017OEC’s This Week in Trees:

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This week we have 34 stories from Alaska, British Columbia, Washington state, Oregon, California, Montana, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Hawaii, Canada, England, Malaysia, Philippines, China, Australia,

Alaska

1) Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that the Forest Service must correct serious problems in the 1997 Tongass National Forest Land Management Plan. The overall effect of this error was to exaggerate Tongass logging levels, and put much more land in logging designations than the agency’s own economists found was necessary to supply local mills. Alaska Governor Frank H. Murkowski said, “The court’s decision was bad for Alaska and bad for working men and women who make a living in the timber industry. I have fought to keep a sustainable industry in Southeast Alaska and I will continue that fight.” Murkowski said, “Under my watch, the state has actively intervened in lawsuits by environmental groups designed to ensure that no trees are harvested in Southeast Alaska. I firmly believe that we can have a healthy environment and a sustainable timber industry.” Buck Lindekugel, staff attorney at the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council said, “The Tongass timber program is being driven by numbers that have no basis in reality… Less than fifty million board feet of timber have been cut annually over the last four years, yet the Forest Service tries to make available more than three times that amount every year.” Gordon Chew of Tenakee Springs said, “According to the Forest Service’s latest data, there is enough timber in the existing roaded areas of the Tongass to log up to 96 million board-feet per year in perpetuity. This is more than double the logging levels that have prevailed over the last four years. It is not necessary to sell timber in roadless areas to provide a sufficient supply to the existing mills.” Logging also continues on land owned by the State of Alaska, Mental Health Land Trust, University of Alaska, Native corporations, and others; however, most of this wood is exported for manufacturing, along with the associated jobs, to other countries. http://www.sitnews.us/0805news/080605/080605_tongass_forest.html

British Columbia:

2) On Thursday August 18th join the Wilderness Committee for a day of action in our provincial parks. Help the Wilderness Committee leaflet and circulate petitions to educate people about the problems with privatization, parking meters, logging and mining in our protected areas. Come join us in one of our beautiful lower mainland parks for a few hours or the whole day! www.wildernesscommittee.org

3) Thanks you Michael Copland, You supplied a thoughtfully framed challenge to the underlying purposes of silviculture in British Columbia. You are assigning long-term forest resilience as the essential objective and indicator of long-term stand level forest health. Long rotation forestry encourages, authorizes and emulates complexity building events and processes which seldom intrude or disturb the tightly regulated uniformity of early seral short rotation agro-forestry plantations. Complexity immunizes the forest against large scale catastrophic clearing events and becomes the ultimate measure of silviculture success. Complexity leads to long run resilience and it is not measurable in annual growth increments. Short rotation forestry narrowly utilizes annual growth increment as the primary surrogate guage of silvicultural acheivement. It does so because survival, resilience and health beyond maximum mean annual increment at 40 to 80 years is not required or evaluated for timber production. Imagine a human society that focussed its actions and assessment of health exclusively on the growth rate of babies rather than also measuring the longevity of the population! Your ground breaking work in the conceptualization and comparative assessment of alternative long rotation silviculture systems demands a public review of the implicit goals of current provincial silvicultural systems. This is particularly important for silviculture on harvested public lands where integrated ecological and commercial forestry objectives are mandated. Clearly, the Ministry of Forests short rotation perspective for silvicultural objectives and assessment is depriving British Columbians of healthy, ecologically complex and resilient forests while supplying a timber resource that must be harvested at successively earlier ages before it all falls down from large scale catastrophic events and defects. I applaud your efforts as a messenger to the MoF bureaucracy. But the MoF bureaucrats function to bury messengers with their discomforting facts. That is the only reason that I can see for the MoF vandalizing and trashing your living database of experimental long rotation silviculture trials. Thanks, Michael Major – Victoria, BC

Washington:

4) The little-seen bird that launched the gut-wrenching timber wars of the early 1990s is declining in this state at nearly twice the rate predicted by federal scientists. And the pace at which the bird is spiraling toward extinction is quickening, researchers say. Some of the steepest declines are in the Cascades just east of Seattle. Two-thirds of the owl nesting sites known in Washington a dec-ade ago have been abandoned, according to state researchers. Some of those forests on private land already have been cut, meaning it will be many decades before those lands shelter spotted owls again — if ever. Today and Wednesday, the nearly decade-old rules that allowed such logging on private land are being scrutinized by the state board that originally adopted them, the Washington Forest Practices Board. Spotted owls don’t usually build nests, instead laying their eggs in the broken tops or “chimneys” of extremely large, old trees. But the forests that surround such a nest, loaded with massive trees, are worth a lot to timber companies. Going into what could be a nasty clash with the logging industry, environmentalists have on their side two recently completed state studies documenting the owls’ plight. “The spotted owl population in Washington is experiencing a prolonged and accelerating decline,” Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife researchers Joseph Buchanan and Paula Swedeen wrote in a report released last week. “This decline has been well documented.” But, stung by the public-relations shellacking conservationists took in the ’90s by residents who neither knew nor cared much about the owls, green groups are going easy on the anti-timber rhetoric. “The spotted owl is maybe an unfortunate icon, but this is not just about an owl. It’s about how do we make sure we have the spotted owl and the (other) wildlife in our state and how do we make sure our industries are still in business,” said Nina Carter, executive director of Audubon Washington. “We have an open mind and we’re trying to work with and learn how the industries work.” Barred owls — which, ironically, are dwindling toward extinction where they came from back East — also have been known to kill and to mate with spotted owls. Scientists are zeroing in on the barred owl as a prime suspect in killing off the spotted owl. “It’s all hypotheses at this point,” said Jerry Franklin of the University of Washington, a longtime owl researcher. “The barred owl is implicated, but no one has documented what has happened.” Other emerging threats to the spotted owl include the West Nile virus, which is known to kill birds, and the increasing likelihood of fires wiping out huge chunks of overgrown forest. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/235802_owl09.html

Oregon:

5) A blockade has been constructed to stop ancient forest logging within the Biscuit timber sale and to honor the late Joan Norman. Atop a platform 50 feet in the air, a 17 year-old woman sits committed to halt felling within this contested old growth reserve timber sale, called Hobson. Ancient forest logging began at the Hobson old-growth reserve timber sale last week. The media is invited to visit the Joan Norman Memorial Road Blockade today. “I’m incredibly inspired by Joan,” said Leera, the young woman occupying the road blockade. “I know that the protection of the last ancient forests is up to all of us; following in Joan’s footsteps, its time for my generation to lead the way.” Leera intends to remain in the structure until old-growth logging is halted at Hobson. We are also announcing a new canopy protection station in Unit 12 of Hobson. Located in an area that highlights the complexity of fire ecology, hanging amongst the intermixed mosaic of green and singed trees, is an innovative canopy protection station. Unlike a traditional tree-sit that protects one tree, this design utilizes new tactics and technology. The protection station is able to defend the majority of the unit slated to be cut. Wild Siskiyou Action at 541-659-2682

6) A mountainside tree farm that morphed into a playground for bicyclists, horseback riders, runners and hikers soon could become the prize in a tug-of-war between recreational users and a Massachusetts timber company. Boston-based Forest Capital Partners LLC bought the 7,700-acre tract on Mount Emily from Boise Cascade in February as part of a huge private land transaction involving five other states. Now some locals fear locked gates and chain saws could be in its future, although the company said the land will remain open to the public and that it will continue to manage the area as a tree farm. “We’re all nervous about it,” said Union County Commissioner John Lamoreau, who regularly rides horses in the area. “It is an easy, five-minute drive for half the population in Union County. Just spectacular scenery, just a wonderful place to be.” The tract is on the south end of the 15-mile-long, 6,064-foot mountain and consists of dense ponderosa and fir forests, open meadows, deep ravines and steep timbered bluffs. Bart Barlow, president of the 52-member, La Grande-based Mount Emily Singletrack Trails Club, has encountered elk, bear and wild turkeys while running and biking on the roads and trails and once watched a cougar pounce on a deer. “I don’t believe it will be there in five years,” Barlow said. His biggest worry is that Forest Capital Partners might tire of vandalism and conflicts among recreational users and gate the property, log it or sell large parcels for homes. “We’ve had fistfights up there between people on motorcycles and horses,” Barlow said. “What we are trying to do is ensure continued public access.” His group of hikers, joggers, bicyclists and horseback riders wants to build a 25-mile loop trail that would extend into the adjoining Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1123322808261030.xml&coll=7

7) Over the past few weeks CWP and our conservation allies have secured legal injunctions on two post-fire clearcutting projects: the Eyerly Fire Project on the Deschutes National forest and the Fisher Fire Project on the Wenatchee National Forest in eastern Washington. The CWP, ONRC, Sierra Club and Blue Mts Biodiversity Project have been challenging the Eyerly Project since the fire petered out in fall 2002. A few weeks ago, Portland, OR-based Judge Gar King issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against the project until further review could be done. The project would log thousands of acres of designated old-growth reserves above the Metolius River. We are being represented by our trusty attorneys at Cascades Resources Advocacy Group (CRAG) in Portland. A TRO was also handed down against the Fisher Fire Project and specifically the Rollin Rock timber sale in eastern Washington last week. Bellingham, WA-based Conservation Northwest and the CWP challenged this project because of its impacts to designated old-growth reserves under the Northwest Forest Plan. An injunction on logging is in place until judge Edward Shea can review the case further. We are being represented by attorneys Erin Madden and Karen Lindholdt. http://www.cascwild.org

8) Logging of mature forests has begun in Eugene’s municipal water supply, the McKenzie River watershed. Felling and yarding is taking place at the Twister, Flatco and Kinko timber sales. These sales were all authorized by the 1997 Robinson-Scott EIS.
Calls and emails are needed to Dallas Emch, Supervisor of the Willamette National Forest, 541.225.6300; demch@fs.fed.us and to District Ranger Mary Allison, 541.822.3381; mallison@fs.fed.us. Please engage Rep. Peter DeFazio’s office as well, 541.465.6732 (Eugene), 202.225.6416 (DC). Tell them to spend your tax-payer dollars on restoring plantation forests in the watershed and to leave our heritage forests alone. http://www.cascwild.org

California:

9) It is just after first light on a drizzly morning in Northern California’s Castle Crags Wilderness. Wirth and his wife, Michael, are part of a crew maintaining an overgrown section of the Pacific Crest Trail, the hiking and equestrian route that runs the length of California and through Oregon and Washington. “This,” Michael says, “is heaven on Earth.” The direct distance from Mexico to Canada is only 1,000 miles. But as Pacific Crest Trail hikers trudge across Southern California’s deserts and up 13,000-foot mountain passes, skirt Oregon’s sleeping volcanoes and climb Washington’s rugged North Cascades, they travel a whopping 2,650 miles through some of the West’s most pristine and remote country. The trek takes four to five months. The trail scales 60 passes, descends into 19 major canyons and ambles past more than 1,000 lakes and tarns, gaining and losing 300,000 feet in elevation. It passes the nation’s three deepest lakes — Tahoe, Crater and Chelan; its lowest point is where it meets the Columbia River at Cascade Locks; its highest is 13,180 feet at Forester Pass, Calif. As it passes through six of North America’s seven ecozones, the trail binds 26 national forests, 47 designated wilderness areas and eight national parks. Last year Scott Williamson, 32, of Santa Cruz, Calif., became the first to complete a “yo-yo” of the trail — Mexico to Canada to Mexico — 5,300 miles in 197 days. This year, David Horton, 55, a physical education professor from Lynchburg, Va., is attempting to run the trail in a record 63 days. The trail occasionally runs through towns, dives under freeways and disappears onto pavement, but it mostly ambles as far away from humanity as one can get in the West, allowing people to root themselves in the landscape and the pioneer spirit that brought families in covered wagons across great mountain ranges to the richness of the frontier. The national scenic trail designation offers no protection for the adjacent landscape. About 300 miles of trail are still privately owned. Logging, mining, housing developments, ski-area expansions and other private uses threaten to disrupt the trail or intrude on the hiking experience. These problem areas along the trail epitomize Western states’ ongoing struggle to reconcile the conflicts of resource extraction in and around national forests with the environmental consciousness of the 1964 Wilderness Act. http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/larabee080905.html

10) America’s national forests are beginning to resemble “islands” of green wilderness, increasingly trapped by an expanding sea of new houses, a forestry researcher will report today at the 90th annual Ecological Society of America (ESA) meeting in Montreal, Canada. As more and more people desire to live with wilderness in their backyard, Radeloff says, forests may just be getting “loved to death.” “People think of a national forest as a place they can be in nature without seeing anyone else or where they could see a wolf,” says Radeloff. If trends continue, he adds, these solitary moments and discoveries will be more and more difficult to experience. The widening circle of development around forests such as the Cleveland National Forest in Southern California is serving to block natural corridors, or wild “highways” that enable plants and wildlife to move easily between nearby forests, says Volker Radeloff, a forestry professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Radeloff analyzed government census data on housing increases in and near all U.S. national forests between 1950 and 2000. Housing in and around forests not only affects biodiversity, it impacts hydrology cycles and accelerates the spread of invasive species. Wildfires and animal-human conflicts are added risks. “It is possible that the national forests may not suffice for some endangered species,” says Radeloff. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/08/050808063745.htm

11) Come hike and swim with us in the threatened Medicine Lake volcanic
caldera in the Southern Cascades on Sept. 10th and 11th. Two power plants and over 24 miles of transmission lines through a popular forested recreation area threaten Medicine Lake. The Medicine Lake caldera is a wild area that is sacred to several tribes in Northern California and is located on National Forest Land in the Klamath, Modoc and Shasta-Trinity National Forests. However energy mega-corporate Calpine owns 66 square miles of leases on this sacred public land and thanks their part in the California “Energy Crisis” and to the Bush administration, a decision to preserve some of this area have been overturned. Come find out about Bush’s new energy bill and how it threatens public lands and Native peoples, and enjoy a day of swimming and hiking in a landscape of lava caves, obsidian flows, old-growth forests and high mountain lakes. Call 541 951-0126 for information or directions or e mailto:southsiskiyou@riseup.net

12) Amador County Supervisor Richard Vinson along with other local political and agricultural leaders said work needs to begin now to clear burned timber that remains from the Power Fire. The blaze burned through 16,800 acres of rugged terrain near the north fork of the Mokelumne River in Amador County last October. “The Forest Service has come forward with a plan to renew this forest, to make it a living growing forest again,” said Vinson. “It will reinvigorate this property, make it a productive area again.” In addition to revitalizing the charred forest, Amador County Agriculture Commissioner Mike Boitano said the threat of erosion as well as an increase in dangerous insects that infest the dead wood pose a serious problem if the downed trees are not properly harvested. Collecting and removing the burned trees also represents an economic plus for the area. Estimated value of the charred timber is $20 million. Despite agreement between federal and local officials, Vinson, Boitano and others fear environmentalists will seek to stop the logging efforts. “We’ve seen in other burns where they’ve done what they could to stop this kind of work,” Boitano said.
Barring intervention, Forest Service representatives said revitalization efforts should begin next month. http://www.news10.net/storyfull1.asp?id=12403

13) The first 100 years of the U.S. Forest Service which manages 193 million acres including the Angeles National Forest are detailed in “The Greatest Good,’ which had its first commercial run Friday in a Pasadena theater. The documentary details how the agency evolved from the “wise use’ of resources to the idea of a “land ethic,’ explains the collision course between preservation and controlled use and shows how firefighting policies have changed as well. Whether the protection of endangered species or meeting the needs of a growing public, the fate of public lands has been constantly challenged. http://www.sgvtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,205~12220~2998280,00.html

14) Ancient pines with trunks 5 feet thick tower in the forest beyond the meadow. Even on weekdays, cars line the trailhead parking area. Refugees from Central Valley summer heat have been coming here for thousands of years. A quarter-mile from the trailhead are granite slabs with grinding holes where generations of American Indians, probably Miwoks, prepared acorn meal.Bell Meadow is at the heart of an 8,200-acre area officially designated as roadless by Stanislaus National Forest administrators. It’s also in the hearts of many Californians who hunt, hike or fish. That makes Bell Meadow and other roadless areas in California’s Sierra Nevada a potent political tool in the nationwide debate over whether to allow mining, oil drilling and logging in the remaining roadless remnants within America’s national forests. Still, many in Congress, including almost half of California’s delegation, are eager to reinstate the ban on logging, road building and mining in roadless areas. Reps. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., and Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., last week introduced the National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Act, which would restore the Clinton-era policy. A third of all House members signed on as co-sponsors, including 24 members of California’s 52-member delegation. “I would say its chances are slim to none, and none just walked out the door,” said Brian Kennedy, a spokesman for the Resources Committee.Environmentalists and pro-environment politicians say wild lands are hugely popular with the public, particularly in California, and they intend to keep introducing roadless-area protection bills until they get political leverage on the issue.”Introducing a bill with 143 co-sponsors shows that it is an issue that a substantial number of members of Congress care about,” said Joe Pouliot, a spokesman for the House Science Committee, which is chaired by bill co-author Boehlert. “It is a way to keep the issue out there.” http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/living/science/12324969.htm.

Montana:

15) John Novotny wanted to show the homeowner what could be done to help keep his house from going up in flames in case of a wildfire. But the homeowner declined the free assessment, leery of having several of his trees in the narrow canyon in southern Montana marked for removal. It’s a response Mr. Novotny has encountered more than once in the past year, as the veteran firefighter has knocked on doors and urged people to build the kinds of buffers that could make all the difference in the event of a wildfire. “Some people want to participate, some don’t,” he said. “You have to chip away at it.” There have been roadside signs and radio advertisements, home visits and town meetings with fire authorities and government incentives. With 8.4 million homes built near fire-prone federal lands in the past 20 years, there is a growing urgency to get out the message, said Mark Rey, the Agriculture Department undersecretary who oversees Forest Service policy. Often, it takes what fire officials call a “teachable moment” to spur homeowners to take action. http://washingtontimes.com/national/20050807-102855-1150r.htm

Arizona:

16) When there’s a flood or an earthquake or hurricane, we pull out all the stops.
But weeds? It’s hard to get people to take them seriously. Yet weeds like Malta starthistle are laying waste to Arizona’s distinctive landscape. They’re replacing native vegetation and fueling vast wildfires that wipe out desert plants for good. More and more stretches of the Sonoran Desert are losing saguaros, chollas, ocotillos and palo verde trees. The magical scenery that exists nowhere else on earth, with its strange creatures like javelinas and Gila monsters, is disappearing. Arizona needs to mobilize. We need all the strategies for confronting a disaster: good information, adequate resources, public awareness and a sense of urgency. The first step is understanding the problem. We don’t need to worry about every weed and non-native plant. The threat comes from invasive plants, which aggressively displace existing native varieties. The invasives were introduced to Arizona in various ways, maybe intentionally as ornamental plants or accidentally mixed in with other seeds. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/0808mon1-08.html

Georgia:

17) Along with regular lumber, Lee’s mill supplies cypress and pine from deadhead logs _ those that sank in rivers while they were being rafted to ports and sawmills during the heyday of Southern logging in the 1800s and early 1900s. Wood from the sunken logs, revered for its tight grain and array of colors ranging from blond to caramel to black, is up to 10 times more valuable than conventional wood. It is used to make upscale paneling, flooring and furniture. However, retrieving these logs from river bottoms has been illegal in Georgia since 1998 because of legal and environmental concerns, forcing suppliers like Lee to buy wood in other states, such as Florida and Louisiana. But that’s about to change. Over the objections of anglers and environmentalists, Georgia lawmakers earlier this year approved legislation authorizing underwater logging for two years on navigable portions of the Flint and Altamaha rivers, which both wind mostly through southern Georgia. If there are no problems with the logging, the law can be extended. Republican state Sen. Tommie Williams of Lyons sees underwater logging as a way to pay a final tribute to the backbreaking work of the old loggers, including four generations of his family, who felled trees with axes or crosscut saws and hitched them to mules or oxen to haul them to the rivers. The logs came from century-old longleaf pines that stood in the South’s primeval forest and from 600- to 1,200-year-old cypress trees that grew in isolated swamps, such as the Okefenokee. “It’s really a treasure,” Williams said. “The quality of the wood and the uniqueness of the wood is something we can’t duplicate. There really aren’t any virgin forests left.” Williams’ ancestors lashed the logs together in rafts and floated them down the Altamaha to the port at Darien, where ships awaited in the harbor. “In its heyday, they say you could walk for miles on the river on rafts waiting to be loaded,” he said. http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=63609

Michigan:

18) And you thought climbing trees was just for kids. The canopy above Emerson Park will host the Michigan Tree Climbing Championship on Saturday, Sept. 17. The public is welcome to take in the free spectacle of arborists showing off their skills, with food vendors on site during most of the one-day competition. Officials are limiting competitors to 25 to allow time for each to take part in five events: body thrust speed climb, foot lock speed climb, work climb, rope throw and aerial rescue. Climbers wear harnesses and helmets. “These people do this on the job, so safety is utmost, though it’s a speed competition as well,” Carpenter said. The champion advances to the International Climbing Championship in late July 2006 in Minneapolis. http://www.mlive.com/news/sanews/index.ssf?/base/news-15/11234100016740.xml&coll=9

Wisconsin:

19) The innovative use of sophisticated physics technology by a USDA Forest Service biologist has led to fundamental advances in understanding the molecular and chemical processes involved in fungal wood decay, thereby opening the way to the development of new, environmentally preferable methods for protecting wood. The discoveries are considered important because nearly 10 percent of the 300 million tons of trees harvested annually in the United States are used to replace wood products damaged by decay. In recognition of this and other scientific achievements, Dr. Barbara L. Illman, research plant pathologist at the Forest Service’s Forest Products Laboratory, in Madison, Wis., received the 2005 Chief’s Honor Award for Distinguished Science. The award was presented in a recent Washington ceremony by Dale Bosworth, chief of the Forest Service, who cited Dr. Illman for her research in “applying solid-state physics techniques to forestry problems, invasive species mitigation research, bioremediation research, and contributions to long-term ecological research programs.” The author of more than 65 research papers, articles and technology transfer publications, she is considered an authority on the application of applying nanotechnology-scale physics equipment and facilities to biological, chemical, environmental and microbial sciences. Dr. Illman developed techniques for employing high-intensity X-rays to examine the mechanisms of wood decay and of subsequent recycling of woody biomass. In her research, Dr. Illman exposed samples of wood and fungi to X-rays at the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The resulting discoveries about the biochemical mechanisms of brown-rot fungi, considered the most destructive wood-decay organism, could lead to improved methods for protecting wood. http://www.lightsources.org/cms/?pid=1000752

20) The state will pick up about $6.2 million of the price, the federal government paying the rest. The purchase would be one of the six largest in state history. The state’s share would come from the stewardship fund, through which the state borrows money each year to buy land for recreation, wildlife habitat, state parks, trails, forests and other natural areas. Plum Creek Timberlands, based in Washington state, owns 514,000 acres of forest in Wisconsin. It has put an estimated 500,000 acres of the more than 7.8 million it owns nationally into similar programs to preserve them, said spokeswoman Kathy Budinick. The more than 18,000 acres are already in the state’s managed forest program, in which land owners promise to follow a management plan for 25 years while not building on the property. In exchange, land owners pay a lower property tax bill. Plum Creek just recently signed a 25-year contract under that program. Still, state officials worried the company could pull out of the program. It would have to pay a penalty for doing so, but state officials say that penalty would pale in comparison to the profit that could be made off selling the land. The state is paying $496 per acre to ensure the land is preserved, less than half of the $1,125 assessed price. http://www.wisinfo.com/postcrescent/news/archive/local_22122552.shtml

Hawaii:

21) A tiny new species of wasp has invaded Hawai’i and is rapidly spreading across the Islands, threatening to kill off a popular family of trees that includes the native wiliwili, a species mentioned in the ancient creation chant the Kumulipo, and used in Hawaiian tradition to craft surfboards, canoe outriggers and fish net floats. And in just the past few weeks, the wasp has been discovered damaging trees on Kaua’i, Maui and the Kona side of the Big Island. “It’s so prolific and rapidly dispersing that we just can’t stop it,” said Ken Teramoto, chief of the biological control section of the state Department of Agriculture. The problem is so bad that some members of the conservation and science community are busily preparing for the worst — collecting seeds from the native wiliwili, E. sandwicensis, just in case the population of the ancient low dryland forest tree is wiped out. The problem is so new that officials aren’t sure what to do. The Erythrina gall wasp was first identified only last year by a Korean scientist who examined specimens taken from Singapore, Mauritius and Reunion islands. Since that time, Taiwan has reported struggling with coral tree damage caused by the same wasp, and officials here suspect the tiny insect — the male is 1 millimeter in length, the size of a grain of sand — made its way to Hawai’i in a shipment from Taiwan. The leaf damage, or gall, is a reaction to wasp larvae developing within the plant tissue. According to scientists, trees with heavily galled leaves and stems lose their vigor, become defoliated and can die. Honolulu’s city-run botanical gardens have been hit hard. The five gardens are home to a diverse collection of erythrina trees, accumulated with the help of botanical gardens from around the world. But now many of those trees are being crippled. “There are no deaths yet, but it looks like it’s coming,” said Joshlyn Sand, Honolulu Botanical Gardens horticulturist. In the meantime, a seed weevil has also targeted these trees, Bartlett noted, and together they may act as a double whammy to seal the tree’s fate. http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050807/NEWS11/508070352/1021/NEWS

Canada:

22) One plan being developed would give companies the flexibility to quickly change their timber harvesting agreements in order to log areas threatened by the bugs, Coutts said. “We will meet with industry representatives to look at some of our harvesting plans to maybe focus on mature pine stands. It is the mature pine that the beetle goes after,” he said. “We take that mature pine forest and get rid of it. That will act as a buffer and stop the beetle as well.” The burn-cut strategy is being applauded by Alberta’s forestry industry, but environmentalists say the province is moving too quickly without public input. Since mid-July, helicopter-borne crews have found and destroyed 5,000 infected trees in the remote area, which is uncomfortably close to rich stands of commercial timber outside the park. “We’ve hit it hard,” Sustainable Resource Development Minister David Coutts said. “We know if we stop it early we will have success. We don’t want to see what happened in British Columbia happen to Alberta.” The tiny beetle is one tough resilient bug. About the size of a grain of rice, the beetle has a built-in antifreeze system that allows it to withstand all but the most intense cold. http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2005/08/07/1163268-cp.html

England:

23) A WALKWAY 120ft high is being planned to soar above the treetops of one of England’s largest natural forests. The path would wind above the canopy of Thetford Forest in Norfolk, enabling visitors to view one of the richest natural environments in the English countryside from a new perspective for the first time. “We want to re-create the feeling you get when you break through the clouds in an aeroplane and you see the ocean of clouds below you, except this time you will be able to see 50,000 trees,” said Tristram Mayhew, founder of Go-Ape!, an outdoor pursuits company based in the forest which conceived the plan. If the project is a success, there are plans for up to five similar walkways in other forests across the country, including the National Arboretum in Westonbirt, Gloucestershire. The designers hope to attract 80,000 visitors a year who will reach the walkway up a flight of steps. A lift powered by a wind turbine will allow access to wheelchair users and the elderly. Walkers will be able to see some 200 different species of tree among the 50,000 specimens growing in the forest. Andrew Mitchell, the director of the Global Canopy Programme, said visitors would be surprised at the tameness of the animals in the treetops. “Up there birds and animals are not afraid of humans,” he said. “If more people get to see this side of life, that is fantastic.” http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1724304,00.html

24) A British government study has determined planting trees in dry countries to attract rainfall is not only a myth but also a very damaging practice. As part of its foreign aid, Britain spends millions each year planting trees to create “cloud forests,” but the international study directed by Newcastle University said the money is being wasted. In India, South Africa and Tanzania, the study showed plantation forests actively wasted water and were “ineffective” or “counterproductive” at retaining water, The Telegraph reported. The study also said efforts to convert agricultural land to forest actually caused a 16-percent to 26-percent reduction in water yield, and said rainfall evaporates up to twice as fast in forests as it does in treeless areas. http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20050809-10440900-bc-britain-trees.xml

Brazil:

25) Brazil will increase monitoring of logging in the Amazon rainforest and raise fines for those caught clearing trees, Environment Minister Marina Silva said. Brazil this year will hire 100 forest engineers to oversee logging and agricultural projects in the region, Silva said in an interview in Brasilia. In June, the government fired 84 officials, mostly state government employees who monitored logging practices, on charges they aided illegal forest- clearing. “Stronger control over the Amazon will enable us to reach a lasting and effective drop in deforestation,” Silva said. http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000086&sid=aFnoDz3wMzXA&refer=news_index

Malaysia:

26) With raw rubber facing tough competition against synthetic rubber in the international market, the new forest plantation project was proposed to diversify the use of the rubber tree. The government provides land for the investors in return for a 15% share of the profits from the venture. Dr Ng said he believes there is potential in this area. Firstly, the export of rubber wood products, which are commonly known as “Malaysian oak”, increased to RM6bil in 2004, from RM4bil the previous year. The rubber wood industry also wants to capitalise on dwindling natural forest resources, and rubber wood has proven to be a good substitute. Furthermore, the industry has an existing demand in specialised wood-based-industries such as furniture and medium density fireboard mills. The main trunk of the rubber tree is converted to wood for furniture, and the canopy wood (the top half of a tree trunk) is used for fibreboard. http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/8/7/business/11684697&sec=business

27) The gazetting of 7,504ha of forest at Bukit Bauk, Dungun, as a recreational area has led to an unexpected find — rare camphor trees and the Livistonia endauensis fan palm. Researchers have also found 89 species of trees and plants endemic to Bukit Bauk.
Terengganu Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh is excited by the discoveries which he feels will help in Malaysia’s efforts in biotechnology. “Each new discovery brings hope for research into the biochemical properties of these species. “We may find something that can save lives,” he said after visiting the area, which is 85km from here, this morning. He said the gazetting two months ago made the area the largest educational and recreational forest nationwide.He said the camphor trees (Dryobalanops aromatica) were not common while the fan palm was thought to be endemic to the Endau-Rompin forest.
The Bukit Bauk recreational forest is the second noteworthy development in recent conservation activities in the State, the first being the gazetting of 49,107ha of forest in Tasik Kenyir, Hulu Terengganu. “Forests are a heritage that must be preserved. This is our contribution to future generations,” Idris said. http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Monday/National/20050808083355/Article/indexb_html

Philippines:

28) Environmentalists expressed dismay that workers had started cutting trees on the site. They said the city government should stop any activity in the park since a case was still pending in court. The group had questioned the Certificate of Non-Coverage (CNC) issued by the Laguna Lake Development Authority, saying the area had already been declared an archaeological site. But Quiñones stressed that they were given a CNC instead of an Environmental Compliance Certificate because the area used to be an office compound, and not a forest park. The disputed property was the old site of the Department of Education. She added that the government project would cover less than 10 percent of the 2.1-hectare property. But Regina Paterno, president of Winner Foundation, caretakers of the park, said they were dismayed that the city government “locked the gate and blocked the back entrance to the park beside the Pasig River.” She added that they had to use a ladder at the front gate to enter the forest park last Sunday when they held a Mass for the late Sen. Raul Roco. “This is supposed to be a public area,” Paterno said. http://news.inq7.net/metro/index.php?index=1&story_id=46274

China:

29) Singapore-based Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), part of Indonesia’s Sinar Mas Group, has been accused of illegal logging of natural forest in southwest China’s Yunnan province. The alleged deforestation was done as part of a vast wood-for-paper project, in which APP and the Yunnan government are cooperating. The project area covers almost two million hectares in Yunnan, most of which is currently primary tropical forest, Huang Xu of the environmental group Greenpeace told Asia Times Online. Despite the announcement by China’s State Forestry Administration (SFA) this March that it had stopped illegal logging by APP, sources in Yunnan this month confirmed that the logging goes on uninterrupted. In protest, a coalition of environmental organizations and student groups has initiated a boycott of APP’s products. The scandal, exposed by Newsweek magazine, was picked up by Greenpeace at the end of 2004. Greenpeace China’s investigation referred to a contract, signed in 2002 between APP and Yunnan’s provincial government, to plant fast-growing eucalyptus plantations over a vast area in the southern part of the province. Contrary to APP and local government assertions that the project would be set in a barren wasteland, several environmental groups claimed, after investigations, that most of the area is in fact primary forest. Since 1998, China has banned all logging in its natural forests, and is trying to push forward reforestation programs as part of its “Great Green Wall” policy, which acknowledges the importance of forests to China’s economy and environment. Provincial governments, however, often ignore or bend these regulations, seeking fast development and tax revenues, and encourage foreign investments at whatever cost. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/GH09Ad02.html

30) China’s forest protection program designs to entail over 100 billion yuan (12.3 billion US dollars) within 10 years to recover the ecology of natural forests. Following seven years’ investment, tree felling for commercial use has been prohibited in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River. Key state-owned forest zones in China’s northeast region and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have reduced the number of trees cut down every year. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/07/content_3322443.htm

31) Highly advanced monitoring systems have been established in some of China’s natural reserves, against the illegal and indiscriminate chopping of trees. In central China’s Shennongjia Biosphere Reserve, one of China’s most famous Green Treasure Houses, high technologies including geographic informing, global positioning, and satellite remote sensing systems now provide real time monitoring against illegal chopping and fire warnings, according to Liao Mingrao from the Shennongjia Reserve. “In the past, we needed as many as 110 people to guard the forests. Now with the help of the advanced monitoring system, we only need 72 people. And now, much less time is taken to collect information.” While saving the green land, local residents who used to live by chopping trees and selling wood, find that they now live a better life without destroying the forests. Flowers, fruit trees, herbs planting and so on are their new alternatives. More than 90% of the 740 thousand redundant lumbermen nationwide have seen thier income increasing by more than 10% with their new careers during the past decade. http://en1.chinabroadcast.cn/2238/2005-8-9/135@264538.htm

32) Mei Decheng, a former lumberman in central China’s Shennongjia for more than 20 years, dropped his ax and whipsaw seven years ago and became a forest guard. The experienced lumberman witnessed the huge change in Shennongjia, a nature reserve in central China’s Hubei Province, over the past 30 years. “The mountains are more green, the water is cleaner and the animals are back,” the 55-year-old lumberman said. With a total area of 3,200 square kilometers, Shennongjia is famous for its abundant natural resources. From 1965 to 1985, it was the key timber source of central China region. During that period, with the goal of constructing a commercial timber base, Shennongjia had to made money by constructing roads and logging, said Tan Huizai, a local official. Honghuaduo, a forestry center in Shennongjia, alone offered timber at 15,000 cubic meters a year, which meant cutting down 20,000 to 30,000 trees of 30-centimeter-diameter every year. “At that time, one who logged the most would be the model worker,” said Wu Shuming, a worker in the forestry center. Deforestation for years led to serious damage of forest resources in the late 1980s. No more big trees could be found for logging by then and the Honghuaduo forestry center had to change its developing pattern, said Wu. Following the change of forest policy of the central government, Shennongjia made protecting the environment and developing tourism and green industry its goal in 1997. The yearly output of commercial timber decreased from 100,000 cubic meters in the 1980s to 40,000 cubic meters in the 1990s. And in 2000, tree felling was banned in Shennongjia. As a result, the environment of Shennongjia dramatically improved. The stream beside Wenshui forestry center, which used to be dry in the winter, again flows with clear water all year round, said Mei Decheng, who works at the center. Ibexes, wild boars, and leopards, which had once disappeared due to over exploitation of forest resources, are now neighbors with the forest guards again. Apart from taking care of trees in the forest, Mei has the part-time job of beekeeping, which brings him 3,000 yuan (about 375 US dollars) more per year. “The quality and output of honey has been better because of the environmental protection, and my income has increased by several times —that’s a return to nature for me,” Mei said. Enditem http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/09/content_3327724.htm

Australia:

33) Tasmania’s forestry chief has rejected suggestions he is overstating the link between an anti-logging campaign and the latest round of job cuts. Forestry Tasmania is offering up 20 voluntary redundancies to absorb losses from reduced pulpwood export contracts, and says green groups are squarely to blame. The job cuts will affect less than 4 per cent of Forestry Tasmania’s work force. Chief executive Evan Rolley is adamant both competitive factors and misinformation from green groups lobbying overseas have led to big reductions in Asian sales. He says he is simply stating the facts. “You might think it’s a game in which the parties from either side try to overstate their case, I don’t,” Mr Rolley said. Terry Edwards, from the Forest Industries Association, also blames environmentalists for the downturn. “As more and more orders are lost or reduced, the greater will be the impact on ordinary Tasmanian workers,” Mr Edwards said. But the Australian Greens have joined the Wilderness Society in calling for Mr Rolley to resign. Greens leader Bob Brown says the contracts have been lost due to mismanagement and it is time for Mr Rolley to stand aside. “I think he should go but the question is his replacement. Will they have a different philosophy?” Senator Brown said. Vica Bayley, from the Wilderness Society, says Mr Rolley should take one of the 20 voluntary redundancies. “I just call on Mr Rolley to put up his hand to be the first one to take these voluntary redundancies,” Ms Bayley said. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200508/s1431649.htm

34) A FATHER and son ripped $12 million of ferns and logs from native forests, causing environmental devastation, a court heard yesterday. Prosecutors allege they used bulldozers, chainsaws and excavators to plunder soft tree ferns and hardwood logs in forest bordering Gippsland’s Strzelecki Ranges. They dumped old tyres and oil-filled drums, destroyed surrounding vegetation and damaged nearby creeks. Michael Caldwell, 61, and Kelly Caldwell, 26, appeared before Moe Magistrates’ Court yesterday charged with more than 100 offences, including theft and criminal damage to the environment. They were also charged over conspiracy to take, move and process protected flora. If convicted they may face up to 17 years’ jail. Prosector Kieran Gilligan told the court the value of tree ferns and hardwood stolen from the 50ha of Crown, plantation and private land was almost $12 million. This included retail value of at least $11 million and government royalties of $600,000. The court heard ferns were sold to unsuspecting retailers such as Bunnings before ending up in thousands of back yards. Mr Gilligan said the Caldwells often camped on the land, near Boolarra, between 2000 and last year while illegally harvesting the trees. The Traralgon men had damaged the forest extensively by driving their bulldozers into the landscape and partly damming the nearby Franklin River with logs. This affected the water quality of the river and connecting creeks. Mr Gilligan told the court the Caldwells also dumped 400 tyres at the forest site as well as 60 oil-filled drums. “These drums are leaking and contaminating the soil and surrounding environment,” he said. The court heard that a Department of Environment and Sustainability-led investigation discovered the alleged rampage in May 2003. http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,16208844%255E2862,00.html