August 25-27 Third Panhandle Paddle

No2ndBridge Panel, Action Training, & Flotilla Rally

The Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) collective and allied activists, friends, and supporters invite and heartily welcome your input and involvement during an upcoming weekend of opportunities to discuss, train for, and stage resistance to the fossil fuel and railroad industry degraders of basic, global, human, environmental, and climate health and rights. In the wake of seven north Idaho and northwest Montana train derailments and collisions in five months, the disastrous, oil and coal train wrecks, spills, and pollution in the Columbia River Gorge village of Mosier, Oregon, and the upstream, Clark Fork River town of Heron, Montana, and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway’s (BNSF) north Idaho, double track construction and second, Lake Pend Oreille, rail bridge proposal and preparation, interior Northwest residents are rising up, organizing, and co-hosting third annual Panhandle Paddle activities, to stand against the volatile Alberta tar sands and fracked Bakken crude oil trains, dusty Powder River Basin coal trains, and fossil fuel infrastructure use, expansion, and deterioration that recklessly endanger our lives, communities, lands, water, air, and climate [1-3].  Please join us at these annual events at the Gardenia Center, City Beach Park, and Dog Beach Park in Sandpoint, Idaho, on August 25 to 27!

No2ndBridge Panel Discussion

6 pm Friday, August 25

Gardenia Center, Sandpoint

At this third, informal, No2ndBridge meeting, local citizens will share issue information, expand knowledge, and brainstorm ongoing tactics and strategies for creatively engaging and mobilizing further community resistance and regulatory and legal recourse to BNSF’s proposed, second, parallel, 4800-foot rail bridge across Lake Pend Oreille, its preliminary, pile load test project, and the current, dirty energy train, bottleneck bridge that activists have denounced during each of the Panhandle Paddles [4-6]. Please bring snacks and your ideas and concerns about campaign organizing and site monitoring, and gather with numerous, regional participants at 6 pm on Friday evening, August 25, at the Gardenia Center, 400 Church Street in Sandpoint, Idaho.  After the meeting, we plan to broaden camaraderie and coalitions among fellow activists, while continuing conversations and enjoying music at downtown pubs on Friday evening.

Direct Action Training

10 am to 4 pm Saturday, August 26

Gardenia Center, Sandpoint

Grassroots, indigenous, environmental, and climate activists converging from across the region will offer several crucial, interactive, training workshops through talks and videos sharing frontline skills, stories, and insights, chosen by and adapted to rural participants and supporting various ecological and social resistance movements within the current, U.S., political context. Relying more on direct actions than the expensive, legal system or other, ineffective, government processes, resident and visiting trainers will provide one-hour presentations and practice sessions on topics such as strategizing, community security, knowing your rights, scouting, ground games, action roles, safety and self-defense, countering police tactics, and jail solidarity.  Water protectors, land defenders, climate activists, and other instigators giving these trainings hope to connect with, learn about, and nurture the inspiring momentum building in the Idaho Panhandle.  Organizers encourage people attending to RSVP in advance, to request coverage of particular topics and further logistical information, and to contribute potluck food and trainer travel funds.  Join WIRT and guests anytime between 10 am and 4 pm on Saturday, August 26, at the Gardenia Center, 400 Church Street in Sandpoint, Idaho.

Flotilla & Rally

10 & 11 am Sunday, August 27

City & Dog Beach Parks, Sandpoint

For a third year, WIRT and allied activists are bringing their boats, bodies, and bravery to two locations, for on- and off-shore protests of Northwest coal, oil, and tar sands transports and terminals and the proposed, BNSF, second, lake rail bridge [7, 8]. To accommodate the schedules of participants who are renting single or double kayaks, paddleboards, or other manual watercraft from downtown Sandpoint businesses that open at 10 am, activists are meeting at the same time on Sunday, August 27, near the south boat launch at City Beach Park, for music, speakers, and a kayaktivist flotilla around the current rail bridge, departing after people arrive by land and water.  At 11 am on Sunday morning, another rally will greet Panhandle Paddlers at Dog Beach Park south of Sandpoint, Idaho.  Bring large, attractive banners and signs, visible to observers at great distances from both gatherings, and respond to WIRT with your boat rental intentions and mobility needs, so we can reserve and cover the costs of watercraft, and arrange bike trailer transportation for folks who cannot walk to Dog Beach Park.

Third Panhandle Paddle Support

Can you donate toward watercraft rental fees or offer boats, gear, or supplies for this event? Would you drive enthusiastic, Panhandle Paddle participants to Sandpoint, or help with their travel expenses?  Can your group or organization endorse and/or co-sponsor this demonstration of people power?  Will you contribute your inspiring words and/or melodies or sustaining snacks and beverages?  Please visit the WIRT facebook and website pages, and contact WIRT via phone, text, email, facebook, or website, with your questions and suggestions and for further background and event information, to offer materials and assistance with collective expenses, and to bolster this community event [9].  Print and post the color, letter-sized, PDF version of the Third Panhandle Paddle Flyer.  We eagerly anticipate sharing these experiences with you and your friends, family members, neighbors, and co-workers on August 25 to 27 in Sandpoint, grateful that regional community members are actively opposing dirty energy extraction and transportation.

[1] Montana Rail Link Coal Train Wreck near Heron, Montana 8-15-17, August 17, 2017 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[2] Sandpoint and Spokane Stand with Mosier, May 29, 2017 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[3] “Rail Bridge, Double Track, Idaho” Google Search, August 18, 2017 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[4] Second Rail Bridge Meeting and Earth First! Workshops and Gathering, June 19, 2017 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[5] Second Rail Bridge Community Meeting, May 1, 2017 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[6] Herb Goodwin at the Sandpoint Blessing (Lummi Totem Pole Journey 2016), August 28, 2016 New American Underground

[7] Totem Poles and Kayaks Against Fossil Fuels: Second Panhandle Paddle, August 22, 2016 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[8] Panhandle Paddle!, August 21, 2015 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[9] Support WIRT, Wild Idaho Rising Tide