These and dozens of other botanical projects came to a fiery end in May when arsonists, claiming to be members of the self-styled "ecoterrorist" group Earth Liberation Front (ELF), torched the Center for Urban Horticulture, causing about $2 million in damage and destroying years of research. On the same day, ELF also burned an office and destroyed a fleet of trucks at a tree farm in Oregon that the arsonists claimed was growing hybrid poplars.
The ELF said it had targeted Bradshaw's work at the University of Washington specifically because the researcher "continues to unleash mutant genes into the environment that is [sic] certain to cause irreversible harm to forest ecosystems," the group stated in a "communiqué" issued in June. "As long as universities continue to pursue this reckless 'science,' they run the risk of suffering severe losses. Our message remains clear: we are determined to stop genetic engineering." But ...
