088OEC’s This Week in Trees

This week we have 39 stories from British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, Arkansas, Massachusetts, New England, USA, Canada, Ecuador, India, New Zealand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia…

British Columbia:

1) The B.C. government is creating a new designation of protection for the so-called Great Bear Rainforest, one that seeks to protect biodiversity and address aboriginal needs while allowing for industrial roads and small hydro projects. The province Monday introduced Bill 28, the Park (Conservancy Enabling) Amendment Act, creating 24 conservancy areas totalling 541,000 hectares, including 35,000 hectares of marine foreshore on the north and central coast. An additional 85 conservancy areas are expected to be established by the end of 2007 for more than 650,000 hectares. Environment Minister Barry Penner said the new conservancy designation satisfies the request of coastal aboriginal people for a level of protection that is less restrictive than a park, one that recognizes traditional aboriginal uses and allows for appropriate economic development for native communities. A conservancy will allow small run-of-the-river hydro developments to provide electricity to remote native reserves. While commercial logging and mining are not allowed in a conservancy, the designation does allow for industrial roads where access is needed to extract natural resources beyond the conservancy borders. Ian McAllister of the Raincoast Conservation Society complained that the level of protection being offered for the region does not meet the high standard envisaged for the globally recognized region. McAllister is opposed to industrial roads in a conservancy, adding he fears the province’s commitment to the “protection and maintenance of recreational values” could mean that existing activities, everything from fishing to trophy hunting to heli-operations, can continue to flourish. “This is status-quo protection,” he said, while predicting the encroachment of large commercial lodges in pristine wilderness valleys. “We have huge problems with that.” Claire Sutton of the Sierra Club of B.C. said she also is opposed to allowing industrial roads in the conservancy areas, but applauds the province for making biodiversity a keystone of its new legislation, alongside recreation and first nations.
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=732a9c99-f0de-428c-829f-7b328a1d04e3&k=82271

2) Innovative solutions require innovative legal tools. West Coast Environmental Law has been involved since 1999 in providing legal research, analysis and advice in relation to the GBR. The following are just some of the issues: 1) How to achieve both lasting protection and provide for the continued exercise of Aboriginal Title and Rights; 2) How to design and implement collaborative management with First Nations; 3) How should decisons about ecosystem-based management be made, and by whom; 4) How to legally implement new planning and management requirements so that they are binding on third parties; and, 5) How recent deregulation of forest practices laws will affect implementation. —– West Coast Environmental Law has worked with the Coast Information Team, the Rainforest Solutions Project and the Coastal First Nations of the Turning Point Initiative to help answer these questions. http://www.wcel.org/4976/31/04/01.htm

3) Get Wild! Get Ready for Wild Earth! Get ready for four days of forest defence skills and strategies on a car-free island with sandy beaches and piney forests. Action Training and Networking Convergence June 15 – 18, 2006 Newcastle Island, BC (near Nanaimo) This year, Wild Earth is joining forces with the British Columbia Environmental Network (BCEN) conference and annual general meeting. BCEN is a coalition of grassroots organizations: wildlife advocates, First Nations groups, and forest defenders from across BC. The new board of directors is urging more action to protect wild places and reaching out to recruit folks for ongoing campaigns. BCEN and Wild Earth will jointly publicize the gathering and set up logistics for the event. Trainers, workshop facilitators, and volunteers are needed now to help organize a fantastic event for up to 300 people. Have skills to share? Want to get people informed and aware? Sign up to facilitate a workshop or training session! Email earth_first@resist.ca Directions to Wild Earth will be posted to the Wild Earth list. Plus, we will be asking participants, volunteers and trainers to register on the website at http://wildearth.resist.ca.

4) A small Vancouver Island first nation near Zeballos is the latest first nations group to reach agreement with the provincial government over timber access. The Nuchatlaht band has signed a five-year agreement that gives the band more than $330,000 in cash and access to as much as 48,000 cubic metres of Crown timber in the Strathcona Timber Supply Area. The band includes 130 members on 11 reserves southwest of Zeballos. Band chief Walter Michael said in an interview Thursday that the deal with government will help the band move toward self-sufficiency. “We’re one of the smallest tribes in B.C. but we have a lot of traditional territory that has trees,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of resources, but no revenue.” The Nuchatlaht plan to contract out logging of the timber provided by this agreement, he said. The amount of timber isn’t enough to warrant purchase of its own logging equipment. http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/498528.html

5) Susie Moore, is a social worker who grew up on the North Shore and has spent her life hiking and skiing in the area. “I live in an old house,” Moore offers, staving off any accusations she might be rich. Moore likes to ski and agrees the highway to Whistler needs to be improved. But not at the expense a glorious stretch of forest, she says. “It would just be a waste. I’m not a biologist, but there are all kinds of animals up there. Even the bird songs are different.” This is Moore’s first protest and she is finding it challenging. “Last night my tent collapsed on me,” she says. John Bannister is also new to the environmental protest game. Poor health forced him to retire early from his teaching career but he gets around handily on an electric scooter. He does not spend the night but stays late, swapping stories with neighbors and friends. There is an abiding aura of goodwill and camaraderie as the group sips tea and munches on doughnuts and home-baked cookies before hunkering down in sodden tents. “We’re in this together, says Stelling, beaming as water runs off his hat. “It’s really important to be doing this, whether we win or not.” http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=c72f6479-b05d-4f53-8deb-4dc58194a672&k=98427

Washington:

6) A trio of Mark Morris High School sophomores helped kids mix wood pulp and water and squeeze the goop together to form a piece of paper. Throw in glitter, and you had decorative paper. “It’s pretty, and it’s cool,” said junior papermaker Mattaya Smith, 11, of Longview. Making paper was one of the fun and fact-filled activities at the annual Earth Day event at the fairgrounds. On this Earth Day, local environmentalists, businesses and government agencies took up booths to show off their Earth friendly practices. Among the more crowded booths was the papermaking station set up by Talk About Trees, the educational arm of the Oregon Forest Resources Institute, a state agency supported by timber taxes. At the corner of the table was a fact sheet with a definite pro pulp-and-paper industry slant. Forest products are renewable, biodegradable and can be recycled. “None of these attributes are widely shared by plastics,” the sheet remarked. The kids ignored the handout and went right to the tubs of paste. Longview Fibre donated the pulp for the Earth Day display. At home, pulp by can be made by blending recycled paper with water. Place the mixture between screens and the screens between picture frames to squeeze out the water. http://www.tdn.com/articles/2006/04/23/area_news/news06.txt

7) I wanted to write again to thank all of you in particular for volunteering with us lately, and many of you for writing letters and lobbying legislators to help keep the Cross Base highway from being built through threatened oak-woodland prairie habitat. It turns out our hard work has paid off in some respects! The good news: we have time to fight it as the package will not go to voters without more scrutiny. The bad news: the project is currently in the larger transportation package including the light rail and other GOOD things which will eventually go to voters. This week a public hearing is being held where we can speak out! We hope you’ll join us. Call if you can make it! The Cross-Base Highway project would build a new four-lane, six-mile highway across Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base in PierceCounty. If constructed, the $200 million dollar highway would bisect the largest remnant oak woodland-prairie in western Washington, drive out local equestrian businesses, and encourage undesirable sprawl, say members of the Cross-Base Coalition, a group opposing the construction of the new highway. The unique oak woodland prairies, today the rarest habitat type in Washington State, once covered nearly 150,000 acres across the south Puget Sound lowlands. Today, due to development, agriculture, invasive species, and other factors, only about 3 percent remains. The US Fish and Wildlife Service believes that the remaining South Puget Sound prairies may be the rarest habitat in North America, home to at least 29 species of federal and/or state threatened, endangered, candidate and sensitive plant and animal species of concern, 18 of which are in the immediate vicinity of the proposed highway. Environmental documents for the Cross-Base Highway project called for mitigating the impact of the highway by adding additional protected acreage, but the additional proposed acreage–primarily cow pastureland–does not provide habitat for the rare and endangered prairie species, including at least nine threatened plant and animal species, among them the Mardon skipper butterfly, the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly, the western gray squirrel, the streaked horned lark, the northern spotted owl, the bald eagle, the Mazama pocket gopher, golden paintbrush, and water howellia, a wetland flower. www.conservationnw.org/press-room/press1-26-06-Xbase and www.crossbasehighway.com

Oregon:

8) Our initial focus was on how businesses can have a positive effect on the world’s forests and the people who depend on those forests through their wood and paper purchasing practices. Today, we are beginning to look beyond the trees and the forests to apply what we have learned over the past nine years to other products being produced, purchased, and used in everyday life. We are focused on two key projects at the moment: The Forest Leadership Forum is a conference (being held in Portland next month) where we bring action-oriented global leaders in business, environment, and society together to highlight ways that business can be the key driver of environmental and social progress. The Paper Working Group is a collaborative project in which 11 high-volume buyers of paper and paperboard products in a variety of sectors, mostly Fortune 500 companies, came together to make environmentally preferable paper products more widely available and affordable. http://www.metafore.org/

9) PORT ORFORD — A group including mostly Republicans is leading an effort to create a 12,000-acre wilderness area in the Elk River drainage of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. But the supporters, who include fishing and hunting enthusiasts and business representatives as well as Democrats, say the proposed Copper-Salmon wilderness area centers on protecting a productive fishing and hunting area, not politics. “We’re not a group of environmentalists out to save this place by keeping people out,” David Smith, a Republican and president of the Port Orford Chamber of Commerce, said Thursday in a prepared statement. “In fact, most of the people behind this effort are very conservative in nature,” he added. “It’s unusual to have a bunch of Republicans behind this kind of proposal. What that should tell you is we want this place to stay like it is because that’s what’s best for our community.” Eagle Point resident Mike Beagle, a Republican who is field coordinator for Trout Unlimited in Oregon and Washington, also stressed the area’s recreational opportunities. The wilderness would be in the Elk River drainage immediately east of the 17,000-acre Grassy Knob Wilderness. That wilderness area was created in 1984 to preserve fish habitat along the banks of the Elk River. The proposed wilderness is in the Copper Mountain roadless area between the Copper and Salmon mountains. Forest Service officials, noting they have yet to see the specifics of the proposal, declined to comment. The agency would take action if and when Congress requested it, said forest spokeswoman Patty Burel. The proposed wilderness would be in Oregon’s 4th Congressional District represented by Democrat Peter DeFazio of Springfield. DeFazio supports the Copper-Salmon proposal and would like to see it included in the Mount Hood wilderness bill now before Congress, a spokeswoman said Thursday evening. That bill is supported by Oregon congressmen Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat, and Republican Greg Walden. http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2006/0421/local/stories/13local.htm

10) In a new evaluation of the Biscuit fire timber salvage project, the U.S. Forest Service concludes no significant new information has surfaced in studies criticizing the salvage effort. The April 11 assessment, required by agency regulations that direct the staff to re-evaluate an on-going project when new information surfaces, was in response to reports cited in a Eugene-based Cascadia Wildlands Project lawsuit attempting to stop the salvage logging. “The bottom line for us is that we didn’t consider any of it to be new information that would have required us to go back and do a supplemental environmental impact statement,” said Rob Shull, the timber and planning staff officer for the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. He noted the agency concluded in March that the salvage project is $7,632,863 in the black, not millions of dollars in the red as one non-agency study reported. “We show ourselves coming out ahead,” he said. “A big portion of that comes from the hazard tree salvage sales that we undertook in the spring and fall of 2003.” In its assessment, the agency acknowledges mistakes were made but not because of major changes to the project since the record of decision was made. Those mistakes included the unauthorized logging of green trees, which the assessment team concluded that mistake was made by the purchaser of the logging contract. Erroneous marking of trees in the Babyfoot Lake botanical area “was not an example of changes to the project, but instead was an error on the part of the Forest Service,” it concluded. http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2006/0423/local/stories/13local.htm

California:

11) “I suppose I could just take a lot of pictures of trees,” said Gescheidt, who lives in San Francisco. “But that wouldn’t really capture what I felt. I want to revisit the powerful feelings I had toward trees as a child in an adult context.” Gescheidt, who grew up in Manhattan, says some of his fondest childhood memories involve visiting wooded areas of upstate New York with his parents. After moving to the Bay Area 10 years ago, he began exploring the forests of Marin County. One day, while hiking through the Tennessee Valley, he encountered a tree that stopped him cold. “I call it ‘The Grandmother,'” said Gescheidt, who has since featured the tree in his photography. “I can’t even guess how old it is. Two hundred years? Three hundred? That’s older than America.” Since then, his TreeSpirit photos have focused on that relationship between people and trees, showing the two intertwined so tightly that it’s difficult to tell where one begins and the other ends. “As an artist and a photographer myself, I’m interested in the relationship of the subject and the landscape,” said Paul Ingraham, who drove from Menlo Park to appear in the photograph. “Jack (Gescheidt) has found a way to integrate them together. I love that kind of stuff.” Perched at the top of a stepladder, Gescheidt called out directions to his models, asking them to position their bodies so that their arms and legs appeared to be flowing from the trees.”Focus on your breathing, on the quiet, on your connection to the beautiful living things we’re touching,” Gescheidt said. “Feel the energy we have as a group. It’s beautiful! You’re human mulch – give yourself back into the earth.” http://www.marinij.com/marin/ci_3745368

12) ARNOLD – A state appeals court has ordered a halt to plans for clear-cut logging on private land near Calaveras Big Trees State Park, saying that the California Department of Fish and Game failed to follow state rules when it reviewed the environmental damage the logging might cause. Sierra Pacific Industries, California’s largest owner of private timberland and a major employer in the Mother Lode, in 2001 filed three separate plans to harvest trees on a combined total of 1,369 acres spread over dozens of sites east and north of Calaveras Big Trees State Park in Tuolumne County. The California Department of Forestry approved those plans in 2002. Then, Ebbetts Pass Forest Watch and the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center filed suit to overturn the plans. A local court rejected the environmental suit. The environmental groups appealed to the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Fresno, which filed its ruling last week. That ruling orders the Department of Forestry to rescind its approval of the harvest plans. http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060422/NEWS01/604220320/1001

13) The fungus, called Phytophthora ramorum, has killed thousands of California trees since it was detected in 1995. In a few forests of the coastal mountains between Big Sur and northern Sonoma County, the blight is so extensive that entire hillsides are devastated. “This study provides evidence that nurseries may have been a stepping stone for the introduction,” he said. It is unlikely that the fungus spread from forests to nurseries, he said. A federal quarantine affecting 10 California counties now bans the shipment of soil and plants from more than a dozen host species. The scientific team also detected a second fungus lineage — different from that found in California’s forests and nurseries — in European nurseries. This suggests that the pathogen in California forests was not imported from Europe, or vice versa. Their third and most surprising discovery was that both of those strains — plus an entirely new variety — are in nurseries in Washington state. This suggests, but does not prove, that the Californian and European varieties may have come from the Pacific Northwest. “If you put two and two together, that is the picture you get,” Garboletto said. Did the fungus originate in the Pacific Northwest? Garboletto does not think so, because it is not native to the region. He and other scientists suspect that it was exported from Asia, perhaps China, aboard rhododendron plants. Garboletto worries that the different lineages of the fungus, which have different characteristics, could interbreed — and if spread, be even more devastating. A relative of this fungus was responsible for the potato blight in Ireland in the 1840s, and another species nearly killed off Scotland’s soft-fruit industry in the 1920s. A strain of the same microbe introduced to Australia in the early 1900s has transformed forests into grasslands. “The consequences of bringing other lineages into the forest could be really bad,” Garboletto said. From a policy perspective, this means not just protecting uninfected forests — but preventing new lineages from reaching California’s previously infected regions, where even more harm could be done. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/14395302.htm

Montana:

14) MISSOULA A federal judge says he will issue a decision by June, in a case challenging removal of beetle-killed trees from the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, south of Butte. U-S District Judge Donald Molloy heard arguments yesterday in Missoula. The Forest Service says the trees are deteriorating, and losing value, while environmental groups stall the logging. R-Y Timber Incorporated of Townsend has a Forest Service contract to remove the trees, which the Forest Service says pose a wildfire risk. The environmental groups say the logging could jeopardize habitat of the black-eyed woodpecker, and the Forest Service should produce a plan to protect that habitat. http://www.ktvq.com/Global/story.asp?S=4804176

15) DEER LODGE – Saying they’re tired of the decades of fighting that’s stalled everything from timber sales to new wilderness designations, a group of timber industry leaders and conservationists on Monday unveiled their vision for the future management of Montana’s largest national forest. The accord – which they negotiated over the past four months – would create a stable supply of timber for local mills, set aside additional acreage for recommended wilderness and help fund projects that would benefit wildlife and fisheries on the 3.3-million-acre Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. The plan calls for setting aside 573,000 acres for proposed wilderness and designating 713,000 acres of land as suitable timber base. Both figures mark substantial increases over what’s now proposed in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge draft land use plan. The Forest Service controls 69 percent of the timberlands suitable for harvest, Sun Mountain Lumber’s Anderson said. The nine national forests in Montana grow an estimated billion board feet of timber annually. Another 500 million board feet die each year, he said. “We’re harvesting 118 to 200 million board feet annually,” Anderson said. “That’s not even 10 percent.” Under terms of the accord, the industry would harvest about 7,000 acres a year or about 1 percent of the 713,000 acres of the suitable timber base on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge, Anderson said. Anderson said it wasn’t hard to find common ground with the mainstream conservation groups. “The things that are important to the National Wildlife Federation or Trout Unlimited are also important to me and a lot of other folks who make their living from the forest,” Anderson said. “We like to recreate and fish there too. We don’t want to see those values destroyed either.” Over the next few weeks, members of the different groups will spread out to talk with county commissioners, off-highway vehicle groups and other environmental organizations to try to drum up support. From the Beaverhead County commission’s initial response, they have their work cut out for them.
“I don’t see how we can support it all as it’s written,” said Beaverhead Commissioner Mike McGinley. Commissioner Garth Haugland said the commission felt as though it was “set-up” by both the Montana Wilderness Association and the timber industry. “They sort of upped the ante by going public,” Haugland said. “The whole process somewhat stunned us Š maybe tomorrow we’ll be cheering them on, but this hit us cold and now we’ve got to circle the wagons and reassemble.” http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2006/04/25/news/mtregional/news06.txt

16) Here is some more information that may be of interest to you regarding the agreement reached between Montana Wilderness Association, National Wildlife Federation Montana Trout Unlimited, Sun Mountain Lumber, Smurfit-Stone, Pyramid Mountain Lumber and Roseburg Forest Products. Conservation groups throughout Montana are extremely upset about this deal and were left completely in the dark…only finding out over the past few days. Again, the agreement on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge Forest plan revision proosal calls for: 1) Tripling the timber base on the BHDL, including adding 200,000 acres of Inventoried Roadless Areas to the timber base. 2) Industrial logging in IRA’s is encouraged under long-term stewardship contract. 3) Temporary roads in IRA’s would be allowed for up to five years. Apparently, up to 700 miles of temporary roads in roadless areas would be allowed. 4) Apparently the plan would increase the proposed wilderness from 250,00 to 570,000 acres.

17) It’s easy to find uses for small-diameter trees and woody biomass. It’s not so easy to find a cost-effective way of getting that material from the forest to the people who can use it. But Craig Thomas and his Ravalli County business, All Woody Resources, are working on a method of collecting logging debris at the job site using special container trucks capable of going wherever logging trucks go – with the goal of making small-wood collection in Montana’s forests economically feasible for the first time. The company’s effort got a significant boost Monday in the form of a $228,000 check presented in person by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Undersecretary for Rural Development Tom Dorr. The check was part of $4.2 million in USDA Forest Service grants given to 18 small businesses whose work helps remove economic barriers to the use and marketing of woody material, Dorr told a wind-whipped crowd at the Johnson Brothers wood recycling yard in Missoula. “Everybody is fully cognizant that small businesses are the economic drivers of the U.S. economy,” Dorr said after presenting the check. “I suspect this is going to be a very successful project, all because small business people are willing to step in and do their part.” http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2006/04/25/news/mtregional/news07.txt

Colorado:

18) The town council approved a contract Tuesday with The Tree Musketeers out of Evergreen to cut down 788 infected lodgepole pine trees from its 260-acre Dillon Nature Preserve. Last year, the town paid to have 393 trees removed from the preserve for the same reason. The preserve is a passive recreation area zoned as open space off Highway 6 between the Summerwood subdivision and Dillon Bay. Starting May 1, the contractor will fell the trees, lop and scatter the limbs on the forest floor, and remove the trunks from the preserve, said assistant public works director Scott O’Brien. Eliminating the dying trees from the forest could help rejuvenate the area by increasing space between the remaining trees, thus allowing sunlight through to the forest floor, O’Brien said. “The trees that are left are going to be healthier and better able to fend of attacks in the future,” O’Brien said. Right now, the town doesn’t have a long-term plan for the management of the peninsula, but is preparing to hire a consultant to complete a 10-year forest management plan for the entire town. “It’s difficult for us because the peninsula is designated as a nature preserve,” he said. “We are trying to keep that particular area in as natural and forested state we can.” Aside from the 788 infected trees in the preserve, there are 164 other trees under attack on town-owned property between the cemetery, town parks and town rights-of-way, O’Brien said. Removal of those trees is being handled by the public works department due to the more manageable number. Also, town employees will be extra sensitive not to damage tombstones in the cemetery and to keep erosion to a minimum when leveling trees in town parks. Last year, the town used preventative spraying on 500 healthy trees between the Town Park and the Marina Park and saw about an 85 percent success rate, O’Brien said. Public works plans to hire a contractor again this year to spray the same number of trees; however, the town continues to opt against spraying trees in the preserve because the number is too great and the terrain is too rough for the practice to be effective, he said. The removal project will cost the town $18,754 and is scheduled to begin May 1 and end June 16. http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20060423/NEWS/60423004

19) “Trees are city assets, just like utilities, roadways and public buildings,” said Wierzbicki, who works for the Southwestern Illinois Resource Conservation and Development Council in Mascoutah. “And trees are the only assets that increase in value over time.” Wierzbicki is one of several environmental experts who will appear Saturday at the first Earth Day celebration at The Gardens at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Gardens, formerly known as Myer Arboretum, contain 30 acres of trees, flowers and other plants and a half-mile walking path that’s open to the public. In 2004, The Gardens became affiliated with Missouri Botanical Garden as a Shaw’s Garden East site. In July, Doug Conley became its first full-time director. Future plans include a visitor center and more educational programming. One part (of the Earth Day celebration) is raising awareness of The Gardens and another part is informing the public on how they can enhance their own local environments,” Conley said. Wierzbicki will give tips on tree selection, planting and maintenance, with emphasis on the latter. “The most common mistake I see people make is not protecting trees that have already been planted,” he said. “Continuous damage from lawn mowers and weed whips can kill trees.” “Mulching is fantastic,” he said. “It’s the best thing you can do for a young tree, outside of routine watering during the hot summer months.” http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/living/14394596.htm

20) Despite the grim outlook with spruce beetles banging on the door to the west, and mountain pine beetles hovering to the east, Pitkin County isn’t necessarily doomed to endure vast expanses of dead trees.”It’s not like they’re an advancing army or anything like that,” Eager said. The retreat is “stochastic,” he said, meaning it’s more random and a “roll of the dice.” In addition to the randomness, outbreaks of bark beetles can be stopped if breaks are large enough to prevent the insects from flying to reach potential host trees. “In many cases they just eat themselves out of house and home,” Eager said. Burke and Eager believe humans should play a role in limiting the infestations with timber management practices, but they say it can be a tough sell. “It’s hard to argue cutting trees to save trees,” Burke said.”Whacking out 100,000 or 200,000 acres” of old trees isn’t the answer, Burke said. Wilderness areas are off limits from timber management due to special protections. Roadless areas outside of wilderness also appear off limits, Burke said. Her focus will be to examine threats to other areas of the White River National Forest and determine where thinning trees might make most sense, such as ski areas. Even without human intervention, famous views such as the forests at the foot of the Maroon Bells won’t necessarily be dominated by standing dead trees called snags. “As much gloom and doom as we put out there, bark beetles aren’t going to kill every tree,” said Burke said. The state Forest Service assessment of forest health is available online at www.colostate.edu/Depts/CSFS. Look for the link that says “2005 Colorado Forest Health Report.” http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20060425/NEWS/104250028

Arkansas:

21) University of Arkansas at Fayetteville graduate students spent last fall slogging through hip-deep mud to study the cypresses and other trees in the eastern Arkansas bayous. They found a forest of bald cypress and tupelo, an ecosystem that has all but disappeared from the landscape. Researchers estimate that less than 5,000 hectares of such a forest remain in the south, a fraction of the original 17 million hectares. “We’re talking about an extremely endangered forest habitat,” said graduate student Mark Spond. The students measured tree rings on several of the trees and found a handful that were more than 1,000 years old. They used the tree rings to map historic precipitation patterns in the forest. The research reconstructs the weather in the forest for the past 850 years. Students found evidence of severe droughts in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries in the trees. Although bald cypress trees thrive in dry conditions, the researchers speculate that the droughts may have killed off other trees – and may have caused an increase in the number of ivory-billed woodpeckers. The woodpeckers feed on wood-boring larvae that live in dying and recently dead trees. The students, along with professor David Stahle, reported their findings in Eos, the newspaper of the American Geophysical Union. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/living/health/14391363.htm

Massachusetts:

22) The idea behind the forest is starting something that will last for decades, rather than just a day. Levendusky views it as a tool for teachers to use across the curriculum. “It’s to be used every year for every grade level,” said Levendusky. “Every student in the building could use the forest when applicable.” Even the fact that some of the trees will die and others will have to be thinned out can be educational. “That is part of forest management,” said Levendusky, who has both forestry and teaching degrees. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources Bureau of Forestry donated 300 trees. The other 200 were purchased with the help of the school’s partners in education — John Deere’s Donald Street location, Eagle-Ottawa, Nazareth Lutheran Church and Breath of Life Church. Volunteers came from those partners along with East High School students. Sophomore Johnnie Ragsdale was among the East students. “It’s nice to come out here with little kids and have fun,” said Ragsdale, who attended McKinstry. Levendusky said he chose the spot to plant the saplings because some nearby full-grown trees will give them afternoon shade during the hot summer months. That will give them a better chance to survive. He adds, though, that “you just don’t know” how many will reach maturity. “I hope I can get 20 of these trees to grow up, to be mature trees,” he said. “It will make a nice little educational grove.” http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2006/04/22/news/top_story/5394681a6a94d980862571580015984c.txt

New England:

23) THE GLOBE should be commended for the April 19 editorial ‘New help for old growth” and the April 20 op-ed ”Vermont’s wildlands deserve better protection,” which endorsed the designation of new national forest wilderness in New Hampshire and Vermont. All of us in New England should support the preservation of these extraordinary areas. But we need to do even more. The wild Maine Woods has never been in greater danger. Maine has the largest tracts of undeveloped forest land in the eastern United States. But it also has one of the nation’s smallest proportions of public land. Each day, more and more unspoiled forests and lakeshores are being degraded by unsustainable logging and real estate development. Without bold action, this unique landscape may soon be lost. Fortunately, there is hope. Public and private conservation projects have recently protected some remarkable Maine wildlands. Meanwhile, the campaign for a Maine Woods National Park & Preserve, larger than Yellowstone and Yosemite combined, continues to gain support. We still have the opportunity to safeguard some of America’s most beautiful places right here in New England. But we need to act before it’s too late. http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/letters/

USA:

24) Sometimes it requires scientific confirmation to point out what otherwise should be obvious. So it should come as no surprise that in addition to serving to clean the air and water, protect hillsides from erosion and provide shade, the presence of trees helps to refresh the soul. Various studies have found that either viewing or experiencing nature and trees helps surgery patients recover more quickly, makes it less likely for AIDS patients to “burn out,” helps women to recover from breast cancer with fewer side effects, aids children with attention-deficit disorders and serves to make public housing projects friendlier environments. Trees are visually appealing and soften the edge of commer cial streets and residential neighborhoods, without which they present a stark, unnatur al appearance. Without a canopy of trees, the cityscape is noticeably hotter, requiring buildings to use more energy to pump out more cool air during summers. Yet, as beneficial as trees are to people and communities, they tend to be valued more in their absence than in their presence. Every year, this country loses 1 million acres of forests, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Some 13 million acres have been lost since 1992, an area almost the size of West Virginia, according to the agency’s report, “Forests on the Edge: Housing Development on America’s Private Forests.” Growth and development are the primary forces responsible for forest decline. The National Commission on Science for Sustainable Forestry estimates that an additional 10 million acres will be lost in the next decade, an area the size of New Hampshire and Connecticut. And the forest left will be more fragmented, as the nation’s industrial forests change hands on a massive scale from old-line paper and timber companies to investors looking to maximize their returns, which often means selling to developers. http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1145727722324801.xml&coll=1

25) Mountain Justice Summer is a network of people working to end Mountain Top Removal coal mining in the southern Appalachias through non-violent resistance and grassroots organizing. We are always working on the issue but this summer’s concentrated efforts will kick off at the MJS Training Camp in Pipestem, VA on May 20th followed by the Heartwood Forest Council May 26-29th. Organizing will be happening in Raleigh, Boone, Mingo and Logan counties of West Virginia; Knoxville, TN; Eastern KY, Wise county, Virginia, and a media dispatch support office from Asheville NC. Plenty of projects will be happening in all these locations. As the coal hearted mining companies continue to colonize and ravage the beautiful and sacred mountains of central and Southern Appalachia we will step up our resistance yet again and fight to save the land that is the foundation of our culture and gives us life. We made a huge impact last summer, but that was just a start. We have continued organizing and struggling throughout the year and we are calling for all yall to come out again this summer to help continue the fight to abolish mountaintop removal coal mining and strengthen our mountain communities. There are plenty of projects to get involved in. Get in touch with regional coordinators to plug in and find out more. People are mobilizing and we would like your help and support in this struggle. The longer you can make it the better but any amount of time can be useful. http://www.mountainjusticesummer.org

Canada:

26) SAINT JOHN, N.B. — Forestry company J.D. Irving Ltd. is buying woodlands and a sawmill from U.S. paper giant Bowater Inc. for an undisclosed price. The privately owned New Brunswick company announced Friday it had completed a deal with Bowater to buy about 91,000 hectares of land on the upper reaches of the Miramichi River, next to Napadogan. J.D. Irving said it will continue to operate the Baker Brook sawmill under the current union contract.”New Brunswick is home and we are committed to doing everything we can to ensure that the local jobs and operations remain competitive in the global marketplace,” said Jim Irving, president of J.D. Irving Ltd. Bowater, based in Greenville, S.C., is a leading producer of newsprint, coated mechanical and specialty papers and also makes bleached kraft pulp and lumber products. The company has 12 pulp and paper mills in the United States, Canada and South Korea and 10 North American sawmills that produce softwood. Bowater’s operations are backed by about 520,000 hectares of timberlands owned or leased in the United States and Canada and 11.6 million hectares of timber cutting rights in Canada. http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/498528.html

27) Halton developer George Vastis was cut down in court like the thousands of trees he had bulldozed to build a golf course in an environmentally sensitive area. Vastis said the nine long corridors that were ripped out of the Milton forest were for farming purposes, but Justice of the Peace Jerry Woloschuk wasn’t buying the story. Vastis was convicted, as an individual and under his numbered company, on charges under Halton Region’s tree protection bylaw and the Ontario Forestry Act, for destroying trees in April and July 2003 and for violating a stop work order. The case has been before the courts since June 2003, and prompted Halton to enact a tougher tree protection bylaw. “This was done without any concerns for the environment and in total contempt of the rules. This was someone trying to get ahead of the regulations and attempt to develop a golf course without proper oversight or approvals.” Conservation Halton official Brenda Axom told court the area was one of the largest forest tracts below the Niagara Escarpment and the worst destruction of habitat she has seen in her 25 years in the field “The clearing work has severely impacted this section of the ESA (environmentally significant area under Halton’s Official Plan) and basically destroyed the woodlot,” she testified. The area is on Fourth Line near Lower Base Line Rd. Sentencing arguments will be heard May 18. Vastis faces potential fines in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=11458290
09123&call_pageid=968350130169&col=969483202845

28) “While vanishing habitat caused by human activity is the number one threat to biodiversity, there is great concern over the impact of accidental and intentional dispersal of alien invasive species across the globe,” says Kristina A. Stinson, a plant population biologist at the Harvard Forest, Harvard’s ecology and conservation center in Petersham, Mass. “In North America, thousands of nonnative plants and animals have become established since European settlement and many more continue to be introduced. Some alien species cause little harm, while others can become very aggressive and radically transfigure their new habitat. “The mechanisms for this phenomenon and its potential long term impacts remain poorly understood,” Stinson adds, “but one possibility is that invasive species may disrupt fragile ecological relationships that evolved over millions of years.” Stinson and her colleagues found that garlic mustard targets arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), which form mutually beneficial relationships with many forest trees. These fungi have long filaments that penetrate the roots of plants, forming an intricate interwoven network that effectively extends the plant’s root system. AMF depend on plants for energy and plants depend on the fungi for nutrients. When tree seedlings, which depend strongly on AMF, began to decline in the presence of garlic mustard, the researchers suspected that the invasive plant might thwart this symbiotic relationship. First, the researchers tested seedlings’ ability to form mycorrhizal relationships in soil with a history of garlic mustard invasion. Three species — sugar maple, red maple, and white ash — had significantly less AMF root colonization and grew only about one-tenth as fast in the infested soil. Seedlings grown in sterilized, AMF-free soil taken from invaded and pest-free locations showed similar reductions, suggesting that diminished microbial activity had suppressed tree growth. Other experiments showed that adding garlic mustard extracts to soil impaired AMF colonization and seedling growth, implying that the weed uses phytochemical poisons to disrupt native plants’ mycorrhizal associations and stunt their growth. When the study was subsequently replicated with seedlings of 16 other native plants, only the hardwoods and other woody plants were harmed by the presence of garlic mustard. “This suggests garlic mustard invades the understory of mature forests by poisoning the allies of its main competitors,” Stinson says. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-04/hu-ish042506.php

Ecuador:

29) In a huge victory for the rainforest movement, plans to violate Ecuador’s Yasuni National Park with an oil access road have been cancelled. The road would have lead to widespread destruction of one of the most important rainforest reserves in the world. Instead, oil drilling and production will continue without roads and the deleterious impact of follow-on colonization upon biodiversity and indigenous populations may be limited. More work remains to be done to fully protect Yasuni, Ecuador’s rainforests, and the Amazon; and the local Hauorani peoples, but this is a massive improvement upon previous plans which would have certainly devastated the entire area. Now there is hope. This is a major triumph for Ecological Internet which was the first to bring the threat to a wide international audience through three different massive email protests, most recently in September of 2005 http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=ecuador Other groups we worked with that also provided critical leadership included Save America’s Forests, Rainforest Rescue of Germany, the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, and many other organizations which rallied and provided crucial leadership in country. http://www.rainforestportal.org/

India:

30) On a warm and sunny morning of September 1737, in Khejarli, a village near Jodhpur, Amrita Devi, a Bishnoi woman and mother of three daughters was busy with her daily chores like churning milk for extracting butter. Her husband like other men folk of the village was away working in the fields. Suddenly she heard the sound of some one cutting a tree. She wondered who had dared cut trees in a Bishnoi village. She left her work and came out to enquire. Girdharidas Bhandari, a senior officer of Jodhpur State, mounted on a horse, was ordering his men to cut trees. Around him many village elders had gathered. They all urged the officer to stop the cutting of trees in their village as it was against the Bishnoi religion to cut or allow anyone else to cut any green Khejri tree. Girdharidas was adamant, and told the gathering that the wood was needed to burn lime. And conveyed that this was an order of the ruler, so nobody should try stopping him. Amrita Devi’s heart was crying because she knew that this tree had served as the lifeline of her family and many others who were trying to live life in this harsh climate. riven by her emotions she ran and clung to the tree that was being axed. ‘ Cut my body before felling the tree’ she cried. The woodcutters stopped as they did not know what to do but Girdharidas ordered his men to cut off her head. Amrita Devi was mercilessly axed along with the tree. Her bold sacrifice inspired her three young daughters Ashi, Ratni and Bhagu. Following her steps they too clung to the tree and were hacked ruthlessly. One after the other 363 Bishnois sacrificed their lives. For every tree that fell a Bishnoi man, woman or child laid down their life. When the news of this brutality reached the ruler of Jodhpur, he immediately stopped the massacre. But by now the entire Bishnoi community had revolted and they threatened to leave the state if they were not allowed to pursue their faith and religion. The Maharaja realized the gravity of the situation and apologized for the grave mistake committed by his officer. He issued a royal decree engraved on a copper plate, prohibiting the cutting of trees and hunting of wild animals in any Bishnoi village in Jodhpur State. Today, in KHEJARLI there is an eerily silent orchard and a temple in it, to commemorate the day those 363 Bishnois engraved a message in the conscience of mankind The BISHNOIs, estimated to be around 6 million, spread over Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, are a practical, wise people who hold lessons for everyone. Our mission to protect is so deeply engrained in our psyche that the women have even breast fed orphaned black buck fawns, that they may survive and protect all kinds of insect life. ingmarz@gmail.com

31) Bhopal – The national conference held in Feb 2006 on forestry gave detailed account of all that happened till date on matters connected with forest and demands for industries either on predetermined terms and conditions or privatising fo the purpose of certain industries. The participants were the confederation of Indian Industry (CII) the main organiser and the union ministry of environment and forests (MOEF). The organising CII was willing to take the lead to “devise perspectives for sustainable forest management in an integral manner.” Amongst many items, joint forest management committees, numbering 84000 covering 64000 villages, contribution was discussed. Several connected acts on conservation of forests and wildlife were brought under discussion but the one which they named as people, were labeled as illegal users and continue to get away because the forest department can’t beat the life out of them. http://www.centralchronicle.com/20060421/2104322.htm

Malaysia:

32) KUANTAN, April 20 (Bernama) — Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob Thursday refuted media reports of unlicensed logging activities in the state. “Logging activities in permanent forest reserves meet the procedure that has been verified by the independent auditor appointed by the Malaysian Timber Certification Council,” he said. Adnan also said that so far, there were no specific areas that had been allocated for agro-tourism in Pahang and added “a popular area for agro-tourism is the Cameron Highlands district. Adnan said the Agriculture Department had identified several areas that had the potential to be food production areas like Cameron Highlands. They included Rompin where padi and aloe vera projects were being implemented and Maran with a jackfruit project, he said. Meanwhile, Deputy Menteri Besar Datuk Tan Mohd Aminuddin Ishak said Felda had discussed the construction of a biodiesel plant with Procter & Gamble (P&G) that had a capacity of processing between 150,000 and 300,000 tonnes of palm oil. “It has been proposed that the plant will be built in the Kuantan port or Port Klang,” he said in reply to Abu Bakar Harun (BN-Chini) on the role of Felda in developing the country’s biodiesel industry. http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/state_news/news.php?id=192723&cat=et

Indonesia:

33) In his remarks, the Head of State asked the nation to immediately save the forests, which are currently degrading due to illegal logging activities and human encroachment. Of the total 120.35 million hectares, about 59.2 million hectares of the country`s forest areas are currently in critical condition, according to Indonesian Forestry Minister MS Kaban. Indonesia`s forest areas rank third as the world`s largest after those of Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). Illegal logging is rampant in Indonesia`s forests, which are among the most diverse and biologically richest in the world. Indonesia`s biodiversity includes 11 percent of the world`s plant species, 10 percent of the world`s mammal species, and 16 percent of the world`s bird species. http://www.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=11616

34) Lowland rainforest on the Indonesian Island of Sumatra has been almost entirely destroyed. The Kampar peninsula in the province of Riau still contains more than 400,000 ha of peat swamp forest making it one of the largest remaining lowland forests in Sumatra. It provides habitat for the Sumatran Tiger and other species threatened with extinction. Destruction of these peat swamp forests releases significant amounts of carbon that may foil intentions to reduce climate change. Forests in Riau are still being destroyed to meet the demand of pulp and paper companies APP and APRIL. Together the two paper companies have already devastated a million hectares of rainforest to supply their operations with raw material and convert forest into acacia plantations. In the last two years APRIL alone destroyed 50,000 hectares of peat swamp forest in its Pelalawan concession and built a road to access the Kampar peninsula. The forest on the Kampar peninsula grows on top of more than three meters of peat soil. Due to the ecological fragility of deep peat soils, this type of forest is protected under the Indonesian law. Clearing and draining peat swamp forests cause peat degradation and disastrous fires. The resulting carbon emissions contribute to the greenhouse effect – in Riau province alone the carbon stored in the peat soils amounts to annual carbon emissions from fossil fuels in the whole world. A study of ProForest, consultants hired by APRIL to assess ecological impacts of plantations in the Kampar Peninsular, indicates that the company has already damaged the water balance of the Kampar peat swamp by building a controversial road and drains that cut the peninsula in half. The existing road, along with further forest conversion and drains planned by APRIL may lead to the collapse of the entire swamp ecosystem. The Kampar peninsula was proposed as a national park by Jikalahari in December 2005 because of its cultural significance, unique biodiversity, ecological properties and importance for the world’s climate. “Peat swamp forest on Kampar peninsula must be declared protected to stop any further intervention by loggers or the industry, and managed with the full involvement of local communities and indigenous peoples”, said Rully Syumanda, forests campaigner for Friends of the Earth Indonesia. http://www.umwelt.org/robin-wood/german/presse/060419en.htm

Australia:

35) The activists have made a stand on a new road being constructed into a 4,900 tract of the Weld Valley bordering Southwest National Park, which is part of the World Heritage area. The blockade of the road is elaborate – and illegal. A tall barricade marks the entrance to Weld Camp, where environmentalists from Australia and overseas have stopped progress on a logging-access road for more than a year. Past the first blockade rises what seems like an apparition – a pirate ship in the forest. The Weld Ark is the second of three roadblocks, and has attracted curious – and skeptical – local residents to the camp, where protesters share their views with them. High in the oldest trees are platforms ready to be occupied by environmentalists to thwart logging. The activists have vowed that they will stay as long as it takes to get protection for the area. Authorities have tolerated the blockade but could move to expel the protesters at any time. http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0424/p12s01-woap.html

36) GIANT rainforest trees on the State’s north coast have been felled against the wishes of a former landholder who tried to protect the forest. Environmentalists are using the incident to press the State Government to introduce laws on the removal of rainforest on private land. Under current laws, logging of rainforest is banned only on public land. Environmentalists claim the loophole is being exploited by firms who are door-knocking landholders with offers of generous payments. The trees were located on a block of land at Timmsvale, near Coffs Harbour, in a region known for its koalas. An environmental study by the Government in 1998 identified 40ha of significant rainforest on the site. It was owned by the late Lionel Timms who, in 1990, erected a plaque at the site which read: “The peace and solitude of this forest will be forever preserved.” Mr Timms dedicated the monument to local soldiers who had lost their lives in wartime. NSW Nature Conservation Council (NCC) director Cate Faehrmann said more than four million hectares of private land contained forest. “But it could all be logged tomorrow because there are no checks or balances in place,” she said. “Areas of significant conservation value are being logged right now, including rainforest, old growth forest and endangered plant communities.” The NSW Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) confirmed this week that it was investigating the incident. http://www.rainforestportal.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=55507

37) THE State Government will buy five timber mills in an effort to convert a million hectares of state forest into national and conservation parks. Deputy Premier Anna Bligh told State Parliament yesterday the buyback would also include the hardwood timber division of major producer Hyne & Son. It would retain Hayne’s 11,343cu m Crown hardwood allocation, thereby easing pressure on state forests to supply the remaining mills in what is known as the western hardwoods area. The buyback will cost more than $50 million, including other issues such as retooling and worker support. Ms Bligh said the Government also had bought the Emerald Sawmilling Co and had reached in-principle agreement to buy the hardwood operations of NK Collins Industries. “In total, we have bought back about 30 per cent of the total western hardwood Crown allocations,” Ms Bligh said. “Therefore, we have not only met the . . . commitment to reduce the western hardwood allocation by 25 per cent, we have surpassed our original commitment.” The buyback is part of moves to make Queensland’s logging industry sustainable by moving from wild forest to plantation logging over 20 years. Deputy Opposition Leader Jeff Seeney said the buyback could result in as many as 80 jobs being lost, especially in the Monto and Mundubbera areas. The announcement showed the Government was prepared to sacrifice regional Queensland to shore up Greens Party urban preferences, he said. “The Beattie Labor Government is locking up 1 million hectares and will cripple regional Queensland communities all to appease extreme greens,” he said. http://www.couriermail.news.com.au/story/0,20797,18879050-3102,00.html

38) A campaigner for sustainable logging in the Wombat Forest is trying to rally like-minded people to lobby the State Government. Increasingly tough restrictions being placed on logging activity in the forest have forced some sawmills to close. But Loris Duclos says a State Government adviser told her the Government had not made a final decision on the forest’s future. “He reassured me that the Government did not have a lock-up agenda for the Wombat, so those who support a small native forest industry in this area need to be ringing the minister and making sure that a strong voice from this side of the debate is heard, because they certainly hear a lot from the other,” she said. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200604/s1621116.htm

39) BERMAGUI resident Kate Gentle got a big surprise last week when she spotted a koala crossing the road in Bermagui State Forest. She called forest ecologist Robert Bertram who found fresh koala faecal pellets, or scats, under a preferred feed tree adjacent to the road, confirming that a koala had recently been at the location. Ms Gentle said she knew the animal had to be a koala although she hadn’t seen or heard one in the area before. Signs nailed to trees beside the road indicate imminent broad area burning is planned for the area. Mr Bertram said the forests from Dignams Creek to Wapengo, part of the Five Forests, contained the only known native koala population on the far south coast, although he confirmed that koala sightings in these forests are very rare. “Koala numbers have dropped markedly in the past decade,” he said. “Apart from loss of habitat through logging, their decline has been assisted by rapidly expanding areas of bell-miner associated dieback and more recent forest decline during dry weather associated with changes to soil structure and reducing fertility. “It is regrettable that this endangered koala population is now facing further threat from the proposed burning,” he said. “It is almost 12 months since the NSW Government breached the Regional Forest Agreements when they approved logging of critical Koala habitat in Murrah State Forest. “Some time after the logging crew withdrew, the NSW Government promised to implement a community consultation process to address concerns about Koala habitat management. “Unfortunately this consultation has not eventuated and the significant community concerns remain. “Kate was very privileged to see one of our last koalas, but the failure of the NSW Government to list the population as endangered in NSW could mean it may be the last such sighting.” Mr Bertram said that even if that koala survive the fire, broad area burning in declining forest would result in many more trees being killed. “Exposing the soils will further reduce water holding capacity, all of which have a negative impact on this Koala’s chance for survival. http://bega.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=local&story_id=475388&category=General%20News&m=
4&y=2006