It's obvious that nobody's sole purpose cannot be the
destruction of property per se. The most reasonable of "ecoterrorists" defend their
strategy saying that they really have closed some
fur shops etc. by causing considerable
economical damage. I know this is true in some cases.
Usually media only devaluates the term "terrorist" when they speak about the destruction of property. The tactic of terrorist is to cause fear. I can think only few cases, mainly in Great Britain, where people are threatened by hard line environmentalists. "A vandalist" would work much better but maybe this term doesn't sell papers.
It doesn't surprise me that ecoterrorists often call themselves anarchists. At least they often come from anarchist scene and have anarchist symphatizers. But it's the classical theory of vanguard (party) what their tactics really is all about. I know they won't like this remark but just listen to old ghosts called RAF in Germany and ecoterrorists of today and you hear Lenin giving handouts for their communiques.