• Radical environmentalist group with a long history of violence and sabotage
• Pioneered sabotage tactics like tree sitting and tree spiking to thwart logging and development 

Earth First! (EF) was founded in 1980 in the Arizona desert as an alternative to "namby-pamby environmental groups” that, in EF's view, had failed to adequately protect the environment against the predations of corporate and commercial interests. EF's ideological roots sprouted from militant ad hoc eco-organizations, such as the Mesa Defense Fund and the Tucson Eco Warriors, that had lurked in the Arizona wilds in the 1970s. The modus operandi of these predecessors consisted of random acts of destruction (or "monkeywrenching,” a term coined by radical environmentalist guru and author Edward Abbey) aimed at any symbol (such as billboards, houses, roads, etc) of human encroachment on the wilderness.

EF’s debut took place on March 21, 1981, when activists unfurled a jagged 300-foot-long sheet of black polyurethane against the face of the Glen Canyon Dam in Page, Arizona. Shaped like a giant crack, the sheet was meant to convey EF’s desire to see the dam destroyed. Edward Abbey was in attendance that day and reportedly shouted, "Earth First!" – and the name stuck. The group’s slogan thereafter became "No compromise in defense of Mother Earth!"

The animating principles that drove EF were initially fleshed out at annual retreats held in Wyoming. There, as well as in the pages of the newly created Earth First! Journal, the EF faithful announced their mission to set aside for preservation 44 million acres of wilderness across the United States. Toward that end, EF pledged to engage in "ecotage," the commission of illegal and anonymous acts of sabotage. The organization's tactics and objectives were heavily influenced by the book Ecodefense: A Field Guide to Monkeywrenching. Authored by EF co-founder Dave Foreman, this publication provided instruction for downing power lines, trashing heavy machinery and equipment, and otherwise interfering with the work of land developers and loggers.

Among the strategies pioneered by EF to impede logging was tree-sitting, where an EF! volunteer would camp out on the branch of a tree slated for cutting—sometimes for several days—while EFers on the ground brought supplies and carried away garbage. The idea was that loggers would avoid trees thus occupied. EF member Julia "Butterfly" Hill holds the record for the longest tree-sit to date; between 1997 and 1999, she spent 728 days in the crown of a 180-foot-tall California Redwood tree in order to save it from the saws of the Pacific Lumber company.

Another favorite tactic of EF was to camp out on logging roads, thus obstructing vehicle access to cutting sites. EF activists would also pile branches, rocks, and felled trees across the roads as improvised barricades. As late EF leader Judi Bari stated, "It took so long for [the loggers and police] to remove these barricades, that the logging was essentially stopped."

EF also endorsed tree-spiking (hammering thick metal rods into tree trunks), a tactic advocated in Dave Foreman's book Ecodefense, which urged activists to "[s]pike a few trees now and then whenever you enter an area." A California mill worker named George Alexander had his jaw shattered in 1987 when a shard from a spiked tree, splintered by his band saw, ricocheted into his face. But in response, Dave Foreman claimed that "the real destruction and injury is being perpetrated by Louisiana-Pacific and the Forest Service in liquidating old growth forests." Judi Bari in a 1990 memorandum announced that “tree-spiking must be renounced by Earth First! … [because] the alienation caused by tree-spiking, not to mention the danger, be it real or imagined, was harming our efforts to save this planet.” Nonetheless, EF! continued to sell Ecodefense and to embrace the militant anthem, "Spike a Tree for Jesus." Moreover, Bari stated that the anti-spiking decision could be immediately revoked were the "forest situation" to "worsen." She further invited activists to follow their "individual opinions" with respect to the appropriateness of tree-spiking.

In 1992, the Earth First! Journal published an article that endorsed "dressing up as a hunter and going out to shoot other hunters." Similarly, the 20th Anniversary issue of the Journal included a cartoon with the following punch line: "Trees are for hanging. Kill a developer." Some like Judi Bari condemned such provocations as politically counterproductive, but the debate within the radical environmental community touched off by the article prompted a fissure within EF -- causing some members to split off and form an even more militant splinter group, the Earth Liberation Front.

EF!'s militant message was supported by a Harvard-educated Montana recluse named Ted Kaczynski (later to be known as the "Unabomber"), who mailed dozens of letter bombs, killing three and wounding 28. After raiding Kaczynski's cabin in 1996, FBI agents discovered several volumes of the Earth First! Journal. Also found was a publication called Live Wild or Die, which was financed by EF!'s co-founder Mike Roselle and featured a catalogue of the environmentalist movement's most hated, the so-called "Eco-F*cker Hit List." Prominent on this list was the Exxon oil company. A February 2, 1994, article in the Earth First Journal! erroneously claimed that a firm called Burson-Marsteller was in charge of Exxon's public relations efforts in the wake of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Kaczynski is believed to have sent the mail bomb that killed Thomas Mosser, an executive with Burson-Marsteller, at his New Jersey home December 10, 1994.

Declaring that it believes in "using all the tools in the tool box," EF! today affirms its continued commitment to "monkeywrenching." In 2001, EF! activist John Stephens said that arson attacks were on the whole "a positive thing" for environmentalist groups to undertake. Promotional literature for a July 2005 EF! retreat, marking the organization's 25th anniversary, lured participants with promises of "rowdy rallies" to be followed by discussion sessions "plotting our escape from the U.S. government."

Viewing itself as a "movement" rather than an organization, EF lacks a fundraising arm and an identifiable leadership. The only contact information available for EF is a list of Post Office boxes in various states. No names are revealed. Further complicating scrutiny of EF's finances is the fact that EF is not a registered nonprofit and files no forms with the IRS. EF! solicits contributions through its California-based "Direct Action Fund." EF has also received funding from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals; the Turner Foundation; the Tides Foundation; the Foundation for Deep Ecology, and the New-Land Foundation.