408 – N. American Tree News

–Today for you 33 new articles about earth’s trees! (408th edition)
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In this Issue:

BC-Canada
PNW-USA

Index

–British Columbia: 1) Keep the Promise! 2) Slow blowing over of Cathedral Grove begins today, 3) Industry has been mismanaged for far too long, 4) New assault on the Waugh Lake Watershed, 5) Keeping It Living: Traditions of Plant Use and Cultivation on the Northwest Coast of North America, 6) New version of Save Clayoquot Sound, 7) misleading info about how forestry influences Global Warming, 8) 111,000 direct and indirect jobs lost in just four years of “improved” policy,
–Canada: 9) One-tenth of world’s forests are on Canadian soil, 10) Gov. plans will destroy forest nurseries, 11) Harper wants to crack down on eco-harms but he’s the real eco-harm, 12) Making policy without consulting environmental scientists?

Articles:

British Columbia:

1) Keep the Promise! Two years ago, after a ten year struggle, a promise was made by the BC government to protect Canada’s rainforest – the Great Bear Rainforest – the world’s largest temperate rainforest, and home to the mysterious “Spirit Bear,” the rarely seen white form of the black bear. Keeping the promise and implementing all elements of the package is essential for the health of the Great Bear Rainforest. With a March 31st, 2009 deadline fast approaching, decisive action by the provincial government is required: 1) To finalize a regional ecosystem plan that includes a new set of high-bar logging regulations; 2) To create conditions for First Nations and stakeholders to build a thriving conservation-based economy. 3) To provide funding for collaborative planning and adaptive management into the future; 4) To ensure world-class protected areas are not threatened by inappropriate developments — The fate of the Great Bear and its promise to future generations is a story that can only be written by us. Send an e-message to the BC government today! Keep the promise! http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5139/t/1900/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=703

2) Island Timberlands plans to log along the boundaries of the BC Provincial Park “Cathedral Grove” starting at the end of this week Oct. 1-3/2008. Island Timberlands would like to make sure the public does not get alarmed that they are actually logging in the park which they won’t be doing. Island Timberlands will simply be logging ancient trees along the boundary of the park which are located on private land which they own and will begin to log by the end of this week. Simple: no cause for alarm. Private land formerly owned by Weyerhauser and sold to Branscan a new company was created, named Island Timberlands, which is now owned by Brookfield Asset Management Inc. Brookfield is a global asset manager focused on property, power and other infrastructure assets with approximately US$95 billion of assets under management. http://www.brookfield.com/ Since so many thousand of people stopped the BC government from logging inside the park to put in a parking lot, I have continued to take many walks around Cathedral Grove. In the past 2 years I have noticed that many of the old growth trees inside the boundaries of Cathedral Grove Park have been blowing down due to extensive logging along the borders of the park. Island Timberlands will also soon be logging the headwaters of the Cameron River at Labour Day Lake, with ribbon in place that come very close to the water. Heli-logging by Island Timberlands in Cathedral Canyon, just up stream from Cathedral Grove Park, may continue at anytime. Downstream, along the Town of Qualicum Beach Boundary, the floodplains of the Little Qualicum River continue to be in peril from logging and development by Island Timberlands. Island Timberlands appears to be focusing a lot of attention on the last stands of Old Growth Trees along this watershed. Check out the new website! http://cathedralgrove.eu/

3) Forestry is an industry which has been mismanaged for far too long. In the early 1990s when polarization was at it’s height in Clayoquot and the North Island those opposing the practices of the large logging companies were pointing out that job losses, mill closures and abandoning commitments to true silviculture and communities were on the horizon. Now we have passed that point and the coastal forest industry is in a downward spiral. Employment in the woods is at an all time low, while logs are harvested and exported at unprecedented rates. It is time for the unions, workers, woodlot operators and mills to get behind the Green Party, stop raw log exports, reinvent the forest industry, employing more people in smaller-scale harvesting and value added processing and we can start here in Vancouver Island North. This election is being called one of the most important in Canada’s history and one might go further and say that with the impending climate crisis, skyrocketing oil prices and US economic collapse it may have global significance. Canada has been a world leader in the past and we can return to that role by taking our growing green values and committing to that vision by electing Green MPs. Throughout this campaign and during the 2005 Provincial election I have demonstrated a depth of understanding of this riding, a level of passion and the ability to speak and communicate on difficult issues that is unmatched by any of the other candidates. All the political parties have good ideas but only one party, the Green Party, and one candidate in this riding, Philip Stone, is going to be able to work with such a diverse community to represent it and help lead it forward to a prosperous future. Some people are concerned that by voting Green they will allow one of the old party candidates to win. This is no way to vote. We must have courage in our convictions. http://www.canadian-election.com/2008/09/29/a-message-to-north-islanders-2/

4) At the moment, we face a new assault on the Waugh Lake Watershed. We’ve know for some time that BC Timber Sales had earmarked two blocks in the watershed for bidding. That bidding is over and on Aug 15, 2008 the contract for logging those two blocks was awarded to a Sunshine Coast logging company. Those two blocks are in the heart of the watershed and they can be viewed by scrolling down this page. Go to the second map under ‘Tsain-Ko Logging – Part 3. The two BCTS blocks are the ones outlined in black. These BC Timber Sales blocks made the news in the September 19 issue of the Coast Reporter in a story by Greg Amos. Unfortunately, I cannot link to the story so I will have to type it in. Here goes… Logging Looms at Waugh Lake: A new tenure call from B.C. Timber Slaes for an 11.848 cubic metre logging block within the Waugh Lake watershed near Egmont is causing the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) board to strategize new approaches to dealing with the province. “[B.C. Timber Sales] continue to have tender calls in important watershed areas,” said Area A (Pender Harbour) director John Rees. “It’s extremely disappointing.” The tender notice appeared in August, after a July request from the SCRD general manager of community services Paul Fenwick towards B.C. Timber Sales, asking them to stop advertising the sale of timber licences locatd within the Waugh Lake Community Watershed. So far, one bid has been received from Pender Harbour’s Sladey Timber. At a Sept. 11 planning and development committee meeting, the committee received word from the province’s timber organization that advertising will go ahead as planned. B.C. Timber Sales aslo declined the SCRD’s invitation for a representative to attend a meeting with the board. “B.C. Timber Sales has done and will do a very thorough job of planning and monitoring of any operations considering the risks involved.” wrote timber sales manager Bruce McKerricher in response. He also pointed out B.C. Timber Sales has “spent several hundred thousands of dollars rebuilding the public road along Waugh Lake.” Rees said the assurances miss the point, particularly when new water infrastructure is shcneduled to begin operation in the fall. “I’m always disappointed with B.C. Timber Sales and disappointed with the regional district’s reaction to these issues,” added a clearly frustrated Rees, who likened the Waugh Lake issues to a “mini-version of the Chapman problem. “The policy of not having logging in watersheds should be pursued equally at every opportunity.” So far, there’s been no study looking a the impacts of logging on water quality at Waugh Lake. http://www.saveourwatershed.com/2008/09/bc-timber-sales-waugh-lake.html

5) The events of this weekend were documented by Dr. Nancy J. Turner, an ethnobotanist and professor at UVic, along with Dr. Douglas Deur from the University of Washington. Between them they have written many books on the subject of first nations along coastal British Columbia and their relationship with the environment. They are changing the perception established by early anthropologists, which claimed that local first nations were hunter-gatherers who ‘randomly’ accessed the land’s resources. This theory is being replaced by evidence that first nations actively cultivated the land in order to reap larger crops, altering the natural landscape to increase plant productivity. Together they published “Keeping It Living: Traditions of Plant Use and Cultivation on the Northwest Coast of North America” based on information provided by Chief Adam Dick who now resides in Qualicum Bay. Known traditionally as Qwaxsistalla, he is the Clan Chief of Kawadillikala (wolf) Clan of Kingcome Inlet and was educated in the ways of his people by the Chiefs and his grandparents who sheltered him from the residential schools imposed on his generation. This system, imposed by the Canadian government, strictly prohibited indigenous language, culture, and beliefs. The knowledge that remains is now being passed on through events like this harvest celebration. All along the coastline of British Columbia, rivers run through estuaries that were traditionally cultivated by First Nations. Many of these have been destroyed or are being threatened by development, pollution, and other human activities. Locally the estuary floodplains of Englishman River, French Creek, Little Qualicum River, and the Big Qualicum River as well as smaller estuaries such as those of Craig Creek, Shelly Creek, Morning Star Creek, and Kincade are no exception. This Sunday help celebrate BC River’s Day. From: Richard Boyce rcboyce@shaw.ca

6) Clayoquot Sound was a historic green victory. But now the coalition that barred forestry from Canada’s last, best place has come unstuck. With natives logging for themselves, will things come to blows amid the old growth? By the time I catch up with Gary Johnsen, president of native-owned Iisaak Forest Resources Ltd., at a rustic-chic resto in Tofino called Shelter, the ancient Nuu-chah-nulth notion of hishuk ish ts’awalk–everything is one–seems lost in the bustle of Clayoquot Sound. The obvious disconnect is between Shelter’s lychee-martini-sipping tourists, the ones staying at the $800-a-pop lodges, and the impoverished First Nations residents of Opitsaht, whose weather-worn houses can be spotted across the passage from our swank restaurant. The wealth chasm has been growing in the half-decade or so since the global jet-set discovered Mini-Maui on the west coast of Vancouver Island. But I am more interested in another division, between the tree huggers who put Clayoquot on the map 15 years ago and the natives who stood by them on the blockades. Back then, greens and natives united to protect Clayoquot–one of the world’s last great tracts of ancient temperate rain forest, with majestic, 1,000-year-old cedars–from the industrial logging that had turned much of the rest of Vancouver Island into a crazy quilt of shaved mountainsides and skinny, second-growth trees. Now, the First Nations and environmental NGOs have become entrenched, if reluctant, adversaries. I’ve come to find out why. In the decade and a half since Clayoquot entered the national consciousness, the big lumber companies, Weyerhaeuser and Interfor, have packed up their chainsaws and left, tired of the hassle and unable to make a profit operating under the strict environmental rules imposed by a British Columbia government scientific panel in 1995, not to mention the spotlight effect of the area’s designation in 2000 as a UNESCO biosphere reserve. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080923.rmcclay0923/BNStory/specialROBmagazine

7) Several leading environmental groups are criticizing a B.C. Government publication containing misleading information about how forestry contributes to Global Warming. The groups are David Suzuki Foundation, ForestEthics, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS),Pembina Institute and B.C. Spaces. The booklet, entitled, “Tackle Climate Change, Use Wood,” promotes the use of wood products and burning trees for energy as effective climate change strategies. “The government should be promoting forest protection to tackle climate change, not logging,” said Chris Henschel with CPAWS. Logging results in a sixth of Canada’s annual greenhouse gas emissions. Further, logging in natural forests represents a significant release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that would otherwise be stored for hundreds of years. “The world’s expert authority on climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has prioritized protection of forests as the most effective and cost efficient thing we can do with our standing forests to fight Global Warming,” said Merran Smith, Director of the Climate Program at ForestEthics. “This promotional booklet is saying the opposite, and is far too simplistic for a complex issue like forests – BC needs to promote a forest conservation strategy along with a program of wood products to ensure longevity and recycling, not disposability.” “Logging natural forests is becoming an increasingly irresponsible act for the climate,” says Mike Kennedy, Senior Resource Economist of the Pembina Institute. Also troubling and simplistic is the booklet’s claim that ‘bioenergy has no net greenhouse gas emissions.’ Wood is a low quality fuel that results in significant carbon dioxide emissions. Proponents say that burning wood does not cause pollution because trees grow back and remove all the carbon that was originally released. “The problem is that it can take more than a hundred years for a natural forest to take the carbon back from the atmosphere, if it ever does,” said Dave Neads with B.C. Spaces. “In the meantime, switching to woody bioenergy could actually increase emissions in the short-term when emission reductions are most urgently needed.” http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/September2008/25/c8605.html

8) Nearly 200 mills have closed in just four years, taking 111,000 direct and indirect jobs with them —and Stephen Harper has made a bad situation worse. His softwood lumber sell-out to the US gives up on years of trade rulings in our favour, gives up on $1-billion taken from Canadians, and replaces illegal tariffs with unwelcome border taxes. And by exempting raw logs shipped to US mills, the deal disadvantages Canadian processing and the quality jobs it can support. Since his sell-out, Harper has ignored chance after chance to support struggling forestry communities and producers. Yet he found $50-billion to spend on corporate tax cuts for profitable banks and oil companies that don’t need the help. It doesn’t have to be this way. It’s time for a Prime Minister who will put you and your family first. A Prime Minister who’s ready to fight for fair trade—and for a sustainable industry where more local processing means more family-supporting jobs. Jack Layton will be that Prime Minister. http://kerrymcmanus.blogspot.com/2008/09/forestry-renewing-struggling-sector.html

Canada:

9) With an estimated one-tenth of the world’s forests located on Canadian soil, it’s easy to consider the expansive boreal forest, which encompasses about 35 per cent of Canada’s total land area, as the country’s most significant natural riches. But more than 80 per cent of Canadians live in urban areas and while the land mass that all those cities, towns and villages represent is less than one per cent, experts say some of the country’s most important forested areas actually fall within urban boundaries. “Urbanites across the country might easily fail to recognize the significance of their urban forest. But if you fly into any city at this time of year, you will see a tremendous canopy of green,” said Dave Lemkay, general manager of the Canadian Forestry Association (CFA) in Ottawa. City residents should understand they’re part of a forest ecosystem that’s no less important than the larger natural forest, he said. This is the forest environment that has the greatest impact on the lives of Canadians, because it is where they live and work on a daily basis, said Michael Rosen, president of Tree Canada, a charitable organization located in Ottawa. The urban forest provides all the same benefits that larger rural forests do — including air purification, shelter, esthetics and psychological well-being, such as reduction of stress. And this impact can be more immediate. For instance, while all forests remove and sequester carbon, which helps mitigate global warming, “some research studies suggest because trees in urban areas are closer to carbon sources, they can actually be more effective at sequestering carbon,” said Ken Farr, a policy adviser with Natural Resources Canada’s Canadian Forest Service in Ottawa. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=000375a0-a438-42a5-be60- 07dcfd90a4eb

10) This year she grew a crop of 22 million young trees, which she harvested and sent off to market. Logging companies bought those seedlings and so did tree-planting contractors. With British Columbia’s forests in a massive die-off because of a pine beetle infestation, Ms. Dawes’s agri-business should be thriving. But it isn’t. It is struggling to survive because of a downturn in the forest industry – and because the federal government no longer recognizes silviculture as farming. Businesses that grow trees for landscaping are considered farms. Even businesses that grow plants for the bio-fuel industry are classified as farms by the government. But to Ottawa, any business that grows trees just to replenish forest lands is, in effect, nothing more than a wood-lot operation. It’s forestry, not farming. That means tree nurseries do not qualify for agricultural income stabilization payments from the federal government. The reclassification was made in 2006 when the federal government decided to phase out the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization Program – essentially a form of crop-failure insurance – and replace it with two programs called AgriStability and AgriInvest. Silviculture operators, who until then had been covered by CAIS, thought they would simply join other farmers in a smooth transition to the new programs. Then they found out that not only had they lost their status as farmers – but they also had to pay back any funds they’d been given under CAIS, dating back to 2003. They have been fighting the reclassification for the past two years, without success, and now face a deadline, in January, for paying back the money they got under CAIS. That’s why Ms. Dawes is looking out at the millions of seedlings in her greenhouses this fall, wondering if this is her last crop. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080929.BCHUME29/TPStory/National

11) Prime Minster Harper tried to “green” his reputation as a law-and-order tough guy this week by pledging to crack down on polluters and those that flaunt environmental regulations. I have one piece of advice for Mr. Harper to prove to Canadians he is serious about environmental enforcement: Turn yourself in. When it comes to flouting our international environmental commitments – as well as our domestic laws and regulations – the Harper government is seemingly beyond rehabilitation. Lets have a look at a small selection from their rap sheet: Endangered Species: Stephen Harper ignored legal obligations under Canada’s Species at Risk Act for preparing recovery plans for over 105 endangered species including the critically threatened Northern spotted owl, whooping crane, swift fox and Vancouver Island marmot. Oil Sands: In March 2008, a coalition of environmental groups successfully argues in federal court that the environmental assessment for the massive $8 billion Kearl tar sands expansion was woefully inadequate. Remarkably the federal and provincial governments had concluded that the project would cause “ no significant environmental impacts” even though it would strip mine 200 square kilometers of boreal forest and dig up enough bitumen to dump 3.7 million tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere every year – the equivalent of 800,000 passenger vehicles. The response from the Harper government to the court’s decision ? His cabinet overrode the judge and re-issued the necessary permits within four weeks. So much for respect for our legal system or environmental laws. http://mitchellanderson.blogspot.com/2008/09/harper-to-crack-down-on-eco-criminals.html

12) “They were making policy without even consulting their environmental scientists,” Weaver charged. “I know that for a fact.” He added that Harper and other top Conservative policymakers have also refused to meet representatives of the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, a national organization that, according to Weaver, has brought Canada to the international forefront of scientific research on climate change. “They don’t want to meet them because their policy is not one based on science,” Weaver said. “It is based on ideology and what’s best for the Alberta oil-sands industry. That’s the bottom line.” In 2007, while Weaver was writing his book, several high-profile developments heightened public interest in climate change. The IPCC released its fourth assessment report, which unequivocally concluded that the planet was warming. It also stated that this was “very likely” due to greenhouse-gas emissions created by human beings. Later that summer, there was a stunning decline in the amount of Arctic ice, shattering the previous record by more than 20 percent. Near the end of 2007, the IPCC and former U.S. vice president Al Gore shared the Nobel Peace Prize. In the wake of these developments, the Harper government decided to muzzle government scientists, prohibiting them from talking about climate change with the media. Weaver writes in his book that new rules required these scientists to obtain authorization from media-relations staff before doing interviews. According to a PowerPoint presentation circulated among Environment Canada staff, reporters must submit questions in writing, and scientists’ answers have to be transmitted through media-relations staff. Media-relations staff can ask the expert to respond with “approved lines” or refer the reporter’s call to the minister’s office or another department, according to Weaver’s book. “It’s absolutely Orwellian what’s going on here in science in Canada,” Weaver claimed. http://www.straight.com/article-163372/expert-says-scientists-muzzled