The Green Fuse

On October 19, 1998, five buildings and four chairlifts in Vail, Colorado, burned. In a communiqué from the Earth Liberation Front, activists claimed the fires were aimed at protecting the alpine habitat of endangered lynx from a planned expansion of a ski resort into the Two Elks Roadless Area. This dramatic act of political arson was rapidly followed by a wave of arson and sabotage, targeting research labs, logging companies, and industrial corporations by a shadowy network of environmental militants. These actions made for sensational headlines, prompted a covert FBI operation, and were used to justify repressive new laws at the state and federal level. `The Green Fuse’ profiles the leading figures of this new movement: Tre Arrow, Mike Roselle, Rod Coronado, Marie Mason, Tim DeChristopher, and Jonathan Paul. The Green Fuse shows how activists were threatened, spied upon, infiltrated and ultimately arrested, tried under draconian new laws, and sentenced to harsh prison terms in a riveting, up-close narrative.