TWH – Two developments threaten forested areas south of Atlanta in DeKalb County, Georgia. The construction of a film studio threatens Intrenchment Creek. South of Atlanta, a proposed police training facility threatens another forested area. Forest defenders have begun camping out in that part of the forest to delay construction.
Blackhall Film Studio targets Intrenchment Creek
In February of 2021, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the Intrenchment Creek Part Swap involves exchanging 0.16 square kilometers (40 acres or 0.06 square miles) for 0.2 square kilometers (53 acres or 0.08 square miles) along Bouldercrest Road. The county would still have to develop those 0.2 square kilometers as a park. Blackhall has pledged $1.6 million for park development. DeKalb County has “found” $1.7 million in unspent urban development bonds for this project.
The South River Watershed Alliance and South River Forest Coalition have filed suit against DeKalb County to block the Intrenchment swap. That suit alleges that the county lacks the authority to swap parcels of land.
Footage from the construction site at Intrenchment Creek Park - via Defend the Atlanta Forest Facebook page - images used with permission
Footage from the construction site at Intrenchment Creek Park - via Defend the Atlanta Forest Facebook page - images used with permission
Blackhall Studios has produced the following films and TV shows: “Godzilla, King of the Monsters,” “Venom,” and “Lovecraft Country,“ among others.
Georgia has become a center for film and TV production. After Georgia passed its fetal heartbeat bill in 2019, people called for actors and filmmakers to boycott Georgia. Blackhall did the opposite.
In September of 2019, 11alive.com reported that Blackhall Studios was increasing its spending in Georgia by $150 million.
The police training facility that threatens parts of the South River Forest
The activist group, Defend the Atlanta Forest, describes itself as a leaderless, broad coalition of people defending the forest.
Mainstream groups refer to the forest south of Atlanta as the “South River Forest.” Forest defenders refer to it as the Weelaunee Forest. In a private Facebook message, Defend the Atlanta Forest said that they use the Muscogee name for that forest. Pre-contact, the Muscogee lived in the Atlanta area. “Weelaunee” means brown waters.
Defend the Atlanta Forest labels the proposed training facility as “Cop City.” Their choice of labels reflects their stress on climate change and environmental justice.
Environmental Justice
The term “environmental justice” recognizes that environmental “bads” are not distributed evenly. Over generations, the effects of systematic racism concentrate environmental “bads” among the marginalized. Specifically, those cumulative effects concentrate the “bads” among people of color.
In June 2022, Kwame Olufemi of Community Movement Builders told 11Alive News, “If you know anything about Atlanta at (all) then you know the places that flood the most are on the south side … In destroying the forest they’re going to exasperate those issues they’ve already had with peoples town flooding … It’s clearly not for us, it’s not for our community, and it’s going to be adverse to us and our people.”
“Cop City is a catalyst for further nationwide militarization of the police and the continued expansion of the surveillance state,” Defend the Atlanta Forest argues. “This development would remove a natural barrier to flooding and pollution for communities downstream … These [effects] would primarily affect BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and People of Color] communities in Dekalb County that the city has chosen to ignore.”
Defend the Forest distinguished between the Weelaunee Forest and other green spaces within Atlanta. They said the Weelaunee “is a truly wild space, in the middle of a city! It is worth preserving and studying to understand how wild spaces can recover and co-exist with urbanized spaces.” Their ultimate goal would be to return “this land to the Muscogee people.”
Police Training Facility or Cop city
In March 2022, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in 2021, Atlanta leased land in the South River Forest to the Atlanta Police Foundation for the proposed training facility/Cop City.
That lease was part of the approval process for the proposed training center project. The proposed facility would cover 0.3 square kilometers (85 acres or 0.1 square miles). Its first phase has an estimated cost of $90 million. The City of Atlanta is liable for about one-third of that amount. The Atlanta Police Foundation and private donations are responsible for the remaining $60 million.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said that the proposed police training center “is set to include classrooms, a mock village, an emergency vehicle driving course, stables for police horses, and a ‘burn building’ for firefighters to practice putting out blazes.” Ironically, the site had once housed a labor prison.
Resistance to the police training facility/Cop City
“Tree-sitting” is a non-violent way to defend forests from “development.” In those actions, people live in trees, sometimes in tree-houses. Developers have two choices. They could physically remove people from those trees before clear-cutting. That tactic would be time-consuming and expensive. Alternatively, they could cut down the trees with people in them. That second option could cause severe injury to those living in the trees. For the developer, it could cause liability issues and a public relations disaster.
One of two tree-sit sites via Defend the Atlanta Forest Facebook page - Image used with permission
One of two tree-sit sites via Defend the Atlanta Forest Facebook page - Image used with permission
USA TODAY reported that in 2008, tree-sitters delayed Pacific Lumber enough to force them to negotiate. They abandoned attempts to clear-cut Nanning Creek Redwood Grove in Northern California. In the end, Pacific Lumber agreed not to cut down any tree alive before 1800 C.E. with a diameter of 1.2 meters (4 feet) or more, among other issues.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that in January 2022, forest defenders confronted construction workers. Police arrested four people.
Atlanta Police Foundation President, Dave Wilkinson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, ”As we move forward, the enforcement will become stricter and stricter.” They plan to build a fence around the site and arrest people for trespassing.
By March 2022, activists began to set up campsites, some barricades, and one tree-house in the area proposed for the training center project.
In May 2022, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Atlanta Police had arrested seven people at the site of the proposed training facility.
On June 7, 2022, 11Alive Television of Atlanta reported that police clashed with forest defenders on the site of the proposed police training facility/Cop City. The arboreal “sit-ins” have led to about a dozen arrests. Atlanta police allege some forest defenders threw rocks.
Defend the Atlanta Forest reported that support actions have occurred in Chicago, and widespread support for saving the Atlanta Forest reach from New York to New Orleans.
The resistance to the proposed police training center reflects many of the issues raised by Black Lives Matter and could signal a potential widening of the environmental coalition.
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