055OEC’s This Week in Trees

Support This week in trees —> Donate to http://www.peacefromtrees.org –>All donations will be spent on the establishment of a comprehensive international forest monitoring: podcast, website, RSS feeds, a searchable data-base, discussion forums for developing global strategies, also Wikis. Now onto the news…

This week’s news –> 43 tree articles from: British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, New Mexico, Minnesota, Indiana, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, USA, Canada, England, Switzerland, Finland, Israel, Kenya, Uganda, India, China, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Australia and world-wide

British Columbia:

1) Economics favour park: report: Loss of hunting and logging revenue in Flathead Valley would be ‘far outweighed’ The economic value of creating a 40,000-hectare national park in the Flathead Valley of southeastern B.C. easily exceeds any economic loss from ending logging and trophy hunting in the area, concludes a report by a former manager in the B.C. finance ministry. The report, by consultant Jim Johnson, a chartered accountant and former economics expert with BC Stats, calculates that a national park would provide a conservative net annual gain of $1.44 million and 23 full-time jobs when forgone benefits from natural resource extraction are taken into consideration. “The economic benefits associated with the park expansion far outweigh the economic costs,” found Johnson, who noted the communities of Sparwood and Fernie in the Elk Valley north of the proposed park would especially benefit. “Thus, from a regional economic perspective, the park expansion is a win-win solution resulting in increased economic activity . . . and increased wildlife habitat protection . . . .” The region would prosper from increased wilderness tourism, Parks Canada investment, and an influx of people wanting to live and work next to a national park. The report notes that the benefits could be much higher once first nations investments are included. The report emphasizes there are no oil and gas wells or mines in the proposed area, except for a small quarry. Tembec, the logging company in the Flathead Valley, has even entertained the idea of forgoing its logging rights in the proposed park area in exchange for subsidies to make its mill more efficient for processing wood from other areas.– Prince George Citizen today

2) Bulkley Valley scientists say sharing information now is the key to tackling the devastation of the pine beetle infestation. While the Valley lumber industry currently booms during the frantic effort to salvage Mountain Pine Beetle-killed timber, the big question is what will happen in the post-beetle aftermath. “It’s really critical that we answer these questions,” said David Coates, a forestry expert with the Smithers-based B.V. Centre for Natural Resources Research “Forest management decisions now have major implications for the well-being of all of the communities along Hwy 16. Without a timber supply, we’re in big trouble.” Coates along with a team of scientists are trying to answer that question right now, using sophisticated models, digital photography and collaborative research. “This summer, our researchers surveyed close to 400 beetle-infested forest sites between Houston and Prince George, for key things like the occurrence, height and health of key tree species,” Coates said. “They also used digital cameras to collect data about that most critical and most elusive factor of forest dynamics: sunlight.” Coates and colleagues are now using the collected data in complex computer models, to predict regeneration and growth of trees in beetle-damaged forests for up to 100 years. They’re also exploring how different management strategies will affect timber supply in the mid-term: 10 to 40 years from now, between the end of harvested beetle-kill, and the earliest harvest date of our existing plantations. http://www.interior-news.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=31&cat=23&id=566488&more=

Washington:

3) Most institutional and other qualified investors get access to timber through a small number of timber-investment-management organizations in the United States. Called TIMOs, the organizations function much like private-equity firms, creating pooled funds that invest in timber properties. TIMOs such as Global Forest Partners, Hancock Timber Resource Group and Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo manage billions of dollars in timber properties. Endowments such as Harvard University’s and big pension funds like California Public Employees’ Retirement System have favored timber for its stable returns. Despite the difficulty, small investors have made modest inroads. Bart Valley, chief investment officer for financial-planning firm Abacus Planning Group in Columbia, S.C., invested about 15 clients in timber, some with investments as low as $50,000. “Timber, we thought, was really compelling, because it really is a physical, biological investment,” he says. “The great thing about trees is that the older they get, the more valuable [they get]. It’s a piece of the portfolio that really behaves quite differently than anything we have.” The firm spent two years researching the asset class, liking timber’s low volatility and reliable returns. But access remained the tough part. Valley wasn’t keen on two publicly traded timber real-estate-investment trusts, Seattle-based Plum Creek Timber and Rayonier, based in Jacksonville, Fla., which generally are the only options small investors have. “You are getting exposure to timber, but because it’s publicly traded REITs, you are still taking on correlation to the stock market,” Valley says. Valley found Timbervest, an Atlanta-based firm that manages more than 500,000 acres of timberland with a market value in excess of $700 million. Timber harvest typically requires a minimum investment of $1 million. But with extra interest in timber, the firm this time allowed a pool of small investors working with wealth managers to get a piece of its new $250 million fund. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002727446_timber08.html

Oregon:

4) The Medford District of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has plans to log over 1,000 acres of mature and old-growth forest within the Grants Pass and Jumpoff Joe Creek watersheds through the “Granite Horse” logging sale. In addition to degrading watersheds, Granite Horse logging would harm wildlife and rare flowers. The Siskiyou Project has joined the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center and Oregon Natural Resources Council to challenge the Granite Horse logging project in court. The Grants Pass and Jumpoff Joe watersheds have been hit hard by over-logging in the past. Part of the Jumpoff Joe watershed is so degraded that it is deferred from logging due to the cumulative effects of previous mis-management. Granite Horse would log up to the edge of the deferred area, making things worse for fish and wildlife within the watershed. The BLM itself admits that after logging, only 11% of BLM lands within the Grants Pass watershed would be mature forest. This directly contradicts standards set in the Northwest Forest Plan requiring the BLM to protect all remaining mature forest when less than 15% of federal forest lands within a watershed are mature or old-growth condition. Making matters worse, the project could also harm rare flowers such as Howell’s camas (Camassia Howellii), Clustered Ladyslipper (Cypripedium Fasciculatum). The BLM also admits that Granite Horse logging will result in the “take” (death or serious harm) to four endangered spotted owl pairs. Unless we can substantially change or stop this destructive logging, these important forests could fall to the saw after May 15th when a seasonal restriction on logging is lifted. While there is little time left to comment on Granite Horse, there’s still lots of time to tour the proposed logging area and to learn more about how you can have a voice in the way the BLM manages (or mis-manages) your public forests. Call the Siskiyou Project (541) 592-4459 to learn more about taking action to protect your BLM forests. http://www.oregonheritageforests.org/

5) A new study from Oregon State University undermines some of the leading arguments for logging forests burned by the massive 2002 Biscuit Fire in Southwest Oregon. The timber industry pushed the U.S. Forest Service to log and replant burned slopes, arguing it would speed forest recovery and clear away dead trees that could fuel another fire. But the Oregon State research team, in findings released Thursday in the online version of the journal Science, found that logging killed about two-thirds of seedlings that had sprouted from scorched ground and left the soil covered with flammable tinder. They concluded that in the first few years after a fire forests can recover as well or better on their own than if they are logged and replanted. “There’s no overall gain by going through that effort” of salvage logging, said Daniel Donato, a graduate student in Oregon State’s College of Forestry and lead author of the report. The conclusions emerge with Biscuit logging at the center of a national debate over how to handle forests swept by severe wildfires. Reps. Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Brian Baird, D-Wash, have sponsored a bill to speed logging and restoration of burned forests. The scientists said that logging following a fire makes sense if the goal is to salvage the economic value of burned trees before they decay. But they said logging can set back the regrowth of forest and leave it prone to repeat fires that might incinerate seedlings and further cook the soil. Logging typically is supposed to be followed by controlled burning to clear away tinder that remains. But a lack of funding sometimes means the burning does not get done, the scientists said.

6) On Wednesday, January 25th, the CWP will be hosting Rich Fairbanks, (former Forest Service employee and ID team leader from the Biscuit timber sale project), as he presents his take on the political and economic corruption that swirled around Biscuit and ultimately lead to Rich’s resignation. Rich has the dirt and is fired up to let us all know about it. From back-room deals with industry to campaign donations and political strong-arming, the Biscuit timber sale was yet another example of Forest Service fraud and industry welfare. This is promising to be a real eye opener for anyone interested in what really went on behind closed doors around the largest timber sale in modern history. Join us as we continue to hold the Fed’s feet to the fire and make sure this type of corruption never happens again! When: Wednesday, January 25th, 6:00pm-7:30pm Where: Eugene Public Library, the Bascom room, main floor For more information, contact Jeff Long at (541) 434-1463, or email at jlong@cascwild.org.

10) The Horse Heli timber sale would log 1,498 acres along the Pacific Crest Trail on the South side of Condrey Mountain midway between Mt. Ashland and the Red Buttes Wilderness. The Headwaters of the Doggett, Kohl, Buckhorn and Middle Creek Watersheds would be logged. Believe it or not the Forest Service intends to log this beautiful stretch of the Pacific Crest Trail. The agency goes as far as to instruct marking crews to only mark the back side of trees near the trail, so that users won’t notice that the trees are marked for logging until its too late. When logging is ongoing the Forest Service intends to station “flaggers” on the trail to escort hikers through the logging area. Comments on the timber sale are due by February 13th. In the DEIS the Forest Service repeatedly relies upon the “fear of fire” to further its logging agenda. Yet the agency refuses to protect the largest, most fire resistant old-growth trees from logging and continues to create fire-prone young fiber plantations where native forests once stood. Please take a moment to write to the Forest Service and request: -No “late successional” old-growth logging, -A 20 inch diameter limit on trees to be cut, -No “ground-based” tractor yarding in these sensitive watersheds. (mail to: Peg Boland, Forest Supervisor
1312 Fairlane Road Yreka, CA 96097) http://www.kswild.org

California:

11) The next Santa Cruz Earth First! is Monday, 9 Jan. 06 at 7 pm. There is some good news – the San Jose Water Co. NTMP has been withdrawn! and I was elected to the Executive Board of the Santa Cruz Group of the Ventana Chapter of the Sierra Club… Not so good news – there is still work to do on the Soquel State Demonstration Forest and the Lompico THPs. Hope to see more of you there. Uncle Dennis SCEF! cruzef@cruzio.com

12) In the wake of Oregon State University’s recent findings that post-burn logging is not healthy for forests, a timber industry leader from Idaho, Brett Bennett of Bennett Lumber Products has responded with an intimidating message to Matt Koehler, director of Missoula-based conservation group Native Forest Network. Koehler sent a copy of Oregon State’s study to a timber industry list-serve called Pulaski-project-list on January 5. Bennett responded directly to Koehler the next day with an off-topic email advocating violence against his mother. [“You just don’t get it, do you? Take away the timber industry and quit logging and what do you have? Someone should have slapped your mother for raising you so poorly,” Bennett said in his e-mail.] The timber industry in Idaho and Montana has long since had a reputation of using violence and harassment to intimidate conservationists from objecting to logging operations that are at times illegal and examples of poor forestry. In places like Montana’s Ravalli County this harassment is generally regarded as legitimate politics. Some highlights of the violence include the arson of Darby resident Stewart Brandborg’s family cabin in 1996. Over the course of several years, another Darby-area resident Larry Campbell has had shots fired at buildings on his property. Law enforcement in Ravalli County is a good-old boy network tied to the timber industry. Even arson and drive-by shootings are given little investigation or play in the local press. Where do we draw the line between flippant threats against a conservationist’s mother and the violence that occurs against greens on the ground every year? http://www.counterpunch.org/mahon01072006.html

13) Montana:

Nearly 2 1/2 years after a wildfire burned some 38,000 acres northwest of here, loggers are removing burned trees on part of the land, work that was scaled back following challenges by environmental groups. Loggers began removing dead and dying trees Wednesday on land burned by the Snow-Talon fire of 2003 and are likely to work for about eight weeks, said Ranger Amber Kamps of the Forest Service’s Lincoln Ranger District. Sun Mountain Lumber Co. of Townsend bid $168,229 for the 4 million board feet of timber, mostly lodgepole pine and Douglas fir. An initial Forest Service analysis identified 27 million board feet for removal. Environmental groups challenged that amount as excessive and said the plan jeopardized bull trout, grizzly bears and lynx. The Alliance for the Wild Rockies and others filed a formal notice of intent to sue. Michael Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, last month described the revised sale as “one we can live with” and said that although the Forest Service is selling less timber than the agency originally anticipated, 4 million board feet is substantial. Earlier efforts to sell the timber drew no bids. http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2006/01/05/build/state/60-timber-sale.inc

14) A proposal to protect Canada lynx habitat doesn’t significantly change management practices on the ground, but it does mean more federal regulation. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service intends to designate critical habitat for the Canada lynx. The designation includes some federal, state and private land in Montana. The Canada lynx, a wildcat known for its big paws, is a threatened species on the Endangered Species Act list. About 27,000 square miles are part of the boundaries of the habitat designation in portions of Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Idaho and Washington. In Montana, areas proposed for designation include some state and private land in Flathead, Glacier, Granite, Lake, Lewis and Clark, Lincoln, Missoula, Pondera, Powell and Teton counties. Critical habitat includes thick forest landscapes with beneficial resources for the lynx, like snowshoe hares for prey. In Montana, the critical habitat designation includes Glacier National Park and some state and private lands, but no lands in the Little Belt Mountains. The designation does not affect private actions on private land. It does not allow government or public access to private land or create a wildlife preserve, said Lori Nordstrom, a FWS wildlife biologist in Helena. “We don’t anticipate anything new or different,” she said. “It’s purely regulatory.” Future roadwork on federal land, water quality permits and some logging on lands in the designated areas could be reviewed to ensure that actions don’t harm lynx habitat. That doesn’t mean those actions would be denied. Logging, for example, in the long-term could improve lynx habitat in some cases. “I don’t anticipate this would limit logging,” Nordstrom said. “We fully support critical habitat designation,” he said. “It’s been a long time in the making.” http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060107/NEWS01/601070306/1002

New Mexico:

15) From the air, part of New Mexico’s Carson National Forest looks like a spider web that’s been carved into the landscape. Here on the 33,000-acre Jicarilla District, more than 700 gas wells and a maze of over 400 miles of associated roads crisscross the land. While companies have been leasing this New Mexico forest for gas development since the 1950s, the federal government has doubled the well density in the past five years, from one well every 320 acres, to one well every 160 acres. Over the next 20 years, the number of wells in the area will double, says Mark Linden, the Forest Service’s regional geologist. The impact to the land has been significant. Traffic seems constant, with trucks hauling water from gas wells and oil company employees driving to read meters. A fine layer of sandstone dust rises from the dirt roads in a haze; in places, litter covers the ground. This is the landscape of the West’s latest energy boom. In the past six years, oil and gas companies have nearly quadrupled the number of drilling permit applications they’ve submitted to the federal government. That’s translated into the Bureau of Land Management issuing an unprecedented number of drilling permits for public lands in Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. In fiscal years 2004 and 2005, the agency handed out over 6,000 new permits each year. It’s as if we were creating the conditions for a fire without any fire hydrants, and it’s almost certain to result in future problems. I have no right to complain about oil and gas development, of course. I like energy. I take long hot showers. I adore my electric waffle maker. I like a house with lots of lights on. I’m not proud of this, but until we start developing renewable energy like solar and wind, we’re stuck with our dependence on oil and gas. http://www.tidepool.org/original_content.cfm?articleid=183239

Minnesota:

16) Nearly 4.8 million acres of forest managed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has been certified as environmentally sustainable, Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced today. The effort, which has been expected for more than two years, is intended to make sure the state-managed forests are in sound environmental shape for years to come. And it could help make the products manufactured from Minnesota trees more marketable for the state’s wood products industry. State officials say that, without acting, Minnesota could have lost a share of the wood products market to regions that have certified their forests. Minnesota’s state forests are the largest chunk of government-managed land in the U.S. to become fully certified. A representative of Minnesota’s largest timber industry trade group praised the industry-preferred Sustainable Forestry Initiative certification today. Most of the DNR’s forest land is in northern Minnesota, but the land is scattered from boreal forests on the Ontario border to oak woods near Iowa. Of Minnesota’s more than 16 million acres of forest, about 54 percent is publicly owned and 46 percent private. The forest products industry in Minnesota is worth some $1.4 billion annually, state officials say, and employs more than 30,000 people — from loggers and truckers to mill workers and cabinet and window makers. Exactly what “sustainable” means is often a moving and sometimes unclear target. But most experts agree that sustainable means the people who manage and cut trees, as well as the mills that make trees into paper and wood products, are taking measures to lessen negative impacts on the environment — especially on birds, wildlife and waterways. http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/13557960.htm

Indiana:

17) This is a story of death and resurrection. And trees. Old trees. And, most of all, one fiery-eyed man with a sawmill, two rehabilitated truck trailers now put to good use sucking water out of old wood, and a dream of making history – history you can sit on, eat off of, sleep on, heck, the list is endless — out of every fallen limb and trunk in Chicago and its wooded environs. The man’s name is Bruce Horigan. And, like every self-respecting hero in any tale worth telling, he’s part romantic, part dreamer and decidedly passionate when it comes to trees and the recycling thereof. Horigan calls his business Horigan Urban Forest Products, and though he’s been aiming for this day for years, he’s only had the business – the tree recycling business, that is – for the last two. He hauls away old trees when they come down for whatever reason – lightning strikes, high winds, house building, road widening, old age or infirmity – then he saws them into boards and kiln-dries the wood in his souped-up truck trailers, long as it takes to get them good and dry, what with his industrial-strength dehumidifiers and racks and garden-variety red rubber hoses. And then, working with Amish furniture-makers, artisans and fine carpenters, restoration carpenters or otherwise, here and abroad, he has the trees made into furniture or built into rooms that he hopes will be around far longer than the old trees themselves. http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/living/13565193.htm

Wisconsin:

18) Workers spent time in 2005 clearing out invasive buckthorn and logging more than 1,000 pine trees in the forest, located at the corner of Highway 12 and Terrytown Road. “All we’re doing is managing it,” said Baraboo Mayor Pat Liston. Liston said city officials talked about appraising and possibly selling the land when they wrote up a forest management plan last year. “At some point in time a decision should be made,” he said. Some know the land as the “school forest” because years ago the schools managed the land and students took field trips there to study nature and help with the forest’s upkeep. The land has been city property since several civic groups donated it to the city in 1943 on the condition it remain a forest, according to city documents. In 1979 a representative from the original donors waived the forestry requirement on the land, meaning the city is free to use or sell it as they see fit, city documents show. The city received unsolicited offers for purchase of parts of the land in 1993 – one for up to $4,000 per acre and the other for $10,000 per acre. That same year the city had the land appraised – it was valued at nearly $30,000 per acre. The City Council members granted the school system management rights of the land in 1962 – rights that were undefined but interpreted to mean the schools would receive money from tree harvests in exchange for being caretakers of the forest. The schools used that money to fund field trips to natural areas. During the heyday of the “school forest” in the early 1980s, Baraboo High School agriculture instructor George Koepp said he took students to the forest to trim trees, learn conservation and use the land as a “student laboratory.” By the late 1980s the city had taken back management – and revenue from any timber sales – from the School District. Koepp said the schools have not utilized the land in a meaningful way since, mostly because there aren’t funds to pay for transporting students. http://www.wiscnews.com/bnr/news/index.php?ntid=67755&ntpid=1

Pennsylvania:

19) I have lived surrounded by trees all of my life, and I have been fortunate, thanks to a good start from my father, to have been on a first-name basis with many of them for much of that time. A graduate course in dendrology, as well as a seminar or two, have added to my knowledge, and I never hesitate to ask about new species that I see in my travels. I have also collected over 20 books on trees — field guides, natural history references, a forest ecology text and others — I am still learning. What difference does it make if I know my trees or not, you might wonder? While I am sure that you could survive your entire life without identifying a single tree, your existence would be much poorer for the absence of tree knowledge. Maybe I cannot see the proverbial forest for the trees, but the forest is trees — thousands of individual trees, each with its own story. Many game species have a part of those stories. Knowing which trees produce favored wildlife foods is critical to hunting success. The survival of deer, bear, wild turkeys, squirrels, ruffed grouse and others hinges on woody plants. All trees are important, but they are important to different animal species at differing times of the year. Their values are not equal, either. http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/sports/13575882.htm

USA:

20) The Bureau of Land Management proposes to dramatically increase herbicide use on almost 1 million acres (932,00) of public land across 17 western states. A new draft Environmental Impact Statement was prepared to address the explosion of aggressive invasive weeds that subsume native vegetation that sustains wildlife and biodiversity. The massive introduction and establishment of invasive species is primarily caused by logging, road building, off road vehicles and livestock grazing. Invasive weeds “hitchhike” on the tires of logging trucks and ORVs, on livestock hooves and in feces, and are easily established wherever the ground has been disturbed. Rather than address the causes of spreading invasives by eliminating these activities, the BLM proposes to address the symptoms by increasing the use of herbicides that poison the air, land, water, wildlife and humans and require the use of mechanized equipment for application. Until the agency addresses the causes of weed invasions, its proposed treatments for the weed invasion and other undesirable vegetation will fail. Your Help is Needed – DEADLINE IS JANAURY 9, 2005 – Please help by submitting comments to the BLM on the DEIS and PER. The DEIS and PER are available at: http://www.blm.gov/nhp/spotlight/VegEIS/. If this link does not work go to: www.blm.gov and scroll to the bottom of the page and click on “Vegetation EIS.”

21) As I’m sure you all know by now, the Bush administration has done a great job of eroding protections for public lands and has given industry unfettered access to our natural heritage. There is only one thing standing between them: YOU! Please take a quick second to sign this petition to demand the administration re-instate the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, a vital piece of protection for millions of acres of wilderness across the US. The Cascadia Wildlands Project is joining several other conservation organizations in an attempt to get as many signatures as possible. We will present the petition to the President and the Department of Agriculture, as well as give a copy to our Governor. Feel free to pass this link on to your friends and family, together we can make real change! Click here to sign a copy of the petition: http://www.net.org/petition.php?partner=CWP

Canada:

22) Forest areas in eastern Manitoba could be clear-cut by logging companies in an attempt to help threatened species of caribou. The provincial Conservation Department is working with several groups in the Bissett area to study the effects of logging practices on woodland caribou herds. When the skies clear, researchers will conduct aerial surveys of animals in the area and their tracks. Over time, they hope to determine whether moose and deer are venturing into caribou territory, along with predators that follow them, such as wolves. “More moose, more deer in the area, we don’t want to see that because it’s going to mean more wolves in there,” explains Vince Crichton, a senior scientist with Manitoba Conservation. Caribou are not typically prey for wolves, but the predators will take them if they encounter them. Crichton says the long-term goal could include logging larger areas of land to discourage deer and moose from entering caribou land. “If we just did the small clear-cuts, selectively cutting as most of the cutting is done here in Manitoba, that’s going to attract moose and deer into it because it’s the type of habitat they like: small clear-cuts with new vegetation.” “What we’re looking at is larger clear-cuts that will not make the habitat come back into habitat types that are going to be attractive to moose and deer.” The larger cuts would not affect the caribou population, he says, because it would involve mature habitat that the caribou are not using anymore. Crichton says it’s not unusual for Manitoba Conservation to work closely with major logging companies. “We’ve got to be very diligent in terms of making sure that we set out guidelines for industrial development on the landscape,” he said. http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/story/mb_caribou-forest-20060104.html

23) There is a clear link between trees and human health and Trees Ontario Foundation aims to ensure sufficient numbers of trees and forests for the future. The foundation promotes the use of native trees and is building seed collections and improving the availability of seedlings from local sources. Unfortunately, established forest cover continues to decline in southern Ontario, and between 1991 and 2005 10,000 hectares of forest was lost. The Tree Foundation calculates one hectare of trees annually consumes the amount of carbon dioxide equivalent to an average car for 100,000 kilometres. On the positive side local farmers are completing Environmental Farm Plans (EFP) which help them assess the impact their operation has on the environment. Competing an EFP make them eligible for cost sharing grants from the province and federal government to enhance biodiversity, protect existing woodland and establish new ones. Hastings Stewardship Council is putting together data on different habitats in the area; wetlands, alvars on limestone pavements, different types of woodland, including the pockets of old growth forest with mature white pine or maple, black oak savannah on the the Oak Hill, silver maple swamps and cedar swamps along the rivers. There are many unique areas including the most easterly prairie grassland, the largest area of karst the Moira Karst and the fens and marl lakes near Tweed. This work ties in well with the source water protection work of Quinte Conservation and Lower Trent Conservation, which identifies and protects upland forest water recharge areas and the wetlands which store water. The Ministry of Natural Resources has a new project, Natural Spaces, to protect a patch work of green spaces in Southern Ontario. http://www.communitypress-online.com/template.php?id=25856&RECORD_KEY(News)=id&id(News)=25856

England:

24) BRITAIN’S horse chestnut trees are falling victim to an aggressive disease that has spread throughout the country, striking more than 40,000 last year. Ancient avenues of trees have been devastated. In parks and historic gardens, groundsmen have seen dark sores where trees have shed their bark and bled a glutinous resin. The tissue beneath dies, and if the sores form a ring around the trunk the tree withers. Tree pathologists had assumed it to be the work of a species of Phytophthora fungus related to a disease commonly called sudden oak death. “Now we realise it’s something different,” said Professor Clive Brasier, of Forest Research, part of the Forestry Commission. “We don’t know what it is. It’s more aggressive and it’s being found all over the country.” Chris Prior, head of horticultural sciences at the Royal Horticultural Society, first came across the disease on a lunchtime break last summer. “I was walking through the arboretum at Wisley Gardens in Surrey,” he said. “On one of the chestnut trees a branch of leaves had turned yellow. I looked at the trunk below and saw the dark sore. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1972777,00.html

Finland:

25) The snow load has been very high this year and has seriously damaged forests. This could lead to a serious financial loss, particularly in Northern Finland”, says district manager Pekka Kylmänen from the Northern Ostrobotnia Forestry Centre. The situation has been worsened by the mild and wet autumn, which has stopped the ground from freezing in the normal fashion. “Consequently the roots are loose and trees fall down very easily. Pine forests are particularly vulnerable to damage; fir trees are more sturdy and birches are more flexible”, according to Kylmänen. The damage is likely to run into millions of euros. The indemnities paid by insurance companies have varied significantly from one year to the next, but in 1999 Tapiola alone paid EUR 500,000 in compensation on damage caused by snowstorms. Senior advisor Mikko Peltonen from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry recommends forestry insurance policies, as damage can occur in spite of good silvicultural programmes and regular thinning. http://www.helsinginsanomat.fi/english/article/Wet+and+heavy+snow+causing+millions+of+euros+of+damage+to
+forest+owners%0D%0A/1135218211611

Switzerland:

26) Planting genetically modified (GM) or transgenic forest trees for wood production is now feasible on a commercial scale worldwide. What are the benefits? What are the risks? This became an open question two years ago on December 10, 2003, when the United Nations declared that every sovereign nation should decide on its own whether or not to use genetically modified forests for carbon sequestration. Although feasible on a commercial scale, we are still in the early stages of GM technology for forest trees. To date, GM forest trees are being tested in small trials worldwide. Only China is planting GM forest trees on a commercial scale. Central to the issue of GM forest trees is the question of biosafety. Will effective biosafety protocols eventually become available, or should we accept that escape of GM forest trees is inevitable and study ecological consequences instead? Proponents argue that gene flow from GM plants is inevitable so research funding should be directed away from developing sophisticated methods of mitigating transgene dispersal and re-allocated to the study of ecological consequences of transgene colonization. Similarly, Canadian regulatory agencies also view transgene escape in forest trees as inevitable, and once the escape of transgenes has occurred into feral forest tree populations, it cannot be reversed. A better alternative is to form a public-private partnership or a technology trust for studying ecological consequences of GM forest trees. The main advantage of a technology trust is that it provides experimental data. It protects national forests against risks inherent to molecular domestication on private lands. And it opens public dialogue on the risks and benefits associated with for-profit research in long-lived forests. In summary, using a snippet of DNA inserted into chromosomes of naturally-occurring plants and animals is only the beginning, not the finish, of the controversy. Compare this recombinant DNA technology to the commercial potential of synthetic DNA genomes.
http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=news&doc_id=11959&start=1&control=170&page_start=1&
page_nr=101&pg=1

Israel:

27) Anat Rosenwaks and I just came back from Twaneh where 120 olive trees, which belong to the Amor family (planted in 1974), were cut down during the night between January 5-6. This is the family’s only plot. It was like walking through a graveyard. The military sent a scout this morning to examine the field and he found footprints leading towards Maon settlement, which is located a few hundred yards away. Evidence suggests that many people were involved in perpetrating this crime, since all 120 trees were cut down by hand-saws and last night at around 8:00 pm they were still whole. Moreover, the residents of Twaneh heard the people of Maon partying last night following the news that Sharon’s condition was fatal. It appears that after the party some of them went to commit the crime. nevegordon@gmail.com

Kenya:

28) Protecting indigenous forests is one catch phrase in Kenya which immediately brings to mind tragic and politically charged images. These are images of homes, schools and churches burnt down; women cooking out in the open; families struggling to put up temporary shelter in the rain; children crying; and angry men appearing before TV cameras to ask where they are supposed to take their families, now that the Government has evicted them from land for which they have title deeds. For it is only after such a brutal eviction has taken place that government spokesmen will appear to explain that this was a necessary step for the protection of “indigenous forests” and of “water catchment areas”. And yet you don’t have to be an apologist for the government to recognize that there is a strong scientific case for ensuring that small scale farmers are not allowed to settle in forests and to carve out for themselves farms within these indigenous forests. The direct causal link between deforestation on the one hand, and both the reduction of rainfall and the drying up of streams and rivers on the other, is an undeniable fact on which scientific consensus has long been reached. http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=25&newsid=64737

29) According to Arid Land Resources Ltd, a company which is pioneering the sustainable utilisation of natural resources in northern Kenya, the Daaba community (of Isiolo District) for example, used to cut down the Acacia Senegal tree to make charcoal. But now they no longer do this, and in fact protect these trees as a priority. Why is this? What could possibly lead a poor nomadic community in that dry and desolate part of the country to stop utilising one of the few natural resources to be found in that area? The answer is that they have not stopped utilising the trees as such. Rather, they have found a better use for these trees, than cutting them down for charcoal. Many indigenous plants found in that zone produce gums and resins that are of commercial value, and in particular Gum Arabic, a sticky substance often found oozing out of the trunks of many acacia trees. This gum is used as an ingredient in adhesives, confectionary and medicines. For those trained in the techniques of harvesting this substance, Gum Arabic can be a very valuable source of income, as it is in much demand both locally and globally. In a vast and ambitious project involving Kenya Forestry Research Centre (Kefri); the World Agro-forestry Centre (Icraf); the Kenya Forestry Department; Kenya Agriculture Research Institute (Kari); Semi-Arid Lands Training and Improvement Centre Kenya (Saltlick); and the Gum and Resins Association (Gara), Arid Lands Resource has sought to expand the process of gum collection throughout northern Kenya. At present the focus is to expand into Isiolo, Marsabit, Samburu, Turkana, Wajir and Mandera districts. http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=25&newsid=64737

Uganda:

30) THE Parliament has authorised the government to borrow Shs95 billion ($52 million) from the African Development Bank and the Nordic Development Bank, (NDF). The two loans will finance the community based Farm income and Forest Conservation Project with the private sector in 36 districts. The project whose aim is to ensure food security and management of natural resources will be implemented in five years.
“The main issue is to plant trees in degraded areas so that the fertility and environment protection is attained,” the Chairperson of the National Economy committee, Mr Nandala Mafabi (Budadiri East) said while presenting the report to Parliament on January 5. “The loan should be restructured so that it addresses production rather than consumption. The activities to be carried out include small-scale irrigation and water harvesting development, agricultural marketing, project coordination, soil fertility management, community watershed management, tree planting, and capacity building among others. http://www.monitor.co.ug/business/bus01091.php

India:

31) Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh said today that his government would probe complaints of large-scale illegal logging in the tribal Bastar region. ”The Principal Secretary (Forests) has been asked to submit his preliminary report on the complaints,” he told mediapersons here this evening. Dr Singh’s response came when his attention was drawn towards reports about large-scale logging in Bastar, allegedly in connivance with the officials. He said the government has almost finalised an action plan for devlopment to be implemented in the next three years from the beginning of the next fiscal. Details would be announced during the budget session of the Assembly, beginning next month. The plan would focus on infrastructure development in 19,000 villages spread over more than 10,000 gram panchayats. Attention would be paid to availability of potable water, power and roads in remote villages, he added. http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=210146&cat=India

32) As a measure to restore the glory of dying lake, over 13,000 trees have been felled in the past eleven days. And the drive is going on “war-footing.” Apart from squeezing the waters of Dal, the plantation of trees facilitated the dwellers to encroach upon the Dal and build illegal constructions, the officials said. Division bench of High Court of Jammu and Kashmir directed the State Forest Corporation (SFC) to cut down all the trees in the Dal Lake. The Division Bench also asked SFC to engage boats and utilize other facilities to carry out its orders. “We’ve uprooted more than 13,000 trees. Presently we are cutting about a thousand trees a day. But it’s a mammoth task as there are lakhs of trees in the Dal Lake,” divisional manager of SFC Zahoor Jan told Greater Kashmir while supervising the drive. “Though we have been facing resistance from the Dal dwellers they cooperated when we served them court orders. Besides our men are protected by the river police which makes our job easy,” Jan said adding more than 1200 trees were cut in today’s drive. The main highlight of the drive is that the cutting of each tree is recorded on camera to prevent any misuse. Besides, the photographs also become evidence for the Court. “We handover the trees to the landlords after cutting and they don’t have to pay the cutting charges,” Tariq Qadri, of SFC said. The drive would continue on “war-footing” in the winter despite the snowfall till all the trees are uprooted, SFC officials said. http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?ItemID=13967&cat=1

33) IDUKKI: The Cardamom Hill Reserve is a victim of the bipolar politics of the state. The CPM-led LDF and the Congress-dominated UDF, which have ruled the state in alternate terms since 1970, have enacted many laws and amended existing ones to protect forests, including the CHR. But the laws are never implemented because the coalition partner which claims to be the champion of settlers’ causes shoots down any move that will restrict the ‘rights’ of settlers. No government wants to force the issue for fear of antagonizing the settlers who constitute a decisive vote bank. Shockingly, it is not the settlers but the land grabbers who benefit from the government inaction. First, they encroach on the CHR land and when they get booked under the provisions of the Land Conservancy Act pay a meager fine. This entitles them to hold the encroached land under the Rules for Lease of the Government Land for Cardamom Cultivation which states: ‘Land in the possession of encroachers who have cultivated the same with cardamom may be leased to them, without auction, for a period of 20 years.’ Further, under the rule, the encroacher is free to fell trees or undergrowth except teak, ebony, black wood (rosewood) or sandalwood without the prior permission of the Revenue Division Officer. The dual control of Revenue and Forest Departments over the Cardamom Hill Reserve opens the door wider for the encroachers. In the last 300 years, the Cardamom Hill Reserve has seen many confrontations and struggles. But the damage inflicted on the region by human interference in 250 years is less than the harm caused by land grabbers in the last 50 years. http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IER20060104003627&Page=R&Title=Kerala&Topic=0

34) THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Forest and Environment Minister A.Sujanapal said here on Thursday that laws alone could not ensure the conservation of forests in the state. Conservation in its real spirit would be possible only with the direct involvement of tribals and non-governmental organisations. He was speaking at a meet-the press programme organised by the Kesari Memorial Journalists’ Trust here. “There are circumstances where the law cannot be enforced. In such a situation, the government should come out with a policy,” he said. He said that forests and environment were inter-linked. Sujanapal said that within his short period as minister efforts would be taken to formulate a policy frame work for the protection of forest land and environment with the participation of people. Programmes for the conservation of forests will be taken up with the cooperation of environmentalists, he said. So far, the state has no policy regarding the environmental impact of conservation. Priority will be given to make arrangements to conduct environmental impact studies. http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IER20060106011858&Page=R&Title=Kerala&Topic=0

35) Bangladesh – Using the pulp made of Gewa wood of the Sundarban mangrove forest, the mill was set up in Khulna in the late fifties and closed down in November of 2002. It defies logic why an established factory had to be shut down. Even in countries where private sectors dominate, the governments keep the ongoing public sector projects going. It is true that the KNM had been sustaining losses for years, but the fact that the machines and equipment installed at the KNM were worn out since long calling for modernisation. There was no effective effort for BMRE which could make the plant project profitable. It is alleged that the KNM was closed down to benefit private sector newsprint mills. And these private sector newsprint plants are hiking prices at a galloping rate, much to the detriment of the consumers. http://independent-bangladesh.com/news/jan/06/06012006ed.htm

China

36) Among the basic commodities–grain and meat in the food sector, oil and coal in the energy sector, and steel in the industrial sector–China now consumes more than the United States of each of these except for oil. It consumes nearly twice as much meat (67 million tons compared with 39 million tons) and more than twice as much steel (258 million to 104 million tons). These numbers are about total consumption. “But what if China reaches the U.S. consumption level per person?” asks Brown. “If China’s economy continues to expand at 8 percent a year, its income per person will reach the current U.S. level in 2031. “If at that point China’s per capita resource consumption were the same as in the United States today, then its projected 1.45 billion people would consume the equivalent of two thirds of the current world grain harvest. China’s paper consumption would be double the world’s current production. There go the world’s forests.” Sustaining our early twenty-first century global civilization now depends on shifting to a renewable-energy-based, reuse/recycle economy with a diversified transport system. Business as usual–Plan A–cannot take us where we want to go. It is time for Plan B, time to build a new economy and a new world. Plan B has three components–(1) a restructuring of the global economy so that it can sustain civilization; (2) an all-out effort to eradicate poverty, stabilize population, and restore hope in order to elicit participation of the developing countries; and (3) a systematic effort to restore natural systems. For more about Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble go to http://www.earthpolicy.org/Books/PB2/index.htm.

Vietnam:

37) Director of the Agricultural Department at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Hung Quoc said the VND200bil-funded national programme has built up raw material areas in provinces to serve paper-processing, plank and timber-producing industries for export. Along with 42 side projects, the. programme has become a decisive factor in increasing the output and quality of planted forests. So far 115 varieties of seeds from 34 trees have been selected, and it has created eight new varieties of eucalyptus, casuarinas and pine trees. It has also supplied seeds to fanners, especially for the 5mil hectare planted forest project. Tree planters and seed producers have made progress in their skills and farming methods and the average capacity of planted forest has increased by 30% compared to previous years. Director Le Hung Quoc said the outstanding achievement of the agricultural sector during the last 60 years was the improvement of seed quality. Thirty-two cities and provinces have set up seed centres responsible for guaranteeing new varieties and seed producers. http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2006/01/530149/

Philippines:

38) Still, it took somebody as young and daring as environment and natural resources Secretary Mike Defensor to discern that indigenous culture-based forestry, not government policies, preserved this mountain range as the vital watershed cradle of Northern Luzon. In recent years, forestry technocrats in the big city started looking for smarter ways of saving what remains of this country’s forests. They came up with borrowed ideas like “community-based forestry management” and, more recently, the controversial “usufruct” plantation scheme. They glossed over the fact that the genuine, time-tested models of CBFM have been up here long before they were born. They could have built on these existing models. The catch was that under the “usufruct” plantation scheme participants were supposed to receive immediate tenurial rights over idle spaces simply because they had just planted. The irony was that some of these seedling plantations were beside those of long-time hill dwellers whose own rights over lands they have occupied for a lifetime have yet to be recognized. Up here, the irony was, and is, obviously more encompassing. While state laws restricted tribal access to forest resources that villagers need to build or repair their houses, logging permits were issued to firms from the outside to prop up the mining industry. Rivers and tribal lands were dammed to generate electric power needed to spur national development. The region has been practically mined out and two of the dams up here are now on their death throes. It was a bizarre version of the build-operate-transfer scheme: they built and operated the mines and dams and transferred the gold, electric power, together with the taxes, to Makati and Metro-Manila. The signing of the Sagada, witnessed by no less than Presidential Assistant Thomas Killip, mayors and tribal leaders and elders, may prove to be a historical act. It’s the result of Defensor’s unusual power to listen to indigenous wisdom and to act according to the dictates of reason. http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/bag/2006/01/08/oped/ramon.dacawi.html

Indonesia:

39) Sukabumi, West Java- Forestry Minister MS Kaban said here Wednesday that his ministry and related agencies conducted various endeavors to stop illegal logging activities within four years, namely until 2009. “Various endeavors have been carried out, among other things the trainings for forestry police quick reaction (STORC) in cooperation with the Police and the Navy,” said Forestry Minister MS Kaban at the inauguration of 299 STORC personnel at Pelabuhan Ratu, Sukabumi district. The ministry has a target to train 1,500 people to be STORC personnel within four years and they will be assigned in various regions prone to illegal logging. Most of the STORC personnel were recruited from the existing forestry policemen and they were given special training on shooting, self defense and skills on ambush. Illegal logging is rampant in Indonesia`s forests, which are among the most diverse and biologically richest in the world. Its biodiversity includes 11 percent of the world`s plant species, 10 percent of its mammal species, and 16 percent of its bird species. Indonesia`s forest areas rank third as the world`s largest after those of Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). http://www.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=8063

40) The head of Central Java’s Banjarnegara regency has rejected claims by environmentalists that illegal logging contributed to Wednesday’s landslide that may have killed more than 200 people in Cirejuk village. Banjarnegara Regent H.M. Jasri said the landslide was caused solely by bad weather and because the village was located at the foot of a mountain. “The cause was heavy rainfall that inundated the Mount Raja region. The build-up of water caused the landslide,” he was quoted as saying by detikcom online news portal. Nevertheless, Jasri admitted that illegal logging took place in the regency. “Certainly there is illegal logging, but I think it’s only a small amount. That’s because this is a Perhutani protected forest area,” he said. Perhutani is the state-owned forestry company, which is responsible for commercial plantations and logging activities. Jasri said landslides have occurred for many years in Banjarnegara without claiming human lives until now. “As there are now casualties, in my opinion that’s because of the high and continuous rainfall. So the heavy level of water inundated the soil and the landslide occurred,” he explained. He made no mention of complaints by environmentalists that illegal logging, deforestation for farming and plantations, poor management of forests and poor urban planning, all contribute to soil erosion and a loss of natural water catchment areas, thereby increasing the likelihood of landslides. http://www.laksamana.net/news_read.php?gid=118

Australia:

41) ENVIRONMENTALISTS have taken their protest against logging and woodchipping in East Gippsland’s forests to the city today. A group of Melbourne University students has perched 15m off the ground on a platform strung in the canopy of a eucalypt tree on the corner of Swanston Street, Cemetery Road and College Crescent, in inner suburban Parkville. Protester David Hammerton said the city-based demonstration was in support of conservationists who were preparing a campaign to stop logging in East Gippsland. He said the students were hoping their action would put pressure on the Victorian Government to stop logging and woodchipping in old-growth forest areas. “These forests survived the last ice age, but at this rate they won’t survive Bracks’ term in office.” Mr Hammerton said the old-growth forest and rainforest was habitat for endangered flora and fauna. “East Gippsland’s unique eco-system is home to over 300 rare and threatened plant and animal species,” he said. “These forests are home to many endangered and threatened species including the Tiger Quoll and the Powerful Owl.” http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,17767335%255E1702,00.html

42) Conservationists have established two forest blockades in East Gippsland in Victoria to protect old growth forest and water catchments. A logging road between the Snowy River and Errindundra national parks has been blocked by a 30-metre high tree platform. Access to a further three logging coupes is also being blocked by tree platforms and other makeshift structures. Conservationists have also set up a tree platform on a roundabout in Melbourne as part of their campaign. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200601/s1543780.htm

World-wide:

43) A new study shows that tropical deforestation increases rates of malaria adding to evidence that development in fragile ecosystems can markedly harm public health. The research was published in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5127962