EUGENE — Environmental groups are being harassed, infiltrated and spied on by the FBI and police as never before, activist attorney Lauren Regan claimed Saturday during the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference here.

A member of a panel discussing government use of the U.S. Patriot Act, Regan urged activists to be cautious in their homes, at work and in legal actions such as civil disobedience.

"Everyone who is an activist is a target," she stressed.

But Regan, executive director of the Civil Liberties Defense Center in Eugene, equally stressed the importance of legal environmental activism.

"The resistance movement has always been an integral part of our democracy," she said, adding that activists must constantly speak out against what she believes are heavy-handed and illegal government tactics.

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"Be very vocal," she said. "Shedding light on it is a great way to put an end to it."

The panel discussion was one of 120 events at the 24th annual conference, which draws activists from throughout the West to the University of Oregon. The three-day conference, which concludes today, covered everything from lessons learned at the 2002 Biscuit fire in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest to toxic-site cleanups.

But the arrests of more than a dozen activists on arson and conspiracy charges in the last three months, including two from Jackson County, appeared to be on many participants’ minds.

Regan said the federal government imposes excessive charges, bail and jail time to intimidate all activists.

Yet Michael Fortier, one of the domestic terrorists linked to the April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City bombing that killed nearly 150 people, was released last month, she said.

Regan claimed grand juries now routinely go on "witch hunts and fishing expeditions." She said the mainstream media is vilifying those arrested by portraying charges as convictions.

As a result, groups are being fractured and distrust is building, she said.

Federal prosecutors say the 13 people arrested since December have been linked to Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front arsons that caused $27.8 million in damage over several Western states.

Conference panelist Hope Marston, regional organizer for the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, agreed the environmental movement has been hurt by the Bush administration’s actions.

However, she noted that eight states, including California, have passed laws against the Patriot Act.

She urged individuals and groups to continue to stand up to what she labeled as abuses of the U.S. Constitution.

"They can’t arrest us all," she said, calling civil disobedience a "time-honored tradition."

Panelist Kirk James Murphy, a psychiatrist from San Francisco, suggested that the federal government may not be as powerful as some fear.

"We’re talking about a federal government that couldn’t find 18 feet of flood water for five days," he said of Hurricane Katrina striking New Orleans.

"Maybe they aren’t as powerful as we think," he said, prompting a rare moment of levity.

Outside the meeting rooms, participants talked about the state of environmental activism.

"It has the feel in many ways like the difficult times of the ‘60s and the Vietnam War era," observed Chip Dennerlein, new director of the Siskiyou Regional Education Project in the Illinois Valley.

"It’s a very dangerous trend," he added. "It’s chilling and it is meant to be chilling."

However, like Regan, he noted that legal activism is vital to protecting today’s environment.

"The stakes are higher today," he said. "There is a lot of disinformation out there. But when there is more light put on an issue, we almost always do better."

Illinois Valley activist Romain Cooper is worried about government secrecy increasing.

"In a democracy, our government should be as transparent as possible," he said. "Obviously, there are some places where secrecy is needed in terms of defense. But, by and large, we really should be able to see and evaluate what our government is doing."

The federal government appears to be cloaked in secrecy more and more, he said.

"Because of that, it’s hard to know what they are up to, why they are doing it and why it’s in the public interest," he said.

Ashland resident Julie Norman, who has worked on environmental issues in Jackson and Josephine counties for more than a quarter of a century, said the result is reducing environmental safeguards.

"It’s a very sad thing when the executive branch is dismantling the laws that have helped bring us to some conclusions about progressive land management," she said. "To see those things dismantled is very tragic."

Not only are groups and individuals threatened, but laws protecting the environment are also on the line, Dennerlein interjected.

"It’s almost disorienting to think it was Richard Nixon’s administration under which the EPA happened," he said of the Environmental Protection Agency.

The point, he said, is that many Republicans like Nixon supported strong environmental laws.

"All those things are at risk right now," Norman agreed.

Applegate resident Chant Thomas, a longtime activist who has attended all but two of the annual conferences, also likened today’s atmosphere to the Vietnam War protest days.

"The antiwar movement was tremendously infiltrated by the FBI," recalled Thomas, who was reared in Washington, D.C.

"Unfortunately, there always has been and probably always will be surveillance of every organization that is on the fringes of the mainstream," he said. "If you are out there far enough, you are going to be watched."

Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at pfattig@mailtribune.com.