186 – Earth’s Tree News

Today for you 38 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) Logging Gravina Island
–British Columbia: 2) 13 new lichen species discovered, 3) 60 acres saved, 4) 1 out 3 trees go to waste, 5) Highway expansions, 6) weakening of weak laws, 7) Plantskyyd,
–Oregon: 8) great gray owls surveys helps loggers decide to log
–California: 9) Save the Mattole, 10) How mill owner spend money, 11) Save the Oaks,
–Idaho: 12) Resistance to logging in Panhandle NF
–Arizona: 13) Demise of high mountain forests
–West Virginia: 14) Big legal victory that stop removal of mountain tops
–Kentucky: 15) Comment on Daniel Boone Logging and Herbicide plan
–Appalachia: 16) Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project
–USA: 17) Get a free copy of “Lasting Landscapes”
–Canada: 18) Save the Boreal, 19) Ontario getting cutting fast, 20) Tribes get $$s, land,
–Morocco: 21) Losing 30,000 hectares of forest per year
–Gambia: 22) Ballabu Conservation Project
–Congo:23) UK gives 50 million pounds the save Congo
–Uganda: 24) Forest Day, 25) Save Mabira, 26) Sign the petition,
–Haiti: 27) Tiburon Peninsula
–Brazil: 28) Cargill port shut down
–China: 29) Asian Pulp and Paper destroying rare forests
–Malaysia: 30) Certification, 31) Save Kamula Dosa, 32) 5 of 22 companies are legit, 33) New Botanical park threatens natives,
–Mynamar: 34) Satelite mapping shows need to save more forest
–Borneo: 35) Logging impacts on small rodents
–Australia: 36) Weld Valley action, 37) NAFI is confusing, 38) Howard’s plan
–World-wide: 39) Why deforestation is good

Alaska:

1) “K41: In this parcel DNR appears to be following the same model of management used by the USFS: Grand scale roading, clear cutting, catering to large corporate interests—an over-optimistic management scheme that depends upon unsustainable liquidation of old growth and wilderness habitat along with overcapitalization to pay for the high production tools and associated job skills necessary to carry out that management scheme. The philosophy is: We have these high production tools. Therefore let’s tailor sales to accommodate the tools. The downside: People grow dependent upon an unsustainable source of income and as a result, wildlife, aesthetics, water quality, soil health, forest diversity, and non-targeted species all decline. I crossed this parcel on foot over thirty years ago during one of several hikes across Gravina. I was surprised to see a flying squirrel in some higher volume woods near Crater Lake at the extreme north corner of this parcel. TCS recommends selective helicopter logging only, if any logging is done. No roads. Trails and undeveloped recreation should be encouraged. Continuous monitoring of any helicopter logging is essential to ensure slash, tops and other waste is properly disposed of, not left scattered along the lands under or near the route of overflight as it was when LP helicoptered its timber from Granite Creek on the Cleveland Peninsula.” For those who think that roads will improve subsistence opportunities I’d suggest going to www.subsistence.adfg.state.ak.us/ and perusing some of the Subsistence Technical Papers under the Publications tab. You might also check out what the Forest Service wrote about Environmental Consequences under the Environment and Effects section of the Gravina Island Timber Sale FEIS v.1 http://www.sitnews.us/0307Viewpoints/032407_mike_sallee.html

British Columbia:

2) It took one scientist from the U.S. and another from Germany, but between them, they have discovered 13 new species of lichens in the B.C. rainforest that humankind never knew existed. And within the next two years, they say, the number could rise to 50 or more. In fact, says Toby Spribille, a lichenologist from the University of Gottingen in Germany, when it comes to discovering new forms of lichen, British Columbia, thanks to its largely unstudied rainforests, is revealing more previously undiscovered species than any other region on Earth. The problem, says Spribille, is that with so many of these forests slated for logging, these 13 species — and who knows how many more — could disappear before scientists have had a chance to study and understand them properly. Spribille and his colleague, Curtis Bjork, a botanist with the University of Idaho, spent the last five years searching the old-growth rainforests near Glacier National Park in the Kootenays and in the Robson Valley near McBride for new forms of lichen, a creature that is neither a plant nor an animal. Instead, like its fungal cousin, the mushroom, it straddles both kingdoms and therefore becomes one of its own. The largest lichen known to humankind is like a three-metre-long strand of hair, says Bjork, but the 13 new species he and Spribille discovered range in size from a pinhead to one slightly bigger than a penny, and are solid and round like pies. “They also have a scalloped edge like you’d see in a pie,” Bjork said. They were all found growing on various kinds of coniferous trees in the rainforest, and range in colour from onyx to white to pink to russet brown to orange to grey. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=1c0b0dde-2842-410f-8001-0a2c3bfe4fc3&k=58
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3) When Dale and Anita Lehman decided to “sell the farm”, they wanted to be sure a prime piece of land with great sentimental value would stay intact in perpetuity. The property, valued at $790,000 ($60,000 in land and $730,000 in timber) is located just off Wagon Wheel Road in Bridesville, about 16 miles east of Osoyoos. The Lehmans moved from their ranch in 2003 to settle in Osoyoos. They decided the only way to guarantee the new owners would leave as-is their 60 acres of old-growth forest land – complete with 10 artesian springs – was to contact a land conservancy organization. They contacted the Nature Trust, who referred the Lehmans to the Land Conservancy of British Columbia (TLC), beginning a two-year push in the summer of 2001 to get the property out of the Agricultural Land Reserve and keep it as a nature reserve. The couple believes their gift was the single largest private donation in B.C. They received a tax receipt for the property under TLC’s Ecological Gifts Program. TLC has named the property ‘Lehman Springs’ and is responsible for the land’s future care and maintenance. “The land has never been logged and we didn’t want anything to happen to it,” Dale explains. “We knew once we sold it, we couldn’t guarantee somebody wouldn’t come and log it. Or maybe the next family who bought it after that might do it.” The land, a total of 2,200 acres, belonged to Dale’s father, who rented in the 1930s and bought it in the 1940s. He ranched before Dale took over the operation – which in the last few years supported 800-1,000 head of cattle. The ranch land was sold, leaving just the 60 acres of adjacent forest to deal with. With their four grown children moved away to the Coast, Alberta and Australia to pursue lives other than ranching, the Lehmans made the decision to donate the land rather than will it to their children. http://www.osoyoostimes.com/pMOT/more.php?id=647_0_1_0_M14

4) One out of every three logs cut from B.C.’s coastal forestlands are either exported as raw logs or left to rot on the forest floor, says a forestry researcher. And resource policy analyst Ben Parfitt, who is preparing a report on the issue for the left-leaning Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, says the province’s economy and forestry workers and communities are paying a high price for the practice. “The cost of not turning these logs into lumber and other wood products here in B.C. was the loss of 5,872 jobs in 2005 and 5,756 jobs in 2006,” he said. “We could be running two world class sawmills flat out on the volume of wood we are leaving behind.” In 2005, a total of 3.63 million cubic metres of wood was left on the ground, Parfitt says. He blames the high number on a 2003 government policy change that allows forestry companies to pay nominal stumpage (the fee companies pay to cut timber on Crown land) on usable wood left on the forest floor. Previously it was more economical for companies to use damaged or lower-grade wood in their own pulp and paper mills or sell it to value-added businesses. “Now there’s a ‘take the best and leave the rest’ mindset,” he says. The report will be released later this year. While Forests Minister Rich Coleman said the figures do not match information he has received from staff, he says the ministry is already taking a hard look at both log exports and waste. “The amount of waste in the forest is not acceptable to me,” he said. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=d5a923e1-a61e-40fb-88b8-b63
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5) The BC Ministry of Transportation is currently undertaking Phase 2 in its proposals to potentially expand highways and bridges along the Malahat Corridor north of Victoria. The new highways/expansions would go through the ancient forests and rare ecosystems of Goldstream Provincial Park, the Sooke Hills Wilderness Regional Park (which the WCWC fought hard to establish in the 1990’s), or Gowlland Tod Provincial Park, as well as possibly through the Highlands and North Saanich municipalities; in addition, a bridge could possibly span across the currently tranquil Saanich Inlet, while bigger ferries could be built to cross the Inlet. Besides destroying our parks, highway expansion would also supercharge suburban sprawl along the Malahat highway and in adjacent communities (gobbling-up forest and farmlands), lead to more cars on the road and therefore traffic congestion in Victoria and Duncan, and result in greatly ramped-up greenhouse gas emissions – which flies in the face of the BC Liberals’ recent plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in BC by 33% by 2020. The WCWC therefore opposes all highway and bridge expansion proposals and instead supports a greatly enhanced commuter rail line option along the existing E&N railway and a major expansion in public transit along the Malahat. www.wildernesscommittee.org

6) Since 2001 we have seen a dramatic weakening of already inadequate provincial laws governing logging. However, the full negative ecological, cultural and social impacts of the Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA) were delayed during a lengthy transition period. They will be hitting our forests in full force after this week. March 31, 2007 is the target date for the Ministry of Forest and Range to approve the first round of operational plans under FRPA. Forest Stewardship Plans that allow logging in endangered species habitat, threaten our drinking water, undermine land use planning agreements, and infringe on Aboriginal Title and Rights are about to be approved all around the province. Plan approvals have already occurred in some areas. Please take 5 minutes BEFORE MARCH 31 to personally send a fax urging the provincial government to delay Forest Stewardship Plan approvals in order to reform forest practices laws to protect the environment, deal honourably with First Nations, and provide for meaningful public engagement. You can do so directly from the Forest Solutions Action Centre at: http://www.forestsolutions.ca/fax.asp

7) Plantskyyd, which is now produced in the USA, is usually drizzled into boxes of seedlings at the nursery after the trees have been lifted and wrapped. Then, ostensibly the blood is allowed to “dry out on the foliage” prior to being sent out to the field. Plantskyyd is also often applied directly out in the field immediately after planting (ie: before the ungulates get to them) by spray-pump applicators. Treeplanters have even been required to dip their bundles into garbage cans of freshly rehydrated pigs blood while ‘bagging up,’ -generally along with 20lbs of chemical fertilizer for each run of trees. Plantskyyd is so utterly repulsive that deer, caribou, moose and elk and even Pika’s, Marmots and other rodents all run screaming out of the stumpfields whenever they get the slightest whiff of it. From the Plantskyyd website: “… Plantskydd stimulates a fear-based response which will have them looking for somewhere else to dine…” But Plantskyyd is also hideously repulsive to treeplanters, especially to Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Vegetarian treeplanters who are also required to handle it at work. Every treeplanter, bar none, despises this product. I’ve seen whole crews retching in nausea and horror during the first morning bag-up as they face the bloody gore that is inevitably involved with the use of Plantskyyd. Occasionally, the pigs blood may be be dried on the seedling foliage when it leaves the nursery, but more often than not, it arrives on the cutblocks still liquid and glistening on the trees. As soon as the boxes are opened an overwhelming rotten stench wafts out, and a gruesome miasma spreads over the cutblock which lingers all day. When it rains, one’s bags, clothes and equipment are soon slathered in dripping, industrial feed-lot porcine slaughterhouse gore. No amount of rain stops a treeplanting show, and on rainy days, no amount of rain gear prevents the pigs blood from soaking right through ones clothing and into one’s skin. On hot days it smears and stinks and attracts a lot of flies. ingmarz@gmail.com

Oregon:

8) Scott Bodle, 31, and Fred Craig, 61, a veteran owl surveyor in the forest’s wildlife program, were making their first survey of the year for the great gray owls. The 10 calling sites they visit are in the river corridor between the old Applegate district ranger station and the Applegate Dam. The survey begins in mid-March with three visits to each site by mid-May and another three by mid-June, a period that covers the owl’s breeding season. One of the world’s largest with an average wingspan of around 60 inches, the owl is neither threatened nor endangered. But under the agency’s survey and manage regulations, any planned habitat disturbance requires a survey of indicator species like the great gray. An indicator species is one whose presence is an indicator of habitat health. In the district’s upper Applegate Road area, a project is being planned to reduce the threat of catastrophic fires in the wildlands urban interface by thinning vegetation built up after a century of fire suppression. “Where Forest Service meets private we are going in to try to reduce the risk of wildfire running down into private property,” Bodle explained. “As a result, there might be some commercial harvest. There might be some cutting and piling of brush and burning those piles. We might do some broadcast burning. But to do any of that we have to see what kind of effect it might have on certain species. “We’re looking to find and document the great gray owls if they are in the area,” he added. “If they are not, that gives us greater flexibility with the prescriptions we will be doing as far as fuels treatment.” At the first site visited this past week, Bodle had found a male and female along with a freshly fledged juvenile last year. It’s a likely location because the owls often inhabit forested areas near openings such as a mountain meadow or logged-off area, he said. The soft, low-pitched “whooo! whooo!” could barely be heard by humans standing in the windy darkness a few yards away. The owls can hear far better than humans, the surveyors explain. http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2007/0325/local/stories/owls.htm

California:

9) I just created an online petition to Governor Arnold. Schwartzenegger, asking him to take measures to protect what remains of the old growth forests in the Mattole watershed. About 2000 acres of old growth is left. This unique ecosystem provides habitat for endangered species. A tiny pecentage of the original old growth forest in California is left. Pacific Lumber has been known for its unsustainable logging practices since it was taken over by Texas based Maxxam Corporation. These practices have harmed water quality and downsteam residents. Steps could be taken to purchase the land or to ban old growth logging. To sign this petition go here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/193425069?ltl=1174805981

10) Responding to Pacific Lumber Company’s claims of financial crisis, the State Water Resources Control Board has released what is quite likely the most thorough and authoritative analysis of the PL’s finances ever made public, finding that the company’s dire predicatment “is the result of the risky business model that (parent company)MAXXAM has chosen to follow.” This study was commissioned by the State Water Board to determine whether increased regulation by the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (NCRWQCB) may be responsible for PL’s proclaimed economic crisis. The study specifically responds to various claims made by Pacific Lumber in a March 15, 2005 Economic White Paper, and analyzes Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings by Pacific Lumber, Scotia Pacific, and MAXXAM going back to 1993. The report concludes that “MAXXAM has taken money out of PALCO in subtle and complex ways and has directed PALCO to harvest trees at rates that greatly exceeds sustainable forest practices. MAXXAM has put PALCO at risk by borrowing large sums of money, not paying down its long-term debt, and thereby keeping PALCO a highly leveraged company.” http://watchpaul-articles.blogspot.com/2007/03/this-is-text-off-ourhumboldtorg-site.html

11) It makes sense that the California Oak Foundation is headquartered in downtown Oakland. What makes no sense to Executive Director Janet Cobb is that from her eighth-floor office, she cannot see any oaks in Oakland. On growing up among the oaks I grew up in the East Bay, and when I was about 6 or 7, we were jumping out of oak trees, pretending we were in the Wild West. I helped gather cattle out of those hills that were covered with oaks. On becoming involved I married a vet student who became Dr. Frank Santos. He went to Davis. We ended up in Portola Valley. Oaks are the mainstay of the landscape there. So the oaks were always in the back of my mind, even though I’m driving kids in carpools. We have a list of about 20,000 people across the state who care about oaks. The local people are the salvation. They have to be vigilant all the time. One of my first projects was “Oaks of California,” a full-color book. We’ve gone on to publish other things, like “Compatible Plants Under Ground Oaks,” which tells people not to water the oak trees in their yard. Even Barbra Streisand, when I got down to her place in Southern California, she had sprinklers going on the oak trunks. A year ago, we settled a lawsuit that we partnered with Sierra Club and Audubon Society with Bickford Ranch up in Placer County. We have $6 million in the California Wildlife Foundation to replace oaks they removed. We helped sponsor SB 1334. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed that bill in 2004. It puts the oak woodlands into the California Environmental Quality Act. Now we are defending that law because cities and counties are trying to get around it. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/25/CMGRJN7RCS1.DTL

Idaho:

12) The U.S. Forest Service could face a battle from a conservation group over plans to thin parts of the Idaho Panhandle National Forests in the Myrtle Creek Valley, where only a dramatic change in weather stopped a 2003 fire from sweeping through this north Idaho town. The valley has supplied the town’s drinking water for 80 years. The Forest Service has announced plans to log about 2,100 acres of the 27,000-acre watershed to thin portions of the forest and make the next fire easier to stop and less damaging. But The Lands Council, a conservation group based in Spokane, Wash., considers the project illegal and plans to fight it in court. Roughly half the proposed logging would take place in inventoried roadless areas and grizzly bear habitat, said Mike Petersen, the council’s director. Much of the work will be selective thinning, but about 750 acres is slated for “regeneration harvest” in which only a few larger, old trees are left standing on each acre. “It’s really a shame because a small portion of the sale is legitimately for fuel reduction. Most of it’s not. It’s miles from town and it’s going to damage the town’s water supply,” he said. “Most cities don’t clearcut and log their water supply.” http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_ID_Logging_Plan.html

Arizona:

13) High above the desert floor, this little alpine town has long served as a natural air-conditioned retreat for people in Tucson, one of the so-called sky islands of southern Arizona. When it is 105 degrees in the city, it is at least 20 degrees cooler up here near the 9,157-foot summit of Mount Lemmon. But for the past 10 years or so, things have been unraveling. Winter snows melt away earlier, longtime residents say, making for an erratic season at the nearby ski resort, the most southern in the nation. Legions of predatory insects have taken to the forest that mantles the upper mountain, killing trees weakened by record heat. And in 2003, a fire burned for a month, destroying much of the town and scarring more than 87,000 acres. The next year, another fire swept over 32,000 acres. “Nature is confused,” said Debbie Fagan, who moved here 25 years ago after crossing the country in pursuit of the perfect place to live. “We used to have four seasons. Now we have two. I love this place dearly, and this is very hard for me to watch.” The American Southwest has been warming for nearly 30 years, according to records that date to the late 19th century. And the region is in the midst of an eight-year drought. Both developments could be within the range of natural events. But what has convinced many scientists that the current spate of higher temperatures is not just another swing in the weather has been the near collapse of the sky islands and other high, formerly green havens that poke above the desert. A trip up to any one of the 27 sky islands shows the ravages of heat on the land. The forests are splotched with a rusty tinge, as trees die from beetle infestation. Frogs with a 10,000-year-old pedigree have all but disappeared. One of the sky islands is the world’s only habitat for the Mount Graham red squirrel, an endangered species down to its last 100 or so animals. For the squirrel, the frog and other species that have retreated ever higher, there may be no place left to go. “As the climate warms, these species on top of the sky islands are literally getting pushed off into space,” Dr. Overpeck said. The Coronado National Forest, which includes Mount Lemmon and Mount Graham, lists 28 threatened or endangered species. Heat has greatly diminished the web of life that these creatures depend on, and they “have not evolved to tolerate these new conditions,” Forest Service officials wrote in a report on the declining health of the sky islands. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/27/us/27warming.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

West Virginia:

14) Environmentalists on Monday hailed a federal court victory over the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as the possible death knell of mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia A federal judge ruled Friday that the corps violated federal law by issuing valley fill permits for mountaintop removal mines without conducting extensive environmental reviews. Though the decision involves just four mines, the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and two other environmental groups believe it will affect more than 30 pending permits for surface mines in West Virginia, the nation’s second-largest coal producing state. And they’re hoping the decision thwarts mountaintop removal mining across Appalachia. The ruling has broad implications for other mountaintop removal permits, Joe Lovett, an attorney with the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, said during a conference call with reporters. “Mining methods are going to have to change here.” And, Lovett added, other parts of the country. Lovett and others contend the decision affects similar permits for mountaintop removal mines elsewhere, particularly in Kentucky. “I think the corps will be found lacking all over the country,” he said. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/K/KY_MOUNTAINTOP_REMOVAL_KYOL-?SITE=KYLOU&SECTION=HOME&TE
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Kentucky:

15) Please take this opportunity to comment on a US Forest Service proposal that would spray toxic herbicides on 47 acres and log 1,473 acres of beautiful and intact forest in the Daniel Boone National Forest in Clay and Leslie Counties. Some of this forest, according to the US Forest Service, may be old growth. That’s right. They plan to cut over 10.1 miles of roads through this noble ecosystem and drive their loaders, skidders and trucks through a forest that has managed to remain in tact since Daniel Boone walked these lands. Much of the forest, currently not considered old growth by local Forest Service officials, is well on its way to becoming just that. It need only to be left alone. It becomes old growth when you let it grow old. Why log potential old growth? They argue that a cleared forest is good roughed grouse habitat. But there is no better habitat for the roughed grouse than that of an old growth forest. In a recent study sponsored by the Ruffed Grouse Society, and several state and federal resource agencies across Appalachia, researchers demonstrated that ruffed grouse actually need older forest for nesting. High basal area, more canopy cover, and greater amounts of course woody debris all improved grouse breeding. Not only did ruffed grouse use forests with theses characteristics more often, more chicks were successfully fledged in them so that overall nesting success in them was higher. It turns out that hen grouse liked to have a large tree or log as a backstop to the nest so that they don’t “get surprised” by a predator sneaking up from behind. With huge standing and downed trees, as well as snags for nesting and cover and plenty of fern and berries to eat, the roughed grouse flourishes in these endangered and ever diminishing forests. http://www.heartwood.org/alerts.php?id=112

Appalachia:

16) The southeastern United States is still blessed with incredibly diverse forest and river systems, but they are under intense pressures from development and logging. The small staff of the Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project (SABP) aims to hold the line against ecosystem losses through organizing, advocacy, and litigation. Tracy Davids, the group’s director since 1998, is an ambitious and unapologetic defender of all things wild. The first person in her family to attend college, she went on to get a law degree, which she puts to good use at SABP. The group is based in Asheville, North Carolina. Q: How is biodiversity faring in the Southeast? A: The number one reason we’re losing species diversity is habitat loss. People are moving here for the quality of life and the cheaper land, so development is just exploding. Also, air pollution from coal-fired power plants in the Ohio and Tennessee valleys is affecting our high-elevation spruce-fir forests. The trees are bathed in this acidic mist that’s killing them rapidly. Q: Some say that greens overuse litigation. What’s your view? A: When you need a screwdriver, you use a screwdriver, and when you need a hammer, you use a hammer. Litigation is one of those tools. When it’s appropriate and strategic, it’s fantastic. In our case, because we focus heavily on public lands, we are working with a lot of government agencies. I can tell you, if agencies did their jobs, and did them right according to current law, there would be no need for litigation. And SABP would never have come to life. Fifteen years ago our founders learned about a timber sale in a roadless area in western North Carolina. They found some deficiencies with the Forest Service’s environmental assessment and called the agency to task on it. When they started to look around at other forests in the Southeast, they noticed that such violations were prevalent. They saw that the agency needed citizens to step in to provide comment, guidance, and direction toward better management plans for the national forests. So that’s what we do. When we find a legal violation, we pursue it to the letter of the law. We expect our government to prosecute criminals for breaking the law, so why shouldn’t we hold our federal agencies to that standard? http://www.orionmagazine.org/pages/om/07-2om/ogn.html

USA:

17) Lasting Landscapes: Reflections on the Role of Conservation Science in Land Use Planning, a collection of essays authored by leaders in the fields of conservation biology and land-use planning. Reed Noss, Ph.D., provides an Overview and Commentary. The collection is a milestone in identifying opportunities to foster collaboration between the fields of conservation biology and land use planning. It offers concrete recommendations for how to advance the development of biologically defensible plans that support lasting landscapes and nature-friendly communities. The authors of the eight essays are David Theobald, Ph.D.; Adina Merenlender, Ph.D.; Dan Perlman, Ph.D.; Bruce Stein, Ph.D.; Philip Berke, Ph.D.; Arlan Colton, FAICP and Sherry Ruther; and Timothy Duane, J.D., Ph.D. They include a biodiversity support expert, professors of biology and of land-use planning, and practicing planners. Despite their wide ranging experience and expertise, some consensus emerges among the authors as to how best to encourage the use of conservation science to guide the location and pattern of growth in a biologically meaningful manner. The authors suggest: 1) Developing tools for planners to communicate the value of conservation to their constituents 2) Enacting requirements and incentives for proactive conservation planning 3) Developing tools to measure the effectiveness of conservation planning 4) Synchronizing the actions of governments at local, regional, and state levels 5) Encouraging planners to adapt conservation principles to individual situations 6) Creating a technical support system to help land-use planners and conservation scientists use each others’ expertise to advance their goals…. This collection of essays will be valuable to those in the vanguard of progressive land-use planning or who are interested in emerging strategies to promote biodiversity conservation. Lasting Landscapes is available to download free of cost on the ELI website: http://www.elistore.org/reports_detail.asp?ID=11212

Canada:

18) I think we forget, sometimes, what a treasure the boreal forest is. And now that spring has arrived and birds are returning, it’s a good time to celebrate it once again. In Canada, it covers 520 million hectares and has more intact forest than anywhere else on Earth. Every year, up to 3 billion birds breed there. Roughly 26 million are waterfowl, 7 million are shorebirds, and the remainder are landbirds. Most of the landbirds are songbirds, and most of them – as many as 2 billion – are warblers. These are awesome numbers, even more so when you realize that 60 per cent of all the landbirds in Canada, and 96 per cent of all the waterfowl in North America, breed in the boreal. As Peter Blancher and Jeffrey Wells say in two landmark studies (found in the Bird Studies Canada library at www.bsc-eoc.org): “The vastness of the boreal forest region makes it one of the few remaining places on Earth where entire ecosystems function. … (I)t is vital to the abundance of bird life.” I see the boreal as inextricably linked to a Canadian sense of identity. But, because the forest is so big, I think Canadians take it for granted, as if the wilderness could never end no matter what we do to it. However, development is spreading relentlessly into the northern boreal, which so far has remained largely intact. With it comes the threat of fragmentation, loss of habitat and consequences as yet uncharted. http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/article/195584

19) Logging, roads and other human disturbances are cutting into Northern Ontario’s tree cover at a rapid rate, says a scientist who analyzed dozens of satellite images of the area. The changes reduce the ability of the boreal forest to combat climate change by storing carbon. They also threaten the survival of woodland caribou and other species, said Peter Lee, executive-director of Global Forest Watch Canada, a research group based in Edmonton. Lee looked at 65 Landsat images acquired from the Canadian and U.S. governments, each of an area 180 kilometres square. Taken together, they cover nearly half the province, from about as far south as Sault Ste. Marie to as far north as Moosonee, on James Bay. “I was surprised at the extent of the logging that’s occurring,” Lee said in an interview. Loss of the original forest cover is important for climate change, because even when logging companies replant trees, the resulting “managed” forest can store only half as much carbon. A report released this month states that each year, logging in Ontario’s boreal forest releases the equivalent of 15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, about 7 per cent of the province’s total greenhouse gas emissions. http://www.thestar.com/News/article/196328

20) A five year 2.5 million dollar transfer agreement between the Manitoba government and the Wabanong Nakaygum Okimawin (WNO) Council of Chiefs has been signed.. The group has received 500-thousand dollars, the first of five payments it will get up until 2011. Conservation minister Stan Struthers calls it one of the most comprehensive traditional area land-use plans in the province’s history. Struthers adds the deal ensures the culture and history of Aboriginal Peoples on the east side of Lake Winnipeg is protected. The goal of the WNO council is developing a broad-area plan for the region to make the protection of the environment and Boreal forest a priority while plans for resource development are considered. http://www.cjob.com/news/index.aspx?src=loc&mc=local&rem=61473

Morocco:

21) According to Hammou Jader, Secretary-General of the High Commission for Water, Forests and Desertification Control, the country currently loses 30,000 hectares of forest per year, due to a number of problems including human activity, climate change and fires. Jader said that in most cases, the risk from fires is “caused mainly and directly by humans”. Although fires are a problem throughout the year 80% of them occur between June and October. The cause of half of the fires is never discovered, although 40% of fires are known to result from negligence such as field burning, forest clearing, campfires, discarded cigarettes and smoking beehives for honey collection. Morocco’s January and February frosts frequently blight large numbers of trees and make it easier for forest fires to spread. According to the High Commission for Water, Forests and Desertification Control, deforestation can contribute to flooding and topsoil loss as plant cover is less able to play its role in regulating water flows and protecting against soil erosion. The commission is therefore trying to address the situation by restoring forest density and the balance of the ecosystem. Reforestation will be necessary to satisfy the growing demand for wood products brought about by the country’s social and economic development. The government has implemented laws, regulations and prevention and control measures in high-risk forest districts. An inter-ministerial committee has drafted a national forest fire prevention strategy which outlines the regions threatened by fires and their main causes. Morocco currently plants nearly 37,000 hectares of new forest per year and efforts are being made to increase this rate. Morocco’s forests cover an area of around 9 million hectares, or 12% of the country’s surface area. Its natural forests cover a total of 5.8 million hectares, while it has 3.2 million hectares of esparto grass steppes. The country has 530,000 hectares of planted forest. http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2007/03/25/feature-02

Gambia:

22) The concept of the Ballabu Conservation Project is to create an 85sq kilometre conservation area, incorporating 14 Gambian villages. Each village will have a community forest park established, as well as some form of industry such as eco lodges, recycling plants, skill training centres, agriculture or live stock. The forest parks will also deliberately link up to create a wildlife corridor to allow the safe passage of animals through the villages. The aim of the project is to alleviate poverty for the local people by making each village self-sustaining. These projects will be 100 percent community owned with the profits going into community development projects in the form of water resources, education, healthcare and renewable energy. Still at an early stage, the focus is currently on funding, but it is hoped that community tours through the area will be offered from November 07 to highlight the plight of rural Gambia to visitors to the country. The two UK founders of Makasutu, Lawrence Williams and James English, are the brains behind the project and are strengthening support and partnerships for the scheme both in The Gambia and overseas. The Eden Project is an educational charity in Cornwall and is home to the world’s largest rainforest in captivity. Recently Don Murray, curator of the Rainforest Biome, visited Makasutu and attended the inaugural meeting of the Ballabu Conservation Area. Don Murray said: “Visiting the surrounding villages and seeing for myself the support Makasutu has from the village Elders and District Chief has been fantastic. It really brings home that the 21st century demands the very best from us all as we try and tackle climate change, drought, poverty and many other issues. There is nothing more positive than seeing the Ballabu initiative coming together and visualising the positive effects it could have on the villages — it gives me real hope.” http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/03/prweb513583.htm

Congo:

23) Britain is to give £50m towards helping to save the second-largest rainforest in the world, the Congo Basin in central Africa. In one of the Budget’s most eye-catching and unusual items, Mr Brown announced an £800m Environmental Transformation Fund, to help developing countries cope with environmental changes such as global warming – and the Congo forest will be the recipient of its first major grant. The money will form the basis of a new Congo Basin rainforest conservation fund, to be set up under the aegis of the 10 African countries surrounding the great wilderness, which at 700,000 square miles in extent is twice the size of France, but is increasingly threatened with development in the way the Amazon has been affected in Brazil. Britain has persuaded Professor Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan environmental campaigner and 2004 Nobel Peace Price winner, and Canada’s former Prime Minister, Paul Martin, a long-standing advocate for debt relief and for African leadership in development, to oversee the fund’s establishment and advise on its governance and financial management, ensuring that it has strong African ownership and supports the needs of the Congo Basin countries. “Fifty million local people rely on the tropical rainforest of the Congo Basin for food, shelter and their livelihoods, while the world relies on it, and other rainforests, as an ecological handbrake on our rapidly changing climate,” said the International Development Secretary, Hilary Benn. http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2381081.ece

Uganda:

24) As the world marks the Forest Day today, there is little to celebrate in Uganda. The country’s forests are disappearing at an alarming rate of 2% per year, the highest in the world. Six thousand hectares of trees are being cut down every month, 72,000 hectares in 2006. At this pace, Uganda’s forests will have gone in 50 years. In comparison, forest loss in the whole of Africa stands at 0.6%, while forest loss in the world stands at 0.18%. At this pace, Uganda’s forests will have gone in 50 years time. Population pressure and poverty are the underlying causes. With 7.1 births per woman, Uganda has the second highest fertility rate in the world. Only Niger, with 7.9 births per woman, scores higher. By 2050, according to the UN, Uganda’s population will have soared to 130 million, almost five times the current number. Feeding, housing, creating jobs and income for so many people will inevitably eat into the forests. Presently, 97% of the population uses charcoal and firewood for cooking. Illegal timber logging and trade has resumed in several parts of the country, at times with the support of local politicians. Encroachment in the central forest reserves is on the rise. The number of people building houses, farming and grazing their livestock in the protected forests went up from 180,000 to 220,000 between 2005 and 2006, an increase of 23%. The encroachers, who are increasingly better organised, fiercely resist any attempts by the National Forestry Authority (NFA) to evict them. “Lawlessness and community hostility have inflamed to a level where any decisive action now leads to mob action, resulting into grievous bodily harm to NFA’s staff,” says the organisation’s annual report, to be released today.
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/555432

25) BirdLife International, a conservation group, says the Mabira Forest Reserve is home to more than 300 species of birds. The 32,000 hectare forest also supports nine species of primate and serves as a reservoir for many of the region’s rivers, providing fresh water to an estimated 1 million people. The forest has been protected since 1932. Uganda’s cabinet this week approved a proposal by President Yoweri Museveni to allocate more than 7,000 hectares of the forest to Sugar Corporation of Uganda Limited, owned by the Mehta Group. The company plans to clear cut the area for sugar plantations. Presidential spokesman John Nagenda tells VOA that, according to Mr. Museveni, low-income Ugandans will benefit from a decrease in the price of sugar, the project will create many new jobs, and Uganda will be able to export sugar in large quantities, thus bringing in badly needed revenue. “The rationale is very simple,” he said. “He [Museveni] says we must develop, we must industrialize. Lots and lots of people in the world haven’t got forests. There are no forests inside London, there are no forests in New York, and people cleared these things to industrialize and therefore to develop.” At the end of November, more than 2,000 protesters from Uganda, the United States, Israel and other places signed a petition urging President Museveni not to parcel out land from the Mabira Forest Reserve. Environmentalists are concerned about the plan’s impact on Uganda’s environment. In a previous interview with VOA, Arthur Bainomugisha, research director with the Advocates Coalition for Development and the Environment, said that forest covered 20 percent of Uganda 40 years ago, and now covers just seven percent. http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-03-23-voa31.cfm

26) We, the undersigned, … do not believe that Mabira Forest should be degazetted by the Government of Uganda in order to plant sugar cane. Mabira Forest is part of our heritage and our children’s future. Mabira Forest is a tropical hardwood forest which is proposed to be cut down for the production of sugar in Uganda. The forest is one of the most biodiverse forests remaining in Africa. It also has added value for the communities that inhabit it and surround it. The value of the forest to Uganda and her people is beyond the values of the trees, but it is also a frequented tourism site for birdwatching, forest walks, and other activities; it has cultural and historical values; it significantly impacts the environment as a natural water filteration system and a natural regulator of global climate. We are asking the private investor to withdraw their request and take others up on their offers of land in Uganda to develop their sugar cane fields in other arable land. http://www.petitiontime.com/ViewPetition.aspx?key=savemabira

Haiti:

27) The Tiburon Peninsula (named after the Spanish word for shark) stretches out from southern Haiti westward towards Cuba. The word ‘Haiti’ means ‘mountain’ in Taino, the language spoken by the pre-Columbian inhabitants of Hispaniola and the neighbouring Greater Antilles (hence the name of the mountainous Los Haitises National Park in the neighbouring Dominican Republic), and the western part of the peninsula is dominated by the Massif de la Hotte, one of the most remote and biologically significant areas of Hispaniola. The American entomologist P. J. Darlington wrote in 1935 that ‘it is in the La Hotte region, of all Haiti, that there is to-day the best chance of finding novel forms of life, and it is undoubtedly there that natural conditions will persist longest.’ Early explorers were confronted with impenetrable vegetation and almost constant rainfall, and discovered many endemic species – the peninsula constituted a separate island until around nine million years ago, and is home to a large number of animals and plants found nowhere else on Hispaniola. This massive-scale human impact has had a huge effect on the region’s native land mammals, the solenodon and the Hispaniolan hutia (Plagiodontia aedium). These species are threatened not only by the accelerating destruction of their remaining forest habitat, but also from heavy predation by abundant introduced feral dogs and cats, mongooses and rats. They are also opportunistically exploited for food by local farmers, who hunt them with dogs, smoke them out of their burrows, and kill them with sticks and roots whenever they are seen. Neither species is protected by any conservation legislation in Haiti. However, no-one is sure what the main threats to these species are: they may be able to survive in areas converted to agriculture and pastoralism, but further research is urgently required before useful conservation recommendations can be developed. http://www.edgeofexistence.org/blog/?p=46

Brazil:

28) Authorities shut down an important deep-water Amazon River port owned by Cargill Inc. on Saturday, saying the huge U.S. agribusiness firm failed to provide an environmental impact statement required by law. The move by federal police and environmental agents to close Cargill’s controversial soy export terminal was a major victory for environmentalists in Santarem, a sleepy jungle city about 1,250 miles northwest of Sao Paulo. It came after a late Friday ruling by Judge Souza Prudente, police and the Agencia Estado news service said. “It was peaceful,” federal police agent Cesar Dessimoni said of the shutdown. “They can appeal the ruling, but no one resisted.” Dessimoni said Minnetonka, Minn.-based Cargill had prepared an environmental assessment that did not meet federal standards. “They’ll have to do it correctly, as the law demands,” he said by telephone from Santarem. Environmentalists who point to soy farming, logging and cattle ranching as the primary threats facing the Amazon praised the closure, calling it a milestone in attempts to push the government to more effectively police a region where lawlessness often prevails. “A big step forward has been taken in enforcing the responsible use of natural resources and bringing greater governance in the Amazon,” Paulo Adario, Greenpeace Amazon Campaign Coordinator in Brazil, said in a statement. Cargill, which has operated in Brazil since 1965, said Saturday that it plans to appeal the ruling and that it had submitted an environmental impact statement that was accepted by the Amazon state of Para, where Santarem is located. “We find ourselves caught in a jurisdictional dispute between the state and federal government about which regulations have precedence,” Cargill spokeswoman Lori Johnson said. “When we built the facility, the permits were issued by the state. http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/business/16968607.htm

China:

29) International environmental group Greenpeace on Wednesday accused Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) of illegal logging in protected forests in southern China. Greenpeace’s China office said APP had illegally cleared indigenous forest to build roads and plant a “large area of eucalyptus pulp and paper forest” in a protected nature reserve in Yinggeling, a remote mountainous region in China’s southern island province of Hainan. “APP crudely opened roads in the protected area by destroying natural forest,” Liu Bing, Greenpeace forestry project director, told a news conference. “This not only harmed a large area of the natural forest, but also caused significant water loss and soil erosion, and could lead to reduced biodiversity and the destruction of an ecosystem,” Liu said. “We call on the State Forestry Administration, the State Environmental Protection Agency and the Hainan provincial government and relevant departments to immediately take action to halt APP’s illegal activities in Yinggeling.” APP’s China office in Shanghai was not immediately able to provide comment. A spokesman for Indonesian parent Sinar Mas Group could not be reached. Environmentalists have previously accused APP of illegal logging in Indonesia and at its pulp and paper operations in Hainan and the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan. The firm has denied wrongdoing. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK163125.htm

Malaysia:

30) Malaysia will ask its timber suppliers in other countries to provide certification on the origin of wood according to a report from the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO). The move will help Malaysia fight allegations that its timber processors are complicit in the illegal logging industry. The ITTO says the decision will boost sales of Malaysian secondary processed wood products to markets where timber accountability is important, like Europe and increasingly, the United States. http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0327-timber.html

31) A CONTROVERSIAL plan to bulldoze a million hectares of virgin rainforest in Papua New Guinea is emerging as a test case for the Howard Government’s $200million initiative to fight illegal logging. Logging is expected to begin soon in Kamula Dosa, an extension of the Wawoi Guavi forestry concession held by Malaysian company Rimbunan Hijau. The Papua New Guinea Ombudsman Commission has deemed the extension to be illegal because, although it was approved by Port Moresby, it had been allowed to bypass the forestry approval process. Ms Kajir said she hoped that, as part of the initiative, John Howard would urge his Papua New Guinea counterpart, Michael Somare, to stop logging in Kamula Dosa. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21472327-30417,00.html

32) Only five of 22 companies logging in northern Malaysia’s Kelantan state have official approval to do so, endangering its virgin forest reserves, officials said, according to a report Wednesday. Mokhtar Abdul Majid, the state’s environment department director, told The Star newspaper that an initial investigation found 17 companies operating in Kelantan’s Lojing highland area did not have a license. Annuar Musa, an official from the governing United Malays National Organization, or UMNO party, said they would ask state authorities to put a temporary freeze on all logging in the area until an independent committee can investigate the situation. “We are worried about the state’s future natural resources, which may be compromised by excessive logging,” Annuar told the paper. Kelantan is Malaysia’s only state ruled by the opposition Pan Malaysian Islamic Party. Annuar and state forest officials were not immediately available for comment on the report. The Star quoted Annuar as saying that logging is a major source of income for private companies but has not created many jobs for residents, who would not be adversely affected by a temporary ban. State Financial Planning Committee chairman Husam Musa said a freeze on logging in the area had been in place for some time. It was not clear from the report why the companies had still been operating. http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=418326&lang=eng_news&cate_img=83.jpg&cate_r
ss=news_Politics

33) An indigenous community is slowing the government’s plans to create a botanical park in an ancient rain forest in northern Malaysia, voicing fears the project threatens their traditional livelihoods and seeks to make them a tourist attraction, a spokeswoman said Monday. Authorities sent bulldozers last month to clear land 1.2 miles from Chang Sungai Gepai Village in northern Perak state, occupied by 600 members of the Semai tribe, but the destruction was halted a few days later when the community launched an official protest, resident Tijah Yok Chopil said by mobile phone from her settlement Monday. Although the Semai tribe has no legal right to the state-owned territory, it considers part of the 484-acre area earmarked for the 50 million ringgit $14 million National Botanical Garden to be ancestral land that it has inhabited for many generations. With the creation of the botanical garden, the Semai community worries it will no longer be able to enter the forest to cultivate crops, hunt and perform customary rites, Tijah said, adding the project would turn their homes and traditions into tourist attractions. “The authorities say this project will benefit us. But if it only means that visitors will come here to view the forest and look at the villagers as though we are animals in a zoo, then that’s not a benefit at all,” she said. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8O3U7100.htm

Myanmar:

34) We classified land cover in the Northern Forest Complex in Myanmar using satellite imagery (MODIS/NDVI) and field surveys carried out in 2001, 2004 and 2005. Using Landsat TM/ETM+ images from 1991 and 1999 we determined deforestation rates. The c. 22,000 km2 Northern Forest Complex, including the Hkakabo Razi National Park in northern Kachin State, is characterized by tropical to subtropical pristine forests with low human impact. The area studied, which includes land beyond the boundaries of Hkakabo Razi National Park, is of special conservation importance because it provides a refuge for many rare plant and animal species. Less than 1.4% of the area is affected by humans (excluding hunting) and deforestation rates are low at <0.01% annually. We observed several bird and mammal species that are considered threatened elsewhere. Based on our data, those of previous surveys, and the fact that >10 new vertebrate species have been described in the region since 1999, it is likely there are still undescribed vertebrate species to be discovered. We recommend extending the boundaries of Hkakabo Razi National Park to the south and west, connecting it to Hpongkan Razi Wildlife Sanctuary, and/or adding an additional sanctuary in the Naung Mung area, to protect the vast yet still pristine rainforest habitats that are home to many of the most important aspects of the region’s biodiversity. http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=851284

Borneo:

35) Trapping hundreds of small mammals using locally made wire-mesh live traps equipped with a plastic roof for rain protection, biologists led by Dr. Konstans Wells of the University of Ulm in Germany found that logging had a variable effect on forest species. Common species seemed relatively unaffected by timber harvesting, with relatively consistent “patterns of dominance, evenness and fluctuations in abundance.” Rare species, however, were found to be “more vulnerable to forest degradation than commonly caught species, resulting in the complete loss, or a decrease in numbers, of certain groups, such as arboreal small mammals and Viverridae”, carnivores in the mongoose family. “Logging causes many times the disturbance one would expect in natural tropical rainforests and inevitably changes the composition and functional role of cryptic small mammal assemblages, of which we know very little,” Dr. Wells told mongbay.com via email. http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0327-borneo.html

Australia:

36) “Today the old growth forests of the Weld Valley are safe from logging, the whole area has been closed by forest defenders with two road blockades and an innovative bridge-sit action,” said Adam Burling, convenor of the Huon Valley Environment Centre. “The conflict in Tasmania’s forests will continue while both state and federal governments ignore the calls by experts, such as the World Heritage Bureau and our own Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife service to protect the lower Weld Valley. Labor leader, Kevin Rudd’s backing of the logging of wilderness forests spells the potential end to places like the lower Weld Valley. We call on the Federal ALP not to sell out to the woodchip lobby and sanction the carve-up of these pristine forests They must not sacrifice these forests for short term political gain,” said Mr Burling “The Federal Labor conference next month has got a decision to make, either join John Howard with the bulldozers or stand with the world heritage quality forests of places like the Weld Valley,” said Mr Burling. For further information, including photos and video footage contact: Adam Burling 0429966171 www.temperaterainforests.org

Many interested parties initially hoped that FSC would deliver on what it promised and we would see a marked improvement in Hancock’s forest management practices. Of the 250,000 hectares about 20,000 hectares was hardwood ‘plantation’, 130,000 hectares being radiata pine and the rest being native forest or custodial land. In the 2004 FSC audit, Smartwood wrote that 40 metre buffers might be inadequate and that these issues are of “importance and urgency”. Hancock were requested by Smartwood to get this issue sorted out, via a Corrective Action Request (CAR), by completing a Rainforest Best Management Practice (BMP) plan by 1 March 2005. By the time the 2005 audit occurred, Hancock had not completed their Rainforest BMP. In the meantime however, they continued to log large amounts of eucalypt buffers in the Morwell River East Branch, a regional site of rainforest significance, leaving only 20 metre ‘buffers’. This infuriated conservationists who feared that Hancock were deliberatey stalling the process. In the following months Hancock continued leaving 20 metres or less rainforest buffers on Morwell River East Branch and Rytons Junction in the Albert River. They also logged pine plantations leaving no buffers on the extremely rare Strzelecki Warm Temperate Rainforest at Macks Creek. Local campaigners also found Hancock logging inside the Cores and Links Reserve which under that time was supposed to be under a logging moratorium. All of this was done with FSC certification. In November 2006, Hancock started logging inside the Cores and Links reserve, starting with coupes in the Morwell River region before a proper process had been formalised. Local conservationists were astounded to see logging within 5 metres of rainforest species, despite being in breach of the recently signed Heads of Agreement. During the 2007 audit in February by Smartwood, it was made clear to the local community that Smartwood were starting to get rather agitated by the demands of the community in regards to rainforest. During the audit, community members felt that they were being audited and that their position, rasther than Hancock’s required to be defended and substantiated. http://www.fsc-watch.org/archives/2007/03/26/FSC_Certified_operations_fast_losing_credibility_i
n_Australia

37) The National Association of Forest Industries (NAFI), which campaigned against former Labor leader Mark Latham’s plan to lock up large sections of native forest from the chainsaws, today welcomed the new approach. The policy must still go through the ALP’s national conference process, where it is expected to meet heated opposition from the party’s left. NAFI chief executive Catherine Murphy said the forest industry campaigned vigorously against Labor’s failed forest policy last election. “Labor’s 2004 forest policy was seriously damaging to the party’s reputation amongst the forest industry and the thousands of workers it employs,” she said.”Mark Latham’s forest policy would have seen the jobs of 1800 Tasmanians slashed and over $320 million of Tasmania’s annual economic activity eliminated. “It would have also eliminated business confidence for investment in further processing, costing future employment opportunities in Tasmania. “NAFI welcomes Mr Rudd and Labor’s new approach to forest policy.” But the Greens, whose stronghold is Tasmania, are again lamenting expanded logging of native forests in the island state. “Eighty per cent-plus of people in Australia want the destruction of Tasmania’s old growth forests to end,” Senator Bob Brown said in Canberra. “Kevin Rudd’s on a loser, by taking this policy, with the public. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21458289-1702,00.html

38) Prime Minister John Howard has announced a 220 million dollar plan to form a global fund to fight illegal logging and forest destruction across the world. In an attempt to take a political initiative on climate change, the move aims to halve the rate of deforestation, to reduce greenhouse gas emission by amounts ten times greater than under the Kyoto Protocol. The plan is also designed to help developing countries start sustainable forest industries, plant new forests and stop illegal destruction of rainforests. Forestry Minister, Peter McGauran, says the main change will enable the new body to engage in promotion and marketing, as well as research and development. The Australian newspaper reports, Germany, Britain and the US are expected to contribute to the fund, which will target Indonesia – who the UN has identified as having the world’s highest rate of forest clearing. http://www.skynews.com.au/story.asp?id=161432

World-wide:

39) People don’t seem to realize that there are actually quite a few benefits of deforestation.
One of the easiest benefits of deforestation to spot are the economic ones. Lumber products are one of the most staple constructive materials in human society. Whether it’s raw lumber used for making tables and houses, or paper and other wood by-products, we simply cannot live without the use of lumber. Another benefit of deforestation is that it opens more job opportunities for people who would otherwise be unemployed. These job opportunities are more than simply a humanitarian concept; society at large would suffer if all of the people working in the wood industry were to suddenly find themselves jobless. This benefit of deforestation not only covers the people who cut down trees and process them, but also extends to the people who “clean up” after them. For every patch of forest cut down, arable land becomes available for farmers, or can be used as an area to place urban living sites like apartments, houses, and buildings. Lastly, another benefit of deforestation to consider is the access it provides to other natural resources that may lay within the forest’s land area. Some places with heavy forests are home to iron ore, mineral, and even oil deposits which can be used for man’s needs. These natural resources would otherwise lay dormant and untapped unless people access them. So, given all of the benefits of deforestation outlined above, you can see that more often than not, the good outweighs the bad. http://www.linksnoop.com/more/63740/Benefits-of-Deforestation/