Steve Daines on Tracy Stone-Manning’s Letter about Tree Spiking
At a Senate hearing on Tuesday, Senator Steve Daines read a letter purportedly written by Tracy Stone-Manning back in the late 1980’s regarding tree spiking in the Idaho ‘Post Office’ forest sale.
“I'm going to read this letter,” said Daines. “It's not very long that Miss Stone-Manning typed on a rented typewriter and personally mailed. It says ‘To whom it may concern. This letter is being sent to notify you that the ‘Post Office sale’ in Idaho has been spiked heavily. The reasoning for this action is it this piece of land is very special to the earth. It is home to the elk, deer, mountain lions, birds, and especially the trees.”
Daines continued to read the letter into the Senate record.
“The project required that 11 of us spend nine days in God-awful weather conditions, spiking trees,” he said. “We unloaded a total of 500 pounds of spikes measuring eight to 10 inches in length. The sails were marked so that no workers would be injured so that you (profanity) will know that they are spiked. The majority of trees were spiked within the first 10 feet but many others were spiked as high as 150 feet.”
Daines surmised from the letter that Stone-Manning had full knowledge of the plan to spike the trees.
“The letter is chilling, and it makes you wonder if Ms. Stone-Manning was really concerned about the tree spiking,” he said. “She could have gone to the authorities immediately in 1989 when this occurred; we also now know she had first hand knowledge about the perpetrators. She knew who did it. She knew all of the details about the crime.”
In a separate interview with KGVO’s Talk Back, Democratic Party Chair Robyn Driscoll spoke in support of Stone-Manning to head the BLM.
“Because she has got a wealth of experience in environmental issues,” said Driscoll. “She was Governor Bullock's chief of staff, so she's got great management experience. She did turn in the folks that were spiking the trees because she was worried about somebody getting hurt. And so I 100 percent am behind her. I think she would be an amazing administrator for BLM.”
The Senate has not yet voted whether or not to confirm Stone-Manning as the director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.