082OEC’s This Week in Trees

This week we have 32 news items from: British Columbia, Oregon, California, Montana, Michigan, Texas, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Maine, USA, Russia, Ukraine, Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay, India, Taiwan, Philippines, Korea, Indonesia, Australia and World-wide.

British Columbia:

1) The province’s forestry watchdog agency warns that the public will find it more difficult to learn what forest companies are doing on Crown land once Victoria’s results-based regulatory regime comes into full effect by the end of this year. In a bulletin posted on its website, the Forest Practices Board says the government has placed increased responsibility on the public to get information, and cut back on the opportunities for public involvement in viewing forestry plans. And in a draft report distributed to stakeholders for comment on the new system, the board says that, so far, companies are relying on the minimum legal requirements to get their plans approved. The new proposals, called Forest Stewardship Plans, are just beginning to show up in planning documents. Companies are required to have the new system in place by the end of year. The watchdog agency says that fewer than 25 plans have been completed to date. But with 300 to 400 more plans to come, it speculates that pressure to get the plans finalized will lead to further streamlining. But B.C.’s professional foresters say the new system shouldn’t be judged on the first few plans. Give foresters time to get familiar with the new system and then watch how it unfolds on the ground, said Van Scofield, executive director of the Association of B.C. Forest Professionals. The regulatory regime is changing from a prescriptive approach to one that relies on forest professionals to achieve specific objectives, the so-called results-based code. Scofield said the profession is going through a major cultural shift in adopting the new process, and urged caution in accepting what the board is claiming. © The Vancouver Sun 2006

2) Since early 2004, protesters have camped in the trees in an effort to block plans to cut down more trees and expand parking. BC Minister of Environment Barry Penner has finally put a stop to plans for a proposed parking lot in Cathedral Grove. The Minister is to be commended for finally listening to the public and reversing BC Liberal’s previous assertions that the most sensitive portion of the park be bulldozed to make way for a 5-acre parking lot. The Roosevelt Elk that rely upon the wetland forest for winter habitat along the floodplain of the Cameron River, will now be able to live in peace. Hopefully the Minister will make good on his word to consult with the public by working towards the implementation of an Environmental Management Plan. For several years biologists, tourism operators, local government, and the public have been calling for a new Master Plan for the park that reflects the sensitive nature of this ecosystem as well as the many ownership changes that have occurred. Fish streams, endangered species, threatened forest types, and the continued logging of adjacent old growth forest by Brookfield’s Island Timberland (formerly Brascan and Weyerhaeuser) are all issues that must be addressed. For the time being it is excellent news that the Ministry of Transportation will finally be acting in a responsible manner and implementing traffic calming. The Friends of Cathedral Grove will continue to act in good faith by removing the camp that has protected the area from logging for the past 26 months. The public is invited to tour the contentious area and have a look at the wetland forest that has been saved by the actions of so many dedicated citizens. Bring a picnic lunch Saturday April 15 and explore this incredible natural jewel. Biologists and guides will be on hand to provide interpretive tours starting at noon. Children can participate in a hunt for the Easter Elk. A high tea will be celebrated at 2 pm. In the press release the Ministry of Environment states; “With the implementation of traffic calming measures, BC Parks will no longer be proceeding with the construction of a new parking lot at Cathedral Grove.” Lets keep them at their word and celebrate the protection of a park that is dear to people both locally and from around the world. To cut a tree or not to cut a tree that is the question. In the case of the Cathedral Grove the public has firmly stated “No”, as they have been doing since 1885. ISLAND LENS by Richard Boyce

3) Residents of Vancouver Island have started a grassroots protest movement aimed at slowing the drive of the B.C. logging industry to haul enormous quantities of timber out of the island’s woods. The movement, say members, is a reaction to loosened logging regulations which allow environmentally damaging practices, while removing public scrutiny. Towards the end of last month, the group sent close to 500 people to protest on the steps of the legislature in Victoria. But the rally took place on a weekend when MLAs were not sitting. So far, the protest movement has had difficulty catching much attention from the major media, the industry or the public. The protesters have been trying to shine a light on the ferocious pace of logging in the Port Alberni and Cowichan valleys. Over a recent stretch of five 10-hour work days, activists counted more than 1,000 truckloads of logs leaving those two island regions. That’s far too much, too fast, to be sustainable according to Ken Wu of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee. Wu’s group is spearheading the new logging protests in conjunction with the Save Our Valley Alliance (SOVA) of Port Alberni and the Youbou Timberless Society in the Cowichan Valley. “Every truck is about 1.5 houses,” said SOVA activist and truck-counter Gerry Walerius, “and much of that’s going south over the border. And we haven’t been counting the ones that are loaded up late in the day and have been going out before we started our count at 6:30 a.m. Those are jobs that we’re not getting in the valley. So far, we reckon it’s been 500 year-round jobs, and that’s being conservative. They’re shipping out our future and our kids’ future.” http://thetyee.ca/

4) In some towns you can’t lose by selling mountain art; in others, jolly nudes. In Portland, trees are the alternative to the default mixture of abstract expressionism, minimalism and conceptualism that passes for contemporary art. Trees are never dull. Trees won’t let you down. Acclaimed Colorado-based photographer James Balog has a new book of composite photos of trees. His task was to document some of the largest specimens in America, which he did collage-style, knitting them together digitally. To focus on the trunk from top to bottom he dangled from ropes, usually for hours. Five and a half years in the making, “Tree: A New Vision of the American Forest” (Barnes & Noble Books) is as striking and original as Balog’s other work, such as the series in which he posed endangered species in his studio. His aim is to break through the tired conventions of nature photography, which he says seek to make nature look romantic and idyllic. Slicker than Hockney, more fun than Braque, this is a must-see show, for the point-and-shoot masses as much as the SLR set. (Balog will give a lecture 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 7, at the Portland Art Museum’s Whitsell Auditorium, 503-226-0973, $5, does not include museum admission.) First Thursday reception 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday, April 6; regular hours 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, through April 29, Photographic Image Gallery, 79 S.W. Oak St., 503-224-3543, http://www.photographicimage.com

Oregon:

5) GRANTS PASS, Ore. — Citing federal budget cuts, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has decided it can’t afford to pay an outside contractor to develop the long-overdue recovery plan for the northern spotted owl, so it will develop the blueprint for saving the threatened species from extinction on its own. “We had hoped to get a special funding allocation to handle a contractor who could help us with what will be a very labor intensive recovery planning process,” said Fish and Wildlife spokesman David Patte. “It just didn’t come to bear.” The owl’s dependence on old growth forests forced a dramatic cutback in logging on national forests in Washington, Oregon and Northern California in the 1990s. However, owl numbers continue to fall as the species confronts new threats with no clear way to stop any of them _ disease, wildfire and the barred owl, a cousin from eastern Canada that is pushing spotted owls from the best habitat. The decision to pursue a recovery plan, shelved before it was finished in 1992, is part of the settlement of a timber industry lawsuit demanding a new look at the federal lands set aside from logging as critical habitat for the bird. Patte said the cost of paying a contractor to do the recovery plan was estimated at about $400,000. A draft is due in nine months, and a final plan in 18 months. Chris West, vice president of the American Forest Resource Council, the Portland timber industry group that brought the lawsuit, said he was disappointed at the decision, because Fish and Wildlife has had a poor track record for getting work done on time. By comparison, a status review of the owl done by a private contractor two years ago was done professionally and on time. Given the worsening condition of the owl, a recovery plan could lead to even more stringent restrictions on logging, particularly on state and private lands, said Susan Ash, conservation director of the Audubon Society of Portland.”It’s possible the federal government could consider the situation so dire for the northern spotted owl that they would go to simply a no-take policy, where you just can’t destroy spotted owl nests,” said Ash. “It could _ might possibly _ render a lot of habitat conservation plans null and void.” http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/science/3768490.html

California:

6) In Toth’s neighborhood on Broadway Avenue last summer, a developer said he thought he had permission to down one of two redwoods on property where he was building three new houses — even though a city worker had spray-painted the word “STAY” on its trunk. Neighbors complained the redwood was so grand — worth more than $50,000, according to one preservation group — that its destruction deserved a bigger fine. The city fined property owner Andrew Latala $500 and made him spend $3,000 for 10 trees for nearby residents and donate another $3,000 to Our City Forest, a non-profit dedicated to planting and protecting trees. Latala said Monday that if he had the chance to make the decision again, he would have tried to save the tree. The city requires permits to cut down any yard tree 18 inches or more in diameter. For street trees — planted between the sidewalk and the street — permits are required if they are 6 feet or taller. In 2003, the city moved to help replenish its urban forest by requiring homeowners to plant a tree in park strips. But the threat continues on existing trees — 65 citations were issued last year for removing street trees illegally, said city arborist Ralph Mize. There is no way to know how many trees are illegally cut down each year, especially on private property. Code enforcement officers respond only to complaints from residents. The proposed ordinance changes would double the fines, which would have to be paid by contractors as well as property owners. The fine for heritage trees — a designation the city gives historic trees — would remain at $5,000. When someone seeks permission to remove a tree, the city posts a notice on the tree itself. Residents can protest the planned removal at a hearing within seven days. That deadline would increase to 14 days. Those cited for illegal tree removals must visit City Hall to get an after-the-fact permit. That’s when the city can require the offender to make up for the loss, usually by planting new trees or making a donation to Our City Forest. “The important issue is to try to prevent illegal removal up front,” Matthews said. “If we receive a complaint of a tree that’s in progress of being removed, we immediately dispatch an inspector out there. If the tree has been removed already, we get out there within three days.” http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/the_valley/14258558.htm

7) A complicated, six-year fight over some of the strictest logging regulations in California, passed in Santa Cruz County, will go before the state’s highest court Tuesday. At stake is not only where trees can be cut, but potentially a much bigger issue: How much power local governments have to amend state rules. The state Supreme Court is set to hear arguments from Davenport-based Big Creek Lumber Co., which says the county lacks the authority to add cumbersome restrictions to landowners who want to rezone their land for timber harvests. It’s been a long time coming: Big Creek Lumber initiated the legal fight against the county’s ordinances in 2000. Logging permits fall largely under the jurisdiction of the state Department of Forestry. But county supervisors passed a variety of logging restrictions beyond those of the state in 1999. “The supervisors eliminated half the privately owned forest land in the county from being logged, about 50,000 acres,” said Big Creek spokesperson Bob Berlage. The total value of timber harvests in Santa Cruz County — $5.8 million in 2004 — has dropped by half since the 1990s in part because of the new rules, said Berlage. Santa Cruz County lawyers will argue that land-use decisions, such as where logging can occur, are a basic function of local government. Big Creek will also argue Tuesday over the county’s right to impose tighter controls on the use of helicopters for extracting trees from slopes too steep for logging equipment to access. Supervisors enacted these regulations in response to noise complaints from residents in Bonny Doon. “The county understandsothat logging is not appropriate in many places,” said Jodi Frediani, a forestry specialist with the Santa Cruz group of the Sierra Club, Local governments will be significantly weakened if Big Creek can successfully argue that the state can trump the county, county attorney Fran Layton said.She said if counties can’t enact their own logging restrictions, other local governments that have tougher rules on matters such as gun control, for example, would be subject to lawsuits. http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2006/April/03/local/stories/03local.htm

Montana:

8) Forget nanotechnology, biomedical devices or avionics, the next hot investment may just be found in the woodlots, forests and construction trash bins of the West, and particularly New Mexico. In San Miquel County, New Mexico, for example, the legislature allocated $500,000 to a Regional Sustainable Wood Business Park. The park, in the former Medite site in Las Vegas, will be a cluster of companies that will mine the area’s small diameter lumber, which is both too small to use in building and a potential fire-storm waiting to happen in our national forests. In 2002, the Mescalero Apache reservation hosted a wood symposium where participants discussed the possible uses of small diameter logs–the nation’s tribes manage about 17 million acres, according to a story in the New Mexico Business Weekly. Since then, companies of all stripes have sprung up to use wood waste, from craftmakers to sign makers. For example, a Mountainair, a company mixes recycled plastic milk jugs with small diameter timber to create durable outdoor signs. Altree has contracts with the Forest Service and many state agencies. It’s been around since 1990 and logs annual revcenues of over $1.3 million, which is pretty good for a company in a tiny town with little industry. In Reserve, the shutdown of a large-diameter sawmill (due to a moratorium on logging in the Gila National Forest) put most of the non-ranchers in the area out of work, and the town into a tailspin of economic and emotional depression. A citizen’s group got together and developed a small-diameter logging/millwork plan, using the abandoned Stone Forest Sawmill. Catron County purchased the facility to develop the small diameter industry in the town. The latest entry in the small diameter lumber products industry is Healthy Buildings, the anchor tenant for the 78-acre Las Vegas (NM) wood park. Colleen Cayes, the founder of Healthy Buildings, called yesterday to tell me about her company, which is on the verge of receiving funding, she says. Based on the “triple bottom line” of products, people and planet, Cayes is part of a group hoping to revive the timber industry in the economically depressed northern part of the state. Healthy Buildings will make a 12” tall block made from 85% recycled wood and 15% Portland cement that is both breathable and highly insulating. Cayes says the blocks can replace styrofoam. http://www.newwest.net/index.php/topic/article/7468/C36/L36

Michigan:

9) Ron Ruzinsky is leading a campaign to preserve trees along Metcalf Road in Grant Township. He collected 50 signatures from a petition he circulated among his neighbors who live along the road and persuaded the St. Clair County Road Commission temporarily to suspend its plans to cut down the trees along the south side of Metcalf. The road commission wants to clear the trees for drainage ditches. Ruzinsky hopes to see the portion of Metcalf – between Wildcat and Gibbons roads – designated as a natural-beauty road.The Michigan Natural Beauty Act allows stretches of roads to remain in a relatively natural state. Existing trees along these roads are preserved. Although 28 counties, including Macomb and Lapeer, are home to 111 of these roads, St. Clair County has none. Road Commission officials and those wanting to save the trees reached a compromise Tuesday that could offer a fair resolution. This issue shouldn’t be confused as Ruzinsky vs. the road commission. The county agency has its job to do, and he understands that. “I’m trying not to be a pain,” he said. “On the other hand, we have to preserve (trees) for the next generations. Those trees took five or six generations to grow, some of them.” St. Clair County is losing green space – not just farmland, but also trees. If something isn’t done soon, the county’s natural beauty could give way to development and become one more victim to suburban sprawl. Ruzinky’s crusade isn’t only about Metcalf Road. It really is a plea for conservation of all the county’s natural resources. As he noted in his Monday Times Heraldguest column, trees are essential to the environment. They convert carbon dioxide levels; they reduce water runoff; and they help to filter toxins from water before it reaches rivers and streams. Citing a USDA Forest Service study, Ruzinsky also said the shade trees provide could extend the life of asphalt roads. “Shade reduced the drying effect the sun has on the road,” Ruzinsky wrote. “Instead of needing a topcoat every seven to 10 years, shaded roads may only need to be recoated every 20 to 25 years.” The embattled stretch of Metcalf is a gravel road, and the ditch the road commission wants would have to sacrifice a lot of trees. But Ruzinsky is forcing us to ask ourselves a critical question: At what points are trees and other aspects of our environment no longer expendable? http://www.thetimesherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060405/OPINION01/604050325/1014/OPINION

Texas:

10) Almost 900 acres of the Mark Twain National Forest was set ablaze Saturday morning about 10 miles southwest of Rolla during a USDA Forest Service prescribed burn. The prescribed burn is designed to help establish and maintain a balance in the forest’s native ecosystem. The burn also helps keep the forest healthy, explained Charlotte Wiggins, public affairs director for the Mark Twain National Forest office in Rolla. “Nearly one-third of the forest trees [mainly the Oaks] are dying, and the burn helps clear them out so we can plant and grow new trees,” Wiggins said. She said the burn also helps keep the forest clean by getting rid of fuels, which includes layers of old leaves, brush and fallen trees otherwise known as forest debris. Saturday’s 890-acre burn was the fifth prescribed burn in the 215,332 acre Houston/Rolla/Cedar Creek District of the Mark Twain National Forest this spring. There has been a total of 90 prescribed burns this spring in the 1.5 million acre Mark Twain National Forest, which includes six districts and 13 offices. The prescribed burns this spring have already covered more than 15,000 acres of the Mark Twain National Forest. Wiggins said she expects the number of prescribed burns and the acreage they cover to increase in the future. http://www.therolladailynews.com/articles/2006/04/03/news/doc4431210431f4c498515809.txt

11) West Texas mesquite trees aren’t as stately as the East Texas pines, but they more than pull their weight in terms of practicality. For starters, the scrubby little trees are useful for making furniture and giving barbecued meats a boost. The native plants also function as traditional indicators that spring has officially arrived. “There’s an old saying that winter isn’t over until the mesquite trees blossom,” according to Joyce Houser, a Permian Basin Master Gardener. The saying refers to new leaves, Pete Smith, partnership coordinator of the Urban Forestry Program of the Texas Forest Service, said. “They’re usually the last to green up,” Houser said of mesquites. It gives a unique flavor,” Camacho said. “West Texans, they love the smoked taste.” Carlos Hernandez, vice president of operations for Rosa’s, said the stores order their mesquite from vendors in Lubbock, Amarillo and Fort Worth. The wood is very affordable compared to other types of wood, Hernandez said. A cord of mesquite wood costs from $80 to $200 depending on the vendor, he said. And the wood burns a long time. “We don’t use gas. (The mesquite) burns all day long,” Hernandez said. Harold Lewis, owner of Wilson & Lewis Bar-B-Q & Meats, said the business uses four to five cords of mesquite wood per month. The business orders the mesquite from Central Texas. Workers use the mesquite to grill chicken, ribs and beef, he said. “It flavors real good,” Lewis said. According to a Texas Mesquite Association press release about the show, “once viewed as a nuisance, mesquite has become the darling of architects and retailers.” Smith agreed that mesquite products have become popular. “There’s quite a mesquite industry in this state,” Smith said. “Mesquite hardwood flooring is highly valued.” Using mesquite for construction hasn’t caught on though, Brad Ward, vice president of Cashway Lumber, said. Ward said builders rarely use the wood. http://www.oaoa.com/news/nw040306a.htm

Alabama:

12) Birmingham-based Resource Management Services LLC and its investment partners are purchasing 4.3 million acres of timberland for $5.1 billion from International Paper Co. as part of a major deal announced Tuesday. The deal makes the little-known Birmingham firm, which has just 20 employees, a major player in forest management across the United States. “This is a rebirth for us,” Resource Management Chief Executive Bruno Fritschi said in an interview Tuesday. Resource Management’s group will acquire 3.8 million acres of Southern forestland and another 440,000 acres in Michigan. Under terms of the agreement, the Resource Management group will supply International Paper’s Southern pulp and paper mills for 20 years. The pact also calls for the firm to manage the property under an industry standard meant to ensure the future of the forestland. “This is a very complex transaction, and we worked very hard to satisfy IP’s requirements while meeting the investment needs of our clients and partners,” Fritschi said. An investment group led by Atlanta-based Timberstar is buying another 900,000 acres of forestland in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas for $1.1 billion from International Paper. The $6.1 billion transaction is part of International Paper’s previously announced transformation plan to focus on its paper mills. Upon closing these sales and others to conservation groups that were announced last week, International Paper will have sold 5.4 million acres, or about 85 percent, of its U.S. forestland holdings and realized proceeds of about $6.5 billion. The Stamford, Conn.-based company said the combined transactions represent the largest private forestland sale in U.S. history. http://www.al.com/business/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/business/1144229228230330.xml&coll=2

Pennsylvania:

13) Native to China, ailanthus altissima, a species commonly known as the Tree of Heaven, has taken over the forests around the reservoirs. Introduced to North America in the 1700s, the hardy trees, capable of tolerating poor environmental conditions, made their home in cities. The borough council agreed to take action Monday night, April 3, by hiring Comprehensive Land Services (CLS) of Oxford, PA, to develop a forest stewardship plan for the borough’s 500-acre watershed property, located in Earl Township. The cost of the study has been capped at $9,000. According to council member William Flederbach, who chairs the public utility committee, CLS will examine a sampling of the area to determine what the borough can do about the spreading Tree of Heaven and how help native trees, like oaks, thrive again.The health of the forest surrounding the borough’s reservoirs has a direct impact on the quality of the water, Flederbach said. According to some Web sites, the roots of ailanthus altissima reportedly give water an unpleasant taste, and all parts of the tree have an odor. The borough’s plans to rejuvenate the forest area started in 1998, according to Borough Manager Patricia Spaide. At that time, numerous trees had suffered storm damage. The borough consulted with Antietam Forestry Consultants to develop a plan to clear out portions of the forest, including the damaged trees, so regeneration would naturally occur. In subsequent years, the borough exercised “benign neglect,” as described by Council President Bart Feroe, to allow the natural rejuvenation of the forest with the young trees on site. However, the infiltration of ailanthus altissima prevented this plan from working. The fast-quick growing, deciduous, nuisance Tree of Heaven has leaves that look similar to the foliage of sumac or walnut trees. It can reproduce by seed or root system, and the wind easily spreads its seedpods. The other issue borough officials face is the complaints of the taste of the water from the Popodickon Reservoir. According to Flederbach, Severn Trent, the borough’s water management company, has tested the water and it is within safe drinking standards. http://www.berksmontnews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16436740&BRD=2694&PAG=461&dept_id=552976&rfi=6

Maine:

14) The Natural Resources Council of Maine just released what they would view to be an “acceptable” development by Plum Creek in the North Woods of Maine. NRCM Alternative Vision for Maines North Woods PDF It is the stand of the Guerrilla Information Collective that: There is NO acceptable development by a corporate entity in the North Woods of Maine. If you want to build a house and live in it, do it. If you want to build a hunting cabin in the woods, do it. We will not stand for having Plum Creek REIT or any Plum Creek corporate subsidiary, come into Maine and ruin our Environmental Heritage so they can make a quick buck and then move on to the next state. Also see our On-going campaign section for ‘The Battle For Maine’s North Woods There will be NO COMPROMISE in this standing. The only “acceptable” outcome will be NO PLUM CREEK DEVELOPMENT. Pending Plum Creek’s revised development proposal we have this to say. We will see you in the woods Plum Creek, and we will stop your development. http://guerrilla.revolt.org/node/18

USA:

15) April 3, 2006 Nearly 50 companies specializing in outdoor recreation sent letters to the U.S. Forest Service on Friday requesting that roadless wildlands in America’s national forests be protected from logging and other development. The companies, among them such industry leaders as Patagonia and The North Face, argued in the joint letter that their businesses depend on customer participation in a wide variety of outdoor activities and that any losses to America’s roadless areas would “constrain our customers’ activities and diminish our business opportunities.” The outdoor recreation industry currently brings in $33 billion each year. “America’s pristine roadless forests are public assets that provide our customers with incredible recreational opportunities,” Patagonia’s CEO Casey Sheahan said in a statement. “Without these wild backcountry lands, our business opportunities would be significantly restricted.”

Russia:

16) Less than a mile from what is left of Chernobyl’s ill-fated fourth reactor, a pair of elks is grazing nonchalantly on land irradiated by the world’s worst nuclear accident. In nearby Pripyat, an eerie husk of a town where 50,000 people used to live before they were forced to flee on a terrifying afternoon in 1986, a Soviet urban landscape is rapidly giving way to wild European woodland. Radiation levels remain far too high for human habitation but the abandoned town is filled with birdsong and the gurgling of streams forged by melting snow. Nobody thought it possible at the time but 20 years after the reactor exploded on 26 April 1986, during an ill-conceived “routine” Soviet experiment, Chernobyl’s radiation-soaked “dead zone” is not looking so dead after all. The zone – an area with a radius of 18 miles in modern-day Ukraine – lives on in the popular imagination as a post-apocalyptic wasteland irreparably poisoned with strontium and caesium that would make a perfect setting for the next Mad Max movie. It is a corner of Europe associated with death and alarming yet nebulous stories of genetic mutation, a post-nuclear badland that shows what happens when mankind gets atomic energy wrong The reality, at least on the surface, is starkly different from the mythology, however. The almost complete absence of human activity in large swaths of the zone during the past two decades has given the area’s flora and fauna a chance to first recover and then – against all the odds – to flourish. It is a paradox that has disturbed opponents of nuclear power who point to the appalling, still unknown, human cost of the tragedy and the terrifying invisible pollution that looks likely to blight the area for centuries. In the dead zone’s so-called Red Forest, a pine forest that took the brunt of the radioactive explosion, radiation levels today can be as high as one roentgen, more than 50,000 times normal background levels. Elsewhere, however, levels are much lower – to the point where large animals such as elks, wild horses and wild boars appear to be enjoying normal life spans. It is an unlikely scenario that has begotten another improbable development – the arrival of a trickle of intrepid eco-tourists who come to marvel at an area that some, controversially, claim is one of Europe’s most promising wildlife havens. http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article355805.ece

Ukraine:

17) Floodplain forests of Transcarpathia — an area tucked away in the Carpathian Mountains in the north-western corner of Ukraine, close to the borders with Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. Riverine forests are the most diverse of all European ecosystems, both in terms of plant and animal life. They are also among the most vulnerable, with only a few highly threatened areas remaining on the continent. According to research conducted by Bohdan, his partner Anton Drescher of the University of Graz, and their team, the forests that I was about to visit represent one of the largest surviving fluvial forests in Europe. The remarkable forests that Bohdan and his colleagues have been studying and seeking to protect are the creation of the Tisza, Borzhava, Latorytsya, Uzh and other rivers that emerge from the slopes of the Carpathian Mountains and flow south and west through the Pannonian plain in Hungary, draining eventually into the mighty Danube and from there into the Black Sea. The regular flooding of the rivers delivers a rich mixture of nutrients that acts like growth hormones for the trees and plants in the floodplains. “Look how fast it grows here!” said Bohdan. Inside was a cathedral — huge ash and oak trees thrusting up from the forest floor like columns. Thick vines, clothed in moss, snaked their way up the trunks of the mighty trees. Bohdan pressed ahead, excited to be in what for him was clearly a spiritual place. Bohdan’s team, which includes botanists, zoologists and soil experts, have already completed mapping much of the Transcarpathian region. They have identified three areas with the greatest biological value, virtually unknown and unprotected to date, including 3,200ha along the Borzhava River that we were now moving through. Other areas hug the Latorytsa and the Tisza Rivers. Later in the day we moved on to the swathe of forest hugging the banks of the Tisza River, which springs from the Carpathian Mountains in Ukraine and then meanders its way along the Ukraine-Romanian border before flowing on into Hungary. The river and the forests act as an important corridor for birds and mammals. Among the trees are many black poplars, which have nearly disappeared from other parts of Europe. http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/index.cfm?uNewsID=63900

Brazil:

18) Greenpeace has completed a year-long undercover investigation into the global trade in Amazon soya. The findings are today published in a new report, Eating up the Amazon. Using satellite images, aerial surveillance, previously unreleased government documents and on-the-ground monitoring, Greenpeace traced soya from criminal rainforest destruction to McDonald’s restaurants and to supermarkets across Europe. In response, this morning dozens of seven-foot-tall chickens invaded McDonald’s restaurants across the UK and chained themselves to chairs. Scores of McDonald’s around the country, including Leicester Square, London, were also fly-posted overnight with images of Ronald McDonald wielding a chainsaw. In Munich, Germany, protestors also gathered at McDonald’s European environmental affairs headquarters and called on the company to stop destroying the Amazon rainforest. Greenpeace forests campaign co-ordinator, Gavin Edwards, said: “Fast food giants like McDonald’s are trashing the Amazon for cheap meat. Every time you buy a Chicken McNugget you could be taking a bite out of the Amazon.” Three US commodities giants, Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge and Cargill, which control most of Europe’s soya market, are fuelling the rainforest destruction to grow feed for animals in Europe. Cargill, which is leading the invasion, has done deals with unscrupulous farms that have illegally grabbed and deforested areas of public and indigenous land. Some have even used slave labour. Edwards added: “This crime stretches from the heart of the Amazon across the entire European food industry. Supermarkets and fast food giants, like McDonald’s, must make sure their food is free from the links to the Amazon destruction, slavery and human rights abuses.”
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/eating-up-the-amazon

Bolivia:

19) “One of the key successes of Bolivia was the willingness of the government, private sector and non-profit groups to work together to establish a system-wide arrangement that would in turn create the preconditions for sustainable forest management,” says Daniel Arancibia, Latin American representative of the Forest Stewardship Council, a business-backed group specializing in sustainable forest certification. The approach was helped by a new forestry law in Bolivia in 1996, which contained incentives for responsible forest management. Timber companies that meet the FSC’s standards, for example, are exempt from otherwise costly monitoring requirements by government officials. Under the revised legislation, private timber companies are granted concessions to develop national forests commercially, but only under strict social and environmental conditions. The groundwork for Bolivia’s certification program was laid by Bolfor, a joint project between Bolivia’s environment ministry and the U.S. Agency for international Development. The project is now entering a second stage, focusing on the consolidation of forest regulations, the promotion of local capacities and the conservation of forest biodiversity. Timber companies are increasingly looking to the FSC for a benchmark standard. Today, 16 forest operations in Bolivia are certified according to the FSC’s rules, which cover issues such as the protection of water and other natural resources, respect for indigenous rights and the economic well-being of forest workers and local communities. Yet supply is only one side of the equation of Bolivia’s success. Equally important is promoting demand. Under the guise of the Bolfor project, Bolivia’s forestry sector is trying to promote the “Bolivia certified” label in its overseas markets. The Tropical Forest Trust, a U.K.-based membership organization, is working to promote Bolivia’s FSC timber with European importers. Bolfor’s partners are doing the same in the U.S. http://www.greenbiz.com/news/reviews_third.cfm?NewsID=30704

Uruguay:

20) “I have been here for 11 days straight,” says the 46-year-old Argentine mother-turned-environmental activist, one of a handful of people camped among soybean fields, cow pastures, pine trees and eucalyptus stands. “I have had to leave behind everything, my job, my kids, everything. I didn’t care at first but then I started listening and realized it was worth it.” In protest, they have blocked Route 136 and another key border crossing, turning back traffic that ranges from tourists to Chilean cargo trucks. The blockade is generating economic tremors in Uruguay, transforming a homespun environmental protest into a regional crisis. Governments are posturing as activists hunker down. Tabaré Vázquez, a popular former doctor and Uruguay’s first socialist president, has called on his Argentine counterpart to force an opening. The cause of her new mission is located 10 miles up the road, on the banks of the River Uruguay, a natural border between the two countries. On the Uruguayan side, a Spanish and a Finnish company are building two of the world’s largest pulp mills near a sleepy river port town called Fray Bentos. Supported by Greenpeace and Jorge Busti, the provincial governor here in Entre Ríos, Maris and some 1,500 people from the nearby city of Gualeguaychú, Argentina, are demonstrating against the mills as a looming environmental disaster. Making paper requires bleaching a brownish pulp with chlorine or chlorine dioxide, both of which cause environmental damage. Though company officials and Uruguay authorities say the plants will use technologies that make it chlorine-free, environmentalists aren’t convinced and believe the plant’s exhaust will cause cancers and kill plants and animals. Argentine President Néstor Kirchner, a socialist up for re-election next year, balked for weeks. On March 11, however, the presidents made a shaky truce, promising to halt construction of the plants and to lift the blockades for 90 days. As In These Times went to press, the conflict was unfolding by the hour. Gualeguaychú’s protestors were unfazed by the truce and on March 13, La Nación, a popular Argentine paper, reported a potential new twist: Unions at the plants were thinking of taking them over to ensure their jobs weren’t lost. http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2565/

21) The $1.9 billion plants represent Uruguay’s largest foreign investment. Spain’s Grupo Empresarial is building a facility to produce 600,000 tons of eucalyptus pulp annually. The facility of Finland’s Oy Mëtsa-Botnia AB and Kymmene Corp will produce one million tons annually. What’s more, both pulp mill companies have a stake in Uruguay’s booming and controversial monoculture forestry program, which has turned millions of acres into commercial tree plantations with help from World Bank and Uruguayan government subsidies. In 2003 Botnia bought a 60 percent stake in the Uruguayan forest cultivation company, Compania Forestal Oriental, which at the time owned 48,000 hectares of land in the west of Uruguay, of which at least 32,000 hectares contained eucalyptus forest planted on grassland. Likewise, Grupo Empresarial has a stake in the forestry company Eufores, which has at least 40,000 acres of plantation. Meanwhile, the noose tightens around little Fray Bentos, where not far from the construction zones bony horses munch weeds along rusted railroad tracks and locals sip yerba maté in the town square. Mayor Omar Lafluf says the roadblock has hit hard, but that the plants have already brought in 6,000 construction jobs and plenty of collateral goodies like 300 new houses, an expanded pier, two logistical centers and the major remodeling of a hotel. Other locals at a recent town meeting complained of layoffs and cutbacks, vacant hotel rooms and empty restaurants. But Martin, a 56-year-old cab driver from Gualeguaychú, stands firm. “We are in the hot zone,” he says. “If they build those plants, the contaminants will be in the river, the air, the animals and the people. It will kill our environment.”

India:

22) COIMBATORE: Six forest officials were suspended on Monday in connection with the smuggling of sandalwood trees worth several crores from the Udumalpet forest range. Foresters Dineshkumar and Chinnaraj, guards Thirumalaisamy and Vasiappan and watchers Sibiyonraj and Subramaniam were the suspended officials, sources said and added that many more officials might be caught after a thorough inspection.
The inspection was carried out by forest higher officials based on information that sandalwood trees were being smuggled from the Udumalpet forest range for many months. Their inspection confirmed the information that sandalwood trees were being smuggled to Kerala from the Udumalpet forest range, which is one of the six important ranges in the 956-acre Indira Gandhi Wild Life Sanctuary, Pollachi. During the inspection held at Vallakundapuram area yesterday and on Monday, the officials found that 291 trees, which were about 15 to 20 years of age and worth several crores, were smuggled from Karappadi. They also found that the felled trees were taken to Ponnalamman Solai at the foothills of Thirmurthy Hills and from there they were smuggled to Kerala via Mullupatti, Pandian Karadu, Karatur and Pollachi. The inspection would continue tomorrow also, sources said and added that the involvement of some local politicians and forest officials was suspected in the smuggling. http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IET20060404012644&Page=T&Title=Southern+News+-+Tamil+Nadu&To
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23) Shimla– PWD agencies in Himachal Pradesh “illegally felled” 84 trees of different species and 550 Deodar saplings for construction of a motorable road in Nargu wildlife sanctuary in violation of the Forest Conservation Act and Supreme Court orders. Giving this information in the state Assembly today, Forest Minister Ram Lal Thakur said the trees and saplings were illegally felled by public works department agencies for construction of the road and damage was also caused to plants in Boaching Nursery at Barot. After preliminary enquiry, it was found that the Wildlife Range Officer at Barot had allowed illegal construction in connivance with PWD officials and executing agencies, he said in a written reply to a question of Vijay Singh Mankotia (Congress). A chargesheet was served on “delinquent officials” and the matter had been referred to the Conservator of Forests, Union Ministry of Environment and Forests for initiating legal action, he said. http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=36966

24) The project would cover 11 forest divisions for forest management, one wildlife division for biodiversity conservation and two wildlife divisions for coastal plantations, Patnaik said presenting a statement in the assembly. Patnaik said the project was aimed at promoting sustainable forest management and enhancing poverty alleviation in the project area, covering 22,250 sq km of forest land. The JBIC loan was opposed by several green activists, alleging that it would put an additional burden on the state’s finances. A JBIC team led by its deputy director Taku Yamabe had discussed the issue with the forest department officials in February last. Orissa government had been negotiating with JBIC for the loan since 1998-1999. Members of Japan Centre for A Sustainable Environment and Society (JCASES), which critically analysed all JBIC investments, had also come to the state to protest the loan. The JACSES members had threatened that they would take the issue to various international fora and make JBIC answerable for the investment overlooking the protests from local communities. ”We don’t understand the need for such a huge loan for the forestry sector. The forest department has utterly failed in implementation of earlier projects pushing the state into debt trap,” Orissa Jangal Manch convener Arakshita Sahu said. The forest communities contended that the state government had taken around Rs 165 crore loan for social forestry programme in 1980s but failed to utilise it wisely. http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/04/05/1540901.htm

Taiwan:

25) Taiwan’s mountainous interior and climate offer perfect growing conditions for several species of nature’s biggest trees, including the red cypress, and until many were chopped down by the Japanese during the occupation and carted off north back home to make furniture, whole groves of these dignified leviathans stood in the deep, impenetrable forests of Taiwan’s interior. As luck would have it, many trees survived, simply because they were so remote they were never found. As Taiwan’s network of roads developed, the deep mountains became more accessible, and slowly gave up their many secrets, which included a series of groves of red cypress trees two thousand or more years old. Giant trees can be found the length of Taiwan’s high central mountain range at altitudes of between one and two thousand meters, but the largest concentration by far actually lies less than a hundred kilometers from Taipei city, in a huge area of remote, wooded mountainside covering parts of Taipei, Taoyuan, Ilan and Hsinchu counties. In September 2005, a proposal to make the area Taiwan’s seventh national park passed its early stages. The “Granddaddy tree” at Ssumakushi is not only one of the more accessible giant trees of the area (a mere two hours’ or so walk from the nearest road), but is also one of Taiwan’s biggest ancient trees. The “Granddaddy Tree” was once counted the largest tree in Southeast Asia. As Taiwan’s high mountain wilderness was further explored and several even bigger brutes have been found, it’s lost that title, but this doesn’t lessen the impact upon first seeing this magnificent specimen. Its vital statistics only tell part of the tale: about eighty meters high and over thirty meters in girth at the base, it would take twenty-two people standing hand in hand to stretch around it. This seemed the ideal place to have lunch. Sitting at the base of this extraordinarily impressive old tree, it’s sobering to think it was already a fine specimen of a tree when Christ was born. A few fellow hikers came up along the trail to gawk at the spectacle, but we hardly noticed them. I heave a sigh of relief that the chainsaw brigade never found this place, and an even bigger one to know that it should soon be protected as part of a national park. It was quite some time before we can pull ourselves away from presence of this magnificent tree and start the long walk back. http://www.chinapost.com.tw/travel/detail.asp?ID=79936&GRP=g

Philippines:

26) Tuguegarao City (3 April) — After more than a decade of environmental activism in the banking sector, the Development Bank of the Philippines has expanded its role in conserving and protecting the environment to stimulate rural productivity. Along this line, the bank has launched its DBP Forest Program that seeks to achieve ecological enhancement by supporting and encouraging forestation of open areas through the planting of high value trees like mango, durian, mangosteen, pomelo, lychee and useful plants like bamboo, rubber, ilang-ilang and mulberry. Cagayan province particularly Nassiping, Gattaran and the Cagayan State University at Lal-lo are recipients of the project. The forest project in Nassiping covers 171 hectares planted with fruit and forest trees while CSU Lal-lo covers 151 hectares for fruit trees and 30 ha. forest trees. The reforestation project cost about P8.6 million in the form of a grant from DBP. The project in Nassiping is a collaborative effort among DBP, the Cagayan Provincial government and the residents of the barangays in the reforestation site. The CSU project, on the other hand, is an integrated part of the university’s instruction, research and extension functions. The DBP Forest Program aims to establish forests with areas 50 to 500 hectares using high value forest trees to prevent soil erosion, conserve water, provide habitat for wildlife and create rural livelihood opportunities. DBP believes that this program serves both ecological and economic objectives and help the development of the country side. http://www.pia.gov.ph/news.asp?fi=p060403.htm&no=39

Korea:

27) The workers conducted their work with military precision, attacking the 50-year-old pine tees bearing a red plastic “belt” around the huge trunks trying to stop the spread. Since the first cases of infection were discovered in 1988 on Mount Geumjeong in Busan, the parasites have affected about 7,811 hectares (19,301 acres) of pine forests. This year, about 1,900 trees are being taken down in Busan every day, with plans to remove 150,000 more by the end of this month. The Korea Forest Service plans to fell 580,000 trees nationwide by the end of this month, since the long-horned beetle ? to which the parasites latch on and get transported ? is relatively inactive this time of year. The damage to pine trees has been the worst in Busan. Since the first case in 1988, about 740,000 trees have been cut down, about 42 percent of all trees felled. The diseased trees, which turn red as they die, are wrapped in plastic, creating what are called “pine tree graves.” They are actually piles of wood that have been sprayed with pesticide and covered with plastic to kill the larvae of the nematode and the long-horned beetle. “The number of plastic-covered heaps on Mount Bongdae will become tens of thousands,” predicted Koh In-jo, head of the sawing team. Not everyone is in favor of cutting down infected trees. Residents of Gijang Village recently stopped local government authorities from cutting down a 200-year old pine tree that had been infected, saying that it was a village guardian. The tree eventually died, however, and had to be removed. Meanwhile, entities are taking protective measures to prevent further infestation. The Cultural Properties Administration spent 500 million won ($514,000) last year and will spend 600 million won this year. Eighteen out of the 35 forests designated as natural monuments are endangered by the nematodes. Regional governments are also injecting trees with a vaccine. http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200604/03/200604032200314409900090409041.html

Indonesia:

28) WASHINGTON, April 4 (Reuters) – The United States and Indonesia have launched talks aimed at reducing illegal logging that threatens the Southeast Asian country’s vast rain forest, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said on Tuesday. “The United States and Indonesia are committed to concluding a landmark agreement to combat illegal logging and illegal trade in endangered species,” U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman said in a statement. Negotiations started this week present “a unique opportunity to strengthen our cooperation with Indonesia to better protect Indonesia’s parks, forests and sensitive habitats from illegal logging,” Portman said. Nearly 80 percent of Indonesia’s annual timber harvest is estimated to be illegal, threatening the environment of indigenous tribes and many rare species. At present cutting rates, natural forests in Indonesia will be logged out in 10 years, according to a report released last month by the Environmental Investigation Agency, a independent organization with the self-described mission of “investigating and exposing environmental crime.” The report identified the United States, Japan and the European Union as major markets for furniture and wood products made from illegally logged timber. China imports much of the wood and transforms it into furniture, plywood and other processed products for exports, the report said. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N04308615.htm

Australia:

29) The plantation timber industry has played down the implications of a recent report which shows for the first time that plantation trees emit a leading greenhouse gas. A report in the international science journal Nature suggests that plantation trees release a small amount of methane into the environment. Bob Pearce from the Forest Industries Federation says even if the research is correct, plantation trees remain the best solution to greenhouse gas problems. “It’s only talking about a few, small amount of methane emissions and it doesn’t overcome the fact that trees are still the best way of fixing greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide,” he said. “What it might mean is that in future calculations we might have to discount the amount of carbon take up or reduction of greenhouse gases by 5 per cent. That’s all it means.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200604/s1607841.htm

30) “The political activities, including advertising of these groups, dips deep into public pockets, and their extensive tax deductions should be opened up to public view.” Mr Edwards said Senator Brown was wrong. “Timber Communities Australia is funded by a number of sources, it has direct membership of about 30,000, and individual companies make contribution,” he said. “In any event, Timber Communities Australia is a political lobbying group, it doesn’t say it’s one thing and do the opposite.” Senator Brown said whatever the pathways of funding, the issue should be looked at. “So what, it’s just incestuous funding and it needs the lid lifting off it.” he said. “The whole question here is if they’re going to open the Wilderness Society and the Huon Environment Centre to another bout of scrutiny, let’s open everybody, including Gunns and Terry Edwards’ organisation and the TCA to the same public scrutiny.” http://www.themercury.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,18689752%255E3462,00.html

World-wide:

31) Nearly 4 billion hectares of forest cover the earth’s surface, roughly 30 percent of its total land area. Though extensive, the world’s forests have shrunk by some 40 percent since agriculture began 11,000 years ago. Three quarters of this loss occurred in the last two centuries as land was cleared to make way for farms and to meet demand for wood. Over the last five years, the world suffered a net loss of some 37 million hectares (91 million acres) of forest, according to data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. This number reflects the felling of 64.4 million hectares of trees and the planting or natural regeneration of 27.8 million hectares of new forest. Each year the world loses some 7.3 million hectares of forest, an area the size of Panama. Of the world’s 1.4 billion hectares of remaining primary forest-natural forest that shows no sign of human impact-6 million hectares are lost or degraded each year. We are losing not only forest area but some of our best forest stands. Africa lost 64 million hectares of forest between 1990 and 2005, the greatest decline of any continent. (See data at www.earthpolicy.org/Indicators/Forest/2006_data.htm .) Fuelwood gathering drives much of this forest depletion. Timber exports also play a role, with 80 percent of the Congo Basin’s timber production being exported, mainly to China and the European Union. South America has sustained the second greatest forest loss since 1990 – 59 million hectares – and deforestation has accelerated somewhat over the last five years, from 3.8 million hectares a year in the 1990s to 4.3 million hectares annually since 2000. This recent acceleration reflects Brazil’s reported net loss of 16 million hectares between 2000 and 2005 – three fourths of the regional total. If Amazonian deforestation continues unchecked, the world’s largest rainforest will be cut down to 60 percent of its current size by 2050. Asia lost a net 8 million hectares in the 1990s, but gained a net 5 million hectares between 2000 and 2005. This reversal is due to a massive reforestation effort in China, which reported planting 20 million hectares of trees between 2000 and 2005, with more than a third of this area in plantations. This growth rate, more than double that of the previous decade, is largely a result of China’s logging ban, a policy enacted after widespread deforestation in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River valley left the countryside vulnerable to severe floods in 1998. http://enn.com/aff.html?id=1211

32) Greenpeace sets out a list of ten reasons why the Convention on Biological Diveristy (CBD) should be the international organisation leading the drive to reduce environmentally harmful subsidies instead of the WTO, including that the WTO moves slowly, focuses on economic issues and fails to “really integrate environmental and social concerns in WTO decisions”. Similar to its previous report on liberalisation of trade in fish and forest products (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 20 January 2006, http://www.ictsd.org/biores/06-01-20/inbrief.htm#3), Greenpeace argues that the lack of real progress in four years of fish subsidy negotiations has raised the question of why trade-related environmental issues should be dealt with at the WTO, and whether the WTO indeed has the legitimacy to judge the appropriateness of specific trade and environment-related measures. Instead, it would like to see the CBD take the lead in an independent, internationally co-ordinated process of data collection and monitoring of subsidies and their environmental impacts, particularly in the forestry sector where such data is lacking. However, related discussions on how to reduce or mitigate so-called “perverse” incentives at the CBD have so far made little headway and, following a decision at the Eighth Conference of the Parties to the CBD; have been put on the backburner for at least another two years (see related COP-8 story, this issue).