170 – Earth’s Tree News

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Today for you 37 news items about 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
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–British Columbia: 1) Kitasoo, Wuikinuxv and the Great Bear –Washington 2) Grassy Narrows Quadrant Home protest continues
–Oregon: 3) One of the last intact watersheds, 4) Trashing out the water supply,
–California: 5) Governor will defend Redwoods, 6) Petrified forest, 7) Treesit victory,
–Indiana: 8) Hosier National Forest is lying again
–Vermont: 9) Importing lumber from Germany into Vermont?
–New Hampshire: 10) Trashing Church Real Estate with chainsaws
–USA: 11) Biomass extraction and soil disturbance, 12) Eco-Churches,
–UK: 13) Welcome to illegal-logging.info
–Finland: 14) Save the old growth
–Italy: 15) Beautiful forests lost to 1870 unification
–Tajikistan: 16) Uncontrolled deforestation
–Uganda: 17) Save what is remaining
–Kenya: 18) Undergoing paramilitary training to defend trees, 19) Flooding,
–Nigeria: 19) A bunch of disgruntled elements, 20) Sahara Desert moves South,
–Sudan: 21) Who lives in Klotou Forest?
–Ethiopia: 22) Wood gatherers abused by forest guards,
–Mozambique: 23) Last forests gone in a matter of a handful of years
–Guyana: 24) More FSC scams
–Brazil: 25) Cemeteries of Brazil nut trees
–Peru: 26) Save the Jags
–Malaysia: 27) Timber industry will be expanded, 28) Northern frontier
–Indonesia: 29) 14,000ha of new oil palm land, 30) Caught with 15 tons of logs, 31) Holding a rainforest hostage for ransom, 32) Greenpeace protest, 33) fallen foul of country’s forest laws,
–Philippines: 34) Save dwarf water buffalo, 35) Hostage Standoff ends with log ransom,
–Australia: 36) Loggers are not honest, 37) Forest Enterprises Australia Limited wins,

British Columbia:

1) The Kitasoo and Wuikinuxv territories lie in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest on the central coast of British Columbia. There are five existing protected areas in Kitasoo territory, and 10 new conservancies, including the Kitasoo Spirit Bear Conservancy on Princess Royal Island. Wuikinuxv territory encompasses two existing and 11 new conservancies. New and existing protected areas will total over 50 per cent of the Kitasoo Xai’xais Nation territory and about 20 per cent of the Wuikinuxv Nation territory. “This land management agreement provides a framework for the Kitasoo and the government of B.C. to work together to protect our cultural and ecological values, including the Spirit Bear,” Kitasoo administrator Percy Starr said. “It will also encourage low-key Kitasoo tourism, which will provide jobs for our people, while protecting the fish and foods they rely on.” Both Collaborative Management Agreements for conservancies and protected areas focus on park planning, identifying and developing economic activities, building capacity, and creating a forum for both parties to discuss issues of common interest. Through agreements like this, B.C. works together with First Nations to ensure the long-term ecological and cultural integrity of the lands and resources in First Nations’ traditional territories. B.C. is building relationships with Aboriginal people founded on the principles of mutual respect and reconciliation. http://www.gov.bc.ca

Washington:

2) For the past few months SeaRAG (the Seattle Rainforest Action Group) has been showing up at housing developments built by environmentally-challenged and deceptive Quadrant Homes. Now, January 24th, 2007, it was time to take on their headquarters. On an unusually clear Seattle day, our troupe, who had come from as far as Sultan and Puyallup, descended on Quadrant’s Bellevue offices. One of our signs read “Honk if U [Heart] Trees!” and received lots of supportive horn-tooting. Another sign said “I’m Peter Orser, and I like stealing from Native People”, referring to Quadrant’s CEO and emblazoned with his picture. Someone even brought a chainsaw, which made a funny prop next to our “Sustainable Forestry NOW!” poster. I could feel that we were making a big impact. With Peter in that building, along with his upper-level white-collar underlings, we were going where the real power was and affecting them personally. As employees went home they saw our signs, and others in the office windows stared out at our little circus. You had better believe that our message will be the water-cooler talk there for a few days, and make Mr. Orser’s life a hassle as his colleagues bombard him with questions about why we were out there protesting him. Perfect. Quadrant’s houses are built using wood clearcut from the traditional lands of the people of Grassy Narrows without their consent. This indigenous group has supported itself on this land in Ontario, Canada, for thousands of years, hunting, fishing, and gathering berries, rice and medicinal herbs. Now Weyerhaeuser-led logging is threatening this way of life and cutting deep into the Boreal forest, part of the largest intact forest in the world, and known as the ‘Amazon of the North’ because of its size and many species. http://www.searag.org

Oregon:

3) The Copper Salmon area is one of the last intact watersheds on the southwest Oregon coast, nestled between the Copper and Salmon Mountains in the Siskiyou National Forest. The Elk River, which reaches the Pacific Ocean just north of Port Orford, is home to healthy populations of Chinook salmon, steelhead, Coho salmon, and sea-run cutthroat trout. Oregon State University researchers believe it is one of the healthiest anadromous fish streams in the lower 48. The Copper Salmon area also supports healthy populations of blacktail deer, black bear and mountain lion. Despite its tremendous attributes, the headwaters of the North Fork of the Elk River, around 12,000 acres, currently have no degree of permanent protection. It is adjacent to the already-protected Grassy Knob Wilderness Area that was designated more than 20 years ago. A group of local sportsmen, outfitters, businesses and other interested citizens have organized to support Wilderness designation for the 12,000 acre Copper Salmon area to protect this watershed and ensure that hunting and fishing opportunities are protected. Wilderness designation is popular in the local area, as evidenced by resolutions in favor of the wilderness proposal from the Port Orford Chamber of Commerce, the City of Port Orford, and the Curry County Commissioners. Additionally, a majority of the fishing guides, lodges, businesses, and local citizens are supporting this proposal. For more information on the proposed Copper Salmon Wilderness Area go to: http://www.foer.org

4) FALLS CITY — Along an unnamed creek running through private land in the mountains above this rugged town, loggers felled hundreds of trees in early November. When mud thickened the stream that feeds drinking water to the 1,000 residents, public works employees shut off the intake to the treatment plant to prevent clogging its filters or sending dirty water through faucets. For the next eight days, Falls City residents drew down the reservoir that holds drinking water. “The concern was how long would we have to stop making water,” said Mayor Darrin Fleener. “It is not just drinking water; it is also fire flow. If we have three houses go on fire, we have a problem.” Fleener and public-works supervisor Don Poe investigated what was happening above the creek. They said they found logs being hauled across a road cutting above the creek. “There is no reason they should have been at our headwaters shovel logging,” Fleener said about the heavy-equipment clearcutting. “Protecting that source of water for the future of the town is critical.” Fleener complained to the landowner, Weyerhaeuser, and the Oregon Department of Forestry. Environmental officials and advocates argue that the kind of thing that happened in Falls City is the result of weak or outdated logging rules that don’t protect sources of drinking water. “We believe that there is a substantial body of science that demonstrates Oregon’s existing forestry rules and best-management practices do not consistently meet water quality standards or fully provide riparian functions important to water quality, public water supplies and fish,” David Powers, regional manager for forests and rangelands of the Environmental Protection Agency, told the Oregon Board of Forestry November 2005. Powers said only incremental changes have been made since his testimony a year before Fleener’s worries about logging along his city’s water supply. http://egov.oregon.gov/ODF/PRIVATE_FORESTS/private_forests.shtml#Forest_Practices

California:

5) Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration pledged to fight any attempt to ease protections for old coastal redwoods that could be threatened by a timber company’s bankruptcy filing. Pacific Lumber Co., a subsidiary of Houston-based Maxxam Corp., sought bankruptcy protection in Texas earlier this month, saying it could no longer make a profit because of logging restrictions on its 200,000 acres of timberlands in Humboldt County. The Scotia-based company blamed state water regulations, separate from the logging rules it agreed to in 1999 as part of a “habitat conservation plan” to protect endangered species. Pacific Lumber accepted the 50-year conservation plan as part of an agreement to sell 7,400 acres of old-growth redwoods to the state and federal governments for $480 million. That land is now the Headwaters Forest Reserve. Mike Chrisman, secretary of the state Resources Agency, said the state will fight any legal effort to end or amend the habitat plan. “We intend to be dogged and unyielding in our efforts to protect California’s interests and hold (Pacific Lumber) to all of its obligations,” Chrisman said Friday in a letter to Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20070127-1459-ca-pacificlumber.html

6) The tour starts at the end of a long forest road, but the story starts about 3.4 million years ago, when a volcano near Mount St. Helena erupted and sent a wave of molten lava and ash into the valley, mowing down what had previously been a sturdy grove of redwoods. With no witnesses to report specifics, it’s impossible to say for sure that the lava knocked down the trees, but it’s one way to explain how they all fell in the same direction, and uphill. What happened next sounds like something from the Old Testament: The trees were turned to stone. More specifically, as the broken giants lay buried under tons of ash, silica-rich water seeped into the tree fibers, depositing minerals into the cells. When the fibers eventually decayed away, the mineral casts remained, preserving the structure down to molecular levels. Over the years, natural erosion and geological uplift unearthed the trees. Though one of the trees was technically stumbled upon in 1857, it was a Swede named Charles Petersen Evans who saw the potential in such a discovery — moneymaking potential. In 1871, he claimed the property, fenced off the first log and dug out some others. To his neighbors’ likely dismay (they already thought he was a little unbalanced), he built a shack called the “Wasp’s Nest” on the property and started charging two bits, more or less, for a gander at the bizarre specimens. In 1914, a woman named Ollie Bockee (pronounced “bouquet”), who was as hardworking as Evans was peculiar, bought it with her husband for $16,000. She threw herself into excavation projects for 25 years, unearthing most of the logs visible today and attracting publicity (and funds) by getting them exhibited around the country. Her son replaced the shack with a large house, modeled after a Swiss chalet, which still stands today, housing a museum and souvenir shop. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/28/PKG9SNJUJM1.DTL

7) BERKELEY – Score one for the trees. Citing environmental and seismic concerns, a judge blocked construction of a $125 million sports center at the University of California, Berkeley, that would mean felling an old oak grove. The plan to renovate Cal’s Memorial Stadium and build a new training center and parking garage has been challenged by neighbors and city officials on several fronts. They say the project is environmentally flawed and it’s too dangerous to build so close to the Hayward fault, which runs through the stadium. Plans to cut down about three dozen oaks to make way for the center stirred the most visible protest, with activists taking to the trees last month and remaining at their perch through December rains and even some minor earthquakes. In issuing a preliminary injunction, made public Monday, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara Miller said opponents’ environmental and seismic-related arguments were strong enough to justify a preliminary injunction until a trial can be held. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20070129-1550-ca-calstadium.html

Indiana:

8) In a recent Associated Press story about the Forest Service’s denial of administrative appeals of the new Management Plan for the Hoosier National Forest, a Forest Service spokesperson was quoted as stating the Plan would “limit logging to about 200 acres per year.” “This is inaccurate and not supported by the agency’s own documents,” said Mark Donham of Heartwood, a regional forest protection organization that appealed the Plan. “As indicated in the attached table from the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) which accompanied the plan, the Plan (Alt. 5) actually allows 680 acres a year of “official” logging, including 200 acres of clearcutting,” said Donham. “Over the course of the Plan, this will result in over 10,000 acres being logged off the Hoosier, including 3000 acres of clearcutting.” http://www.heartwood.org/home.php

Vermont:

9) We are importing lumber from Germany into Vermont! I understand that we routinely ship lumber in from other European countries as well as Siberia. Vermont is three-quarters covered with forest. Less than half of the annual production of these forests is harvested. There is plenty of raw material for use to fill our own needs, if we have the wisdom to do it, and avoid cost of both money and fuel wasted transporting lumber into Vermont.We are stupidly contributing to global warming because of the huge consumption of fuel that it takes to transport lumber from half way around the globe. We are also losing the economic opportunity to fill this need ourselves. If we are serious about this issue we must find and eliminate the barriers to local lumber production. Do we need more investment in our forest products industry? Does placing so much public land under wilderness designation eliminate the resource base needed to sustain our local lumber industry and perversely do more damage to the forest than logging ever could? Can we have a Vermont content requirement for construction? Can we have state contracts that require local lumber? We talk of creating green buildings, but our buildings can not be green if we don’t make them of local material. –Arthur G. Krueger, Shrewsbury (Times Argua)

New Hampshire:

10) Early last year I was contacted by the 1st Church of Christ, Scientist, to help comply with the church’s mandate to manage its property in Bow for current use. With my advice, church officials decided it was time to thin the forestland of their prized possession, the birthplace of Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the 1st Church of Christ, Scientist, on Route 3A. I was honored to be chosen as the forester for this project. During my preliminary walk with the church’s representative, a happy-go-lucky, Harley-Davidson-riding executive named Scott Davis from Boston, we looked for ways to improve the condition of the forest without compromising its pleasant aesthetics. I began by taking several increment borings. This entails using a handheld drill to remove a small column of growing wood so that rings can be counted. Through these borings, Scott and I found that the growth of this magnificent pine forest over the past 20 years had slowed to a crawl. The forest, which had not been managed for decades, was stagnating because of a very high density of trees. I prescribed removing just under half the stems – a judicious thinning but nothing drastic. Any thinning in white pines entails risk. If you thin too much, you risk losing the forest to wind-throw or ice buildup and trees toppling from the weight of the ice and more wind. The three or four years just after a thinning are when the trees are most vulnerable to these shocks. We’ve all seen it happen. It leaves a forest of bent trees, snap-offs and uprooted stock. It looks and feels like a failure to most foresters. No forester can predict the future, and we won’t know for years if my treatment is successful. Such is the life and work of foresters. Our work is evaluated by future generations. Scott and I spoke of potential income to the church from the thinning. After all, churches need money to run. I can’t divulge the numbers because that is privileged information, but my estimate of the timber value to be delivered to the church buckled his knees. Had he contacted me 10-15 years earlier, the income quote could have been doubled simply because we could have thinned the forest twice, as opposed to once. I assume he’ll call after 10 years or so now. http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070128/REPOSITORY/701280316/1266/48H
OURS

USA:

11) Forest biomass extraction may cause soil disturbances which could alter ecosystem functions. Resulting responses could be positive, neutral, or negative with regard to sustainability. They can also vary considerably over the course of a harvest rotation. International sustainability protocols, certification schemes, and public or private landowners all have varying standards, guidelines, or expectations for soil conservation, including widely varying approaches to describing, assessing and reporting soil disturbance that occurs from forest management practices. In 1989, a group of USDA Forest Service, Canadian, New Zealand, forest products industry, university, and other science professionals embarked on a cooperative study to determine the effects of soil disturbance on site productivity. The Long Term Site Productivity (LTSP) study also seeks to validate standards and methods for soil quality monitoring. After more than 17 years of hard work, LTSP research results provide the major scientific support for the basic question of this symposium. Recent lawsuits against the U.S. Forest in Montana and Idaho have raised the issue of soil disturbance, soil quality, and sustainability to a very
high level, eclipsing even threatened and endangered species issues. A central question in these suits is the relationship between observed disturbances at the time of a forest management activity and long-term sustainability of forests. Some of the questions to be addressed in this symposium are: Is soil disturbance a proxy for long-term sustainability? What do we really know from the LTSP study and other North American long-term research projects? What is the consensus of the effect of disturbance on long-term site
productivity from international studies? Can we come to a consensus on definitions of soil disturbance? Do short-term impacts disappear in the long-term? Do soil quality standards add any value to long-term forest management? Does climate variability produce more changes in site productivity than physical soil disturbance? http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:9PNYerY12IEJ:soilslab.cfr.washington.edu/S-7/News/20061218.d
oc+%22forest+biomass+extraction%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=8&client=firefox-a

12) The National Council of Churches has announced a new worship and study resource, “Out of the Wilderness: Building Christian Faith and Keeping God’s Creation.” Developed by the National Council of Churches’ Eco-Justice Programs, this resource contains background information and theological reflections on wilderness, sermon starters, a bulletin insert for a themed worship service, suggestions for adult and youth study activities, ideas for personal and congregational action and service, and links to other resources. This resource encourages Christians to follow Jesus’ practice of retreating to wilderness and other quiet places for prayer and renewal. Intended as a guide for congregations, study groups, and individuals, “Out of the Wilderness” highlights the theological gifts of wild land, and offers examples of churches and other Christian groups that have deepened their commitment to creation care through wilderness ministries. Wilderness areas provide excellent habitat and wildlife protection, as well as unique opportunities for solitude. “Out of the Wilderness” encourages the sort of spiritual leadership and renewal that is needed to meet the environmental and social challenges facing humanity. Copies of “Out of the Wilderness” can be downloaded for free on NCC’s Eco-Justice Programs’ website (www.nccecojustice.org/resources.html

UK:

13) Welcome to illegal-logging.info. The purpose of this site is to provide background information on the key issues in the illegal logging debate, together with news stories, information on events, key documents and links to other relevant websites. Illegal logging and the international trade in illegally logged timber is a major problem for many timber-producing countries in the developing world. It causes environmental damage, costs governments billions of dollars in lost revenue, promotes corruption, undermines the rule of law and good governance and funds armed conflict. This site is maintained by the Energy, Environment and Development Programme of Chatham House in London, with funding from the UK Department for International Development http://www.illegal-logging.info/

Finland:

14) In Finnish Lapland the state owned logging company Metsähallitus started huge loggings in old-growth forests in November despite strong national support for their protection and despite several international biodiversity declarations signed by Finland. These unique ancient forests with up to 500 year old pine trees are being logged mainly for pulp and paper. The mills that use the ancient forests are Stora Enso pulp mill in Kemijärvi, Stora Enso paper mill in Veitsiluoto and Botnia pulp mill in Kemi. Logging and road construction has already started or is being planned in at least six areas. These loggings would permanently destroy unique natural values. The possibilities for reindeer herding and nature tourism on these areas would also be severely damaged. As the forests are situated at relatively high altitude in northern taiga the regeneration of the forests is also at doubt. All of these loggings are not even economically sustainable. Only 4.4 percent of Finnish forests are classified as old-growth forests. Still only about half of them are protected. PLEASE TELL YOUR OPINION and ask for immediate stop to these outrageous loggings. Contact adresses and model letter below. More information about these forests and loggings with photo galleries can be found at: http://www.forestinfo.fi/forestlapland

Italy:

15) Marsh’s book Man and Nature is above all a book of praise for forests, and a warning of the desolation that can follow deforestation. When Marsh was a boy the great forest trees of Vermont and New Hampshire were gone, logged by the first settlers. The landscape was one of bare hills where sheep grazed, and eroding stream valleys below. Later, as he learned and traveled, Marsh came to see that deforestation could do grave damage not just locally in Vermont but to the economies of whole countries and empires, including those of the Mediterranean. The destruction of Mediterranean forests began in ancient times, and by the 19th century to find a good forest in Italy one needed to go into the Alps or the Apennines. In the central Apennines, the glorious old beeches that grow at higher levels could not naturally expand their groves because of the herds of sheep and goats that ate any seedling. As Elder says, Marsh found at Vallombrosa, when serving as our envoy to Italy, “a focal landscape for his meditation in a time of environmental crisis….For almost a thousand years the Vallombrosian monks, and the surrounding villages under their jurisdiction, protected and cultivated their huge forest domain.” Sadly, after the unification of Italy in 1870 there was widespread and needlessly destructive logging both at Vallombrosa and elsewhere in Italy. (One wishes Professor Elder had mentioned Norman Douglas, who laments in his 1915 work Old Calabria the destruction of great virgin forests in southern Italy that survived centuries of Norman, Bourbon, and Napoleonic rule and misrule but fell prey to modern lumber companies.) Today the Vallombrosa area has been designated a Riserva Naturale, affording a good degree of protection to a forest that, Elder finds, “retains botanical diversity and beauty to an extraordinary degree.” Marsh made his final trip from Rome to Vallombrosa in 1882 in order to visit his friend Adolfo di Berenger, who had founded the forestry school that still exists there today. The old Vermonter lay down for a nap there on a sunny afternoon in July, and never awakened. Marsh’s remains were met on arrival in Rome by a regiment of Italian lancers and the kingdom’s foreign minister, and he was buried in the old Protestant cemetery near the Pyramid of Cestius. He lies there today, in the company of poet John Keats. http://www.calitreview.com/Reviews/pilgrimage_112.htm

Tajikistan:

16) Davlatshoh Gulmahmadov, director of the government’s agency for land improvement and cartography, says over 97 per cent of the land in Tajikistan is at risk of degradation due to uncontrolled deforestation. “People cut down trees and destroy other plants, which leads to landslides, avalanches, floods and mudslides, causing erosion,” said Gulmahmadov. Saulius Smalis, an environmental advisor with the OSCE in the capital Dushanbe, says it is not just deforestation, but the gradual destruction of pasture lands, that leads to the risk of desertification. Ecologists warn that the destruction of mountain vegetation has a global impact. “When the bushes are destroyed, this [loosening of soil] can lead to dust storms in the eastern Pamirs. The dust settles on glaciers and they [absorb more heat and] melt more rapidly,” says Svetlana Blagoveschenskaya, an ecologist and biologist expert working on a European Union environmental project. The Pamir Mountains are home to Central Asia’s largest glaciers, which feed the Amu Darya, one of the region’s two great rivers. Blagoveshenskaya says deforestation will only end when the Tajik government starts providing people with alternative sources of fuel. Gulmahmadov told NBCentralAsia that the government adopted a national action programme for combating desertification back in 2001 – but there are no funds available to implement it. http://www.iwpr.net/?p=btj&s=b&o=328875&apc_state=henh

Uganda:

17) It’s unfortunate that the government has not listened to the pleas made by the Ugandan public to save what is remaining of the country’s natural forest cover. It’s even more saddening to write that government is determined to issue a 90 year permit to Bidco, a private foreign company, to destroy the five tropical high forest reserves of Bugala sector on the remote lake Victoria island of Kalangala. Bidco is now at liberty to cut and destroy these natural forests and replace them with palm oil plantations. But the nation needs to know that this savage onslaught on the country’s forest cover can be legally curtailed following the February 2006 amendment to our national constitution. Constitutional experts had earlier argued that the national objectives and directives of state national policy, which provided for the Public Trust Doctrine in the management of our natural resources including forests, were not justiciable (legally binding) to the state/ government officials. However this lacuna (gap) in the law has since been closed and a new article 8A (1) has transformed the 1995 guiding principles to provide that ” Uganda shall be governed based on principles of national interest and common good enshrined in the national objectives and the principles of state policy. This particular amended read together with Article 39 of the constitution gives a right to a clean and healthy environment. In this regard the constitution puts the government under obligation to protect the environment from abuse and degradation, to conserve the environment and to restore the environment where its polluted or degraded. http://allafrica.com/stories/200701221567.html

Kenya:

18) Newly recruited as well as long-serving guards are undergoing paramilitary training at Londiani, as the Forestry Department prepares to become a more efficient parastatal – the Kenya Forest Service. Guards, whose numbers have dwindled since the mid-’80s when the Government implemented structural adjustment programmes, have since independence been armed with pangas and batons only, rendering them ineffective in the war on poachers of forest produce. In areas like Garissa, where charcoal burners have been armed with sophisticated weapons like AK-47 rifles, forest guards had resorted to merely reporting on harvested kilns long after the charcoal had been sold. The guards were also unable to venture inside wildlife-inhabited areas like Mau Forest. A few years ago, criminals were arrested cultivating cannabis sativa in one of these forests. The ambitious paramilitary training at Kenya Forestry College in Londiani, Kericho District, hopes to change all that. The new permanent secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Prof James ole Kiyiapi, said at the opening of a two-month course for 200 guards at Londiani last Wednesday that the training was tailored to meet the challenges of protecting State forests. “As a disciplined unit of the Forest Department, your main role is to protect the resources from all threats. The training will cover a wide area, including law and policy, basic forestry management, first aid, field craft weaponry and fire fighting.” http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=39&newsid=90075

19) Floods-prone Budalang’i constituency of Busia District and the Kano plains in Nyando, Nyanza, bear the brunt of the fury of the heavy floods year in year out. These two areas lie along plain zones where the rivers depost their heavy loads of silt on the river beds, raising them. The areas also have scant tree cover, with poor general vegetation. So, when Budalang’i MP Raphael Wanjala some time back claimed that he and his people had discovered a lasting solution to the problem, we were naturally interested to hear him out. The solution they were so excited about, we came to learn, was discovering that the dykes had been constructed at a height of only five metres. It was argued that when this happened, there was no anticipation that the waters would ever reach that level. Therefore, the MP .and his team resolved to construct dykes to a height of up to eight metres. This was in the hope that the waters would never reach that height. That is all very good but as we have learnt from Geography, as long as deforestation is not checked in the larger Lake Victoria basin, the river load will continue to increase and so will the deposits on the river bed in the lower plains. Nyando, Nzoia and Yala rivers snake through vast distances, traversing many districts. Therefore, a solution worked out in the lower region of Budalang’i might be necessary but is hardly sufficient. Deforestation creates massive deposits on the river beds. It will, therefore, make sense for all the MPs from the region to come together and form an anti-flooding network. Together with the National Environmental Management Authority (Nema), and by involving affected communities, they should lobby against bad practices in the basin. http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=23&newsid=90306

Nigeria:

20) The Edo State Ministry of Environment has urged major players in the timber industry in the state to go about their normal business operations without fear of intimidation or harassment by any group in the state. The Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Engineer Ade Edeki gave the words of encouragement yesterday while reacting to statements purportedly credited to a group, which styled itself as, Concerned Stakeholders in the Timber Industry of Edo State, at a press briefing in Benin City yesterday. The permanent secretary urged the people, especially timber operators and other allied business owners to discountenance the group, which he described as “a bunch of disgruntled elements who are out to disrupt the on-going reforms in the forestry department in the state”. The permanent secretary explained that under the agreement reached with the three bodies which was aimed at professionalising the operations of the forestry business in the state, the Timber Licence/Contractors Association was expected to pay N3,000,000 monthly, Lorry-Owners – N3,000,000 while Sawmillers Association would pay N550,000 as environment levy to the state government. http://www.thetidenews.com/article.aspx?qrDate=01/26/2007&qrTitle=Edo%20govt%20reassures%20timb
er%20dealers&qrColumn=NIGER%20DELTA

20) Almost all the villagers in this dusty arid region say they have lost homes and farms to the Sahara Desert which is expanding southwards. “What we do is that when the sand moves and buries our homes and farms and even our wells, we simply keep retreating southwards,” says Aminu Mahmud, another villager who says he has already lost two different houses to the sand. He says the situation deteriorates every April when strong pre-rainy season sandstorms sweep sand into their settlements. A middle-aged Muslim woman who did not want her photograph taken says women in Bulamadu now spend most of the day travelling long distances in search of potable water. “Water has become more precious than gold now,” the woman who introduced herself as Mairo said, as she sat frying bean cakes known as kosai. “You wake up one morning and the water well that was there yesterday has been buried under the sand. As a result, most of us women have to trek long distances to get water.” The villagers do not seem to see any link between their large appetite for firewood and the advancing sand dunes. They keep cutting down trees in the vicinity and using sun-dried branches as wood fuel or even as an income earner. “The impact the advancing desert is having on communities in that area is quite serious,” says Jacob Nyanganji of Nigeria’s University of Maiduguri which runs a specialist centre for arid zone studies. “It is true that homes and farms have been lost to desertification in the area and it is also true that people’s livelihoods have either been lost or changed completely as a result.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6288445.stm

Sudan:

21) “When you enter our forests, they are all being used by the immigrants with no concern for preservation of the environment,” says Marc Kallé, who lives in Klotou. He complains that Burkinabé and other West African farmers set up camps in the forests and make fires to hunt animals: “In these conditions, there will probably be nothing left in a few years. There is no more land to share here. Come the right time, each one will be asked to go home.” This type of anger and resentment has boiled over on previous occasions, giving rise to deadly clashes. The most serious ever to take place in Côte d’Ivoire occurred in 1999, when about 50 people died in Tabou, and members of the Lobi and Dagaré ethnic groups from Burkina Faso were forced to flee by indigenous Kroumens. Similar confrontations took place in mid-2005 in the far western region of Duékoué, resulting in about ten deaths and displacing some 10,000 people. In recent months the situation in Tabou has become tense once again, with the return of people not native to the area. Tensions between indigenous inhabitants and immigrants in Duékoué have also been mounting over the past two months. Dozens have already been killed, several wounded and thousands displaced here, says Youssouf Omar, interim humanitarian co-ordinator for the United Nations in the economic hub of Abidjan, who has led a mission to the region. http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2007/01/from_desertific.html

Ethiopia:

22) “When the guards find us with wood, they beat us hard,” says Maselech, who is now 10. “If we give them money, they leave us alone. If they get drunk, they try to rape us. We will scream for help, but when we scream in these forests, there is nobody to lend us a hand.” For many in Ethiopia, however, this is nice work if you can get it. The annual per capita income here is about $120 a year – about half of what Maselech might earn in a good year. But some 15,000 women and girls gather fuel from Entoto – destroying Addis Ababa’s last bits of forestland in the process. For nearly two decades, the Former Women Fuel Wood Carriers Association (WFC) has tried to give the young carriers alternatives, teaching them skills such as weaving baskets, scarves, and carpets. But now, the group is set to expand its reach, targeting an estimated 30,000 women across Ethiopia who collect wood and offering a broader range of skills, including forestry management and the marketing of crafts and portable stoves. Fueled by a World Bank grant of more than $2 million, the hope is to achieve two goals simultaneously: uplifting the lives of poor women and protecting the environment. “Once the grant activity is completed, the WFC members are expected to have become self-sustaining entrepreneurs,” wrote Boris Utria, project coordinator for the World Bank in a report issued in January 2007. “It is fully expected that the project will result in an effective empowerment and an irreversible process of social change among the WFC, whereby they will not accept reverting to the previous situation,” the report says. Established in 1994 as a self-help group with a seed grant from the International Labor Organization and the Ethiopian Ministry of Labor Affairs, the wood carriers’ association of 155 members gradually became self-sufficient and has relied on local trade fairs and sales to members of the Ethiopian diaspora to keep going. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0124/p06s01-woaf.html

Mozambique:

23) “If they carry on at the rate they are going it will be probably three to five years and there won’t be any hardwood resources sufficient to sustain continued production,” Simon Norfolk, Director of Terra Firma, a forest governance group in Mozambique, told IRIN.
Mozambique has 19 million hectares of productive woodland, including very high-value species, such as Panga Panga (Millettia stuhlmannii) and Chanfuta (Afzelia quanzensis); tropical hardwoods used for flooring, general construction and specialty items, like sporting goods and furniture. Timber is a resource Mozambique can’t afford to squander, but increasing demand means its prized wood species are being sold off at wholesale prices. “They [loggers] don’t care about the forests. Timber is giving a good price and all you need is a couple of litres of petrol and a chainsaw and you can have a big tree,” said Pedro Mangue, director of the Law Enforcement Department at the National Directorate of Land and Forests (DNTF). Prices fluctuate but for some species one cubic meter can fetch up to US$500 – a fortune in a country where almost 40 percent of the population lives on less than a dollar a day. Mozambican law prohibits the export of ‘primary logs’ [unprocessed timber] of a number of valuable species, with the underlying idea of forcing foreign buyers to invest locally and help develop an industry to create jobs and generate income. Mangue said the operators generally ignored these regulations and exported as much wood as they could, as quickly as they could. “There is a lot of timber that is disappearing without any legal documents from the harbours,” he said. According to DNTF figures, applications for logging licenses rose from 462 in 2005 to nearly 800 in 2006. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/34d2ea168a0eab6e603055c6f1b5249d.htm

Guyana:

24) The audit found that BCL has been deficient on a number of fronts, including harvesting on Amerindian reservations, logging outside its concession, not maintaining basic health and safety requirements for workers, lack of evidence of sustainability in harvesting, failure to perform the relevant environmental impact assessments and unsafe disposal of environmentally hazardous waste. ASI also said that according to the comments garnered from stakeholders, SGS had unclear criteria to select primary stakeholders. “Some representative stakeholders [including representatives of indigenous communities] were not properly consulted.” The stakeholders said SGS’s procedures were not adequate and SGS did not follow appropriate stakeholder consultation process in line with the laws of Guyana. According to ASI, BCL, which had been certified by the FSC, could not demonstrate compliance with FSC certification requirements at the time of the audit, which was conducted between November 20 and 25, 2006. “The lack of appropriate evaluation against the FSC certification requirements has resulted in systematic major nonconformities which had not been addressed,” the report said. http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article_general_news?id=56512783

Brazil:

25) “Sadly, today, we have cemeteries of Brazil nut trees,” said Dr Salamao. “It’s because of the arrival of agriculture. We call it the ‘agricultural frontier’, which goes along with cattle ranching. “When this arrives, they destroy the forest. First, they exploit the valuable wood, and then the cattle ranchers come and turn it into pasture. “Having said that, they keep the Brazil nut trees as well as the rubber trees, as these are legally protected. But they burn the forest to clear the land and the Brazil nut tree is very sensitive to fire. After three years of repeating this process, the trees are dead.” What is worse for Brazil nut collectors is that once the trees have been destroyed, there is little chance of getting them back. Attempts to replace them have been largely unsuccessful. Saplings will not grow in shade and take up to 15 years to begin producing nuts. “Brazil nut trees do not have an easy natural regeneration,” said Hans Muller, who works at Belem’s Embrapa Institute, specialising in agricultural research in the Amazon. “When you destroy one, it’s a real loss. “Unfortunately, when they have talked about sanctuaries – places where you can’t touch any plants at all – well, they don’t exist.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6298997.stm

Peru:

26) Congress is poised to pass a trade agreement that would sanction the destruction of the Peruvian Amazon rainforest –and with it the jaguars and other wildlife that live there. Please forward this message to others who are concerned with protecting endangered species and preventing extinction. Peru can’t seem to see the forest for the trees… at least not when it comes to curbing the illegal logging of mahogany that threatens endangered jaguars and other wildlife. Fortunately, there’s something we can do to help. Please urge your Representative and Senators to vote against the Peru Free Trade Agreement until Peru gets serious about stopping illegal mahogany logging.
https://secure2.convio.net/dow/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=623
Malaysia:

27) The timber industry will be expanded through forest plantation to provide a sustained supply of wood used in the pulp and paper sector in Sarawak. Sarawak state Director of Forest Datuk Cheong Ek Choon said the move was important as the timber cost would be lowered because more supply can be harvested per hectare from the plantation compared to the natural forest. “If the industry players don’t want to expand the timber industry, they will have to depend on the indigenous forest. We can harvest about 200 cubic metres on planted forests compared to 30 to 40 cubic metres on native forests,” he said. He said this to reporters when met at the three-day regional conference on Biodiversity Conservation in Tropical Planted Forests in South East Asia (BCTPF 2007), which ended here Wednesday. On the planted forest project here, he said it was a government project which started in 2003 targetted at establishing a sustainable wood resource to supply to the timber industry. He said, the government always conducted research and development (R&D) on planted forests to come up with the best harvesting method. “The tree plantation is very new in Malaysia, and our R&D is always trying to do an experimental harvesting method,” he said. Cheong said the biodiversity conservation conference was aimed at sharing the findings and research from scientists all over the world. http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news_business.php?id=241824

28) For decades, the presence of communist insurgents kept Malaysia’s northern frontier free from exploitation. Too dangerous to open up for tourism or development, the Belum-Temenggor forest stood in pristine splendour as the nation built superhighways and superstructures, and extracted timber from other forests. Sprawling over 3,000 sqkm, an area four times the size of Singapore, the mostly intact primary rainforest is now a treasure trove of biodiversity. The main intrusion into this wilderness was the construction of the East-West Highway in 1975, a 124km strip of tarmac stretching from Gerik to Jeli to reach Kelantan and the east coast. Not until 1989 did insurgents cease activities, thus enabling logging to commence a few years later when the curfew was lifted. But the habitats remained healthy enough to sustain megafauna such as the Malayan tiger and Asian elephant, the entire menagerie of 10 Malaysian hornbills, special plants such as the large Rafflesia flower and ancient cycads, a range of monkeys and gibbons, as well as a number of orang asli communities. The East-West Highway divides this enormous, but single, ecosystem into its two main parts: Belum Forest Reserve to the north and Temenggor Forest Reserve to the south. So far, the highway is not considered a major barrier to wildlife migrations, and the few incidences of human-animal conflicts warrant caution but not drastic change. Signboards now inform motorists of elephant crossings and give helpful hints on how to deal with wild animal encounters. Imagine being in too much of a hurry to safely gaze at these magnificent pachyderms exiting nearby roadside jungles. But a threat looms over the Belum and Temenggor forests – the Perak Government intends to cultivate a 4km-wide swathe of acacia trees along the East-West Highway. http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2007/1/23/lifefocus/16591171&sec=lifefocus

Indonesia:

29) Chin Teck Plantations Bhd, which made its second foray into Indonesia last year, plans to cultivate 2,000 to 3,000ha of oil palm trees in Sumatra this year. Executive director Wong Aun Phui said the company, which owns some 14,000ha of oil palm land under a joint-venture project, had cleared 300ha and planted 200ha. “Our second joint venture will help enhance the earnings potential of the group and is in line with its strategy to increase its oil palm interest,” he said after the company’s AGM yesterday. Last year, Chin Teck teamed up with sister company Negri Sembilan Oil Palms Bhd and several other partners to each buy a 40% stake in Chin Thye Investment Pte Ltd. Chin Thye would, in turn, own 70% of Indonesian company P.T. Lampung Karya Indah that was licensed to undertake plantation operations in Sumatra. Wong said Chin Teck’s second plantation project in Indonesia would contribute significantly in seven years if the price of crude palm oil remained at the current level. The company made its foray into Indonesia eight years ago and has to date developed 20,000ha in Sumatra. http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/1/27/business/16703319&sec=business

30) Officers at the Dumai Naval Base foiled an attempt to smuggle 15 tons of logs to Malaysia after detaining a nameless ship in Tanjung Gering waters, Pulau Rupat, Riau province, a Navy spokesman said. “Skippered by Sukri, the nameless ship of 12 gross dead-weight tons was trying to smuggle out the logs,” spokesman of the Navy`s Western Fleet Command Lt Col Hendra Pakan said here on Saturday. When he was examined, Sukri was not able to produce a sailing license while the logs in the ship`s hold were not covered by the required documents. Sukri and other members of the ship`s crew as well as the nameless vessel are being held at the Bengkalis naval post for further investigation, he said. Illegal logging and log smuggling to a number of countries such as Malaysia and China have are causing losses to the state amounting to about US$600 million annually. According to a report issued by the forestry Ministry in 2003, about 10 million cubic meters of logs are being smuggled out to other countries every year. From Papua, for example, an average of 600,000 cubic meters of logs were being exported illegally to foreign countries including China, every year. The log smuggling to several countries such as Malaysia and China involved large or small volumes. Large volumes were transported in container ships and barges. Wooden motor vessels and rafts were used to carry out small scale log smuggling. http://www.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=26636

31) Indonesia has called on rich countries to pay developing nations to preserve their rainforests. They are vital to help remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Indonesia’s environment minister Rachmat Witoelar said: “Preserving our forest means we can’t exploit it for our economic benefits. We can’t build roads or mines. “But we make an important contribution to the world by providing oxygen. Therefore countries like Indonesia and Brazil should be compensated by developed countries for preserving their resources.” Deforestation has substantially impeded the ability of forests to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The biomass in forests absorbs and stores carbon dioxide, keeping a portion of gases blamed for global warming out of the atmosphere. Some 10 per cent of the world’s remaining tropical forest is found in Indonesia, which has a total forest area of more than 225 million acres (91 million hectares), according to Rainforestweb.org. It said Indonesia has already lost an estimated 72 per cent of its original frontier forest, and half of what remains is currently threatened. http://www.itv.com/news/world_8a6433425c4b82f0918852a138488c26.html

32) Greenpeace activists dressed as rich entrepreneurs threw sacks of “money” at other protestors acting as forestry officials in a mock auction of Indonesia’s forests in front of the ministry’s office in Jakarta. Indonesia loses about 2.8 million hectares (6.0 million acres) of forests each year — among the highest rates in the world. Conservationists and scientists say deforestation reduces the capacity of the ecosystem to regulate the water and also leads to soil erosion and landslides. Environmental watchdog Greenpeace Wednesday protested the Indonesian government’s plans to auction permits to log old forests in Borneo and Papua, home to a rich variety of plant and animal life. Within two weeks, forest lands in 16 locations, including Papua, Kalimantan on Borneo island, and on the islands of Sulawesi, Maluku and Sumatra, will be offered for bids. “More than one million hectares of forest lands, or twice the size of Bali, will be offered on the chopping block. “Instead of taking drastic measures to reverse the destruction of our remaining forests, the forest ministry is hell-bent on issuing new permits to the highest bidders,” Greenpeace Southeast Asia campaigner Hapsoro said in a statement. Flash floods and landslides in the north of Sumatra which killed 100 and displaced more than 400,000 people in December were blamed on deforestation. Indonesia had lost more than 72 percent of its intact ancient forest areas, according to Greenpeace. http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Greenpeace_Slams_Indonesian_Plan_To_Auction_Forestry_Permits
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33) No matter where you go in rural Indonesia, you will come across people who have fallen foul of the country’s forest laws. Take what happened in West Lampung, Sumatra, in the mid-1990s. In Simpang Sari, the police pulled up the coffee bushes planted by the villagers on state land, and drove them from the forests. And in nearby Dwi Kora, elephants were used to destroy homes and crops on state land, depriving the villagers of shelter and a means of making a living. You will hear similar stories across rural Indonesia. Most date from the Soeharto era, and nowadays the authorities seldom adopt such a heavy-handed approach to law enforcement. However, forest laws still discriminate against the poor, in Indonesia and many other countries. This is one of the key findings of a report published by the Bogor-based Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). A series of agreements have recently begun to redefine the way governments tackle illegal logging, and most promote better law enforcement. In principle, suggests Marcus Colchester, co-author of Justice in the Forest, this makes sense: Illegal logging accounts for over half the timber harvest in Amazonia, and even more in Indonesia. Illegal logging is leading to massive losses of biodiversity and it deprives governments of billions of dollar of revenue. It also destroys the resources the rural poor need for their survival. But stricter law enforcement, on its own, is not necessarily a good thing. “Our report confirms that this new emphasis on forest law enforcement could have a negative effect on tens of millions of forest-dwellers if existing laws are simply enforced more vigorously,” explains Colchester. In short, the law itself is often the problem. In many countries, forest laws have been framed to favor the commercial and political ‚lites, and they frequently prevent local communities from using forests which have been in their care for generations. http://www.thejakartapost.com/misc/PrinterFriendly.asp

Philippines:

34) Conservationists have successfully worked on stopping the declining population of the unique dwarf water buffalo. Previously, the animal was considered an endangered species due to hunting and deforestation. “The tamaraw, or Bubalus mindorensis had been threatened by big-game hunters, deforestation by settlers, loggers and ranchers that placed it on the world’s endangered list by 1970. “The government has taken steps to conserve the species through a captive breeding program and the development of a 25,000-hectare jungle reserve, in addition to increasing the residents’ environmental awareness. “The latest official population count of the animal is 263, ‘although the figure could even exceed 300 if reported loose sightings in the northern side of the Iglit Baco National Park are taken in,’ reports the Philippine government. “‘The tamaraws have definitely survived. In fact, with the continuous efforts of the government, concerned sectors and the Mindorenos [Mindoro residents], they may even begin to thrive,’ it added. “First discovered in 1888, the tamaraw is three feet tall and has a weight of 300 kilograms.” http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2007/01/tamaraw-flourishing.html

35) After more than three hours of breathtaking hostage situation, the victims were released unharmed. The police and the military failed to elaborate what happened to the hostage takers. There were no reports on whether they were arrested or not after the peaceful negotiations. According to police report, the motive of the hostage taking was the long standing conflict of ancestral domain claims that already escalated into a tribal conflict among indigenous people or communities in said area. The armed Bungkatol Army Liberation Front (BULIF) was allegedly responsible in the kidnapping in 2004 of Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Regional Technical Director for Forestry Christopher Quizon. Quizon was later released after negotiations. Allegedly, the armed group was asking the DENR to allow them to cut logs inside their ancestral domain as part of their livelihood program for their poor tribal members. BULIF alleged that the DENR is aiding instead big-time illegal loggers who are actually wealthy traders in Butuan City in promoting clandestine illegal logging activities. The armed group complained that these illegal loggers, who were actually wealthy traders, were the ones who will win in the biddings of confiscated logs spearheaded by the DENR at the disadvantaged of the government since wealthy illegal loggers are not paying corresponding taxes. However, both the DENR and the Philippine National Police (PNP) denied the accusations. Last January 21 noon, days before the hostage taking drama, at least seven fully armed men believed to be BULIF members, opened fire at the house of tribal leader Siomo Sengga, 76, situated in sitio Bokbokon, Barangay Lawan-Lawan, Las Nieves, Agusan del Norte. According to Las Nieves Police, Sengga died on the spot after sustaining four fatal gunshot wounds. Three other members of his family survived the attack. http://news.balita.ph/html/article.php/20070127155512547

Australia:

36) In August 2006, a Four Corners program on forestry in Tasmania was found by the The Australian Communications and Media Authority to be biased and inaccurate. This program attacked the management of Tasmania’s forests and timber industry. “Lords of the Forest” was found by the independent adjudicators to fail almost every test of professional journalism; it did not even meet the ABC’s own Code of Practice on impartiality and accuracy in current affairs reporting. Subsequent to the ACMA findings, I have been asked by several people: “What will now happen to the journalist in question Tikki Fullerton?” Well might they ask. If history is any guide, she will probably go on to stardom. Sixteen years ago, Four Corners made an equally clumsy foray into Western Australian forest management. This was “The Wood for the Trees”, broadcast by ABC TV on June 18, 1990. Our forestry work in those days was fully endorsed by state and federal governments and by the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority. This will surely resonate with Tasmanian foresters in 2006. In spite of all this, CALM was deeply unpopular with extreme environmentalists. Four Corners was sooled onto us by Perth green activists, who saw this as a way to discredit us nationally, and tip the political balance against the timber industry and the forestry profession. One of WA’s most rabid environmentalists admitted subsequently in a radio interview that she had mapped out the Four Corners interview schedule for their program. It became obvious later that the activists not only suggested the interviewees, but also the lines of questioning and field stops. The resulting program was diabolical, even worse than “Lords of the Forest”. A total of 44 separate instances of factual error, misrepresentation, bias and selective editing were described. The document also set out the secretive comings and goings of the Four Corners team in the field, where they had the gall to behave as if CALM was some sort of dangerous terrorist organization. For me, the Four Corners attack on forestry in WA was the moment when ABC current affairs journalism lost its credibility. I realised then that a “crusading” journalist was one who closes one eye in order to see better with the other. From this perspective, even though it hurts to admit it, “Lords of the Forest” was simply déjà vu. http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=5426

37) Forest Enterprises Australia Limited (FEA) said it has agreed to purchase approximately 290,000 tonnes per annum of softwood sawlogs from Taswood Growers. The agreement, which commences at the beginning of April 2007, would run for the next ten years, the timber company announced today. Rayonier Australia Pty Limited is the manager of the Tasmanian softwood sawlog resource that is owned by Taswood Growers. Taswood is a joint venture between Forestry Tasmania and GMO Renewable Resources. “As a result of this agreement, FEA will invest a significant amount of capital to upgrade facilities at our existing site at Bell Bay in Tasmania in order to efficiently process both the increased volume of pine and the expanding EcoAsh plantation hardwood resource,” Mr White said in a press release. He said FEA had been processing radiata pine sawlogs sourced from Taswood Growers since 2002 and believed that the extended range and volume of log supply would provide an effective and secure way forward for the Tasmanian plantation softwood industry. http://www.egoli.com.au/egoli/egoliNewsViewsPage.asp?PageID=%7BCE13974C-30DA-4739-B2CA-F83938
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