It took relentless fervor and no-holds-barred tactics to save the northern spotted owl, and the giant redwoods it called home. Activists disabled bulldozers, chained themselves to trees, drove spikes into the redwood trunks to thwart saws, and used bike locks to handcuff themselves to logging access gates. For symbolic effect, they also dressed as owls while issuing Native American–inspired war cries.

After a three-month blaze of publicity, the Redwood Summer campaign of 1990 helped lead to the protection of California’s old-growth forests, safeguarding the owls’ habitat, and contributed in casting the Pacific Lumber Company, a subsidiary in the portfolio of a Texas hedge fund magnate, into ignominy.

Stefanie Penn Spear , now 57, was once a young activist involved in the protests, and

See Full Page