160 – Earth’s Tree News

Today for you 39 news items about Mama Earth’s trees. Location, number and subject listed below. Condensed / abbreviated article is listed further below.

Can be viewed on the web at http://www.livejournal.com/users/olyecology or
by sending a blank email message to earthtreenews-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

–British Columbia: 1) Krawczyk may be forever barred from free speech rights, 2) Industry demands more rights to exports logs, 3) Stanley Park windfall, 4) Vicki Husband’s eco-integrity a threat to Sierra Club,
–Washington: 5) Save Salmon Creek’s Forested Uplands, 6) Widen Wind River road? 7) heavy thinning in Gifford Pinchot NF is too much,
–Oregon: 8) City approves Rock Creek logging plan,
–California: 9) Martin Litton saves trees, 10) EPIC summary 11) Save Jackson Forest,
–Colorado: 12) Moonscaped Andes of the Rockies
–Wyoming: 13) Logging Medicine Bow NF
–Ohio: 14) Ash tree Massacre
–USA: 15) Post-fire reforestation crisis, 16) Save trees – stop junk mail,
–Canada: 17) Aroland First Nation & Kimberly-Clark, 18) Squirrels & Spruce adapt,
–UK: 19) Tree powered electricity-makers get bigger, need more trees
–Guyana: 20) FSC certification makes harvest monitoring unnecessary
–Uganda: 21) Plantation investment will earn money
–French Guiana: 22) One of the lowest deforestation rates in the world, 23) Gold mining
–Suriname: 24) Nuts and seed dispersers
–Argentina: 25) Santa Claus protests deforestation
–Paraguay: 26) Zero Deforestation Law
–Brazil: 27) New pulp mill in Mato Grosso, 28) Guarani indigenous people ignored,
–India: 29) Save Goa campaign growing, 30) Forest dwellers get bill passed,
–Pakistan: 31) Government deforests city
–Korea: 32) Tree-sit saves forest from golf course
–Philippines: 33) Forest protection disrupts business
–Indonesia: 34) Corruption Eradication Commission
–New Zealand: 35) Deforestation rates and why
–Australia: 36) Gunns keeps losing, fires attorneys, 37) Court destroys Tasmania’s forestry, 38) Industry advocate are factless,

British Columbia:

1) Three years ago 75-year-old Betty Krawczyk spent the winter holidays the same way she had the previous seven months, sleeping on a mattress on the floor in Burnaby’s over-crowded prison. Her crime? She and another grandmother, Jan Bradley, stood in front of Hayes logging trucks hauling old-growth logs out of the Walbran forest. Then she ignored orders to stop and refused to say she was sorry. Now 78 and penniless, she faces legal action from Hayes Forest Services. Hayes is not suing her exactly in the way Krawczyk writes below. What Hayes is actually attempting to do is to make the injunction brought against her three years ago permanent. Essentially the company wants to make sure if she rises up again to illegally block even one of their trucks she will go directly to jail. A Hayes spokesperson said the company has no intent of causing Krawczyk any harm, but it must do its due diligence. Under our system, Hayes has every right to take legal steps to protect its interests. And Krawczyk has every right to express her concerns. http://www.cowichannewsleader.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=9&cat=48&id=797069&more

2) TimberWest is one of B.C.’s largest private timberlands owners and largest log exporters. Log exports have been a hot topic for several years, with proponents saying it’s the only way companies can make a profit in a depressed industry and opponents saying log exports are killing small, forestry-dependent communities. Last week the report “Generating More Wealth from British Columbia’s Timber,” prepared by government-commissioned researchers Don Wright and Bill Dumont, was released to the public. The report suggests that although log exports – shipping logs to be processed outside of Canada instead of at local mills – are a symptom of a sick forestry industry, they are not the cause of the industry’s problems. The report recommends taxes on log exports on timber harvested from Crown land but it also recommends relaxing restrictions on log exports on timber harvested from private lands. TimberWest agrees with the recommendation to relax restrictions on private lands. The company has been involved in a court case since 2001 trying to get the government to rescind legislation which forces timber companies to go through certain steps before they can sell unprocessed logs outside the province. It’s an archaic, unnecessary restriction, Lorimer said. “B.C.’s the only province in Canada that has that kind of requirement,” he said. Lorimer said TimberWest was grateful to have been part of the consultation process and hopes it will have more opportunity to offer input while the forest minister considers the report. The minister may act on the report’s recommendations sometime in spring 2007. http://www.campbellrivermirror.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=6&cat=23&id=796778&more=

3) The Prospect Point area was the hardest-hit, with only two out of every 10 trees left standing. The park has an estimated one million trees. Robertson will give Mayor Sam Sullivan a tour of the damage today. Environmentalists want most of downed trees left in the forest. “By and large, they should just be left,” said Joe Foy, campaign director of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee. “We think the logs should . . . rot down and become nurse logs — that’s what happens in an old-growth forest.” The value of the downed trees is hard to quantify. “With 3,000 trees, there is a fairly good value of timber down — if it is all taken out it’s worth a lot,” said Dwight Yochim of the Association of B.C. Forest Professionals. “But without doing an on-site assessment and looking at the species mix it’s almost impossible to give a ballpark figure.” Forestry consultant Dave Gytom urged the city to let professionals do the job and maximize profit.”In my view, they should get the city guys out of there right now,” said Gytom. “Everybody should back off and hire a contractor to go in and get the maximum out of it. They may be degrading it.” But Robertson said city staff are capable of doing the job. Most larger trees felled in city parks are routinely sold to the industry. Robertson also said the seawall is much more extensively damaged than previously thought. http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=55e20994-a668-420b-a804-e22dac30da1d Stanley Park measures about 400 hectares and first opened to the public on Oct. 29, 1889. Perhaps its most unique feature is the 8.8-kilometre long Seawall, but the barrier was also damaged by the wind. “The Seawall has been physically damaged, not just by trees lying on it, but large portions of the pavement scoured away by the waves,” said Kincaid. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061219/stanley_park_061219/20061219?hub=
TopStories

4) Vicky Husband has become well-known — a champion of the environment, more than a hugger of trees, something of a spirit bear in our forests, an advocate for the planet with a special brief for this corner of it. She’s Thornton Wilder’s Mother West Wind, bossily telling us to husband, so to speak, what God has given us and telling us, like the Merry Little Breezes, to behave. For her efforts the United Nations gave her a Global 500 Award, her country has awarded her the Order of Canada, her province the Order of B.C., her city an honorary citizenship, her old alma mater an honorary doctorate. She’s been with the Sierra Club of B.C. for 18 years, and holds a special service award given by its parent body in the U.S. So it shocked me to learn that Husband is no longer conservation chairwoman of the Sierra Club and has resigned from the Sierra Club of B.C. Foundation. The official word, according to Stephen Hume in the Vancouver Sun, is that there was a “conversation” in which directors outlined “a new strategic direction.” Hume reports Kathryn Molloy, the club’s B.C. branch executive director, questioned Husband’s campaign to protect groundfish and endangered runs, like those supporting Cultus Lake and Thompson River salmon. Husband has upset people in the fishing industry. Molloy believes, apparently, that Husband’s marine campaign would be a “better fit” in some other organization; her post as conservation chairwoman “more or less dissolved.” Without someone looking after conservation, what is the point of the Sierra Club? In what other organization is marine conservation supposed to fit? The B.C. Salmon Farmers Association? The American Petroleum Institute? But the most revealing part of Molloy’s reported explanation for the parting of ways is that Husband’s campaigns were heavy on science, while the club wants to be more “communications-based and people-focused.” Cripes. http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/index.html

Washington:

5) Vancouver-Clark County parks officials call this place the Salmon Creek Forested Uplands. Since the 1990s, they have been negotiating with the family that owns the parcel to buy it and protect it for public use. They’ve even set aside $500,000 from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund toward the purchase. Residents of the Cedars East neighborhood have other names for this refuge. Ray Steiger, a retired U.S. Forest Service employee who has taken it upon himself to keep watch over it, calls it Morgan Creek Natural Area. Morgan Creek joins Salmon Creek here. The forest, he said, is constantly changing. A streamside cedar that fell, undercut by a swollen Morgan Creek, still grows horizontally, its roots anchored in soil. An ice storm a couple of years ago left a grove of alders bent over like old men. Pileated woodpeckers drilled a series of oval-shaped holes in a century-old cedar. Steiger has found freshwater mussels in Morgan Creek, a sign of water purity. “To me, it’s another reason to preserve this area,” he said. The forest lies east of The Cedars on Salmon Creek golf course and adjacent to Cedars East, a suburban community of manicured yards, tall cedars and large, well-kept homes. For now, the forest is the neighborhood’s well-kept secret. But development pressures are building from the north. The forest lies within Battle Ground’s urban growth boundary. On Dec. 1, a group of property owners south of Northeast 199th Street petitioned the city of Battle Ground to annex about 150 acres to the city. The area is served by the city’s sewer system and is within reach of city water. City planning director Brian Carrico said the city council could act on the petition within three months and could elect to incorporate the Salmon Creek Forested Uplands into the annexation. “They could modify the boundaries, expand or contract them. They could choose to add this parcel,” he said. Under current zoning, the property, or a portion of it, would then become developable, with a maximum density of three houses per acre, although development likely would be off-limits near forested wetlands and streams. http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/12202006news85962.cfm

6) Some of you may remember that we have been actively fighting a $10 million proposal by the Federal Highway Administration, Skamania County, and the Forest Service to widen and realign a 5 mile stretch of the Wind River road in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. This project would have resulted in the destruction of over 60 acres of mature and old growth forests. We are happy to report that the media hits, hundreds of personalized letters and calls on this project paid off, the Federal Highway Administration has decided not to pursue this project further for the foreseeable future. Thank you for all your help in defeating this project. http://www.gptaskforce.org

7) In this case, the federal government is contributing about $70,000 in funding and staff time to carry out the project. “In lieu of paying us money, the purchaser pays us back with equivalent work to be done in other areas of the forest,” said Cynthia Henchell, project manager for the ranger district based in Trout Lake. Representatives of the environmental group Gifford Pinchot Task Force suspect the proposal would thin too much of the 47-acre stand and have asked for the public comment period to be extended until after the snow clears in the spring. “Just from looking at it on paper, it looks like a really heavy thinning to us,” said Emily Platt, the organization’s director. “We don’t see the need to do that in an LSR.” Late successional reserves are intended primarily to support wildlife under the Northwest Forest Plan, which was brokered as a compromise between rural communities that depend on federal timber and old growth-dependent wildlife. Logging is allowed where it enhances overall forest health. Platt acknowledged that the Gotchen area is an unusually complicated area to manage. The 47 acres in question here is located just outside of a 19,700-acre Gotchen planning area, where the Forest Service has already begun selling timber to improve forest health. After logging the native forest of predominantly Ponderosa pine in the 1940s, the Forest Service successfully snuffed out wildfire in the decades since — allowing it to grow unnaturally thick with an understory of Douglas fir and grand fir. Environmental groups generally acknowledge the need for thinning out overcrowded stands, especially on the east side of the Cascades, but Platt said Congress should boost funding for restoration work. Instead, she said, the shortfall in congressional funding too often prompts Forest Service officials to sweeten the pot by cutting healthy trees. http://www.columbian.com/index.cfm
Oregon:

8) In what was the final meeting for several members, the Corvallis City Council delivered on one of its goals Monday night by approving a “stewardship” plan for the city-owned Rock Creek watershed. The vote was unanimous, with Councilor Scott Zimbrick absent. Located on the northeast slopes of Marys Peak, the city’s 2,350-acre tract of forestland is managed primarily as a water source, with a treatment plant and a 100 million-gallon reservoir. Public access is generally prohibited to protect the water. Under the plan approved by the council Monday, limited logging will resume with the goal of improving forest health and protecting habitat for native plants and wildlife. Logging is to focus on thinning of overstocked plantations and some middle-age stands, while the oldest trees in the city forest are to be left alone. In a hearing before the vote, several people objected to the plan. Keith Reynolds, an Oregon State University forest resources professor and chairman of the Marys Peak Chapter of the Society of American Foresters, attacked the plan as “deficient, vague, inconsistent and operationally limiting.” He also argued that the city should harvest more timber from the watershed to help supply the demand for lumber in Corvallis. Mike Newton, a professor emeritus of forest science at OSU, made some of the same points, calling the plan’s management goals unrealistic. He said the plan looked like it was for a park rather than a tract of timberland that could provide revenue for the city through steady but not excessive logging. “If you put this on the auction block … you’re probably talking about $40 million to $60 million, cash on the barrelhead. That’s a lot of money,” Newton told the council. “A working forest can provide a benefit to the public, a benefit to wildlife and a substantial asset to the city.” Speaking for a group of six scientists asked to review the plan, Joan Hagar of the U.S. Geological Survey complained the reviewers felt they didn’t have adequate time to evaluate the document, especially some late revisions. “The process was very rushed,” she said. http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2006/12/20/news/community/5aaa03_watershed.txt

California:

9) He climbed slowly up an embankment and started snapping photographs. Martin Litton is two months short of 90, hard of hearing and equipped with two artificial knees. But none of that has stopped this stubborn, legendary figure of California conservation from waging yet another campaign. “Logging in the monument is a slap in the face of the American people,” he growled. “They’re thumbing their nose at the monument.” The logging operation Litton photographed is one of a number of pre-2000 timber sales of non-sequoias the Forest Service allowed to continue several years after they were supposed to end. And a monument management plan — recently thrown out by a federal judge who found it “incomprehensible” — called for still more logging, including the removal of young sequoias, on the grounds that the cutting was needed to thin out overgrown groves. So with visits to Congress, tours of the groves and photographic evidence of perceived transgressions, Litton and a small band of big-tree huggers have pressed their case. The only solution, they insist, is to wrest control of the 328,000-acre monument from the Forest Service and transfer it to the adjacent Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. There is something sequoia-like about Litton. He is big — and, though bearing the marks of age, thus far unvanquished. He walks slowly, listing slightly forward, led by a generous belly. Litton still pilots a small plane around California from his Bay Area home in the Portola Valley. He still rows his own dory through the Grand Canyon. “There’s no other way.” He begins lunch and dinner with a martini. “They keep you alive.” So does the fight for what’s left of the wild California he grew up with. “The passion is always there,” said his son John, the oldest of four children. “He wants to see that beauty that he always saw as a kid. A state proposal to push Highway 190 through the mountains from Lone Pine to Camp Nelson in the 1930s launched Litton on one of his first conservation crusades. He and his hiking buddies formed an opposition group, collecting a dollar in dues from each member. Years after the route was blocked, he was still getting money in the mail. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-litton21dec21,0,3857373.story?coll=la-home-headlines

10) After nearly 30 years of work to save the rugged and remote Lost Coast of Northern California, the King Range and the Sinkyone Wilderness have received permanent protection as designated Wilderness Areas. The combination of federal and state wilderness protection ensures that more than 50 miles of the Lost Coast will gain the distinction of being the largest protected coastal wilderness in the lower 48 states. These rugged coastal mountains harbor ancient forests, cool river valleys abundant with wildlife, and edible plants—the sustenance for the indigenous people who lived here 3,000 years ago. My inspiration for writing to you is the recognition that perseverance pays off. It can sometimes take 30 years to fully realize protection of our most precious places and resources. EPIC has that perseverance. In just the past year, you have helped us achieve the following: 1) In May, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board finally adopted the wastewater discharge permits long sought by EPIC and a coalition of North Coast residents and organizations. Some weaknesses in the final rules will require careful monitoring to hold logging companies responsible for the sediment burden on these watersheds. 2) The California Supreme Court is reviewing the 2003 decision that said Pacific Lumber’s Sustained Yield Plan was fatally flawed. Briefing has been completed and oral arguments will probably happen in the summer of 2007. 3) EPIC also continues to monitor dozens of proposed projects across 5.4 million acres in four northwestern California National Forests. Our comments and administrative appeals have resulted in substantial improvements to a number of projects, while our appeals and lawsuits have blocked projects with unacceptable impacts on approximately 3,500 acres.
But it is only through your help that we can continue our important work. http://www.lists.wilderness.org.au

11) A working group in Mendocino County, where Jackson Forest is located, has recently reached a consensus agreement on a set of principles for Jackson management and a plan for resuming operations in the forest. What makes this event so important is that the working group consists of the owners and the managers of the three largest surviving timber mills in the county, plus the owner of the logging company that performed the bulk of the logging operations in JDSF until logging was halted in 2001. There would be no clearcutting or its variations. All timber operations would be required to maintain or enhance forest health. Preserving older forest stands for wildlife and salmon habitat and human enjoyment would be key priorities. Overall, the consensus plan would provide for a steadily improving forest, while conducting sufficient timber harvests to staff and manage the forest to high standards. A key part of the working group’s proposal is to resume operation of the forest in two phases. During Phase 1, timber harvesting would be very constrained and limited, to make sure that this interim harvesting doesn’t damage long-term values of the forest. During Phase I, a Phase II management plan would be developed by the California Department of Forestry with interaction and review by a new Jackson Forest Advisory Committee. The management plan would incorporate the principles developed by the working group and balance research, wildlife, recreation, and timber concerns. The working group proposes that the Phase II management plan should be operational within 3 years. The Advisory Committee would be appointed by and report to the Board of Forestry. Here is why your help is needed. While the working group was preparing its report, the Board of Forestry had been working with CDF staff to prepare a revised management plan — and unfortunately, the staff has given the Board a preliminary management plan devised without public input, that would allow clearcutting variations on much of the forest, and that does not adequately protect the older, most beautiful stands in the forest. I need you to write to Board telling them to adopt the working group’s two-phase plan, rather than CDF’s hastily drawn plan: http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/2_phase Your letter is is critically important. We are very close to permanently saving our forest for future generations. http://www.jacksonforest.org

Colorado:

12) The Front Bowls of Vail? Colorado, the moonscaped Andes of the Rockies? Ski The Baldest State? The devastating infestation of bark beetles in Colorado’s central Rockies is promising sweeping mutations in Colorado’s ski landscape. Initially, the race to gird threatened stands of conifer against the ravaging rice-sized insects will improve the skiing, with thinning and deadfall removal opening once impenetrable glades. But when the full impact of the predicted 70 percent to 90 percent or higher mortality rate is realized in the next two decades, skiers could be grinding through nothing but wind-scoured, sun-baked snow, avoiding massive swaths of closed terrain where new trees are growing while keeping a keen eye peeled for tumbling timber succumbing to the slightest of breezes. “It’s going to be an emotional roller coaster in a way … but it’s a naturally occurring event, all the different phases of infestation,” said Mike Ricketts, who, as winter sports administrator for the Winter Park ski area in the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest, is on the front line of the state’s most decimating battle with the hungry beetles. “You kind of have to look at it in the long term: This is what happens at any ski area. Trees eventually fall down and you clear them out and you have a new place to ski. Then new saplings come up and that terrain gets locked off and a new area opens up somewhere else. “In the short term, though, trees will be going away and that may impact wind patterns and the surface of the snow, which could make grooming more important and then costs go up. For people who live here, it is draining. I see the frustration growing.” While many resorts have greenscaped their operations with wind power and other environmentally friendly approaches designed to stem the snow- melting, industry-crippling threat of global warming, there is little that can be done to stop the beetles. http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_4864086

Wyoming:

13) CHEYENNE – The Medicine Bow National Forest has reduced the amount of clear-cutting it has planned for the southwestern area of the forest. The Forest Service had originally proposed clear-cutting 552 acres in the Devil’s Gate area but has reduced the proposed amount to 283 acres. The agency also has decided not to allow cutting in important elk and deer winter range in response to comments from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and from a local conservation group. Clint Kyhl, Laramie district ranger, said the agency is concerned that thousands of acres of trees killed by beetles have increased the risk of catastrophic fires in the area. Rather than clear-cutting on 165 acres, he ordered that only trees larger than 8 inches in diameter be removed because they’re likely to be killed by beetles in the next few years. Erik Molvar, wildlife biologist with the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, said the Medicine Bow National Forest is badly fragmented by logging, which hurts wildlife. http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/12/20/news/wyoming/72-logging.txt

Ohio:

14) The city is spending $125,000 over 10 years to remove its roughly 550 ash trees before they are killed by the emerald ash borer. The city will inventory all ash trees in public rights of way and replace them starting next year with another tree species. Most of the trees have been planted in the last five to 10 years. Removal will begin next year and continue as the budget allows. The goal is to minimize the cost of potential infestation by removing the trees while they are still small. The emerald ash borer, a tree-killing beetle that has devastated forests in Michigan, was found in Warren County Oct. 3. Several other communities, including Madeira, are evaluating similar tree management plans. http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061219/NEWS01/612190327/1056/COL02

USA:

15) As severe wildfires scorch more of the United States each year, the Forest Service is falling further behind in replacing trees lost to fire, insects and disease because of shrinking budgets and mounting costs of fighting the blazes. The Forest Service had a backlog of 1.1 million acres that needed replanting in 2005 – a combined area slightly larger than Rhode Island – according to the agency’s latest reforestation report. Last year, it could replant only 153,000 acres. National forestland in need of new trees has increased 42 percent since 1999. Over the same period, the total area replanted has declined 43 percent. The Forest Service has spent more than 40 percent of this year’s $4.9 billion budget on fighting wildfires, and less than 3 percent on replanting. “I’ll give you one word: crisis,” said forest ecologist Tom Bonnicksen, an adviser to the Forest Foundation, a California-based group. “In California areas burned by wildfires in 2001, only 3.8 percent were reforested. That, to me, is a crisis.” Not all land burned in these record years are in the 193 million acres of national forests. Nor do all burned forests need intensive replanting. Wildfires can char some areas but only singe others, so some tracts can gradually reseed and regenerate naturally. But millions of acres of forestland, especially in the West, are dangerously overgrown because policy was to put out every fire. When those forests catch fire now, they can burn so severely that replanting is the only option. http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1221Reforest1221.html

16) Isn’t it unbelievable how many catalogs are in your mail these days? 14 billion catalogs (an average of 54 per American) and 38 billion pieces of junk mail are sent each year, and I bet you even receive more! Each person will receive almost 560 pieces of junk mail this year. That’s 4.5 million tons of junk mail produced each year! 100 million trees are ground up each year to produce junk mail. 44% of all junk mail is thrown in the trash, unopened and unread. Approximately 40% of the solid mass that makes up our landfills is paper and paperboard waste. By the year 2010, it is predicted to make up about 48%. You can do something about all this!! Cancel those catalogues and junk mailings and remove yourself from 75% of all national mailings by sending one request with your name, address and signature to Mail Preference Service, Direct Marketing Association, P.O. Box 643, Carmel, NY 10512 or download the online form at https://www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailing

Canada:

17) Last week, Aroland First Nation, located north of Geraldton, threatened to prevent logging throughout the Kenogami region, the province’s largest forest management unit, covering 20,000 square kilometres in the centre of northern Ontario. The region, containing some of the southernmost remnant populations of threatened woodland caribou, feeds a large pulp mill in Terrace Bay, on Lake Superior, that was formerly owned by Kimberly-Clark and still supplies three-quarters of its output to the company. The world’s biggest maker of tissue products, Kimberly-Clark gets 22 per cent of its global supply of wood fibre, about 660,000 tonnes, from Canada’s boreal forest, much of it from Terrace Bay and another mill in Alberta. In August, the province also granted Buchanan the forest licence for Kenogami, charging it with managing the entire region. This move incensed the 500-member Aroland community, which has long felt left out of decision-making and the economic benefits derived from forestry on its traditional lands. “The community is not against logging, but it wants to have a handle on where it’s done, compensation for trappers and jobs for its members,” says Paul Capon, political adviser to the Matawa Tribal Council, which represents Aroland and nine other First Nations communities in the area. Aroland issued its blockade warning after a long-sought meeting with Ontario Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay, who’s also responsible for aboriginal affairs, was abruptly cancelled and a senior bureaucrat substituted. http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2006-12-21/news_story.php

18) McAdam, Stan Boutin from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, and other international collaborators have been studying two different types of squirrels, which share the ‘red squirrel’ name but are only distantly related, in the forests of Canada, Belgium and Italy. The study has been going on for 20 years, with each squirrel carefully tracked. The red squirrels on this side of the ocean dine almost exclusively on the seeds of spruce cones, which they gnaw off before the seeds ripen. The squirrels are thus a major enemy of the spruce trees. If the squirrels become too successful, their hoarding and gorging on the cones thwarts the trees’ ability to cast seeds and reproduce. So the battle continues. Over the years, the trees devised a strategy called masting in which they unpredictably – every few years – produce an overabundance of cones. Boutin, the study’s lead author, said it’s called a “swamp and starve” strategy to take predators by surprise, flooding the market with more seeds than the squirrels could harvest. The starve part of the strategy comes from the few cones that are produced in the years between bumper crops. Swamp and starve is designed to play to the squirrels’ weakness. Squirrels are territorial and need not only food to feed growing pups, but also a place for their offspring to call their own. When there are lots of cones, there is plenty to feed pups, but the catch is that adults also survive well so there aren’t many vacancies for young squirrels searching for a home. http://msutoday.msu.edu/research/index.php3?article=21Dec2006-6

UK:

19) A £60M power station is to be fuelled by more than 300,000 tonnes of the region’s trees each year. The Forestry Commission is to supply the SembCorp Utilities UK Wilton 10 power station boiler in the Tees Valley. The wood comes from the North York Moors, near Boltby, Kielder Forest, in Northumberland, and from Guisborough Forest, near Northallerton, North Yorkshire. Some of the wood will be from recycled sources and also from sawmill waste. A first batch of 27,500 tonnes is to be sent, with the plant having the capacity to fuel 30,000 homes. It is hoped the use of wood as a fuel source will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the area. “This is an exciting time,” said Mark Weston, Forestry Commission harvesting forester. “Our forests are managed for people and wildlife, but they have a crucial role to play in providing a sustainable resource. “Using wood produces less emissions than fossil fuels and comes from a renewable source.” The Forestry Commission manages more than 22,000 hectares of woodlands and this is its biggest individual deal. Steve Bishop, biomass manager for SembCorp, said: “The Forestry Commission is one of our key suppliers and it’s great to see wood arriving at the site.” http://www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk/business/news/display.var.1083401.0.power_station_to_use_300
_000_trees_a_year.php

Guyana:

20) When asked if there is any independent monitoring of the company’s harvesting activities as was the case when the Edinburgh Centre for Tropical Forests was hired in the 1990s, Lalaram said that with the FSC certification this is unnecessary. He said that the company has to submit to audits every six months to ensure that all FSC certification requirements are being complied with. He said too that the company is working towards Chain of Custody Certification, a system which connects responsible forest management practices and products with consumers. With this certification, Barama will be able to “demonstrate its commitment to environmentally and socially responsible forest management by labelling its products with the FSC trademark.” He said that the certification is for companies that process, transform or trade FSC forest products, and can be used to demonstrate compliance with some government or private procurement policies and specifications, thereby increasing access to these markets. http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article_general_news?id=56510154

Uganda:

21) The investment proposal took shape after a two-hour drive from Uganda’s commercial capital of Kampala, through rolling green hills on to the estate of the British-owned New Forests Company (NFC) at Namwasa, the geographical heart of the country. Now in its third year of operations, 1.3 million conifer and eucalyptus seedlings have been planted across 830ha (2,050 acres) of rich red soil. Watered by annual rain of 1,100 centimetres, encouraged by the African sun, growth is as rapid as anywhere in the world, reaching over 2.5 metres in six months. Despite this phenomenal growth, patience is essential to success. It will be five years at least before there will be any return on the company’s $10m investment, and it will be at least double that time before the trees fully mature as a timber source. But it is well worth the wait: when a ten-cent seedling, which will have cost some $20 in maintenance (in the shape of weeding and pruning) reaches maturity, it should fetch – at current prices – more than $50 a tree. Moreover, the bond is likely to make a handsome profit that can either go into the buyer’s pocket – or be reinvested by the aid agency that originally sold the £10 ($19.5) stake in a commercial forestry project in Uganda. It may all sound too good to be true. But if an idea for such a bond, prompted by a recent tour of a Ugandan forestry project proves feasible, coupling the humanitarian drive of non-government organisations with the profit motive of the private sector could make for a unique development strategy. http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-africa_democracy/ugandan_trees_4193.jsp

French Guiana:

22) If one look at the rate of deforestation, all surveys show that French Guiana has one of the lowest rates of forest loss in the world. This is due to efforts by the National Forest Office (ONF) to regulate forest use and limit the number of permits of exploitation to the coastal region as well as economic issues. Since France has high salaries and the government is unwilling to fund road projects into the interior, it is difficult to exploit most of the territory. Today a greater threat comes from increasing illegal immigration from Brazil. Thousands of garimpeiros and their families, plus other Brazilian inhabitants who are often associated with mining camps (i.e. commerce, prostitution), are settling along rivers inland. Surveillance by ONF clearly shows that some 11,500 hectares of forest have been cleared in 2006 compared to about 200 hectares in 1990. What doesn’t show up in the survey is the thousands of kilometers of rivers that are directly or collaterally affected (pollution, mercury contamination, hunting) by mining activities, both legal and illegal. Above all, the pressure on wildlife is believed to be quite high. Though we lack data for the interior, it is likely that many areas are now threatened by such pressures that I encountered in the Brownsberg Natural Park in Suriname. In the end, the people who will suffer most are the indigenous people of the region: the Wayana on western border (upper Maroni river) and the Oyampi on the eastern (Oyapock river upstream) frontier. We have seen violence in addition to river pollution and game and resource depletion. An ethnocide is under the way in the territory in the same year that we opened the new Museum of Humankind http://www.quaibranly.fr/

23) After spending years studying in French Guiana, and few years recently in Guyana and Suriname, I will say that legal and illegal gold mining are the biggest threat to the rainforests of the Guianas along with over harvesting of fauna and pollution of rivers with mercury and sediment load. Gold mining is tightly linked to the price of gold. Unfortunately, because of the international demand, especially from China, it doesn’t seem likely that gold prices are going to decline in the near future, and I am expecting an increase in mining activity in the Guiana Shield, across borders. Today, mining companies are forming in French Guiana to expand operations, and I am guessing they will want to explore the northern part of the future National Park which is so far exempt of (legal) activity, and still an ore-rich zone. The same will probably happen elsewhere in the Shield. In French Guiana, because the French government facilitates and subsidies the enterprise (reduced taxes on profits, gasoline, diesel, etc) in the overseas department, then mining is economically viable when it shouldn’t be for many entrepreneurs. http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1219-interview_forget.html

Suriname:

24) A study published in the February 2007 issue of the journal Conservation Biology suggests that nuts and seeds from the rainforest are indeed sustainable, but only when hunting of key seed dispersers — especially large rodents like agouti and acouchy — is limited. In places where subsistence hunting accompanies seed extraction, the ability of NTFP tree species to propagate is reduced, putting the whole harvesting scheme at risk. The study shows the importance of seed disperser conservation in sustainably managed forest areas. Examining Carapa procera seed dispersal by rodents in French Guiana and Suriname, Pierre-Michel Forget of the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle in France and Patrick A. Jansen of Wageningen University in the Netherlands found that hunting reduces the viability of NTFP harvesting. Carapa procera, the seeds of which are used to produce an oil nontimber forest product used medicinally for skin ailments, is dependent on dispersal by “scatter-hoarding” rodents, specifically the red acouchy (Myoprocta acouchy) and the red-rumped agouti (Dasyprocta leporina). As described by Forget and Jansen in their paper, these rodents disperse the seeds by collecting them “one by one from below parent trees and burying these as food reserves in shallow caches at distances up to 125 m from the tree, each seed at a different spot.” While the rodents feed heavily on these caches during the lean dry season, some seeds are invariably forgotten and germinate into seedlings, ensuring the next generation of Carapa trees. Seeds that are not quickly dispersed by rodents rot under the parent tree or become infested with insects. As such, the rodents play a key role in the life cycle of the tree species. http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1220-ntfp.html
Argentina:

25) A Greenpeace activist dressed as Santa Claus protested the deforestation of large swaths of Argentina on Tuesday as he sat outside of Congress in sweltering heat beside a papier-mache Christmas tree stump. Complete with a sack of gifts and faux white beard, the protester was joined by five others Greenpeace workers who unfurled a yellow banner reading, “There is no Christmas without trees.” The environmental group is calling on lawmakers to pass legislation protecting native forests from being cut down to make way for farming, cattle-ranching and human development. Lawmakers have until the end of the year to approve the legislation and send it to the Senate, activists said. “Argentina is in a state of a forest emergency,” Greenpeace spokesman Juan Carlos Villalongo said. Soybean and other farming, coupled with ranching and the lumber industry, are destroying millions of acres (hectares) of forest land each year in the South American country, he said. The legislation calls for each province to come up with adequate plans for fighting deforestation and would require House and Senate approval. http://www.planetsave.com/ps_mambo/The_News/World_News/Sanata_protests_deforestation_2006122082
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Paraguay:

26) The government of Paraguay has extended a law that seeks to curb deforestation rates in the Upper Parana Atlantic Forest. The “Zero Deforestation Law” — which came into force in December 2004 and would have expired at end 2006 — has been extended by two years. To date, the law has helped cut deforestation rates in the Upper Parana Atlantic Forest by more than 85 per cent, from 88,000–170,000ha annually before implementation of the law, to a current level of approximately 16,700ha annually. Before the law came into force, Paraguay had the second highest deforestation rate in the world. The Upper Parana Atlantic Forest is part of the Atlantic Forest, one of the world’s most ecologically important regions. It is known for its rich biodiversity and high level of species endemism — over 90 per cent of all amphibians and 50 per cent of all plants here are found nowhere else on Earth. But the forest is also one of the world’s most endangered tropical forests. In many areas over 95 per cent of the natural forest has been lost as a result of agriculture expansion, especially for soy production and cattle ranching. Data from Oil World indicates that the deforestation law has not affected soy production in Paraguay, the world’s fourth largest soybean exporter. Production has actually increased in spite of the law. In the 2004–05 season, production was 3.9 million tons, up from 3.5 million tons in the 2003–04 season. For the 2005–06 season, production is likely to be 4.2 million tons. In August, WWF awarded the Paraguayan government with the Leaders for the Living Planet Award in recognition of its efforts in conserving the Upper Parana Atlantic Forest. http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/index.cfm?uNewsID=90320

Brazil:

27) Poyry’s Forest Industry business group has entered into an agreement with Chamflora – Tres Lagoas Agroflorestal Ltda. regarding the implementation of a greenfield bleached kraft pulp mill in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul in Brazil. Chamflora, a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Paper (IP), began operating in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul in 1988. Control of the pulp mill project, as well as Chamflora’s existing eucalyptus plantations and operating assets, are expected to be transferred to Votorantim Celulose e Papel S.A. (VCP) in early 2007 according to the terms of an existing exchange agreement between IP and VCP. Poyry Tecnologia Ltda. has participated in the development of the project during the conceptual and feasibility phases as well as in the basic engineering of the pulp mill, and has been designated in the Agreement as the supplier of overall project management as well as engineering, procurement, and construction management services for the pulp mill project, and the parties expect to enter into the appropriate Services Agreement by the end of January 2007. http://home.nestor.minsk.by/build/news/2006/12/2101.html

28) Tuesday evening (19/12), after more than four hours waiting in front of the Ministry of Justice in Brasilia, 18 representatives – the 7 chiefs and 11 leaders – of the Tupinikim and Guarani indigenous people left the place. No one of the Ministry wanted to receive them. The meeting with the Minister of Justice was part of the agreement between the National Foundation of the Indigenous Peoples (FUNAI) and the Tupinikim and Guarani, that the 300 Indians who occupied the harbor of Portocel during 12 and 13 December would leave the place. Through this harbor, Aracruz exports 97% of the cellulose produced by the pulp mills complex of the company, close to the town of Aracruz. In February 2006, after a violent action of the Federal Police to remove the Indians who had retaken their land, invaded by Aracruz Cellulose, the Minister of Justice Márcio Thomaz Bastos promised to sign the Act that declares the Tupinikim/Guarani land indigenous, as soon as he received the opinion-document of FUNAI. This document was sent by FUNAI to the Ministry of Justice on September 12. According to Brazilian law, after receiving the document, the Minister has 30 days to decide in favor or against the indigenous peoples. The document has already been approved by the juridical department of the Ministry. However, Aracruz presented three weeks ago one more document, a so-called ‘memorial’, made by the lawyers office of the ex-minister of justice and of the Supreme Federal Court, Nelson Jobim, challenging once again the recommendation of FUNAI to demarcate the land. This last challenge, according to FUNAI-representatives, has also already been analyzed by the juridical department of the Ministry and does not add any new information to the process. So at the moment, there is nothing left that could impede a decision of the Minister. http://www.globaljusticeecology.org

India:

29) At first the activism began online, on websites like savegoa.com. Then it quickly found support amongst Goa’s notables like those gathered at the little concerto in the village of Siolim. “My problem with the Regional Plan is that the village that I come from has been almost destroyed. The government gave out the communidade land illegally to put up an industrial site for fiberglass,” said Wendell Rodricks, a fashion designer. “So our trees are bearing fruits with black marks, some of them are barren. We don’t get as many mangoes and coconuts as before,” Rodricks added. “Uncontrolled, undisciplined, and really damaging to Goa’s general style of living. It’s being pulled down by the standards of the new buildings, by the fact that it is not planned in any way,” said Sir Dennis Forman, Ex-Chairman, Granada TV, UK. But the turning point was the backing of the Church, which broke the elite nature of the activism. It also took the political edge off the protests. It would not be easy now for the Congress to claim that the protests were triggered by the BJP. But while the protests brought different strands of Goan society together many remain divided about who is the enemy. Most Goan battles are against an outside world, encroaching on Goa’s culture, language, and way of life. The campaign against the Regional Plan too has an undercurrent of that; of land deals being made in Bombay and Dubai, a grudging reluctance to acknowledge that Goans themselves may be active agents in selling off their state. http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?category=National&slug=Goans+protest+against+deve
lopment+plan&id=98166

30) India’s parliament has passed a bill giving millions of poor families rights to inhabit the forests which they have lived in for many generations. The bill, which still requires presidential approval to become law, will give them a legal right to stay in the forest and live off its produce. But conservationists are worried the bill could damage the forest and lead to an increase in poaching. More than 40m people live in India’s forests, foraging for honey and fruit. India’s forest dwellers are among the poorest and most marginalised people in the country. Without the rights to the land of their forefathers, many have been ordered to make way for logging and mining companies. Those who have resisted complain of being treated like criminals. The Tribal Affairs Minister, PR Kyndiah, said the government was now recognising rights which had been taken away by environmental laws. He told parliament that he wanted to do away with that injustice. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6193383.stm
Pakistan:

31) ISLAMABAD: Deforestation by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) is causing environmental pollution and distorting the federal capital’s beauty. The CDA is engaged in deforestation to widen the roads for coping with increased traffic. The authority is in a fix, as it has to cope with the growing traffic problem on one hand and has to maintain the beauty of the city on the other. The cutting of trees is resulting in increased air pollution and mercury in the city. Experts say that deforestation in the capital is harmful for the environment and that pollution would reach alarming levels if the CDA did not plant more trees. They believe that deforestation could also cause diseases such as sunstrokes and headaches. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C12%5C20%5Cstory_20-12-2006_pg11_2

Korea:

32) On December 20, 57 days after she first climbed the tree, she will descend. Shin has been protesting against a project to construct a golf course on Mt. Gyeyang. Her fight has been successful – the project has been cancelled. After citizens, Shin included, began to protest against Lotte Engineering & Construction’s plan to build a 27-hole golf course on land skirting the mountain, Incheon cancelled the plan on December 13. The land is owned by Lotte Group chairman Shin Kyuk-ho. Shin Jeong-eun initially planned to continue the demonstration until December 21, hoping that the mountain would be developed into a park for citizens, but she changed her schedule due to bad health. “There will be no construction projects on Mt. Gyeyang,” she said. “The citizens won’t accept such projects.” The activist, who joined the civic organization Green Incheon in January after leaving the company where she worked for seven years after graduating from college, climbed the tree alone on October 26. Her purpose was to awaken the people to the fact that the scenic place should not be damaged by a construction project. She built a tent in the tree. For the first few days, the weather was not so bad. A week later, however, the situation was different. When thunder roared and lightning flashed around her through the night, she could not sleep at all. On the 14th day of the demonstration, she wrote, “After the sun sets, the power of the wind becomes stronger. It sweeps in from the distant forest in the dark just like surging waves. The hut and I shake as one body, and I have an illusion that I am floating on the sea.” Shin has a humble wish. On the Internet site of her organization, she wrote, “When I was very young, I liked the smell of attics very much. One time, I didn’t want to get out of the attic, because I hoped the smell might soak into my body if I stayed there a long time. I don’t know how long it will take, but I want the smell of the pine tree to soak into my body and remain even after I climb down the tree.” http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/179234.html

Philippines:

The business community has time and again complained of extremely disruptive decisions of the judiciary that negatively affect the country’s business climate. Well, it seems the Supreme Court has done it again. This time, the decision may adversely affect the press, in the sense that its local newsprint supply could be compromised. There was this recent decision by a division of the Supreme Court that would make newsprint producer PICOP lose 76,000 hectares of its tree plantation area in Mindanao. The decision will make its remaining area no longer economically viable so as to force the company to cease operations. Some 3,000 regular employees will lose their jobs and the economy of several towns in Surigao del Sur, including Bislig, will be crippled. PICOP, a publicly listed corporation owned by 11,000 shareholders, is the primary supplier of newsprint to local newspapers including The Philippine Star. http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=60218

Indonesia:

34) The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has detained a former East Kalimantan forestry division head in a corruption investigation. Robian was arrested Monday night for his alleged involvement in the issuance of illegal logging permits to PT Surya Dumai Group (ADG) within the 2000-2002 period, KPK spokesman Johan Budi S.P. said Tuesday. Robian’s boss, suspended East Kalimantan governor Suwarna Abdul Fatah, has also been detained on the same charges by the commission. Johan said that based on the investigation, SDG president director Martias and East Kalimantan forestry office head Uuh Aliyudin were also implicated in the case. The two are yet to be charged. The KPK accuses SDG of illegally stealing some 700,000 cubic meters of logs from a local forest, causing state losses of up to Rp 386 billion (US$42 million). Suwarna was indicted last November for allegedly granting permission to SDG’s illegal logging scam, which left a million hectares of land cleared for a plantation project. Instead, the company allegedly carried out illegal logging activities there using the land concession permits. Suwarna had allegedly given dispensation to 10 subsidiary companies of SDG without the required bank warranty. Robian is said to have confirmed that Suwarna allowed the companies not to provide the bank warranty. Suwarna, a supporter of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), has been charged with enriching himself and the 10 companies and with abusing his power while in office. http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20061220.H05&irec=4

New Zealand:

35) The rate of new forest planting has fallen from its long-term average of 43,000ha per year to 6000ha in 2005. And that was offset by an estimated 7000ha of deforestation, meaning that for the first time in decades the national forest estate did not increase. Critics said the policy proposals on land use and forestry outlined yesterday had too much stick and too little carrot to turn that trend around. The carrot would be to give those planting new forests post-2007 either a cash grant – Forestry Minister Jim Anderton indicated $100 million over five years might be available – or the relevant tradeable sink credits and the associated liabilities. The stick applies to the owners of non-Kyoto or pre-1990 forests. At the moment if they switch to another land use upon harvest, the Government (or taxpayer) faces the liability that arises under Kyoto’s rules. deforestation is occurring at what are high rates by historical standards and the effect on the national emissions bill is compounded if the land is switched to dairying, given cattle’s propensity to belch methane, a greenhouse gas. So the Government is considering a flat charge upon deforestation. Climate Change Minister David Parker said it would recoup all or some of the liability. At present carbon prices and exchange rates that could cost up to $13,000 a hectare – often much more than the land would be worth as pasture. And that cost could rise if carbon prices go up and/or the exchange rate goes down. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10415979

Australia:

36) Woodchipping company Gunns ltd has fired its lawyers for the second time and hired Clayton Utz, the law firm which famously represented tobacco giant British American Tobacco, to pursue its claims against The Wilderness Society and 19 others. “We have now seen three statements of claim, two sets of lawyers, but after two years we still have no idea what the claims against us are and the forests continue to be clearfelled,” TWS Legal Co-ordinator. Dr Greg Ogle, said. Just over a month ago the Victorian Supreme Court threw out Gunns Ltd’s unprecedented legal action for the third time, describing the size of the lawsuit as “unjust” and “embarrassing”. Gunns are now seeking to delay a scheduled hearing on Monday that would have determined costs following its third statement of claim being thrown out of court. Clayton Utz has previously represented tobacco giants British American Tobacco and were implicated in 2002 when the Victorian Supreme Court found the company had destroyed documents which would have been key to litigation. While Clayton Utz was subsequently cleared on appeal, their chief executive partner David Fagan said at the time that moral judgments have no place in the advice a lawyer gives to a client. But Dr Ogle said that the morality of the destruction of Tasmania’s old growth forests was at the centre of the current case. “Julian Burnside QC has previously described Gunn’s pleadings as a rubik’s cube – the same stuff just twisted in a different way. The rubik cube has now taken yet another twist,” Dr Ogle said. Clayton Utz was paid $19 million in 2005 for legal advice to the Federal Government, a sinle payment to one law firm that almost dwarfs the Commonwealth’s entire contribution to community legal centres of $24 million a year. http://www.lists.wilderness.org.au

37) Premier Paul Lennon has warned a Federal Court decision to protect two rare birds and a beetle could destroy Tasmania’s forestry and agricultural industries. Mr Lennon said Greens senator Bob Brown’s legal win stopping logging in the Wielangta State Forest could also have “serious ramifications for the Tasmanian economy”. Forestry Tasmania would be unable to continue to offer long-term wood supply, threatening sawmills and the proposed pulp mill. Mr Lennon has asked Prime Minister John Howard to urgently change the law to protect the milling industries, 10,000 forestry jobs and farmers’ livelihoods. He said the decision could extend to all activities in Tasmania’s environment and had introduced a “whole new set of requirements”. The court had ruled people whose activity impacted on the eagle or its habitat had to protect and enhance the species’ population. Mr Lennon said legal advice indicated the ramifications of Justice Shane Marshall’s decision “go way beyond” Wielangta and forestry. “The wedge-tailed eagle does not confine itself to a particular forest,” he said. “Activity outside a state forest could well find itself in the same position as activity inside the forest. “The situation is very serious.” In the biggest blow, Justice Marshall removed Forestry Tasmania’s exemption from the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Mr Lennon said Tasmania had locked up 40 per cent of its landmass in reserves and parks for the exemption, which Mr Howard should restore. http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,20960224-5007221,00.html

38) In the latest attempt to unhinge the native forest industry debate and move it away from fact and logic, Kile is arguing that logging native forests is actually a good way to reduce the impacts of dangerous climate change. This is nonsense and lacks scientific credibility. If we are going to take a firm step in tackling climate change, it is important to read, understand and acknowledge the science that has been conducted over the past decade on climate change, and the role native forest and woodland ecosystems play in ameliorating the process, and what happens when we log and clear them. For example, research conducted (and peer-reviewed) by independent scientists from the Australian National University, Melbourne University and Monash University show that almost 10,000 hectares of Victoria’s native forest and woodlands were logged last year, and this process released about 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. This is the equivalent to an extra 2.4 million cars on Victoria’s roads for a year. An important part of this analysis is that it accounted for all the carbon that could have theoretically been stored in wood products, generated from the logged timber. The 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide released came from other elements of the native ecosystems being logged, including carbon found in the stems, litter and the soil. Not surprisingly, these carbon emissions are never accounted for by the native forest industry in their reports, or in their opinion pieces. But there are other elements of Kile’s pro-logging diatribe that are staggering. In an extraordinary argument, he went on to say that native forest logging is not affecting water supplies in Victoria. This goes against research conducted over decades by independent scientists across the country, including Australia’s CSIRO and Melbourne Water, which show that logging native forests in catchments leads to an enormous loss of water in streams and rivers. One example is the Thomson catchment, which feeds Melbourne’s water supply and is being logged. Independent research has shown that if logging were phased out of this catchment by 2020, there would be a net saving of 20,000 megalitres a year. http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/native-forest-logging-industry-is-stooping-to-new-lows/2
006/12/19/1166290544416.html