The Earth First! movement was originally inspired by Edward Abby's the Moneywrench Gang and derived their inspiration through the actions of the members of the direct action approach to environmentalism of the gang. The origial founers of the group were Environmental Activist Dave Forman, ex-Youth International Party member Mike Roselle, Wyoming Wilderness Society representatives Bart Koehler and Howie Wolke, and the Bureau of Land Management employee Ron Kezar. Together they were brought together when the Forest Service was undergoing their RARE II process in which they would reevaluate over 2919 roadless areas in order to see if they would determine better uses. This process was seen by the founders as not only unnecessary but also destructive to nature and hence Earth First! began.
Earth First is now in over 19 different countries and has become a more loosely connected movement as opposed to an organization. Because of the nature of their direct action, Earth First! is very secretive of their doings and is very fragmented in its organization for the protection of the individual members. The outcome is that it has worked to bring public attention to deforestation incidences such as the Mike Jabukal case in 1985 in when he sat in a tree to prevent the deforestation by the National Forest Service.
However because of the nature of their protests and activism, many Earth Firsters have been subject to lengthy jail sentences and the Earth First! Journal always reserves 2 pages dedicated to their Prisoner Support Project for post-release activist support.