179 – Earth’s Tree News

Today for you 41 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
by sending a blank email message to earthtreenews-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

–Alaska: 1) 80 residents attended Tongass meeting
–British Columbia: 2) Home Depot never stopped selling old growth, 3) New direction in land use planning? 4) Beetle floods, 5) Public input for Caribou, 6) Clayoquot Sound,
–Washington: 7) Weyerhauser CEO is gonna get your opinion
–Oregon: 8) 53 trees, 9) Hermach responds, 10) RIP – Andrew Bortz, 11) End of BLM ,
–California: 12) Was it worth it Hurwitz? 13) Bigfoot prints are legit, 14) Fisher savers, 15) Heavenly trees to be cut down,
–Arizona: 16) Kid speaks out for trees, 17) Circumventing tree ordinance,
–Illinois: 18) Subdivision developers trying to save trees,
–Indiana: 19) Purdue U. tells landowners to get rich cutting the big ones
–Ohio: 20) Four-lane bypass, 21) Columbia Gas Transmission cutting rites,
–Alabama: 22) Reinveneting Bankhead National Forest
–Massachusetts: 23) Fresh Pond Reservation destroyed, 24) Legget’s legacy destroyed,
–Virginia: 24) Billion Stoves program
–Maine: 25) Brook trout don’t want housing developments
–USA: 26) Outing your own agency, 27) Save the Roadless,
–Canada: 28) Manitoba not saving Poplar-Nanowin,
–Germany: 29) What’s logging like?
–Turkey: 30) Whirling dervish-shaped trees
–Congo: 31) Sustainable management?
–Malawi: 32) Military won’t be able to protect forests
–Brazil: 33) Riparian Forest Restoration Project
–Fiji: 34) It’s not agriculture deforestation is the problem
–Himalayas: 35) political motivations blame ethnic minorities for deforestation,
–Malaysia: 36) Rainforest Challenge in a road of devastation, 37) Buying land,
–New Zealand: 38) Six-point plan to get tree planting underway again,
–Australia: 39) Cool while it lasted, 40) Stop illegal logging,
–World-wide: 41) UN conference to amend rules for endangered species

Alaska:

1) Juneau residents at Centennial Hall on Tuesday night said they want forest officials to consider the benefits of less logging when choosing a blueprint for future use of the Tongass National Forest. About two dozen of the roughly 80 residents who attended the Tuesday meeting represented a very vocal contingent of off-road vehicle users. Several urged forest officials not to forget their needs when evaluating forest management. “I really agree that there is a need for places for those who would like to use motorized vehicles in the forest. It is not in our best interest to destroy the forest. I’m not sure which of the alternatives I have seen so far I would most agree with, but one with less logging,” said lifelong resident Jeremiah Blankenship, an off-road vehicle user. A study by Juneau’s McDowell Group found that many Tongass timber sales were unable to attract bidders and about 40 percent of the timber harvest wasn’t profitable because of low-quality wood. Forest Service officials say they have received more than 36,000 comments from people throughout the nation, many of them via e-mail. Before a plan is selected, each concern will be noted with an explanation as to how it was – or wasn’t – addressed. http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/022807/loc_20070228012.shtml

British Columbia:

2) Yesterday Desmond and I decided to head down to the local Home Depot here to buy some slats for our giant banner that we’re going to fly tomorrow. Afterall, we knew that the Home Despot had capitulated to Markets Campaigns about 10 years ago, and was now selling ethical wood products. But to our shock, horror and outrage, we soon found that the Home Despot continues, not only to sell Weyerhaeuser product, but they are selling Old Growth cedar lumber as well. (see photos) I’m wondering: are the Home Depot’s Market Campaign committments over? Has the Home Depot returned to its former nefarious ways? Or does this ancient cedar come out of the Great Bear Rainforest, where Weyerhaeuser logging is now “ethical?” ingmarz@gmail.com

3) I have read the document “Synopsis: A new direction in land use planning in BC” (attached). What follows is my personal interpretation of implications of “The Synopsis.” The existing land use planning policies and practices were inherited by the BC Liberal government. These policies/practices were not a good fit with the stated intentions of the Liberal government (i.e., rationalization/minimalization of gov’t regulation, the shift to “results based” programmes, the reduction of red tape, maximization of certainty for business, privatization of services where possible, and the shift from ‘prescriptive’ to ‘adaptive’ management regimes.) The suggestions made in the “Synopsis” are consistent with the initiatives that have been already made by the Liberal gov’t in other areas. (e.g., the new results-based, Forest and Range Practices Act) As with other broad-based Liberal gov’t initiatives of this sort, the implications of this shift towards “greater accountability” are complex and far reaching – I doubt that the gov’t itself fully fathoms or appreciates the possible problems that may arise from the changes that it proposes. The proposed stricter adherence to a ‘business’ model has good points and bad points. It will establish clearer objectives, standardizing and streamlining the ongoing land use planning. It will tend to overlook/ignore the local-level irregularities and special problems providing less flexibility to response to small stakeholder inputs. dani rubin dlrubin@telus.net

4) In his 20-minute presentation, entitled “Mountain Pine Beetle in the Fraser Basin—Implications for Floods”, he noted that the beetles spread from five separate epicentres, aided by global warming in the 1990s. Provincial and federal government scientists, he said, are predicting that if abnormal weather trends continue, more than 80 percent of all of B.C.’s pine forests will be dead by the end of 2013. Pine trees make up about a third of all B.C. forests species. Chapman said that most of the forests in this region—60 percent, or 13 million hectares—extend from valley bottoms up the sides of mountains. Of those, 40 percent are pine forests. This means that there are 5.2 million hectares of pine forests in the Fraser River watershed—pine forests that are currently being destroyed, have been destroyed, or possibly will be destroyed by the mountain pine beetle. As any forest hydrologist will tell you, forests slow down the rate of melting snow. The trees partially or completely block the sun, providing shade that delays the melt. In addition, living trees’ roots absorb water, which also regulates the runoff. Chapman pointed out to his audience that the death of so many pine trees will change the forest hydrology in large parts of the Fraser River watershed. Dead forests will not be able to slow down the rate of melting snow as intact forests have traditionally done. This could result in a rapid rise in water levels in the Fraser River from its many affected tributaries. And that, he predicted, will eventually cause widespread flooding. http://www.straight.com/article-73041/pine-beetle-blight-may-bring-fraser-flooding

5) Environmentalists say the BC government has received a flood of mountain caribou “fan mail” – at least 12,000 messages — in response to a public comment period seeking input on the government’s draft mountain caribou recovery plan. The public comment period, which closes February 28th, 2007, was never formally announced or advertised beyond a brief posting on the Integrated Land Management Bureau’s website. Non-profit environmental organizations were left to raise public awareness of the comment period on their own. “These letters are a testament to how strongly British Columbians and citizens around the world value the recovery of BC’s endangered mountain caribou herds and the protection of the inland rainforest ecosystem,” says Candace Batycki, Endangered Forests Program Director for ForestEthics. “People are eager to provide public comment, they just need to be informed that the opportunity exists.” To get their message out, environmental organizations hosted public meetings, sent out post cards and emails, and even posted videos on YouTube, including a mountain caribou Christmas Song and a mini-documentary titled Staring at Extinction, a look at the importance of mountain caribou habitat protection. “Minister Bell should not be surprised at the outpouring of support for mountain caribou and their habitat,” said Batycki. “A recent poll showed that 86% of British Columbians want mountain caribou habitat protected. British Columbians are responsible people who care deeply about wildlife and ecosystems. Now it’s up to the Minister to follow the will of the people.” Habitat protection has become a contentious point in public discussion of mountain caribou recovery efforts, because the government’s initial draft recovery plan falls short of recommending what its own mountain caribou science team said was necessary to fully recover all the herds. A government decision on the mountain caribou recovery plan is expected by June. http://www.mountaincaribou.ca/

6) The B.C. government says forest companies must switch over to a new legally binding planning process by the end of March, raising alarms in Clayoquot Sound where the province has excluded regionally developed plans that ensure the sound retains its special ecological status. “Legally, the Forests and Range Practices Act doesn’t include [Clayoquot] plans,” said Dianne St. Jacques, mayor of Ucluelet, referring to a forests ministry decision to implement a new planning process before the legal language defining Clayoquot Sound’s special forestry practices has been written. “And we are not clear on where this leaves us.” St. Jacques, a provincial appointee to the Clayoquot Sound Region Board, said forest companies could ignore the region’s eco-friendly logging requirements yet still be in compliance with provincial regulations. The board was established under an agreement between the province and the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation to oversee development plans in the region. Board co-chair Jim Lornie said Clayoquot Sound is caught in the transition from one planning regime to another. “The dilemma is that forest companies have to bring new forward forest stewardship plans by the end of March.” But it could take up to 18 months to draft the legal language required to make the Clayoquot plans binding by the ministry of forests. Valerie Langer of Friends of Clayoquot Sound said the citizens throughout B.C. want the area to have special protection. “It requires legal language to entrench that,” she said. “Hopefully this will light a fire under whoever is responsible for this,” she said. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=33210ca8-4d0c-433a-b0a3-b0549297
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Washington:

7) As you may know, Weyerhaeuser is world’s largest lumber company, and one of North America’s worst environmental performers. In fact Weyerhaeuser logs more old growth forests than any other company in North America, turning our ancient ecosystems and old growth forests into two-by-fours, newsprint and copy paper. Even as leading businesses like Home Depot, Kinko’s, Nike and more than 400 others pledge to avoid products from endangered forests, Weyerhaeuser continues to cut-and-run its way across the continent, leaving a wake of barren clearcuts and abandoned communities its path; Proving most evident in the Grassy Narrows’ First Nation Traditional Territories. Weyerhaeuser falsely claims to be “Environmentally Friendly,” but in all reality, that is a proven lie that they market to challenge environmentalists and impress shareholders. With deceptive commercials funded by massive clearcutting operations, Weyerhaeuser continues to ignore and deny all allegations of irresponsible logging. Today, Weyerhaeuser owns 2.5 million acres in the Pacific Northwest, almost all of which has been converted into industrial farms. In these monoculture farms, trees are harvested like crops—wiping out habitats, depleting groundwater and leeching irreplaceable nutrients from the soil with chemical herbicides and fertilizers; that are hazardous to all species throughout the region. It’s time that we take action, and voice our stand for the planet. Join SEARAG in sending a message to Weyerhaeuser CEO Steven Rogel. http://www.searag.org/dear_rogel.html

Oregon:

8) OREGON CITY — An Oregon Department of Transportation maintenance crew will cut down a hazardous tree next to McLoughlin Boulevard on Wednesday, but the fate of 53 other trees remains undecided. The city wants to remove trees as part of a highway safety and beautification program. Local environmentalists said the trees on the Willamette River shore provide shelter for animals and should be preserved. City commissioners will discuss the tree-removal plan next week. The tree that will be removed Wednesday is in bad shape and poses a threat to motorists and pedestrians, according to the transportation department. http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2007/02/oregon_city_considers_cutting.html

9) The Register-Guard published a profile of me and the organization I head, the Native Forest Council. I was portrayed as uncompromising – which is perfectly accurate. But what was missing from the article was the urgency of the cause we are fighting for: humanity’s dependence upon the natural world for its survival. Our forests, the commons of the Earth, are a crucial component of our planet’s self-regulating climate system. Overcutting our forests contributes significantly to global warming, and is a threat to ecosystems, habitat and water quality. The continuing degradation of water quality is plain. The dams on the McKenzie River, Eugene’s water supply, were engineered in the 1960s, before the steep mountainsides above the river were clear-cut. The Eugene Water & Electric Board has spent $15 million on drinking water wells to hedge against catastrophic events made increasingly likely by Weyerhaeuser and friends’ destructive logging of Eugene’s watershed. Water quality has also been degraded by herbicides and pesticides sprayed to plant and manage industrial-scale tree plantations where native forest ecosystems once thrived. Drought and the threat of forest fires have also increased as the temperatures of cut-over forests are radically elevated. The public is forced to accept these consequences as the price of keeping industry competitive, protecting jobs and keeping profits flowing. The sad truth is the systematic degradation of our forests incurs uncounted costs for the many, and counted profits for the few. We seldom get the complete picture about this, because access to the government and the media has been usurped by the wealthy and powerful. http://www.registerguard.com/news/2007/02/28/ed.col.hermach.0228.p1.php?section=opinion

10) Andrew Bortz died in Corvallis last week. He was the local “Solar Guy” and he was a pioneer in non-violent forest activism. If not for Andy and other’s who stood by him…Oregon’s Middle Santiam would be mud flats by now. “Way back in the 1970s, a few nature-oriented philosophers came up with a visionary framework for viewing the world. They called it deep ecology, or biocentrism. The premise is pretty simple: Humans are not the end all, be all of evolution, but merely a strand in the web of life, with no inherent right to wreck everything and spoil the grand evolutionary pageant for everyone else. Deep ecology says that all living beings and life-giving systems are equal and have an intrinsic value, beyond what value humans may ascribe. In other words, all life and life-giving systems have inherent worth and a right to exist for their own sake, regardless of what kind of money people think they can make off them.” Andy believed in the “Commons” and loved to participate in community events like the Corvallis Peace Choir and Earth Day celebrations. He taught us all to believe and persist even when progress seemed forever blocked. Andy was a patient teacher. He loved to see the light go on when someone finally understood why we needed to protect and defend the earth. Andy was also an amazing pioneer in forest activism. Andrew Bortz was one of the founding members of the Cathedral Forest Action Group (CFAG). They were the first forest activist groups to plan organized tree sits in the Middle Santiam. Due to these actions to stop massive clearcutting, we have a few good stands of old growth left. We have water, we have some air and we have wildlife left because of people like Andy Bortz. In the early 1980s, the Corvallis, Oregon-based Cathedral Forest Action Group (CFAG) began to apply nonviolent, civil-disobedience tactics to protect the Willamette National Forest’s ancient Douglas-fir stands from the devastating clear cuttery of the Reagan Administration. http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/02/354754.shtml

11) Drafted mainly by Western Oregon conservation groups, including Roseburg-based Umpqua Watersheds, the Western Oregon Old-Growth Protection and Rural Investment Fund would draw $98 million annually for counties made up of Oregon & California timber lands until the fund is depleted. The proposal calls for transferring management of Bureau of Land Management lands in Western Oregon to the U.S. Forest Service and the creation of a one-time endowment for the support of education, public safety and other county programs. Conservation groups say the transfer will save approximately $50 million a year in federal funding by reducing land managerial duties in BLM offices. In the proposal they point to a 1985 Reagan administration study that found such a transfer would save $45 million to $64 million. The proposal goes on to say it “would be possible to achieve approximately 56 percent of the historic O&C counties’ funding level of $98 million annually, merely by the administrative savings that result (from) transferring Western Oregon BLM lands to the Forest Service.” The endowment will be created by the cost savings from the transfer and a one-time contribution of $300 million from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. Penny Lind, executive director of Umpqua Watersheds and one of the recommendation’s six main collaborators, said the proposal has been sent to congressional lawmakers. “I don’t know what kind of response we’ll get from Congress,” she said last week. http://www.oregonnews.com/article/20070228/NEWS/70228030

California:

12) Was it worth it? That’s the question I put to Charles Hurwitz on Wednesday afternoon as we talked on the phone about the court ruling that awarded the Houston financier and Maxxam, the holding company he controls,$72 million in sanctions against the federal government. “That’s a good question,” he said. “Really, it’s many questions.” Indeed. My own interest in the Hurwitz case started with a question. A few years ago, I asked why the FDIC would walk away from a case it had spent seven years preparing for and seven years litigating. The ugly answer is revealed in some 2 million pages of court documents and congressional testimony: It brought the case simply because it could, because Hurwitz had something the government wanted. It walked away when its strong-arm tactics didn’t work. Or why, after getting almost everything they wanted, do environmentalists continue to dog Hurwitz over logging by his Pacific Lumber Co. in Northern California? The answer, I’m convinced, is Hurwitz himself. He enrages his adversaries with his iron-jawed refusal to accede to their demands. He wouldn’t acquiesce to the FDIC. His closest friends told him it wasn’t worth it, that fighting the government would ruin him and that it was better to settle and get on with his life. Meanwhile, environmentalists demonized him for cutting trees that his lumber company owned. He offered to sell his old-growth redwoods to the government, but it didn’t want to pay. So the government tried extortion. It offered to settle the FDIC lawsuit if Hurwitz would surrender the trees, according to documents unearthed during congressional hearings in 2000. FDIC spokesman David Barr disputes that. He says the agency was never interested in trees, only recovering the $1.6 billion lost in the collapse of Maxxam’s United Savings in 1988. Which brings me back to my original question: Was it worth it?
“I’m very gratified with the outcome,” Hurwitz said matter-of-factly. “How could I not be? “If somebody had said 15 years later we’d be here and have spent this kind of money, I probably wouldn’t have done it.” Then he added: “I always knew we were right.” http://watchpaul.blogspot.com/2007/02/houston-chronicle-after-hurwitzs-ordeal.html

13) A local couple has found big prints in those woods and experts are saying it may not be a hoax. It was just after a rainstorm, a great time for hunting deer. It was a perfect place, high up in the dense woods of the Plumas National Forest. Chuck and Michelle Padigo had been down the logging road lots of times, including just a few days earlier. Past two gates, about three miles from the highway, in a recently logged area, Michelle looked down and spotted something very strange. What the Padigo’s say they encountered was more than three dozen huge footprints spread out over a hundred yards or more. “I swear the hair on my arms stood up,” says Michelle. The couple recorded their discovery with photographs and returned to take more pictures. Joining the Padigos now was Scot Woodland, a Nevada County search and rescue team member and a certified expert tracker. Scot says he’s got an open mind but when he first saw the tracks he figured here’s another hoax. “The closer I got and looked at the prints, the more I could see the detail and the movement in the foot. As a tracker you see how things move the weight and all that stuff. The complexity of the footprint made me go whoa!” he says. What really impressed Scot was the force of the Bigfoot print which rippled the ground around it. Scot’s footprint next to it hardly moved the earth. “If it’s a hoax, somebody really did a good job, if it’s not, then there’s a big creature that lives among us,” says Woodland. http://cbs13.com/seenon/local_story_057234544.html

14) SACRAMENTO — A coalition of conservation groups today took action in defense of the Pacific fisher, a relative of the mink that depends on old-growth forest ecosystems for its survival. The groups intervened in a timber-industry lawsuit filed in January that seeks to remove the Pacific fisher from the list of species that are candidates for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. The timber industry doesn’t want to see the fisher protected because protection might limit the industry’s access to large trees. In 2000, conservation groups petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the fisher under the Endangered Species Act. In April 2004, the agency determined that the Pacific fisher is indeed critically imperiled and warrants protection under the Endangered Species Act but that such protection was precluded by other actions to protect species. Instead, the Fish and Wildlife Service placed the Pacific fisher on the growing list of species that are considered “candidates” for eventual protection under the Act. “The fisher made it to the emergency room’s lobby, but is still waiting for a doctor while it bleeds out,” said Noah Greenwald of the Center for Biological Diversity. “Timber interests can’t claim harm from protection that has yet to be enacted. The real culprit here is excessive logging that has resulted in the loss of forest habitat throughout the west coast.” Brought by the anti-wildlife firm Pacific Legal Foundation, Sierra Forest Products’ lawsuit claims bizarrely that the Pacific fisher is a “distinct population segment” of a subspecies and that the Fish and Wildlife Service lacks the authority to consider such wildlife for protection under the Endangered Species Act no matter how imperiled it may be. The firm has been pressing this legal theory across the west coast with little success. For example, it represented development interests near Seattle by arguing that the Puget Sound distinct population segment of the orca is ineligible for protection under the Endangered Species Act. Although it lost in that case, it continues to sell other clients a false bill of goods based on the same model. If Pacific Legal Foundation is successful with its specious argument, it could severely limit the federal government’s ability to prevent regional extinction of iconic species like the orca in Puget Sound or the fisher on the West Coast. http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/press/fisher-02-28-2007.html

15) Trees 300 – 500 years old will be cut down to make room for a faster ski lift at Heavenly Mountain Resort if the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) approves a massive expansion project on Wednesday, February 28. Hundreds of concerned Tahoe skiers, snowboarders, residents and conservation groups are calling on TRPA to approve an alternative plan that would save the old-growth trees while still allowing a new, faster chair lift to be built. Hundreds of magnificent Red fir trees, appropriately known as Abies magnifica in Latin, will be sacrificed to move skiers more quickly up the mountain if Heavenly has its way. Currently it takes 21-26 minutes on two slow, older chairlifts to get to the top of the area known as the “North Bowl.” Heavenly’s proposed new lift would reduce that time to 7 minutes, by replacing the two old chairlifts with one “high speed” chair that would cut straight through the old growth forest known to locals as the North Bowl woods. But there is a better alternative, according to local activists. An angled or “kinked” lift could be built to go around the old-growth forest, still allowing skiers to reach the top in just 13 minutes, according to an analysis by TRPA. The new, kinked lift would still be much faster than the current two old chairlifts. “Just 6 minutes more,” states Michael Donahoe of the Tahoe Area Sierra Club. “The kinked lift would still get skiers up the mountain in half the time it currently takes, and it would save these ancient trees,” states Michael Donahoe of the Tahoe Area Sierra Club. “Is it worth an extra six minutes to save this old growth forest? We think so. So do all the skiers and snowboarders we’ve talked to.” http://yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_51916.shtml

Arizona:

16) A Desert Vista Elementary School fifth-grader and her mother are leading a campaign to save 37 trees on the Desert Vista Elementary School campus they say are earmarked for removal. Chelsey Potter, 10, was the only person to speak during the Call to Public forum at the Apache Junction Unified School District Governing Board meeting Feb. 13. The fifth-grader at Desert Vista Elementary School, 3701 E. Broadway Ave., presented the board with more than 150 signatures she gathered from students and parents who oppose uprooting the trees. “Our mascot is the wild mustang,” Chelsey said. “I think what makes our campus ‘wild’ are the trees all over our campus. I think they represent nature and its beauty.” Chelsey’s mother, Theresa, said removing the trees would deplete the campus of its unique arboreal beauty. http://www.newszap.com/articles/2007/02/27/az/east_valley/aj04.txt

17) FLORHAM PARK – Borough officials continue negotiations for a settlement with Lifetime Fitness after the developer of a proposed gym center off Vreeland Road clear-cut an estimated 2,100 trees before obtaining municipal permits. “I was livid when I saw the acres of trees cut down with the express intent of circumventing the tree ordinance circumventing the tree ordinance,” Councilman Scott Eveland said Tuesday, Feb. 27, after visiting the site a week earlier. “We were in ongoing negotiations with the developer as to how we were going to apply the ordinance to their development,” added Eveland, who serves as council liaison to the borough Department of Community Affairs, which includes the engineering and construction departments. When Borough Engineer Michael Sgaramella went to the Lifetime Fitness work site on Monday, Feb. 20, to count an acre of trees and get a representative sample, he said he was surprised to find “every tree gone” on about 12 acres of the 33-acre site. A meeting on the trees had been planned with the developer’s attorney the following day. Borough Director of Community Services Carl F. Ganger Jr. said Florham Park issued a “stop work” order for the site because neither a developer’s agreement nor a construction permit had been issued. He said the firm has complied with the order. http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17915712&BRD=1918&PAG=461&dept_id=506526&rfi=6

Illinois:

18) MARENGO – Developers of a proposed subdivision south of Marengo are trying to save a grove of 38 trees that state traffic engineers want removed for a new intersection on Route 23. Informational meetings about the development, Liberty Arbour, will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Harmony Real Estate, Route 20 and Harmony Road. All Riley Township residents, especially those in the neighboring Southridge subdivision, are invited, according to Jack Feldkamp, one of the developers. As proposed, Liberty Arbour would have about 35 homes on 48 acres. The property has 2,000 trees with more than 700 of them at least 13 inches in diameter. One, a red oak, is almost 40 inches in diameter, making it more than 100 years old. “We are preserving as many trees as we can,” Feldkamp said. He added that lots in the new subdivision also would have deed restrictions protecting the trees. In addition, the developer’s engineers have designed an entrance to the subdivision that would go around existing trees at Hennig Drive. The Illinois Department of Transportation wants the developer to extend Hennig Drive to Highway 23, requiring the trees to be removed. http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2007/03/01/news/local/doc45e69a20c0ae7360860551.txt

Indiana:

19) Purdue University will co-sponsor a workshop March 22 and 23 in Bedford that will teach landowners whether or not the trees on their property could generate income. The Hardwood Log, Lumber and Tree Grading Workshop is designed for landowners and others to see the value of lumber that can be generated from different quality levels of timber. Experts say 87 percent of Indiana’s forestland is privately owned. Purdue University Forestry and Natural Resources Specialist Dan Cassens say some of those trees are high quality and could generate potential income. http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=22049

Ohio:

20) Supporters of the proposed U.S. Rt. 33 bypass of Nelsonville scheduled a rally at Hocking College last night, hoping to push up the timetable for the project, which currently won’t be finished until 2016-17. But while the project currently is delayed, environmental groups are concerned that the logging and preliminary development work is still going on, even though the actual construction work isn’t slated to begin for several years. The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) plans to build a four-lane bypass of U.S. Rt. 33 around Nelsonville. Originally, the project was supposed to be completed in 2011-2012, but in December ODOT officials pushed back the project until 2016-17. The Athens Area Chamber of Commerce organized the Wednesday rally and invited economic development leaders from Meigs, Fairfield and Hocking counties, along with Mason County, W.Va. The rally was scheduled to occur after this newspaper’s deadline. “We think it’s important for the entire state,” Simon said on Tuesday. “It’s about finishing an entire corridor, completing that corridor.” She wants state officials to see the strong regional support for the project, so they will move the timetable back up. “Close to $500 million has been spent all the way from the Ravenswood bridge all the way to Columbus to get this corridor ready to go and we’re the bottleneck,” Simon said. “The bottleneck sits in Nelsonville.” It does not make fiscal sense to delay the project, she added. The lack of a bypass hurts businesses in Athens County and along the corridor, Simon argued. The bypass will also help with tourism and with safety, Simon added. From an environmental point of view, it makes sense to do the project all at once, Simon said. http://www.athensnews.com/issue/article.php3?story_id=27508

21) Columbia Gas Transmission Corp. had told the state last year that it was allowed to clear trees within 300 feet of its 56 natural gas storage wells in Mohican-Memorial State Forest in Ashland County in north-central Ohio, raising concerns about the forest’s future. In a five-year agreement with the state announced Wednesday, the company will cut trees within 60 feet of the wells, with grass planted in their place. Within 60 to 120 feet of the wells, trees with trunks smaller than 10 inches in diameter won’t be cut. Trees encircling nine of wells will be cut in the spring. Trees around the other wells within the 4,525-acre state forest and the 1,294-acre Mohican State Park would be cleared later. “This is a reasonable and fair agreement that allows the company to do its maintenance and at the same time, minimizes its effect on the forest,” said Andy Ware, assistant chief of the Ohio Division of Forestry. http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/16807889.htm

Alabama:

22) About seven years ago, the Bankhead National Forest had hit bottom. The U.S. Forest Service had shut down logging as a result of persistent and successful legal challenges by conservationists. Activists had caught federal employees falsifying documents, illegally allowing clear-cuts in historic areas, and making such a mess of the land that they were polluting the water they were charged with protecting. Everyone seemed angry. Loggers didn’t appreciate being ordered off the public forest. Residents didn’t like losing the money for local schools that timber harvests had brought. Even the lead forest activist responsible for the shutdown even happy. He found himself reading graffiti suggesting that he die. Once, he hired police protection for two weeks after a particularly graphic threat to his life and his store in Moulton. Today, the forest is a national model. Orderly monthly meetings are run by a committee of loggers, foresters and preservationists. They discuss whether forest management is progressing according to the plan they wrote a few years ago. Critics are welcome, and they can call for an inspection of a logged spot, or they can tag along on one of the quarterly tours with experts from the Forest Service and the local forest preservation group, Wild South. For all that change, most people credit the Forest Service’s new district ranger, Glen Gaines, who came to the Bankhead in 1999. Bob Keefe, who was a forester for Champion International in the late 1990s, says Gaines made dozens of small, smart decisions, such as keeping the committee on forest management in place even after it finished writing its plan. That way, a vent is in place if things threaten to again come to a boil. Gaines has won trust with honesty, said Ray Vaughan, the environmental lawyer who filed a cascade of legal actions against the Forest Service in the 1990s that forced the logging shutdown. http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/117274090123890.xml&coll=2

Massachusetts:

23) Cambridge Highlands is across the street from the Fresh Pond Reservation. Cambridge is in the process of destroying thousands of trees at the Fresh Pond Reservation. The reason is that Cambridge wants to put in saplings and brag about all the saplings that Cambridge has installed. At Alewife, next to the private project on Route 2, Cambridge plans massive environmental destruction of near-virgin woodlands to put in a drainage tank which should be installed under a parking lot about 500 feet to the south. Hundreds of trees are being destroyed on the Charles River along with all wetlands and all animal habitats. Pretty much every city project starts with the destruction of trees, almost all the destruction not only unnecessary but also silly. Street trees and trees in new construction are constantly destroyed, even the largest. The city’s response to objections about their environmental destruction? The city’s friends created “green” groups, which could care less about massive government destruction of the green, but the “green” groups love their fancy light bulbs. But they sound so good while their friends at the city and state aggressively destroy Cambridge’s green heritage. http://www.townonline.com/cambridge/opinion/8998903979500896255

24) Only a week ago I watched in horror as the first piece of logging equipment arrived on Whitman Street and within minutes of unloading began to move about the woods, slicing large, beautiful, healthy trees at the base. I stood riveted to my window as more and more trees fell and a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach came over me. I watched an hour later as a large hole was opened in the stonewall and the stones flung about in the forest by the large equipment. The next day, two new pieces of equipment arrived — a large tractor that drove and grabbed whatever the cutting machine leveled and a huge chipping machine that would chip any tree less then about 12 inches in diameter. A week later, I sit in my home listening to the dismantling and destruction of the 34-acre woodlot that was gifted by Mrs. Leggett in 2004 and ponder my sadness over this event. I wondered at my feeling of shock and at the feeling that the fabric of my being was being taken apart along with this woodland. I thought about the big beautiful trees and how long they had been there, largely untouched by humans around them because of what seemed to be one man’s humanness. Mr. Leggett loved the forest and refused offers made to him over the years by developers and golf course owners who would have cut it down. I also thought about the animals that lived there, not just the displacement and destruction of their lives but about the loss of protective cover and the encroachment of people that the wide, machine-created pathways would encourage. On day three I encountered my neighbor out in the street. She had a concerned look on her face. I knew her thoughts with out asking. She offered that she felt as if the forest was crying and now I knew I was not alone in my feelings. We were standing in front of the sign which had been posted on the land which stated that the land was gifted to the Stow Conservation Trust by Mrs. Leggett in 2004. I wondered what Mr. and Mrs. Leggett who have now passed away would have thought about all of this. http://www.townonline.com/maynard/opinion/8998892577470021627

Virginia:

24) Norfolk — iENERGY now donates 10% of the proceeds of sales of the Woodgas Camp stove on www.woodgas-stove.com to the Human Relief Organization’s “Billion Stoves” program. Every year about a million people die worldwide as a result of primitive wood cooking. Indeed this is one of the worst problems for up to half of the world’s population. The primitive cooking methods such as the 3 stone fires result in a great amount of smoke and both indoor and outdoor air pollution which causes lung disease, glaucoma, smoke inhalation, and carbon monoxide poisoning. Children are also frequently burned in these fires. Typically too much wood fuel is used in these primitive fires and stoves which contributes to deforestation. Also, increasing amounts of labor are required to collect wood from greater and greater distances as resources are depleted. The Woodgas Camp Stove sold online at http://www.woodgas-stove.com is a very clean burning and high efficiency wood and biomass cooking stove. While the current target retail channel for the stove is developed country sports and recreation markets, the original development of the Woodgas stove was aimed at humanitarian relief to address the very problems noted above. The Woodgas stove is up to 10 times more efficient than the 3 stone fire and when operated properly produces little to no smoke. So one can see how it can make a difference in developing countries in reducing deforestation and cleaning up the air. http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2007/2/emw507518.htm

Maine:

25) Development means cutting down the trees that provide cooling shade for brook trout waters. Road building and other construction creates runoff that fills trout streams and ponds with silt and pollution. Native brook trout habitats in the intensively developed East have been so seriously degraded that populations of big fish have seriously declined in all but one place: Maine. Maine is now home to 97 percent of the East’s remaining populations of large, native brook trout in lakes and ponds; there are populations of much smaller trout distributed throughout the East’s rivers and streams, where they rarely grow to the size seen in lakes and ponds. That’s both an economic opportunity and an ecological challenge for Maine. Economic opportunity because Maine can sell itself to anglers as the best place in the U.S. where they can fish for large, native brook trout; according to a state study issued a decade ago, sportfishing of all types even then brought in $300 million to the state every year. And it’s an ecological challenge because maintaining brookie populations in the face of a variety of threats is not easy. http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/view/columns/3662354.html

USA:

26) Officially, Mark Rey is called the Undersecretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources & Environment. Unofficially, he is often called much less complimentary names, but I won’t go into that here. Suffice to say, he is considered the enemy of those trying to protect our public lands from commercialization and privatization. Rey is President Bush’s handpicked controller of the Forest Service, and he has done and excellent job for his boss. In his position, he sets policy for our national forests, and is the person behind recent controversies such as 1) Proposals to sell off large chunks of national forests to fund rural schools, 2) Repeal of Clinton Era Roadless Rule and endless litigation to fight court reversals of the Bush administration’s repeal of the rule, 3) Tacking the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act or RAT, the Recreation Access Tax, as a rider on a must-pass spending bill and then making sure the FS aggressively increases current fees and initiates new fees to limit access to national forests, especially by those least able to afford it. 4) Secretively launching and keeping under wraps for four years the Recreation Site Facility Master Plan process, which will result in the closure and “demonstration” (i.e. become fee-based) of thousands of campgrounds, picnic areas and other recreational facilities on national forests. — With those exceptions, plus about twenty more detailed by Artley, Rey has been a good steward for our national forests. Artley, a retired forest planner from Idaho’s Nez Perce National Forest, recently posted a long letter detailing many other misdeeds by Rey. In my experience in working with government, you don’t see officials trying to “out” their agency and former bosses. If you do, it has much deeper roots than a disputed performance review.

27) Roadless leaders in the House of Representatives are continuing their co-sponsor drive to reintroduce the Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2007. Their legislation would codify the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule into law. In the 109th Congress, the House roadless legislation had over 140 co-sponsors. With your help, we can continue to build strong support for protecting our roadless wild forests in the 110th Congress. The deadline to become an original cosponsor of the legislation has been extended to March 9. The following Members of Congress are asking their colleagues in the House of Representative to join them as original co-sponsors of the Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2007: Jay Inslee (D-WA), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Christopher Shays, (R-CT), Jim Ramstad (R-MN), George Miller (D-CA) The recent repeal of the Bush Administration Roadless rule by Federal Judge Elizabeth LaPorte reinstated the Clinton-era Roadless Area Conservation Rule that limits road building, logging and other development on about 50 million acres of roadless areas in our national forests. These areas provide unmatched opportunities for camping, hiking, and other recreational activities, valuable habitat for fish and wildlife, and abundant supplies of clean drinking water. Judge LaPorte found that the Bush Administration acted illegally in reversing the 2001 Roadless Rule. While this legal victory presently affords protections for these public lands, their future is uncertain and they continue to be at risk. The administration continues to accept state petitions for exemption from the Roadless Rule under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), thus leaving roadless areas vulnerable on a state-by-state basis. Therefore, it is essential that the 2001 rule be codified into law. Your Help is Needed! Call your Representative at 202-224-3121 or email to ask them to become an original cosponsor of the Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2007 today! http://www.americanlands.org/issues.php?subsubNo=1149252502#1170107901

Canada:

29) The Manitoba government still has not honored its pledge to permanently protect the Poplar-Nanowin Rivers traditional lands in our Heart of the Boreal Forest BioGem. Your urgent action is needed to ensure that Manitoba makes good on its repeated promises. Mounting proposals for clearcut logging, roadbuilding and industrial hydropower development loom over this irreplaceable habitat for threatened woodland caribou, moose and millions of songbirds. Please go to http://www.savebiogems.org/boreal/takeaction and urge Manitoba’s premier to grant permanent protection to these First Nation lands. For thousands of years, the Poplar River First Nation has relied on the trees, plants and wildlife of this expanse of rugged granite cliffs, dense evergreen woods and tranquil marshlands for food, medicine and the survival of its beliefs and traditions. In 2004, the Canadian government recognized the outstanding cultural and natural values of this wildland by including it as part of a potential U.N. World Heritage Site. http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/3379187/

Germany:

29) We are now in Göttingen visiting with Regina – a friend with whom I worked while I was in Fort Nelson. She is a forestry student here in Göttingen and was working for Canfor over the summer as part of a work exchange. Regina cooked us a traditional Bavarian-style meal when we arrived. I can’t recall the name of it, but it was delicious. We spent the day with a goverment forester today (we had to drive on the autobahn to get there – a little nerve-racking at first, but Todd got us there and back in one piece). We followed “Uli” around as he explained to us how forestry works in Germany and got to help with the grading of some beech logs. It is very different from forestry in northern Canada, but not so different from the way things are done around my home town. He was super nice and spoke english very well and even cooked us a nice big lunch. Horse-logging is still used occasionally here and we were able to watch a team of two horses working to skid some logs from an area that was hit very hard by a storm early in January. I’m not sure yet on the plan for tomorrow, but I do hope it quits raining! http://pedalbrake.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!C61E499D76AC2692!262.entry

Turkey:

30) Visitors coming to Turkey’s central Anatolian province of Konya via Akyoku? are welcomed by two trees trimmed into the shape of whirling dervishes by the Konya Metropolitan Municipality. The trees are attracting the attention of both locals and visitors, and there are plans to replicate these “whirling trees” throughout the province of Konya, famous for its annual whirling dervish ceremony. Designed and shaped by Konya’s Parks and Gardens Directorate, the trees are the work of an eight-member team that is expected to roll up its sleeves and soon decorate the rest of city. Residents have not been able to pass by without glancing at the two works of art. A representative of the directorate said: “Following the interest the two trees we designed attracted, we have decided to replicate identical trees throughout our city. The figure of the whirling dervish is quite fitting for Konya’s image, and we plan on using it to beautify our city.” http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=103989&bolum=101

Congo:

31) Delegates from the Congolese government, donor community and civil society will meet next week in Brussels to discuss the sustainable management of the forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC. Millions of acres of the second largest rainforest in the world after the Amazon, are being illegally logged, nongovernmental organizations report. Greenpeace warns that more than 21 million hectares (81,080 square miles) of rainforest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are now illegally logged, an area nearly seven times the size of Belgium. Based on violations of a 2002 government moratorium on allocation, extension and renewal of logging titles, local and international environmental groups are demanding revocation of all titles granted after the moratorium was imposed. “Logging companies promise us wonders: work, schools, hospitals, but actually, they seem to be only interested in their own short term profits,” said Pasteur Matthieu Yela Bonketo, coordinator of CEDEN, a Congolese NGO in Equateur province who will attend the Brussels conference. “What will happen when our forests have been emptied? They will leave and we’ll be the ones left with damaged roads, schools with no roofs and hospitals without medicine,” Bonketo said. The Congo rainforest is home to numerous communities of Twa “pygmies” and Bantus. “Industrial logging doesn’t bring benefits,” said Bonketo. “The ‘pygmies’ who totally depend on our forests and the local communities who live in them are suffering because of the presence of the industry.” http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/feb2007/2007-02-28-02.asp

Malawi:

32) I learned with trepidation recently that the Malawi government has decided to draft in the military to save forests. From the little information I have gathered the army will turn some sixteen forest reserves countrywide into military training jungles.
Environment Minister Chimunthu Banda told the news media in Lilongwe after signing a memorandum of understanding between his ministry and the army that the move has been taken after his ministry had tried for years and failed to protect forest reserves. The government might be right that deforestation is rampant. Someone even said Malawi has the highest rate of deforestation in Southern Africa. But believe me military force will not save Malawi’s forests from further destruction. Actually, this move might even achieve the opposite results. http://www.nyasatimes.com/news/307.html

Brazil:

33) Reported in Science (23rd Feb), Bernice Wuethrich reveals how the Riparian Forest Restoration Project aims to restore a million hectares of rainforest through experiments with different restoration methods in five pilot projects. The project will not just place emphasis on replanting trees alone, unlike past projects it will aim to restore a variety of plants and animals simultaneously. Their tactics include moving squares of topsoil from intact forest to deliver soil microbes, fauna and fungi to previously forested areas. In addition they will be planting groundcover to attract butterflies and other insects. Bernice Wuethrich rightly points out that just concentrating on the biological aspects of the project is not enough. Participation and support from locals is key to its success. Farmers, for instance, volunteer land for replanting, while local children could well work as environmental monitors. The São Paulo government, which is currently looking at establishing an ecosystem services fund, has suggested that this project might be a good model for the whole of Brazil. http://cabiblog.typepad.com/hand_picked/2007/02/rebuilding_a_br.html

Fiji:

34) Director of Agriculture Extension services Kiniviliame Namoumou, has come out strongly against reports that blamed agriculture practices as the main cause of flooding. ”The irresponsible deforestation in some of the areas affected by the flood must also be looked at and it is very important to delve into the logging practices used in these areas, Mr Namoumou said. Mr Namoumou said most of the affected areas were exposed to some sort of deforestation in the last ten years and this has come back to have its ill impact on these villages and settlements especially during a torrential downpour. ”When the trees were cut down the roots which hold the soil together begins to weaken and thus lose their hold on the soil allowing it to be easily washed away and causes heavy siltation in the rivers,” Mr Namoumou said. Mr Namoumou added that Extension Officers in the Agriculture Department are duty bound to extend to farmers the appropriate farming technologies and practices but the onus is on the farmers to adopt them. He also said that there is an urgent need for Land Conservation Acts to be enforced and appropriate strategies put in place to ensure that the act is adhered to. http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=57914

Himalayas:

35) Jack D. Ives, honorary research professor of geography and environmental studies at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, argues that the Chinese government, along with Bangladesh and India, have political motivations for blaming mountain ethnic minorities for deforestation in the region. His talk, is titled “Deconstructing the Myth of Deforestation in Northwest Yunnan and the Great Himalaya.” In his role as United Nations University senior advisor on mountain ecology and sustainable development. Ives has conducted research in places such as Tibet, Madagascar, Tajikistan and the Andes. He is the founding president of the International Mountain Society and has worked as coordinator of the United Nations University’s mountain ecology program since 1978. His presentation is sponsored by the UW-Madison Lectures Committee, the IGERT China Program, the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and the Center for East Asian Studies. http://www.cals.wisc.edu/ecals/index.php/2007/02/27/expert-examines-himalayan-deforestation-in-
march-13-talk/

Malaysia:

36) The Rainforest Challenge, held in Malaysia each November, is one of the most memorable 4×4 endurance tests on the planet. Fought out intensely over five nights and six days across nearly 500 miles of the most rugged and unforgiving terrain, the Challenge takes competitors through mud, drenching rain, slippery slopes, deep ruts, gullies, flooded rivers, and landslides that are so demanding and dangerous, it takes hours to travel a kilometer and many more to recover. The difficulty is compounded by the humidity, sand flies, leeches, sleepless nights, unending winching from dusk to dawn, and recovering vehicles submerged deep in tropical mud. But the camaraderie among the competitors was much appreciated, “I have never seen such bonding among the competitors since I came into the Rainforest Challenge four years ago,” said Thomas Foo (Tango), the competition manager. “This is definitely a plus for the event.” http://www.fourwheeler.com/eventcoverage/129_0704_4x4_rainforest_challenge_malaysia/

37) Malaysian environmental and residents’ groups are joining forces to buy swathes of forest in a desperate bid to save them from developers, a report said Tuesday. Four groups, including WWF Malaysia and a residents’ group from Petaling Jaya, a satellite town near Kuala Lumpur, will set up a national conservation trust fund to collect money to buy land. More than 60 other non-governmental organisations and residents’ associations have also pledged their support for the proposal, said the New Straits Times. “We want to appeal to the public to give any amount to protect the environment,” Victor Oorjitham, a Petaling Jaya resident and the chairman of a committee for the fund was quoted as saying. “When it comes to green open spaces, it is only logical that people subscribe to such a proposal,” he said. Another activist from Petaling Jaya, Edward Lee, said the groups had to take action after years of protests against environmentally damaging construction had failed to achieve anything. “By setting up the fund we are putting our money where our mouth is. We can’t see it any other way,” said Lee, who has met with Malaysians in three states to garner support. “We are not fighting with anyone. This fund will be a collaborative effort,” he told the newspaper. http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Malaysians_In_Buying_Bid_To_Save_Forests_999.html

New Zealand:

38) Today’s disastrous deforestation data demands that Forestry Minister Jim Anderton implement the New Zealand forestry industry’s six-point plan to get tree planting underway again, or resign, the Kyoto Forestry Association (KFA) said today. “The Government’s policies have caused this,” KFA spokesman Roger Dickie said. “The decision to confiscate carbon credits legitimately owned by forest owners has caused a crisis of confidence in the forestry industry, so that investment in new planting has fallen from around $400 million a year in the 1990s to effectively nothing today. “Mr Anderton’s $20-million-a year planting-subsidy scheme will not reverse deforestation – only restoring industry confidence will, and that requires the Government to reverse the confiscation.” Mr Dickie said forestry investors operated over a 25- to 30-year investment horizon and the crucial factors driving investor confidence were stability in Government policy and certainty that property rights would be respected over the long term. “Under Mr Anderton, there is no policy stability and the Government’s decision to confiscate carbon credits and consider massive new taxes make any potential investors wonder what on earth could be next.” “I watched from the inside as Rey’s tragic policies unfolded on a daily basis,” Artley claims in his “Open Letter to All Americans,” which has been posted on several environmental websites. “Forest Service managers still implement them without question. It will take Congress time to purge the many unacceptable Bush land management agency appointments. However, for each week that Rey controls Forest Service policy, our public land suffers.” http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0702/S00426.htm

Australia:

39) About four years ago, our block backed on to some quite nice bush. I would look out my bedroom window and often see kookaburras and cockatoos sitting in the trees. At night time the trees would come alive with the sounds of possums scurrying and screeching amongst the branches. Even bandicoots and the odd wallaby made appearances, albeit at ground level. Yes, the bush facilitated a fairly abundant wildlife population while providing a pleasant backdrop which gave our house a less suburban feel than one might otherwise experience living in central Kingston. However, the last couple of years have seen these pleasant natural surroundings give way to the next phase of subdivsional development. As compensation I now have two houses along the back fence, meaning the joy of not having to close curtains will definitely soon be lost. It was the Kingston “forest” tragedy and not one hemp wearing, pot smoking hippy in sight. Apologies to the many greenies who don’t fit that description. And yeah, I feel a bit cheated that the greenies spent the past week trying to stop logging in the Weld Valley when the “real” issue was right here in Kingston. I mean what is old growth forest anyway? Why is it OK to kill Rob’s trees! Answer me you damn greenies! If this was a plot in the OC, Summer Roberts and that hippy Che would definitely have staged a protest. Yet here in Kingston not one tree was hugged, hence they died a lonely death. Our greenies have no balls. But oh well, the reality is my bush over the back fence was not the Tarkine, the Styx or any other “significant” piece of forest, but it was pretty cool while it lasted. http://leftfieldleftovers.blogspot.com/2007/02/capitalist-pigs-destroy-kingstons-old.html

40) The Conservation Council of Western Australia has welcomed a new alliance to help stop illegal logging in the south-west, but says its directives are not comprehensive enough. The Department of Environment and the Forest Products Commission are sharing information and conducting joint investigations to fight the practice more effectively. However, the council’s vice-president, Dr Beth Schultz, says the new body also needs to extend its work to ensure logging guidelines are being met on approved sites. Dr Schultz says it is also recommending trees requiring special protection be branded. “Back in the mid-’90s, until that time, all loggers were required to put a hammer brand on the end of every log that they felled. CALM [the Department of Conservation and Land Management] removed that requirement, they allowed logs to be marked with chalk only and that made illegal logging much easier,” she said. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200702/s1859019.htm

World wide:

41) Pink coral, cedar trees, fish that end up on the dinner plate and a cuddly, wide-eyed mammal prized in Asian medicine are among the animal and plant species that could gain greater protection this year, a UN agency said Wednesday. The United Nations agency regulating the trade in endangered species, CITES, unveiled some 40 new government proposals for changes to wildlife trade rules which will be considered at the organisation’s conference in June. The agency said many of the proposals reflected growing international concern about the accelerating destruction of the world’s marine and forest resources through overfishing and excessive logging. “Biological diversity faces many threats, ranging from habitat destruction to climate change to unrestrained commercial harvesting for trade,” said Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, which administers CITES. The conference allows countries to amend rules aimed at defining and protecting endangered species. Currently some 530 animal and 300 plant species benefit from complete protection under CITES, while only restricted trade is allowed for another 4,460 animal and 28,000 plants. Potentially the most endearing new candidate for a complete ban on trade is the endangered Slow Loris, a small, furry, nocturnal primate from south and southeast Asia. Cambodia, which is sponsoring full protection under CITES Appendix I, says the Loris is threatened by a combination of the destruction of its forest habitat, growing demand for traditional medicine and as a pet. http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Fish_Trees_Cuddly_Mammal_Up_For_Protection_From_Human_Trade_9
99.html