O65OEC’s This Week in Trees

This week we have 36 news items from Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Texas, Arkansas, Virginia, Massachusetts, USA, Canada, Romania, Israel, Africa, Zambia, Brazil, Australia, Tropical forests, and World-wide.

Alaska:

1) If you buy the line taken in Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski’s recent State of the State speech, the answer to flak over “bridges to nowhere” is for the state to go out and hire flacks. An alternative might be put on the table: Alaska politicians could stop fleecing taxpayers in the “lower 48” states, and cease crude threats and clumsy retaliatory measures — particularly against their colleagues from this state. Not likely. The latest act of vengeance is a bill in the Alaska Legislature to take the Alaska ferry terminal away from Bellingham. It would presumably be punishment for Washington lawmakers’ refusal to go along with December’s barely thwarted backdoor maneuver in Congress to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. If Murkowski does go for the public relations option — he has long-standing ties to the Rockey Hill & Knowlton firm in Seattle — the image makers’ challenge will be formidable. How, for instance, do you justify subsidized logging of temperate rain forests in southeast Alaska’s Tongass National Forest? In 2004, the Forest Service shelled out nearly $49 million to lay out timber sales and build roads. “Smokey Bear” took in just $800,000 in income. Since the mid-1980s, the government has lost $750 million on logging in the Tongass. With closure in the late 1990s of a pulp mill in Ketchikan, timber jobs in the Tongass have fallen from 1,500 to fewer than 400. Many timber sales go unsold. Near Hoonah, trees were cut and left to rot on the ground. No economical market was found. Naturally, Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, found a way to bail out the logging company that bought the sale. The Murkowski administration plans to push a 50-mile northward extension of the Juneau Veterans Memorial Highway. The road would still dead-end. It is extremely unpopular in Juneau. Its main beneficiaries would be a proposed mine and a logging operation (to be facilitated by a land “exchange” with the Forest Service) near the mouth of pristine Berner’s Bay. In 2003, federal spending amounted to more than $12,200 per resident of Alaska. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/259275_joel13.html

British Columbia:

2) Street Theatre: Watch as “Eco-Cupid” fires arrows into Gordon Campbell’s heart to help him fall in LOVE with Vancouver Island’s ancient forests, endangered species, BC’s parks, and our oil-free Pacific coast. Join a small team of WCWC activists on the opening day of the Legislature in Victoria (when all BC politicians reconvene to make new laws), which they’ve scheduled on Valentine’s Day. Help us hold banners, hand out leaflets, and let Campbell know he is not off the hook on the environmental front. The liquidation of Vancouver Island’s ancient forests continues in the Upper Walbran Valley, Upper Tsitika Valley, Nawitti Lowlands, East Creek Rainforest, Nahmint Valley, Klanawa Valley, and hundreds of other wild areas. A renewed land use plan for Vancouver Island to expand our protected areas system, based on conservation biology science and open public input, is greatly needed. The continued logging of the ancient forest habitat of the spotted owl on the southwestern mainland of BC, with only 6 breeding pairs left in BC, as well as other species at risk like mountain caribou, marbled murrelets, and Queen Charlotte goshawks. New commercial logging operations in BC’s interior provincial parks such as Manning and parks in the Okanagan will be commencing this spring under the guise of controlling pine beetles (which cannot be controlled by logging according to the government’s own scientists) and forest fires, which have been unnaturally suppressed for a century. Controlled burns, a let-it-burn wildfire policy in big wilderness areas, and non-commercial thinning of small diameter trees in areas where fires have been unnaturally suppressed are the solutions. The endless lobbying by the provincial Liberals of the federal government to lift the moratorium on coastal oil and gas development in BC. All the politicians in BC will be there at that time. Please come out for this brief protest! http://www.wildernesscommitteevictoria.org/index.php

3) 900 people were arrested. Eyes turned towards B.C. and awareness about logging practices in the province spread. The Clayoquot protests paved the way for action on the Great Bear Rainforest. …”’We wanted to meet the recommendations of the scientists,’ she said, ‘but we couldn’t.’ According to Matthaus, the only reason the environmental groups are agreeing to the plan and continuing to be supportive is because it is a package of protected areas and a commitment to implement EBM by March 2009. ‘The protected areas alone are not sufficient,’ she said, ‘but this is a political compromise. You need to have a lot of parties in agreement.'” http://www.martlet.ca/old/archives/051117/feature.html.

4) Ultimately, we’re all consumers, with the responsibility that entails. do you print using only 100% pc recycled paper? what’s your toilet paper made of? when’s the last time you used a paper cup for your coffee? why aren’t there viable hemp alternatives? got disposable diapers? how do you transport yourself and your family? are you still consuming food products connected to cruelty of animals? do you buy organic? overall, what does your lifestyle look like and what are you willing to do to sustain it? alternatively, and more importantly, what are you willing to sacrifice for the greater good? has your lifestyle (and your values and your rationale) changed since your children arrived on the planet? for the better? life becomes increasingly complex. as a friend said recently, the ‘problems’ of the world are still clear and easy – ie: war is bad, peace is good; environmental protection good, environmental destruction bad. what’s becoming more difficult are the choices we find ourselves confronted with. for example, have you found an alternative to google yet, or are you willing to continue working with a corporation that favours censorship of search results – when a government demands it? what are people willing to sacrifice, in their lives, so that the protection of wilderness (and human rights and freedom and democracy) is actually meaningful, beyond mere words? can you live without google? without the new extension on the house? the new computer? the sweatshop products? five or six years ago it was possible for enthusiastic youth, without chains to debt and family, to collect social assistance and head for the woods – risking their lives and their freedom to protect the forests and their inhabitants. in a few short years we’ve seen the end of grassroots construction of basecamps and tree platforms (with the exception of the wonderful cathedral grove precedent) and are now watching an enthusiastic desktop cheer for a deal that’s simply not very inspiring. i think we can do better, and i look forward to working with environmental organizations and individuals to pull the ‘agreement’ in a truly sustainable direction. namaste, janine janine bandcroft [eternity@islandnet.com]

5) The Muir Creek Protection Society is working to get the lower part of Muir Creek saved as a park. Muir Creek is a salmon stream about 15 minutes west of Sooke, surrounded by old growth fir, cedar, maple and Sitka spruce. The lands around Muir are currently owned by Timber West logging, which hasstarting a new round of logging around here, and is planning to helicopter log the old growth, so there is some urgency to act on this. The 2nd largest yew tree on the Big Tree Registry [a registry of the ten largest trees of each species in B.C.] is on Muir Creek, and up to ten other trees may qualify for the registry [heights have not been measured yet]. The tree for the world’s tallest free-standing totem pole, in Beacon Hill Park, came from the Muir Creek area. The park would provide ocean access to a section of beach well known for its fossils. Three species of salmon use the creek [Spring, Coho and Chum]plus steelhead and trout. Membership in the Muir Creek Protection Society is $2. http://www.muircreekprotectionsociety.org 642-0948 muircreek@hotmail.com We are asking people to write letters asking for a park at Muir creek. The letters do not need to be long – it is numbers more than content that counts. “I would like to see a park at Muir Creek” would do it if you don’t feel inspired to rave on about otters, eagles, salmon etc. The mailing addresses are; Lloyd Rushton, CRD Parks, 490 Atkins Ave., Victoria, B.C. V9B 2Z8 —- Ian Atherton – Supervisor, Land Acquisitions Ministry of the Environment P.O. Box 9398, Stn. Prov. Govt. Victoria, B.C. V8W 9M9

6) TimberWest Forest Corp. will look to real estate sales to supplement its operations and help meet cash requirements for distributions in 2006, CEO Paul McElligott told analysts Thursday. The forestry company struggled with weak commodity prices and a strong Canadian dollar in 2005, but hopes real estate will play an important part in rebuilding fortunes this year. “TimberWest has some terrific real estate on [Vancouver] Island worth more to third parties than in a commercial timberland operation and we’re in the final stages of an updated strategic review of our portfolio,” McElligott said. “Our expectation is that, going forward, real estate will become a more important part of delivering unitholder value than it has in the past.” © The Vancouver Sun 2006

7) The Vancouver Island Land Use Plan in 1994 resulted in the following:
94% of Vancouver Island’s productive forests lie outside of its parks.
98% of the drier, eastside Nanaimo Lowlands Ecosection is unprotected.
99% of the old-growth Coastal Douglas fir forests are gone.
95% or more of Vancouver Island’s salmon streams lie outside its parks.
87% of Vancouver Island’s total land area lies outside our protected areas. The WCWC’s science-based Vancouver Island Conservation Vision calls for the protection of at least 41% of Vancouver Island through a renewed land use plan, while at the same time ramping-up the value-added wood manufacturing sector across the Island and banning raw log exports. It’s increasingly shown that it’s possible – with YOUR help, as always! http://www.wildernesscommitteevictoria.org

Washington:

8) In Washington, the potential sale acreage is scattered across the state, including tracts in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area and the Colville, Wenatchee, Olympic, Mount Baker-Snoqualmie, Okanogan and Wenatchee national forests. (7,500 acres) One of the largest proposed sales involves seven tracts — totaling more than 1,300 acres — in a remote Sultan River corridor in Snohomish County popular with kayakers. The land sales are part of President Bush’s new budget proposal, which seeks to pare the federal deficit. As part of those cuts, the administration seeks to phase out taxpayer payments to rural timber counties and partial replacement of those dollars with land-sale revenues. Meanwhile, rural county officials fear swapping taxpayer dollars for slimmer, and more uncertain, revenue generated by land sales. Administration officials project that even if all sales go as planned, rural counties would still wind up, on average, with half as much federal money to fund roads and schools. “As I look at it, they are holding rural counties hostage and saying if you don’t sell off forest lands to the highest bidder, then we are going to cut money for your schools,” said Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash. Regional forest officials say the sales list was cobbled together over the past month and generally tried to exclude scenic lands that shelter threatened and endangered species. During the selection process, the list was not widely distributed, even within the agency. In the Columbia Gorge region, where more than 500 acres would be put up for sale on the Washington side, Forest Service officials say they have mainly chosen farm parcels and treeless lands on the arid east side. Al McKee, a Skamania County commissioner, said he could support some land sales within the gorge if that would help spur development and create jobs. But he says federal support for the county, which provides nearly 30 percent of school funding, needs to be maintained at current levels. If that money fades away, the county will have few options. “Other counties might be able to transition, but for us, we just kind of drop off a cliff and pick up the pieces,” he said. “The lands we identified today are isolated and expensive to manage,” said Mark Rey, undersecretary of agriculture in a Friday news conference in Washington, D.C. “In some places, they are part of Forest Service ownership more as an accident of history.” http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=landsales11m&date=20060
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California:

9) We Forest activists in the Maxxam/Pacific Lumber Co. Timber Harvest
Plan (THP)1-05-097 HUM, “Bonanza,” still protect our few precious acres of ancient redwood forest from the tide of debt-driven industrial logging. Since November 11, we have witnessed PL’s steady cutting of what should be protected endangered species habitat. Just last week, we hiked across the creek from our lofty perches and visited the Northern Spotted Owl nest that is surrounded by trees marked for cut. This last patch around the spotted owl is the last part of the THP that PL has not yet cut. I doubt that the owls have even stuck around after the ten hour days of double-propeller helicopter yarding happening on the top of the ridge right above the them. The sound ricochets through the valley, and mixed with chainsaws it is the sound of an ecosystem being crippled. But the owls aren’t the only ‘incidental takes’ of this plan, there is an old-growth tree that we have just tied into our tree village for protection that has two nests of woven sticks and dead leaves that are two feet in diameter. With your continued support and the perseverance of our team out here, we hope that the builders of these nests will have a nice home to return to for many generations. On our hike to visit the owls, we also took a look at the new THP on Nanning’s main stem. It has four units, and three of them are clear cuts. We can’t believe that they are planning of clear cutting on those steep slopes. We literally had to crawl on our hands and feet to make it up. And after seeing the foot deep slabs of gooey mud on the hillside that already choke Nanning creek and its tributary’s, we shake our heads at the thought of what kind of damage PL’s new THP’s will do to the waterways. We did not find old-growth in this THP and it is not yet approved. You can check it on the web at the CDF website, the THP number is 1-05-242. Well, Ta-Ta for now. -from the Nanning creek treesit http://www.HumboldtRevolution.org

Oregon:

10) Scientific studies regenerate quickly after a fire, Oregon State University and the Bureau of Land Management have learned. Both organizations attempted to scorch a study of salvage logging and forest regrowth in the aftermath of the 2002 Biscuit fire in Southern Oregon, and in each case the study sprang back to life healthier than before. It was the BLM and OSU, not the salvage logging study, that suffered harm. The study, by OSU graduate student Daniel Donato and five other scientists from the university and the U.S. Forest Service found that forests burned by the Biscuit fire were damaged by salvage logging operations, and that they were healthier and more fire-resistant if left to regenerate naturally. This research contradicts earlier findings by faculty at OSU’s College of Forestry. That research supported recommendations that salvage logging begin soon after a fire. It also undercuts legislation co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., that would expedite post-fire salvage logging. http://www.registerguard.com/news/2006/02/10/ed.edit.osustudy.0210.p1.php?section=opinion

11) CORVALLIS – Scientists at Oregon State University have produced one of the most detailed and accurate ecological descriptions ever made of a prehistoric rain forest, based on the study of insects, plants, seeds and other material – almost all of which is now extinct – found trapped in amber about 20 million years ago. Poinar and his wife, Roberta Poinar, have written about their discoveries over decades of research in the book “The Amber Forest: A Reconstruction of a Vanished World.” As a semi-precious stone that first begins to form as sap oozing from a tree, amber has the unique ability to trap very small animals or other materials and – as a natural embalming agent – display them in nearly perfect, three-dimensional form millions of years later. “In our rain forest work, we were able to look at different samples and find the petal, stamen, even pollen grains from a single tree species,” Poinar said. “Bit by bit, we can re-create the whole forest that way, the palm and mahogany trees, a tadpole and marsh beetle, the many insects and other animal life, the carnivores that would have fed on them.” At various times in his quest for amber, Poinar has been chased through the streets of Morocco by a knife-wielding man, threatened by armed residents protecting their local amber mines, or had to travel with soldiers to pick his way through explosive mine fields in Lebanon. But for the patient and persistent, amber reveals many secrets “We traveled more than 1,500 miles through the forests and jungles of the Dominican Republic in the 1980s to get the samples we needed,” Poinar said. “Sometimes their idea of a mine was a hole you crawled into on your knees, half full of water, hundreds of feet into a hill, carrying a candle so you could tell when you were about to asphyxiate from lack of oxygen. Around then, there were also a lot of public strikes, rebels trying to take control of the country, other things. It was interesting.” Among other things, Poinar said, amber reveals a world that is in constant flux – where continuing evolution and routine species extinction is the rule, not the exception. “We still find some descendants of prehistoric trees or insects, but very few are still completely the same, most are extinct,” Poinar said. “And you can see how species may have survived in one little corner of the world and gone extinct everywhere else. http://www.medfordnews.com/articles/index.cfm?artOID=327517&cp=10996

Colorado:

12) DENVER – The state’s Roadless Area Review Task Force got down to business Friday by reviewing plans for San Juan National Forest. The task force met for the first time in Denver after a series of public meetings around the state. The panel quickly fell behind schedule and had time to hear a presentation about San Juan National Forest, but not to make any decisions. San Juan National Forest is close to updating its management plan. Thanks to help from citizens and on-the-ground surveys, the forest is set to add 47,000 acres of roadless area above what was inventoried in 2001, Petersen said. The task force also heard about issues in Pike-San Isabel National Forest. In later meetings, members plan to approve recommendations for each national forest in Colorado. Before the 13 members of the task force got into specific forests, Forest Service workers briefed them to dispel inaccurate information about roadless areas. “The reason you’re looking at roadless areas is to determine whether you want to add them to your wilderness,” Julie Schaefers told task force members. Wilderness designation protects the land from all forms of development. Five percent of the state is designated as wilderness, and another 6 percent is roadless. Some of that area was found to be roadless as long ago as 1979. Since then, roads may have been built in some of the areas, and that is why hikers often notice roads in “roadless” zones. About half of the roadless land in Colorado is managed to maintain its roadless character. The other half allows logging, gas drilling and other activities. Under Clinton’s 2001 roadless rule, all of the roadless acres would be managed to preserve their natural character. But Bush overturned the rule, leading to Colorado’s formation of the task force. http://durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/06/news060211
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Montana:

13) The Gallatin National Forest is proposing to “decommission” 47 miles of old logging roads and a 1.2-mile stretch of user-built motorized trail in the Bangtail Mountains. The vast majority of the roads were constructed by Big Sky Lumber Co. in the 1990s, when it logged extensively on its lands northeast of Bozeman. Some of those lands were later traded to the U.S. Forest Service. Forest officials have known for years that the roads were causing water pollution from erosion and that siltation in area streams is above allowable standards. Decommissioning a road means removing culverts, recontouring some slopes and other projects to reduce erosion. While the Forest Service has wanted to do the work for years, it now has the money and wants to get started this summer. Much of the work can be completed for about $40,000, said John Councilman, resource assistant on the Gallatin’s Bozeman Ranger District, and will require a small excavator. The project likely will be offered to contractors. Most of the work will be done on the east slope of the Bangtails, where streams flow into the Shields River. “It’s fairly important because we have some westslope cutthroats up there,” Councilman said. Westslope cutthroat trout are an increasingly rare native fish that is a potential candidate for federal protections. A variety of westslope restoration projects are underway around the region. http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2006/02/12/news/bangtailroads.txt

Wyoming:

14) Mt. Glory – a few miles west of Jackson, Wyo., could see as many as 30 or so skiers and snowboarders a day. Despite U.S. Forest Service disapproval, every year a handful of locals build this shelter, a worthy act of civil disobedience for such a busy summit, as well as an often cold and windy one. Normally I don’t like going inside before a ski descent, but I was chilled from sweating too hard while foolishly trying to pass as many hikers as possible on the climb up. Ignoring my usual claustrophobia, I crawled inside. Cozy, cozy. There were a few other folks huddled up to the snow-packed walls. Typical of my stay in Jackson, here was another example of why this is a world-class ski mountaineering destination: The Jackson Hole mountain guide sitting next to me spoke fluent Japanese to his two clients with snowboards. Pretty neat to hear an American dressed in goggles and gortex speaking such a tricky language. My favorite adventure of the week, though, was actually the one day we didn’t get 12 inches of new snow. We climbed the rarely skied “Gros Ventre Slide.” In June 1925, the whole face of this forested hump collapsed – 100 feet deep, 2,000 feet down. Today it is still an open scarred swath surrounded by forest. Huge boulders littered the entire face. We broke trail past a flat spot littered with Cadillac-size boulders of colorful sandstone, switchbacked through a narrow couloir with twisted, gnarled trees on either side, and finally into the dark, quiet forest to the top. http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20060212/SPORTS/102120031

South Dakota:

15) Custer – Black Hills National Forest Deputy Supervisor Brad Exton today signed the Record of Decision for the Bugtown Gulch Mountain Pine Beetle and Fuels project. His signature is the final step in allowing the Forest to immediately begin insect control projects in the Bear Mountain area six miles northwest of Custer, South Dakota. The objective of the project is to slow the spread of insects in this heavily forested area that is intermingled with several homes and tracts of private land. An infestation of mountain pine beetles, the same insects that decimated the Beaver Park area a few years ago, will be treated by an aggressive combination of direct attack (removing infested trees) and thinning tree stands to promote trees that are more healthy and insect resistant. The Bugtown Gulch project is the first in the Black Hills National Forest to be implemented under the Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HFRA) of 2003. This legislation allows the Forest Service to approve insect and fuel-control projects in a streamlined manner that requires potential project opponents to surface potential problem areas up front. Biodiversity Conservation Alliance (BCA) of Denver, Colorado formally objected to the project, saying that the project was largely unneeded. Forest Supervisor Bobzien negotiated an agreement on one objection issue with Jeremy Nichols of BCA but the remaining issues in the objection were unresolved. The EIS was reviewed by Rocky Mountain Regional Forester Rick Cables. The project will proceed immediately. The Hell Canyon District is now preparing contracts to be implemented by local timber operators to begin removal of infested trees and to thin the forest. In addition to providing a more healthy forest, the trees removed will be used for home construction and other wood products traditionally produced by the Black Hills forest products industry. HFRA legislation specifies that any lawsuits against the project must be filed in the federal court where the project occurs. The United States Attorney’s office in Rapid City has been briefed on the project http://blackhillsportal.com/npps/story.cfm?id=1450

Texas:

16) Sabine National Forest burned 17,990 acres in 2005 and plans to burn 61,000 acres in 2006, according to Patricia Johnson. Johnson said Sabine NF was “severely impacted” by Hurricane Rita as the eye traveled through state’s most eastern forest in a path similar to space shuttle Columbia. The storm’s eye destroyed 11 active cavity trees, she said. “It was significant, but not detrimental,” she said. http://www.dailysentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/02/12/20060212NDSbird.html

17) While no longer legally obligated to meet and discuss the restoration of endangered red cockaded woodpeckers in Texas, wildlife biologists and fire experts gathered in Lufkin last week for their 20th meeting on the topic since it was ordered by a federal court. Open to the public, Larry Shelton of Nacogdoches was the sole representative of the environmental community at the meeting. Shelton participated in the round table event held at the final part of the meeting. Also attending was retired U.S. Forest Service researcher and red cockaded woodpecker expert Richard Conner, PhD. Wearing sneakers and smiles, the researcher’s enthusiasm with the groups’ implementation of his life’s work was obvious to all. “He is the godfather of RCWs,” said Ron Haugen with the USFS. Conner studied and analyzed practices used by the forest service to increase red cockaded woodpecker habitat in the four national forests of Texas. “He was critical of our work, and we’ve changed our focus a lot based on his input.” The key to creating habitat conducive to red cockaded woodpeckers is creating an “open, parklike forest” made up primarily of longleaf pines. This is known as Conner’s “mantra,” Haugen said. The historic means of creating this natural habitat of “the match, axe, plow and cow” still holds true today, said Bill Bartus with USFS. The use of prescribed fire – too much, too hot, too cool, too often, too high – was the focus of much of Thursday’s conference. Shelton, who said he supports the use of prescribed fire, expressed concern over blazes that had reached 20 and 30 feet high and cause the death of trees like East Texas dogwoods. Ron Mize with the Angelina National Forest said they burned 15,644 acres in 2005 and intend to burn 25,475 acres in 2006. The national forest, located in southern Angelina County and Jasper County, had 32 active clusters of woodpeckers last year. Jim McCormick with the Davy Crockett National Forest said they burned 11,100 acres last year and intend to burn 45,000 acres this year. The national forest, west of Lufkin in Houston and Trinity counties, had 61 active woodpeckers clusters accounted for last year, he said. http://www.dailysentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/02/12/20060212NDSbird.html

Arkansas:

18) JONESBORO, Ark. — A federal judge heard arguments Monday over whether a vast irrigation project intended to help farmers in eastern Arkansas will harm the rare ivory-billed woodpecker. U.S. District Judge William R. Wilson was asked by environmentalists to temporarily stop the Grand Prairie Irrigation Project and order the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct more environmental studies on the bird’s habitat. The judge said he would rule as soon as possible and might have a telephone conference with the lawyers before making a decision. Work began on the $320 million project last summer with construction of a pump station. The station is expected to be complete, if allowed to proceed, in two years. The project would draw 158 billion gallons per year from the White River. Farmers have been using underground aquifers but their continued use threatens to deplete that natural resource. Attorneys for the National Wildlife Federation and the Arkansas Wildlife Federation argued Monday that the project will kill off trees and its noise will stress the bird. The bird was believed to be extinct until kayaker and bird watcher Gene Sparling spotted the animal two years ago and scientists confirmed its existence in the Cache River Wildlife Refuge near Brinkley. The U.S. Interior Department last spring announced the bird’s rediscovery. http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060206/APN/602060978

19) Everyone who works the land has felt the effects of the drought that has gripped Arkansas since December 2004. Loggers are no exception. “When it’s really dry, it’s great logging weather,” State Forester John Shannon said last week, when he addressed the Arkansas Agriculture Department’s board meeting. “Really dry weather supports logging equipment and, as dry as it’s been, there has been a lot of logging in Arkansas and most wood yards at the big mills are full,” he said. About 56 percent of Arkansas, or 18. 8 million acres, is forested, and an estimated 750, 000 of those acres are harvested annually, according to the Arkansas Forestry Commission. Because Arkansas winters usually are rainy, sawmills and pulp and paper mills tend to build up their log inventories during the summer, in anticipation of reduced wood availability. This winter’s abnormally dry weather has been “a mixed bag” for loggers, said Larry Boccarossa, executive director of the Arkansas Timber Producers Association. Dry conditions have meant logging contractors are running out of work or having to haul their wood farther to sell it, he said. And many mills have placed quotas on their log purchases, said Allen Bedell, owner of Hot Springs-based Circle B Logging. “Instead of delivering 60 logs a week, you’re limited to 35 logs a week ; or three days of hauling, instead of four or five days,” he said. http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Business/145382/

Massachusetts:

20) To the officers of the Salem Country Club, cutting down three 100-year-old oak trees on Forest Street would make crossing the busy thoroughfare safer for golfers traveling between holes 8 and 9. But to others who fought hard eight years ago to protect all the trees on Forest Street for posterity, taking down even one healthy tree would mar one of the city’s last rural vistas and might increase the potential for accidents. Salem Country Club, which sits on either side of Forest Street on the city’s west side, must seek formal permission to take down the trees because Forest Street is one of four designed ”scenic roads” in Peabody, according to tree warden Richard Walker. The others are Birch and Goodale streets, and portions of Winona Street. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/02/12/golf_club_seeks_to_fell_oaks/

Virginia:

21) RICHMOND, Va. — The Bush administration’s proposal to sell some forestland includes about 5,700 acres of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests in southwest Virginia. The administration on Friday gave details of its proposal to sell more than 300,000 acres of national forests and other public land to help pay for rural schools and roads. More than $1 billion could be raised from the sale. But environmentalists immediately opposed the plan, saying forests across the nation and in Virginia should be protected. There are about 1.8 million acres in the Washington and Jefferson forests. “That land has been hard to come by,” said David Carr, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center in Charlottesville. “It’s crazy to be selling it off to meet short-term budget needs.” The Virginia land on the list includes a total of 1,630 acres in Bland County, 1,341 acres in Smyth County and 735 acres in Scott County. Government officials say the national sales are needed to raise $800 million over five years to fund schools and roads in rural counties hurt by logging cutbacks on federal land. The Bureau of Land Management has said it also plans to sell federal lands to raise about $250 million over five years. http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/virginia/dp-va–landsale-va.0211feb11,0,4102434.story?coll=dp-headline
s-virginia

22) Heritage Community Park in Blacksburg is a wonderful natural area. Or is it? Town Councilman Don Langrehr explains that when two beavers moved in and started doing what comes naturally — feeding upon trees — they had to be killed. What kind of “nature park” refuses to embrace nature? The answer is a nature park that has its priorities all wrong. Although few people have ever had the privilege of watching beavers go about their business — and, make no mistake about it, many folks would indeed love to have this opportunity — the higher priority for most people is the protection of trees. Indeed, Langrehr points out that the Blacksburg Heritage Foundation planted 500 seedlings not long ago that the beavers would probably not spare. But perhaps those seedlings should not have been planted there in the first place. A program called the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program provides funds to plant trees along waterways in an effort to prevent erosion. However, the monies from CREP are often improperly used to plant trees along waterways that already have sufficient shrubby growth and do not need trees. By replacing field habitat with forest, man is adversely affecting our wildlife species (such as the Northern Bobwhite quail) that need open areas. Unfortunately, people prefer to gaze upon trees rather than open areas of herbaceous plants. The land along Toms Creek should not be turned into a forest because it is low and naturally wet. Obviously, the area should be a wetland — which is just what beavers could create at no expense to taxpayers. Beavers were in Heritage Community Park because the location is exactly right for them to do what Mother Nature intended for them to do. http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/commentary/wb/wb/xp-52243

USA:

23) About 14,000 acres of Montana forestland would be put up for sale under a Bush administration proposal to help pay for rural schools. The U.S. Forest Service on Friday released a list of potential property it would sell. The list included more than 300,000 acres in about 34 states. In California, for example, 85,000 acres would be sold. The sales would raise roughly $800 million over five years, according to the Forest Service. Proceeds of the land sales would fund a federal program that provides money to rural counties for schools and roads. In the past, that money came from the general treasury and timber sales, which have declined in recent years. Federal Bureau of Land Management property also may be sold and will be identified at the local level, according to the BLM. The Forest Service list released Friday includes a legal description of each parcel of land. About 135 tracts in Montana would be put up for sale. In the Lewis and Clark National Forest, a tiny slice of land — 2.5 acres north of White Sulphur Springs — is the only piece on the list. The majority of the land is in western Montana, largely in the Flathead and Kootenai national forests. Tracts of land for sale in other states are 1,000 acres in size, however the tracts for sale in Montana are not that large. The biggest piece offered is 600 acres in the Custer National Forest. Other Montana tracts for sale range from one-third of an acre to a couple hundred acres. Montana conservation organizations immediately pulled out their maps Friday in an effort to pin down exactly what chunks of land could be up for grabs. The Forest Service intends to release maps of the areas where land is for sale before the end of the month. “I think what we are going to find when we look at the list of land is that there is some land that would be quite valuable to the logging industry, mining and oil and gas,” said Matthew Koehler, director of the Native Forest Network in Missoula. Koehler also said he expects some of the larger tracts to draw interest from the real estate industry for development and subdivisions. http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060211/NEWS01/602110301/1002

Canada:

24) The first satellite-assisted survey of Quebec’s northern forests reveals vast stretches of pristine boreal forest and intensively logged, heavily impacted areas. The detailed snapshot of northern Quebec is the first leg of a national project by Global Forest Watch Canada to bookmark and study human impact on Canadian forest ecozones. “Knowing the location and, more important, the rate of development in our forests will help to improve forest management,” said Peter Lee, executive director of the not-for-profit group. “In this study, we identified all disturbances to Quebec’s northern forests that were caused by humans in the 1990s – an area of almost one million square kilometres, or about 60 per cent of Quebec,” he said. The $75,000 project used highly detailed NASA satellite images, coupled with government data, to show how Quebec’s northern forest had changed between 1990 and 2001. While Quebec still has huge areas of pristine boreal forest “where there is no evidence of human activity,” there are areas that have been heavily affected by logging, road building, reservoir construction and other industrial activity, he said. The largest clearcut in the surveyed region covered an area about three times the size of Montreal Island, Lee said. The area is adjacent to and southwest of Reservoir Outardes. The project, funded by the Canadian Boreal Initiative and two foundations, began in Quebec for several reasons, Lee said. His group, whose mandate is to support the stewardship and conservation of Canada’s remaining forests, hopes to provide information that will assist the government in the implementation of the Coulombe Commission recommendations. That blue-ribbon panel determined that Quebec forests had been overharvested and recommended an average 20-per-cent reduction in allowable harvests. The survey information could also help Quebec and the Cree set out the forestry regime prescribed by the Paix des Braves Agreement signed in 2001. About 30 Quebec-based forestry companies were invited to assess and comment on the data gathered by Global Forest Watch Canada, but none did, Lee said. The Forest Products Association of Canada also declined to participate, he said. http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/business/story.html?id=54e286ee-e0c5-4370-b3e9-5697b8a79de5&k=90
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25) Time is running out for Jenny Martindale and Jim Little. The couple are owners of Sundog Outfitters and they’re concerned about protecting a significant parcel of wilderness within Greater Sudbury. On Saturday, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) ended opportunities for citizens to comment on the de-listing of the Vermillion River Delta Forest Reserve to a general purpose area open to all resource exploitation. Martindale, Little and their supporters are fighting to save the beauty of the pristine wilderness area. “Five years ago, Jim and I discovered the most remarkable piece of acreage in Dowling Township on Simmons Lake within Greater Sudbury,” said Martindale. “The lot was fully forested and boasted over 2,000 feet of frontage on a small lake, which just happened to be a provincially significant wetland and connected to the Vermillion River. “For a couple of young entrepreneurs wishing to start up an eco-tourism business, this seemed to good to be true. We had hundreds of acres of protected forest to explore and many kilometres of canoe trails to paddle right outside our door.” The couple bought the 144-acre property, investing a significant amount of money, knowing the land was isolated and off the electrical grid. The real value, they believe, involved adjacent land – thousands of acres of mature second growth pine and hardwoods. It was listed as the Vermillion River Delta Forest Reserve in 1999 by the Ontario Living Legacy land use strategy formulated by the Ontario government. Originally, the 1,185 hectare site, southwest of Dowling, was recommended to be part of the Vermillion River Delta Provincial Park after the expiration of mining tenure. …Marr denied opening up the area for logging was a factor in the proposal to de-list the forest reserve. Marr said no decision has been made regarding the specific area as public comments were still being received last week. “We would like to see a balance struck between all resource users and see where people have issues. We are aware that the site lies within Greater Sudbury and there has been interest in this site made to us by the municipality,” he said. Sundog Outfitters have launched an e-mail campaign to gather support letters to send to the MNR office dealing with the issue. “The response has been overwhelming. We have had 50 support letters including one from the City of Greater Sudbury because of the prime tourism aspects of the area right in our city,” said Martindale. http://www.northernlife.ca/localnewsarticle.asp?view=105075

Romania:

26) Natura has since become an important source of information for the NGO community, but perhaps its most important function has been to create a watchdog mindset in the public, mobilizing them against the exploitation of Moldova’s natural resources by private or government interests. An example is the well-known case of the Seabeco-Silva forest. The government of Moldova secretly drafted a contract to sell 7,000 hectares of forest to a foreign firm for industrial exploitation. This forest was one of Moldova’s last remaining forest stands – most of its other trees have been cleared for agriculture. Before the deal was complete, Natura learned about the plan and wrote an article publicizing the case. The article provoked a chain reaction; local and national press took up the story and the public began to fight to preserve the forest. For three weeks, members of local communities directly affected by the deal repeatedly appealed to the government and requested a public hearing on the Seabeco-Silva project. The staff of Natura was invited to participate in several meetings to describe the project’s damaging effects. We estimate that Natura mobilized more than 200,000 people, especially from the affected areas of Ungheni and Calarasi. Under public pressure, and after a parliamentary inquiry and presidential intervention, the Prime Minister was forced to give an explanation on national television. Despite the fact that the decision had been endorsed by government officials, the Prime Minister asserted that the government knew nothing about the deal and was not involved in selling the forest lands. However, the goal of Natura’s campaign had been achieved: the Seabeco-Silva project was stopped and the forest was preserved. The case dramatized the influence that environmental mass media can have on the public, as well as the power of public participation in environmental protection. http://www.isar.org/pubs/ST/MLenvmedia49.html

Israel:

27) Jerusalem – An Israeli LGBT rights group is planting a forest dedicated to tolerance. The planting of trees has been a tradition in Israel since its founding in 1948 – part of the quest to turn the desert into useable land.Tu Bishvat, or Jewish Arbor day, may be a minor festival but has taken on major flare with celebrations in schools and parties throughout the country. Next week to celebrate Tu Bishvat the Gay in Galilee Society will plant Pride Forest next to Kibbutz Tuval, just off the road that leads from Carmiel to Ma’alot. It is likely the first gay forest anywhere in the world. “The forest will be planted in the name of tolerance, equality, human rights and the rights of the community to express its bond with the land,” the group says. As the tiny saplings grow into adult trees Gay in Galilee hopes that so too LGBT civil rights will grow. http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/02/021006trees.htm

Africa:
28) Five years ago, J. Michael Fay walked 2,000 miles through the Central African rain forest. Two years ago, he embarked on another ambitious project: crisscrossing Africa, logging 70,000 miles, in a small plane fitted with cameras that snapped a digital image every 20 seconds to record the human impact on the continent’s ecosystems. Fay has what many people would regard as a dream job. He is an explorer-in-residence with National Geographic, a title he has certainly earned by risking his life to document and preserve equatorial Africa, one the remaining “wild” places on Earth. “Passionate” would be a weak word to describe his commitment to alerting humans to their ongoing destruction of their own habitat and their responsibility to our entire planet and every living thing on it. In his quest, he has been crushed and gored by an elephant. His 5-foot, 10-inch frame bears the scars of 13 tusk wounds. He survived a plane crash that cut a swath 150 feet long through the thick vegetation. Question: Describe the Megatransect project from Congo to Gabon. Answer: I had realized there was this huge swath of forest to explore, the largest forest blocks still left in Africa. We walked for 456 days — I had about 12 people with me, 11 Pygmies who were forest people and one Bantu guy. We changed teams once along the way. We saw mammals that had never seen humans. We spent 2½ months just chopping through vegetation. We hit mountains 200 to 300 meters high. When we finally made it to the (West Africa) coast, I was very relieved we hadn’t lost anybody, and I had seen everything I had ever dreamed of seeing. … The governments of Gabon and Congo have since decided to designate 10 percent of their forest as national forest, with no logging allowed. Questio: What do you see as your mission in life? Answer: More and more countries in Africa — Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique among them — are taking resource management seriously, but the trend for use is growing faster than the conservation efforts. http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/13833200.htm

Zambia:

29) The statistics about Zambia’s rate of deforestation paint a grim picture. The deforestation rate of 900,000 hectares per year is too high for any country. Clearly, our forest resources are dwindling at an alarming rate and we have to find a way to halt this. We cannot continue to consume 11 million tonnes of wood as fuel every year. This is too high. At this rate, we may soon find ourselves with no forestry resources. How can the Zambian households continue to derive 99 per cent of energy from wood fuel? How many trees will remain in our forests from this level of dependence on wood fuel? The outright destruction of living trees used to be limited to areas around our cities and towns where commercial markets for firewood and charcoal exists. But now, it has spread to almost all parts of our country. It used to be rare to find a charcoal burner in South Province or Western Province. But now charcoal burning has spread to these areas. But the greatest and most immediate danger of deforestation is that gradually diminishing forest areas contribute to or worsen other disasters. For example, by removing vegetation that retains water, deforestation can lead to flooding and drought. Our forestry policy need to be revisited. The timber industry also needs to be scrutinised. At the moment, trees are being cut with no programme or efforts to replant them. And in some cases, these are trees that require over sixty to seventy years to grow. Yes, we need money as a country and we have to use the resources – natural or otherwise – that our country is endowed with to make a living. But this has to be done in a sensible, responsible and rational manner. We have to do it in a way that doesn’t threaten our environment and our lives. We therefore join Chadiza member of parliament, Philip Zulu in urging the government to seriously consider increasing funding towards measures aimed at curbing deforestation. The government’s funding towards this is at the moment too low and inadequate to have any meaningful impact. http://allafrica.com/stories/200602100386.html

Brazil:

30) The remarkable life of Sister Dorothy Stang was remembered in Belmont Saturday, part of a global memorial for the vibrant American nun who was assassinated a year ago today while trying to stop illegal logging in the Amazon. `Dorothy stood up against the powerful logging and ranch interests that are seriously depleting the rain forest and threatening the lives of the poor,” said Sister Louise O’Reilly, of the California province of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, Stang’s order. About 200 people attended a mass at Notre Dame de Namur University, Stang’s alma mater. They came not only to remember the woman they had known as a joyful student, and a strong and dedicated missionary. The came also to further the work Stang had devoted nearly 40 years to: protecting the Amazon environment and improving the lives of impoverished Brazilian peasants. “We remember how she stood up to the dominant powers in the Amazon,” said Father Joe Sands, a Jesuit priest at Santa Clara University. Since her murder, Brazil convicted two of her killers, put a moratorium on logging and designated a part of the Amazon as a national park and ecological reserve. But unauthorized logging, land grabbing and land-related killings continue. Despite President Luis Inacio da Silva’s promises to protect the rain forest, the province of Pará, where Stang worked, remains a semi-lawless frontier. Nearly half of Brazil’s 1,200 land-conflict killings have been in Pará. Brazil’s recent decision to open a highway into the Amazon, which will speed shipment of beef, lumber and crops from the interior to overseas ports, intensifies the threat to the Amazon and to poor peasants. Environmentalists estimate the Amazon loses 9,170 square miles annually; already 20 percent of the original Amazonian rain forest is denuded. Greenpeace estimates that 90 percent of the lumber in Pará is cut illegally. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/peninsula/13850673.htm

Australia:

31) THE Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle had a 98 per cent chance of becoming extinct in 200 years in northeast Tasmania, a court has been told. Computer modelling commissioned by Forestry Tasmania and undertaken by Melbourne University researchers has been tendered in Greens Senator Bob Brown’s court challenge to logging at Wielangta Forest, southeast of Hobart. The multi-species modelling project in 2002 painted a dire picture for the bird’s future. Updated models in 2005 revealed the chances of its survival were even poorer. The project looked at the Bass District, in Tasmania’s northeast, but a report by researcher Dr Sarah Bekessy said the results could be taken statewide. Dr Bekessy, a senior lecturer at RMIT University, worked on the project and provided a report on the model for Senator Brown’s Federal Court case. Senator Brown has taken court action in a bid to stop logging in the Wielangta Forest, arguing it threatens endangered species. The case is continuing. http://www.themercury.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,18109800%255E3462,00.html

32) POLICE broke up a week-long anti-logging blockade at a Royston Valley coup 120km east of Melbourne today and arrested protesters who chained themselves to bulldozers. An exclusion zone was set up around the logging coup early this afternoon. Police and officers from the Department of Sustainability and Environment then entered the area, pulling down protest platforms built into trees and cutting the chains of activists who had shackled themselves to bulldozers. At least three arrests were made when protesters refused to leave the site. A conservation group, the Central Highlands Alliance, claim loggers were breaching an agreed forest plan for the region. In a report sent to Environment Minister John Thwaites today, the group alleged illegal roads had been pushed through sensitive areas, harvesting was continuing outside agreed boundaries and diesel spills had not been cleaned up. A government spokesman today said no timber harvesting had occurred in old growth forest and any old trees found in the logging zone would be retained to preserve habitat. He said loggers would be banned from areas inhabited by leadbeaters possums, as classified under the forest management plan. The spokesman said any claims of breaches to the code would be investigated. Central Highlands Alliance spokeswoman Sarah Rees said the group’s biggest concern was not with the logging companies but with the Victorian Government’s failure to adequately monitor and control logging in the area. Ms Rees said the audit of the logging coup was conducted at the Government’s request. “It’s ludicrous (that) we’re in there auditing the forest, that’s something the Government should be doing,” Ms Rees said. Conservationists claim logging of the region threatened 300-year-old trees and the survival of the tiny leadbeaters possum. The possums were thought to be extinct until 1961 when one was found in the Central highlands area. “(This) is now the only place on earth where a tiny community survive,” Ms Rees said. “We need a government who acts and we need it before another endangered animal disappears forever.” Ms Rees said conservationists in the valley were putting their lives at risk to try to stop the logging trucks because they were increasingly frustrated by the Government’s refusal to protect the old growth forests. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18132245-1702,00.html

Tropical Forests:

33) All chocolate has a connection with a farmer, soil and water, a tiny fly and special growing conditions. Chocolate comes from the seeds of a cacao tree. The tree, now grown in the tropics worldwide, is native to South America. Climate found within 20 degrees north or south of the equator, soil with year-round moisture, and protection from strong winds are needed to make the cacao tree grow and bear fruit. The flowers and pods containing the beans grow directly from the trunk of the cacao tree. Recent studies indicate that midges, tiny flies that inhabit the damp, shady rainforest, play a crucial role in cacao pollination. The cacao flower, which is about the diameter of a nickel, is complicated in design, and the midge is the only animal that can work its way through the flower. These midges are not able to adapt to plantation-like conditions. Farmers growing cacao trees in the natural environment of the rain forest get the best results and, as a result, 90 percent of the world’s 3.5 million tons of cocoa beans are grown on holdings of 12 acres or less and natural protection for the environment. The cacao tree takes about three to five years to produce the pods each containing about 40 purplish, bitter-tasting, lima-bean-size cocoa beans. The pods take five or six months to ripen. Under good conditions, a single mature cacao tree produces an average of 30 to 40 pods in a year from which can be derived three to four pounds of the chocolate with which we are familiar. http://www.journalstandard.com/articles/2006/02/07/daily_features/hometown_connections/feature05.txt

World-wide:

34) You wouldn’t think a plant pathology text with the title “Diseases of Trees and Shrubs” could double as a coffee-table book. But given its subject matter, the handsomely designed and revised second edition of Wayne A. Sinclair’s masterwork is quite fetching to the eye. Sinclair is a Cornell University professor emeritus of plant pathology. First published in 1987 by Cornell University Press, “Diseases of Trees and Shrubs” has become a standard reference for plant health specialists, plant diagnosticians, horticulturists, arborists, foresters and their students. The first edition of “Diseases” was praised by The Washington Post and many experts in the field as one of the 10 best horticultural books of the 20th century. It is likely to yield the same accolade in the 21st century. Thoroughly revised, fully updated and illustrated with more than 2,200 digitally optimized color images in 261 full-color plates and more than 350 black-and-white photographs and drawings, the second edition is an unrivaled survey of the diseases of forest and shade trees and woody ornamental plants in the United States and Canada. The book is both an authoritative reference book and a powerful diagnostic tool. Organized according to type of disease-inducing agent, the second edition is also designed to be helpful in classroom and field instruction. Symptoms, signs and cycles of hundreds of diseases are described, and microscopic features of many pathogens are depicted in photos and line drawings. A searchable CD-ROM included with the book contains bibliographic entries for more than 4,500 works that readers can consult for additional information or images. http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/517894/

35) Corporate Sustainable Development (CSD) – also referred to as Corporate Social Responsibility – is now at the heart of business practices. Earth Observation from space has the potential to provide a global and cost-effective way to objectively measure progress towards sustainability of business activities. ESA has begun working with large multinational companies – including Alcan, AMEC, Aon, B&Q, Lafarge, Shell, SUEZ Energy, and UPM – to integrate satellite data into CSD reporting practices across a wide variety of industrial sectors: Energy, Civil Engineering, Off-shore & On-shore Oil & Gas, Forestry, Forest products, Pulp & Paper, Aluminium and Cement production. First championed by the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, the concept of sustainable development has since become a familiar and accepted part of our everyday lives, spurred on by its widespread adoption within the private sector. Leading companies know that CSD equals good business: continued economic growth becomes unsustainable if business practices contribute to environmental degradation. Accurate and timely information on the state of the environment is needed to quantify sustainability, and ESA’s Earth Observation Market Development (EOMD) Programme – set up to build remote sensing business capacity – is responding to the needs of business by developing services to apply the new dimension of objective, wide-area and regularly-updated environmental information supplied by satellites. The range of stakeholders with an interest in how forests are managed is large: there are those that live in local communities as well as users of timber and forest-related services including tourism, recreation, and biomass burning. On a wider scale we are all stakeholders in forests, due to their role in moderating the human-caused increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases. “We’ll be assessing if the current sources of data are accurate, whether data frequency is sufficient and the transparency of data collection – and one of the key issues is cost. We hope to cover both plantation forests as well as natural forests and look at how certification relates to the emerging market for forest eco-services.” said Charles Eyre of Aon. http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM1LDNZCIE_index_0.html

36) The sixth session of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF-6) commences today at UN headquarters in New York, with the goal of completing the consideration of its review process, according to decision 5/2, made at UNFF-5, and based on the Chair’s draft text contained in the annex to the decision (E/CN.18/2006/2). Delegates are expected to convene in two working groups over the course of the next two weeks. Working Group I is expected to consider the general mandate of the UNFF, objectives of the International Arrangement on Forests (IAF) and global goals. It may also consider the prospects for the creation of an “Instrument” for all types of forests, including potential legal or voluntary frameworks. Working Group II is expected to address: means of implementation; working modalities; regional aspects of the IAF; the multi-year programme of work; monitoring, assessment and reporting, and enhanced cooperation and cross-sectoral, policy and programme coordination. http://www.iisd.ca/vol13/enb13134e.html