042OEC’s This Week in Trees

042OEC’s This Week in Trees

This week we have 35 news items from British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Montana, Wyoming, Michigan, Ohio, New York, New England, North Carolina, Hawaii, USA, Finland, Portugal, Zimbabwe, Guatemala, India, Philippines, Bhutan, New Zealand, and Australia.

British Columbia:

1) “I have trees which are over 1,500 years old,” said Mr. Wilkinson, who, at 92, is a mere sapling among such venerable timber. “They’re healthy; they’re doing very well, thank you. “As is he. His conversation is steady, his memory sharp, his anecdotes precise. He cut down his first tree on this land 60 years ago. He has selectively logged the land ever since, always careful not to cut more than the growth rate. Today, there are more trees than there were when he first hoisted an axe. “It gave me a third of my income for 20 per cent of my working time, which is good arithmetic,” he said. His model for a sustainable forestry has lured foresters from Japan and Jordan, Libya and Lebanon, India and Indonesia. Today, Mr. Wilkinson and his work will be celebrated at the University of Victoria, where he will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree. The school’s environmental students take regular field trips to Wildwood to learn from him. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051110/BCHAWTHORN10/TPNational/Canada

2) It’s been particularly dog-eat-dog in Vancouver Island’s forests of late. Recently, MacMillan-Bloedel begat Weyerhaeuser begat BRASCAN begat Brookfield Asset Management begat Trilon Bancorp Inc. begat Cascadia/Island Timberlands which has now been gotten by Western Forest Products. If WFP survives its current bankruptcy proceedings, it will become the biggest logging corporation on the Canadian west coast with nine sawmills, five remanufacturing mills, a pulp mill, 3,700 employees, and annual cutting rights to 6.8 million cubic metres of timber. Western Forest Products itself recently gobbled the utterly bankrupt Doman Logging empire and now hopes to refinance its massive debt with the help of Tricap Management Inc., another Brookfield subsidiary which has arranged $310 million in loans to replace Western’s higher-interest debt. WFP is poised to become final forest-consuming behemoth in the 150-year gutting frenzy which has thus far laid waste to 80% of Vancouver Islands once magnificent forests. Forestry, one imagines, is a long term project, but these days giant corporations are flipping island forest tenure like tiddly-winks. –Ingmar Lee ingmarz@gmail.com

3) As you may recall, two years ago I filed a complaint with the Forest Practices Board regarding the misuse of MSMA in the Morice Forest District. This is the District that poisoned over 100,000 plus trees with MSMA (toxic arsenate pesticide), lied and mislead an Environmental Appeals Board on where they had applied the pesticide, poisoned private citizens back yards (mine being one of them) but denied that they had done that, allowed poisoned trees to be burned in beehive burners, allowed poisoned trees to be cut within 6 months of MSMA application thereby poisoning a faller with a near lethal dose of arsenic, and covered up the fact that they had no way of tracking these 100,000 plus poisoned trees or cross-referencing them with timber sales. A few days ago, I was advised that the Provincial Government has made a historic decision. They will NO LONGER USE MSMA in this Province and all current stocks of this pesticide will be destroyed. –Judy Stratton jstratto@futurenet.bc.ca Widespread use of MSMA had no limiting effect on Mountain Pine Beetle (MPB) outbreaks but it bioconcentrated and decimated the bird and bat predators of pine beetles perhaps even contributing to the severity and frequency of outbreaks. Let’s hope this is a beginning to reversing the myriad of expensive arrogant nozzlehead schemes for improving on BC’s natural forests. Congratulations and many thanks for showing us great grassroots activism. –Michael Major mbmajor@telus.net

Washington:

4) Stressing the need to collaborate with the timber industry to rescue the spotted owl, the state board that regulates logging companies rejected on Wednesday a proposal to more closely scrutinize timber cutting in the bird’s remaining habitat. The Forest Practices Board shot down the idea of forcing rigorous environmental reviews for logging on about 115,000 acres in 10 areas designated for “special emphasis” in helping the imperiled bird recover. Washington has 7.8 million acres of private forestland containing roughly 616,000 acres of spotted owl habitat. Wildlife officials aren’t sure how many of the owls remain, but say two-thirds of nesting sites identified a decade ago have been abandoned. Instead of the stepped-up reviews, the board called for environmentalists, timber companies, tribes and the government to work out their differences with the help of a professional “facilitator.” “It’s going to take a united, collaborative approach,” said John Mankowski of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. Environmentalists and timber representatives quoted Shakespeare, invoked visions of grinding rural poverty and even recalled a backpacking trip to make their points Wednesday. In the end, the timber industry avoided the most severe restrictions contemplated before the meeting. “They didn’t do anything that will change anything on the ground by the time the birds’ nesting season starts March 1,” said Nina Carter, executive director of Audubon Washington. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051110/BCHAWTHORN10/TPNational/Canada

5) The State Dept of Fish and Wildlife came out with a great “draft” report submitted to the State Forest Practices Board earlier this year–but they were forced into a collaborative partnership with enviros and industry–industry eventually walked. But the report did get watered down. Collaboration is the “new” (but really old thing) these days. My experience is that enviros don’t know how to play hardball–and the dynamics can lead to the Patty Hurst syndrome. For many, collaboration becomes the goal. These things need to be treated, if at all, as hardball negotiations with rules for negotiation (e.g. start really high and know how to play the game)–if one is forced into this by the courts or whatever. Jumping into collaborating with the timber industry as a “good”–as the new thing with some groups is pure insanity. Our grassroots groups working on the Olympic Peninsula on federal and state issues have seen the disasters wrought from outside groups who decide that collaboration brings good press, money (but not good protection for public lands). Pardon me–this has just continued to burn me up!!! (The groups working on state issues are far more savvy these days than some working on national forest issues). Bonnie

Oregon

6) National forests have been butchered by unsustainable harvests, mass clear-cuts and a “corporate welfare” system that rewarded timber multinationals with subsidized forest roads and below-cost timber. The real “rattlesnakes” are those who “cut and run” and put profits before workers and their communities. Why can’t timber companies provide a sustainable supply of timber off their own lands? Corporate timber has the “militant” agenda: cut low-cost subsidized native forests on public land because their own “tree farms” lack large trees. The 1980s were a time of massive fragmentation of once-native ecosystems. It left a legacy of endangered species and eroded soils. Jobs were lost to greed, not the protection of salmon or watersheds. Decommissioning roads, improving wildlife habitat and restoration in our national forests could create thousands of jobs for decades. Cutting federal forests and replacing them with tree farms cut on short rotations (20-30 years) is utter foolishness. It is time to stop all logging of national forests. They are vital watersheds, recreational sites, places of evolution and an asset for future generations. — John F. Borowski, Philomath http://159.54.226.83/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051112/OPINION/511120326/1050

7) Until 1995, there was never much question what to do on national forests after a fire. Cut the dead trees and some living ones. Use the revenue to plant new ones. That changed with the so-called Beschta Report. Written by Robert Beschta, a retired Oregon State University professor of hydrology, and seven other scientists for the Pacific Rivers Council, an environmental group, it reviewed the body of scientific research and concluded that salvage logging should be prohibited in sensitive areas because it promotes erosion and removes the big trees that are the building blocks of recovery. It advised all trees older than 150 years should be left standing, plus half of everything else, and new roads should not be built. Updated in 2004, it reached the same conclusions. Environmentalists used it to win enough lawsuits to lead Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth to declare his frustration over “analysis paralysis” to Congress in 2002.
That frustration also led to the formation last year of a group in the heart of Oregon timber country, Communities for Healthy Forests, to press for legislation to harvest dead trees more quickly and plant new ones. http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/34937.html

8) Jim Caplan, supervisor of the Umpqua National Forest, had some encouraging news for Douglas Timber Operators Thursday regarding future logging on federally controlled public lands. According to a five-year plan designed by the U.S. Forest Service — and depending on whether Congress provides more funding — the Umpqua is capable of producing about 95 million board feet per year, Caplan said. “We’ve looked at our program for the next five years and said, ‘Basically we’re doubling our budget that we have currently — taking us up to about $8 million a year for our timber program — we can triple the output,'” Caplan said. For the past several years the UNF has received about $3.5 million per year, Caplan said. He and other public land managers believe a $4.5 million bump in funding could send the forest’s production rate soaring from its present level of 30-35 million board feet per year. “We can be highly productive at low costs,” Caplan told DTO at its breakfast meeting at Elmer’s in Roseburg. According to Caplan, the Umpqua currently has $6.5 million in claims against it concerning old timber sales that were awarded to logging companies, but then halted because of environmental lawsuits. Because of this experience, Caplan said it would not be efficient for the UNF to consider timber sales in old-growth stands. Javier Goirigolzarri, of Resource Management Services and Communities for Healthy Forests, asked Caplan how UNF harvests could increase with wildlife habitat and riparian management plans in place from the Northwest Forest Plan. Caplan said there are significant amounts of second-growth stands that can be harvested efficiently by utilizing a road system already established in the Umpqua. http://www.newsreview.info/article/20051111/NEWS/111110067
Montana:

9) While mile-square clearcuts may no longer be the norm, Plum Creek continues to cut its forests in hundred acre units with roads punched across steep mountainsides. On Plum Creek’s 1.6 million acres in Montana (more than 90% of the timber industry land in the state), its so-called “environmental forestry” has led to a reduction in clearcuts in favor of a more insidious and equally damaging practice: highgrade logging. In Montana’s fire-adapted forests, Plum Creek’s contract loggers are required to take the larger, fire-resistant larch, ponderosa pine and old-growth Douglas fir, typically leaving stunted and unmerchantable white fir. Ironically, this is the same type of highgrade logging in the past that has created the so-called forest health problems trumpeted by industry leaders in the Intermountain West. Loggers and foresters critical of Plum Creek estimate that less than 20% of their logging in Montana meets Plum Creek’s own environmental showcase standards, typically lands in highly visible and easily accessible areas. At its average cut rate of 150 million board feet, Plum Creek will cut its remaining trees in 13 years. http://resist.ca/%7Estopplumcreek/info.htm

Wyoming:

10) CHEYENNE – An effort is under way to save a man-made forest with hundreds of trees brought here from around the world in hopes of seeing it returned to a place of research and a valuable resource for growing trees and plants in the area. The High Plains Arboretum, located just west of F.E. Warren Air Force Base, was established in 1928 by Congress. The 62-acre property contains hundreds of trees and plant life, historic buildings and education opportunities, according to Shane Smith, director of the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens. The USDA sent explorers all over the world looking for plant species to try here, Simons said. “They figured if it would grow in Cheyenne, it could grow anywhere,” she said. The ultimate goal, Smith said, was to help settle the area by making it more livable. Before the area was turned into a grasslands research station in 1974, it was transformed into a man-made forest of drought-tolerant and hardy trees. The trees and plants were inventoried in 1974, but Smith said 60 percent of them have been lost since then. The place has too much historic and horticulture significance not to be maintained, Simons said. So far, Smith said, supporters of the arboretum have raised some money to put signs identifying some of the more interesting trees there – blue velvet honeysuckle, Kentucky coffee tree, Apache plum, Ussurian pear and dwarf Russian almond. One of the arboretum’s most well-known trees is the 25-foot Hung Hai Tung crabapple tree. The seed or cutting came from the grounds of a temple in China. http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/11/08/build/wyoming/50-arboretum.inc

Michigan:

11) The Northwoods Wilderness Recovery group went on a public outing in the Dukes Experimental Forest, Saturday. They went out to enjoy the pristine beauty of a forest that serves as an experimental ground for forestry management research. Trees there, haven’t been harvested in more than 30 years, but the Forest Service wants to change that. “Well, the Forest Service is looking to reinstate timber stocking experiments which involves timber cutting,” said Doug Cornett of the Northwoods Wilderness Recovery. The Forest Service hopes to continue three long standing studies on the forest. They say cutting would improve the health and quality of the area. However, Northwoods members say the plans could ruin the forest’s beauty. If the U.S. Forest Service continues with it’s tree cutting proposal, members of the Northwoods Wilderness Recovery group say that the forest would be reduced to a fraction of what it is today. The U.S. Forestry Service says the proposed actions are “relatively simple and non-controversial” and thus were granted a brief period for public comment. However, Northwoods members say shortening the public comment period short changes public input and participation. http://www.wluctv6.com/Global/story.asp?S=4110734&nav=81AX

Ohio:

12) DAYTON – The Ohio Department of Natural Resources is uniting with like-minded conservation partners in an effort to buy and return to state management the 16,000-acre Raccoon Ecological Management Area in Vinton County, a tract that’s for sale with the ongoing reorganization of the former MeadWestvaco paper group. The land is part of 150,000 acres for sale in Ohio owned by Dayton-based Escanaba Timber LLC, which is owned by New York City hedge fund Cerberus Capital Management L.P. In all, Escanaba is selling 260,000 acres it owns in Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and Illiniois. Of all the acreage, the Raccoon, or REMA, land is special. It has for 50 years been the site of important and widely-recognized research by federal and private scientists on oak timber growth, and is a key location for forestry education. The land was once a state forest and, according to the Ohio Division of Wildlife, is considered prime wildlife and hunting grounds. The question remains whether Escanaba will entertain an offer from the state or sell its Ohio lands to one or more private timber companies said to be in the bidding. Escanaba, which is Ohio’s largest private land owner, won’t detail its negotiations or strategy.”We are still working with buyer/buyers,” Homeier said. “We are not in negotiation with the state now. I can’t answer any more on it,” he said. “It’s a research gold mine,” he said. “It’s essential that state agencies hold enough public land to meet their responsibilities, and part of that is demonstration and education.” Steve Gray, chief of the Ohio Division of Wildlife, called the land among the finest in the state for wildlife habitat, hunting and fishing. It is heavily used for those purposes by Dayton and Cincinnati area residents now, he noted. http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/daily/1105forest.html

New York:

13) The worst thing to hit the Adirondacks this year was the approval of a 104-foot cell-phone tower disguised as a pine tree. That’s according to the Adirondack Council’s 20th annual State of the Park report, which was released yesterday. The environmental group uses a “thumbs up” and “thumbs down” rating system to judge officials on issues that affect the 6-million-acre Adirondack Park. The group says the best thing that happened this year was the implementation of new Clean Air rules. Other bright spots were a 25 million dollar expansion of the Environmental Protection Fund, and new canisters to protect camping food from bears. Not-so-bright spots were tree-cutting along roads and failing to ban all-terrain vehicles from public lands. But the worst was the cell tower, nicknamed “Frankenpine” by critics. The council has filed a lawsuit trying to stop it. (Associated Press) http://www.newswatch50.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=EE4D8DF7-78AC-4406-8A9D-D057B7DF8F5C

New England:

14) “I can’t go by that tree without thinking of the farmers who settled here when it was a sapling,” says Larry Weber, the town’s tree warden. “I can almost see militia men marching past on their way to the Revolution.” Towering over 95 feet and perhaps more than three centuries old, the sycamore brings forth the artist or poet in many passersby. And of late it has inspired something else – a loud protest by local residents against the rapid pace of real estate development in their town. A builder has proposed putting 147 condominiums – the largest development Blackstone has ever seen – on the same property where the sycamore stands. His lawyers and engineers insist the tree will not be harmed, though they expect to remove some massive boughs to make way for trucks and construction equipment. The mottled appearance of the sycamore’s twisting limbs has prompted some youngsters to dub it “the snake tree.” A nearby sign – “Public shade tree: Do not harm” – reminds utility company crews they are forbidden from pruning without first consulting the town tree warden. Up to this point, that policy has prevented the loss of any branches. The trunk measures six feet across in diameter, 18.5 feet in girth. The canopy of branches and leaves stretches 125 feet across. Locals believe the tree to be the second largest of its kind in New England, just a few feet behind a towering specimen that grows in Sunderland, Mass. “The developer’s people say they can build that road and the tree will be fine. I disagree,” Weber says. What’s more, their plans call for an access road within 35 feet of the trunk, close enough so that pavement will cover a portion of the root system. http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15569290&BRD=1712&PAG=461&dept_id=24361&rfi=6

North Carolina:

15) CANDLER — Plans to log sections of the Pisgah National Forest near Candler and to use herbicides to combat oriental bittersweet are sparking concern by some who live near the forestland. “There are several big issues,” said resident Margaret Hurt. “I’ve seen the results of this logging forestland. … It’s never what they say it’s going to be. It’s always worse.” But others say the U.S. Forest Service plan, which involves forestland near Reeves Cove, is needed. The Forest Service wants to cut trees on about 130 acres using two-age regeneration, which means cutting a certain number of trees per acre. The agency is also planning to thin declining trees on about 180 acres. Monday is the last day to appeal the Forest Service decision, according to Christopher Joyell with the Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project. Burgess said if the project is allowed to move forward, work removing the bittersweet could begin in the spring. http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051112/NEWS01/51111040/1001

16) Atlantic white cedar and bald cypress have been harvested in Dare County since colonial times, but the difficulty in harvesting trees and transporting them in waterways prevented any large-scale cutting. That changed in the late 1800s with the development on steam engine and light rail logging techniques. Buffalo City was once home to five hundred loggers who worked six days a week cutting and transporting Atlantic white cedar to Milltail Creek and then on to Alligator River and Elizabeth City. Although only decaying timbers of Buffalo City remain, tales of a rough logging town with fist, knife, and gunfights, and several killings remain as part of Dare County’s colorful past. A century ago, Atlantic white cedar was a common tree of North Carolina’s coastal forests. Commercial logging of white cedar by Alligator Timber Company in Dare County ended in 1989. The Atlantic white cedar stands remaining on the Air Force Dare County Bombing Range and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge are the largest in North Carolina. Today, it is estimated that less than five percent of the land originally covered with Atlantic white cedar remains along the eastern coastal United States. Atlantic white cedar has long been a part of the maritime history of Roanoke Island. White cedar “flitches” were used in the 1800s to build the Roanoke Island shad boats, a part of the area’s commercial fishing fleet, and white cedar sailing skiffs were the “cars” that carried residents throughout Dare County’s sounds, rivers, and communities. It continues to be used in custom boat building up and down the East Coast and in the planking and decking of the 16th-century Elizabethan ship replica, the Elizabeth II. http://obsentinel.womacknewspapers.com/articles/2005/11/12/features/feats049208.txt

Hawaii:

17) Bird calls ricochet among the trees in a patch of native forest on Mauna Loa’s lower slopes, but the birds themselves are so evasive I sometimes spend minutes scanning the towering koa canopy to glimpse even a flicker of their small shadows. Binoculars go up as a far-off silhouette wings closer and lands on a branch overhead. The bright red bird with a slender, curved bill, an i’iwi, matches the coloring of the pompom-shaped lehua blossoms whose nectar it sips. The i’iwi perches for less than a minute, then launches off the branch and flits away on black-edged wings. Although i’iwi birds are common during winter, “today they are one of our target birds,” said birding guide, Garry Dean. Dean leads bird-watching groups on the Big Island for the Hawaii Forest and Trail tour group. He recognizes a variety of Hawaiian bird calls and can identify a species by its characteristic movements, talents that come in handy when a bird is backlit by the sun or partially blocked by foliage. Dozens of bird species once filled the formerly thick forests of the Hawaiian Islands before logging, cattle ranching and feral animals introduced in the last two centuries — such as European boars, sheep and goats — razed and uprooted most of the birds’ habitat. But now 28 percent of Hawaii’s 93 native bird species are extinct and another one-third are listed on the federal threatened and endangered species lists, according to figures released in 2000 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051113/LIFE02/511130327/1006/LIFE

USA:

18) As many as 20 million acres of public land could be sold under a proposed change in mining law that is tucked into a budget bill in the House. At issue is the possible overturning of a congressional ban that has prevented mineral companies and individuals from “patenting,” or buying, public land, including some in national forests and parks, at cheap prices if the land contains mineral deposits. “If this provision became law, it could literally lead to the privatization of millions of acres of public land, including national park and national forest land,” said Dave Alberswerth, public lands director for The Wilderness Society. A vote on the overall bill was put off until next week. The Interior Department over the past decade has approved slightly more than half of the 405 patent applications it received before 1994, and is processing the final 50. House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., and other committee members want to lift the ban, which prevents anyone from applying for a new patent application. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1111-07.htm

19) In late November, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) mailed a questionnaire to 1410 biologists, ecologists, and other USFWS researchers working in field offices across the country, and 414 responded. Among the findings: * 44% of the 293 respondents who work on endangered species said they “have been directed, for non-scientific reasons, to refrain from making … findings that are protective of species.” * 20% of all respondents said they have been “directed to inappropriately exclude or alter technical information from a USFWS scientific document.” * 19% had “been directed by USFWS decision
makers to provide incomplete, inaccurate, or misleading information to the public, media, or elected officials.” * 42% reported that they could not publicly discuss “concerns about the biological needs of species and habitats without fear of retaliation.” * 71% of scientists who responded did not “trust USFWS decision makers to make decisions that will protect species and habitats.” http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2005/209/2

Portugal:

20) The forest fires that raged in Portugal from May to October have caused 500 million euros (600 million US dollars) worth of damage, an Agriculture Ministry official said on Friday. Around 300,000 hectares of trees were burned in the Summer blazes, but the total area of damage was less than the 430,000 hectares destroyed in 2003, Maria do Loreto Monteiro, head of forest resource at the Portuguese ministry said. However, the fires had destroyed valuable trees, causing a damage this year more severe than two years ago. “Old and well-looked after areas were the ones that had been burned,” she said. Nevertheless, the total damage is still not high enough to trigger the Solidarity Fund, an emergency fund which begins to pay out if damages exceed 912 million dollars. It was estimated that the average economic loss caused by the fires stood at over 3,000 euros (3,600 US dollars) per hectare this year. The central region of Coimbra, which registered 96 million dollars worth of losses, took the worst hit. http://english.people.com.cn/200511/12/eng20051112_220735.html

Finland:

21) Finland, with a population a quarter of Australia’s, has more than 600,000 forest owners, and half of these have fewer than five hectares. “A staggering 62 per cent of forested land is privately owned,” Lambert said. The cold weather means trees take 80 to 100 years to grow before they are harvested, but the Finnish forestry industry has an annual turnover of more than €33 billion ($A53 billion). In Finland, growers are offered a thinning rebate so that a return is received in the first thinning. “This operation would otherwise be costly and rarely undertaken — slowing forest growth rates and reducing quality,” he said. http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/when-money-grows-on-trees/2005/11/13/1131816810696.html?oneclick=tr
ue

Zimbabwe:

22) THE government has pledged to evict more than 300 farm invaders settled on timber plantations in the Eastern Highlands, amid revelations that the illegal settlers had prejudiced the industry of more than US$22 million this year. Manicaland governor Tinaye Chigudu said there was no reprieve for new farmers who had settled on land disrupting primarily the operations of Border Timbers, Forestry Company of Zimbabwe and the Wattle Company in Manicaland. Farmers resettled by government under the A1 fast-track land reform and A2 model scheme since 2000 have been cutting down trees for domestic use and burning grass willy-nilly. The Manicaland governor lashed out at the illegal settlers following United States ambassador Christopher Dell’s stinging criticism of the government’s approach to land reform. “The government’s policy of land seizures and tolerance for chaotic disruptions on commercial farms led to the collapse in food production. The impact of the farm invasions has extended beyond the plight of the thousands of individual expropriated farm owners. The land grab has intensified the suffering of Zimbabwe’s most vulnerable segments of society-the rural and urban poor,” Dell said. http://www.fingaz.co.zw/story.aspx?stid=164

Guatemala

23) Guatemala’s rural population is among the poorest in Central America. As such, people’s day to day survival is dependent upon natural resource use. Most rural Guatemalans have few employment options; they must live off the land that surrounds them making use of whatever resources they can find. Their poverty and relative lack of opportunity means the country’s forests are falling at one of the highest rates in Latin America. Official figures show that around 80,000 hectares are deforested annually, though some organizations say the figure may be closer to 95,000 hectares — or 3% of the country’s forests — per year. Not even national parks are safe. Recent surveys have found extensive illegal logging in The Mayan Biosphere Reserve and the Laguna del Tigre national park. http://news.mongabay.com/2005/1113-wsj.html

24) In the tropical forests of Guatemala, poor rural farmers and loggers are battling environmentalists, archaeologists, and Mel Gibson over the establishment of a 525,000-acre Mayan national park, according to an article in this weekend’s edition of The Wall Street Journal. The disputed forest is home to what could be the most extensive Mayan ruins found to date. El Mirador, or “The Lookout,” is 15 square-miles of buried temples and pyramids that were first uncovered by archaeologist Richard Hansen. Since his discovery, Hansen has worked to ensure their protection by creating a giant national park. His efforts are strongly opposed by some of the country’s poorest residents, subsistence farmers who rely on logging and slah-and-burn agriculture for their primary source of income. General distrust of outsiders will make this opposition difficult to overcome, especially in light of the immediate economic needs of villagers and loggers. http://news.mongabay.com/2005/1113-wsj.html

India:

25) The aggrieved woman, Safia Sultan, and her two sons and a daughter own the piece of forestland in village Daant Kho in Gauharganj tehsil of Raisen district. Her late husband, Abdul Saeed, owned the land and grew teakwood and other trees on it. He used to cut the trees and sell the wood to Forest department. Saeed died in 1991 and his family continued the business. However, in 1997 their land came under the Ratapani sanctuary and was taken over by the Forest department. From then on, their ordeal began. They were forbidden from cutting their own trees, as they have been declared protected. The family members have to pay Rs 50 for each entry into their own land, even as they claim to have been regularly paying annual lagaan and other charges for it. Moreover, the Forest department has banned nighttime entry into the sanctuary. Safia Sultan and her elder son, Afzal, have made numerous representations for justice to the successive chief ministers but to no avail. They submitted applications to former chief Minister Digvijay Singh and his forests and revenue minister Harvansh Singh in the past. http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5922_1544248,0015002100000002.htm

Bhutan:

26) Lobesa – With 26 rural communities across the country given ownership of more than 5,000 acres of forest resources since 1997, the community forestry programme is going well say community representatives and forestry officials. Sonam Zangpo said his village adopted a community forest in 2002. For the first two years the dzongkhag forest division assisted the community in planting saplings in the community forest area. Today the community people who were trained in raising sapling nurseries transplant saplings from their own nursery. The extension agent of Jamkhar, Sonam Wangchuk, said the community was enthusiastic and protective of its forest. “They patrol their forests to control illegal felling of trees,” he said. According to the extension agent, the plan for the community forest for the first 10 years was to plant trees only. “While some villages have natural forests some have barren land and we have planted trees there,” he said. “But the people are positive about the benefits in the long run.” “The plans include how much to plant and in which part of the forest to plant, and how the resources are to be extracted,” said the joint director of forestry division, Chado Tshering. “When it comes to sharing of resources the community comes together and agrees on how much resources should be used based on the availability.” Most of the lands where community forests have been developed were barren and degraded, forestry officials said. In the oldest community forest in Dozam in Drametse, Mongar, which had been degraded by timber extraction, more than 80,000 saplings have been planted so far, forestry officials said. But the community had not started extracting resources as the trees were young. http://www.kuenselonline.com/article.php?sid=6222

New Zealand:

27) “The main areas for potential upside to our valuation relate to a higher value for land being designated as having alternative potential end uses following log harvest, and the ability of potential acquirers of the forest estate to utilise corporate tax structures.” Carter Holt had some good businesses, and a wholesale breakup was not expected. That left a range of scenarios for building up some businesses by acquisitions and selling others. Goldman Sachs JBWere argues that the sawmills should be sold separately to medium density fibreboard plants, that there would be good interest in the packaging business but that finding buyers for the pulp mills would be hard. Sawmilling is technically difficult and Rank is not an industry expert, the report says. It would be better to focus on efficiencies aimed at recovering more timber from each log than building big sawmills. Weyerhaeuser is the most likely buyer of wood-products businesses. Global players might not be interested in relatively small mills in New Zealand. There might be demand from Asia, where buyers would have an eye for securing wood supply with the mill, and from packaging companies wanting to secure supply of linerboard. “There remains a risk that the central North Island region runs into a wood deficit, particularly in the next decade,” the report says. Carter Holt has 221,6000 hectares of forests left, with the largest single block in the central North Island. The forests have a deferred tax liability of $351 million, but it may be possible to structure the sales so the tax liability is negligible. Carter Holt estimates 75 per cent of its remaining forest is held within tax-efficient vehicles. Tax is a key issue in value recognition, the report says. http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3477567a13,00.html

Philippines:

28) DAVAO CITY — Illegal logging activities in Davao Oriental are said to be difficult to stop due to the alleged involvement of the New People’s Army and some members of the Philippine Army. Davao Oriental information officer Neilwin Bravo said they received reports that communist rebels are the ones cutting down trees in the mountains of Baganga and Cateel and selling them afterwards. A businessman involved in wood processing also said some Army detachments in the boundaries of Cateel and Compostela towns are allowing the entry of illegal loggers in Cateel in exchange for monetary support for their daily sustenance. The businessman, who requested anonymity, said illegal loggers cut trees in Cateel and then transport them to neighboring Compostela Valley province where loggers then secure the necessary permits. In a telephone interview Thursday, Colonel Antonio Amodia, chief of the Army’s 404th Infantry Brigade, said he will look into the matter. Amodia said they have very limited troops in Cateel, as their main objective in the area is for internal security operations more than anything else. Amodia challenged the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to impose a total log ban in the region so that they could easily arrest illegal loggers. http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/net/2005/11/11/army.rebels.behind.logging.in.davao.official.html

29) Rainforestation is a tree-planting technique or strategy developed by Leyte State University together with the GTZ Applied Tropical Ecology Program. Initiated in the late nineties the rainforestation model is a new holistic approach to reforestation based on fundamental ecological research on agroforestry production. The main concept of this system is to plant local fruit and lumber trees at a high density and a high degree of diversity in order to achieve a three-story plant structure, which aims at resembling the natural rainforest, instead of planting traditional exotic or alien timber trees. For intercropping purposes the trees must be cultivated together with conventional tropical agricultural crops as intercrops. The result is a home garden type of an agroforestry system, which provides ample food for a forest farmer and his family. Haribon, with the support of the European Commission, Kingdom of the Netherlands and the New Zealand Embassy, is now promoting rainforestation as an alternative to traditional reforestation. As LSU’s Dr. Paciencia Milan puts it, “Simply planting trees to replace the ones lost is not enough. It promotes the use of indigenous or Philippine trees as planting materials. The perspective should be broader; focused not only in the trees per se but the ecosystem which the trees are a critical part of.” LSU’s innovative way of restoring our forests was a result of multilevel findings into the problems of past reforestation efforts. http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=21794

30) Around 200 former workers of the defunct Lianga Bay Logging Company barricaded 12 logging trucks at the wood cooperative area here for eight days now. The company, one of the American-owned logging firm established here in 1955, closed shop in 1986 after Filipino owners took over its operations. The barricade paralyzed operations of the San Agustin, San Miguel, Marihatag and Lianga Federation of People’s Forest Development Integrated and Multi-Purpose Cooperative (Sammilia) Federation of People’s Forest Development. Around 500 workers of the Lianga Bay Logging Company who formed themselves into a group called Lianga Bay Workers, Retirees and Shareholders Association (LB-Worsha) have since claimed they have to receive the wages and benefits due to them. This, they said, prompted them to hold a barricade since November 4 at the logging and barangay road here paralyzing activities of the wood cooperative, Sammilia for eight days now. http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/cag/2005/11/12/news/200.log.workers.bar.log.trucks.html

Australia:

31) More than a dozen people rallied at a tree outside Western Australia’s Parliament this morning to protest against logging at the Palmer jarrah forest near Collie in the south-west. The group fears logging at the forest is destroying the natural habitat of the threatened red-tail cockatoo. One protester scaled the massive lemon-scented gum tree, which has been granted a reprieve by the Heritage Council after several incidents involving falling branches. Protester Jael Johnson says logging in the Palmer forest is doing irreparable damage. “We’ve actually met with the Minister Judy Edwards, Minister for Environment about this,” he said.”We’ve met with her advisers. We haven’t as yet had a really satisfactory outcome about this but the liaisons are continuing.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/items/200511/1502875.htm?perth

32) The Forest Products Commission says it is pushing ahead with its harvest plan for the south-west, despite coming up against intense community opposition several times this year. The latest conflict involves the Northcliffe community, which is angry about a proposal to log karri trees at the popular Blackberry Pool tourist walk trail. The Northcliffe Visitor Centre board will today consider the commission’s offer to minimise the aesthetic impact of logging on the area. There has also been community opposition to logging plans for the Palmer and Arcadia forests near Collie. The commission’s Kevin Haylock says there is no reason why forests cannot be used for both commercial and recreational use. “Whilst they are available for timber harvesting, the scenic qualities of those areas are such that people also seek to recreate in them,” he said. “Our aim is to have the two work harmoniously together, both timber production and regeneration, as well as maintaining recreation access.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200511/s1502668.htm

33) There has been a new development today in the long-running fight over logging in a disputed forest on the NSW far south coast. One of the area’s biggest logging companies is taking anti-logging protesters to court today in an effort to have them leave the Wandella forest, near Cobargo, where they have been maintaining a vigil and at times disrupting operations for more than four months. Bruce Mathie and Sons, which has the contract to log in the Wandella forest, supplies logs to sawmills from Eden to Nowra, as well as the Eden chip mill. It has been operating in the area for 50 years. Lawyers for the company issued summonses to a number of people to appear in the Supreme Court in Sydney where an injunction will be sought to prevent them from going near the disputed forest. Conservationists are describing the move as similar to the action launched by the Gunns timber company in Tasmania against people involved in anti-logging protests in that state. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200511/s1504450.htm

34) Australia’s farm foresters only number in the hundreds. “Australia is nowhere near being able to supply its hardwood needs from plantations, now or in the foreseeable future,” Lambert said. This was confirmed earlier this year by a report from the Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Corporation. It found that, based on existing plantations, hardwood plantation logs by 2035 would make up less than 15 per cent of the 2001 native forest supply level, and 18 per cent of total estimated hardwood log availability. Hardwood blue gum plantations are planted on 10-year rotations to produce woodchips, but Woollybutt aims at rotations of 20 to 30 years to produce higher-value products such as decking and flooring. However, it’s tough convincing landowners to have a longer-term vision. “By far the biggest problem is the uncertainty of the return on investment, ” Lambert said. http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/when-money-grows-on-trees/2005/11/13/1131816810696.html?oneclick=tru
e

35) There was a time when Gunns could do no wrong in Tasmania but all is not well in an empire that needs trees, trees and more trees, Claire Miller reports. The room at Gunns’ timber yard in Launceston was long and narrow. Outside, the sun was streaming through the windows. Inside, more than 100 people were crammed into rows of white plastic chairs placed far too close for comfort. As annual meetings go, the venue did not put shareholders at their ease. All is not well in the Gunns’ empire. Tasmania’s timber industry is in crisis. Gunns, the woodchip export giant that controls 80 per cent of forestry in Tasmania, faces hostile international trading conditions for the foreseeable future. At home, there is mounting resentment over the treatment of logging contractors and the way tax exemptions on plantations are helping Gunns buy up farms, which tends to displace farm jobs. Industry insiders rarely speak on the record for fear of retribution, but sources told The Sunday Age that logging contractors are bracing for bankruptcies and widespread job losses. There is a palpable sense of betrayal, with accusations that, instead of sharing the good times, the company used its near-monopoly position to drive contractors down to breadline rates. The bottom-line beneficiaries were the mainland investment institutions that own roughly 80 per cent of Gunns’ shares Gunns sells virtually all its woodchips to Japan, but Japanese pulp and paper manufacturers have been reducing their orders since May, leading the exporter to reduce its contractors’ quotas by an average 30 per cent. http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/pulp-friction/2005/11/05/1130823435493.html?oneclick=true