046OEC’s This Week in Trees

This week we have 37 items from British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Louisiana, Canada, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Ghana, Brazil, India, Papua New Guinea, Nepal, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, and Australia.

British Columbia:

1) Great Bear Rainforest Protection Agreement: The Tsawataineuk First Nation (TFN), Gwawaenuk Tribe and the *Kwicksutaineuk /Ah Kwah Ah Mish First Nation (Four Tribes) hereby give notice that we do not approve the Central Coast Land and Resource Management Plan (CCLRMP) stakeholder process and do not endorse any aspects or the recommendations of the completion/planning table submitted in May 2004 to the Government of British Columbia. The Four Tribes share a history as one with our territories and have only been segregated and amalgamated under the Indian Act. We have joined together to develop and complete our individual and collective Land Use Vision in light of the New Relationship Agreement. Our Land Use Vision like our History includes protection areas, Traditional Laws in relation to our Land, Water, and Air. Our Four Tribes do not agree to the CCLRMP stakeholder process as it also has not addressed our capacity needs to meaningfully participate. Specifically the Tsawataineuk Nation have put on record that we had not been adequately consulted due to inadequate funding and resources to fully participate and hereby give notice that implementation of the recommendations and other aspects of the CCLRMP process have not met the standards of meaningful consultation within the spirit of the New Relationship Agreement, nor has it addressed our protection areas such as Holden Creek. As you may know, Holden Creek is a sacred area to our Four Tribes, as it relates to the Origin Story of our People and our History, Title and Rights protect all the territories of our Four Tribes. Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC)
http://www.ubcic.bc.ca/News_Releases/UBCICNews11010501.htm

3) The B.C. government’s decision to buy back logging rights from big companies and redistribute them to community forests and aboriginal communities is leading to more accidents in the woods, critics say. Forest worker deaths this year reached 38 with the death of faller Ted Gramlich near Parksville Nov. 21. That’s more than double the 16 fatalities recorded in 2004, and B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair says reduced workplace inspections are only part of the problem. “They’ve deregulated the industry, there’s more and more small companies working out there, there’s less and less control,” Sinclair said. “They gave away 20 per cent of the trees to other people, away from the main companies, and they’re being logged by people without the experience.” A recent report by the Western Fallers Association interviewed 250 self-employed fallers, who complained of too much haste by employers to harvest. The report says B.C.’s forested slopes have become more dangerous, with fallers working below cliffs or in debris left by heavy equipment, and in some cases in danger from fallers working up uphill from them. http://www.hopestandard.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=13&cat=23&id=546331&more=

4) In 1993, he says he was “hated like poison” by the forest industry and the Industrial Wood and Allied Workers of Canada when he faced off against the logging trucks at Clayoquot Sound. But Wilkinson saw it as his chance to do something positive against “legalized vandalism” and to draw attention to the “gross wrong being done to the Earth.” MacMillan Bloedel refused to abandon plans to clearcut a significant portion of Clayoquot Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Wilkinson took part in a protest blockade of the access road and were arrested along with more than 800 others.Wilkinson was sentenced to 100 hours of community service, which he was not allowed to do in forestry. The judge who sentenced Wilkinson and his third wife, Raging Granny Anne Paske for taking a stand on the Kennedy River bridge, called him magnificently unrepentant. In the early 1980s, Wildwood became a teaching centre. Before an unsuccessful hip replacement operation restricted his movement, Wilkinson took thousands of students and foresters from around the world on field trips. “Merve likes nothing better than talking to the kids,” says Fawcett. “He has them mesmerized. Every one of those kids comes away with a little bit of passion and his understanding and his way of looking at the world.” Educational tours are now run by The Land Conservancy. In 2000, the organization bought Wildwood from Wilkinson and his former wife Grace for $1.01 million. TLC is a non-profit, charitable land trust working throughout British Columbia. Wilkinson has life tenancy on the property and is delighted his life’s work has been protected. “I feel like one of the fortunate few who has really enjoyed life,” he says. “I feel satisfied because I know I have left a legacy and I enjoyed doing constructive things all they way through. There were some sad points though.” http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/capital_van_isl/story.html?id=8ec25f69-e8e2-4e21-abbb
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5) It’s obvious from the logo that Imagine Canada is about public-private partnerships, meaning the privatization of just about everything, which is in a very advanced stage at the federal level right now and is encroaching upon our democracy like an insidious cancer. P3s are one of the very key elements of the corporate takeover of government.
P3 parties have an unnatural interest in large, umbrella environmental or recreational organizations. Some years ago there was a proposal afloat to use the Outdoor Recreation Council. What they want from these umbrella groups is, for one thing, their organizational structure. So imagine, for instance, that the BCEN could organize all the little environmental groups to take over the operations of provincial parks on a not-for-profit basis, running the visitor centres, doing all kinds of former government jobs in return for perks through the partnership, such as access to advertising, use of government offices, equipment, etc. In other words, environmental groups are being bribed to take over government jobs for cheap. This isn’t just speculation. I have gone into a government office and seen this working in our national parks. Part of the model is that, to be a partner with government, the ENGO has to sign an agreement not to criticize the government. I know of at least one group operating in BC that has signed such an agreement. — Anne Sherrod [wildernesswatch@netidea.com]

Washington:

6) If Idaho General Mines is successful in obtaining a lease to develop a major copper mine near Goat Mountain it could result in significant environmental impacts, including the cutting of ancient forests, the release of sulphuric acid and other toxic substances into streams and rivers containing vulnerable salmon and cutthroat trout populations that, once begun, could continue for centuries, and a decrease in water quality due to the reconstruction of at least 20 miles of road in the area. In addition, the area north of Goat Mountain, where Idaho General Mines holds existing mining claims and which could be included as part of the mine development, lies within the Tumwater Inventoried Roadless Area. This area is also within the Quartz Late Successional Reserve, meaning that it was set aside under the NW Forest Plan to provide wildlife with future old growth forest habitat. A portion of the area is also located within spotted owl Critical Habitat Unit WA ? 38 which is supposed to be managed for the recovery of the threatened spotted owl.
The area to be impacted by mine development is also a popular recreation destination. Recreation areas possibly impacted by mine development include the Green River Horse Camp, the Goat Mountain Trail, Green River Trail, Quartz Creek Big Trees Loop Trail, Tumwater Mountain Trail, Ryan Lake Picnic Area and Viewpoint, and the Mt. Margaret Backcountry in the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. http://www.gptaskforce.org/article.php?id=192

7) The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday asked for the U.S. government’s views about Weyerhaeuser’s appeal of a $78.7 million judgment for monopolizing and trying to monopolize the forest products market in the Pacific Northwest. At issue is a U.S. appeals court ruling that upheld the judgment against Weyerhaeuser for violating federal antitrust law and engaging in predatory conduct. The court in a brief order asked Solicitor General Paul Clement to file a brief expressing the U.S. government’s views about the case. It could take months before the brief is filed and the court decides whether to hear the appeal. Ross-Simmons Hardwood Lumber, a company that went out of business in 2001, brought the lawsuit and blamed its failure on Weyerhaeuser. The lawsuit said Weyerhaeuser had engaged in predatory practices, and monopolized and attempted to monopolize the Pacific Northwest market through its purchases of alder sawlogs, the area’s predominant hardwood species. http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2005-11-28T172134Z_01_SIB8624
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8) POMEROY — The 52,000-acre School Fire hit big game animals much harder than wildlife officials originally thought. They now believe half the elk, one-third of the deer and half of the bighorn sheep on the W.T. Wooten Wildlife Area perished in the flames this summer. Foresters and biologists for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife recently discovered the charred remains of 200 elk, 150 deer and eight bighorn sheep on the wildlife area. Pomeroy District Ranger Monte Fujishin said initial restoration efforts have concentrated on making sure road and stream crossing infrastructure can withstand spring runoff. Some culverts are being upgraded, bridges secured and the agency is placing straw and wood fiber in key spots to reduce erosion. Officials from both agencies are working to place logs and other large woody debris in the creeks where the fire burned hot. It is hoped the wood will help to create pools to slow stream flows this spring. “We are going to tip some (trees) over just so we can break up the high water,” Groat said. The Forest Service plans to salvage log on about 10,000 acres and is preparing a draft environmental impact statement on the pro-ject that could be implemented as soon as next fall. Salvage logging of the Wooten Wildlife Area will begin much sooner. Plans call for logging as much as 15 million board feet of burned timber from 2,500 acres. About 12,000 acres of the 16,000-acre Wooten Wildlife Area burned in the fire. Up to 27,000 acres of the Pomeroy Ranger District burned along with 13,000 acres of private land. http://159.54.227.3/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051128/NEWS06/51128036

Oregon:

9) BEND — With so many forests in Oregon and with heating costs hitting record highs, forest officials are worried some Oregonians could turn to trees as a cheap source of fuel to warm their homes this winter. Capt. Lisa Fisher, head of law enforcement for the Deschutes and Ochoco forests, predicts the number of wood thieves will increase this year because of the higher heating costs. According to the latest U.S. Energy Information Administration forecast, heating bills are projected to rise up to 40 percent this year, spurred by higher natural gas prices in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Under a program run by the Forest Service, private households can buy permits to cut eight cords of firewood per year, for $10 per cord. A cord is 128 cubic feet of wood, or a pile 4 feet high, by 4 feet wide, by 8 feet long. “We’re seeing a spike in permit sales,” said Rob DeMello, special forest products coordinator for the Bend-Fort Rock Ranger District. But while permit sales are up, the supply of firewood is dwindling. Most of the dead trees on the Deschutes National Forest died in the 1970s and 1980s, during an outbreak of mountain pine beetles. It’s a scarcity which makes it more important for people to follow the rules, DeMello said. “I’ve been catching thieves seven miles from the nearest firewood area,” he said. Because birds and other wildlife like to live in standing dead trees, cutting wood illegally can harm wildlife. “You really need to leave something out there,” he said. “It’s critical for wildlife.” http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2005/11/28/news/news14.txt

10) Earlier this week Congressmen Greg Walden and Earl Blumenauer announced their intent to draft federal legislation to protect an additional 75,000 acres of wild lands around Mount Hood and in the Columbia Gorge as Wilderness. They are holding public meetings in Portland and Hood River this Saturday to formally unveil their proposal and ask the public for feedback. They need to hear from you! The Walden-Blumenauer proposal will likely include several key areas, including the rugged Roaring River area and portions of the Columbia Gorge. All Oregonians should be thankful that these wild lands would be protected! However, the Walden-Blumenauer 75,000 acre proposal will likely leave out many threatened lands, including: The Crystal clear waters and surrounding landscapes of Boulder Lake, important hawk migration area of Bonney Butte, old growth forests of Memaloose Lake, headwaters of the celebrated Multnomah Falls, the forests surrounding Larch Mountain, spectacular views of Mount Jefferson as seen from Olallie Lakes roadless area, and a biologically diverse area in Fifteenmile Creek. According to the Oregonian newspaper, the Walden-Blumenauer proposal includes a request to the Forest Service draft a plan to thin an additional 130,000 acres in Mount Hood National Forest over the next 10 years. http://www.onrc.org

California:

11) In the pre-dawn hours today, two women put their bodies on the line for the ancient redwoods by locking themselves to gates and trucks entering the access roads leading to a controversial logging plan in Nanning Creek watershed outside Scotia, California in Humboldt County. Maxxam / Pacific Lumber began logging operations in the controversial plan on Nov.11, triggering protests that have included tree-sits high in the branches of the giant trees that measure more than 15 feet in diameter, vigils at the entrance to access roads, and a demonstration at Pacific Lumber offices. The Timber Harvest Plan (THP) contains some of the highest quality murrelet habitat left on PL land, long seen by scientists as a crucial habitat area for the endangered bird. THP # 1-05-097, at 249 acres, is in the Dean Creek and Nanning Creek watersheds and contains habitat for other sensitive and threatened species, including the northern spotted owl, and is upstream from coho and chinook salmon spawning habitat. Nanning Creek is a tributary of the Eel River, which is already listed as impaired under the Clean Water Act. http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/11/1786384.php

Montana:

12) Montana’s 6.4 million acres of roadless national forest land don’t need any new roads, a group of county commissioners told Gov. Brian Schweitzer Monday. But commissioners stressed that they don’t want to “shut the door forever” on new roads, in case of wildfires or other emergencies. “Most people are saying, ‘Let’s not be building any new roads, but let’s not lose any roads that we have, either,’ ” Ravalli County Commissioner Alan Thompson told the governor. In Montana, Schweitzer has asked county commissions to send him specific recommendations about which roads should stay and which should go. He urged commissioners to continue working with their local national forest supervisors. “That is some place I don’t have any juice,” Schweitzer said. Ironically, Colorado and Idaho have received federal money for the project, said Dale Harris, a Missoula businessman and member of the Roadless Area Conservation National Advisory Committee. The group was appointed by federal forest officials to help the U.S. secretary of agriculture put into action the governors’ petitions. “That’s what you get for voting for a Democratic governor,” Schweitzer said jokingly. http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2005/11/29/news/top/news01.txt

Wisconsin:

13) A white cedar tree took root in a fissure of the Niagara Escarpment About the time Michelangelo was sculpting in Italy. That cedar still clings – twisted and sculpted by nature – to the dolomite cliff where it rooted 500 years ago. It is one of thousands across the U.S. and Canada comprising a vertical forest, the most extensive old-growth forest east of the Rockies. The Niagara Escarpment is the rim of a saucer-shaped geological feature centered under Michigan. The saucer formed from the basin of an ancient inland sea during the Ordovician and Silurian eras some 445 to 420 million years ago. The western edge of the escarpment in Wisconsin curves in a semi-circular ridge northeast from Horicon Marsh, toward the eastern edge of Lake Winnebago and the western shore of Door County. It arcs around Lake Huron, then south through Ontario and ends at Niagara Falls, spanning a total of 650 miles. Some of its edge is underwater or covered by glacial deposits, but much is exposed as cliff outcroppings as high as 200 feet in places. Growing on these vertical cliffs, at the sluggish pace of about an inch every 15 years, are the gnarled and twisted specimens of this ancient forest. Their studies found uneven-aged populations, a large proportion of old trees (100 to 300 years), and very little sign of human disturbance or fire, leading them to conclude “that the entire forested cliff face of the Niagara Escarpment is an intact old-growth forest.” Unlike other trees that have nonspecific roots, each of the white cedar’s roots is dedicated to a specific section of the trunk. So if one root is damaged when rock fractures and gives way, the tree can isolate the damage and survive “We also found the world’s oldest red cedar at the bluff north of Greenleaf in Brown County, coming in at roughly 1,200 years old. It’s the only known tree more than 1,000 years old in the state.. http://www.wnrmag.com/stories/2005/dec05/forest.htm

14) What drives the forest products marketplace? You, the buyer, do. Installing a new wood floor? Kretz Lumber of Antigo sells hard maple flooring harvested from well-managed forests of Wisconsin and Michigan. From another supplier, however, you could buy flooring made of tropical Indonesian merbau trees, alleged to have been logged illegally. Looking for a sleek hall table? A popular retail website offers one handcrafted from the endangered makore wood, also known as cherry mahogany, found in the wet evergreen rainforest of West Africa. But from the same store, you can find one made from maple, a common species in Wisconsin. Or you might be considering one made from metal or plastic. The birth and death of industries and forests rides on thousands of individual decisions like these. Advocates of “intelligent consumption” believe that buyers should know the environmental impact (the “eco-print”) of a particular product to help guide them to wiser choices. http://www.wnrmag.com/supps/2005/dec05/intro.htm

Minnesota:

15) The state’s Forest Resources Council considers whether roadless protections should be restored to more than 60,000 acres in Minnesota. In early 2001, the Clinton Administration set aside tracts in the Superior and Chippewa National Forests as “roadless.” The areas were off-limits to motor vehicles, logging or mining. But President Bush later reversed the Clinton roadless rule. Now, it would take a petition from Governor Tim Pawlenty to get the areas fully protected again. But there are groups on both sides of the issue that don’t want to see that happen. Duluth, Minn. — President Clinton’s Roadless Area Conservation Rule protected 58 million acres nationwide. In Minnesota, some 65,000 acres were declared roadless, mostly in the Superior National Forest. Last May, The Bush Administration dropped the roadless designation. In some cases, logging is now allowed on tracts once designated roadless, according to Sean Werley, with the group “Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness.” “For instance the Echo Trail logging project, which plans to cut 16,000 acres on the edge of the wilderness,” Werley says. “That is left vulnerable and open because of this new national policy.” But the new rule has a twist. State Governors can petition for the acres to be returned to roadless status. Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has asked the state’s Forest Resources Council to recommend whether he should file a petition. Werley says he’s not entirely happy with the new Superior-Chippewa Forest Land Management Plan, but he worries what could happen if the roadless issue was reopened. “Because we fear that in fact reviewing it would open it to weakening those protections,” says Werley.http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/11/30_kelleherb_roadlessrule/
Louisiana:

16) When hurricanes Katrina and Rita plowed through the forests north of Lake Pontchartrain and in southwest Louisiana, they didn’t only flatten pines, red oaks and poplars. They took out retirements, college funds and inheritances, too. Katrina took out 3 billion board feet and Rita, 1.6 billion board feet, of Louisiana timber, dealing a financial blow not only to corporate landowners but hundreds of small, private tree farmers. The Louisiana Forestry Association estimates the hurricanes knocked down about three times the state’s annual harvest, but said the industry will be lucky to recoup a quarter of the trees uprooted, snapped and bent over by the storm. “There’s so much timber on the ground, we just can’t salvage all of it,” said Gaston Lanoux, a tree farmer and forester who has been busy helping fellow landowners in Tangipahoa, Washington, St. Helena and the Florida parishes deal with damaged tree stands. Lanoux, who farms mostly old-growth timber, lost half of his trees on his land north of Hammond, an estimated $150,000. “If I salvage $35,000 of it I’ll be lucky,” he said. “And what I lost is chicken feed compared to some people,” he said. “Some people in the Florida parishes have lost millions and millions.” http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/112705/bus_timber001.shtml

Canada:

17) While a crane called a loader lays logs onto a truck in the forest, a computer and RFID reader on the loader writes data onto the vehicle’s 915 MHz active tag. This data includes the driver’s name and license number, the loading location (determined by a GPS device onboard the loader), and the species of tree that was cut. The driver then proceeds to the forestry company’s scale, at a sawmill that can be as much as 160 miles from the forest where the timber was felled. When the truck drives onto the scale, an RFID interrogator with a read range of up to 300 feet retrieves the truck’s data and writes its weight and time of day to the RFID tag. The truck driver does not need to come to a full stop. The driver then takes his truck to a site where a loader removes the logs. Once empty, the truck goes through another scale, where its tare (unloaded) weight is written to the tag. Data on the tag can then be erased except for details about the truck itself, and the truck can return to the forest for another load. Guy Bourbeau, president of Balance Bourbeau, says he has been working on this RFID solution for about six years. This, he says, represents the world’s first RFID solution in use by the forestry industry. By using RFID, the forestry industry can reportedly reduce human error from about 68 percent accuracy before RFID and GPS tracking to 99 percent once the new technology is in place. http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/2007/1/1/

Kazakhstan:

18) ASTANA, – The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved the project, with an overall value of US$63.8 mln, and is co-financed by the government of Kazakhstan in the amount of 28.8 mln, The remaining 5 mln will be funded by a grant from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). It is one of the first large-scale GEF projects concentrating on addressing the problem of land degradation: 1) In the northeast (Pavlodar and East-Kazakhstan Oblasts), some 180,000 hectares of Irtysh pine forest areas have been destroyed by wildfires since 1997. Illegal logging has also been a problem. The project aims to replant 41,000 hectares of the burned or degraded area. 2) In the south (Kyzylorda Oblast), the drying Aral Sea is a major ecological disaster. The Kazakhstan portion of the Dry Aral Seabed covers some 2.6 million hectares and is mostly bare. The project aims to accelerate the expansion of vegetative cover by planting some 79,000 hectares. 3) Kyzylorda Oblast also contains large areas of arid steppe woodlands used for pasture. From 1990 to 2002, livestock numbers in Kazakhstan declined drastically, but livestock numbers are now increasing. The project includes support for some 30 sites covering a total of about 156,000 hectares to demonstrate appropriate sustainable management approaches for saxaul woodlands and associated rangelands. 4) The project includes support for remote sensing and mapping all forest areas of Kazakhstan. It also will create a competitive grant program to support innovative forest development subprojects. http://www.harolddoan.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7083

Kenya:

19) With the Forest Act 2005, Kenya will improve on jobs, wood-based industries and wealth through forestry. We have the fastest growth rates of some of the most exotic trees in the world. The argument that these will damage water catchments, endanger soil and wildlife protection and lead to desertification is flawed as our hydrologists, silviculturists and wildlife managers will testify. It is retrogressive and not in keeping with modern practices. All one needs to do is ensure that ecologically fragile areas are not turned into plantation forestry without appropriate silvicultural and conservation practices. Taungya, or what the Burmese called hill cultivation, was adopted and perfected in Kenya many years ago. It has now been enacted in the Forest Law as non-residential cultivation of forest lands for food, alongside timber production. The Kenya Forestry Society is now asking Prof Maathai to distinguish between forest conservation fundamentalism and sustained production with utilisation. It is regrettable that such a prominent personality in tree planting can exhibit such conservation myopia. Her utterances against exotic flora, timber production, the shamba system and her insistence that eucalypts are the bane of water catchments are considered unscientific. The forest fraternity now begs Prof Maathai to retract her stand on forest production and utilisation in public lands because she is advancing causes that are anti-forestry, anti-people and quite retrogressive. http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=25&newsid=62488

Ghana:

20) Mr. Gordon Wetherell, British High Commissioner in Ghana, has advised Ghanaian timber exporters to the European Union (EU) markets to ensure their products are legally certified from sustainable sources. He said this was necessary because procurement policies of the United Kingdom (UK) and most EU countries were being changed to accept only certified timber from legal and sustainable sources into their markets. Mr. Wetherell was addressing a forum of stakeholders in the timber industry in Kumasi. Mr. Wetherell said about 60 per cent of Ghana’s timber products were exported to EU markets therefore, it was important for Ghana to be abreast of the changes within the EU markets to benefit from the potentials in the markets. Mr. Atta Owusu, Ashanti Regional Manager of the Forest Services Division of the Forestry Commission (FC), said despite the ban on chain saw operations, the perpetrators continued with their operations. Mr. Acquah Moses, Executive Secretary of the Ghana Timber Millers Organisation (GTMO), appealed to the EU to use the new conditions and policies on timber exports to help promote trade in developing countries to improve their economies. http://www.accra-mail.com/mailnews.asp?id=14898

Brazil:

21) They are going to build the world’s second largest Dam: To satisfy the appetite of a rapidly growing industrial base, state-owned Chinese companies have begun involving themselves in mining projects in the eastern Amazon, ranging from aluminum and steel to nickel and copper. Processing each of those materials requires large amounts of electricity, and the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, intent on forming what he calls “a strategic alliance” with China, is eager to perform that task. But in partnership with China, Brazil is also committed to large industrial projects in the Amazon that will consume huge amounts of electricity and employ relatively few people. Meanwhile, the river dwellers whose lives will be disrupted by the dam predict it will cause extensive environmental damage and encourage an influx of poor settlers seeking jobs that will not exist. They also complain that they will not receive the power they have long been demanding of the government and will be forced to move. “If this thing is built, then Lord help us,” said José Carlos Arara, a leader of an Indian settlement perched above the river. “The Chinese are way over there. But we are right here, at the gateway of the dam without water, medical care or electricity, and rather than help us, our government wants to make things worse. If it were up to us, this dam would never be constructed.” Officials in Brasília, however, promise that the project, named Belo Monte after the site where it is to be built, will control the flow of the river so as to minimize its impact on the nine tribal groups that live here. They also say that because Brazil cannot afford not to build the dam, they will pay whatever price is necessary to placate the skeptics here. http://www.irn.org/programs/aluminium/index.php?id=Foiling2005.html

India:

22) AGARTALA– At least eight large pythons have become guardians of a tree plantation in India, scaring away timber poachers. The 109 families in charge of the plantation in Udaipur had problems with thieves coming into the forest, the Calcutta Telegraph reports. The plantation was created by environmental officials to replace natural-growth forests and provide a home for species that need areas of tall trees. Nine months ago the keepers noticed poachers were no longer a problem. “Whenever the thieves and forest brigands try to harm the natural habitat, the pythons play an active role in driving away the culprits,” Lalmohan Sen, a senior forest ranger told the newspaper. At least eight pythons have been counted in the area. The plantation provides a good home for jungle fowl, which are eaten by the pythons. “Mother Nature has found her own way to protect herself without our help and we are really happy about it,” said Sen. http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20051129-100924-3056r

Papua New Guinea:

23) Covering thirty-six million hectares, PNG’s ancient rainforests are the largest intact tropical rainforest wilderness in the Asia Pacific region and the third largest on the planet. In addition to powering the global ecological system, PNG’s forests are among the most complex and species-rich terrestrial ecosystems in the world, containing an estimated 5-7 per cent of the worldÕs total number of species. The human cultural diversity is just as impressive as over 700 distinct languages are spoken – one quarter of the world’s total. There exists a strong attachment to rainforest land in PNG, as some 97 per cent of the country is under clan based land tenure. Most PNG citizens continue to rely heavily on their forests for their subsistence and economic wellbeing. These forests are vital to the livelihoods of the mostly rural population – providing them with food, shelter, medicines and their spiritual identity. Sadly PNG is currently experiencing a massive logging boom, as a large commercial timber industry is carrying out highly unsustainable resource extraction. Without reigning in the “timber-mafia” roaming PNG’s countryside like robber barons, all the carbon market money in the world will not save PNG’s precious ancient rainforests. The mostly Malaysian owned logging companies have their tentacles in virtually every orifice of government, and to some respect can be said to be running the country. Corruption, much of it derived from the timber industry, is epidemic and makes the country essentially ungovernable. http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article329868.ece

24) Until recently, Michael Somare, the prime minister of Papua New Guinea, felt that global economic forces were pressuring him to cut down his country’s lush tropical rain forest, the third-largest left in the world. But Somare believes he has found a financial incentive to save his nation’s forests, one that should be far more valuable to the world than hardwood timber or coffee plantations. Forests serve as natural air filters that suck up the greenhouse gases that are causing global warming. Arguing that the rest of the world is benefiting from this natural wealth without sharing the cost, a bloc of developing countries led by Papua New Guinea and Costa Rica plans to make a novel proposition this week at a United Nations conference in Montreal on climate change: Pay us, and we will preserve our rain forests. “In the rural areas of my nation, where 80% of the people live, the only real options for economic growth often require the destruction of natural forests … in order to trade low-value commodities with the industrial powers. I call this eco-colonialism,” Somare said in an interview last week. “This is a recipe for failure — failure to preserve our biodiversity, pressure to release our people from poverty, failure to protect the world from the greenhouse effect,” he added. “We need to develop a system that will monetize environmental services and capitalize sustainable development.” The proposal is preliminary, and some experts predict it will be bedeviled by the challenge of determining a fair-market value for nature, as well as international skepticism over whether nations such as Papua New Guinea can successfully shield their forests from illegal logging. http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-fg-warm27nov27,1,5379997.story?coll=la-news-environ
ment&ctrack=1&cset=true

Nepal:

25) Word spread quickly about the teenager and people around Ratanapuri village in Bara district began to visit Bamjan, 15, who has been sitting cross-legged in a traditional Buddha posture under a peepal tree. Bamjan’s eyes are closed and his body firm, encased in a whitish shawl. His hair has grown long and has almost covered his eyes. Villagers say he has grown weak. His picture has been appearing regularly in newspapers and people now look for updates on him. Many around Bara worship him as the reincarnation of the Buddha. The tree is festooned and the air has the smell of incense sticks. The dramatically increased movement of people has generated economic opportunities. The number of visitors had reached up to 10,000 a day but fewer people are going to the retreat now, he said. Makeshift shops have sprung up and offerings in cash and kind are on the rise. Local people have formed a committee to make sure Bamjan gets the right environment to meditate and to manage the influx of visitors and the offerings they make. The most frequently asked questions: Does he remain seated like that and meditate even at night? Does he not eat or drink at all? Some say he has eaten nothing since he began his meditation, others that he used to take a milk-like liquid from the roots of the peepal tree at the beginning. “We have agreed to conduct a scientific examination on him,” said the local administrator, Mr Koirala. The challenge is to do so without touching him. “I sometimes go to see him but he does not talk to me,” said Maya Devi Tamang. “I don’t know what will happen to him but I know that god will help him.” The name of Buddha’s mother was also Maya Devi, a point Bamjan’s devotees have stressed. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4479240.stm
http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=59056

Japan:

26) With plentiful snow and rain, volcanoes that have frequently covered the land with mineral-rich ash, and a wide range of climates, Japan is blessed with a remarkable variety of trees and other forest growth. In the most southerly islands, such as Iriomote in Okinawa, you find semitropical jungle. On Yaku Island off southern Kyushu, you get massive cedars, or cryptomeria (Cryptomeria japonica). On Yaku Island they call any cedar less than 1,000 years old ko-sugi (baby cedar), and they claim that the oldest on the island, named Jomon Sugi, is more than 7,000 years old. When I began hiking in the Japanese mountains back in 1963, I was awed by the magnificent virgin beech woods that seemed like high, leafy cathedrals of green, full of the sounds of running water and birds. As someone born and raised in Britain, where wild bears were exterminated around the 10th century, I was delighted to discover that two species of those mighty mammals still roamed Japan’s woods, together with wild boar, deer, serow (goat antelopes) and many other creatures both large and small. However, since I first came to live in northern Nagano Prefecture in 1980, the decline in the quality and health of Japanese woodland has been a constant concern, and something to which I have devoted a major part of my life. Twenty-one years ago, I began buying up parcels of neglected mixed woodland near my home, together with spindly plantations of Japanese larch and cedar. Three years after that, I finally persuaded a local forester to work full time with me to restore these woods to healthy biodiversity. Then, three years ago, we formed a trust to expand and manage the woods, and to ensure their future. The work and study has been constant, but we are always making progress. Nationwide, about 70 percent of Japan’s total land area is woodland, though less than 2 percent of this is natural old-growth or virgin forest. In the 40-odd years since I first came to Japan, these old-growth forests have been ravaged to extract timber with which to pay the salaries and expenses of those working for what was then the Forestry Agency and is now the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20051127x1.htm

Thailand:

27) “I saw this elephant chained to a tree, and tears were rolling down her cheeks. She was dying right in front of me,\” Chailert tells the Taiwan News.”She was trembling and foam was coming out of her mouth. I learned later that the pachyderm was forced to take drugs. The amphetamines kept her going. She was employed by a logging company, and she had to carry logs up and down the mountains.” The memory of that “crying” elephant stayed with her. “That night, I couldn’t sleep. I thought, ‘I have to do something,'” she says. And so, Chailert decided to devote her life to rescuing and healing Thailand’s elephants – many of them left “unemployed” by logging companies and abandoned by owners who did not have the financial means to care for them. “When I told my family of my decision, they discouraged me, and in some cases, even teased me for coming up with such an idea” she says. “They said, ‘You’re so small. (“Lek” means “small one” in Thai.) How can you take care of an animal that is several times larger than you? You will be needing a lot of people and tons of money and resources to do that.’ I told them, ‘I believe I can do it, and I will follow my heart” Chailert can be as stubborn as a mule if she wants to, and it is that stubbornness that got her on TIME’s “Asia’s Heroes” roster this year. The prestigious award, presented to Chailert in Taipei last Wednesday, has helped open several doors for Thailand’s endangered elephants, she says. “When I started the Elephant Nature Park (in Chiang Mai in 1996), I felt so alone. I had my back against the wall,” Chailert says. “Not many Thai people were interested in our elephants’ plight, not even members of the Thai media. TIME helped change that.” Born in the small rural mountain village of Baan Lao, some 60 kilometers from Chiang Mai, Chailert earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Chiang Mai University. When she was five years old, her grandfather had an elephant named Thongkhum or “golden one” who helped him till the farm. http://www.etaiwannews.com/showPage.php?setupFile=showcontent.xml&menu_item_id=MI-1123667380&did=d_1133
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Indonesia:

28) Sumatra’s lowland rainforests and many of the birds that depend on them are being driven to the edge of extinction because of habitat loss and fragmentation caused by logging for pulp and paper, and clearance for oil palm plantations. Over 40,000 square kilometres of rainforest has been cut down and cleared for industrial use in the past 20 years and the World Bank has warned that the remaining lowland rainforests will be gone by 2005 if current logging rates continue. Instead of cutting down Sumatra’s majestic rainforests, land that has already been cleared could be planted to farm trees for pulp and paper, and grow oil palm, one of Indonesia’s most valuable crops. Sumatra is Indonesia’s main island and one of the richest and most spectacular biodiversity hotspots on Earth. Its amazing birds and wildlife include the Sumatran Tiger, Sumatran Rhinoceros, Orang Utan, Sumatran Ground-cuckoo, Red-naped Trogon, Rufous-collared Kingfisher, Storm’s Stork and Rhinoceros Hornbill. http://www.birdlife.org/action/ground/sumatra/index.html

29) There are claims that illegal logging in Indonesia destroys at least 2.8 million hectares of forests every year. Forestry Minister Malem Sambat Kaban is quoted by the AFP newsagency as saying the level of forest destruction in Indonesia has reached “serious” levels. A recent study by Indonesia Corruption Watch and non-government group, Greenomics Indonesia, found that legitimate forestry companies are contributing to illegal logging and other deforestation in Indonesia. The report says poor practices by forestry firms have led to squatting and illegal logging in authorised concessions and sometimes to excessive logging by the firms themselves. http://www.abc.net.au/ra/news/stories/s1519464.htm

30) As the forestry-based industry has yet to perform efficiently, the government should review its policy to increase next year’s natural forest logging quota, an environmental organization says. “Currently, the forestry-based industry can only absorb 20 percent of the given quota. Why should it be increased?” Greenomics Indonesia executive director Elfian Effendi said on Monday. Minister of Forestry M.S. Kaban said previously that his ministry would increase next year’s annual logging quota to 8.1 million cubic meters from 5.6 million m3 in 2005. He said the ministry aimed to increase state revenue from the sector to US$8 billion in 2006 from the current $5 billion. A Greenomics study shows that between 2002 and 2004, only some 20 percent of 264 companies holding natural forest concessions were active. “Most of them experienced financial difficulties because they have to pay the reforestation fund up front before utilizing the forests,” Elfian said. The 264 companies held permits to utilize 27.79 million hectares of natural forest with a logging quota of 5.6 million m3. At present, the timber processing industry has an estimated capacity of about 42 million cubic meters per year, but the industry is flooded with illegal timber from already depleted natural forests. The forestry ministry had planned in January to increase its present logging quota to 30 million m3 this year to meet domestic demand and help create employment. Aside from the supply from the natural forests, there were some 15 million m3 additional annual supply from other forest concessions, including from illegal logging, Elfian said. http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailbusiness.asp?fileid=20051129.L03&irec=2

Philippines:

31) The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) has passed the country’s first law on sustainable forest management, paving the way for the protection of the region’s remaining forest cover. The ARMM government recently completed the implementing rules and regulations of the Muslim Mindanao Autonomy Act No. 161, also known as the Regional Sustainable Forest Management Act of 2004, signaling the start of its implementation. “Only ARMM has this law in the country,” said Fer Esguerra, information officer of the Philippine Environmental Governance (Ecogov) which helped craft the law. “ARMM’s forests are highly threatened.” The ARMM had 119,607 hectares of closed-canopy forests (rain forests and primary growth forests) and 123,002 hectares of open-canopy forests (plantations and other forests) as of last year. Its mangrove swamps cover 53,620 hectares. Forestry regulations applying to the rest of the country are embodied in PD 75, a martial law decree ARMM’s forest management law would compel local governments within the autonomous region to have forest management plans identifying which forests should be protected and which ones could be economically exploited under specific conditions. http://news.inq7.net/breaking/index.php?index=2&story_id=58224

32) A year after flashfloods and landslides washed out communities in the provinces of Quezon and Aurora, illegal logging continues. Residents of the provinces, who lost their loved ones in the tragedy attributed to unabated illegal logging, cannot help but feel insulted by what they perceive to be the disregard of authorities who have failed to limit logging operations. Just three months ago, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) allowed more logging concessionaires to cut trees and transport logs. The DENR has reportedly issued six permits allowing eight holders of industrial forest management agreements (IFMAs) and a holder of timber license agreement (TLA) to operate. “This adds insult to the fresh injury that we, victim’s of last year’s flashfloods and landslides, endure until now,” said Marieta Corpuz of the Samahan ng Katutubo sa Sierra Madre (SKSM). “Our cry for justice has not been heeded by Mrs. Arroyo, who has been busy attending to the demands of her patrons, including logging and mining companies,” she added. Corpuz said the government’s promise of assistance to affected communities remains unfulfilled. Instead of implementing the much-needed rehabilitation, the government has focused on lifting the ban on logging operations in the provinces, she said. Despite the supposed moratorium on logging operations in the provinces, Corpuz claimed tree cutting in the provinces goes on unabated. “Before, the people managed to live without logging,” Corpuz said. http://www.philstar.com/philstar/News200511290404.htm

33) There is a perception that white is clean, and virgin pulp means fresh and new. Apart from sanitation concerns, recycled tissue is perceived to be of lower quality, especially in softness and absorbency. That may no longer be true. With modern recycling facilities and advance manufacturing process, recycled paper can be as good as their virgin fiber counterpart. With regard to hygiene, other countries have strict rules on products that come in contact with food. These legislations apply to paper packaging materials and those that are used in the dining table. For other applications, such as for bathroom use, I don’t know of any restriction. So why should we use recycled tissue? Paper is made from trees. Using virgin fiber for tissue means “flushing down the forest in the toilet”, that’s according to the environmental group WWF (World Wildlife Fund) International. “Everyday about 270,000 trees are effectively flushed down the toilet or end up as garbage around the world, such a use of the forest is both wasteful and unnecessary,” said Duncan Pollard, Head of WWF’s European Forest Programme. “Manufacturers must use more recycled fibers in their tissue products, as this means fewer trees will be cut down.” http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/pam/2005/12/02/oped/rox.pena.html

34) The Councils of Elders (Mangkatadong) of the Mandaya tribe in Caraga, Davao Oriental are opposing the impending operation of the Matugina Integrated Wood Products Inc., claiming its operations could encroach on their ancestral lands. The tribe declared in its ADMP that “the trees are not ours, this is part of Magbabaya’s creations entrusted to us thus, we will not cut more than what we, earnestly need.” The Sangguniang Bayan of Caraga also passed a similar resolution, in support of the Tribal Councils’ resolutions. The firm is reportedly now ready to operate in the mountain ranges of Sangab in Caraga, Davao Oriental and the neighboring indigenous cultural communities covered by Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claim (CADC) 108. “Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) was not obtained from the concerned indigenous cultural communities (ICCs),” says Norma Gonos, a Mandaya who served as former commissioner of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP). Gonos helped draft the Ancestral Domain Management Plan (ADMP) that defines the need for the tribe’s consent in implementing development projects of government and non-governmental organizations. “We have been working hard to maintain our cultural integrity, the richness of our culture, our interrelation with environment and our responsibility to the ancestral domains which we borrowed from our generations to come,” declares Kagawad Eutiquio “Dodong” Pagsac Jr., chair of the Committee on Environment of Caraga. He said the firm’s presence in the area is a “threat to the peaceful, bountiful place and the culture of the indigenous peoples.” http://www.mindanews.com/2005/11/28nws-mandaya.htm

35) PALO, Leyte – The way the bishops tell it, Environment Secretary Michael Defensor blinked. Sitting in a tense 2-hour dialogue yesterday morning with seven Catholic bishops determined to protect the rich biodiversity of Samar, Defensor reportedly bowed to their demand and said his agency would not allow the resumption of logging on the island. In exchange, the bishops of Samar, Leyte and Biliran called off the antilogging and antimining caravan-rally scheduled in Samar on Monday as well as their plan to gather 200,000 signatures for a petition to President Macapagal-Arroyo seeking the cancellation of the logging permit for Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile’s timber firm. “The honorable secretary has given a promise that he personally and all of his staff and the whole [Department of Environment and Natural Resources] are willing [to] commit themselves [to] that the operation of San Jose Timber [Corp.] in Samar will not continue,” Bishop Leonardo Medroso of the Diocese of Borongan (Eastern Samar) announced in a press conference held after the closed-door dialogue. http://news.inq7.net/nation/index.php?index=1&story_id=58572

Australia

36) Beekeepers had been increasingly concerned about clearfelling and loss of leatherwood trees, along with lack of access to the resource, and earlier this year mooted an industry-driven plan for sustainability. Mr Green said the report, done through an industry census by the Forests and Forest Industry Council, gave the government an accurate picture of the industry. He said it showed that of 18,000 hives in Tasmania, about 12,500 are used for leatherwood honey production on about 270 sites. Mr Green said the information would be used to improve access to leatherwood areas with $3 million allocated under the Community Forest Agreement for specialised timber management. Aerial reconnaissance to identify sites would be undertaken over the summer months. Mr Green said work was also under way to develop the industry and improve marketing of Tasmanian honey. Apart from direct honey sales, the apiary industry is also worth hundreds of millions to agriculture as a pollination agent. Tasmanian Beekeepers Association president Julian Wolfhagen said it was the first time the industry had been officially recognised as such. He said apiarists had previously been “marching toward oblivion”, struggling to access leatherwood in locked-up conservation areas and battling to stay ahead of logging operations in forests. “Historically we’ve relied on access provided by the timber industry but, of course, that also paved the way for removal of the forest,” Mr Wolfhagen said. Now, he said, plans to improve access and moves away from clearfelling gave the industry hope. http://www.themercury.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,17385645%255E3462,00.html

37) POLICE have been called in to investigate threats of tree spiking in a contentious Forestry Tasmania coupe near St Marys. The anonymous threat, understood to have been sent to a media outlet which then sent it to Forestry Tasmania, warns that “thousands of hardened steel nails” have been driven into trees in the controversial South Sister coupe, due to be selectively harvested in the coming months. The warning also states that a large number of trees have been drilled and filled with a plastic substance “to polute [sic] woodchipping operations”. It criticises Forestry Tasmania’s practices, accusing it of attacking nature and “life itself”. “Because of your failure to listen to the experts and learn from your past practices we have chosen coupe NI114A as our first place to save … we have decided that direct action is the only way to protect the area,” it states. The warning is signed as from Friends of the Forest. Forestry Tasmania operations general manager Kim Creak said the organisation was taking the threat seriously and had contacted police. “It’s extraordinary that people even think of doing this sort of extreme action,” he said. http://www.themercury.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,17410540%255E3462,00.html

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