044OEC’s This Week in Trees

This week we have 36 stories from Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, Colorado, Wisconsin, Texas, Louisiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Scotland, Austria, Africa, Congo, Panama, India, China, Indonesia, Philippines, and Australia.

Alaska:

1) Alaska Sitka survived an attack in 1802 by the hammer-wielding Tlingit war chief Katlian. It weathered the ensuing vengeance of the Russians who poured cannon fire down on the Tlingits huddled in a wooden fort. A century later the city once called Paris of the Pacific lost its status as territorial capital of Alaska. The honor and money moved 95 miles northeast to the muddy upstart mining boomtown of Juneau. It was in 1993, however, that people said Sitka was really in trouble. That was the year the Japanese-owned Sitka timber pulp mill shut its doors after 34 years. The mill had provided hundreds of stable well-paid jobs. Sitka is being touted nationally as an example of how a town can survive after losing its major resource industry. Ed McMahon, a national council member of The Conservation Fund, co-authored a book about balancing nature and commerce that highlighted Sitka’s comeback. “In fact, the closure of the mill may have actually helped Sitka by improving local air and water quality and forcing the community to diversify its economy,” the authors wrote in “Balancing Nature and Commerce in Gateway Communities.” State economists wouldn’t go that far, but they are impressed with how the town has recovered. Sitka, the former capital of Russian America, has the benefit of rich history and gorgeous scenery. It is surrounded by mist-shrouded mountains and thick, dark rainforest. Slate-dark Sitka Sound is dotted with small emerald islands. Locals say it’s a great place to head out in a boat and catch fish on the weekend. Visitors think so, too. The charter boat industry reported less than $2 million in gross annual sales the year the mill closed. Now it is more than $16 million. http://www.kitsapsun.com/bsun/bu_business/article/0,2403,BSUN_19060_4253696,00.html

British Columbia:

2) A faller died Saturday on a Vancouver Island heli-logging operation, prompting anger and outrage from loggers who say not enough is being done to bring down an escalating death toll. Faller Ted Gramlich died under circumstances that are still under investigation. He is the 38th forest worker to die in British Columbia this year, more than double last year’s 16 deaths and a death rate almost 50 per cent higher than the five-year average of 26 people a year. Forest licensees say a culture of risk-taking in the logging sector and a shortage of skilled workers are factors in the rising death toll. Fallers also say they are being required to work under increasingly difficult circumstances as companies rely on an on-and-off pattern of employment and lay-offs known as “lurch-logging.” Lurch logging is where workers are hired by contractors for the duration of a specific contract rather than having full-time jobs with forest companies. Lurch logging is leaving them exhausted and uncertain of steady work, said faller Bill Boardman, a safety advocate and close friend of Gramlich. “They bring us in like gypsies, stack us on the hill and work us until the job is done,” he said of current logging methods. http://www.canada.com/vancouver/story.html?id=5083a360-c5bc-4ac6-9b32-e8ec6f8544f0

Washington:

3) Because Illahee Creek runs right through the middle of our 15-acre property, we’ve watched from close-up as the frequency and intensity of floods has risen. In the 1997 flood, the creek jumped its bank and recarved its channel closer to our house. The flooding on Illahee Creek is the direct result of new development upstream. Every year more trees are cut down along the creek’s banks while asphalt and concrete cover more of the spongy forest soils that soak-up and slowly release rainwater. New drainpipes divert ever more storm water directly into the creek. Every flood now washes away a little bit more of our property and moves Illahee Creek a little closer to our house. Meanwhile, development shows no sign of slowing down. A single new proposal would build 131 houses on 25 acres about a mile upstream from our home. Current land buffers between the stream and new development are clearly not doing the job. Better efforts are needed if members of the community are to protect not only their own property but their neighbors’ property as well. http://www.kitsapsun.com/bsun/op_columnists/article/0,2403,BSUN_19095_4252581,00.html

Oregon:

4) The Medford Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sold old-growth forests in the beautiful Waldo-Takilma forest in the Illinois River Valley yesterday to Murphy Company. The West Fork Illinois timber sale would log a hot-spot for biodiversity in the West Fork Illinois drainage. The BLM proposes to log ancient forests and build new logging roads through this fragile ecosystem. Logging would decrease canopy cover, increase fire risk, compact soils, increase erosion and spread invasive weeds. The West Fork Illinois River watershed is the number one – out of 1,400 in Oregon! – for rare species, many of which are rare plants (according to the Oregon Natural Heritage Database). The West Fork Illinois has important spawning and rearing habitat for salmon and steelhead. The river and its tributaries provide some of the best habitat in the entire Rogue Basin for endangered Coho salmon. The eastern portion of the West Fork Illinois project area overlaps an area nominated by the public as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC). http://www.kswild.com

5) If the battles over Northwest logging have become wearisome, then Oregon Public Broadcasting’s “Rethinking the Forests” provides an almost peaceful respite. The “Oregon Story” documentary explores the future of Oregon’s forests but avoids the loudest voices in the conflict over that future. There are no timber industry big shots, no environmental activists or tree-sitters. In their place are Oregonians who are quietly living, working and cutting trees in the forests without fighting. The program is unconventional and already has provoked criticism from environmental activists who say it prescribes logging as the forest cure-all. The closest the program comes to a big name is former Gov. John Kitzhaber, who says the state’s forests are on a “terrible path” marked by disagreement and inaction. Producer Eric Cain said he stayed away from the standard spokespeople to instead introduce new voices who have a different way of doing business that may offer lessons to the state as whole. It’s true that the program interviews no one from any of the state’s environmental groups, even though some have been working on their own to advance logging projects they think are environmentally sound. There are no scientists to explain that fires, insects and disease have always been natural forces at work in forests, although mismanagement may have now made them worse. http://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1132345505295150.xml&coll
=7

California:

6) With a whoosh, the branch whipped through the air, striking Carlos Valdez in the face. He heard a popping sound in his right eye. The pain was electrifying. The biggest jolt was yet to come. When the young laborer in the Tahoe National Forest opened his eye and tried to see, his vision was gone. The accident on a federal job thinning brush and dead trees not only blinded his eye, it sowed a long spell of depression and chronic head and eye pain. But it left no mark on the government. By law, all serious job injuries in the United States must be reported to authorities. Valdez’s wasn’t. The Tahoe National Forest said it wasn’t responsible. Valdez’s employer, Redding Tree Growers of Exeter, Calif. – which gained the government contract for the work – said it wasn’t aware of the law. First in 1980 and again in 1993, Congress expressed shock at the abuse of Latino forest workers in America’s woods and the hypocrisy of undocumented workers doing government work. And the abject living conditions and wage exploitation that outraged Congress endure. A nine-month Sacramento Bee investigation has found that reforestation work, the thinning and planting that keeps both public and private forests healthy, is one of the most hazardous occupations in America – and one of the most overlooked by state and federal regulators. On Forest Service and national park jobs visited by The Bee this year, peril was paramount. Slashing away at dense tangles of trees with chain saws, the pineros – Spanish for pine workers – scrambled through the woods in a chaos of cutting and noise. One gashed his knee: eight stitches. Another toppled a tree that tore into his face: six stitches. Others slipped and slid across steep slopes in cheap work boots that lacked treads. Safety goggles and non-slip boots, required by law for most work, were rarely used. http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=PINEROS2-11-21-05&cat=AN

7) Embattled Pacific Lumber Co. has announced plans to cut about 50 percent fewer trees over the next several years than it had hoped under the 1999 Headwaters Forest deal. The sharply reduced timber harvests are blamed on regulatory constraints, restrictions Pacific Lumber says will significantly lessen gross revenues for the company. That in turn affects the company’s ability to pay $50 million or more a year in interest-only payments on about $750 million in bonded debt. As it is, the logging cutbacks could force more layoffs and sharply reduce company operations, which for more than a century have been the economic backbone of Humboldt County. Pacific Lumber’s employment has plunged two-thirds from a high of 1,500 workers a decade ago. The new information underscores the company’s continuing struggles to stay afloat financially. The documents show that Pacific Lumber may resort to extracting and selling gravel from the Eel and Van Duzen rivers to raise up to $3 million a year in new revenue. The company has rights to extract up to 250,000 yards of gravel every year, but until now has primarily used the gravel for internal road construction needs. In addition, Pacific Lumber said it intends to push ahead with rezoning of the historic mill town of Scotia – the last true company-owned town in the West – so it can begin to sell 300 homes in the final quarter of 2006. Secrecy continues to shroud the company’s attempts to renegotiate its way out of the high debt payments. http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051117/NEWS/511170329/1033/NEWS01

8) SUNNY BRAE Sometime before the end of the year, the Sunny Brae community is either going to have its fondest wish fulfilled or its heart broken and years of work wasted. The issue is a 171-acre, four-parcel tract of forested land which many would like to see become the Sunny Brae Forest. Presently owned by Sierra-Pacific Industries (SPI), the forest was set to be harvested in 2000. A massive community effort, including lobbying, community activism and fundraising, plus cooperation between the City of Arcata and SPI, resulted in an interim plan to purchase the land and transfer it to City ownership. Between grants and fundraising, most of the forest’s $1.7 million purchase price was raised. But complications delayed receipt of the federal government’s portion of the funding, a $1.3 million Forest Legacy grant, and a reappraisal of the land this year upped the price by a million dollars, to $2.7 million. The long-sought deal appeared all but dashed last month, when Mark Andre, deputy director of Environmental Services, met with officials from SPI, the California Department of Forestry (CDF) and the Trust for Public Lands (TPL). It seemed that CDF – never terribly friendly to the Sunny Brae community’s aspirations – had decided that in its role as disburser of the federal funds, it would “readjust” monies earmarked for the Sunny Brae Forest to other projects. “The focus now is putting together some kind of “gap funding” package, possibly including various foundations including the Coastal Conservancy, which could provide up to $650,000. http://www.arcataeye.com/111505Forest.shtml

9) A timber harvest in the Jacoby Creek Forest has been suspended for the winter due to rain. About 80 percent of the planned 350,000 board-foot cut was performed between last September and Oct. 27 when rains hit and work stopped. The timber is being milled by Mendocino Forest Products at Simpson’s Korbel mill under a special arrangement. The resulting product will be sold at Home Depot stores as SmartWood-certified, sustainably harvested lumber. Two small local mills, Bob’s Lumber and ERA Forest Products, will receive 20,000 board feet each milling and local marketing at Bracut Lumber and Arcata Lumber. The City of Arcata expects to garner $350,000 from the harvest to help replenish the Forest Fund and repay an internal City loan. http://www.arcataeye.com/111505Forest.shtml

Montana:

10) District Judge Donald W. Molloy of Missoula, MT found the U.S. Forest Service in violation of both the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act for not formally assessing of the effects of chemical fire retardant on endangered fish. On average, the Forest Service uses 15 million gallons of chemical fire retardant each year, although in some years as much as 40 million gallons were dropped. When exposed to water or sunlight, a chemical contained in 40% of the retardant turns into a cyanide compound, and has caused tens of thousands of fish to die. A full analysis and consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are now required as a result of the lawsuit brought by Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology and Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics. In the meantime, use of fire-retardant is still permitted. For more information, contact Tim Ingalsbee : fire@efn.org

11) ASHLAND – More detailed environmental studies examining how logging impacts wildlife habitat, particularly for birds, in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest should be completed by late January, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service said Thursday. The studies are in response to a federal judge’s decision to block the planned sale of timber rights on about 22,000 acres of the forest. U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman of Milwaukee made the ruling in a lawsuit filed by the Habitat Education Center, a Madison-based environmental group, two years ago. Howard Learner, executive director for the Environmental Law & Policy Center, which presented the case for the plaintiffs, said Adelman’s decision could set a precedent in that the Forest Service must now consider the impact of past, present and future timber harvests on wildlife habitat. “It’s a simple but remarkable change in terms of how the (Forest Service) will manage forests in northern Wisconsin,” Learner said in speech this week at the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute at Northland College in Ashland. The timber sales at issue in the lawsuit involve about 5,600 acres that straddle Sawyer and Ashland counties near Clam Lake, about 8,800 acres near Lakewood in Oconto County and 7,740 acres in Forest County, about 20 miles east of Eagle River. Don Waller, a botanist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said his research shows species diversity in the Chequamegon-Nicolet Forest is declining, and logging is partly to blame. “The common species are becoming commoner, and the rare species are becoming rarer,” he said in his speech at the college. http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/politics/13193425.htm

Wisconsin:

12) Tomahawk – Like never before, Wisconsin’s private forests are up for sale, and there is growing worry that this enormous transfer of land could harm the health of the North Woods. The sell-off is driven by factors as complex as globalization of the paper industry and as simple as people’s yearning for land. Whole subdivisions are sprouting out of woods that as a recently as a year ago were a source of wood for industry. New owners are snapping up property near forest land that Tom Weizenicker first started buying when he was 15 years old. So he recently bought more. “It’s a wall,” said Weizenicker, 64, of Tomahawk. “I’m buying protection.” A retired forester for a paper company, he recently added 40 acres to property he owns along Killarney Lake in Oneida County. “We’ve done well in life,” he said. “But land is our most sacred possession.” All told, more than 1 million acres of forest were sold in Wisconsin between 1997 and 2002, according to the most recent data from the state Department of Natural Resources. Put another way, 94% of industrial forests changed hands in those five years, the DNR said. Today, huge parcels are on the block. Wausau Paper Corp. of Mosinee is more than doubling the land it will sell in Wisconsin to 42,000 acres. Also, International Paper of Stamford, Conn., is preparing to solicit bids on 68,667 acres in northern Wisconsin as part of a massive corporate reorganization. As forest land went up for sale, Plum Creek Timber Co. of Seattle moved into Wisconsin, went on a buying spree and became the No. 1 owner of private forest land in the state. With more than 500,000 acres under ownership, the company has brought a new style of forest management. http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/nov05/372007.asp

Colorado:

13) VAIL – The massive machine wrapped its metal arms around the trunk of the dead tree and in one swift move, cleanly ripped it from the ground. Turning into a clearing, it rotated the log and fed it through another part of the multi-functional machine, stripping it of limbs and leaves. The machine then turned again and neatly added the log to a growing pile. Tom Olden, owner of Pine Martin Logging, recently wielded this tract feller processor during a logging operation on Vail Mountain that cut about 600 trees around the top of Born Free Express Lift, also known as Chair 8. “We have a pristine ski area,” said Jen Brown, spokeswoman for Vail Mountain, “and we did it to protect our assets along the gondola. It was related to the pine beetle and working on the fire protection along that area.” http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20051119/NEWS/111190021

14) Lucky for us, the citizens of the Roaring Fork Valley have the power to keep those forests safe from new logging, mining and oil developments that threaten to invade our last pristine areas in the White River National Forest. It is not often that we are given the explicit opportunity to participate in the creation of new forest protection laws. The Roadless Area Review Task Force will decide the fate of Colorado’s most pristine and endangered forest areas over the next year. The criteria? Public opinion. The Roadless Rule is the most popular piece of legislation ever. More people have written comments of support for the Roadless Rule than for any other rule in our country’s history. Originally passed in 2001, it protected 58.5 million acres of our national unroaded forests from new road-building. Despite overwhelming public support for the legislation, President Bush repealed the Roadless Rule in 2005 and replaced it with a process requiring governors to petition the Department of Agriculture in order to seek roadless protections. In response, the Colorado Legislature created the Roadless Areas Review Task Force to advise Gov. Bill Owens in this process. http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20051119/COLUMN/111190012

Texas:

15) The scent of fresh-cut pine has lost its appeal for many tree farmers in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama since hurricanes Rita and Katrina damaged about 5.7 million acres of timber – enough to produce nearly 900,000 single family homes. The acreage represents 20 percent of the private, state and federal forest land in those states and 1 percent of the nation’s forests. Katrina smashed into the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29 and Rita roared ashore on Sept. 24. Since then, timberland owners have scrambled to salvage their downed lumber, selling much of it prematurely – in some cases for less than half what they normally would make. The United States Department of Agriculture and Texas Forest Service at Texas A&M University peg the four states’ timber losses at nearly $6 billion. In East Texas, the damage was primarily from Rita. The storm damaged as much timber in seven counties as 43 Texas counties produce in an entire year, said Ron Hufford, executive vice president for the Texas Forestry Association. Unlike agricultural crops, timber is not insured or eligible for special assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The damage hurts the nation’s $230 billion-a-year timber industry, from the corporations with massive forest tracts to the single landowner, at a time when lumber is needed to rebuild hurricane-ravaged communities. http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/local/13207935.htm

Louisiana:

16) New Orleans: “It’s naked in our hardwood forest,” she said. “The tree canopy is so broken up, it has a totally different look. What is that going to do to the habitat?” The question is one that park rangers likely won’t be able to answer until spring or later, when the longer-term impact of the storms begins to show. In addition to the felled trees from Katrina’s winds and Rita’s flooding, the park is waiting to see the effects of high salinity levels from the salt water pushed in by the storm surge and the impact of environmental changes on invasive species in the park. “Trees that normally bloom in the spring are blooming now. The fact that they grew leaves again in the same season, will they have problems with disease or insects later? I don’t know,” said Nancy Walters, natural resources manager for Jean Lafitte National Historical Park. While the visitor center and education building suffered only minimal damage, Rathle estimates that in some parts of the park 50 percent of the trees were knocked down by the hurricanes. “In the pecan grove, we don’t have any pecans left,” she said. “The hardwoods were hit really hard, but the cypress fared better.” Despite the damage, the Barataria Preserve has reopened for visitors on a reduced, weekday-only schedule. Thanks to the backbreaking effort of Jean Lafitte’s staff, along with other National Park Service workers from across the country, all of the park’s trails have reopened except Palmetto. http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1132559109240640.xml

Michigan:

17) LANSING – Republican state legislators are introducing bills aimed at boosting timber harvesting in state forests, one of which would make it harder for regulators to rule certain areas off-limits to logging. Other proposals include tax incentives that would encourage private owners to allow timber cutting on their land and the forest products industry to invest and expand operations in Michigan. The lawmakers said the package would be introduced in the House and Senate within the next couple of weeks. Loggers only harvest 10 percent of what they should be harvesting in federal forests, said Greg LeBoeuf, sales manager at Cedar River Lumber Company in Powers. “We do need to cut more trees off the federal forests,” LeBoeuf said. “It’s causing a bind on materials for the sawmills and the area.” LeBoeuf said most sawmills in the area are working with a two-week supply of logs. Under normal circumstances at this time of year, they’d be working with a month and a half supply. “Our sales are excellent. Our problem would be if we couldn’t get enough logs to cover all our orders,” LeBoeuf said. “Without any more logs being cut on federal forests, that puts a bind on landowners to supply us with more logs and if they can’t keep up, the sawmills are going to have to start laying off workers.” http://www.miningjournal.net/news/story/1119202005_new06-n1119.asp

18) Last week, a number of outstate legislators unveiled legislation for tax incentives and other proposals to strengthen an often-overlooked portion of the Michigan economy: the forest industry. It, like the auto industry, has an economic ripple effect across Michigan, and it, too, faces increased global competition. “Michigan continues to have a wealth of timber resources that we need to consider putting to work for our economic recovery and survival in the global market,” said Sen. Jason Allen, R-Traverse City, the chairman of the Senate Labor Committee. “The forest industry employs about 200,000 Michigan workers and contributes $12 billion to the state’s economy each year.” Rep. Tom Casperson, R-Escanaba, a third generation logger who chairs the House Conservation-Forestry & Outdoor Recreation Committee, said: “We are on the hunt for all ideas and possibilities for job growth in Michigan, and are looking to meet the changes 21st century competition has delivered to our economy.” A part of the Mi-Forests package that might, and should, get the support of Gov. Jennifer Granholm are tax incentives to encourage private land owners to implement forest management plans, and the forest products industry to invest in and expand operations. While specifics of the package have yet to be studied by the administration, one portion is getting a cool initial reception from the Department of Natural Resources: a bill to abolish the DNR’s application of “limiting factors” that might lead to disallowing logging in specific locations on state land. http://www.detnews.com/2005/editorial/0511/20/A27-387215.htm

New Hampshire:

19) Though the plan issued Friday reduces the amount of timber than can be harvested each year from 35 million board feet to 24 million board feet, officials said the reduced amount still is higher than what is typically harvested. Logging interests wanted to maintain the current limit. Some conservation groups, meanwhile, pushed to have as many as 100,000 additional acres to be added to the 114,000 acres designed as wilderness areas. The new plan calls for designating about 34,500 acres as wilderness areas that can not be developed in any way. The Forest Service held more than 100 public meetings and collected more than 6,000 written comments about the plan since it began the updating process in 1997. Under the final proposal, 47 percent of the forest could be used for campgrounds, trails, ski areas, snowmobiles and other high-impact activities. “Dispersed recreation,” such as snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and hiking, would be protected in n 53 percent of the forest. Most of those who participated got something they wanted, said Charlie Niebling of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2005/11/19/compromises_reached_in_white_mountain_n
ational_forest_plan/

Rhode Island:

20) Largess had already spent 10 years logging in Oregon when, in 1998, a condo developer asked him to selectively log 20 acres of beech trees on a former Vanderbilt estate in nearby Portsmouth, R.I. But when he realized they comprised an ecologically intact old-growth forest more than 300 years old, he decided he couldn’t go through with it, and contacted scientists who helped build a successful case for its preservation. Now Largess’s business, Largess Forestry Inc., specializes in the care of old specimen trees on Newport estates. ”I used to be a tree clearer until I found this forest, and then I changed completely,” he said. ”It’s like being an alcoholic and going sober. Or being an atheist and becoming religious.” Largess started his career helping clear-cut ancient Sitka spruce in Oregon in the 1980s. ”Some of those trees were 1,500 years old,” he said in a phone interview. ”We used dynamite to blow holes underneath them. I can’t even tell you how massive these trees were, 35 to 40 feet around. I started working and living in a forest with mountain lions and rattlesnakes, and six months later it was completely gone. . . . Right when I left, they were logging with lights 24 hours a day because they knew it would be shut down. They had Japanese logging ships, with sawmills, right off shore.” http://www.boston.com/yourlife/home/articles/2005/11/17/old_growth_grand_specimens_drive_big_tree_hunters/

Scotland:

21) Bill Bryson, the writer, is to lead a campaign to protect ancient Scottish woodlands threatened with destruction. The American author is to visit some of Scotland’s most vulnerable woodlands next year. He is also proposing to visit the Scottish parliament to lobby politicians. More than 100 ancient woods in Scotland could be felled to make way for a range of modern developments, including roads, power lines, housing, caravan parks and golf courses. Bryson has already signed a petition, drawn up by The Woodland Trust Scotland, calling on MSPs to put pressure on the Scottish executive to protect the nation’s rarest and richest wildlife habitats. The petition, which has amassed more than 3,000 signatures, says that ministers should fulfil a commitment to enhance the protection for ancient woodland in Scotland under the UK Forest Partnership for Action. It will be considered by the Public Petitions Committee next month. “It is scandalous that we are seeing the loss and degradation of these resources,” said Bryson. “We wouldn’t suggest that a new road should be carved through a cathedral so why do we still allow ancient trees and woods to be destroyed?” http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2090-1880622,00.html

Austria:

22) In the coldest part of Austria, a farmer is turning conventional wisdom on its head by growing a veritable Garden of Eden full of tropical plants in the open on his steep Alpine pastures. “Once planted, I do absolutely nothing,” Holzer said. “It really is just nature working for itself – no weeding, no pruning, no watering, no fertiliser, no pesticides.” Sepp Holzer grows everything from apricots to eucalyptus, figs to kiwi fruit, peaches to wheat at an altitude of between 1,000 and 1,500 metres (3,300 and 4,900 feet). “Bananas,” he said with a shrug of his burly frame. “They froze. It’s no surprise as they need an average temperature of 30°C. But I’m still working on it.” Once branded a fool, fined and threatened with imprisonment for defying Austrian regulations that dictate what is planted where, he is now feted worldwide for creating the only functioning “permaculture” farm in Europe.Instead he began growing a host of timber and fruit trees, shrubs and grasses all mixed up together. “Everyone said I was mad and I had to pay numerous fines because the authorities said that it was illegal to plant such a combination,” Holzer said. “When I bought this patch of land off a farmer, it was not fit for the cows and sheep grazing on it. People scoffed that I was neglecting my land – but now they come to harvest cherries from June to October.” Most of the plants Holzer and his wife Vroni grow at his “Krameterhof” holding are not meant to flourish in Alpine conditions, according to experts. “This is the worst type of soil, which just goes to prove that there is no bad soil, just bad farmers,” http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=PINEROS1-11-21-05&cat=AN

23) KT TUNSTALL, the Scots singer who has taken the music scene by storm this year, has paid for thousands of trees to be planted in Scotland in a bid to offset the environmental damage caused by the production of her debut CD. Tunstall — whose Eye to the Telescope has sold more than 1m copies worldwide — has paid for 5,000 trees in the Borders to make up for the carbon dioxide created during the manufacturing process. The 30-year-old singer- songwriter is the latest pop star to join the growing band of musicians — including Coldplay and the Rolling Stones — to attempt to become “carbon neutral”. The process, which is worn as a badge of honour by rock stars and big businesses alike, involves planting trees to neutralise the effects of emissions by absorbing CO2 and producing oxygen. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2090-1880622,00.html

Africa:

24) The galaxy of issues surrounding conservation has become much more prominent in recent years in Africa as many countries put huge chunks of land under protection for the first time. Gabon, Congo’s northern neighbor, recently set aside 10,000 square miles for conservation, comprising 13 national parks. Madagascar, home to the endangered lemur and thousands of plants found nowhere else in the world, has pledged to put aside 10 percent of the island nation as parks by 2008, tripling its conservation areas. Senegal has created one of Africa’s first protected marine areas. And South Africa wants to increase its protected land to 10 percent in 2008, up from 6.6 percent. But the push to save land for wildlife and biological diversity is rubbing up against Africa’s fast-growing population. The continent has an estimated 752 million people but is expected to grow to 1.7 billion by 2050, according to the Population Reference Bureau, a Washington-based group that studies global population trends. Around Africa, environmental advocates say, the threats to conservation areas span from loggers to hunters and fishing trawlers, as well as a lack of funds to hire local rangers, build park infrastructure, or train workers in the basics of running a national park. One of the most pressing concerns remains the high numbers of African wildlife killed for food, or bushmeat. ”In general, this bushmeat traffic is making wildlife in Africa unsustainable,” said Wouter van Hoven, a University of Pretoria professor of wildlife management who has advised several African countries on how to start national parks. ”Hunters now have access to these areas because of logging roads. Areas that are just becoming protected are also now accessible. The hunters are busy wiping out the continent’s wildlife.” http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2005/11/20/africas_new_parks_under_siege_from_old_ways_m
odern_commerce?mode=PF

Congo:

25) CONKOUATI NATIONAL PARK, Republic of Congo — This area of deep-blue lagoons, dense forests, jungle elephants, and egg-laying loggerhead turtles is being invaded. Chinese pirates, destitute gold miners, Gabonese loggers, monkey hunters, even a spirit called Mammy Water — all are presenting extraordinary challenges to conservationists trying to preserve one of Africa’s newest national parks. ”The problems never end in Conkouati,” said Paul Elkan, the Wildlife Conservation Society’s director general in the Republic of Congo. ”We’ve got it all down there.” In Conkouati, a 3,000-square-mile park not yet open to the public, the Republic of Congo and the Wildlife Conservation Society, based in New York, have been making steady progress in the past two years in protecting the environment, but new problems continually arise. Many stem from conflict with the 20,000 people who live in 13 villages inside the park. ”People here don’t have a culture that accepts preserved areas. They don’t accept that animals should be protected. They are used to shooting them.” For the first time in anyone’s memory, a sandbar was blocking the ocean from flowing into the estuary, dramatically reducing the number of fish in the lagoon. Poaty said villagers tried to dig out a pathway, but abruptly stopped after an old woman told them of a dream in which she was visited by Mammy Water, the spirit that lives in the waters of the area. ”Mammy Water said in the dream: ‘I decided to close off the water. Why are you opening it up? I will open it up when I’m ready,’ ” Poaty said. The story was later recounted by other villagers, who are so respectful of the spirit’s power that they don’t dare dig again. In the meantime, a new problem has arisen in the park: Since the fishing is so bad, some fishermen have gone to hunt in the forests. ”They know the park is protected,” Poaty said. ”But they also know they must survive.” http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2005/11/20/africas_new_parks_under_siege_from_old_ways_
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Panama:

26) Panama’s indigenous people of the Emberá-Wounaan territory are taking steps toward making use of the forests without harming the environment. With support from WWF and Panama’s National Environmental Authority (ANAM), the Emberá-Wounaan are learning to combat indiscriminate tree felling and applying a model that allows them to extract timber while conserving the forests. “Panama is one of the few remaining countries without natural forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council,” said WWF Central America’s Forestry Director, Mauro Salazar. “It the country doesn’t start carrying out forestry management in line with international standards, Panamanians will have a future without forests.” http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/index.cfm?uNewsID=50681

India:

27) In an early morning raid today, forest guards opened fire on women of Khokhlong village, injuring two. The incident has sparked a mob fury and a debate on the pathetic condition of forest-village dwellers.According to the forest department, Bobby Chettri (25) and Madhu Tamang (40), along with 25-30 other women, entered the Chumta block of Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary early this morning. “Our guards caught the women felling a tree,” range officer J. Banerjee said adding that the forest-village dwellers, who are allowed to collect firewood from the forest, have lately resorted to felling trees as well. “Several times earlier, we had asked them to stop the practice, but that went unheeded. This morning too when our four guards on duty tried to chase the women away, they came at them with khukris. A blank fire yielded no results, which is why the guards were forced to fire two more rounds, in which the women were injured.” Both the women were rushed to Sukna primary health centre from where they were taken to a nursing home in Siliguri. “We went to the forest to collect firewood and not fell trees,” they said from their hospital beds. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1051119/asp/siliguri/story_5493858.asp

28) The draft bill proposes to give land rights to tribes living in India’s dwindling forests and, not surprisingly, has been strongly opposed by conservationists who feel that this will seriously jeopardise our remaining forest cover. In this article, we will propose an alternative that we hope will satisfy both parties. The proposed legislation (the Tribal Bill) has been put forward by the government to remedy a “historical wrong” by which adivasi communities were deprived of ownership rights over forested areas to which they historically had unfettered access. This “historical wrong” has its roots in the British era when tracts of forests were deemed state land (usually under the Forest Department). Further restrictions were placed on these communities by the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 and the Forest Conservation Act 1980. The proposed Tribal Bill seeks to remedy the above ills by giving every tribal the title to 2.5 hectares of forest land. The legislation also plans to confer other rights such as those for grazing, non-timber forest produce, etc. In theory, the bill does recognise the need for some environmental regulation but the authority is largely vested in village councils rather than with the Forest Department. Champions of the bill see this as a necessary step for providing economic freedom to the adivasis. Conservationists, however, argue that the new legislation will merely legitimize creeping encroachments into already dwindling forest areas. There is also no credible mechanism for monitoring and imposing penalties for non-sustainable use of forests by the councils — especially in the context of the competitive populism that affects Indian politics at all levels. Finally, there is a real fear that the new law will legitimize the principle that forest conservation is politically negotiable and thereby open the door to further dilution in conservation laws. http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=82361

Philippines:

29) BUTUAN CITY — To improve the economic condition of poor farmers and indigenous people in far-flung areas, the Arroyo administration has opened 167,202 hectares of forest lands in the Caraga Region for agri-business development under the upland agro-forestry program. The allotted area is now known as the “Tree Plantation Corridor of the Philippines.” The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) opened the big area for development to ensure the sustainability of log and lumber supply from Caraga Region which has 1,331,491 hectares of timber land. Caraga is the only remaining region where logging is still allowed. The objective of the delineation of the “Caraga Timber Corridor, is to determine the extent of the areas available and suitable for development into tree planting and industrial-forest plantation, ascertain the nature and extend of affected communities, make the area accessible to development by investors upon issuance of a tenurial instrument and approval of the development plan. It would also ensure that prohibited areas are not included in awarding of lands for the development of industrial forest plantations. This program, he said, is expected to strengthen region’s position as the looging capital of the country. The development of tree plantation will make certain the sustainability of wood-based industries in the region. The allotted area is located in the four provinces of the Caraga Region: 61,526 hectares in Agusan del Norte; 96,025 hectares in Agusan del Sur; 1,209 hectares in Surigao del Norte; and 8,442 hectares in Surigao del Sur. http://www.mb.com.ph/PROV2005112049644.html

30) Various pro-environment and non-government organizations have launched a national movement to restore at least one million hectares of the country’s rainforest by 2020. They raised the alarm over the continuing rapid rate of destruction of the country’s forests, which they predicted may dwindle to a mere 320,000 hectares of primary forest, or a measly six percent of the country’s total land area, by 2010. “The forest is our social security system. We owe it protection for the free forest benefits and ecosystem services it provides,” said Prof. Blas Tabaranza, director of Haribon Foundation, which recently turned over to legislators, local government units, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) at least one million signatures against logging and mining especially in natural forests. The Haribon Foundation and Rainforest Restoration Initiative (RFRI) would serve as the core group of the social movement, dubbed as ROAD 2020, which would be supported by the Netherlands. “The national movement for rainforestation is not just about planting individual trees,” said Dr. Edwino Fernando of RFRI. “It is (also) about bringing back the rainforest.” http://www.philstar.com/philstar/News200511210403.htm

31) LUCENA CITY, Quezon — Renewed logging by Timberland Forest Products Inc. (TFPI) in the Sierra Madre portion of General Nakar town has met strong opposition from multi-sectoral groups in Quezon province. Johnny Glorioso, chair of the Quezon Provincial Multi-sectoral Forest Protection Council committee on information, called as “reprehensible and questionable” the renewed operation of TFPI, owned by Bulacan logger Wilson Ng, under its Integrated Forestry Management Agreement (IFMA) with the government that covers 36,660 hectares. Glorioso claimed that the reinstatement of TFPI’s IFMA was without public hearing. General Nakar town Mayor Hernando Avellaneda, whose election victory was nullified by a court, also expressed surprise when he was informed that the IFMA had been reinstated. “How could that be? It doesn’t have any endorsement from the local government,” he said. http://news.inq7.net/regions/index.php?index=1&story_id=57264

China:

32) BEIJING, Nov. 18 — Calls to protect decades-old trees from being damaged appeared in most Chinese-language newspapers in Shenzhen on Thursday, a grim reminder of the plight of the ancient trees in a city where rapid urbanization is posing a huge threat to the environment. Some residents have tried to build houses on the 3.2-hectare forest land which is home to hundreds of centuries-old camphors and banyan trees. The newly-built expressway and office buildings near the 400-year-old forest have also isolated the trees from the original eco-environment, and reduce the humidity and the density of lianas that are vital for the survival of the ancient trees. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-11/18/content_3797434.htm

Indonesia:

33) Forestry Minister MS Kaban has declared total war against those committing or involved in illegal logging to stem the expansion of forest destruction. “We must stop forest looting,” he told ANTARA here Wednesday. He pointed out that illegal logging has become rampant since the beginning of the reform era, and compared this kind of forest looting to cancer that has entered the fourth stage or the most dangerous stage that threatens human life. Illegal logging damages no less than 2.8 million ha of forests every year, he said, adding that only 59.3 million ha out of the available 120 million ha of production forests are still preserved at present production forests are still preserved out. Unless stern measures are taken to stop forest looting, forest conservation to guarantee wood supply to the wood processing industry can be maintained only for the coming 15 years, according to the minister. He disclosed that the Forestry Ministry recently detected 1,200 units of bulldozers operated for illegal logging in Papua province. If each bulldozer can finish logging on two hectares of forest a day, the 1,200 units of bulldozers can denude 2,400 ha of forest a day, he concluded. In Riau, officials of the provincial office of the Forestry Ministry recently discovered a 6 km-long row of log rafts in a river to be smuggled out of the country. The wood processing industry abroad, especially in China and Malaysia, has taken advantage of the supply of illegal logs from Indonesia.
http://www.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=7247

Australia:

34) The conflict between timber workers and conservationists at Wandella State Forest has climaxed in a landmark supreme court ruling. The NSW Supreme Court last week ordered eight activists not to interfere with or obstruct the access of loggers Bruce Mathie and Sons to state forests around Eden. The ruling subsequently received national news coverage. The Wandanian-based company initiated legal proceedings against anti-logging protesters in an effort to have them stop disrupting operations at the Wandella Forest, where they have been maintaining a vigil for more than four months. Bruce Mathie and Sons has the contract to log in the Wandella Forest, which was made available for logging in the 2003 Regional Forests Agreement (RFA). Lawyers for the company issued summonses to a number of people to appear in the Supreme Court in Sydney where an injunction was sought, and received, to prevent them from going near the disputed forest.The order also prevents some of the activists from directing other protesters to hinder access to logging areas. 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.The Wandella stand-off began in June 2005, and prompted a debate amongst Bega Valley Shire councillors about its policy on protest action. No protestors were arrested or directed to move on until September 1, when nine people were charged with a variety of offences after erecting cabling across and access road and manning a tri-pod style tree-sit. http://eden.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=local&story_id=439382&category=General%20News
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35) Three large logging contractors in southern Tasmania were told on Thursday that their contracts would be terminated in the new year because Gunns no longer wanted the timber from Forestry Tasmania. United Logging, Aprin Logging and Harback Logging were contracted to supply a total of 120,000 tonnes of wood from native forest in the state’s south over the next three years. Up to 25 men stand to lose their jobs and a source close to the industry said the contractors would be left with multi-million- dollar debts on specialist equipment they were required by Forestry Tasmania and Gunns to buy. Forestry Tasmania is understood to have asked the three contractors not to inform their workers of the cancellations until the end of this week while it tries to find alternative work, such as building roads.Forestry Tasmania’s general manager (operations) Kim Creak said the market for Tasmanian hardwood exports had tightened because of the strength of the Australian dollar and this had affected a number of local harvesting contractors. He also claimed environmentalists were having an effect on the market. http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/up-to-25-loggers-facing-the-chop/2005/11/19/1132017026268.html?on
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36) Residents and tourism operators in Tasmania’s north-east are calling for a moratorium on logging at two sites in the region while the potential for a proposed major walking trail is further explored. Forestry Tasmania says the eight-day walking track from Mt Victoria to the Blue Tiers is not viable. The company says an independent consultant has found there is little market for it and it is too expensive. For the trail to succeed, two areas of forest covering about 3,000 hectares, would need to be protected from logging. Local bushwalker Lesley Nicklason says these areas should not be logged until more studies into the trail are undertaken.”If we had a moratorium on any further harvesting just in those two areas while the potential could be explored that would really be seen as a positive thing by the community and tour operators,” he said. Forestry Tasmania’s district manager Steve Manson says they will consider the option. “We would certainly consider that in our logging plans when we are due to harvest the area, there are no immediate plans to do that,” he said. “We do have a lot of walking tracks in the area at the moment and really our focus is to improve those and promote those.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200511/s1511335.htm