010OEC’s This Week in Trees

010OEC’s This week in Trees:

We have 32 stories from:
British Columbia, Oregon, California, Montana, New Hampshire, Vermont, Louisiana, Canada, England, Malawi, Cameroon, Japan, Austrailia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Madagascar, Brazil, Honduras, India and South East Asia

British Columbia:

1) I was in love with Saltspring. I was the city boy turned Harrowsmith country, she the rural rainforest queen with quaint if not slightly off the wall courtiers and artisans. We’ve soured. Our romance has reached its best before date. Its not just the inflated taxes, nor the inflatable pool only twenty percent of her citified subjects will use; its not the logs that continue to roll off her glorious hills, nor even the jelly-roll trustees that can’t say ‘no’ to every gangster-developer or desperate mortgage owner that knuckles on their office door. It is more than filling in her shores and the closure of community gathering places. Its even more than the American dollar and the perma-smile vendors and realtors. It’s more intangible than that. It is a gut feeling twisted and pulled upon by all these symbols of ‘progress’ and change. Perhaps someday we can work out a plan, figure out how to describe what butterflies were to our grandchildren’s children as our elders used to talk to us of the fairies and fairytale romances. But for now the romance is off. May the smartest businessperson keep their heads held high and may the best urban developer win what remains. Our comforts bury the best in us. I’m not a pessimist. I am in mourning. With regrets, Robert Birch, Salt Spring Island, BC

2) The Swedish website for Cathedral Grove is up again, revised and expanded. The new sections are “Big Trees and Totem Poles” and “Totem Pole Websites.” Thanks very much for your help with ideas and photos:
hope you enjoy the results. Best wishes for a pleasant summer.
http://www.cathedralgrove.se/

3) As mountain pine beetles continue to munch their way through B.C.’s forests, logging companies are ramping up operations in order to harvest the millions of hectares of dead trees left in their wake. The epidemic has been a boon for the logging industry in B.C., which outperformed every other region in the world last year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. But many are wondering what will happen to communities in infested areas when the industry’s honeymoon with the pine beetle is over. “The bust is likely to be quite profound,” said Ben Parfitt, a resource policy analyst for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Past resource failures in the province have meant “communities have to go through a lot of pain and slow rebuilding.” http://www.thetyee.ca/News/2005/07/04/BlackBeetle/

4) Area Indian bands have walked away from forestry talks with the B.C.
government, saying the province is negotiating in bad faith by stubbornly refusing to back away from a faulty formula. Chief Nathan Matthew, chairman of the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council (SNTC), told reporters Tuesday the bands’ decision to abandon the talks follows 11 months of fruitless negotiation. Matthew said the government has proposed forestry agreements based on a per-capita formula. The formula gives bands $500 and 54 cubic metres of timber per band member per year. “It’s a take-it-or-leave-it offer,” said Matthew. But Matthew said the formula does not fairly reflect the value of timber on traditional lands. As well, the agreements require bands to sign away the right to be involved in forest management. “This is our traditional territory. The law says we have existing title and rights,” he said, adding the bands will now seek legal recourse through the courts. –Shuswap Environmental Action Society www.seas.ca

5) The mist gently rolled down the mountain side as the drizzle became a steady rain. Standing against the guide beam of a bridge over the Coleman Creek I witnessed the chiefs and elders of the Huu-Ay-Aht First Nation reaffirming the boundary of their territory which has been marked by this creek for thousands of years. They were met by chiefs and elders of other Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations, who were welcomed and invited to join in a celebration. On the road to Bamfield, at the Franklin junction to Carmanah and Sarita, massive ‘off-road’ logging trucks, fully loaded with old growth trees, came to a halt and shut down their engines during a portion of the ceremony. The territory is public land, managed by the BC Ministry of Forests, licensed to Brascan, logged by Hayes. During the past twelve years Huu-Ay-Aht First Nation have been negotiating in good faith with the Province of BC while logging continued and over six million cubic meters of old growth timber were removed from their ancestral territory, where these people have lived for 10,000 years. First Nations in BC have never surrendered their lands to the colonialist power of England or the Nation of Canada. The Supreme Court of British Columbia heard Huu-Ay-Aht First Nation verses The Minister of Forests. On May 10, 2005 The Honourable Madam Justice Dillon ruled; “In this case. The government did not misconceive the seriousness of the claim or the impact of the infringement. It failed to consider them at all. The government acted incorrectly and must begin anew a proper consultation process based upon consideration of appropriate criteria.“ Madam Justice Dillon went on to state; “The level of potential infringement of rights to timber resources is severe given the harvest rate contemplated by third parties over the next five years.” In her analysis Madam Justice Dillon refers to several recent rulings. There appears to be a pattern emerging with these court cases, which have all ruled in favour of First Nations, whereby the Judge orders the government in the province of BC to follow the rules of law. Isn’t the government supposed to abide by the law?

6) Victoria – The annual harvest for the Merritt timber supply area will increase by 1.3 million cubic metres to help manage the mountain pine beetle infestation and reduce potential losses, chief forester Jim Snetsinger said today. Effective July 1, the allowable annual cut will be 2.8 million cubic metres a year, up from 1.5 million cubic metres. The harvest will be directed to forests that are infested by beetles or are most susceptible because they are at lower elevations or are made up primarily of mature pine trees. “The diverse landscape and mix of tree species in the Merritt timber supply area, along with the low to moderate levels of infestation compared with other areas of the province, mean early intervention may slow the spread and lessen environmental and economic impacts,” Snetsinger said. “Local communities and First Nations groups also recognize that increasing the harvest now may be an effective way to address the epidemic.” The timber supply review was completed earlier than scheduled to respond to a sharp increase in mountain pine beetle populations in the Merritt timber supply area Under the timber supply review, the chief forester must determine how much wood can be harvested in each of the province’s 37 timber supply areas and 34 tree farm licences at least once every five years. The chief forester can determine a new allowable annual cut earlier in response to abnormal situations such as the mountain pine beetle epidemic, or postpone a decision for up to five years if a harvest level is not expected to change significantly. (Ministry of Forests web site is http://www.for.gov.bc.ca Reference #: 2005FOR006-000626)

7) The former U.S. Green Party candidate for Congress in 2000 — who says the trees told him to change his name — last week told the court that he was innocent of the charges and a target of a government conspiracy. “I am innocent of the charges the U.S. government is trying to pin on me,” Arrow said. “Just as many other activists have experienced, I am being targeted by the U.S. government and the FBI, not because I am guilty but because I have chosen to challenge the status quo.” In extradition cases, Canadian prosecutors represent the extraditing state, in this case the United States. For an extradition to be ordered, the B.C. Supreme Court had to find there was sufficient evidence to convict Arrow on the same charges in Canada. http://www.boston.com/news/world/canada/articles/2005/07/07/canada_to_extradite_us_firebomb_suspect/

Oregon:

8) Earth First’s gathering at Shellrock Lake was social as well as political and educational. Participants took botany classes and bird identification walks and visited logging sites. They learned sign language, recited poetry, and held discussions on environmental topics. In the evenings, Earth Firsters swapped stories of environmental actions and of the weeks and months some participants spent in jail. Adina Lepp, a Portland native who attends Mills College near Oakland, Calif., said she participated in her first radical environmental action when she was 14. In July 2002, she was arrested when Earth First activists occupied Umpqua Bank’s downtown Portland headquarters to protest the Biscuit timber sale. Lepp and another activist used U-locks to attach themselves to the wall. “There are many other environmental organizations, but ours is the only one actively pursuing its goals,” Lepp said. “We’re not just sitting around.” Rendezvous participants said current campaigns in Oregon include actions to stop Mount Hood and Biscuit salvage timber sales, and to monitor salvage sales in Eastern Oregon. http://www.oregonlive.com/metrosouth/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/metro_south_news/1121075883125670.xml&coll=7&thispage=2

9) The owls thrive in the areas that makes wildfire managers cringe. Crowded tree stands with dead snags, thick clusters and multiple layers of vegetation are ideal for owls, and for fueling major conflagrations, said Laurie Turner, biologist for the Deschutes National Forest. With the mandate from Congress to clean up the forest, officials are wrestling with how to maintain spotted owl protection, said Phil Cruz, district ranger of the Bend-Fort Rock Ranger District. Protected as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, spotted owls have become emblematic of divisive fights over logging and environmental protection in the 1990s. “The remaining owl habitat we have is very valuable, and so we have to leave some of those places, even with their wildfire risk,” Cruz said. “We’re doing everything we can to protect and armor those areas.” That means focusing intense thinning and logging projects around — but not in — spotted owl habitat, to safeguard the species. http://www.bendbulletin.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=16641

10) Community Forest Authorities, brought to life by the Oregon Legislature last month, promise to be an effective tool, giving cities a new way to manage and preserve nearby forest lands. With broad bipartisan support, these authorities will let local governments use tax-exempt municipal bonds to buy forest parcels that might otherwise be converted into homesites and golf courses. Loss of forests and farmlands to creeping urbanization is a worldwide problem brought about by an expanding population and competition for scarce resources. Countless decisions by individuals to carve productive land into new neighborhoods result in losses that seem implacable and inevitable. But Community Forest Authorities permit people to come together and collectively make long-term land management decisions that would otherwise be impractical and unaffordable, if not impossible. In essence, communities will be able to buy the forests in their midst or outskirts, and repay the bonds by managing them for sustained timber harvests. http://www.dailyastorian.info/main.asp?SectionID=23&SubSectionID=392&ArticleID=26002&TM=52369.48

California:

11) A judge ruled Monday that a fire-control plan for Giant Sequoia National Monument violated federal law because the blueprint, which includes logging the preserve that is home to two-thirds of the world’s largest trees, did not undergo an environmental review. Attorney General Bill Lockyer sued in March to halt the plan that would have allowed commercial logging in the monument designed to preserve the ancient monster conifers. “In a whole series of forest management cases, the Bush Administration has ignored federal law while showing great deference to the timber industry’s interests,” Lockyer’s office said in a statement. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20050711-2026-ca-sequoiamonument.html
12) Four logging projects in two Northern California national forests were halted after a federal judge ruled the U.S. Forest Service failed to disclose details of environmental impacts. When the projects on 20,000 acres in the Shasta-Trinity and Lassen national forests were announced, forestry officials sought comment from interested citizens or groups, wrote U.S. District Judge David F. Levi. But the letters they sent ignored key issues later explained in environmental assessments after the projects were approved. “The Forest Service has a duty to actively engage the public in decisions that involve our public lands, not cut us out of the process,” said Kyle Haines of the Klamath Forest Alliance, one of the conservation groups that filed suit challenging the projects. The Forest Service said it may appeal the decision that requires it to complete new environmental reviews. Some of the timber harvesting was intended to thin out the forests to make them less prone to insect infestations and devastating wildfire, said Forest Service spokesman Matt Mathes. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/12077222.htm

13) A federal court in San Francisco granted KS Wild’s request to stop the Sims Fire Salvage Sale on the Six Rivers National Forest in northern California. Sims would have cut thousands of huge dead trees (called snags) from a burn area which includes critical habitat for the northern spotted owl and is part of an old-growth forest reserve. The U.S. Forest Service used a Bush Administration rule change, part of its so-called Healthy Forests Initiative, to shield the logging from public challenge. Federal Judge Susan Illston agreed the project would harm the environment and granted a preliminary injunction until she can fully examine the case on its merits. The Sims timber sale would cut 6.1 million board feet from only 169 acres, evidence the Forest Service is cutting an old-growth snag forest. The average tree to be cut is nearly three feet in diameter, and a great many are much larger. The Forest Service designated Sierra Pacific Industries (the largest landowner in California) as the high bidder for the sale. www.kswild.org

Montana:

14) A flashpoint came last year as the fire season approached. One plan suggested thinning the forest, but the Greens argued that would allow too much logging, a view that largely prevailed. Then three fires struck, devastating parts of Glacier National Park. Stokes took to the airwaves in full gloat. “I hope you’re happy with yourselves,” he taunted, adding that the environmentalists now had “blood on their hands.” O’Neill attempts to get both sides of the story and largely succeeds, though she comes across a bit preachy at times. She clearly hopes to encourage the “anti-hate” movement. These land-use issues are far from resolved, though at show’s end Stokes says he supports an effort to recall local commissioners. “We can’t assassinate people in this country,” he observes. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/lifestyle/sfl-firenextjul12,0,4363779.story?coll=sfla-features-headlines

15) A lawsuit filed by two environmental groups to stop salvage logging in grizzly bear habitat could have serious implications for at least one local mill. F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber was nearly done felling all the trees on one of its salvage sales – known as the Blackfoot North Sale. The sale, located up the west side of the Hungry Horse Reservoir was within about two days of being completely harvested, said Stoltze general manager Ron Buentemeier. “The ironic thing is you can look at units that are fallen and you can’t tell any difference (from those that aren’t),” Buentemeier said. Environmentalists were pleased with Molloy’s ruling. “We are pleased that the judge recognized there is imminent harm to bears from helicopter logging in areas that are supposed to be secure,” said Arlene Montgomery, program director of Friends of the Wild Swan. “At the hearing we can make our case that the Flathead is not complying with their own Forest Plan standards to protect grizzly bears.” They also contend the Forest Service’s own biological assessment notes that logging is being allowed in areas that are supposed to be free of disturbance to bears. http://www.hungryhorsenews.com/articles/2005/07/06/news/news02.txt

New Hampshire:

16) A North County logging operation has been vandalized again, and Friday’s destruction of half a million dollars worth of equipment in Success is being called arson. An all-wheel drive plow truck was the first vehicle spotted, fully engulfed in flames. A quarter mile down the road a brand new 18-wheel tractor-trailer was on fire. The third vehicle, an excavator, was on fire in an adjacent wood yard. Company owner Thomas Dillon is offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to the conviction of whoever’s responsible, said company forester Ted Tichy. “Whoever did it also tried to light a dump truck on fire, unsuccessfully. Whether they were scared off, I don’t know,” Tichy said. The equipment, worth an estimated $500,000, was owned by Canadian contractor Rejean Bedard, who has been working the land owned by T.R. Dillon Logging of Maine. For more than a year Dillon has been at odds with local environmentalists and some local citizens who have accused his company of “liquidation harvesting.” Over the last two years, Dillon’s company has bought 22,500 wooded acres in Success, 8,000 acres in Berlin, 5,000 acres in Errol and 642 acres in Northumberland. “Historically the land has been open access to the public. People have used it freely for recreation, like a private playground. After something like this, the first question you have to ask is, is it worth having it open?” Tichy said. “I’m not saying Dillon or his contractors are being targeted, but we’re afraid this particular contractor has suffered so much damage now — this is a huge loss. This is his livelihood. I wouldn’t blame him for picking up and leaving,” Tichy said. “Of course, I hate to say that because it just gives fuel to those who would condone this as a way of stopping logging,” Tichy said. http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showfast.html?article=57517

Vermont:

17) Is the answer to competitive pressures to check out of the global system with increased tariffs or other import restrictions? No, according to lumber operators, it’s more about business conditions in Vermont versus Canada, and transportation advantages that encourage logs to be exported instead of processed locally. “They have a government that’s very pro forest products industry,” says Cliff Allard of Allard Lumber in Brattleboro. Government support in Canada means a smoother permitting process and capital funds for new technology in the form of low cost loans, grants, and pension fund equity. Canadian investment has resulted in a number of new mills along the U.S. border, designed to use U.S. logs and ship to the U.S. market. For Hardwick logger Ken Davis, who sells logs to Canadian mills, that’s a good thing. He says that “without a doubt” the Canadian investment has led to jobs in Vermont. “It makes it more profitable for us. Who’s to blame them for where they spend their money?” http://www.vermontguardian.com/local/0105/ForestFreeTrade.shtml

Louisiana:

18) Bald cypress, Louisiana’s state tree, has never been sacred – even today as the Bayou State’s coastline sinks and disappears into the Gulf of Mexico. From the outset of European settlement, Louisiana’s vast cypress stands were used for caskets, water tanks, fortresses and ships. Sweet-smelling cypress shingles were almost as tough as slate and tile. Demand was steady and by the early 1900s Louisiana’s coastal forests were nearly gone. Now, history is about to repeat itself. A second growth of cypress has sprung back across Louisiana’s once-denuded coastline. And loggers, timber companies and saw mills are revving to take their cuts. “There’s a massive, massive, massive amount,” says logger Jay Huber. “This timber is 80 years old. It will take a vast amount of time to cut it all and big business is coming there.” Barry Kohl, conservation chairman for the Louisiana Audubon Council, said concerned community groups have been researching logging permits with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other government agencies. Kohl said it appears that much of the proposed logging activity in Louisiana anticipates harvesting cypress trees for landscaping mulch.”You think to yourself, ‘Aren’t the cypress trees more important to the state than that? There’s no management plan for this kind of forest,” Kohl said. The report, called “Conservation, Protection and Utilization of Louisiana’s Coastal Wetland Forests,” indicates that sinking land and man-made factors such as levees mean that some of these cypress forests are too flooded to allow new trees to grow. Paul Frey, state forester with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, said mulch and furniture both come from logged trees, but that’s like looking at a beef cow and saying a rib-eye is a better use of the cow than hamburger. You get product from the same tree, but value is what the owners can get in return for that product, he said. http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/070705/opi_inside001.shtml http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050709/APN/507090711&cachetime=3&template=dateline

Canada:

19) Mississauga’s Sussex Centre looked like a busy crime scene yesterday as police cruisers, chalk outlines and what appeared to be yellow police tape surrounded the building. However, there was no crime taking place, instead, it was the scene of a large environmental protest. More than 50 members of Greenpeace International descended on Mississauga’s downtown core during morning rush hour and set up shop outside the Canadian headquarters of Kimberly-Clark, the world’s largest manufacturer of tissue products and maker of the popular Kleenex brand. Greenpeace protesters wrapped the yellow tape, labeled “Forest Crime Scene,” around the Sussex Centre, which houses the Kimberly-Clark office. The measure was an attempt to show the company is guilty of crimes against forests. Greenpeace claims Kimberly-Clark is ruining ancient forests such as Canada’s famed Boreal forest, which stretches from Newfoundland to the Yukon, by using their trees to make disposable products. Kimberly-Clark says it is just giving consumers what they want. Chalk outlines of bears, caribou and other animals were drawn on sidewalks in downtown Mississauga yesterday to symbolize the wide-ranging wildlife that rely on the healthy survival of these large ecosystems. “It’s an environmental crime that Kimberly-Clark is clear-cutting 10,000-year-old forests to make products that are used once and then thrown away or flushed down the toilet,” said Christy Ferguson, Greenpeace Forests Campaigner, at the protest. “Consumers can do their part to stop this…by not buying Kleenex brand tissue products.” http://www.mississauganews.com/mi/news/story/2896792p-3355775c.html

England:

20) Seventy years on, the Friends of the Lake District (FLD) are joining forceswith the Forestry Commission to replace the non-native conifer trees at Hardknott Forest with a native birch and oak woodland. FLD is helping to fund the work at Hardknott, which is one of the largest conifer forests in Cumbria, covering an area of 600 hectares in the quiet Duddon Valley. In the thirties, the Friends of the Lake District had fought to stop thecreation of new conifer forests, covering much of the Esk and Duddon Valleys. Although the campaign was partly successful, the Forestry Commission went ahead with the planting of the forest at Hardknott. Former Cabinet Minister, Lord Clarke of Windermere, who is the Chairman of theForestry Commission and a member of FLD, said: “The work the Forestry Commission is doing at Hardknott Forest shows just how much the organisation has changed in recent years. “The Forestry Commission was formed in 1919 to create a national reserve of timber in case of a future war. I am pleased to say that the Forestry Commission now has a very strong focus on both the social and environmental benefits that forests can deliver.” “At Hardknott the Forestry Commission is taking a lead in a strategy that is being rolled out across the country of recreating some of our ancient woodlands.” http://www.lakelandtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=37&ArticleID=1080120

Malawi:

21) Deforestation for charcoal burning, slash and burn cultivation, and tobacco curing is threatening human survival and the entire ecosystem of this African rift country. Salt build up has been noted along the shore of Lake Malawi and the surrounding areas, and wildlife habitat is disappearing as a result of widespread logging. “When I came here two years ago there were trees in these mountains,” he said, pointing to the Mlindi Hills close to the newly opened Mangochi-Naminga road. “This time around there are no trees left.” Cheap local labor is used to facilitate logging in the mountains, according to Karen Nakonya and Thousand James, both employed as firewood cutters for one of the tobacco estates in the district. “We are only doing this as a job as you can see that we have nowhere to go. We have to do it as we have an obligation to support ourselves and our families,” says Nakonya who has been a logger for more than 10 years. Furthermore, the situation is threatening elephant’s migration to and fro with neighboring Mozambique. At different times of the year, the large Jumbos migrate in search of food, creating an environment for the habitat in Liwonde National Park to regenerate. The cutting down of the strip of land used by elephants during migration will exert pressure on Liwonde National Park and its resources, as elephants will ravage whatever is in their sight. “It is now eight years since we last conducted patrols for our forest reserves,” said Mangochi District Forestry Officer Vita Kanyemba. “It is now eight years since we last conducted patrols for our forest reserves,” said Mangochi District Forestry Officer Vita Kanyemba. “We have no uniforms, no fuel and no houses,” Kanyemba said. “We have the drive but resources are a limiting factor here. How can we work under these conditions?” The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs said in its 2002 State of the Environment Report that Malawi’s forest resources declined from 47 percent of the total land area to around 28 percent in 2000. Population growth, poverty, agricultural expansion, wood energy demands, and wildfires continue to erode Malawi’s forest resources, the ministry reports. http://www.islam-online.net/English/Science/2005/07/article02.shtml

Cameroon:

22) Hundreds of trees in the Cameroon rainforest are cut down everyday to provide wood for us to make furniture. The forests there are homes to thousands of species of plants and creatures, but the government there is selling off land to European countries. At least three-quarters of the forest has already been or is about to be cut down, and this is causing huge problems for the local environment. As well as legal, it’s thought illegal logging is also taking place there. At the moment European and US governments support logging in the Cameroon forests because it creates jobs for people and brings money into the country. But some fear the forest will not be there in 20 or 30 years’ time. http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4670000/newsid_4671700/4671739.stm

Japan:

23) The larger a beech tree is, the more often it takes on the role of “mother,” and the more seeds it produces, according to researchers at Tohoku University. The research team, led by assistant professor Yoshihisa Suyama, is using DNA to analyze the so-called parent-child relationships of beech trees. The researchers analyzed the husks of 1,387 seedlings, which accounted for about one-250th of those found in a 90-meter by 90-meter area. In the end, they were able to identify the mothers of all but 10 of the seedlings. As a result, the researchers were able to identify the successful reproduction rates for individual beech trees, including data such as where and how long each tree’s “children” will survive. The most productive mother was 86 centimeters in diameter and had spawned 92 seedlings. The researchers estimated the tree’s total number of offspring at 23,000. This showed that the larger a beech tree, the more seeds it produced. Upon measuring the size of the husks, the scientists also discovered the smaller a tree was, the larger its seeds. Beech trees face a tough race to survive. Among the 10,710 seedlings the researchers examined in spring 2001, only 187 – less than 2 percent – were still alive in autumn 2004. The branches of the maternal trees grew more horizontally and produced more flowers, while the branches of more paternal trees grew vertically, so pollen could be dispersed over greater distances. It is already known that in the case of the Clark’s anemonefish – monogamous tropical fish that change sex – the larger of the couple becomes female. The researchers hypothesized that beech trees also skillfully coordinate their roles as father and mother. Suyama said, “A tree requires more energy to produce seeds than to produce pollen. It’s logical that as a reproduction strategy, larger trees that can produce more seeds would have a larger role as mother than father.” http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/world/12084500.htm

Australia

24) Yesterday, Tuesday, July 5, police were called at 8.30am and arrived on site at 9am. Thirteen members of the police force drawn from the Far South Coast Command, Operational Support Group and the Police Rescue Squad were required to attend. AS the protest against logging in Wandella State Forest enters its fourth week police were called in to remove the protestors from the site. According to the protestors on site the Forest Fairies (on a canopy platform) appeared up a tree on site on Monday morning. Protestors also reported being spot lighted at 4am on Tuesday, July 5. Forest workers have been pushed to the limit in maintaining patience with protestors who have consistently prevented them from going to work. Protestors have also employed tactics that try to place the forest workers in danger of breaching safety conditions as they “strengthen their resolve to protect what remains of the magnificent forests of Peak Alone”. http://narooma.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=local&category=general%20news&story_id=406966&y=2005&m=7
25) Rival sides of the logging debate shared a rare moment of agreement yesterday, labeling the new body charged with policing the Tasmanian forest industry as “irrelevant” and “window dressing”. The State Government announced the appointment of the seven directors to its new Forest Practices Authority. Infrastructure, Energy and Resources Minister Bryan Green said the new board re-affirmed the independence of the forest industry’s chief regulatory body. But the move immediately drew fire from forest industry and environmental groups. The authority is the revamped Forest Practices Board, the body abolished last year in the wake of continued criticisms that it was dominated by logging industry interests. http://www.themercury.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,15825673%255E3462,00.html

Vietnam:

26) Viet Nam has found its first-ever forest of Chinese Incense Cedar species, scientifically named Calocedrus macrolepis, in the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in central Quang Binh province. The forest, which covers thousands of hectares of limestone rocks about 650-700m above the sea level, is the largest one in Southeast Asia. Chinese Incense Cedar trees found there date back to more than 400 years, with a majority of them measuring roughly 25m tall and 1m in diametre. Chinese Incense Cedar has been considered on the verge of extinction worldwide.Located to the north of the majestic Truong Son mountain range, Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park is believed to be the oldest in Asia. Covering an expanse of more than 200,000 ha, the park includes striking beautiful limestone formations, grottoes and caves, with forest covering up to 95 percent. It is considered a paradise for researchers and potholers, or explorers of grottoes and caves. The tropical forest is home to 36 of the more than 750 plant species and 89 animal species listed by the Viet Nam Red Book as endangered or protected.-Enditem
http://www.vnagency.com.vn/NewsA.asp?LANGUAGE_ID=2&CATEGORY_ID=31&NEWS_ID=158202

Indonesia:

27) Indonesia is home to 10 percent of the world’s tropical forests, but it also has the highest rate of deforestation, with about three million hectares of forest lost every year. The Leuser Ecosystem, approximately 2.6 million hectares of tropical rainforest, is home to some of the most unique wildlife in the world like endemic species of tigers, elephants and rhinoceros, orangutans, hornbills, cloud leopards and the world’s largest flower, the rafflesia. It has nurtured generations of some of Sumatra’s major ethnic groups like the Gayo, Alas, Acehnese, Batak, Pakpak, Karo, Singkil and Malay. Moreover, some four million people depend directly on this area as their water source. Right in the heart of the ecosystem is the Gunung Leuser National Park, a world heritage site as declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). There are also nature parks and wildlife reserves located within the Ecosystem. The Leuser Ecosystem is declared a protected forest by the Indonesian government, but still is one of the most exploited areas in Southeast Asia. After the tsunami, logging activities seem to be on the rise. According to Yashud, loggers also tend to justify their actions as part of the rehabilitation for Aceh. Even the villagers in Aceh Tenggara attest that trucks that brought logs or processed wood during the early months after the tsunami from outside the district have signs like “For the Rehabilitation of Aceh”. He said tropical hardwood trees like semaram, merbau, kruing and meranti are favorites of loggers because they peg a very high price on the international market, around Rp 18 million (US$1,800) per m3. “That’s why most of the wood here is not really going to Aceh,” said Yashud, “but is being exported illegally outside the country.” http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailfeatures.asp?fileid=20050712.Q01&irec=0

Madagascar:

28) When loggers came to hack up centuries-old ebony trees from their sacred forest, the people of Ankalontany village knew something was wrong. They just didn’t know how to stop it. “Some strangers from outside our village came here. They started cutting ebony and they clearly had no right,” said village chief Justin Zara, gesturing towards dead branches and freshly-cut tree stumps deep in the Madagascan rainforest. “We asked for their authorisation but they said they didn’t have to show us papers. They said they had police clearance and we can’t stop them. They just took what they wanted.” Environmentalists say such scenes are common in Madagascar, a huge Indian Ocean island whose dwindling rainforests shelter some of the world’s most treasured wildlife. Last month police seized 520 tonnes of illegally logged hardwood from two ports in the northeastern Sava region after receiving tip-offs from local leaders in Ankalontany and elsewhere. Madagascan authorities suspect a major operation by a logging cartel seeking to export the wood. Campaigners had hoped the scourge of illegal logging would be high on the agenda in this month’s G8 summit. But the Group of Eight rich nations have failed to heed calls for tough moves on illegal logging and will issue only a mild call for action at their meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, according to a leaked draft http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/features/featuredetail.asp?file=julyfeatures92005.xml

Brazil:

29) Ecologists sounded the alarm. The Amazon rainforest is disappearing at the fastest rate in nearly a decade. But the outcry left many Brazilians suspicious. They say the protesters don’t really care about saving the world’s largest wilderness — they want to steal it from Brazil. Sprawling over 4.1 million km2, the Amazon covers nearly 60 percent of Brazil. Largely unexplored, it contains one-fifth of the world’s fresh water, oil, diamonds, gold and untold other mineral and biological riches. Last year, the Brazilian Amazon lost an area of 26,130km2 of rainforest, an area slightly smaller than Belgium. Environmentalists estimate as much as 20 percent of the jungle has already been cut down by ranchers, loggers, farmers and developers. But the idea that the Amazon is important for the world’s climate, its biodiversity and a global heritage is seen as a smoke screen — the rainforest belongs to Brazil, and anyone who says differently has ulterior motives. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2005/07/07/2003262547

Honduras:

30) Father José Tamayo picked up the Goldman Environmental Prize earlier this year for his leadership in Honduran grassroots activism to protect the Olancho forest reserve from land expropriations and illegal logging. He has led thousands of Hondurans through two “March for Life” events to force the government to recognize the injustice and environmental devastation that corruption has brought about in Olancho and throughout rural Honduras. Now he’s telling Mother Jones about plans for a “Continental March” from Panama to Mexico, to protest CAFTA. “At this point, we have credibility. We’ve created a movement. The businesses want to destroy us, but we’ve resisted until this point. The question, though, is how long can we resist? Because one day it’s possible that the people will get tired, and will prefer to look for food than fight for the cause. That’s why we need to create a movement that’s moving forward but also gaining strength, not only in numbers but in strategy. That’s what I’m most interested in. http://www.motherjones.com/news/qa/2005/06/tamayo.html

India:

31) Many acres of forests have been converted into maize fields by encroachers-cum-timber smugglers in some areas of Islamabad forest division. Residents believe the cutting of trees is happening under the nose of forest officials, often with their blessings. Stumps of pine trees felled by encroachers are clearly visible in these maize fields. “It is really painful to see the plunder and loot going on in forests and the forest department sleeping over the matter. First they are cutting the trees and then encroaching upon the land,” says Ashfaq Ahmad Laway of Kachwan blaming the forest department for the loss. “Everything happens under the nose of government as forest employees are hand in glove with the smugglers,” he adds. http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?ItemID=6422&cat=1

South East Asia:

32) Coveting of protected natural forest for logging, mining and drilling – both legal and illegal – never really diminishes. Several recent stories regarding mining in “protected” forests clearly illustrates that no forests are every truly preserved. The story is pretty much the same in Indonesia, India and the Philippines – in the face of unlimited human demands, any forest or other bit of nature could be lost at any time. No Forests Are Ever Truly Protected From Mining, Logging, Capitalism and Population Growth. http://forests.org/ Listen to their Radio Show at: http://forests.org/shared/podcast/forests_nothing_protected_7-9-05.mp3
http://www.environmentalsustainability.info/blog/index.xml