On 6/13/2024, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) pressed the Biden Administration’s Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning on lying to Congress about her ties to tree spiking, a form of eco-terrorism that targets the timber industry and could kill or seriously maim blue-collar loggers. “You just said . . . that you were involved. There were two people convicted in 1989 of putting 500 pounds of spikes in an Idaho forest. . . . You testified that you sent a letter to the Forest Service on their behalf,” said Senator Hawley. Senator Hawley further called out Director Stone-Manning for failing to comply with federal investigations into her involvement with tree-spiking after she falsely claimed to have never been under investigation at all. “You lied to this committee in saying that you were never investigated. . . . In fact, you were. You lied to us blatantly—and you know it,” concluded Senator Hawley.
In her written testimony, submitted to the committee as part of her confirmation proceedings three years ago, Stone-Manning said she had “never been arrested or charged and to my knowledge I have never been the target of such an investigation.” In 1989, however, Stone-Manning was the subject of an investigation into an Idaho tree-spiking ring that ultimately culminated in Stone-Manning receiving an immunity deal with prosecutors in 1993. Hawley asked the BLM director whether she stood by her written statement given her prior experience being investigated as an ecoterrorist.
“I do stand by that testimony,” she said, “and was proud to be confirmed to do this job.” The BLM chief went on to frame herself as the hero in the 1989 tree spiking drama in which activists planted 500 pounds of 8-to-10-inch spikes in the Clearwater National Forest to protest a timber sale. After Hawley outlined the hazards presented by spiked trees to blue-collar lumberjacks, Stone-Manning said the risks were “why I notified the federal authorities” of the trees targeted. Hawley responded by reading from a letter she had sent to the U.S. Forest Service. Stone-Manning had previously testified as part of her immunity deal in the 1990s that the letter was typed and sent on behalf of her former friend and roommate, John T. Blount.
“‘I would be more than willing to pay you a dollar for the sale but you’d have to find me first and that could be your worst nightmare,’” Hawley read. “‘P.S. You bastards go in there anyway and a lot of people could get hurt.’ Why did you send this?”
“I understood that people could get hurt,” she said, adding she was intimidated by those for whom she sent the letter. Hawley, however, went on to reference testimony from a lead investigator on the case who delivered a letter to the Senate committee three years ago contradicting Stone-Manning’s claims of heroism. Stone-Manning, however, remained dismissive of Hawley’s inquiries, asserting they were a distraction from her administrative tenure and were meant to focus attention on “a salacious moment from graduate school where I tried to protect people. “What I don’t understand is why we’re not looking at the last three and a half years now,” she said.
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Hawley Confronts Biden Admin BLM Director for Lying Role in Tree-Spiking; “I do stand by that testimony”