-Manning, President Biden’s pick to head the Bureau of Land Management, calling her involvement as a graduate student in the radical environmental group Earth First ‘unacceptable.’ The organization signed a June 1 letter led by the American Wildlife Conservation Partners endorsing Ms. Manning, but since then, ‘DSC has become aware of information that has made it impossible at this time to continue to back this nominee,’ according to a Monday letter shared with The Washington Times.” (“Hunting Group Pulls Support For Biden’s Pick Over ‘Extreme’ Earth First Ties,” The Washington Times, 7/06/2021)

• THE DALLAS SAFARI CLUB EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR COREY MASON: “Although Ms. Stone-Manning [purports] to be an avid hunter, and outdoorswoman, she was once associated with the extreme environmentalist group, Earth First, which has a history of sabotage, property destruction and creating dangerous work environments for loggers and sawmill operators… There is no doubt that this group performed violent acts, including ‘tree-spiking,’ as part of their platform for getting attention in America.” (“Hunting Group Pulls Support For Biden’s Pick Over ‘Extreme’ Earth First Ties,” The Washington Times, 7/06/2021)

A Biden Official Told NBC News That Stone-Manning’s Nomination Was ‘A Massive Vetting Failure By The White House’

NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT JOSH LEDERMAN: “Biden’s nominee to run the Bureau of Land Management under growing scrutiny for her role in a tree spiking plot in the early 1990s and early 1980s. Republican Sen. John Barrasso accusing her of collaborating with ecoterrorists. … But a Biden administration official described this to me as a massive vetting failure by the White House to allow this nominee to go forward despite knowing the headache it would create…” (MSNBC, 7/09/2021)