Washington:

10) Three Grays Harbor County men have pleaded guilty to federal charges of stealing high-quality, old-growth timber from the Olympic National Forest. Craig James, 47, of Aberdeen, Bruce Brown, 47, of Humptulips, and Floyd Stutesman, 48, of Hoquiam, admitted to cutting down about 31 cedar trees near Nielton in 2006 and selling the wood to local mills, according to the U.S. Attorneys office. The men used bogus documentation showing the wood came from private property. The defendants face up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine on the charge of conspiring to steal and damage the trees. The lead investigator on the case was U.S. Forest Service officer Kristine Fairbanks who was shot and killed in the line of duty Saturday. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/380067_stolentimber23.html In coming weeks, County Council members will decide whether to pursue a plan to transfer 8,000 or more acres of state Department of Natural Resources-managed land to the county for parks purposes. The land, in two chunks on the east and west sides of the lake, could include about 50 miles of trails. County officials say it would be a low-impact park system, similar to the Chuckanut Mountains trail system. Transferring the land could cost $300,000, and building trails and other facilities could cost $900,000, county Parks Director Mike McFarlane said. Maintenance would cost about $150,000 a year. DNR currently logs the state forest trust lands, delivering the proceeds to the county and local districts. After the transfer, the land would be off-limits to commercial logging. Part of the reason the county is considering the deal is to help protect the water quality for Lake Whatcom, drinking-water source for more than 91,000 Bellingham-area residents. The quality is declining largely because of stormwater runoff containing phosphorus. David Wallin, a professor at Western Washington University’s environmental sciences department, told leaders that leaving land untouched by logging reduces stormwater runoff and the risk of landslides, which carry pollutants into the water. http://www.bellinghamherald.com/102/story/567594.html

Oregon:

11) Comments NEEDED on the “Farley Vegetation Management Project” (aka Timber Sale) The Farly “Vegetation Management Project” would commercially log 1,557 to 2,848 acres of mostly high elevation last old growth mixed conifer forest left over from past clearcutting. A lot of the planned logging would also be virtual clearcutting (called “regeneration,” “seed tree,” “overstory removal” and “shelterwood” “harvest”) in last precious habitat in the area for old growh and interior forest-dependent species, such as Pileated woodpecker as well as in Lodgepole pine habitat suitable for Canada Lynx. As the the sale is near the North Fork John Day Wildernaess and has abundant Snowshoe hares, it could be Lynx habitat and also important dispersal habitat for Wolverine and Pine Marten. The “project” also proposes up to 13.9 miles of new roads, reconstruction of 36 miles of roads, re-opening of up to 63 miles of closed roads and up to 10 miles of “temporary roads, devastating to wolf reintroduction, elk security, wolverine and lynx. Logging could also degrade downstream water quality in Desolation Creek of the N. Fork John Day River and Steelhead habitat. Due 45 days from Sept 5th, 2008 [October 20] Send comments to: Craig Smith-Dixon, POB 158, Ukiah, OR, 97880 or fax to (541) 427-3018 Call for a copy of the Draft EIS: (541) 427-3231 (North Fork John Day District, Umatilla National Forest) The Farly “Vegetation Management Project” would commercially log 1,557 to
2,848 acres of mostly high elevation last old growth mixed conifer forest left over from past clearcutting. cascadia-organize@lists.riseup.net

12) “Scientific experiment” would heavily commercially log most of the Pringle Falls Experimental Forest Lookout Mountain area! Although touted as in the interests of science, this timber sale would merely replicate Forest Service current logging practices and assumptions that could be studied with ongoing timber sales (i.e. that once the forest reaches an “upper management zone” of a set density of square feet of basal area of trees that the forest will inevitably succumb to insects, disease or fire and must therefore be logged at or before that density. Interestingly, this area of forest seems to disprove that assumption by being rare tall healthy orange-bark closed canopy Ponderosa pine that hasn’t had natural disturbance since 1845. It’s beautiful and surrrounded by clearcuts. Is this a case of “destroy the evidence”? There’s still time to stoop this unnecessary logging! Call for a copy of the upcoming Environmental Assessment and comment: Deschutes National Forest, Beth Pier (541) 383-4000. If you want to help stop this sale, call Karen at (541) 385-9167, Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project.

13) I am a master woodland manager serving here in Clackamas County and part of a network of community volunteers trained and supported by the Oregon State University Extension Service. Master woodland managers share their knowledge and experience in family forest management and care for the land with our neighbors. We do property visits to local landowners and answer a variety of questions from planting trees to thinning and pruning, harvesting and marketing and wildlife management. We are often the first place landowners turn for ideas about what can be done with their property. This November, you will have the chance to create an Extension and 4-H Service District that will ensure that programs like master woodland managers continues to be available to more than 3,000 family forest owners in Clackamas County. Please support this important service in our community by joining me in voting yes on Ballot Measure 3-311. http://www.westlinntidings.com/opinion/story.php?story_id=122228039714163500

14) ZIGZAG — Wheeling above mossy forests on the west slopes of Mount Hood, a Chinook helicopter lowered bundles of logs like matchsticks to re-create some of the most important salmon habitat in the Portland region. Biologists watched from the ground as the helicopter built logjams in what had once been side channels of the Salmon River, a tributary of the Sandy River. By the end of this week, a backhoe will start reopening inlets to those channels, and once again they will flow with clean, cool water that begins above Timberline Lodge. The work by a partnership of agencies and groups will resurrect crucial habitat for imperiled salmon and steelhead in a wild corner of Portland’s backyard. It’s leading a wave of restoration across the Sandy River system, one of the best hopes for recovery of natural fish populations on the lower Columbia River. “It’s remarkable that you can even think about doing this in a stream 20 miles from Portland,” said Brett Brownscombe, conservation director at Oregon Trout, one of the leading groups involved. “If you can do it, you can save taxpayers millions by rebuilding fish populations that can sustain themselves.” The Portland Water Bureau is a key backer of the Sandy River work, and is looking to put $90 million toward the restoration over the next 50 years to offset the impacts of its Bull Run reservoirs that occupy one-time fish habitat. That amounts to about $4 per typical residential customer each year. Past restoration has come piecemeal, missing opportunities for one project to build on another. So on the Sandy, biologists spent years scouring the basin to tell where they had the best chance of rebuilding populations of federally protected chinook and coho salmon and steelhead — where they’d get the most bang for their restoration buck. Their clear conclusion: the Salmon River. http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2008/09/helicopter_logs_revive_salmon.html

15) Two timber companies operating in Lane County have filed notification of their plans to spray pesticides on many hundreds of acres during the next few weeks with the Oregon Department of Forestry. In three specific notifications filed by Weyerhaeuser and Seneca, the locations of the large-scale spray operations are less than a mile and a half from public elementary schools in the Lane Educational Service District systems. The schools are, Twin Oaks, located in the Eugene 4J School District; Marcola Elementary School in the Marcola School District; and Lorane Elementary School in the Crow-Applegate-Lorane. Well over one hundred Marcola residents have signed a petition asking Weyerhaeuser to cease spray operations near their local school and homes. Residents and public health advocates are concerned that students and teachers at three elementary schools are at risk from possible exposures for drift from aerial and ground sprays because of the close proximity of the herbicide applications, the dangerous nature of chemicals, and the method of application. Two schools are near sites that will have broadcast aerial sprays by helicopter. Children face magnified hazards from pesticide exposure because their bodies are still growing and they tend to place their hands in their mouths and play on or near the ground. The body of scientific evidence shows that pesticide exposure can adversely affect a child, even at low levels. According to a US Environmental Protection Agency fact sheet on pesticides and their impact on children, pesticides are “especially harmful to children since their brains and nervous systems are at early critical stages of development.” Children also have fewer natural defenses to metabolize pesticides that they breathe in or contact through their skin. Researchers are focusing on the increased risk of childhood cancers from pesticides particularly brain cancer, bone cancer and leukemia. An acute exposure to pesticide drift vapors is often overlooked in children because it mimics a variety of flu-like symptoms. http://www.oregontoxics.org/join.html

California:

16) Mando (Aremando Resendez), who is 20, said he had joined the tree-sit because he consider the action a part of the struggle for the rights of indigenous peoples, but when he saw the scaffolding rise, “I knew it was time to leave. Originally from California, he had been “traveling up and down California, and eventually found this place.” All four of the last tree-sitters spent the weekend in jail, where one, Shem, remained as of Wednesday morning in lieu of $15,000 in bail. Also known as Fresh, he was saddled with $22,000 in outstanding warrants at the time of his surrender. Ayr (Erik Eisenberg), who coordinated support for the tree-sitters from the ground, said that “while it’s obviously disappointing that the trees are gone, we’ve inspired people across the globe,” including the hundreds who climbed into the trees at some point during the protest. Running Wolf, who describes himself as a “Native American leader, an elder and now a mayoral candidate,” repeated a charge also made by the tree-sitters and some tribal members that the building site is also the location of an Ohlone burial ground. While the university contests the evidence cited by tree-sit supporters, spokesperson Dan Mogulof has said the first action planned before construction is an archaeological survey. Running Wolf said the Ohlones are asking the university to hire another consultant than the one currently under contract, who, he said, is not regarded by many tribe members as a suitable pick for the survey. “We continue to fight” the university on different issues, he said, with animal rights leading his list. Dumpster Muffin (Amanda Tierney), who became one of the most high-profile members of the tree-sit, was teary-eyed as she read a prepared joint statement on behalf of all the tree-sitters, and then recalled with fondness the days “I lived up there with my friends.” Also on hand was Buck, a supporter who was arrested for misdemeanor battery on a police officer on the final day of the arrest. He had opened the session holding a striking black and white photo of the grove as it had been before the fences went up and the chainsaws fired up. While the tree-sitters faulted the university for sending up contract arborists who attempted to dislodge them during their protest, their harshest words were directed at Vice Chancellor Nathan Brostrom, who they said had reneged on a promise to form a committee composed of university and city officials as well as community members to vet future land-use planning decisions by the school. http://berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2008-09-18/article/31120?headline=Tree-Sitters-Recall-Battle-Over-Grove##31120

17) Our newly hired organizer, Marily Woodhouse, knows firsthand the destruction of clearcutting. Living in the foothills of Mt. Lassen, her quiet, little used road suddenly became a logging truck superhighway with truckload after truckload of trees being hauled away from SPI clearcuts. She told us, “What is being done a few miles from where I live is a microcosm of what is being done all over the northern part of the state. It is deforestation as surely as what has been done to rainforests in other parts of the world. The difference is that it is right here in our state instead of thousands of miles away. These archaic and unsustainable logging practices must be stopped. The only way to do that is for “we the people” to act to make it so.” Marily will be showing slides and talking about what Sierra Pacific Industries is doing to their 1.7 million acres of land holdings throughout the Sierras, from east of the Bay Area to Oregon. –LIVING IN THE FOOTHILLS OF MT. LASSEN FORESTS, Sierra Club Forest Talk

18) An innovative group is using a venture capital model to save some of the world’s most endangered species, while at the same time working to ensure that local communities benefit from conservation efforts. The Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN), an organization based in Los Altos, California, works to protect threatened species by focusing on what it terms “conservation entrepreneurs” — people who are passionate about saving wildlife and have creative ideas for dong so. After a rigorous review process to identify and select projects that will have the greatest impact on conservation in developing countries, WCN provides the conservationist with fund-raising and back-office support, technology, and access to its network of people and resources. “We look for very specific things,” said Charles Knowles, a retired Silicon Valley engineer who co-founded WCN in 2002. “The conservationist must live and work in the field, focus on a threatened species, engage in significant local community integration and involvement, and emphasize conservation action rather than solely research. We and our donors are interested in getting results which means saving species while sustaining local communities.” WCN’s emphasis on network-building, identifying “mavericks” in conservation, and use of technology is an approach similar to that of the many venture capital firms in the area that have funded the likes of Yahoo, eBay, Google, and Cisco. The group runs lean with 93 percent of donations going to programs and encourages its partners — currently operating in 15 countries — to do so as well. http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0916-wcn.html

19) “Being here, for me, hasn’t been a sacrifice,” said the 22-year-old Alberta native, still in her harness after rappelling down Grandma last week for the final time. “I feel so honored that I could be here for the trees.” Berg’s neighbor, Billy Stoetzer, a 22-year-old activist from the Missouri Ozarks, came down last week, too, after living for nearly a year in a hammock-like shelter in the branches of Spooner, a 300-foot mammoth at least 1,500 years old. With that, the great timber wars of the North Coast came to an end. It was a long, twilight struggle that redefined environmental activism and introduced the American public to a new type of civil disobedience — tree-sitting. So quietly did the truce happen that almost no one involved can believe it. But the drawn-out, sometimes violent, battles between Pacific Lumber Co., the largest private owner of old-growth redwoods, and environmental activists who flocked here to save the trees, are history. Pacific Lumber has new owners, a new name — Humboldt Redwood Co. — and a new pledge to protect old trees, some of which were around before Jesus was born. The end began a few weeks ago, when Michael Jani, the president and chief forester of the new Humboldt Redwood Co., hiked into the woods to meet the tree-sitters. “I went out, looked at the trees, looked at the stand of trees that were around them and I explained to them that under our policy, we would not be cutting those trees,” said Jani, a 35-year veteran of logging companies. Protecting old-growth trees was part of the plan that Humboldt Redwood, largely owned by Don and Doris Fisher of The Gap Inc., submitted to acquire Pacific Lumber in bankruptcy court. Among other things, Humboldt Redwood promised to spare any redwood born prior to 1800 with a diameter of at least four feet. It also pledged to avoid clear-cutting, or cutting down trees in vast swaths, a practice that the timber giant aggressively practiced under its previous owner, Maxxam Inc. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h_9VAD3bdNk2gGs27ryVxX8hQcwwD93CKBH81

Idaho:

20) “The profession of logging has changed drastically,” said Dougherty. “When I first moved here, trees were cut with chain saws, chokers were done by hand, and timber was taken to the landing and bucked by hand. Now, trees are felled, accumulated, and put near a skid trail by machinery. A grapple then grabs the trees and takes them to the landing. At the landing, a worker uses a log processor to convert the raw trees into logs. Human hands virtually never touch the timber anymore.” Dougherty said he has the utmost respect for loggers. “They work long, hard hours, travel away from their families, and do difficult, dangerous work,” he added. Dougherty feels that his main contribution to Boundary County as a forester is to see that the wood is managed in a sustainable, environmentally-compatible method. He also provides land owners with strategies for achieving their personal goal for their timber, whether it is for financial gain, attracting wildlife, or reclaiming the health of their forested area. “I think the neatest thing that I have enjoyed about my job over the years is to return to areas that I was responsible for logging 25 years ago,” he said. “I get to see the deer, the elk and the new trees that hadn’t been there before. I am really proud that I have had a hand in making those areas usable for future generations.” Dougherty is an active member of several collaborative groups who work together to make decisions on forestry issues. These groups consist of environmentalists as well as timber industry professionals. “We don’t always agree, but what we try to do is disagree respectfully and come to consensus on forestry management issues,” he said. “There can’t be an ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality anymore, or nothing will happen.” Dougherty acknowledged that, a great deal of forested land in Boundary County is in federal ownership. “A lot of the future of the local logging industry will depend of forest service management of their lands,” he said. “That is where the collaborative effort will make a big difference. I think the future looks good for the timber industry in Boundary County, but the timber industry will have to be very competitive and very efficient to operate.” As large timber holders subdivide their land, Dougherty pointed out that the goal for the 10- to 20-acre landowners will be different than it would have been for the original parcel. “However,” he cautioned, “there is no right or wrong answer. Everyone wants what they want out of their 20 acres.” Dougherty said he would recommend the forestry profession to anyone who enjoys the outdoors. “You need to be very flexible and competitive,” he emphasized, “because as markets go up and down, you need to be able to change and be efficient, because that’s how you will survive as a forester.” http://www.ruralnorthwest.com/artman/publish/article_9013.shtml

Montana:

21) Steve Frye, of the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, said, “We are experiencing extreme, aggressive fire behavior in places where we haven’t in the past,” including fires at elevations and in fuel types where fires didn’t used to burn. Fighting such fires has become more complicated, he said, thanks in large part to the construction of houses near forests, which he called “the single largest challenge and change for fire managers in the last 20 years.” Meanwhile, firefighting agencies have had to deal with a decline in the number of firefighters and equipment used to battle blazes. Agencies would need twice the resources they now have to keep fires at current levels, something that’s not going to happen. So fire managers have had to adapt. “We are making better decisions in how we assign our resources,” Frye said. “But we’re also assigning units to protection that could be used elsewhere.” Flannigan, the Canadian researcher, said the situation north of the border could well apply to the Western United States. “It’s almost a given that we’ll see more fire activity, more ignitions,” he said. “This is a global problem, and it’s going to require global solutions.” http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/09/25/news/wyoming/21-managers.txt

22) Newco 1, LLC won’t harvest an estimated 800,000 board feet of timber along the Teton Road 25 miles northwest of Choteau until next year, according Lewis and Clark National Forest in Great Falls. The company originally had planned to do the work this fall. Now it’s planning to wait until next spring, the Forest Service said. The salvage project involves removing dangerous trees 150 feet on either side of the road that were damaged by the Fool Creek fire of 2007. The decision to postpone the harvest is significant to the public because the road, a major access point to the forest, will remain open for vehicle traffic throughout the fall as a result. For safety reasons, the road will be closed during the harvest. Teton Road also will be open to snowmobiling this winter. It had been closed to snowmobiles last year due to the removal of several culverts in anticipation of high spring run-off in the fire area. Larger diameter culverts have been installed to reduce the potential of flowing debris plugging the culverts and damaging the road. The terms of the sale contract require Newco 1 to complete the logging by September 30, 2009. The timber sale area stretches from just west of the Teton Pass Ski Area driveway to near the terminus of the North Fork Teton Road. Cutting firewood within the timber sale area will be strictly prohibited until Newco completes their harvest activity, according to the Forest Service. This past winter or spring, an unstable area above the road slid onto the road and drivers are reminded to remain alert. Engineers are completing a plan to address the problem, the Forest Service said. The work will occur next year. http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080922/NEWS01/809220312

Wyoming:

23) The USFS is planning to celebrate megafires and the wholesale destruction of America’s forests. It’s a Party!!! according to Brett French of the Billings Gazette: “New method of fighting wildfires to get airing By Brett French: [here]” In a conference at Jackson, Wyo., dedicated to wildfire issues, Timothy Engalsbee sees a “coming-out party” of sorts for the Forest Service’s latest means of directing responses to wildfires. Appropriate Management Response (AMR) will be discussed by its authors Thursday at “The ‘88 Fires: Yellowstone and Beyond.” Engalsbee calls it a coming-out party because AMR has largely been drafted in secrecy, he said. Tim Engalsbee of Eugene, Oregon was featured in a series by the Eugene Weekly, Flames of Dissent: The local spark that ignited an eco-sabotage boom — and bust [here]. But Tim has graduated from all that and is now allegedly a spokesperson for firefighters. At least, the Billings Gazette thinks so: As executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology [acronym: FUSEE, like the pyrotechnic device also called a flare] and a former wildland firefighter [among other pursuits, read Flames of Dissent], Engalsbee sees AMR as the best way to guide fire management in the future. But all that aside, the USFS is having a party, a festival of fire. There will fun and games. Fire is the new toy of the USFS, according to Brett French. The Forest Service has toyed with AMR for years. It was employed in 2007 on fires in southwestern Montana, where it met with mixed reviews by firefighters, the public and fire managers. The idea behind AMR is that a fire is allowed to burn in areas where it’s deemed ecologically appropriate, such as a wilderness area, while being fought if it is next to valuable resources, such as homes, or where it threatens lives. As it was initially written, under AMR one fire could be managed for both scenarios if it were burning on the edge of a wilderness area near a community. But directives implemented by the Bush administration in 2003 overrode that scenario, requiring that a fire either be suppressed or allowed to burn. The directives also required suppression of all wildland fires if they were human-caused – again defying the original intent of AMR. Fun and games with fire, that is, and AMR has replaced whoofoos as the arsonistic game of choice. The “original intent” of AMR is a matter of some speculation, but French is right in that the Bush Administration did not create it and tried to put the kibosh on it. The decision to rewrite AMR and turn it into a Let It Burn program was made this year, not by the Bush Administration per se, but by the Wildland Fire Leadership Council (WFLC), the federal advisory board that oversees the National Fire Plan [here]. http://westinstenv.org/sosf/2008/09/23/a-holocaust-party/

Colorado:

24) The red-tipped stands of dead pines now crowding the Colorado slopes in the wake of a devastating pine-beetle epidemic may actually be changing the local weather, according to scientists in Boulder. The National Center for Atmospheric Research has recently launched a four-year project to study how a landscape of dead lodgepole pines could be changing patterns of rainfall, warming surface temperatures and altering the severity of Front Range smog. “Forests help control the atmosphere, and there’s a big difference between a living forest and a dead forest,” said Alex Guenther, who is heading the project for NCAR. Living trees cool the air, both by reflecting the sun’s light and with evaporative cooling. And as they transpire water, pulling it through their roots and losing the moisture to the atmosphere, trees humidify the air. Trees are also at the center of complex gas exchanges, absorbing carbon dioxide and letting off oxygen and a host of other volatile organic compounds and particulates into the air. The organic compounds can react to form smog, and the particulates can provide a nucleus for raindrops and clouds to condense around. When the bulk of a forest dies, as is the case with lodgepoles in the Rockies, these complex interactions shift — and with them, the weather. “From preliminary modeling and from work in other areas like in the Amazon, for example, where large-scale deforestation has gone on, we know the forest will influence the weather and air quality,” Guenther said. The NCAR project will use airplanes and instruments on the ground to piece together forest-atmosphere interactions from southern Wyoming to northern New Mexico. Though scientists are not exactly sure what they’ll find, they expect to see increased surface temperatures and, possibly, increased smog. “We expect a forest impacted by pine beetles to have even higher volatile organic compounds, including hydrocarbons, which can play a role in regional air pollution,” Guenther said. Volatile organic compounds are one of the necessary ingredients needed to form ground-level ozone pollution during hot, summer days. Though the forest’s contribution to ozone is likely small, it could still be a player in places on the Front Range that are out of compliance with air pollution regulations. http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/sep/24/beetle-killed-forests-change-weather/

25) Some people in the Pikes Peak region are apparently mistaking the annual dying of pine needles for an invasion of the dreaded mountain pine beetles. The beetles have ravaged 1.5 million acres of Colorado’s lodgepole pine forest in recent years, transforming some of the state’s most popular tourist destinations and areas around ski resorts into stands of dead trees. The beetles have not breached this area in large numbers, and experts don’t know if they will wreak similar havoc on the lower-elevation ponderosa pine forests of the Front Range. But a lot of people are worried about it, as evidenced by the calls the Colorado State Forest Service office in Woodland Park has received in recent days. “Many people are somewhat in disbelief when I tell them that the yellow, dying needles are a function of the normal needlecast that happens every fall,” said Andy Pascarella, the agency’s assistant district forester in Woodland Park, in a news release issued last week. “But people tend to notice more variations in the appearances of their trees when they are concerned about a particular insect or pest.” Many types of evergreens shed needles in the fall, and it is more pronounced in dry years like this one, officials said. The needles closest to the trunk turn yellow, then red-brown, and then drop. When a tree is beetle-infested, the entire tree will turn an “off-shade of green,” or needles will turn brown at the bottom of the tree and spread upwards. There will also be cinnamon-colored sawdust at the base of the tree. http://www.gazette.com/articles/beetles_40806___article.html/tree_needles.html

Minnesota:

26) But Sewell, 53, an avid grouse hunter and regional biologist for the Ruffed Grouse Society, fears that changes occurring to Minnesota’s forests will mean fewer ruffed grouse, woodcock, deer and other wildlife. Several things are happening: There’s been a general move by some land managers to create a more mature forest with less aspen and more conifers. There’s less clear-cutting of forests, and an attitude by some in the public that clear-cutting is wrong. And Minnesota’s forests are being fragmented as large land owners, such as Potlatch Corp., sell off tens of thousands of acres, resulting in a checkerboard of land ownership. Land that had been open to the public for hunting now is posted closed. And those lands, once managed professionally, now might not be managed at all. “There are groups of folks out there who buy land for a deer camp and let it grow up into a mature forest and then wonder where all the game is,” Sewell said last week. “Some think the only good forest is one that’s left alone,” he said. http://www.startribune.com/sports/outdoors/29648824.html?elr=KArks7PYDiaK7DUqEiaDUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

Arkansas:

27) JOPLIN — Models used to predict the impact of climate change suggest that the Ozark forest will change in the future, but they don’t agree on what those changes will be. One forecast suggests the oak and hickory that dominate the forest will be replaced by pines, while another says the forest could evolve into savanna or even grassland. A third possibility is a tangle of undergrowth dominated by woody vines, such as honeysuckle and poison ivy, choking out trees by mid-century. “I certainly would expect forests to change,” said John Shannon, state forester with the Arkansas Forestry Commission and a technical adviser to the Arkansas Governor’s Commission on Global Warming. The Ozarks region has been forested for 35 million years, said Cindy Sagers, a plant ecology and plant biology teacher at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and a member of the commission. She said the forest likely will survive, but it will be different. “What we do know is that vegetation zones are shifting,” she said, “so that things that grow in southern Arkansas can now be planted in northwest Arkansas. “There is probably going to be some forest here, but whether it is pine or savanna…” The National Wildlife Federation has put together models that forecast temperature increases of as much as 7 degrees for Missouri by 2100 if global warming goes unchecked, and that would “alter the composition of the state’s forests, with southern pines replacing oak and hickory currently prevalent in southern Missouri and the Ozarks.” “Global warming could cause 40 to 60 percent of Arkansas’ forests to be replaced by grasslands as slightly warmer temperatures push trees currently suited to the state’s climate northward,” the wildlife federation concluded. An Environmental Protection Agency analysis found temperatures rising an average of 1 to 4 degrees in Missouri and Arkansas during the summer and 1 to 7 degrees in winter. http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2008/09/21/computer-models-estimate-impact-climate-change-ozarks/

Georgia:

28) Last week, Oglethorpe Power Corporation, based in Georgia, announced plans to build at least two biomass plants. Like similar proposed plants, however, the Oglethorpe plans are stirring some concerns in the forest industry. Two 100-megawatt plants (which Oglethorpe says can power up to 60,000 homes each) will gobble up a lot of woody material, which timber companies also need. “Certainly for various companies in the forest industry who have to purchase timber as their raw material, they’re going to see these guys as competition — and they may very well be,” said Alva Hopkins, a spokesman for the Georgia Forestry Association. The use of wood waste, he said, would be fine. And many small landowners have plenty of extra debris that they currently chop up and use for fertilizer. There would be concern, Mr. Hopkins said, should any of these plants develop a need for live trees. They might. “For a plant this size we will have to harvest some trees,” said Mike Price, the chief operating officer of Oglethorpe. He said that new trees would be planted in their place and added that the company would seek to “maximize the amount of waste wood at the facility.” http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/business/businessspecial2/24blog.html?_r=1&ref=businessspecial2&oref=slogin

29) The first Georgia Constitutional Amendment appearing on local ballots this election season is the Georgia Forest Land Protection Act, aimed at encouraging preservation of Georgia forests through a conservation use property tax reduction program. Directing the General Assembly to provide for a new method of ad valorem tax assessment of forest land conservation use property, this proposal would include only tracts of forest land which exceed 200 acres, according to the Secretary of State’s web site, although exceptions may occur under some circumstances. The amendment would essentially allow owners of large forest tracks the same tax benefits that smaller land owners now receive under the “conservation use” program. Conservation use is currently limited to tracts under 2,000 acres. Subject to certain qualifications, an owner of such property would be able to enter into a covenant to restrict the use of the land to current use, a Secretary of State release said. The land would then be taxed according to a formula based on current use, annual productivity and real property sales data. A breach of the covenant would result in government recapturing the tax savings and may result in other appropriate penalties. According to the Georgia Forestry Commission Web site, “Intact forest lands supply a variety of resources — timber products, wildlife habitat, soil and watershed protection, aesthetics and recreational opportunities. When forests become fragmented or disappear, so do the irreplaceable benefits they provide… As urbanization spreads, it is becoming increasingly difficult to conserve our vital forest lands.” Information from the Forestry Commission indicated that if the Amendment were approved, landowners would receive a lower property tax rate on their forests in return for agreeing to keep the land in a complying use. If the Amendment caused the total county revenue to be reduced by 3 percent or less, it would be reimbursed by half. http://www.times-herald.com/Local/Proposed-amendment-would-protect-large-forested-tracts–552411

Virginia:

30) Virginia’s farms and forest are creating 500 thousand jobs in the Commonwealth. At a press conference in Richmond today, Governor Kaine spoke about the results of this study. For example, both farming and forestry are creating billions of dollars in sales. “These number were good news that the Governor was talking about. But, he also pointed out that land continues to be consumed by suburban sprawl. Taking away tens of thousands of acres away, which was previously used for this natural resource production,” said Rephann. Forestry alone is creating over 100 thousand jobs in Virginia each year and attracting consumers from all over the world. “Forestry exports are important and especially with the dollar being low compared to a lot of currencies, a lot of our forest industry are doing a lot more exporting than what the did in the past,” said Charlie Becker of the Virginia Department of Forestry. “We send millions and millions of forest products through our ports.” Governor Kaine also said that there are challenges that lie ahead for the industries, but they can be dealt with by installing proper land preservation policy and research. http://www.charlottesvillenewsplex.tv/news/headlines/29719104.html

West Virginia:

31) In September of 1921, 13,000 union workers marched to Logan County, West Virginia. More than 2,000 armed deputies met them at Blair Mountain. The battle that followed represented the biggest armed revolt in America since the Civil War, and it prompted the passage of labor laws currently in effect in the USA. To this day, Blair Mountain, West Virginia is steeped in the cultural and political history of Appalachia. Historic markers tell the story of the confrontation, and on the battlefield the artifacts from both sides of the armed standoff still lie where they fell. Yet all of that history is under threat — as are the beautiful hardwood forests and the mountain itself — because Big Coal has plans to blow up Blair Mountain as part of a massive mountaintop removal coal mining operation. That’s why Blair Mountain is the latest addition to the list of America’s Most Endangered Mountains. Learn more about Blair Mountain by watching this short video: http://www.iLoveMountains.org/Endangered

North Carolina:

32) An aerial and ground survey of the state forests conducted by the department this summer found 26,968 acres of trees have died in Burlington, Ocean and Monmouth counties since 2007. Tree mortality in Burlington County was by far the highest with 12,049 acres of dead trees. Ocean County had 9,058, and Monmouth totaled 5,861 acres. Lynne Richmond, spokeswoman for the state Department of Agriculture, said the two-year cumulative number of tree acreage killed by the caterpillar infestation was just under 31,000 acres statewide. Agriculture officials estimated 17,000 of those acres died in 2008. The department didn’t have a year-to-year county breakdown of dead acreage, Richmond said. “But we are encouraged that the rate of the amount of defoliation has dropped,” Richmond said. This is only the second year the state has kept tree mortality figures with relation to gypsy-moth infestation. In 2008, 339,240 acres of forest suffered significant leaf loss from gypsy moths in the state. That represented an increase of about 6 percent. However, the amount of affected trees nearly tripled from 2006 to 2007. Richard Mohr, the agricultural agent for The Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Ocean County, said that defoliation year after year will cause the tree to eventually die off. “Trees need leaves for the sun in order to grow,” said Mohr. He said even though gypsy moth caterpillars are hatched in the bark of trees, they would make their way up the trunk to get at the leaves. Jackson was one of the municipalities most affected by the gypsy-moth infestation. During the summer of 2007, the local governing body decided not to participate in the statewide aerial spraying campaign to combat gypsy moths due to the cost. That decision backfired. The area of woodland in Jackson that had significant leaf damage nearly tripled, increasing from 6,909 acres in 2006 to 19,417 in 2007, according to the state. After months of complaints from residents, Jackson decided to participate in the state-managed spraying operation this year. The amount of defoliation this year was 22,384 acres in Jackson, according to the agriculture department. In its tree mortality survey, the state didn’t compile a statistical breakdown to determine the damage done to each municipality. However, public complaints about the gypsy moths infestation were fewer this summer but the results of previous damage have been noticeable. “I didn’t have a gypsy moth problem this year but I can see about 20 dead trees in my yard,” said Danielle Widawsky, a Jackson resident who owns about 2 1/2 acres on Cassville Road. “Last year we were bombarded with gypsy moths.” http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080923/NEWS03/809230365/1007/NEWS03

Maine:

33) My desire to be around trees followed me through to adulthood, although I never became a logger or forest ranger. Instead, I became interested in maintaining sections of the Appalachian Trail in Maine. That put me in the woods more often, but left me wondering what species I was seeing or cutting off the footpath with my chain saw. Invariably, the larger blowdowns were aged yellow birch or spruce, fir or Eastern white pine. There were occasional maples and beech. Many times, however, I’d come across trees and wonder what they were, like telling the difference between black spruce and jack pine. That’s why I checked bookstores for guidebooks, but I never found anything that clearly identified what I was seeing. Turns out, all I had to do was wait for 2008 and the Maine Forest Service to publish the centennial edition of its formerly black-and-white pamphlet, “Forest Trees of Maine.” Maine Department of Conservation spokesman Tom Hanrahan sent me one of these awesome full-color books last month and I could have hugged him. Here was the answer to all my questions, finally. Not only does it show color photographs of each tree, but it also shows how to identify them from young and old bark. There are even photographs of twigs, range maps, and historical photographs depicting Maine’s logging history. Since the $7 book was introduced to the public, it’s fast becoming a bestseller. “It’s going great guns and, it’s in bookstores, too. It’s a vast improvement over our other editions. It’s really a home run,” Hanrahan said on Friday in Augusta. “We’ve gotten a great response,” Keith Kanoti, a Maine Forest Service water resources forester, said Friday in Augusta. “We’ve had over 1,000 orders this month. It’s flying off the shelves.” Roughly every 10 years, the service would publish a new edition, said Kanoti, a member of the Forest Trees of Maine Centennial Committee. “We’re pretty proud of it. This has always been our most popular publication. We’ve sold tens of thousands of copies over the years,” Kanoti said. The book can be purchased through the Maine Forest Service or Department of Conservation through its regional offices or by calling 287-2791. http://www.sunjournal.com/story/284032-3/RiverValley/Tree_book_flying_off_shelves/

USA:

34) “Take a Child Outside Week,” which helps break down obstacles preventing children from discovering nature, is Sept. 24-30. The nationwide program encourages parents, teachers and other caregivers to help children develop a better understanding and appreciation of their environment. That goal is shared by the state’s educational state forests, where rangers teach children about the forest environment and give tours of the forests so children can see wildlife and learn the value of trees. In doing so, the educational state forests encourage children to learn as well as reduce stress and lose weight. At all the forests, rangers provide lively, 30-minute programs on topics such as all of the ways we use trees and the importance of proper forest management. Then, children and parents can march along a self-guided trail that includes exhibits, tree identification signs, a forest education center and a talking tree trail. Educators have found “Take a Child Outside Week” to be a good way to promote outside learning. However, parents, teachers and children can learn about forests and nature anytime an educational state forest is open. But it’s a good idea to make reservations, as these state forests are a popular destination. Clemmons Educational State Forest in Clayton, for instance, has become so popular that teachers must make reservations months in advance to bring their students for environmental education classes. http://www.lelandtribune.com/lifestyle.asp?dismode=article&artid=1615

35) International timber prices remain depressed. The United States is one of the world’s largest consumers of timber products, due to the high percentage of timber used in the construction of homes. A slump in the United States housing market arising from the sub-prime meltdown meant a slow down in housing starts, in turn causing a substantial surplus of timber internationally and prices dropping to 2002 levels. South American countries such as Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico traditionally supplied the US market and have been forced to find other markets for their timber. South Africa is faced with a long-term shortage of timber of between 25% and 40% for the next 30 years as a result of a lack of expansion of its plantation base and will be forced to import substantial volumes of timber. Timber prices in South Africa will rise to meet import parity. Import parity is currently a lot closer, as a result of the low international timber price. A recovery of the US economy and the housing market will raise the import parity price for South African producers and be very good for vertically integrated companies such as York Timbers, substantially increasing the value of our biological assets and margins in our processing units. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/georgianne-nienaber/south-african-execs-looki_b_125778.html