289 – Earth’s Tree News

Today for you 38 new articles about earth’s trees! (289th edition)
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–British Columbia: 1) TFL 19, 2) German action against caribou planners, 3) Much of our forests now controlled by offshore corporations, 4) Morice timber supply, 5) Liberals not only fail but their out of ideas, 6) TFL 25,
–Washington: 7) Pacific fisher has returned home
–Oregon: 8) Timber downturn, 9) Scott Bar Salamanders, 10) Copper Salmon Wilderness, 11) Old growth forests? 12) Logging’s hurt,
–California: 13) Everyone wants Maxxam’s land, 14) Fremont Chain Saw Massacre, 15) closing 28 miles on Modoc NF, 16) City tree advocacy, 17) Fixing Sierra checkerboard, 18) Kids Action Toolkit, 19) Student Trade Justice Campaign,
–Montana: 20) Gash Fire Salvage and Reforestation Project on the Bitterroot
–South Dakota: 21) 90-million-board-feet target for 2008
–Utah: 22) William Wallace Flanigan
–Minnesota: 23) $2 million for Chippewa NF logging, 24) 10 sq. miles protected, 25) Father Son fined $30K for illegal logging,
–Michigan: 26) Renaissance zone includes 355 acres that will remain tax-free
–Indiana: 27) Save Morgan-Monroe forest, 28) Save M-M & Yellowwood forest,
–Massachusetts: 29) Sullivan oversees 449,000 acres of state-owned land
–New Jersey: 30) Logging for practice fields not permitted
–North Carolina: 31) Don’t let ‘em log 212 acres in the Pisgah
–Australia: 32) Wood supply agreement, 33) No more unsightly log stacks, 34) Climate change to limit logging plans,
–World-wide: 35) World Bank debacles, 36) Mangroves, 37) Encroachment is shrinking world’s rain forests, 38) How much Tropical diversity?

British Columbia:

1) Thanks for inviting public comment on the TSA package for TFL 19. The concerns I have are about how this Timber Supply Analysis fits into the bigger picture of completely rethinking forest stewardship on the western slopes of Vancouver Island in the 21st century. TFL19 has been maximally highgraded at the landscape level for many decades. By this I mean that the best, most productive lower elevation and riparian old growth forests have already been logged. In more recent decades the focus has been on logging mid-elevation forests on very steep slopes, and the soil and nutrient erosion problems that are predictable in an area with such high rainfall are enormous, yet this has not led to the end of the folly of clearcutting. The net result of this progressive carbon liquidation (timber and topsoil) is that the TFL is much less biologically productive than it used to be, mature forest habitat for a multitude of species at risk has been drastically reduced, and the AAC as well as wood quality will continue a precipitous decline for the foreseeable future. Interfor personnel once called another overcut coastal TFL in similar conditions “an economic basketcase”. It used to contain some of the best spring salmon runs on the coast, but not any longer. Politically-derived AAC’s were always hopelessly optimistic, based on a fraudulent “liquidation-conversion” scheme that ignored all other ecological and social values, while making a few timber barons enormously rich. Overcutting forests always leads to economic disaster for everybody else, and the harsh footnote of falldown cannot be avoided. Forest dependent communities like Tahsis, Zeballos and Gold River suffer and contract, their once bountiful resources now gone or seriously depleted, while the costs of mitigating the many subsequent problems of excessive timber extraction become an ongoing legacy of expense by “external funding”. TFL 19 is now in that derelict boat. It’s easy to see why once-lucrative logging and milling companies quietly slink away to some other region, or go bankrupt, since the public is increasingly unwilling to subsidize their transient greed. I know such public feedback like mine is difficult to incorporate into a technicality-based stewardship plan for a tree farm licence. That doesn’t mean it should just be dismissed. — David Shipway cortecos@island.net

2) The BC government’s failure to stop logging in mountain caribou habitat sparked protest at the Canadian embassy in Berlin today. German citizens gathered in front of the embassy carrying a banner with the slogan “Save the Inland Rainforest of Canada” and two life-sized effigies of the mountain caribou. The environmental organization Robin Wood delivered a letter to the embassy addressed to BC Premier Gordon Campbell. It was signed by 4,835 people. The letter declares support for a petition that was sent to the BC government last year by fifty Canadian and US biologists. It called for an end to logging all old-growth mountain caribou forest older than 140 years. Last year several German environmental groups including Koordinationszentrum Natur und Umwelt, Naturschatz, Regenwald Kanada, and Urgewald wrote letters of concern to the BC government. The government has now announced its new plan to save the mountain caribou. However, the plan did not reduce the allowable annual cut in mountain caribou habitat. It did not create one real protected area. With the kind of protection that’s being granted, if the caribou disappear because too little habitat has been protected, the logging can commence, continuing to send numerous other old-growth species into extinction. Today’s protest demonstrates growing concern in Germany. “For the last 47 years the nations of the world have had the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species to ensure that trade did not make species go extinct,” says Anne Sherrod, a director of Valhalla Wilderness Watch based in New Denver, BC. Canada is a signatory. But suppose what’s being traded is wood products, and it’s the logging of the wood that’s causing species to go extinct? This is happening in Canada’s Inland Rainforest. Many kinds of old-growth dependent lichens, plants and animals are endangered. “The last intact old-growth Inland Temperate Rainforests are being destroyed for profiteering at any cost,” says Eric Schindler of Pro Terra, based in Argenta, BC. “Yet the huge crown volume of one of those majestic trees produces more oxygen, filters more dust from the air, transpires more moisture, gives more protective shade to the ground, regulates the climate better than a thousand young plantation trees. http://www.robinwood.de/german/presse/080131.htm

3) I rarely engage in promoting my blog, but I have posted a story this morning that I think is important and it has received no coverage in the mainstream media. In essence, the company that controls much of the Private Managed Forest Land around Vancouver Island (Brookfield Asset Management), has spun off a new entity that began trading on the New York Stock Exchange today, called Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. The new company is registered in Bermuda and it means that much of our forests are now controlled by an offshore corporation, out of reach of our securities regulators and courts. For the full story, please read about it on my posting today, link below, and please spread the word. More than ever, the future of the Island is falling out of our hands. BIP, BAM, Thank you Ma’am http://lichenology.blogspot.com/2008/01/bip-bam-thank-you-maam.html

4) Following an expedited timber supply review in response to the Morice timber supply area’s growing mountain pine beetle infestation, the new allowable annual cut for the Morice area will be 2.16 million cubic metres, effective Feb. 1, 2008. “In the face of an unprecedented pine beetle epidemic, this determination carefully balances a wide range of complex interests and objectives,” said chief forester Jim Snetsinger. “In making my determination, I also considered current market conditions and the potential impacts to neighbouring timber supply areas and communities, and concluded that a large increase in the allowable cut is not necessary at this time.” The new allowable cut includes a partition that provides an annual harvest limit of 550,000 cubic metres for non-pine tree species. This will help to maintain harvesting in attacked pine stands, while conserving other tree species, like spruce and balsam, for the mid-term timber supply. The Morice timber supply area includes the communities of Houston, Granisle and Topley and covers about 1.5 million hectares. The new allowable cut represents an increase of about 204,000 cubic metres to account for provincial log grade changes introduced in 2006. To date, the mountain pine beetle has affected about 12.7 million cubic metres of timber in the Morice area. Over the next decade, that is expected to rise to more than 41 million cubic metres – approximately 78 per cent of the total mature pine in the timber supply area. The chief forester’s determination is an independent professional judgment based on information ranging from technical forestry reports and public input to the government’s social and economic goals. The timber supply review accounts for environmental factors such as biodiversity (which includes old-growth forests), water quality, and scenic values, in addition to social and economic issues. In a separate decision, Bill Warner, regional manager for the Northern Interior Forest Region, announced that the allowable harvest for the five members of the Morice and Lakes Innovative Forestry Practices Agreement (IFPA) will be increased by 200,000 cubic metres per year. http://www2.news.gov.bc.ca/news_releases_2005-2009/2008FOR0009-000135.htm

5) The provincial government’s big forestry overhaul in 2003 seemed to make sense. Companies gained more freedom to do what they liked with Crown timber. The change meant mill closures and job losses, but government and industry said it would bring investment and a more competitive industry. A shift to market-based stumpage was supposed to help resolve the softwood dispute. But the measures didn’t work and the government didn’t adapt to their failure. There are no easy solutions. We’ve stripped the best parts of the forest – ones that took at least 500 years to grow – in about 40 years. Everybody involved grabbed the easy money. And B.C. faces competition from other regions that operate more efficiently. But still, this is an extraordinary resource. It should provide jobs, in the woods and mills and pulp and paper towns, for thousands of British Columbians for decades to come. And while the government will point to lots of funding announcements and initiatives like the round table, the fact remains that the Liberals’ policies over the last seven years haven’t worked and there’s no change in sight. http://willcocks.blogspot.com/2008/02/liberals-look-to-have-run-out-of.html

6) The new allowable annual cut for tree farm licence 25 will be 529,500 cubic metres, effective Feb. 1, 2008, deputy chief forester Craig Sutherland announced today. The new allowable cut accounts for conservancies established through the Central and North Coast Land Use decisions. The new allowable cut includes three 15,000-cubic-metre partitions attributable to areas harvestable only by helicopter and accounts for private land deleted from the tree farm licence on southern Vancouver Island in 2007. The previous allowable annual cut for tree farm licence 25 was 625,500 cubic metres. “This is a complex decision involving a tree farm licence that is spread across a large geographical area,” Sutherland noted in issuing his determination. “Forest practices in the area are changing due to land-use planning decisions, and the implementation of ecosystem-based management. This cut level will ensure sustainability and the sound stewardship of coastal forests.” Tree farm licence 25 is divided into five distinct blocks and comprises over 468, 000 hectares near the communities of Campbell River, Jordan River, Sooke, Port Renfrew, Sayward, Sandspit, Bella Coola, Klemtu and Port McNeill: Block 1 – near Sooke and Jordan River; Block 2 – at the head of Loughborough Inlet, across Georgia Strait from Campbell River; Block 3 – midway between Campbell River and Port McNeill; Block 5 – at Swanson Bay on the Central Coast, near Bella Coola; and Block 6 – on Moresby Island in Haida Gwaii. The deputy chief forester’s determination is an independent professional judgment based on information ranging from technical forestry reports and public input to the government’s social and economic goals. The timber supply review accounts for environmental concerns like biodiversity (which includes old-growth forests), water quality, and scenic values, in addition to social and economic issues. http://www2.news.gov.bc.ca/news_releases_2005-2009/2008FOR0011-000145.htm

Washington:

7) The Pacific fisher has returned home to its natural habitat in Washington State, USA, for the first time in over eighty years. The fisher, a relative of the weasel family that thrives in old-growth forests, became extinct in Washington State due to over-trapping and the loss of big trees in old-growth forests. Biological studies determined that active reintroduction efforts were needed to re-establish fisher populations in Washington, identifying the Olympic National Park as the best initial location. In 2002, Conservation Northwest partnered with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to initiate the reestablishment of a native population of fishers to the forests of western Washington. After five years of planning, eleven Pacific fishers were released into old forests in the Olympic National Park. Conservation Northwest’s executive director Mitch Friedman heralded the achievement: ‘If the last century was about eliminating wildlife from their habitat, then this century is all about bringing them back. Today’s return of the fisher to the Olympic National Park is proof that when we work together, we can repair past mistakes and bring back the Northwest’s natural wonders. With fishers back home in the Olympic Peninsula, the magnificent old-growth ecosystem found here is now more complete. We are honoured to have been involved in this effort and commend the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Olympic National Park for their leadership.’ http://www.wildlifeextra.com/fisher-reintroduction938.html

Oregon:

8) With no end in sight for the national housing slump, wood products, Lane County’s largest manufacturing sector, is bracing for another difficult year. “Our mills, they’re just trying to batten down the hatches and withstand (the downturn),” said Butch Bernhardt Jr., spokesman for the Western Wood Products Association, which represents 120 mills in 12 western states. He said last year’s string of announcements of curtailments and layoffs will continue in ’08. “And we’ll see some mills close for good,” he predicted. “Which ones? It’s impossible to say. Given the conditions that we’re anticipating and the trends we’ve seen in pricing so far, for some companies, it will be difficult to be competitive in this type of market.” Lumber prices are at historically low levels, said Jon Anderson, publisher of Random Lengths, a Eugene-based firm that tracks forest products markets in North America. “We haven’t seen these prices (unadjusted for inflation) since the early ‘90s,” he said, adding that he doesn’t think that prices can go much lower. “There can’t be very many (producers) that aren’t losing money right now,” Anderson said. “I think we’re going to see a shakeout, if we’re not already in it.” That could include mill closures, as well as consolidation within the industry, he said. Housing starts nationwide are predicted to be about 1.1 million in 2008 — roughly half their level in 2005, Anderson said. Housing starts are a measure of new residential construction and an indicator of economic growth, which affects a long chain of businesses from lumber mills to landscapers. Lumber consumption in the United States hit an all-time high of 64.3 billion board feet in 2005, and is estimated to be 51 to 53 billion board feet in 2007, said Bernhardt, the wood products association spokesman. That’s a loss of 11 to 13 billion board feet. For comparison, the entire Western region produces about 17 billion board feet of lumber a year, he said. “We’re in the midst of the steepest downturn in lumber consumption ever in the U.S.” Bernhardt said. http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.cms.support.viewStory.cls?cid=57320&sid=2&fid=1

9) The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced last week that the Siskiyou Mountains and Scott Bar Salamanders do not warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act. The finding relies heavily on studies conducted by Timber Products Company, a major regional landowner who stands to profit from a lack of habitat-based logging restrictions, to argue that the salamanders do not need old-growth forests to survive. This determination by the Bush administration follows an unfortunate pattern of using questionable science with regard to the environment. The salamanders have two of the smallest ranges of any salamander in western North America, occurring in southwestern Oregon and northwestern California on rocky slopes under mature and old-growth trees. Members of a group of salamanders called Plethodons, the two salamanders are lungless, breathing directly through their skin. The dense limbs and shade provided by mature and old-growth forests help retain moisture that is key for their survival. Logging and other development that removes the shelter provided by these forests destroys the habitat that is vital for the salamander’s survival. The rarity of the salamanders, along with their unique habitat specialization, makes them more vulnerable to natural and human threats. Protection under the Endangered Species Act for both the Scott Bar and the Siskiyou Mountains Salamander would help safeguard their habitat and ensure that adequate resources are made available for recovery efforts. KS Wild is exploring our options for future action in order to protect these unique salamanders. http://www.kswild.org/

10) A Senate committee Wednesday endorsed a Bill to create federal wilderness protection for nearly 14,000 acres of national forest land near Oregon’s southern coast. The Copper Salmon Wilderness, proposed by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., will be included in a huge public lands bill to be debated by the Senate. The proposed wilderness is part of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest and falls within the Siskiyou Wild Rivers area that we are working to get permanent protection for. We would like to thank Friends of Elk River and Trout Unlimited for the tireless work on this effort, and Senator Wyden for his efforts in the Congress. Learn more here: http://www.foer.org/htmls/cswcampaign1.htm

11) The Oregon Board of Federal Forestlands Advisory Committee wants public comments related to old growth forests when it meets from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday at the Oregon Department of Forestry Headquarters, Building C, 2600 State St., Salem. The board will provide an opportunity for public comments at 12:30 p.m. The board wants to hear specifically about how older forests should be defined, what processes should be used to determine the appropriate amount of older forests, what federal policies should be changed to deal with these issues and what barriers need to be overcome to implement changes? Visit the committee’s Web site at www.oregon.gov/ODF/ BOARD/FFAC.shtml, or call Kevin Birch, ODF, at (503) 945-7405. http://www.eastoregonian.info/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=206&ArticleID=72648&TM=64360.63

12) About a year after I moved onto my property, the family decided to clearcut the forest just above my farm. I could hear the chainsaws take down the forest. It was a sad time for me. I loved that forest above me. It was diverse: Douglas fir, red alder, a wonderful array of wild native berry plants, ferns, and many herbs and wild flowers lived in that place. My children and I had identified three types of wild orchids in that forest: Fairyslipper (Calypso bulbosa) Mountain Lady Slipper (Cypripedium montanum) and Western Coralroot (Corallorhiza maculate). One afternoon a year after the extraction of the forest I walked up the mountain to see what damage had been done. My heart was broken. I kneeled on the ground with my hands over my face. I saw a land that had been broken. I did not go back up that mountain for another month. It was late spring when I sat in the muddy field of the clearcut. I looked around. I did not see anything unusual. I closed my eyes and asked for healing. I opened my eyes. I saw not far from the outer edge of the clearcut a bright green plant. I went to it. It was beautiful with waxy round leaves and a little white flower attached to a stem that shot up through the leaf. I sat for a long time and observed how it seemed to be spreading all around the edges of the wounded earth. It seemed to be creeping from the darker edges of the forest. I took a sample of the plant to a local native plant lady and she identified it as Miner’s Lettuce. She told me the story of how the plant was supposedly named by Miners who were suffering from scurvy and were able to find this plant, where hardly anything else grew, including in piles of mine tailings. They ate the plant and felt very much better. My friend called the plant a major healer of the earth. Where ever it grew there was work to be done. It grew heartily along abandoned logging roads, in clearcuts, and in other disturbed areas. http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2008/02/371757.shtml

California:

13) Three groups have now submitted competing reorganization plans to the bankruptcy court. Pacific Lumber’s plan remains essentially the same. The main noticeable change is that they are now proposing that Marathon Financing, a major PL creditor, be given the Scotia Mill and other facilities. Marathon Financing and Mendocino Redwood Company have already made known their plan to reorganize PL by removing upper management at the company and transplanting Mendocino Redwoods logging practices to Humboldt. The Timber Noteholders represent a majority of the “timber notes” collateralized by forestland. They propose to auction off the company for between $550 and $600 million to “Qualified” buyers including Maxxam. The Noteholders didn’t go for the plan proposed by the coalition including Bank of America, The Nature Conservancy and the Community Forestry Team. The Community Team is comprised of people involved with non-profit environmental, forestry and labor groups. Members of the Community Forestry Team have said that they will bid on the company if it goes to auction. http://humboldtforestdefense.blogspot.com/2008/02/multiple-groups-seek-control-of-pacific.html

14) For residents of Becado Place, a picturesque block just behind Mission San Jose Elementary School, it was the “Fremont Chain Saw Massacre.” For city officials, though, cutting down 30 trees last week in a ravine across from million-dollar homes eradicated a potential fire and safety hazard. On Friday, Gene Waddell, the city’s interim deputy maintenance director, visited the block to try to make amends with residents and apologize for not letting them know what was in store for the grove. “I just feel so bad,” Waddell said beforethe meeting. “We should have given the neighbors a courtesy call.” Not all of the eight Becado Place residents meeting with Waddell and an assistant were ready to make up. “There’s no excuse for what you did,” Delsa Hraiz said. “It looks like a bomb went off here.” Houses line only one side of Becado Place. Across the street is a nature trail that leads into a steep ravine down to Sabercat Creek. Until last week, the ravine was so full of elm, pine, cottonwood and other trees, neighbors said, that they couldn’t see through to the other side. Now they have nearly unobstructed views of the buildings across the way that tower over dozens of fallen tree trunks. “They ruined this block,” Kathy Lebrovich said. But Waddell said all of the fallen trees were either diseased or already dead. After a November storm blew a 100-foot tree onto the backyard fences on Excelso Drive, a block away on the other side of the creek, the city decided to act, Waddell said. Concerned that the trees facing Becado could fall onto the trail or spark a fire during the upcoming dry season, the city hired a firm to cut down 30 trees that front Becado and another 16 from the other side of the creek. “We just felt the work had to be done,” Waddell said. Residents acknowledge that many of the trees were diseased or dead, but not all. “It was beautiful here this summer,” Lebrovich said. Then there is the question of permits. The city had a permit from the California Department of Fish and Game to remove eight trees near Excelso, but no permit to remove the trees near Becado. Waddell said the city’s understanding from the state was that if it cut down the trees by February a permit wouldn’t be necessary. City contractors cut down the trees Jan. 24 and 25. “It was just guys with chain saws,” said resident Dennis LaLumandiere, who said he talked with the men. “They didn’t even have hard hats.” http://www.insidebayarea.com/argus/localnews/ci_8149360

15) A Draft Environmental Assessment was recently released out for the Doublehead Ranger District of the Modoc National Forest that calls for closing 28 miles of Forest Service system roads and 6.6 miles of user created routes (for a total 34.6 miles of road) in the Medicine Lake Highlands Area. 45.4 miles of road would remain open to motorized use in the project area. KS Wild believes this is a good proposal, and is happy to support these road closures. The hydrological, wildlife and botanical values of the Medicine Lake Highlands are world-class. California’s largest spring complex flows from the Highlands into the Pit River and eventually into the Sacramento Watershed. A number of Forest Service designated sensitive plant species are found near the roads, and late-successional terrestrial species (such as the Northern spotted owl and the wolverine) have habitat that is currently fragmented by the existing roads. It is very important that the Modoc National Forest receive letters of support. Your letters can be personal, or they could be as simple as copying the sample letter below. Either way, please make sure you voice of support for this proposal is heard. Comments are due by February 15th. The draft EA can be viewed at: http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/modoc/projects/index.shtml Sample Letter: http://www.kswild.org/KSNews/medicinelakeroads

16) Trees do amazing things — purify air, provide shade and add beauty to our lives. One thing they do not do, however, is speak up for themselves. Too bad. If trees were willing to take matters into their own branches, like the Whomping Willow in the Harry Potter books, it could be to their benefit. Show some attitude. If someone tries to cut your limbs down to stubs, whack the chain saw right out of his hands. If a gardener attempts to plant you in a location where you don’t stand a chance, give a quick whip. But, alas, trees are passive. They need others to look out for them. A group forming in the Redding area aims to do just that. Arborist Rico Montenegro (former horticulturist at Turtle Bay Exploration Park in Redding and head of the arboretum at Cal State Fullerton prior to that), is putting together a tree advocacy group. He’s met with representatives of agencies, organizations and others with a stake in trees (so to speak) twice in recent months. The idea is to boost awareness of the value of trees and provide information about selecting, planting and caring for them. That might mean handouts, classes and planting days. As a consulting arborist, Montenegro sees a lot of mistakes: Trees planted in cramped spaces, overwatered trees, parched trees, hacked-and-slashed trees. When a tree is in the wrong location, watered incorrectly, staked too tightly or pruned miserably, it suffers. And a suffering tree is a magnet for disease and pests. http://www.redding.com/news/2008/feb/02/communitys-deeply-rooted-values-should-include/

17) Draped like a net across the northern Sierra Nevada, a distinct pattern, imperceptible to the casual viewer, could play a vital role in the future of the Truckee-Tahoe area. Called the Sierra checkerboard, the pattern of land ownership divides every-other square mile into public and private ownership, hence the name. Created more than a century ago to help the Transcontinental Railroad develop a route over the mountains, it now leaves the U.S. Forest Service and other government entities in a difficult place for land management and fire fighting. “I think this is one of the most important conservation and economic initiatives in the Sierra Nevada,” said Steve Frisch, president of the Truckee-based Sierra Business Council. “Up to this point, the patchwork of public and private parcels has been relatively benign, said David Sutton, who runs the Sierra Nevada program for the Trust for Public Land. But, he adds, development pressure is building. “From a fire management perspective, as well as watersheds, wildlife corridors and recreation, things are challenging enough to manage,” Sutton said. “Just imagine rather than four, five, or six land owners, ending up with 500. It would be all but impossible to manage.” As the Forest Service began to run out of land it was willing to trade around 2000, Herbst of the Forest Service said focus shifted to purchases and donations. “We just acquired a section in Grouse Ridge at Milk Lake. We closed on that last week. That’s an exciting acquisition,” she said. Funding for acquisition comes from the Land Water Conservation Fund, which takes money from off-shore oil drilling, Herbst said. But the Tahoe National Forest has to compete for those funds each year. “Either last year or 2006 we didn’t get any,” Herbst said. “But for 2008 we got just under $2 million, so we should be able to finish the Middle Fork of the American River, and start on the Middle or North Fork of the Yuba River.” But organizations, namely the Trust for Public Land, are becoming more and more vital in piecing the checkerboard together, she said. “[The Trust for Public Land] is very effective in getting private donations and state grants,” Herbst said. The potential purchase of 982 acres in the checkerboard just north of Truckee is in the works, said Perry Norris of the Truckee Donner Land Trust. http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/SS/20080201/NEWS01/584081287

18) Take a walk around your house and you’ll probably find many household items that are products of the rainforest. Look in your fridge and you might find bananas, mangoes, avocadoes, Brazil nuts, or spices like vanilla and cinnamon. These all come from the rainforests. Some of the medicines we use when we are sick and some fuel for cars can come from the rainforests.” I had the pleasure last year of working with the illustrations of Vanessa Waring. Along with her writing and that of Levana Saxon of Rainforest Action Network (RAN), we designed a Kids Action Toolkit for RAN’s education outreach program. For more information please visit http://www.rainforestheroes.com http://adamchew.com/?p=20

19) San Francisco —Representatives from Rainforest Action Network (RAN), Student Trade Justice Campaign, Food First and Grassroots International called on Jan. 29 for a moratorium on all incentives and renewable fuels targets for agrofuels in federal energy legislation until standards can be developed to ensure that plant-based fuels such as biodiesel show significant environmental benefits over fossil fuels, and that they do not contribute to world hunger or human rights abuses. The announcement, made at a press conference in front of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) San Francisco office, signaled the first formal opposition to the federal government’s push for agrofuels as a solution to the climate crisis. Also supporting the moratorium was Rafael Alegría, former president of Via Campesina, the largest family farmers’ organization in the world. More than 35 organizations around the world have signed on to the call for a U.S. moratorium. As demand for agrofuels has grown in recent years, large-scale production has led to deforestation of the world’s rainforests, higher food prices, and widespread human rights abuses. Producing palm oil, one of the most popular sources of biodiesel, entails so much deforestation that, over its lifecycle, palm-based biodiesel can emit up to 10 times more carbon dioxide per gallon than gasoline. As industrial agrofuels plantations expand, they also displace subsistence farms and Indigenous communities. The United Nations has predicted that as many as 5 million Indigenous people worldwide could be adversely affected by the continued expansion of agrofuels. In recent weeks, the United Nations and the European Union have expressed reservations about widespread use of agrofuels. Agribusiness giants ADM and Cargill have lobbied aggressively for government targets and subsidies for agrofuels. An ADM subsidiary, the Wilmar Group, is the largest producer of palm-based biodiesel in the world and is clearing tropical rainforests in Indonesia that are among the last remaining habitats of the endangered orangutan. http://www.biofuelsjournal.com/articles/Rainforest_Action_Network_and_Social_Justice_Groups_Call
_for_Moratorium_on_Biofuels-53349.html

Montana:

20) Nature is conspiring against him to turn these trees into dust. The second-generation logger knows his financial margin on this small salvage timber sale is already razor thin because of the nation’s economic downturn and a stalled housing market. And if that’s not enough to worry about, there’s all this snow. Over the last few years, there wouldn’t have been enough to slow down a logging operation like this one. But this year, the snow is piled deep enough to cause Rall to hire a couple of extra hands to dig the stuff away from the base of trees for his sawyer. “It’s up to here sometimes,” said Rall, holding his hand clear up to his chest. “It’s hard enough finding help. No one wants to do this anymore and the snow runs them off.” Rall’s nine-man crew has been working for better than a month on the Gash Fire Salvage and Reforestation Project on the Bitterroot National Forest. Some of the logs will end up at Seeley Lake’s Pyramid Mountain Lumber Co. mill. Others are slated for Stimson Lumber in Bonner, but Rall’s not sure how that’s going to work since the mill recently announced it would shut down for a spell. The rest will end up as house logs or maybe beams. The worst of the bunch will become firewood. The key for making it all work is timing. It won’t be long before the days warm and the snow starts to melt. Once spring breakup begins, Rall will have to wait until the ground dries. “We want to finish getting everything out this winter that we can,” he said. “But who would have known that we were going to get all this?” The Gash Creek fire started just west of Victor in July 2006, and poured smoke into the valley for the better part of two months as it burned through about 8,500 acres of mostly national forest land. More than a third of the acreage burned hot enough for the U.S. Forest Service to call it a moderate- to high-severity fire. When Stevensville District Ranger Dan Ritter started considering a salvage timber sale, he knew early on that he’d have to streamline the process to have any hope of capturing economic value from the burned timber. In order to do that, he’d make use of a categorical exclusion clause that allows for salvage sales under 250 acres and with less than a quarter-mile of road to be completed without lengthy environmental documentation. http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/02/02/news/mtregional/news06.txt

South Dakota:

21) U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., announced that the U.S. Forest Service has agreed to the 90-million-board-feet target for 2008, after extensive lobbying by the state’s congressional delegation. That target is 5 million board feet above the 2007 level and continues the effort to improve the health of a forest that has been choked by Ponderosa pine trees and troubled by pine beetles and wildfires, Thune said. “South Dakota’s Black Hills National Forest is a precious resource that needs to be protected and properly managed,” Thune said. “These additional funds over last year’s number will allow more timber to be harvested, which is necessary to combat threats like pine beetles and forest fires that threaten the health of the forest. A larger timber harvest will also help boost our local economies.” Dennis Jaeger, Black Hills National Forest deputy supervisor, said the increase in board feet authorization will allow the forest to meet its ongoing goals for tree removal in order to reduce the danger of wildfires and fight the spread of pine beetles. It also shows confidence from forest service officials at the national level in what the forest management plan is accomplishing in the Black Hills, Jaeger said. “They’re not going to keep the money coming to bad projects,” he said. “This shows that here on the Black Hills we’re doing good work, and that work is being acknowledged as making a difference.” But Jim Margadant of Rapid City, a regional conservation organizer for the Sierra Club, questions whether the increase can be justified. Margadant said the increases are not supported by scientific data and fail to consider the thousands of acres of forest burned by wildfire in recent years and killed by beetle infestation. With the trees lost to those forces, additional logging could be detrimental, he said. http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2008/02/01/news/local/doc47a2a899c4bed748312934.txt

Utah:

22) Some people are so full of life that they radiate vitality across time and space. William Wallace Flanigan, born in 1877 at Rockville, was one. From childhood to death, he scrabbled to survive, yet he lived with bravado and vision, and left a magnificent legacy of trees. “Nothing in all the plant world is so rooted in the affection and veneration of mankind as a tree,” he said. As a tiny child, Will started working. “I very well remember when we had no matches, brooms, lamps, soap, very few dishes. . . . We were poorly dressed, even the big girls and women had no shoes.” Will was doing a man’s work by age 10, freighting, driving cattle, cutting timber with his father and riding long distances alone by horse. Later, he helped his brother Dave build the amazing cableworks in Zion Canyon that was used to lower lumber from the rim to the valley. You would think that when a person works so hard, he would want to take it easy. But Will spent all his spare time exploring. At a time when people thought the Virgin Narrows were impassable (G.K. Gilbert had actually traversed the Narrows in 1872), he set off to explore the length of it alone. He did it, and reached Springdale the same day. http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_8154504

Minnesota:

23) The Chippewa National Forest should be able to up its allowable timber for harvest, after it will share $2 million more in federal funds with the Superior National Forest. The U.S. Department of Agriculture added $2 million to the pot for forest management on the Superior and Chippewa National Forests, U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., said Friday. The extra funds are over what was initially projected. Total forest management funding for fiscal 2008 for the two forests will now be $11.794 million, Coleman said. “The extra $2 million will allow the Forest Service to increase the timber board feet they are able to offer for sale, helping to maintain the critical logging infrastructure and industry in northern Minnesota. This will help support the local economies that depend on timber,” said a statement from Coleman’s office. The recently implement forest management plan for the Chippewa National Forest increased allowable sale quantities of timber, but the maximum level has never been reached as the Forest Service hasn’t had enough funding to prepare that level of timber for harvesting. http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/articles/index.cfm?id=13620&section=news&freebie_check&CFID=1292
120&CFTOKEN=68973456&jsessionid=8830f9769e8554e3b251

24) Nearly 10 square miles of forest in Lake County will remain undeveloped and open to logging and public recreation under a land preservation agreement announced Tuesday. The land is considered important habitat for a variety of wildlife and bird species and includes the headwaters of the Manitou River, a prime trout stream. Under the deal, announced Tuesday, about 6,252 acres north of Silver Bay will be protected by conservation easements — meaning it can never be developed and will remain open to logging, hunting, hiking and other public access. Lake County has become owner and manager of the land, while the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources purchased the conservation easements. The area will be formally known as the Clair A. Nelson Memorial Forest in honor of the former Lake County Board chairman who died a year ago. Supporters say the deal helps keep a much larger area of mostly undeveloped land intact, noting its proximity to the Superior National Forest and nearby state forests and parks. “The Manitou watershed is one of the most undeveloped in the entire Great Lakes. There are just so few roads and so little development up there,’’ said Daryl Peterson, field representative for the Nature Conservancy. “This deal is going to help it stay that way.’’ The agreement, which took two years to develop, was struck between the county, the Conservation Fund, Nature Conservancy, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Minnesota Power and Wolfwood Corp., a private timberland owner that agreed to sell the land as one parcel. The county essentially purchased the land while the Nature Conservancy sold the easements to the DNR at a significant discount. Another 246 acres is expected to be added to the forest in coming months in yet another easement deal in the works. http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/articles/index.cfm?id=59189&section=None

25) A father and son from Spring Lake Township in northern Minnesota were fined a combined $30,000, received two years’ probation each, and are prohibited from entering the Chippewa National Forest for two years for cutting, injuring and destroying basswood and birch trees in the Chippewa National Forest. Arvid C. Bourman Sr., 65, and Arvid C. Bourman Jr., 37, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis Thursday before U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum. According to their plea agreements, between Nov. 19, 2003, and Oct. 13, 2006, approximately 250 trees were illegally cut from the Itasca County forest. On Oct. 12, 2006, a U.S. Forest Service agent found both Bourmans cutting down trees and loading them onto a log loader. http://www.duluthnewstribune.com

Michigan:

26) The renaissance zone includes 355 acres that will remain tax-free for 15 years, although bonded millages would not be abated. Early estimates for the developers’ tax savings is around $778,000 yearly, said Jason Woodcox, Bagley Township assessor. The development will bring a wood pellet production facility, a hardwoods sawmill and a forestry supply company. The land sale will close on March 6 and investment in the wood pellet operation will begin immediately, said Roger Glawe, owner of the three companies set to move onto the idle industrial site. “Since G-P left, there’s been no real timber work,” Glawe said. “This will create a timber center. The first year of production, which is 2010, we will generate about $48 million for the Gaylord and immediate region’s economy.” A cellulose ethanol plant initially was part of redevelopment discussions, but is no longer part of the project, Glawe said. Massachusetts-based Mascoma Corp. specializes in low-carbon cellulose biomass ethanol and showed interest in the former G-P site, but suspended plans after a feasibility study, said Jeff Ratcliffe, executive director of the local economic alliance. Mascoma officials could not be reached for comment. “It’s the nature of business,” Ratcliffe said. “We still have a great location for a bio-fuel plant.” Ratcliffe added that once the site becomes a forest products center again, it will be easier to lure other similar operations. About 160 jobs will be created by the three companies, plus additional positions in logging, transportation and service shops are expected to increase. “This is very good news,” said both Randy Keen and Jerry Lambert in unison, following Thursday’s public hearing. http://www.record-eagle.com/local/local_story_034095528.html/resources_printstory

Indiana:

27) Proposed logging of an area of the Morgan-Monroe State Forest has drawn criticism from the Indiana Forest Alliance and others. A backcountry hiking and camping area, accessible from Low Gap Road, is set to be logged. In response, the Indiana Forest Alliance held a town hall meeting at the Showers Building Tuesday night attended by a few dozen people. A presentation was followed by a panel discussion and audience comments. The cutting, say opponents such as the Indiana Forest Alliance director Drew Laird, is being done as part of a 2005 strategic plan put in place by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Forestry. The plan calls for an increase in revenue from state forest timber sales from $1 million per year to $3 to 5 million per year. Parts of the Morgan-Monroe forest have been logged, but the backcountry area – set aside in 1981 – was previously off limits to cutting. Division of Forestry Director John Seifert said the logging would be in line with forest management practices. “We have a strategy, we base it on science,” he said in a telephone interview Tuesday. He said trees are often selected for logging because they are reaching the end of their natural life spans or to allow new growth that will attract different types of animals. Audience members at the town hall meeting spoke out against the logging, one man even saying “The best management policy may be no management at all, just careful monitoring.” http://www.reporter-times.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=95874&format=html

28) The Backcountry Area of Morgan-Monroe and Yellowwood State Forest has been set aside from logging for nearly 30 years, to provide a backcountry hiking and camping experience for Indiana residents. Now with the 500% increase in logging in the Indiana State Forest system, and the project 1000% increase in timber revenues from logging in the Morgan-Monroe and Yellowwood State Forests, all areas are open for destruction. Please take a moment and send an email to stop the destruction of this beautiful area. For more information: www.indianaforestalliance.org Please fill out all blanks in the form and then press the “send comments” button at the bottom. If you have time, please modify this letter to reflect your personal concerns. Thanks! https://www.heartwood.org/action.html?id=140

Massachusetts:

29) Former Westfield mayor Richard K. Sullivan Jr.’s new job in Boston has been no walk in the park. As the commissioner of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, Sullivan oversees 449,000 acres of state-owned land, including 107 state parks and forests, 29 campgrounds, 87 beaches, 37 swimming and wading pools and 2,000 miles of trails. Yet Sullivan has had to manage the department with a smaller budget and fewer employees than he had in his last year as mayor of Westfield. When he was appointed to the post by Gov. Deval L. Patrick last June, Sullivan vowed to restore the state’s parks to the “first-class system” that they once were. That job would be much easier if state legislators would approve the governor’s plan to boost spending for state parks and forests to $100.6 million, an increase of $7.7 million, or 8.3 percent, over this fiscal year. Massachusetts ranks No. 48 in the nation in state and local spending on parks and recreation, according to the Conservation and Recreation Campaign, a project of Environment Massachusetts. Years of neglect due to underfunding has led to a $1.5 billion backlog of maintenance and repairs. Yet, first, the department must clean up the parks and improve safety. In recent years, critics have complained that the department has lagged behind in fundamental chores such as picking up trash, painting rest rooms, removing graffiti from signs, cleaning bathhouses, mowing lawns and moving obstructions from bike trails. Currently, there are only two rangers in Western Massachusetts and only five outside of Greater Boston, which means they cannot adequately patrol and monitor the parks for illegal use of off-road vehicles and illegal dumping. http://www.masslive.com/editorials/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-2/120168165494220.xml&coll=1

New Jersey:

30) Officials from the Toms River Regional School District must meet with the township forester, after district officials took down trees to make room for practice fields near Toms River Intermediate East School on Hooper Avenue, a township official said Friday. “The forester is looking at the areas that were cleared and checking it against the ordinance,” said township planner Jay Lynch. Lynch said school district officials and the forester must meet to decide if the removal of the trees is allowed under the “Woodlands Management ordinance.” “It is clear that the board of education is not exempt from the provisions of the Woodlands Management ordinance,” Lynch said. In the course of submitting development applications, the township ordinance requires that developers submit information on the nature of the trees on the site, the area they intend to clear and the extent that any trees are significant, Lynch said. “The overall purpose is that you don’t have random clear cutting of trees,” he said. The school board is not required to submit site plans to the township, because it is a public entity, but school officials are required to appear before the township’s Planning Board for a courtesy review of such projects. A courtesy review of the project is on the Planning Board’s agenda for its meeting Wednesday, Lynch said. Michael S. Citta, assistant superintendent of schools, said that about a week ago, the district “cleared some trees that were on our property to create some field space for the kids.” The fields will be used for gym class and sports practices, he said. http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080202/NEWS02/802020359/1070/NEWS02

North Carolina:

31) Watauga County locals and conservation groups have been fighting the United States Forest Service’s plan to log over 212 acres in the Pisgah National Forest since the proposal was first announced in August 2006. Most recently, the U.S. Forest Service rejected an appeal Jan. 9 by conservation groups against the logging. “We’ve done everything to change or halt the project. We have exhausted all possibilities. The question now is whether or not to take this to court,” said Chris Joyell, Wild South Organization communications director. Joyell said they are still in the middle of discussions with the U.S. Forest Service and are attempting to come to an agreement. He said there are two major reasons why people are fighting against the plan so vehemently. One of the elements is the old growth in the forest, the untouched areas – some for over 300 years. “If we were to take them to court, the heart of our lawsuit would be that the forest service would be going against their own rules if they were to cut down old growth areas,” Joyell said. Another element is the scenic factor for Blowing Rock. “Blowing Rock wants this area to be named a National Scenic Area, but Congress has to pass a law to grant this protection to the entire Globe area,” he said. Spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service Terry Seyden said the Globe area is a combination multiple use area. Seyden said within the Globe there are areas set aside for outdoor recreation, old growth, water purification, wildlife habitats, timber, and controlling invasive species. “This plan is just part of the ongoing forest planning and management,” he said. http://theapp.appstate.edu/content/view/3160/1/

Australia:

32) Minister Macdonald said Willmott Forests won the tender process from a strong field and negotiations would now begin on the wood supply agreement. “There’s no doubt this is fantastic news for the Bombala region,” he said. “This contract will be a great boost to the area, with the new mill facility expected to commence production during 2010, and to be up to full capacity by 2012. The mill will employ 130 people directly and an estimated 300 or more indirectly.” Mr Macdonald said the tender was for the development of a reliable and long-term market for sawlog and biomass material from the Monaro Region. It was also a requirement that the winner develop the necessary processing capacity for the material within the Bombala area, generating regional economic benefits. “Willmott Forests already has a processing centre in Bombala, which will undergo considerable expansion between now and 2010 when we expect the first of the new allocation to be available,” Mr Macdonald said. “This is a tremendous advantage for Bombala, as Willmott Forests already has support from the council, has an existing site, staff and presence in the area. “Willmott Forests has also won the right to explore with Forests NSW options to extract up to 70,000 tonnes per annum of biomass from plantation waste which may be used in applications such as power generation and biofuel.” Mr Macdonald explained that Willmott Forests is an integrated company that plants, manages, harvests, processes, supplies and replants softwood. http://bombala.yourguide.com.au/news/local/general/willmott-timbers-wins-sawlog-tender-promising
/1173843.html

33) Thousands of log truck trips through Hobart streets will stop with the end of log exports from the city’s port. There will also be no more unsightly log stacks on Macquarie Wharf. Forestry Tasmania managing director Bob Gordon said yesterday logs previously shipped off for processing were being turned into veneer at the Ta Ann mill in the Huon. “Today we are celebrating the end of the shipment of unprocessed wood fibre from Hobart, as the level of value-added manufacturing in Tasmania continues to grow. “The last shipment of raw logs has already left and you will not see any more commercial log shipments by Forestry Tasmania through this wharf,” he said. The move will take 165,000 tonnes of logs off the streets of Hobart, which means there will be 5890 fewer trips by log trucks a year — or 113 a week, or 16 a day. Mr Gordon said about six truck trips a day would carry the replacement veneer. RACT chief executive Greg Goodman said motorists would welcome fewer log trucks, which were commonly complained about. “The difference between the size of a log truck and a car, it’s always a bone of contention,” he said. “It’s a very positive outcome. The RACT is delighted.” http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,23142555-3462,00.html

34) Logging of WA native forests will have to be reduced in response to worsening climate change but nothing is likely to happen for six years because of a lack of scientific data, Conservation Commission chairman John Bailey has said. Conservationists and scientists said it was not acceptable that the research had not been done and action was not under way because climate change had been in mainstream planning and management for at least 20 years. Associate Professor Bailey said the impact of climate change on sustainable logging rates would be a focus of the mid-term review of the 2004-2013 Forest Management Plan due by the end of the year. While he believed changes would be needed, it was not likely that enough solid information would be available to alter the existing plan and changes would instead be put in the next plan due in 2014. It was not imperative that logging alterations were made any earlier because the slow growth rate of jarrah and karri meant climate impacts would not be felt for 50-100 years. “I suspect that there will be too many uncertainties and too little need to act immediately but I suspect there will be increasing need and an increasing quality of science to be able to do that for the next plan,” he said. Conservation Council vice-president Beth Schultz said logging rates had to be sustainable in perpetuity and the climate change information needed to ensure that should already be available, given that government scientists had warned that action was needed as early as 17 years ago. http://www.thewest.com.au/printfriendly.aspx?ContentID=57016

World-wide:

35) In the past year, particularly after the Stern report successfully made tropical countries like Indonesia and Brazil into climate villains, the World Bank has been rushing to expand its carbon business. Encouraged by conservation NGOs and northern governments (mostly countries with commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol), the Bank developed its campaign to ‘combat’ climate change through curbing carbon emissions from deforestation in tropical countries. However, every official in the Bank, including Robert Zoellick the president, has never answered properly about the World Bank’s failure in the forestry sector since the 1980s. A lot of evidence showed that the Bank’s overall policies to ‘help’ developing countries in fact trapped these countries in debt crises, almost bankrupting some of them. It is because of the same old recipe of development: raw materials export – minerals, oil, gas, and of course timber. It was a little bit absurd when the Bank launched its new initiative for forest carbon brokerage (the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility or FCPF) in Bali last December. People would think that the Bank had a very good proposal both for people and, of course, business. In fact, nobody noticed that the Bank, through its lending and development policies, has been promoting deforestation in tropical countries like Indonesia. http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/art-560001

36) Mangrove ecosystems should be better protected, the UN’s food agency has warned as it published new figures showing that 20% of the world’s mangrove area has been destroyed since 1980A study by the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said that the environmental and economic damages caused by the “alarming” loss of mangroves in many countries should be urgently addressed. Countries must engage in more effective conservation and sustainable management of the world’s mangroves and other wetland ecosystems, it warned, ahead of World Wetlands day tomorrow. The world has lost around 3.6m hectares (20%) of mangroves since 1980, the report showed. The total mangrove area has declined from 18.8m ha (46.4m acres) in 1980 to 15.2m ha (37.5m acres) in 2005. However the report did show that there has been a slowdown in the rate of mangrove loss: from some 187,000 ha destroyed annually in the 1980s to 102,000 ha a year between 2000 and 2005. This reflected an increased awareness of the value of mangrove ecosystems, the report said. Mangroves are salt-tolerant evergreen forests that are found along coastlines, lagoons, rivers or deltas in 124 tropical and subtropical countries and areas around the world, providing protection against erosion, cyclones and wind. Around 50% of the world’s total mangrove area is found in Indonesia, Australia, Brazil, Nigeria and Mexico. Their important ecosystems provide wood, food, fodder, medicine and honey for humans, and habitats for many animals like crocodiles and snakes, tigers, deer, otters, dolphins and birds. A wide range of fish and shellfish also depend on mangroves as the swamps help to filter sediment and pollution from water upstream and stop it disturbing the delicate balance of ecosystems like coral reefs. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/feb/01/endangeredhabitats.conservation

37) From Brazil to central Africa to once-lush islands in Asia’s archipelagos, human encroachment is shrinking the world’s rain forests. The alarm was sounded decades ago by environmentalists – and was little heeded. The picture, meanwhile, has changed: Africa is now a leader in destructiveness. The numbers have changed: U.N. specialists estimate 60 acres of tropical forest are felled worldwide every minute, up from 50 a generation back. And the fears have changed. Experts still warn of extinction of animal and plant life, of the loss of forest peoples’ livelihoods, of soil erosion and other damage. But scientists today worry urgently about something else: the fateful feedback link of trees and climate. Global warming is expected to dry up and kill off vast tracts of rain forest, and dying forests will feed global warming. “If we lose forests, we lose the fight against climate change,” declared more than 300 scientists, conservation groups, religious leaders and others in an appeal for action at December’s climate conference in Bali, Indonesia. The burning or rotting of trees that comes with deforestation – at the hands of ranchers, farmers, timbermen – sends more heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than all the world’s planes, trains, trucks and automobiles. Forest destruction accounts for about 20 percent of manmade emissions, second only to burning of fossil fuels for electricity and heat. Conversely, healthy forests absorb carbon dioxide and store carbon. “The stakes are so dire that if we don’t start turning this around in the next 10 years, the extinction crisis and the climate crisis will begin to spiral out of control,” said Roman Paul Czebiniak, a forest expert with Greenpeace International. “It’s a very big deal.” The December U.N. session in Bali may have been a turning point, endorsing negotiations in which nations may fashion the first global financial plan for compensating developing countries for preserving their forests. The latest data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) helped spur delegates to action. “Deforestation continues at an alarming rate of about 13 million hectares (32 million acres) a year,” the U.N. body said in its latest “State of the World’s Forests” report. http://redwoodage.com/content/view/127577/44/

38) A typical four square mile patch of rainforest contains as many as 1,500 flowering plants, 750 species of trees, 400 species of birds and 150 species of butterflies. Rainforests provide many important products for people: timber, coffee, cocoa and many medicinal products, including those used in the treatment of cancer. Seventy percent of the plants identified by the U.S. National Cancer Institute as useful in the treatment of cancer are found only in rainforests. More than 2,000 tropical forest plants have been identified by scientists as having anti-cancer properties. Less than one percent of the tropical rainforest species have been analyzed for their medicinal value Rainforests are threatened by unsustainable agricultural, ranching, mining and logging practices. Before 1500 A.D., there were approximately 6 million indigenous people living in the Brazilian Amazon. But as the forests disappeared, so too did the people. In the early 1900s, there were less than 250,000 indigenous people living in the Amazon. Originally, 6 million square miles of tropical rainforest existed worldwide. But as a result of deforestation, only 2.6 million square miles remain. At the current rate of tropical forest loss, 5-10 percent of tropical rainforest species will be lost per decade. Nearly 90 percent of the 1.2 billion people living in extreme poverty worldwide depend on forests for their livelihoods. Fifty-seven percent of the world’s forests, including most tropical forests, are located in developing countries. http://woip.blogspot.com/2008/02/rainforest-is-essential-in-fight-of.html