057OEC’s This Week in Trees

This week we have 40 news items from Alaska, British Columbia, California, Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, Ohio, Maine, West Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida, Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Costa Rica, England, Germany, Liberia, Kenya, Iraq, India, China, Indonesia, Australia and world-wide.

Alaska:

1) KETCHIKAN — Deep inside the ruins of the Ketchikan Pulp Co. mill, a birth is under way. As with any delivery, it’s painful and full of promise. Kevin Curtis is the parent. A wood lover with a doctorate in structural engineering, Curtis heads the Ketchikan Wood Technology Center. His assignment: breathe life into a new timber industry for Alaska. “This industry is rising out of the ashes,” Curtis said. “It’s like a football team that’s in the rebuilding phase.” The wood tech center got started in 2000, three years after the giant Ketchikan pulp mill shut down. It was the second mill closure in Southeast in the 1990s, events that hobbled the timber industry and jolted the regional economy. Funded from a variety of federal and state sources, the research and product-development center focuses on retooling the industry from pulp export to lumber and finished goods manufacturing. It’s a tall order, but achievable, according to Curtis. “I honestly think the best days of the forest-products industry lie ahead of us,” Curtis said. That’s not normally what one hears about the struggling world of Alaska timber, an industry often characterized as down and out. “There’s that image of people staggering around and people taking their last gasp. But it doesn’t have to be that way,” Curtis said. “The main obstacle is ourselves. We have to understand this incredible resource we have in this state and how to use it effectively.” http://www.adn.com/money/story/7353007p-7265194c.html

2) Ketchikan – The Tongass National Forest recently approved the Scott Peak timber project involving the harvest of approximately 8 million board feet of timber from about 350 acres on northeastern Kupreanof Island within the Petersburg Ranger District. “This project is part of our ongoing effort to effectively manage the Tongass National Forest,” said Petersburg District Ranger Patricia Grantham. “It allows for sustainable timber harvesting activities on the Tongass to help local, family-run businesses keep operating and create jobs in southeast Alaska.” http://www.sitnews.us/0106news/011306/011306_scott_peak.html

British Columbia:

3) I have compiled a series of updates which I have been posting to over the past two years concerning the direct-action campaign to protect Cathedral Grove. This marathon treesitting blockade has continued now for two years, and has thus far, been successful in staving off the Campbell government’s awful pay-parking lot scheme. It’s been a very tough fight, and amazingly, courageous forest defenders continue their lonely vigil to protect this important fir forest remnant. http://www.chris-floyd.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=405

Oregon:

4) “It was a victory for the conservation groups that were challenging the Bush administration and the timber groups in regard to the Northwest Forest Plan,” said Penny Lind, executive director of Umpqua Watersheds. The potential harm to the approximately 300 species protected by the old rule outweighed the potential harm to the government, which put its projected economic loss from stopping the timber sales at $2.7 million. The judge noted, as the environmental groups had, that the court should not be concerned about any money the government stood to make by breaking the law. Paul Beck, president of Herbert Lumber and a member of the Douglas Timber Operators’ board of directors, said the decision affects millions of acres of thinning projects. Because of that, he believes the lawsuit’s success aids conservation groups’ long-standing attempts at preventing the Northwest Forest Plan from actually working. “The main thing I look at is the nature of these suits in general,” Beck said. “It’s a social agenda.” But conservation groups insist their motive is to keep science in the evaluation of timber sales. “The courts have again had to force the Forest Service to use science rather than politics and favoritism to preserve our last remaining old growth forests,” said Pete Frost, attorney for the Western Environmental Law Center in Eugene. Frost and Dave Werntz, of Conservation Northwest in Bellingham, Wash., said the government has suggested some of the 144 timber sales at issue may meet the reinstated survey-and-manage standard, and thus will be allowed to continue. No acreage figure was immediately available, but the 144 timber sales totaled 289 million board feet — more than half the amount logged under the Northwest Forest Plan in 2004. http://www.oregonnews.com/article/20060111/NEWS/60111030

5) A week ago, Oregon State University came out with a study implying that salvage logging does more harm than good, and that left alone, a burned area reforests itself more quickly. That was followed by a report from the World Wildlife Fund, the subject of a story in the paper Thursday. The study found that the government lost millions by selling burned trees in the southwest Oregon area of the 2002 Biscuit fire. Taken together, these reports suggest that the forest and the taxpayers would be better off if burned-over forests were left alone. If only the leaders of Oregon in the 1940s and ’50s had known that. They could have saved themselves the trouble of dealing with the series of four large fires, from 1933 to 1952, that later became known as the Tillamook Burn. The fires were followed by salvage logging and then by reforestation financed by a state bond issue. A quarter century later, in 1973, Governor McCall was able to sign a state law dedicating the burn area as the Tillamook State Forest. But he must have made a mistake. According to the latest research, the salvage operations should have ravaged the land. The expense of paying for reforestation should have been money down the drain. It could not have been likely, according to these report writers and researchers, for the Tillamook Burn to be restored to a verdant forest in such a short time with all the human intervention that was going on. The place should be a sorry excuse for a forest now. But it’s not. The Tillamook is such a beautiful and rich forest that for the last few years environmental interests have pushed for having parts of its set aside as nature reserves. http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2006/01/15/news/opinion/edit01.txt

California:

6) The Pacific Lumber Company has been cutting down redwood trees in northern California since the civil war. The massive, 350-foot tall redwoods once dominated the coast thriving in the region’s cool air and heavy seasonal rains. Pacific Lumber was a family-run business until 20 years ago when it was purchased by a Texas corporation, and now the giant timber company is on the brink of bankruptcy. Pacific Lumber says it can’t cut enough trees to pay its debt. Environmental activists and local residents say the company has only itself to blame charging Pacific Lumber destroyed the forest and now there are no more trees to cut. Listen to the. à Audio file interview: http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=06-P13-00002&segmentID=6

Montana:

7) A proposed critical habitat designation for lynx drew harsh criticism from all angles at a hearing Tuesday in Kalispell. Conservationists blasted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal as being entirely inadequate because it does not include U.S. Forest Service lands, while others were highly suspicious of the designation’s focus on private land and its potential to become a legal hammer for future environmental litigation. Critical habitat, for lynx and other listed species, has been the dominant source of Endangered Species Act litigation in recent years. The lynx proposal was prompted by a lawsuit and court ruling ordering the Fish and Wildlife Service to designate critical habitat. In November, the service proposed the designation of 29,935 square miles of land in Northern Maine, northeastern Minnesota, the northern Rocky Mountains and parts of northern and central Washington. Nationwide, the proposal applies to 13,098 square miles of private land, 10,918 square miles of federal land, 2,643 square miles of state land and 160 square miles of tribal land. In Montana, the proposed designation would mostly apply to Glacier National Park and about 1,691 square miles of private land, and it would exclude all U.S. Forest Service lands. “The exclusion of the entire Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the entire Greater Salmon-Selway ecosystem, most of the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, and the Colorado reintroduction areas renders the proposal as little more than Fish and Wildlife Service paper shuffling, with no basis in reality for real lynx recovery,” said Brian Peck of Columbia Falls. http://www.dailyinterlake.com/articles/2006/01/12/news/news02.txt

8) The Townsend Ranger District will host an open house on Thursday, Jan. 19, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Townsend District office to discuss the proposed Cabin Gulch Vegetation Treatment project located in the southern end of the Big Belt Mountains. Forest Service personnel will be present to visit about the project as well as explain maps and photos. The forest is proposing management activities in these areas to restore and maintain the health of these fire-dependent ecosystems, including increasing the resistance and resilience of these areas to disturbance from large fires and/or disease and insect outbreaks. Outcomes of the proposed project will result in the area becoming more resistant to high-intensity wildfires; salvage harvest of dead trees; maintaining the areas old-growth; the promotion of whitebark pine and aspen stands; reclaiming grassland and shrubland communities, reducing sediment to the West Fork Cabin Gulch stream and enhancing the areas lynx forage. Proposed treatment methods include 2,100 acres of thinning, 325 acres of patch cutting (removal of trees from areas ranging between 1 and 25 acres), and prescribed burning. Prescribed burning will include mixed severity burns and underburning in the dry forest types followed by thinning. Logging systems will include a combination of cable or skyline logging, tractor logging and helicopter logging. Detailed information about the proposed action, treatment methods as well as maps and pictures of the project area are available on the Forest’s Web site at http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/helena/projects/cabin_gulch

9) “We need to get on with, or get off the forestry management program that we’re looking at right now. Personally, I believe we’re losing some very valuable resources in forests that are overgrown and not being utilized. Trees are falling down, and we have to decide if that is what we want to have happening, or we want to manage the forest.” Council, at its workshop last night, got its first look at the specific recommendations of Columbia Forest Products. “Right before Christmas, we received the plan. It was given to council members, a very preliminary look at what could be done,” Cole said. After council reviews the plan, Cole said, he wants to see a public forum held, long before a more formal “public meeting” is set up. Depending on questions raised about the plan document, council may be able to set the date for that forum at its Jan. 10 meeting, he noted. If the decision is made to harvest timber at all, “we are going to take our time. We need to get the best plan we can get in place before we move on anything.” If council goes ahead with a forestry management plan, he said, “this is something that will be 25 or 30 years, probably more, in scope and will deal with a lot more than timbering. It’s forestry management. “Before the timber harvesting idea even came about, we were asking, ‘Why don’t we use the new road up to Big Cherry and the open areas that will be created during the construction of the new dam? Why can’t we have primitive camping, picnic shelters and places for people to picnic and fish? Maybe horseback and hiking trails. “In Columbia Forest Products’ logging plan, they have provisions for making trails, creating areas that will attract wildlife and making flat places to use for recreation as they log. But we have to decide first if opening up the reservoir is a good idea, and if it is, to what extent we want to move in that direction.” http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1283&dept_id=158550&newsid=15923954&PAG=461&rfi=9

Arizona:

10) The District Court’s decision to allow Snowbowl expansion and snowmaking with wastewater is yet another link in an ever-growing chain that shackles the environment and the people who value it. This decision goes against the mysterious nature of the natural world and is especially unwise considering the natural elements are already working against Arizona Snowbowl and the Forest Service. There is still an opportunity for justice to be served at the 9th Circuit level in San Francisco and we will appeal the District Court’s ruling in this case. We are currently in discussion with counsel and other litigants to determine which legal avenues to pursue at this point. There is an opportunity to sway the Flagstaff City Council to suspend the contract for the sale of the city’s wastewater to Arizona Snowbowl. There may also be possibilities to challenge the pipeline construction on private property at Lowell Observatory. We may also seek to change Arizona Department of Environmental Quality regulations regarding wastewater usage in the state. We will persist in our endeavor to ensure that the delicate ecosystem of the Peaks is protected. We will persist in our endeavor to ensure that the spiritual integrity of all people whom hold this mountain sacred is upheld and unbroken. We will follow the paths of our ancestors by raising our voices here today, as our children will continue to raise their voices when we pass on. We have hope that someone in the position of authority will hear our voices and act in accordance with the wisdom of the Earth and with benevolence toward all people. If no such person steps forward, perhaps we will all answer to the demand of the higher authority of these sacred Peaks. http://www.flagstaffactivist.org/

Colorado:

11) DURANGO – Forestry officials are warning that dead trees left standing after a 70,000-acre wildfire nearly four years ago are in danger of toppling onto roads and trails, endangering drivers, hunters and others. “These trees that are fire-killed and don’t have any needles are going to be falling over with a greater frequency,” U.S. Forest Service forester Mike Johnson told the Durango Herald in Sunday’s editions. “Our concerns are particularly where the fire got close to the roads and common-use areas,” he said. “If it’s a windy day, you may want to postpone your trip,” he said. The 2002 Missionary Ridge fire destroyed 56 homes. One firefighter was killed when the roots of a burned tree gave way and the trunk fell on him. http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20060115/NEWS/101150019

Oklahoma:

12) GOLDSBY– Forester Al Myat’s right. Trees are important. And if you don’t believe him, just ask any one of the staff members nestled in the Goldsby Forest Regeneration Center of the State of Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. Since 1926, foresters here also have taught countless Oklahomans how to improve the esthetic, ecological and economic impact trees can have. And, if that isn’t enough to keep the volunteers and staff busy, the often-overlooked Goldsby site serves as the state-wide distribution point for more than 40 varieties of saplings and a storage facility for a vast number of fire rigs and equipment awaiting retro-outfitting and distribution to rural communities. Reforestation, however, re-mains a top priority of the office. According to the best estimates of the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, only one acre of trees is planted for every five acres that are harvested annually. “In many ways, we’re trying to correct those past mistakes for future generations,” Myat said. Serving Oklahomans is the primary goal of the Forest Regeneration Center, he said. From January to April, land-owners can order one-year-old seedlings through the Forest Land Enhancement Program. The varieties, which include hardwoods, pines and native varities of persimmon, osage orange, mulbery and black walnut, range in price from .04 to .44 cents in cost. http://www.normantranscript.com/localnews/local_story_015003743?keyword=secondarystory

Ohio:

13) Ohioans can expect new visitors to our state parks and forests if legislators in Columbus side with the lobbyists: oil rigs and logging trucks. Currently, lobbyists are pushing a bill that would allow drilling, logging and road building right through our public lands. Even Lake Erie – a vital resource for recreation and tourism income here in northeast Ohio – is being considered for oil drilling. Ohio’s remaining parks and natural areas that are publicly owned make up only 2 percent of Ohio, but millions of Ohioans use these special places each year for recreation, and tourism dollars benefit our state’s economy. Right now, self-interested logging and drilling lobbyists are working hard to convince our legislators to drill, log and build roads right through our public lands. Thankfully, Sen. Bob Hagan of Youngstown is standing up to the special interests to protect our state parks and forests and Lake Erie. I commend the senator for his commitment to preserving the public lands that are so important to Ohioans, including our Great Lake. –Selena Hoffman, Ohio Public Interest Research Group… http://www.timesreporter.com/left.php?ID=49707

14) From a mile high in space, the Ohio forest cuts an emerald swath across the eastern third of the state. The state has spent decades regrowing forests lost to logging in the 1800s. Now, the woods face many dangers. As human sprawl and natural hazards rise, the search for solutions becomes imperative. It’s a forest that’s not been here before, a uniform regrowth that replaced an old growth forest vanquished by 19th century logging and agriculture. Ohio’s forested land has tripled since 1910 and now covers 32 percent of the state’s acreage — 8 million acres. The forest is rebounding, but poised on a cliff. Suburban sprawl and disease could tilt the forest one way, stifling several decades of strides at conservation and wildlife restoration. The promise in the other direction is great, too. Experts praise Ohio’s Appalachian forest as among the most richly diverse in the world in terms of plants and animals. Advances could restore the vanished American chestnut — a tree that fed wildlife populations not seen in Ohio in a century. In 1913, only 11 percent of Ohio was forested. Today, once vanished wild turkey number 170,000, and the bald eagle has 122 active nests — a modern high. Since 1994, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ divisions of Forestry, Parks, Wildlife, and Natural Areas and Preserves added 78,181 acres. Ohio officials are proud, but they acknowledge problems. Only 7 percent of Ohio’s forest is publicly-owned with some form of official control. The majority of Ohio’s forest is highly fragmented, and trends threaten to divide the land even more. Jörg Freiberg, Forestry Issues Committee chairman for the Ohio Chapter of the Sierra Club says, “An emphasis on trees as crops has also squeezed out some important tree species, Freiberg notes, limiting some habitats. We may have 8 million acres of trees but how much of that we can actually call forest is a totally different matter,” Freiberg said. To help fill the gap, The Nature Conservancy, the nation’s largest private conservation group, has launched a special plan that targets 11 key Ohio locations. http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/daily/0417chestnut.html

15) The seeds of the Amur honeysuckle are spreading quickly throughout western and southwestern Ohio in just that way, choking out native herbs, ferns and sedges wherever they drop. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources estimates that of 3,000 plant species, 75 percent are natives and the rest — from 700 to 800 — have arrived since the period of European settlement. Ohio University professor Brian McCarthy, a forest ecologist, calls the spread alarming. The honeysuckle, innocently introduced as a garden plant in the 1950s, probably began its attack from a backyard in Oxford, Ohio, and is now also spreading over southern Indiana and northern Kentucky. The plant is still sold in nurseries, said McCarthy, who is studying ways to control it. Invasive greenery now crowding out native forest plants such as ginseng and Ohio’s state wildflower, the trillium, have not been banned. “It’s mind-boggling to me,” Mc-Carthy said. To increase awareness, state and federal agencies, garden clubs, arboretums botanical gardens and landscaping industry reps formed the Ohio Invasives Council this year. “We’re in pretty dire straits right now,” said Sarena Selbo, an endangered species biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “Beyond educating people, even if you are aware you have a problem, it’s a challenge to control.” While Ohio maintains a list of banned plants under the Noxious Weed Law, it’s aimed at threats to agriculture. Ohio’s regulatory power hasn’t been extended to most forest invaders. http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/daily/0417chestnut.html

16) Better use of Appalachian Ohio’s forest as an engine of economic prosperity is the goal of Rural Action Inc., a membership-based organization in Trimble that taps the federal Americorps VISTA program for volunteers. Scott Bagley is the coordinator for the sustainable forestry program. Ohio’s timber industry and related businesses are valued in excess of $13 billion, according to Ohio State University. Champion of a small but still rather exotic end of that spectrum is Bagley, who sees great potential in exploiting markets for forest plants including cash crops like gourmet mushrooms. Those mushrooms have names like blue oysters, chanterelles, morels and chicken of the woods. There are also medicinal herbs ginseng, goldenseal, blue cohosh, black cohosh, bloodroot and wild fruits like paw paws, persimmons and wild cherries. More familiar forest crops include black walnuts, hazelnuts and hickory nuts. From Asia comes the demand for wild North American ginseng, which is taken as a tonic. The economics are compelling. Better ginseng roots take eight years to mature and net $350 to $500 per pound, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by poachers who steal the plants for the black market. There are perhaps 300 plants to a pound and a good woods can grow eight pounds per acre, Bagley said. Bagley hopes promoting sustainable forest use will help stem the division of woodlands into smaller and smaller parcels. “By having plants in the forest, you take better care of it,” he said. http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/daily/0417chestnut.html

Maine:

17) FARMINGTON — A Livermore Falls man who conducted a timber harvest on forest land he owns in Wilton allegedly damaged the land by creating improper skidder trails that eroded the soil and caused sediment to flow into an intermittent stream. The six-page land use complaint was filed by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection in Farmington District Court and a preliminary court hearing was held last week. Gerard Castonguay, a well-known businessman, logging contractor and farmer, faces civil monetary penalties of between $100 and $10,000 per day for each violation. The violations were found on timber land off Hanslip Road near Route 156, also known as Weld Road. “Due to the placement of the trails, water runoff was blocked from its natural drainage flow and was forced to cross both the trails and Hanslip Road,” the complaint states. The water entered a shallow trench that Castonguay had dug within 10 feet of the stream. But rather than diverting water away from it, the trench increased the water flowing into it. As a result, sediment from both the trails and the trench built up in the channel, according to the complaint. http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/2327980.shtml

West Virginia:
18) Timbering does not cause flooding, according to a report issued to state lawmakers Jan.8. That simple statement contradicts earlier claims that logging operations in southern West Virginia exacerbated flooding that devastated southern counties after heavy rains in May and July 2001. According to Dick Waybright of the West Virginia Forestry Association, however, those claims have been disproved by a new report by researchers at the University of Georgia. “From the perspective of the Forestry Association, this verifies what we felt along. Large flood events are precipitated by large amounts of rainfall, not timbering,” Waybright said. “According to all statistics, facts and data, logging and forestry practices do not cause flooding.” Logging companies in southern West Virginia, along with a host of other mining, railroad and landholding companies, are embroiled in litigation with residents of the southern counties that flooded in 2001. The plaintiffs are suing the companies, alleging their business activities made flooding damage worse than it would have been. http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=7962&catid=164

Tennessee:

19) Developer Rusty Hyneman on Thursday asked the Land Use Control Board not to require him to improve Berryhill Road in front of his Fountain Brook subdivision, which he created by clear-cutting acres of forest. His reason? It would require him to cut down the trees the clear-cutting didn’t get. “I’m down here begging,” he told the board. “I’m here to ask to save the trees. I want to leave the trees there.” Hyneman and another developer created a stir last year when they clear-cut 150 acres of Cordova forest for two subdivisions containing more than 400 homes. Thursday the board voted 7-3 to reject Hyneman’s request. The LUCB wants Hyneman to install curbs and gutters and widen the east side of Berryhill in front of the subdivision. The city engineer’s office has deemed that well-traveled section of the road dangerous. Hyneman said making the improvements now would force him to cut down the remaining strip of trees he left standing between the road and the homes. He said the neighbors will be behind him in his efforts to persuade the council and commission to reverse the decision. “They (the LUCB) voted today to take the trees down,” he said. “When those are gone, you’ll see rooftop after rooftop. Today you don’t see them.” http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/local_news/article/0,1426,MCA_437_4384834,00.html

North Carolina:

20) Over the next few months we will be increasing the pressure on OfficeMax to embrace a sustainable future. Help us grow the movement by inviting your friends to join our electronic activist list: http://www.dogwoodalliance.org/action/e_action.php OfficeMax’s two largest competitors, Staples and Office Depot, have both committed publicly to increase recycled content in the paper they sell and avoid sourcing paper from endangered forests. But OfficeMax still refuses to make a commitment and continues to purchase paper from endangered forests. OfficeMax’s paper suppliers include International Paper – one of the biggest culprits in the wholesale conversion of Southern forests into industrial pine plantations. “OfficeMax is threatening the beautiful and diverse forests of the Cumberland Plateau by selling paper products that originate from endangered forests there and across the Southern U.S.,” said Kelly Sheehan, Campaign Director for Dogwood Alliance. “The rest of the office supply industry is taking action to protect the world’s endangered forests, but when it comes to the environment, OfficeMax is lagging far behind.” http://www.dogwoodalliance.org/

Florida:

21) I, along with letter writer Ann Ratajik, ask where is the “countryside parklike setting?” Notice the absence of trees? Is Hernando County a place that destroys the trees and names streets in honor of them? Destroys all the native trees and plants exotics in their place? Cut down all the trees, entice families to move into the area and have them breathe all the air that should have been filtered by the trees and then they will develop breathing problems that send them scrambling to doctors who will write them prescriptions for medication to ease their breathing problems? So, by destroying all the trees we are providing jobs and money to the medical profession, landscapers, and nurseries. God put the trees on earth for man to enjoy, not destroy. In the very beginning, the Book of Genesis, we learn about trees. In the first book of the Bible there is reference to the first specific tree: the tree of life (also referenced in Revelations). When you enter into the woods or forest and rest in the shade of a tree, what do you feel? Many will reply they sense God’s pleasure. Will any pleasure from trees be found in Sterling? Martin Luther said, “In the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold or silver … God writes the gospel, not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.” http://www.sptimes.com/2006/01/15/Hernando/Cutting_trees_robs_co.shtml

Canada:

22) Fredericton software company Remsoft isn’t spending any time gloating over an impressive array of awards. The 10 software engineers, designers, foresters, programmers and sales agents are too busy carving a niche in the global marketplace. Their efforts are paying off. Recently, Atlantic Business Magazine named Remsoft, founded in 1992 by Ugo and Andrea Feunekes, a High Roller. Magazine editor Dawn Chafe said Remsoft is a company performing at the top of its game. Remsoft makes the world’s leading software system for sustainable, long-term forest management. The company’s software is sold on five continents and is used to manage more than 50-million hectares of forestland. http://canadaeast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060113/DGMONEY04/601130604/-1/MONEY

Puerto Rico:

23) You can almost touch the air and hold it in your hand. Weighty, moisture-laden warm air envelops you and everything, everywhere you look, is green. Orchids and bromeliads perch in the trees and luxuriant vines wind around ancient trees. No sounds of traffic disturb the heavy, wet silence, only the occasional two-noted call of el coqui, the tree frog, or the sounds of birds, pierce the silence. Stand on the trail in El Yunque, the Puerto Rican Rain Forest, and let the sounds of the forest speak to you. El Yunque is part of the Caribbean National Forest, the smallest unit in the U. S. National Forest System. Diversity is the keynote here, with over 240 species of trees native to Puerto Rico, and 23 uniquely endemic to El Yunque itself. Other introduced species, rare trees, more than 150 varieties of ferns and over 50 orchids complete the vegetation of the forest. Stop at the El Portal Visitor Center to learn about the flora and fauna of this beautiful rain forest. http://gocaribbean.about.com/cs/puertoricosight/a/aa072200a.htm

Mexico:

24) The climb to the top of the main stone temple of the Mayan ruins of the ancient city of Chacchoben is an arduous, twisting maze of short, narrow staircases that seems endless. But once atop this majestic pyramid built to sun god Itzamna around A.D. 200, you see a panoramic view shared by relatively few since the Maya abandoned it: Endless hills of lush green rain forest and distant Guatemala. Tall mahogany trees, enormous palm trees and hanging tentacles of banyan trees, with an almost mystical mist hanging over them. Spider monkeys and armadillos are far below. This was once a financial center. Chacchoben, which translates to “place of red corn,” is a grouping of ceremonial temples and buildings first opened to the public six years ago, with only 5 percent excavated so far. It was the eBay of its day, a regional marketplace where Mayan people either bartered their goods, or used cacao beans (raw chocolate) as their units of exchange. Trading included gum, fruit, vegetables, salt, honey and dried turtle eggs, typically swapped for gold, silver, emeralds, jade, other valuable stones, cotton cloth, animal skin, exotic birds and shells. The most exotic items went to the wealthy or nobility, who displayed their good fortune in necklaces or other jewelry. Carved jade beads or red spiny oyster shells were especially hot numbers. Mayan merchants, traveling throughout what is now Central America in caravans and large canoes, were held in high esteem and even had their own god, Ek Chaub. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/investing/personalfinance/chi-0601140305jan15,1,907108.story?coll=ch
i-businessyourmoney-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

Costa Rica:

25) SHIROLES, Costa Rica — Gerardina Morales barely breaks stride as she lops off a damaged cacao pod with her machete. Her black rubber boots tread lightly along the trail through her 21/2-acre cacao farm in the Talamanca-Bribri Indian Reserve in southern Costa Rica, just across the river from Panama. For almost four years, the 31-year-old mother of three has pruned these cacao trees, grafted superior stock onto old, unproductive trees and controlled the devastating disease moniliasis, or frosty-pod rot, which reached cacao farms here in 1978. Diseases and low prices for cacao, from which chocolate is made, caused many to abandon or remove their trees. Morales’ rehabilitation efforts and those of 400 families in 14 villages stem from a World Bank-financed organic cacao and biodiversity project created and implemented by the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (Spanish acronym CATIE, pronounced Kah’-Tee-Eh), headquartered in Turrialba, Costa Rica. On these small, indigenous farms, CATIE researchers focused on improvements in cacao quality and an increase in production along with development of biodiversity-friendly products to generate additional income for poor farm families. http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/37806.html

England:

26) Bosses behind an ambitious project to win a massive £50m lottery cashpot to help transform Sherwood Forest have fired the first arrow in their bid this week. The dramatic makeover will see the existing visitor centre converted into a state-of-the-art conference, educational and visitor centre and provide improved cafes, craft areas and tree-high walkways to give spectacular views over the forest. Council chiefs now hope to capitalise on the legend of local outlaw Robin Hood to win the hearts and minds of the nation, who will decide which national landmark wins the lucrative moneypot during a special television series to hit the screens in 2007. This week council leader Coun David Kirkham backed the money-spinning bid, saying it would boost jobs and add millions to the local economy. “This application is tremendous news for the whole area and will help to bring new jobs and a significant number of tourists to Sherwood Forest and surrounding villages,” he said. Coun Kirkham’s views were backed by the council’s external funding manager Caroline Agnew, who said the cash windfall would provide a big boost for North Notts. “This will make a significant difference to Sherwood Forest and will pave the way for some significant investment into the attraction,” she said. “By modernising the attraction we will also be able to attract thousands more visitors and provide the economy with a big injection.” “But the bid is not just about Sherwood Forest, it is also about regenerating the surrounding area and the wildlife in Sherwood Forest. http://www.worksoptoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=741&ArticleID=1313622

27) Two conservation charities have today called for more tree planting despite claims they are contributing to global warming. The Woodland Trust and The Tree Council made the appeal following a study published in Nature magazine which suggests plants and trees account for a substantial amount of methane, a major greenhouse gas. Woodland Trust chief executive, Sue Holden, said trees have been around for millennia and insists their contribution to regulating the planet’s climate and biodiversity vastly outweigh any theoretical harm. She said: “We should not stop planting trees. Trees are hugely beneficial not detrimental to the world in the face of accelerating climate change. They absorb carbon dioxide, produce oxygen, help to dampen flood peaks, which are predicted to increase. “They also help to regulate local temperatures and provide valuable habitats for plants and animals which will come under increased pressure from human-induced climate change as well as providing high quality green space. “This clearly is an interesting study, but by far the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions are people and their activities. What should be worrying all of us is vast increases in man-made greenhouse gas emissions that are having a drastic effect on our climate. The Tree Council is dedicated to inspiring, initiating and enabling effective action for trees in town and countryside. It is an umbrella body for 150 organisations working together for trees and a forum for tackling issues relating to trees and woods. For further information visit http://www.treecouncil.org.uk – http://services.press.net/pressnet/communitynewswire/index.jsp?story_id=1448960&setStyle=mlStory&returnStyl
e=heading.cnw

Germany:

28) BRUSSELS — Controversial work to cut trees hampering the flight path of NATO military aircraft resumed on Wednesday after Dutch police swooped on 103 environmental protestors holding up the project, Dutch news agency ANP reported.. Authorities now expect the work near the southeastern Dutch border town of Schinveld to be completed by Friday. Trees over a six-hectare area are to be cut to about one meter in height to facilitate the take-off and landing of the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) planes operating from the nearby German military base at Geilenkirchen. Tree felling operations resumed on Wednesday morning. Three hectares of trees have been cut since Monday and the rest of the work is now expected to be completed quickly, as the last protestors were removed from the woods on Tuesday evening. The Dutch regular police, backed up by military police have arrested a total of 103 protestors since Monday. The woods have been sealed off until the operation is completed. The protestors, including locals and environmental activists, had been occupying the woods since last Thursday, building huts in the trees, to which some had chained themselves. Sympathetic locals kept the activists supplied with food and drinks. Environmentalists claim the forest is part of a larger natural reserve which has a high biodiversity and is home to some endangered species. A legal decision is pending on the request to level a total of 20 hectares of woodland to ensure the safe passage of AWACS planes at the NATO base across the border in Germany. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-01/11/content_4040647.htm

Liberia:

29) The Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) has disclosed in the statement that over US$ 64 million dollars are in arrears from unpaid taxes, owed by various logging companies; According to the organization, approximately 17 of these companies operating in the sector had links with the conflict in Liberia, and the sub-region, while 26 million acres of forest were allocated under various concessions and forest utilization agreements, even though the entire forest estate of Liberia is only 10 million acres. Without giving any detailed analysis of its findings revealing US$64m allegedly owed by logging companies in unpaid taxes, SDI wants the implementation of the forest review report that was released by a committee set by the government. In the same vein, the SDI has called on the Ministry of Justice and the National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL) to support the implementation of the recommendations of the forest concession review report, which was submitted to Chairman Bryant in June 2005, by the broad-based Forest Concession Review Committee. t said the implementation of the review recommendations is needed for the people of Liberia, adding that the President-elect has indicated she is committed to doing just that. “We therefore urge the NTGL to take definitive action or no action at all.Any halfhearted and inconsistent action will only create more difficulties for the incoming government,” SDI said.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200601120273.html

Kenya:

30) Illegal logging by timber dealers and wood carvers could wipe out the largest coastal forest in East Africa, researchers have warned. Dr Dorothy Mutta, a Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) researcher, said the Arabuko Sokoke forest in Malindi District, could soon be extinct if large-scale illegal logging was not stopped. Speaking on telephone on Wednesday, Mutta said illegal logging at the forest, which is home to six rare birds, mammals and butterflies, was so rampant that poachers were cutting down trees even during the day. The forest, which covers 358 square kilometers, stretches from Malindi to Kilifi District. “Illegal loggers used to fell indigenous trees at night, but nowadays, they cut trees in broad daylight,” she said. She said the illegal logging was going on deep in the forest, making it difficult to notice by casual observation. The researcher said timber merchants and wood carvers could wipe out the Arabuko Sokoke, which is the largest remaining indigenous coastal forest in East Africa. Mutta said although she had advised the Government to ban the sale of wood carvings from mhuhu, an indigenous tree in Malindi and Watamu, nothing had been done so far. She said most wood carvers preferred mhuhu because of its spellbinding carvings, which tourists buy as souvenirs. Malindi District Commissioner Jan Ireri said police would investigate. He said the forest had been declared the second most important in Africa for bird conservation and is currently under consideration as a World Heritage site. Two rare mammal species, Ader’s duiker, the yellow rumped elephant shrew and six rare birds species, including the Sokoke owl, are found in the forest. Some wood carvers in Malindi recently said they no longer used the mhuhu tree after the Government banned the cutting of trees in forests. They said they had resorted to the mango tree after the ban http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=34877

31) The Kenya Wildlife Service will patrol Arabuko Sokoke forest day and night to protect it from illegal loggers. KWS assistant director, Benjamin Kavu, said two teams would mount 24-hour surveillance to root out illegal logging perpetrated by timber dealers and wood carvers. Speaking in Mombasa on Thursday, Kavu said KWS personnel had secured two trucks to help hunt down illegal loggers. “Illegal loggers target indigenous trees, especially those of hardwood stature. However, with the concrete measures we are putting in place, we shall root out the practice”, he added. He said KWS warders would work hand in hand with forest rangers to contain illegal logging, adding that some loggers had already been arrested. Kavu said severe drought had caused elephants to stray out of the forest and onto farms. The destruction of crops by wildlife, they added, was partly to blame for the ravaging famine in the region. Elsewhere, conservationists in the North Rift have opposed Government plans to legalise charcoal burning. Led by the chairman of Friends of Nandi Environment (FONE), Mr John Chumo, the environmentalists said legalising charcoal burning would have adverse effects on the country’s forestry. “Legalising charcoal burning is likely to lead to the clearance of the remaining forest cover, especially here in the North Rift where the practice is rampant,” Chumo said. According to a report released this week, the Government plans to legalise charcoal burning. http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=34926

Iraq:

32) After suffering years of neglect, looting, and near destruction, an important nursery in Kirkuk, run by the Directorate of Agriculture, recently received approval on a grant. Previously, the nursery’s staff struggled with renovation efforts. Due to lack of equipment and funds, the nursery has been able to operate at only 15 percent of its productive capacity. The renovation of the nursery will help increase the production and provision of seedlings in Kirkuk, ultimately increasing agricultural production. This nursery provides seedlings for fruit and forest trees to private-sector nurseries, which, in turn, raise and propagate the seedlings for sale to farmers. Farmers depend on these private nurseries for seedlings. Their increased access to seedlings from private sources will help them improve agricultural production and increase their incomes. Many farmers in Tameem, who have recently returned to their fields, are especially in need of seedlings. The nursery, once fully renovated, will be able to produce approximately 80,000 seedlings per year. Specialists working at the nursery will also be able to develop improved varieties of tree crops and high value crops. These varieties could include disease resistant and high-yielding crops. In addition, the production of forest tree seedlings will help repopulate trees in deforested areas in and around Tameem. http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EGUA-6KYURJ?OpenDocument

India:

33) LUCKNOW: More than a dozen green trees have been felled by UP Nirman Nigam at Regional Artificial Limb Centre premises for the foundation stone laying ceremony and construction of KGMU’s department of rheumatology in the past couple of days. However, KGMU and district forest office authorities had no idea about the matter till they were informed by media persons. When contacted, KGMU authorities passed the buck to UPNN and expressed helplessness over the matter. Meanwhile, the forest department has initiated proceedings to pin down UPNN and KGMU for the illegal felling. “Around 15 trees which included the likes of chilbil, babul, manchina and gulmohar were felled in the past two days. We woke up to the situation on Saturday, when only a couple of trees were left on a piece of land which earlier was a shady green patch,” said Sanjay, a resident of slums behind the hospitals. Superintendent, Infectious Diseases Hospital, Dr Gursharan Singh said, “My employees informed me about the felling of trees while I was at home. As per the UP Tree Protection Act, the constructing body has to take permission from the DFO to cut down any tree on government land. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1372438.cms

China:

34) The natural forest on Wuzhi Mountain, Hainan Province, is in danger. You may turn your nose up at this idea when you see a vast expanse of green trees covering the mountain. But there are some facts you can’t see through the luxuriant green. Being a national nature reserve area, Wuzhi Mountain is well-renowned for its natural forest with trees of a variety of species. However, many natural trees in the forest are gradually losing their place to a kind of tree named Acacia mangium, which produces timber that is highly suitable for making paper pulp. According to Xinmin Weekly, the Forestry Bureau of Hainan Province leased an area of 30,000 mu (2,000 hectares) to a foreign paper pulp producing company for planting Acacia mangium in 2000. In the same year, another 17,000 mu was contracted to a domestic forestry company who even employed a group of people to ensure there would be no trees other than Acacia mangium in that area. Admittedly, this kind of tree is fast growing and has a high economic value. For this reason, a large area of Buerger Maple and many other types of trees have been deforested to make way for this profit-making tree. Even villagers in the nature reserve area are planting Acacia mangium themselves as a way to make more money. While these tall trees appear to be decorating the mountain beautifully like green waves and forming the illusion of a lush forest, they by no means make for a natural forest. Called the “natural water pump”, Acacia mangium is extremely good at absorbing water. The immediate result is that one water field after another dries up. More and more original farming fields have been turned into barren grassland. And the originally abundant water in the mountain’s gullies is becoming shallower and shallower. Hainan Province experienced a rare severe drought and suffered from the typhoon “Damrey” in September last year. That’s partly as a result of the reduction of the natural forest. http://www.shanghaidaily.com/art/2006/01/13/235848/Wonder_pulp_tree_threatens_Hainan__039_s_natural_enviro
nment.htm

35) CHANGSHA– The sub-tropical province of Hunan, central China, boasted 12.81 million hectares of forested land by the end of last year, with its forest coverage rate reaching 55 percent. According to the provincial forestry resources statistics, the province’s forested area includes 19.09 million hectares of woodland and 1.54 million hectares of bamboo forest, with the total forest volume reaching 3.79 trillion cubic meters. Hunan’s cash trees mainly include tea-oil, tung and tea trees.The province also boasts 56,000 square kilometers of wetland, or 26.47 percent of the province’s total land space. Enditem http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-01/14/content_4051377.htm

Indonesia:

36) According to data from environmental group Greenomics Indonesia, 205,000 hectares of natural forest in Riau have been cleared to provide raw materials for the pulp and paper industry. Two large pulp and paper manufacturers in Riau, Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper and Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper, still obtain up to 50 percent of their raw material from natural forests, Greenomics Indonesia chairman Elfian Effendi said on Thursday. “This is an alarming trend. All Riau’s natural forests will have been cleared by 2009 if this continues, resulting in more flooding in other parts of the island,” Elfian said. “If it is proven that the companies have failed to obtain their raw materials exclusively from industrial forests, the government should revise the permits for their installed capacity,” Elfian added. RAPP and IKPP were given concession rights in the early 1990s and the late 1980s, respectively, to develop pulp and paper mills and industrial forests up to 370,000 hectares in size. Companies given such concession rights are allowed to first clear natural forests before replanting them with homogeneous trees to supply their raw materials. However, Law No. 41/1999 stipulates that only barren areas are allowed to be replanted as industrial forests. A study by Greenomics, however, showed that 59 percent of industrial forest concession areas were productive natural forests. In the last couple of years, RAPP and IKPP consumed some 8.06 million cubic meters and 7.99 million cubic meters of wood, respectively, from cleared natural forests. RAPP, a subsidiary of the Singapore-based Asia Pacific Resources International Holding Ltd, which is part of the Indonesian Raja Garuda Mas Group, denied the allegations. “Our industrial forests took seven years to yield while we needed more raw materials,” he explained, adding that the company would start getting 100 percent of its raw materials from industrial forests in 2009. http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailbusiness.asp?fileid=20060113.L01&irec=0

37) Jakarta- Indonesia and Malaysia have agreed to combat illegal logging and step up efforts to prevent and put out land and forests fires promptly, Forestry Information Center chairman Achmad Fauzi Mashud said here Friday. He said Indonesian Forestry Minister MS Kaban would consequtnly set up a task force to carry out anti-illegal logging campaigns and the two countries would further discuss ways to fight the practice in their border regions in a meeting to be held here next month. The two counties, he said, had also agreed to tackle pollution from forest fires which always disrupted flights in the two countries by making artificial rain. Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur would take stern measures against companies that do not follow legal land-clearing procedures. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, in an annual summit with Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in Bukittinggi, West Sumatra, on Thursday stressed the importance of comprehensive cooperation to handle forest fires and combat timber smuggling. Badawi said he wanted to know further about the system of forest management in Indonesia including the timber distribution process in order to avoid illegal logging in Kalimantan where Indonesia and Malaysia share a common border. http://www.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=8240

Australia:

38) Rutherford environmentalist Warrick Jordan is taking on the Tasmanian logging industry. The ex-St Joseph’s Lochinvar and St Mary’s Maitland student spent most of 2005 in southern Tasmania’s Weld Valley fighting to stop the clearfelling of ancient forests. Forests in the Weld Valley area have been nominated for World Heritage Listing, but according to the Huon Valley Environment Centre, parts of the forest have also been earmarked for logging. “He was part of a group that saved a section of the Watigans from logging and he’s been involved with protests on the Barrington Tops,” His mother Christine Jordan said “Before that he had been in South America and England. Mrs Jordan speaks with her son when she can, but the phone calls can be a long time apart. “Most of the time, he is in the blockade,” she said. “They’ve also built tree-sits, 50m up in the trees, so he mans those to protect the forest behind them. “There is an area in front of them where it is all clear-felled. “The trees have been cut down and they’ve destroyed all the old growth, which is just so sad.” While Mr Jordan is committed to saving the Weld Valley forest, he is also passionate about lobbying for the protection of the environment on a wider scale. “He is trying to raise awareness of the issue throughout Tasmania as well as across the nation,” Mrs Jordan said. “He realises there are two sides and you need to physically be able to be there at the protests, but also talk to people to try and make them change their views.” http://maitland.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=local&story_id=451792&category=General%20
News&m=1&y=2006

World-wide:

39) The world’s rainforests continue to disappear at an alarming rate despite attempts by national governments and international agencies to ‘zone’ forests into areas for protection and management, a new report by the Rainforest Foundation reveals today. The report, ‘Divided Forests’ shows that large-scale forest planning exercises in countries such as Indonesia, Brazil and Cameroon have been seriously flawed, resulting in vast areas being allocated to timber companies which then damaged or destroyed the forest. A particular problem with most large-scale ‘forest zoning’ exercises has been the failure to involve, or take account of, people living in the forest and depending on it for their survival. In countries such as Cameroon, whose entire area of rainforest was zoned in the 1990s using satellite images, this has resulted in the imposition of timber-felling areas over the forests needed for peoples’ livelihoods, causing persistent local conflict. The report warns that current efforts, backed by the World Bank, to ‘zone’ the world’s second largest rainforest – that of the Democratic Republic of Congo – could also have disastrous consequences, with as much as 600,000 square kilometres at risk of being felled for timber.”The zoning of rainforests has a huge impact on forest peoples’ survival, on their livelihoods, as well as on biodiversity,” says report author Alison Hoare. Rainforest Foundation Director Simon Counsell said, ” Large-scale forest zoning should be based on meticulous ground-truthing, taking into account subsistence uses of forests, and on the traditional rights held by local people. It is not good enough to simply carve-up forests on the basis of satellite images, giving the lions’-share to logging companies”. http://rainforestfoundationuk.org/s-Divided%20Forests%20-%20towards%20fairer%20zoning

40) According to a study published today, living plants may emit almost a third of the methane entering the Earth’s atmosphere. The result has come as a shock to climate scientists. “This is a genuinely remarkable result,” said Richard Betts of the climate change monitoring organisation the Hadley Centre. “It adds an important new piece of understanding of how plants interact with the climate.” Yadvinder Malhi, a specialist in the relationship between vegetation and climate at Oxford University, said the plant source of methane had probably been missed in the past because scientists have a poor understanding of the way methane circulates in the atmosphere. “There are a variety of sources and sinks of methane and there are huge error bars on those terms,” he said. “What’s been uncertain is where the methane is coming from and where it’s going. Unlike carbon dioxide, methane is much more dynamic; it lasts about 10 years in the atmosphere.” Biogenic methane has traditionally been assumed to come from organic materials as they decompose in oxygen-free environments. But Dr Keppler found plants emit the gas even in normal, oxygen-rich surroundings: between 10 and 1,000 times more methane than dead plant material. When the plants were exposed to the sun, the rate of methane production increased. “Until now all the textbooks have said that biogenic methane can only be produced in the absence of oxygen,” Dr Keppler said. “For that simple reason, nobody looked closely at this.” The discovery sheds further light on the complex relationship between greenhouse gases and the environment. “If you’re after predictions of global average temperature, it won’t make a huge amount of difference,” said Dr Betts. “But it shows how complicated it is to exactly quantify reforesting or deforesting in comparison with current fossil fuel emissions.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,12374,1684378,00.html?gusrc=rss