Well, it's all over folks! The Bohemian Club won.
Today, The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection approved the Bohemian Club's application for what is called a "Non-Industrial Timber Management Plan".
Here's what I wrote about the story in my blog on April 6, 2009:
If you remember, Alex Shoumatoff set out last year to help his Harvard roommate Jock Hooper do a smear job on the Bohemian Club, which is a kind of resort home for many San Francisco luminaries, and not all of them male. Hooper was someone described as a "disgruntled former member" of the exclusive gentlemen's club that is favored by the business elite, former presidents, international leaders, and men who enjoy music, wine and song, and ok, I know at least two women who've recently been there (with their boyfriends). The club's lightened up a lot over the years.
Anyway, Hooper quit the club when it wouldn't approve his forest management plan (read: major ego) and then became the leading critic of the club's plans to preserve and protect old growth redwood trees on its property. He then got Alex and Vanity Fair to do some dirty work for him, or try to.
This story started last year when Shoumatoff managed to sneak in to the Bohemian Grove during the annual event the club holds in July. But his wandering, covered in detail in his story, only lasted 40 minutes before he was arrested by security guards and a part-time service employee at the famed Grove who quickly spotted that the kind of sloppy, preppy Topsider-wearing editor was not one of their own.
In VF, Alex writes that he was trying to fit in with that style of dress, but folks I talked to say he wasn't hard to miss: he was dressed like a caddy wearing a Pebble Beach pullover and apparently asked off-beat questions that proved to be his downfall. Most of which he mentions in his article.
He was quickly captured cowering behind a bush. Shoumatoff was then arrested by the Sonoma County Sherriff's Department, spent the night in county jail, and forced to pay a fine for trespassing.
Thankfully, that drama is behind everyone, even Shoumatoff , I would think. The objective of the Club has been to guard against overgrowth of trees which could cause forest fires and protects the old-growth Redwoods. “For the past several years we have worked with a variety of environmental agencies, professional foresters and Cal-Fire to craft a plan that protects the majestic old growth trees on our property, preserves important wildlife habitat and allows us to lower the very real risk of a catastrophic fire,” said Emmett MacCorkle, President of the Bohemian Club.
"We appreciate the decision made by Cal-Fire to approve this plan,"MacCorkle continued. "For more than a century, the Bohemian Club has been working to restore this forest and protect it for future generations. This plan will allow us to continue that effort."
The Club reports that the new plan will result in the elimination of more than 254,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions over its life time. You can visit its website ProtectbohemianGrove.org for more information.
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