12:48 PM PDT on Friday, May 21, 2004

By ABE ESTIMADA, kgw.com Staff

The Federal Bureau of Investigation offered a $50,000 for information on eco-terrorism suspects who set near simultaneous arson fires at the University of Washington and at a poplar farm in Clatskanie, Ore. in May 2001.

A building at the Clatskanie poplar farm was set ablaze by the Earth Liberation Front in this 2001 file photo. (Oregon State Police)

The FBI announced the reward on Friday – the third anniversary of the blazes. The Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for both fires at the UW Urban Horticultural Center in Seattle and at the Jefferson Poplar Farms in Clatskanie.

The ELF at the time said it set the fires because of its disapproval of genetic engineering research of poplar trees, according to Beth Anne Steele, a spokesperson for the Portland office of the FBI.

“ELF is an environmental rights movement which has claimed responsibility for numerous acts of sabotage and destruction throughout the country over the last three decades,” an FBI statement said on Friday.

The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in Portland is investigating the Jefferson Poplar Farms fire, and the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in Seattle is investigating the University of Washington fire.

The FBI asked anyone with information about either fire to call the FBI 24 hours a day at (503) 224-4181 or send an e-mail to portland@fbi.gov.

Both fires caused about $2 million in damage. Saboteurs set fire to buildings and equipment at the Clatskanie farm. About 56 minutes later, they hit the UW building that was once affiliated with the Clatskanie research.

The FBI is up against a group of people who are extremely loyal to each other, trained to evade police, and leave little or no clues behind for investigators, said Gary Perlstein, a retired Portland State University professor who has extensively studied eco-terrorism and is a KGW terror expert.

“They believe in the cause, and they’re not willing to speak to law enforcement at all,” Perlstein said.

The FBI may hope that a reward may be enough to turn someone in the group against his or her comrades, he said.

The Earth Liberation Front spray painted its initial on a building of the poplar farm in Clatskanie. (Oregon State Police)

“It’s happening so long afterwards because of the fact that the FBI is getting very concerned they’re not going to find these people by any other way,” Perlstein said.

ELF has been noticeably more quiet in the Pacific Northwest’s forests. New members who may be sympathetic with ELF and who might have caused havoc in the forests appear to be rallying against different causes such as animal rights or urban issues.

Perlstein noted several recent attacks in urban areas in California where SUV dealerships have been struck and a March 2004 case in Lake Oswego, where animal activists threw red paint on the Sumitomo Corporation.

“I think it’s that new members have different thoughts about doing things,” Perlstein said. “The new members are more concerned about urban sprawl and things like that, so those are the latest targets.”