How five large trees in remote Oregon ended up as winter housing for water protectors, including their first newborn baby.

By Jane Braxton Little. Published 11-23-2016 by YES! Magazine

A volunteer paints the side of one of the cabins reassembled at the Standing Rock encampment from southwestern Oregon. Photo by Roger Peet.

Eleven days ago, when Matt Musselwhite pulled into an encampment at Cannon Ball, North Dakota, in a 5-ton flatbed truck, he had no idea how he would unload the three tiny houses he had just hauled 1,500 miles from southwestern Oregon. Almost immediately volunteers emerged from the throngs of mostly Native Americans. Within hours, teams of 10 people were starting to assemble the first of the 144-square-foot wood structures while circulating free food and coffee.

“This feels like a new America I want to be a part of,” said Musselwhite, 41, a carpenter and woodworker based in a rural community tucked into the mountains that cross the Oregon-California border. Continue reading →