018OEC’s This Week in Trees

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This week we have 38 articles from British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Georgia, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, USA, UK, Mexico, Ghana, New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, World-wide

British Columbia:

1) “Taxpayer-funded greenwashing of the logging industry’s destruction of old-growth forests is totally inappropriate at the new ferry terminal. Three new, large displays, with highly misleading factoids and photos about the state of BC’s forests are mounted on large wooden structures (cross sections of giant old-growth trees) in a prominent location in the new Tsawwassen Quay, which has replaced the former publicly-owned ferry terminal. The gist of the text and photos conveys the message that “all is well in BC’s forests” and BC’s forests, wildlife, and endangered species are being managed sustainably. Display quote: “BC has 12 million hectares of protected lands where no forestry, mining, or industrial development is allowed.” Truth 12 million hectares consist of alpine tundra, subalpine marginal forests, and bogs. About 3 million hectares of our parks consists of productive forests. The Wilderness Committee is calling on the Gordon Campbell government to immediately remove the blatant logging industry propaganda displays from the ferry terminal or else face a growing public campaign. Everyone who sees this anti-environmental garbage should let their BC Liberal MLA’s know in no uncertain terms what they think about it – as well as the owners of the Tsawwassen Quay,” states Wu. “We need to protect more ancient forests in BC, not slickly rationalize their liquidation and conversion into tree plantations.” –Ken Wu, WCWC Victoria

Washington:

2) More than 50 independent log truckers parked their rigs and refused to work this morning, as a protest over the high price of fuel – and, they say, timber companies’ refusal to help defray the costs. “They’re paying us on a scale that hasn’t been updated since 1984,” said Rick Smith, president of the Twin Harbors Division of the Northwest Log Truckers’ Co-operative. “Everybody knows that in 2005, you can’t live on what you worked for in 1984.” The problem, Smith said, is that the “big three” timber companies on the Twin Harbors – Weyerhaeuser, Rayonier, and Sierra Pacific – only pay a surcharge of between nine and 13 percent for fuel on each load of logs. The national average, he said, is currently at 23 percent. “We’ve made these companies millions,” Smith said. “It’s time to say no. We can’t even fill our pickups with gas, much less our log trucks.” Weyerhaeuser spokeswoman Marian Snyder said her company is sensitive to the plight of the independent log trucker, but the price of fuel is not something Weyerhaeuser can control. “We do offer a surcharge but we can’t control the rising fuel costs ourselves,” Snyder said. “It really is an issue with the fuel industry. We’re under the same situation (as the independents) with our own trucks. We don’t want our contract drivers to be hurt by rising fuel costs, but we think we’re offering an honest surcharge, and we’re reviewing it all the time.” http://www.thedailyworld.com/articles/2005/08/10/local_news/01news.txt

3) The shy northern spotted owl – last decade’s symbol of the Pacific Northwest logging wars – once again finds itself at the center of the dispute. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has agreed to develop a recovery plan for the rare bird, which has been listed as threatened with extinction since 1990. It’s too early to say whether it would further restrict logging in forests where the owl lives. “We are in the very early stages of developing a process for doing this,” said Joan Jewett, a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service spokeswoman in Portland. Whether an official owl recovery plan would change that and whether it would benefit the owl is unclear. “I just don’t have a clue,” said Eric Forsman, a U.S. Forest Service biologist in Corvallis, Ore., who is the region’s leading spotted owl expert. In all, 11,432 banded owls were monitored by researchers who collaborated in the population study. But no one knows how many spotted owls still inhabit the bird’s historic range, which extends from Washington to northern California. Advocates for the spotted owl don’t believe the Bush administration will prepare the kind of recovery plan needed to guarantee the bird a future, she said. “But how can you say no to a recovery plan when one is not in place?” The fate of the spotted owl and its reliance upon disappearing old-growth forests have been the subjects of controversy for more than 20 years. “We need swift and strict timelines,” Heath Packard of Audubon Washington told the forest board. “Your rules are not attaining their objectives. … We need to address multiple threats with multiple fixes.” http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413,208~12588~3003204,00.html
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/236111_owl11.html

4) “We are left somewhat confused by the board decision,” he said. “This decision leaves Vermont lagging far behind both New Hampshire and Maine, our neighbors, who have broadly designated many, many waters in their states.” He said the requirements to achieve the protective designation as defined by the board’s decision will place “an immense burden on organizations that have limited resources and are just trying to protect the waters of the state,” Kilian said. — A large group of streams, ponds and wetlands in the Green Mountain National Forest and the land that surrounds them will not be guaranteed special protection, the board that oversees water quality in Vermont decided Tuesday. If those waters had been approved for “outstanding resource water” designation, it could have had an impact on a significant portion of the forest. Only four water sources in the state now have the protective designation, which prohibits most activities that can cause permanent damage. The Water Resources Board agreed with environmentalists who said many of the waterways under consideration are among the most pristine in the state — one of the requirements for reclassifying them. However, the board concluded that not enough evidence was presented to warrant putting the 66 streams, ponds and wetlands — many high in the Green Mountains — into one of the most restrictive categories of protected waters. Road building, logging and other activities in the forest could have been affected by the designation, although they would not have been stopped, environmentalists said.

Oregon:

5) So far, Biscuit salvage timber has fetched an average of $75 per thousand board feet, compared with earlier Forest Service estimates of $187 to $250 per thousand board feet. The total sales to date have a contract value of about $5 million. In March 2004, the economic consulting firm ECONorthwest completed an analysis of the financial consequences of the Biscuit salvage project. The report estimates that taxpayers would lose $22 million on a 300 million board foot salvage project, including planning, administration and cleanup. But costs are proving to be even higher, because the report assumes an optimistic selling price that is four times the actual selling price for the initial sales. And the report doesn’t factor in the costs of long-term recovery efforts or losses to the local tourism and fishing industries. The Forest Service keeps income from timber sales in a slush fund, but taxpayers foot the bill for planning and administration. “To the Forest Service, there’s no such thing as a cost,” he says. “What it costs to you and me, to them is a bigger budget. They get to pay themselves bigger salaries, hire more people, build a bigger empire. And salvage logging is a great way to do it.” Native Forest Council President Tim Hermach puts it bluntly: “The Biscuit salvage project is clearly a scam to transfer public wealth to industry. There’s nothing honest about the timber industry. Unfortunately, the Forest Service has become equally dishonest.” http://www.eugeneweekly.com/2005/08/11/news.html#news1

6) Retired forester Bob Wolf, who helped draft the National Forest Management Act of 1976, did a 13-year cash flow analysis on Forest Service timber sales. He says that taxpayers have lost an average of $985 per acre on every timber sale in the Siskiyou National Forest since 1992. In regards to the Biscuit salvage sales, Wolf says, “It doesn’t take a genius to see that if you’re only getting $75 per thousand board feet, you’re losing your shirt.” Why would the Forest Service intentionally lose money? Andy Stahl, executive director of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, says that the agency doesn’t lose out — the public does.

7) The Oregon Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a timber company did not qualify for compensation from the state when the Oregon Department of Forestry barred it from cutting down trees around a bald eagle nest. Reversing a ruling by the Oregon Court of Appeals, the Oregon Supreme Court in Salem concluded that regulating private property in line with public policy is not equivalent to taking a piece of property for public use, and in any event, the Department of Forestry had allowed logging on most of the property. In a unanimous opinion written by Justice Rives Kistler, the Supreme Court found that a state wildlife regulation does not amount to a taking when it bars logging, and the state constitution clause guaranteeing compensation when private property is taken for a public use applies only when the full economic use of the property is denied, not just a portion. http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1123787783215470.xml&storylist=orlocal

8) Three-log loads are as rare as yellow jackets in February, and so are the sawmills that can handle any log larger than 30 inches in diameter. Automatic board sorters and stackers are standard equipment in the sawmill, replacing the men of the “green chain.” Computers adorn every dashboard and control panel from stump to finished board. There are fewer sawmills, fewer logging companies and fewer jobs in an industry that was once the cornerstone of Oregon’s economy. Out in the forest, the trees continue to grow just as they have since fish grew feet. The stump moonscape so infamously predicted by the enviro community is nowhere to be seen, and a vast expanse of greenery greets every forest visitor. Every year, there is more old growth. Every year, urbanites demand more forest protection because of the abuses done a century ago. Every year, the enviro community creates a new crisis to solicit more funds. After all, if there was no crisis, there would be no need for contributions or the enviro organizations. The forest is never static, despite what we perceive in our short time on Earth. Despite what we do or don’t do, the trees will continue to grow. Old-timers will pass, and new old-timers will evolve to take their places. But the trees will continue just as they have for millions of years. http://159.54.226.83/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050812/OPINION/508120312/1049

9) Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski has publicly urged the Forest Service not to log roadless forests in the Siskiyou. While this is an important first step, we need him to back up these words and hold the Forest Service accountable. The Bush Forest Service has prepared the Mike’s Gulch logging sale which threatens the beautiful South Kalmiopsis roadless area – Oregon’s largest unprotected wild forest. Part of the extreme Biscuit logging project, Mike’s Gulch would be the first logging of roadless forests in the nation since the popular Roadless Area Conservation Rule was approved in 2001. Unfortunately, other logging in the Siskiyou Wild Rivers area continues despite legal challenges and courageous protests, including the Hobson, McGuire, Steed and Berry logging sales. www.siskiyou.org

10) Yesterday, August 9th, at around one o’clock, Forest Service Law Enforcement Officers, including Officer Paul Williamson, Officer Lee Fox, and Officer G.W. Ross, made a reckless but unsuccessful attempt to forcibly remove a dedicated protestor who has been living in the tree-tops. The elaborate and unusual tree sit, known as an Upper Canopy Protection Station, stretches across multiple acres and is currently blocking logging within a unit of the Hobson old-growth reserve timber sale in the Biscuit Fire Area. A network of ropes, stretching throughout the unit slated for logging, support the platform the activist is living on. The support lines are tied into dozens of trees, preventing loggers from falling those trees as well as any trees in the area that could fall into the support lines and endanger the safety of the person living atop the platform. However, USFS law enforcement officers, who appeared either not to comprehend the design of the structure, or not to prioritize the survival of the tree sitter, made the rash decision to disable much of the structure by haphazardly cutting vital support lines. Officer Paul Williamson was able to spur-climb a tree in which one of the anchors for the support line had been placed, then without giving warning to the young man in the platform, cut the support line, causing the platform to tip precariously. Despite the fact that the platform tipped dangerously after having one support line disabled, Williamson, with the help of the two other officers, climbed a second tree and cut a second support line. This caused the platform to fall five feet and to tip completely vertically. At this point the young man was no longer supported by the platform, but was left dangling in the air by his backup safety line. Only after the officers cut the two life lines did they inquire whether the young man was wearing a harness and safety attachment. If the activist had not been wearing a safety device which anchored him to the tree he would have fallen off of the platform and easily could have been killed. The man was able to reattach the safety lines to the tree and re-level the platform. Despite having his life placed in extreme danger by Forest Service the man in the platform is determined to continue his stay in the tree. After surviving the incredibly perilous situation, the young man expressed that his deep love for the forest would give him the strength to continue to put his life on the line to protect the last 5% of old-growth forests left in this country. The Forest Service recently issued a closure order on the timber sale area and the roads leading to it, citing safety concerns as their number one rationale. Indeed, the Forest Service has created the unsafe conditions with their aggressive actions and have stood idly by while employees of Greg Liles logging company have sexually harassed, physically assaulted and threatened the lives of the peaceful protestors. Wild Siskiyou Action/Shanna Foley: 541-659-2682

11) Meanwhile, the young woman suspended in the “Sky Pod” that blocked the road leading to the Hobson’s sale on Monday came down on her own and escaped without arrest after loggers failed to evict her and bulldozed a make shift road around her blockade. Forest Service Law Enforcement Officers are currently combing the area searching for activists to evict from the area. Activists maintain that this closure, as well as the previous closure issued at the Fiddler sale, are unconstitutional and will be struck down by the courts as early as the end of this week. A Josephine County judge is hearing a constitutional challenge to the Fiddler closure this Friday in Grants Pass, while the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to rule any day on an Injunction Order that would halt all Biscuit logging immediately. Wild Siskiyou Action/Shanna Foley: 541-659-2682

12) We were finishing up breakfast when two logger pickup trucks pulled up next to our jeep on the road. Two loggers got out and walked down the little path and into our camp. They asked if we were up because of the Hobson Timber Sale. We answered and said “Yes, we work for the Siskiyou Project and are doing legitt paid work just like the rest of you all.” One of the loggers expressed concern for their equipment and asked that we not bother it. We assured them that we had no such intentions that we would respect their work as we hope they will do the same for us. The loggers said that they agreed to respect our work and belongings too. Next one of the loggers started going off about Joan Norman (loved activist recently passed on) in a very negative maner. Nawa politely asked that we not have this converation because it hurt. The logger than became agressive and verabally abusive yelling at Nawa repeatedly to “shut up” and bad mothing Joan more, complaning about Greg Lyles (logging company deforesting the Hobson sale) loss of his own son. Nawa kept his ultra cool on and focused on peacful non-confrontational meditation. When it became clear that the logger was not going to stop verbally attacking us and yelling, Shelton chimmed in saying “It is 7:30 a.m. and I’m not sure what business you have coming into our camp space nor do I understand why it is that you are yelling at us when we are sitting right in front of you.” The logger seemed to
thankfully give up on their attack at this point. They soon quit
and finally left us. www.siskiyou.org

13) The Salem District of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) just released the Environmental Assessment (EA) and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for what they are calling the “2006 Thinning Projects,” which includes the Annie’s Cabin project in the Molalla River Recreation Corridor. The proposal has grown to include 4 projects, spanning 6 watersheds. These include: Annie’s Cabin (Upper Molalla River watershed), Missouri Ridge (Rock Creek and Pudding River watersheds), Snakehouse (Little and Middle North Santiam), and Round Mountain (Crabtree Creek and Hamilton Creek). Included are logging 271 acres of Riparian Reserves and 20 acres of Late Successional Reserves (which includes some 115 year-old stands!). Upper Willamette River Chinook salmon, steelhead trout (both threatened species) inhabit areas just downstream. 246 acres of dispersal habitat for the Northern spotted owl (threatened) will also be logged. These forests are recovering well from severe past mismanagement. They should be left alone, not logged again! We need your help to stop this misguided proposal in its tracks. More information posted on Bark’s website http://www.bark-out.org/tsdb/detail.php?sale=anniec

14) On July 2, 2005, a judge in the US District Court in Anchorage, Alaska, determined that the Forest Service could no longer hide behind Categorical Exclusions to push through logging projects disguised as “healthy forest” projects. (Case No. CIV F-03-6386 JKS) This ruling has a huge national impact that will give concerned citizens the opportunity to appeal harmful or illegal projects. This is great victory for the people and our wildlands! Categorical Exclusion (CE) was a tool the Forest Service used to sidestep the legal planning process required for all other proposed projects in the name of urgency for public health or safety. No environmental assessment was completed and the public was cut out of the review and appeal process. While it may sound like a good idea to some, CEs are often abused by the Forest Service to get the “timber” to the mill; all they have to do is change the name of a logging project to a “hazard tree” or “fuels reduction” project and it can be categorically excluded. Until now, the public has had no recourse with a CE project but to sue, which is exactly what they say they don’t want the public to do! www.bark-out.org

California:

15) Pacific Lumber Co. gained permission under the 1999 Headwaters deal for certain logging activities that environmentalists said would harm populations of coho salmon and marbled murrelets, a seabird that nests in old growth redwoods. A Humboldt County Superior Court judge revoked the permits in 2003, saying they violated the California Endangered Species Act. In February, the state Department of Fish and Game cleared the way for the company to log the disputed areas when it ruled that Pacific Lumber’s conservation plan complied with state law. The lawsuit filed Monday by the Center for Biological Diversity alleges the agency acted without proper review when it did so. The center’s conservation director, Peter Galvin, called the permit “an extinction plan for the marbled murrelet and coho salmon.” He said the department “tried to sneak this decision through without involving the public.” The Department of Fish and Game earlier estimated that the company’s plans to log 210,000 acres would kill as many as 340 marbled murrelets by destroying 10,000 acres of their nesting habitat. Streams where coho salmon spawn also would be harmed by erosion from logging, the agency found. But the department now says the company is fully compensating for that loss, contrary to the judge’s 2003 decision, according to the lawsuit. The February decision was an administrative finding that a federally approved plan meets state standards, department spokesman Mike Wintemute said. The Department of Fish and Game also is appealing the Humboldt County judge’s decision. Meanwhile, it is continuing on the presumption that the company’s conservation plan is valid, Wintemute said. Pacific Lumber spokesman Chuck Center said the company was declining comment. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/12342711.htm

16) Seven activists who were dragged down from Northern California redwoods and arrested in 2003 to clear the way for logging got a boost Thursday in their lawsuit against Pacific Lumber after Judge Quentin Kopp denied the timber company’s attempts to relieve them of allegations of civil rights violations. PL is suing the activists for trespass and conspiracy, but the treesitters fired back with counter-suits late last year that contend PL and their hired “treesit extractors” were acting under “color of law” when they acted in concert with Humboldt County Sheriffs to forcibly remove activists from up to 200 feet above the ground. The cross-complaints include allegations of assault, battery, infliction of emotional distress, kidnapping, and negligence, in addition to civil rights violations. Activist Lindsey Holm, who was just eighteen when she was forcibly removed from the 1,600 year-old redwood that once stood a few miles from where she was born, was encouraged by the judge’s ruling. “This is an on-going battle in both the woods and the courts,” she said. “We’re pleased the judge agreed with us on this one.” PL’s first attempts last May to have the activists’ lawsuits thrown out all together failed when the court rejected their argument that the counter-suits weren’t filed on time. Since then, PL’s tactic has been to cut down the allegations of civil rights violations, as well as references in the cross-complaints to the full-scale ad campaign that flooded TV, radio and print media with inflammatory accusations that the treesitters were violent “eco-terrorists.” The ruling was based on a July 29, 2005 hearing in Eureka, during which the judge struck some of the language from the cross-complaints and took the arguments on PL’s objection (called a “demurrer”) to the “color of law” claim under submission. The activists have until August 15 to re-file their cross-complaints. From: remedy@riseup.net

17) FAMED for the biggest trees in the world, Sequoia National Park is now No. 1 in another flora department: marijuana growing, with more land carved up by pot growers than any other park. bhParts of Sequoia, including the Kaweah River drainage and areas off Mineral King Road, are no-go zones for visitors and park rangers during the April-to-October growing season, when drug lords cultivate pot on an agribusiness-scale fit for the Central Valley. “I’ve had meetings with law enforcement throughout the state, and everybody just sits there with their mouths open. Nobody can believe this has happened on the scale that it has,” says William Ruzzamenti, a 30-year Drug Enforcement Administration official who heads up the Central Valley High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, a program that spearheads drug investigations and has provided support to Sequoia and Kings Canyon. Pot plantations have surged as Mexican-affiliated drug cartels adapt to increased border security since 9/11 and cash in on the rising price of high-grade weed, now more profitable than methamphetamine, according to investigators. Oddly enough, public outcry has been remarkably muted. Sequoia Kings Canyon spokesperson Alexandra Picavet thinks the drug debate has kept the problem from getting traction. “People get blinded by the marijuana issue…. We don’t want people planting asparagus on the land, either. This is agricultural assault on a national park, no matter what they’re growing.” Lawmakers say the issue is crowded out by more pressing matters. This year’s federal drug-control strategy did not address pot cultivation on public land. And the Sierra Club acknowledges other priorities than drug bandits. http://www.latimes.com/features/la-os-potfarm9aug09,1,5484369.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

18) Timber production from the Stanislaus National Forest could double in coming years, U.S. Forest Service officials say. The possible increase was announced at the end of three public workshops held by Forest Service officials this week to help guide the focus of the forest’s five-year plan. “The mills were getting almost nothing and when you double almost nothing you still get very little,” she said of the suggested 25 million board-feet annual harvest. She further said the group is concerned that the threat of fire will only intensify unless more trees and brush are removed from the forest. “It’s not just about keeping the mills open, it is doing the right thing,” the Sonora woman said. Beutler, who attended all three meetings, called the workshops a waste of time. For the U.S. Forest Service to hold a meeting with environmental advocates and timber representatives and expect a consensus on forest management is ridiculous, she said. “I would like to know what planet they are living on,” she said of forest leaders. http://www.uniondemocrat.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=18088

19) Would you kill an owl to save another owl? It’s not a thought experiment from your Intro to Ethics class: Northern spotted owls — the feathered poster children of last decade’s timber wars — are dwindling in the Pacific Northwest, and bigger, more aggressive barred owls, which have migrated to the region from Canada’s Great Plains, are being blamed for at least part of the decline. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is planning an experimental hunt of barred owls in California to see if picking off a few will encourage spotted owls to return to their nests. Though timber-industry reps are playing up the role of the barred owl in the spotted owl’s decline, experts point out that logging, wildfire, and West Nile virus are also contributors. Some 59,000 acres of spotted-owl forest habitat were logged between 1996 and 2004, according to a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife researcher. The U.S. FWS announced this week that it will draw up a recovery plan for the spotted owl; a draft is due next year. The owls first migrated to Canada and were noticed in Washington in 1973 and spread down through the forested mountains into California. In some areas, like the Elwha Valley, the barred owl has driven out virtually all spotted owls. Courtney said the omnivorous barred owl has even moved into suburbia — 30 have been counted on Bainbridge Island near Seattle. The “invasion” would be considered a worrisome development even without the spotted owl problem, he said. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/08/09/state/n211959D47.DTL

20) Some cities — Manila for example — love to cut down trees. Sacramento nurtures them like they’re people. California’s capital and Manila’s sister city plants trees endlessly not only for aesthetics. It does so to block the harsh valley sun. Sacramento’s trees help prevent the “heat island effect” — a climatic scourge that develops over cities as natural vegetation gives way to asphalt, concrete and other man-made materials. If Arroceros Park — Manila’s last urban forest were in Sacramento — it would be a crime to take down its trees. And the mayor who orders them felled could be signing his political death warrant. There’s a quote from naturalist John Muir that conveys Sacramentans’ dislike for those who uproot trees without rhyme or reason: “God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools.” Sacramento’s love affair with trees started during the time of John Augustus Sutter in whose property the famous California Gold Rush started in 1849. The first Sacramentans led by Sutter planted oak and sycamore trees to counter the heat. http://news.inq7.net/metro/index.php?index=1&story_id=46603

21) It was nearly a year ago that the devastating Power Fire whipped through the Eldorado National Forest in Amador County, charring 16,000 acres of pristine wilderness and choking the Sacramento valley and Sierra Nevada foothills with pluming gray clouds of smoke. Ten months later – and with the scars still visible in the blackened thickets of forest land – community leaders and forestry officials gathered at the Panther Ridge access point among the ravaged trees to voice their support for a Unites States Department of Agriculture Forest Service plan that would harvest most of the dead wood for saleable timber. Investigators still have not found the person or persons responsible for starting last year’s blaze, although they do believe it was man-made. The harvesting has already begun, with Sierra Pacific Industries awarded two of the first six timber sale contracts for a timber volume of 41 million board feet and for a total amount of $5.36 million. The project was broken into six individual sales, said Pat Farrell of the Eldorado National Forest, because it was simply too great an effort for any one company. The next bid will be awarded Aug. 17. “What unfortunately tends to happen is the logging industries take the larger trees rather than the smaller ones,” leaving behind the brush and smaller stalks that are drivers of fire in favor of larger trees with more economic value. Evatt said she is concerned the forest service plan allows for too many big trees to be taken, endangering the habitats of woodpeckers, which are the natural predators of bark beetles. Furthermore, if the companies awarded the bid then tractor-logged where new trees are sprouting, “those trees are all gone,” meaning the forest service would probably have to engage in reforestation, a workable if not ideal solution. “Logging has always been one of the major industries in this county,” Vinson said during the press conference. The shrinking presence of that industry has created “a devastating effect on the Amador County economy,” he said, one which is still being felt. http://www.ledger-dispatch.com/news/newsview.asp?c=165911

Georgia:

22) Georgia pine trees harbor a record of every hurricane to hit the area in the past century, a new study found. Further research across the Southeast uncovered a hurricane record stretching back more than two centuries. Even a storm from 1780 was revealed in the wood. Researchers hope to apply their arboreal archeology to a broader geographic region, and to older trees, to investigate storm frequency over the past 550 years. “What we’re trying to do is understand frequency of hurricanes and how variable their occurrence is over the long-term,” Mora said. “We’re trying to come up with a reliable way to establish this.” Mora’s team examined early-year and late-year growth. Most hurricanes strike late in the year, with August and September being the busiest months. They probed woody tissues for sudden drops in a particular oxygen isotope called oxygen-18. Hurricane depletes the air of oxygen-18, so a hurricane’s rain has less of it than other downpours. A shallow-rooted tree like the longleaf pine draws from a storm’s rain within a couple weeks, leaving a storm’s calling card in the new tissue. http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/050810_hurricane_trees.html

Wisconsin:

23) A federal judge has blocked a third planned sale of timber from the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in northern Wisconsin, ruling the U.S. Forest Service failed to fully assess the impacts of the logging on the environment. U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman of Milwaukee said the forest service must consider the cumulative impacts of six national forest timber sales approved by the agency in 2003 instead of assessing the sales individually. The ruling blocked the timber sale of about 5,600 acres that straddle Sawyer and Ashland counties near Clam Lake. Last spring, Adelman blocked the selling of logging rights on about 8,800 acres of forest land near Lakewood, in Oconto County, and 7,740 acres in Forest County, about 20 miles east of Eagle River, for similar reasons. The Habitat Education Center, a Madison-based environmental group, sued the forest service last year. “We are pleased that Judge Adelman has consistently ruled to protect clean water, good habitat and outdoor recreation resources in Wisconsin’s North Woods,” said Howard Learner, executive director for the Environmental Law & Policy Center, who presented the case for the plaintiffs. The Habitat Education Center contends the timber sales it challenged would damage the habitat of the red-shouldered hawk, the goshawk and the American marten, all of which reside in areas of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. Gene Francisco, a former state forestry chief and executive director of the Wisconsin Professional Loggers Association, said the ruling will hurt Wisconsin’s forests. “It’s just another nail in the coffin for our forest industry in the state,” he said. “The judge probably thinks he’s protecting the forest but in reality he’s protecting it from what I really don’t know.” http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/12342010.htm

Iowa:

24) About 20 people gathered Tuesday outside North Grand Mall to protest the advertising methods of Victoria’s Secret. The complaints did not focus on barely clad models that adorn the company’s advertisements, but rather on the environmental harm caused by the catalogs themselves. “Victoria’s Dirty Secret” was launched about a year ago to raise awareness of endangered forests being destroyed to create catalogs, said Shana Ortman, campaign organizer for ForestEthics, a San Francisco-based environmental group. She said more than 395 million Victoria’s Secret catalogs are mailed out annually, and the average person on the mailing list receives 24 catalogs a year. http://news.inq7.net/metro/index.php?index=1&story_id=46603

Michigan:

25) It’s a blazing summer day, the mercury once again moving past 90 degrees, but in a patch of ancient woods northeast of this old logging town, it’s cool and dark and damp. The white pines, some of them as big around as kitchen tables, stand 12 stories tall and are more than 300 years old. These 49 acres of old-growth forest at Hartwick Pines State Park hold the only virgin pine trees left in what once was a land of giant conifers stretching from Lake Michigan to Lake Huron. The massive white and red pines helped rebuild Chicago after the Great Fire of 1871. By the early 20th Century, Michigan timber had provided more wealth than all the mining of the California Gold Rush, but all that was left behind was a virtually barren landscape of windswept sand where few crops could grow. A hundred years later, the pines again are growing tall and wide in Michigan. Are they ready for harvesting or should they be left alone? That’s a central question as forest managers plot the future of the Huron-Manistee National Forests, almost 1 million acres of public land east and west of Hartwick Pines. Still, red and white pines at least 100 years old cover only 3,600 acres–less than three-tenths of 1 percent of the forest. The Forest Service projects a big gain in older pines. By 2055, 95,000 acres of pine will be more than 100 years old. But by 2105, a third of those trees will have been cut down, according to the projections. Roberson points to a stand of towering red and white pines on the shores of Wakeley Lake, a prime fishing spot in the national forest just a few miles from Hartwick Pines. Estimated at 100 to 150 years old, the dozen or so Wakeley Lake pines probably were too small for cutting when loggers first came through in the late 1800s. “These are what we could be getting back all over,” Roberson said. “Most of these trees are already older than they would be allowed to get in most of the Huron-Manistee National Forests, and we think of them as teenagers.” http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0508120192aug12,1,4870302.story?coll=chi-newsnation
world-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

Minnesota:

26) Mike Anderson could talk about what makes the Superior Municipal Forest special. But after 20 years of guiding people to experience the 4,500-acre area, he is inclined to let the forest speak for itself. Hearing what it has to say requires using sight, sound and smell; the forest speaks with many voices, Anderson said. The wind whispers through the trees, its tone subtly changing as it moves from aspen to pine to cedar. Its crisp breath blends the scent of clover and raspberry. Ducks quack and splash, fleeing the canoe gliding through tannin-stained waters of Kimball’s Bay. Along the shore, a great blue heron stands watchfully before taking flight to the distant height of the trees, escaping human encroachment. The bay, nestled between Badger Point and Dwight’s Point, has subtle languages of its own. ipples in the water crackle like champagne bubbles in fine crystal as they break on the canoe bow. Reeds zip along the sides. Saw grass hums. Water lilies gently paddle the bottom of the canoe. “The best thing I can say is nothing,” Anderson said. Last month, the Superior City Council voted 6-3 to approve a zoning change that allows Progress Land Co. of Savage, Minn., to begin planning the $330 million resort community on Clough Island, also known as Whiteside Island. The developer is proposing a golf course, hotel, retail village and nearly 700 homes on the 320-acre island in the St. Louis River estuary. Critics of the Clough Island proposal worry that once the road is built, it will lead to more development in the forest, shrinking a treasured resource that has existed for decades. Development pressures in the late 1980s and early 1990s prompted a citizen-driven effort to protect the forest. As a result, a new plan for the forest was devised. The new plan painted a vastly different picture of the forest’s recreational value than its predecessor. The only construction proposed, which has never come to fruition, was an environmental learning center. The plan focused on improving trails, garnering designation as a state natural area and limiting any future logging activity. It also called for public acquisition of Clough Island to protect and recognize the island’s importance to the Pokegama ecosystem.The Nature Conservancy negotiated for years to buy the island to protect its forests and wetlands, but the island was sold in 2002 to a developer.

USA:

27) In an unprecedented step, the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service has appointed a new Director of Law Enforcement and Investigations who lacks any previous law enforcement experience, according to agency documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). To accommodate the move, the agency has hurriedly amended its manual to remove the requirement that the Director of Law Enforcement must be a peace officer, i.e., GS-1811 Criminal Investigator, and to allow the position “Top Secret access” without the normal background checks. Twiss is the first person without any law enforcement qualifications or credentials to occupy the top law enforcement slot. In his new job, Twiss will oversee approximately 660 Special Agents and uniformed Law Enforcement Officers who investigate resource crimes, such as timber theft and fossil poaching, as well as a range of other crimes, such as clandestine drug labs, on 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands covering more than 193 million acres. In addition to his lack of experience, Twiss has also signaled he will seek to end the independence of the law enforcement program by making investigators answer to the forest supervisors and rangers who are often the subject of investigations or may be embarrassed by the outcomes of internal probes. After a series of scandals in the early 1990s involving cover-ups of timber-theft, illegal alien exploitation and prostitution, Congress mandated that the Forest Service law enforcement be independent of, of “stove-piped” from, the agency chain-of-command. “By putting an unqualified suit, such as John Twiss, at the top of the stove pipe, Chief Bosworth has, in essence, gutted both the effectiveness and the independence of the Forest Service’s law enforcement program,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, whose organization led the campaign to convince Congress to order the formation of an independent law enforcement organization.

UK:

28) A coalition of leading environmental NGOs [1], today, attacked the UK Government’s decision to water down its standards for sustainable timber, by allowing government departments to buy wood from forest certification schemes that approve destructive logging practices. In a joint statement, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace said the changes were a major set-back in the Government’s efforts to only purchase timber from legal and well-managed forests. The Government has decided to allow timber produced under the PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) schemes to qualify for sustainable timber procurement. Evidence shows the two schemes allow large scale, unsustainable logging in ancient forest areas, the destruction of endangered species habitat and the abuse of indigenous peoples’ rights. http://certificationwatch.org/article.php3?id_article=3666

29) Long term ecological change in British woodland (1971-2001), found that the number of plant species in 1648 specific plots in 103 native woods across England, Wales, and Scotland had declined by more than a third since they were first surveyed in 1971. Characteristic woodland plants like yellow archangel and sanicle fared worst, with 56 out of the 72 species becoming significantly less common. Fifteen species of tree and shrub also showed a decline in numbers, along with a general fall in tree seedlings, though holly bucked the trend by spreading abundantly in many woods. Biodiversity and Forestry Minister Jim Knight said the report did not seem to indicate a single cause for the decline in woodland flowers. Instead, causes include: * Woods becoming more shady due to ageing trees and inadequate woodland management; * Increasing levels of nutrients in woodland soils due to atmospheric pollution and agricultural fertilisers, possibly accentuated by less acidic soils; * The effects of climate change, with each species responding differently. The survey shows that soils are recovering from the impact of acid rain, which was such a concern in the 1980s. Results also provided evidence that grazing pressure from deer had increased in lowland woods. Mr Knight said that a number of government policies and programmes were already addressing the problems behind the decline. “The Government’s new policy for ancient woodland in England will help to address the decline by promoting sensitive management of our native and ancient woodlands to prevent problems like overshading,” he said. “Measures like creating buffer strips on farmland around woods, or adding to the woodland area could help to reduce the spread of nutrients into the wood from adjacent farmland and increase the habitat available for woodland species. “However, while some plants may benefit from opening up woods, it could also enable some weedy species such as nettle and cleavers to become abundant – so careful, balanced management is essential.” http://www.stackyard.com/news/2005/08/DEFRA/british_woodland.html

Mexico:

30) They call themselves the Peasant Ecologists of the Petatlan Sierra and their fight to save a swath of forest near the Pacific coast is among the world’s most important struggles against deforestation, Greenpeace says. The peasants have largely won. But they have paid dearly. After the month-long blockade, international lumber firm Boise Cascade canceled contracts for massive cutting operations in the Petatlan mountains, citing supply problems, and 15 logging permits were revoked.
Since then at least a dozen peasant leaders have been targeted. Some have been arrested and jailed on what are widely seen as bogus charges engineered by political and economic interests profiting from logging. Others have gone into hiding and some have been killed. “This has cost so much; it has cost lives,” said ecologist Eva Alarcon in the mountaintop hamlet Banco Nuevo. “People are on the lookout day and night. These men don’t sleep at home.” While much of the logging has stopped, violence and acrimony still flare largely, locals say, because the activists represent a continuing challenge to the local power structure of landowners and the court, military and police officials allied to them. The results of that power clash are chilling. http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/072505EC.shtml

Ghana:

31) “The forest does not only supply medicinal plants for our health needs but most importantly, it is the life support system, which provides us with food, water and the air we breathe. Our very livelihood depends on the environment.” Osagyefo Ofori Panin said this when he presented items made up of shovels, wire mesh, wheel barrows, watering cans, cutlasses and Wellington boots valued at 150 million cedis to six communities engaged in tree plantations and woodlot development in the Northern Region in Tamale on Tuesday. The six communities are: Kpagtori in the Bimbilla District, Gushiegu in the Gushiegu District, Moya in the Savelugu/Nanton District, Jugboi/Tempo in the Bole District, Tangubnini in the East Mamprusi Distict and Buipe in the Central Gonja District. http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=87717

New Zealand:

32) Pete Hodgson, the minister in charge of the South Island Landless Natives Act, said yesterday a conservation covenant had been negotiated over 114 hectares of forest in the remote Waitutu block on the Fiordland coast. The forest is located west of Te Waewae Bay and the Hump Ridge track, between the Waitutu and Wairaurahiri rivers. “Both the Waitutu Paika Trust and the Crown acknowledge that the land has significant cultural and historical value and is taonga to the owners,” Mr Hodgson said. “The trust had the option of logging their forest but have chosen instead to protect it in perpetuity not only for their own benefit, but for the benefit of all New Zealanders.” Representing the trust, Mrs Nile Pattison said: “We are particularly pleased to be able to preserve this beautiful forest while at the same time maintaining our tino rangatiratanga intact.” http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3373725a7693,00.html

Australia:

33) An Aboriginal group has given the go-ahead for works to proceed on access roads as part of preparations to log a forest block near Collie in south-west Western Australia. The Forest Products Commission is to log the Palmer One block as part of this year’s harvest plan to supply local sawmills. Members of the Ngalang Boodja are concerned the area contains sacred trees, which have cultural significance to Aborigines. Council member Phil Ugle says while the group still has a long way to go to assess the entire block, there is no reason to stop the access roads going ahead. “We’ve still got a lot of work to do. We’ve got another six or seven days maybe to walk through the whole lot as we have to do it hands on. You know, if you’re looking for stuff like this you can’t just browse over it, you have to walk through and try to find it,” he said. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200508/s1434200.htm

34) The New South Wales Forestry Minister has indicated that his Government will not be backing away from its agreement to supply the south-east’s timber industry from some disputed forest areas in the region. Ian Macdonald was commenting on the escalating logging dispute in the Wandella forest, near Cobargo, where conservationists have been mounting blockades for just on two months. Mr Macdonald says he has been talking to both sides in the dispute, but insists that conservationists were party to the supply agreement which set aside areas for wood supplies from the area over the next 20 years. “We are locked in through that process which involved, mind you, the environmental movement, as well as the forest industry, in creating 20 year supply agreements for the industry to give it certainty while making major decisions on the environmental sustainability with large tracts of land being dedicated as national parks,” he said. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200508/s1436244.htm

35) Take Action to Protect Old Growth Forests of Tasmania
from Rainforest Information Centre (Australia) and Friends of the
Earth Australia. Please help us to urge Nippon and Oji Paper companies in Japan to follow Mitsubishi’s lead and halt the purchase of woodchips sourced from old growth forests of Tasmania. Below is a sample letter you can email to: info@ojipaper.co.jp (Oji Paper) and to env@npaper.co.jp (Nippon Paper Industries) You can also access this action alert directly at: http://www.greenpeace.or.jp/cyberaction/tasmania/form_en_html

Malaysia:

36) Malaysia has announced a state of emergency in two towns after air pollution reached dangerous levels. The pollution is blamed on fires lit to clear land in neighbouring Indonesia, seriously affecting air quality and visibility across the Malacca Strait. Air quality readings taken in the two towns showed pollution markers to be above the emergency level of 500. The haze has prompted hundreds of schools to shut, as well as disrupting airports and busy shipping lanes. Malaysian and Indonesian officials met to discuss the fires, which are an annual problem as poor farmers on Sumatra use fire to clear land for planting. This year’s haze is the worst since 1998, when Malaysia was affected for weeks, causing severe economic losses. The readings over 500 were detected in the western towns of Port Klang and Kuala Selangor. Under the state of emergency, all workplaces must shut except for those providing essential services, and selling food. With stock markets falling and hospitals inundated with people complaining of eye, throat and chest problems, Malaysia is offering Indonesia help to put out the fires that are causing the problem. The two countries’ leaders spoke on Wednesday, and on Thursday, Indonesian Forestry Minister Malam Sambat Kaban met Malaysian Environment Minister Adenan Satem in Sumatra, where more than 900 fires are reported to be burning. Malaysian officials would say only that there is a definite willingness to co-operate. Schools in Kuala Lumpur and parts of the state of Selangor will be closed until Monday. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4140660.stm

World-wide:

37) “The Cause of Indigenous Peoples is Ours,” is particularly relevant for our work in the UN Forum on Forests, which has been given the task of promoting management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests. Many Indigenous Peoples are forest dwellers, whether those forests be the deciduous or conifer forests of the taiga region or the tropical forests of Latin America, Africa or South-East Asia. Having lived in and cared for these forests for millennia, Indigenous Peoples offer the most shining example of the internalization of the concept of sustainable development. Their cultural, spiritual and material livelihoods are intertwined with the health of the environment in which they live. Their innate understanding and reverence for the link between sustainability and the health of future generations is something that many in the rest of the world still struggle to learn and incorporate into decision making and behaviour. Their constant presence in the forests ensures in most cases that they continue to be managed sustainably and remain biologically diverse. Their traditional
knowledge of the area and of the various flora and fauna has great potential to contribute to modern ailments but is also crucial for their own survival. The cause of Indigenous Peoples is inextricably linked to the cause of sustainable environmental management and the future of our common global health. The cause of Indigenous Peoples is indeed ours. –Message from the UN Forum on Forests Secretariat
in Commemoration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

38) Writing July 22, 2005 in the journal Science, a group of leading scientists portrays the escalating transformation of the world’s forests, wetlands, savannahs, waterways and other native landscapes as the biggest potential threat to human health and global sustainability. “Short of a collision with an asteroid, land use by humans is the most significant impact on the world’s biosphere,” according to Jonathan A. Foley, a UW-Madison climatologist and the lead author of the Science paper. “It may be the single most pressing environmental issue of our day.” The new Science paper was written by a group of leading environmental scientists representing a wide range of scientific disciplines, including biology, climatology, medicine, limnology, geography and earth science. Foley directs the UW-Madison Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment in the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. Land use, according to the report, is no longer just a local issue. It is a force of global importance as the world’s six billion people compete for food, water, fiber and shelter. The report, says Foley, is a comprehensive review of scientific research on the world’s major land-use practices – agriculture, urban and rural development, deforestation and other natural resource extraction – and their impacts on the world’s ecosystems. http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/081005EB.shtml