408 USA TREE NEWS

Index

–Alaska: 13) Cutting a 200-acre strip through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge,
–Pacific Northwest: 14) More meddling planned as Marbled Murrelet edges closer to extinction
–Washington: 15) Nalini Nadkarni’s latest greatest tree book!
–Oregon: 16) They annually spray herbicides on 67,000 acres of private timberland in Lane County, 17) HCP for Elliott State Forest has been released,
–California: 18) Power line tree cutting crews in Santa Cruz seem to make many mistakes, 19) Board of Forestry sends owl rule back to committee,
–Colorado: 20) Logging on 1,000 acres of national forests around Keystone, 21) 7,000 Lodgepole pines to be cut down at Vail Mountain resort, 22) Pyramid Lumber to ease a growing fire danger,
–Montana: 23) Plum Creek finally realize counties wanna get in the way of back door subdivision agreement with feds
–Wisconsin: 24) Save the birds!
–Minnesota: 25) Conservation easement “preserves” 80 square miles
–South Carolina: 26) Developers want to cut every tree right up to the edge of the giant Angel Oak
–Florida: 27) Our forests are the backbone of the region’s rural economy
–Maine: 28) Four Earth First! protesters locked together in protest of plum creek subdivisions,
–USA: 29) Native speak out about hundreds of threatened sacred places throughout the US, 30) Supreme Court set to decide if public can challenge illegal government regulations on public land, 31) Wood chip costs in Western US are 25% higher, 32) Eshoo introduces plan to protect national forests & refuges from aggressive logging, 33) Mature trees in your landscape increase value of your home,

Articles:

Alaska:

13) Anchorage — Among the many bills Congress is considering before it recesses for the November elections is a proposed land swap between the State of Alaska and the federal government that would allow a gravel road to be built through a remote national wildlife refuge. Environmental groups are lined up against the proposal, saying a road would threaten the pristine wilderness area. Building it would require cutting an approximately 200-acre strip through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge on the Alaska Peninsula, a resting place for hundreds of thousands of migratory birds and other animals. Alaska officials, led by Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, say the road is needed to connect one tiny outpost, King Cove, to another, Cold Bay, so that the 800 residents of King Cove have reliable access, particularly in emergencies, to the all-weather airport across the water in Cold Bay. The issue before Congress is whether to allow Alaska to swap about 43,000 acres of state land for the 200 or so acres in the Izembek refuge needed for the road, which would be a single lane and, though the exact route has not been determined, would require an estimated 17 miles of construction, at $1 million to $2 million per mile. Though the proposed land swap has been a source of debate for years, some opponents are drawing new attention to it as an example of Congressional excess. They have compared it to the controversial Bridge to Nowhere in Ketchikan, Alaska, which was ultimately abandoned but has proved a thorn for the governor, Sarah Palin, in her campaign as the Republican nominee for vice president. Ms. Palin supports the land exchange and the proposed road through Izembek. A road “is going to fragment and irreparably harm one of the most pristine and valuable wilderness and wetland areas in the Northern Hemisphere,” said Nicole Whittington-Evans, the associate director of the Wilderness Society’s Alaska office. The 43,000 acres of state land, plus 18,000 more that a local village corporation run by Alaska Natives has offered as part of the swap, cannot compensate, they say. “We’re talking about quality versus quantity,” Ms. Whittington-Evans said of the Wilderness Society. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/27/us/27road.html?_r=1&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin

Pacific Northwest:

14) Amidst the remaining ancient forests of the Pacific Northwest, the marbled murrelet edges closer to extinction. In the final days of the Bush Administration, motions have been made to undo protections in the Pacific Northwest that have been in place for over a decade to protect wildlife and our ancient forests. The proposed removal of one such protection, for the imperiled marbled murrelet, ignores solid science and would open more of our ancient forests to destructive logging, shrinking the habitat of an already threatened species. As an October 2007 editorial by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer succinctly puts it, “when it comes to the environment, the administration’s record is remarkably consistent. Whenever possible, the science is fixed around the policy of ruthless exploitation of natural resources.” Let the Bush Administration know that the marbled murrelet deserve to have their critical habitat protection upheld, sign our letter today! http://action.wilderness.org/campaign/murrelet/in8se6r933id8k? If the Bush Administration has its way, the marbled murrelet’s protected habitat would be reduced by 254,000 acres — much of it mature and old-growth forests — by the end of the year. For a species that depends on these forests to nest, this move would be devastating. Speak out against the reduction of this critical habitat and let the Bush Administration know that they need to continue preserving our mature and old-growth forests!
http://action.wilderness.org/campaign/murrelet/in8se6r933id8k?

Washington:

15) When I was a little girl, one of my favorite books was “A Tree Is Nice” by Janice May Udry. I didn’t care that it had won the Caldecott Medal, although the charming illustrations by Marc Simont still stand the test of time. What really appealed to me was the way this picture book made me think about all of the good things a tree could do. I still have this book and treasure it. It has had a lasting impact on me, inspiring not just a lifelong affinity for trees, but a real allegiance to them. Now Nalini Nadkarni has written what could be considered the grown-up equivalent of that seminal book of my childhood. “Between Earth and Sky” is a thoughtful treatise on the many ways humans interact with and depend upon trees. Nadkarni, a world-renowned tree canopy biologist, is a professor in the environmental studies program at The Evergreen State College. Although she writes about what is happening above our heads, Nadkarni never makes you feel as if you’re in over your head. She skillfully blends anecdote, fascinating facts, plain talk and a sprinkling of poetry to reach out to her readers and discuss the myriad cultural, spiritual, aesthetic, social, economic and other connections that we have with trees. There’s a chapter on the many different religions that engage trees in central roles, from the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, to the Bodhi tree in Buddhism and the banyan in the Hindu tradition. There’s also an interesting anthropological survey of how humans use trees for building shelter. In another chapter, Nadkarni develops an engaging catalog of the sports and leisure activities that make use of trees, ¬from swinging and climbing in them, to making guns, golf clubs, tennis racquets and skis out of them, to shaping them into bonsai. Nail polish, chopsticks, Stradivarius violins and rap music all are incorporated into Nadkarni’s generous compendium. But even the most lighthearted of pages in this book contains an undertone of urgency. Nadkarni is campaigning unabashedly for our deeper involvement¬ not only in trees and their well-being, but in nature overall. She worries about humans’ increasing alienation from nature in the post-industrial age, and cites that as both cause and consequence of the environmental problems we are facing on a global scale. Adapting a model put forth a half-century ago by psychologist Abraham Maslow, Nadkarni creates a pyramid detailing a hierarchy of human needs that contribute to self-actualization. In Nadkarni’s eight-step version, our relationship with trees begins with using them to address our physical needs (food, shelter and oxygen), moves on to include other levels such as tapping trees for healthful benefits (as medicinal sources, stress relievers and even esteem-builders in prison programs), and finally leads to mindfulness of nature and our place in it. http://www.theolympian.com/653/story/599218.html

Oregon:

16) In the first eight months of this year the Oregon Department of Forestry received notification of intent to spray herbicides on nearly 67,000 acres of private timberland in Lane County. For decades, industrial poisons have been unleashed upon the land. Timber companies claim this cumulative chemical soup has no effect on people. People disagree. One woman I know describes herself as “extremely health-conscious.” She grows organic food, keeps bees, and hasn’t seen a doctor in a decade. When she learned the Seneca Timber Co. was planning an aerial herbicide spray in Western Lane County, she called and asked if they might reconsider and apply the chemicals manually. Her concerns were dismissed as groundless. Unconvinced, she did her own research and discovered that chemical sprays can drift five to seven miles. My friend thought it was important to share this information with Seneca, so she drove to the company’s offices. The guard at the gate said her name was on a no-entry list, and she was turned away. When the helicopter started spraying, it took 15 minutes for the chemicals to reach her. She immediately began experiencing shortness of breath and burning in her throat and lungs. For five days she had no appetite and felt joint weakness and muscle pain, followed by four days of diarrhea. Her period, always regular, came a week early. For five months symptoms persisted: chest and joint pain, and a constant dryness in her throat no matter how much water she drank. Eventually, her symptoms subsided. But the bees died. Chemical spraying is one of the ways timber companies privatize profits while socializing costs. Companies such as Seneca and Weyerhaeuser Co. save labor costs, which the community pays in the form of health care expenses, water treatment costs and suffering. http://www.registerguard.com/web/opinion/141177//story.csp

17) The US Fish and Wildlife Service, the federal agency in charge of recovering endangered species, has recently released the long-awaited draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) for the Elliott State Forest. The Elliott is a 93,000 acre, public state forest near Reedsport, OR, and is a stronghold for endangered species, including marbled murrelet, spotted owl and coho salmon and contains a significant amount of older forest habitat. The Elliott is currently ground zero for older forest clearcutting in western Oregon with over 500 acres auctioned off to the highest bidder each year. The Cascadia Wildlands Project is currently ramping up efforts to halt this. Unfortunately, the HCP will sanction even more older forest clearcutting every year for the next 50 years on the Elliott. We have been given a short amount of time to read through this lengthy plan. We are calling on you to help us request a comment period extension of an additional 60 days. Please email the leadership of the US Fish and Wildlife Service Lee Folliard and NOAA Fisheries (fish agency involved) Chuck Wheeler and request an additional 60 days. We need the extended timeline to adequately comb through this voluminous document. For more information on the Elliott, visit http://www.cascwild.org/elliott.html . You can download a copy of the DEIS from: http://www.fws.gov/oregonfwo/ToolsForLandowners/HabitatConservationPlans/

California:

18) A crew cutting down fire-damaged trees along Trabing Road north of Watsonville toppled the top of a massive eucalyptus tree onto power lines Wednesday. The neighborhood lost power, but a PG&E worker was able to bypass the break and restore electricity to all but a couple of houses along Grizzly Oaks Lane fairly quickly, said Jean Rounds, a PG&E troubleshooter. PG&E hired Davey Tree to remove the trees scorched in the June 20 fire that burned 640 acres, destroyed 26 homes, 48 outbuildings and damaged another 15 structures. Dense stands of eucalyptus trees and poor vegetation clearance were largely blamed for the quick moving fire. In recent weeks, hundreds of trees have been felled, mostly eucalyptuses. Tony Mellor, whose cabin on Grizzly Oaks Lane was one of 26 homes that fell victim to the blaze, said the whine of chain saws is a constant during the day. He doesn’t mind, though. He’s glad to see the eucalyptuses go. Mellor called the eucalyptuses “little horrors.” He said he had always thought of the dense stands near his home as a “wall of death,” a description that seemed apt back in June when they flared up and spewed sparks to fuel the spread of the fire. As fast as the trees come down, however, fresh sprouts emerge from the stumps that dot the blackened slopes. http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_10612145

19) This month the California Board of Forestry was pressured to send their owl rule changes back to committee, making it unlikely that the policies will be adopted for 2009. The overwhelming opposition, including your comments, forced the Board to reconsider the industry-proposed policies. Another pressing issue, this time affecting the imperiled Marbled Murrelet, needs our attention this weekend. Please take a few minutes to read through the action alert from Conservation Northwest, and send in your comments by the end of the day tomorrow, September 29. Please go straight to our action center, at http://wildcalifornia.org/actions/list to send your comments immediately.

Colorado:

20) SUMMIT COUNTY — Logging crews will soon start removing hazardous trees and thinning dead lodgepole pines on about 1,000 acres of national forest around Keystone. According to the Forest Service, more than 80 percent of the lodgepole pines in the area have been killed by pine beetles. The three-year, $1.4 million project is aimed at reducing wildfire threats to dozens of homes in the area surrounded by thick stands of mostly dead trees. Some of the neighborhoods most at risk in that area have made little progress in thinning fire-prone trees on private property. “Any kind of treatment is going to be a benefit,” said Summit County wildfire-mitigation officer Patti McGuire. “You have a forest boundary coming close to community. Thinning the trees makes it more possible to knock a crown fire down to a ground fire.” McGuire said her job — to help property owners create defensible space — has been challenging in the Keystone area because of property-line issues. Some lots don’t extend far beyond the roofline of the homes, requiring cooperation between adjoining property owners. U.S. Forest Service ranger Cary Green said that, in the past year, property owners in the area have really started to work on trying to mitigate wildfire threats on private property. Logging on federal lands is mainly a question of money, McGuire said. “It’s tough. There’s a war going on. There’s a mortgage crisis. Until there’s smoke in the air, or fire along I-70, it’s hard to get the money,” she said. The Keystone contract is the second-largest in the county so far, after the Wildernest project. The work will extend to the south side of Highway 6 toward Frey Gulch, around Summit Cove and along Swan Mountain Road to Sapphire Point. http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20080927/NEWS/809269949/1078&ParentProfile=1055&title=Logging%20to%20begin%20in%20Keystone

21) Up to 7,000 lodgepole pines will be cut down at the Vail Mountain resort to reduce the risk that a tree killed by beetles could damage a ski gondola by falling or catching fire. Vail Resorts spokeswoman Jen Brown said crews will cut down every lodgepole bigger than 5 inches in diameter in a 16-acre area. The resort covers nearly 5,300 acres. The work is expected to be done over the next month. Spruce, fir and aspen will not be cut. Brown says the area will remain open to skiers after the logging work. A bark beetle infestation has already killed about 1.5 million acres – or about 2,300 square miles – of lodgepole pines in Colorado. The U.S. Forest Service predicts that beetles will kill most of the state’s lodgepoles within five years.

22) “We have almost 90% mortality in lodgepole pine around town” said Fichtler. “With the combination of drought and competition for moisture by trees put a lot of stress on them which makes them more susceptible to bark beetles” commented Gordy Sanders with Pyramid Lumber. So, the Bureau of Land Management teamed up Pyramid Lumber to ease a growing fire danger by thinning some 300 acres of dead trees, starting in the middle of town and working outward about a half mile in every direction. “We realized fire was inevitable and would be part of this area at some point in the future so we could either get out in front of it let the town burn down” said Fichtler. “In 2000, during the Ryan Gulch fire there were crews up here doing protection for the town and there was a risk we’d lost it” explained BLM Fire Ecologist Shelagh Fox. “We were blessed because the wind shifted.” Planning and scouting before the project began revealed an historic silver lining, “We found old cabins, old hand tools like pans and picks and a lot of placer mining” said Fichtler. Among the never previously found evidence, were hand-stacked rocks, which were moved by miners so they could clear the waterway below and pan for gold. So, as part of the tree removal project, workers will now build almost two miles of trails so visitors can see the historic sites first-hand. Back in town, the meticulous, yet nerve-wracking work continues. “If one of the machines snaps the tree and it comes apart and crashes on a building, we don’t replace them” said Fichtler. “They’re gone.” The project does not waste any of the wood as the sawdust goes to a particle board plant, smaller trees to a pulp mill to make paper, larger trees for lumber, and tree tops and bark will be fuel burned in giant kilns. If all goes as planned, the entire project, trails included, should be wrapped up by the end of October. http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.asp?S=8573787&nav=menu227_1

Montana:

23) At issue is whether homeowners who buy land from Plum Creek can use Forest Service roads to get to their property. And if they can, are there consequences for the county? Plum Creek and the Forest Service have been meeting with county commissioners across western Montana all this month. Missoula is one of their final stops. Quite honestly, some members of the tour expected that this meeting might be difficult. Since Missoula officials have questioned how the Forest Service handled the Plum Creek easements. And the meeting did feature blunt questions from county commissioners and the county attorney. They asked whether the easements must follow federal environmental law. And they asked about the impacts to forest land, and county services, when Plum Creek turns timberland into residential subdivisions. “Going from logging trucks part of the year to having passenger vehicles going over these roads every day of the year,” said Fred Van Valkenbert, Missoula County Attorney. “I’m not saying that won’t happen. That’ll happen with or without the easement. We’re going to have changing land uses. We’re going to have changing patterns of use. That’s going to happen,” said Tom Suk, U.S. Forest Service. http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/global/story.asp?s=9094669&ClientType=Printable

Wisconsin:

24) A global report on the state of the world’s birds has implications for Wisconsin, say state conservation organizations. The report, issued by the organization BirdLife International, (birdlife.org), details the decline of global bird populations. As the official International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List Authority for birds, BirdLife says its 2008 assessment of all the world’s birds reveals that more than 1,226 bird species (12.4 percent, or one in eight) are considered threatened with extinction. “Overall, larger-bodied species and those with low reproductive rates (owing to small clutch sizes) are more likely to be threatened. Although extinction is a natural process, current and projected extinction rates are estimated to be 1,000 to 10,000 times the natural background rate,” the report says. In 2002, a number of world governments made a commitment to achieve a significant halt to the decline of biodiversity by 2010. Two years away from this deadline, BirdLife is studying what birds tell us about the current chances of achieving this ambitious goal. The messages are mixed, BirdLife’s website states. “We know much more about the state of biodiversity. And the world has become more aware of the environmental challenges that we face, particularly in the light of climate change. Despite this, our data show that the state of the world’s biodiversity, as reflected by its 9,856 living bird species, continues to get worse.” In Wisconsin, a coalition of conservation groups are looking at the decline of global bird populations as an environmental barometer for the health of the planet at large. The National Resources Foundation, the Madison Audubon Society and the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative are responding to the report by working to raise awareness of the value and vulnerability of Wisconsin’s birds. “In Wisconsin,” said Charlie Luthin, the executive director of the Natural Resources Foundation in Madison, “our wetlands, lakes and rivers—and our unique geography between the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes—make Wisconsin a globally important place for breeding, feeding and migrating birds. Unfortunately, loss of habitat, pollution and global warming all threaten the birds that enhance our quality of life.” http://newsofthenorth.net/article.cfm?articleID=24246

Minnesota:

25) MINNEAPOLIS — A landmark conservation easement that preserves wildlife habitat, protects jobs and ensures public access to almost 80 square miles (200 square kilometres) of rich forestland in northern Minnesota has won Forest Capital Partners LLC the Sustainable Forestry Initiative(R) Inc. (SFI(R)) and Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) Wildlife Stewardship Award. Forest Capital Partners, which acquires and manages working forests across North America for long-term sustainability, received the award today at the annual SFI conference in Minneapolis. In 2007, the company signed a conservation easement with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources restricting development on more than 51,000 acres (20,600 hectares) of its privately owned, and SFI-certified, forestland in Itasca and Koochiching counties — the single largest conservation project in Minnesota in 30 years. “The Koochiching-Washington Forest Legacy Project demonstrates one of the rewards of good forest management — enhanced wildlife diversity and abundance,” said Kathy Abusow, President and CEO of the independent SFI forest certification program. “Forest Capital Partners’ Minnesota division negotiated an agreement that ensures private forestland is available for economic benefits and to support local jobs, while protecting wildlife habitat and providing public access.” “The project will help preserve the indigenous and migratory wildlife of the region by keeping their habitat intact,” said CSF Vice-President Gary Guinn. “The property will be open for fishing, hiking, hunting and cross-country skiing, and allow snowmobiles and ATVs on designated trails.” The land is near a state natural area and a state park, creating more than 500,000 acres (200,000 hectares) of uninterrupted conservation territory. The nomination letter included a comment from Peggy Ladner, director of The Nature Conservancy in Minnesota, who said saving 51,000 acres of forest is great work “but when those lands combine with existing public natural areas to create a conservation area that approaches 500,000 acres, it’s an absolutely incredible and enduring accomplishment.” Forest Capital Partners worked closely with the Minnesota Forest Legacy Partnership to facilitate the creation of the conservation easement. The Partnership, a public-private coalition created by The Nature Conservancy and the Blandin Foundation to help conserve Minnesota’s Northwoods, includes the Trust for Public Land, which facilitated the transaction, and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, which will hold and monitor the conservation easements. http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/forest-
capital-partners-wins-wildlife/story.aspx?guid={91AA55B9-F3BD-460E-B4F7-03184503A2D1}&dist=hppr

South Carolina:

26) Charleston – There’s debate over what should happen to two dozen grand trees near the Angel Oak Park on Johns Island. City zoning officials will decide whether to bend the rules and allow a developer to cut them down during a hearing scheduled for Wednesday. Those who don’t like the idea are already upset over the proposed development on the Johns Island 42-acre site. “The Angel Oak needs its surrounding forests. Number one, that’s the most important thing,” said Samantha Siegel, a passionate Johns Island resident who is leading the charge against cutting the trees. If approved, 24 grand trees would be cut. The trees sit in a buffer zone, more than 150 feet from the Old Angel Oak tree, thought to be the oldest in South Carolina. Developers who will plan to build condos in the area are requesting an exception to the rule which doesn’t allow grand trees to be taken down, unless they’re deemed as damaged. “If they cut down any of these trees, it’s going to be exposed to harsh winds and sunlight than it had not been exposed to before,” Siegel said of the health of the historic Angel Oak. Siegel questioned the efforts and pointed to a 2005 letter from the U.S. Department of the Interior that states, the “wildlife in the area would be better served by conserving the entire tract of land proposed for development.” Siegel also questioned the expertise of city-hired tree expert. But Robert DeMoura, who represents the developer, said you couldn’t get a more unbiased man with unquestionable credentials to look at the health of these trees. “We felt comfortable that his opinion of these trees we’re going to be independent and unbiased and the City of Charleston felt the same,” DeMoura said. We’re already saving plenty of trees, he said. DeMoura pointed to the buffer zone where nothing can be built within 350 feet of the Angel Oak as a sign that his company is trying to compromise. Siegel said she had thousands of signed petitions online supporting her cause. But DeMoura said the site was misleading because it claims his planned development threatens the Angel Oak. http://www.live5news.com/Global/story.asp?S=9102470

Florida:

27) Florida’s forests, which dominate North Florida’s landscape and provide the backbone for the region’s rural economy, can play a key role in meeting these goals. Florida’s forests cover over 15 million acres (almost half the state), and 19 of Florida’s 67 counties, all of them in North Florida, are more than 75 percent covered by forests. For example, Leon County is more than 50 percent forested, and most of its neighboring counties are more than 75 percent forested. North Florida’s forests offer a huge opportunity for this region. Our forests already store significant amounts of carbon and offer an excellent opportunity, through good forest management and reforestation efforts, to sequester even more. In addition, wood and other biomass from our forests already provide renewable energy, and our forests are poised to step up with even more. It is thus critical to our state’s environmental and energy goals, and to North Florida’s economy, that programs developed to address climate change and our renewable energy needs include a significant role for our forests. North Florida’s forests and the region stand at the cusp of this exciting moment in time for our state and can play a key part in this transformation of Florida’s environmental and energy policy. Gov. Charlie Crist has proposed reducing Florida’s greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, and both major-party presidential candidates have publicly supported similar reductions through implementation of a cap-and-trade program for carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions. Florida’s forests can play a key role in meeting these reduction goals. Any state or federal climate change program should encourage forest landowners to store and sequester more carbon as a means to reduce overall carbon emissions. http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080928/OPINION05/809280312/1006/OPINION

Maine:

28) AUGUSTA — Four Earth First! protesters, locked together by bicycle locks, were arrested Monday after being forcibly removed from a state office building. The protesters, all women from central Maine, entered the Land Use Regulation Commission office building, locked themselves together with large U-shaped locks generally used to secure bikes, and refused to leave as part of a protest against LURC’s favorable review of a development plan for the Moosehead Lake region. Dozens of Maine State Police and numerous other police responded to the scene, joining about a dozen Earth First! protesters outside the building, on the former grounds of Augusta Mental Health Institute. The building was locked down for most of the day in response to the protesters. Last week, LURC approved its own staff’s recommendation to approve Seattle-based Plum Creek Timber Co.’s modified development plans, and rezone a large tract of land on and near Moosehead Lake for development of nearly 1,000 house lots and two large resorts. In protest of that ruling, protesters sang songs, chanted and blew a horn while locked together in a hallway of LURC’s Augusta headquarters on Monday. The four who were locked together were joined by several other protesters inside the office. All but the four left when told by police they would be arrested if they didn’t. “We’re staying here until (LURC staff) give us an explanation to justify their actions,” Megan Gilmartin, one of the four women locked together, said by cell phone from the LURC office. The protest, which lasted from just before 11:30 a.m. until approximately 4 p.m. — and the large police response to it — disrupted work in the LURC building but also, it appeared, in the many other surrounding state offices, where several workers watched the goings-on from their windows. “They’re chanting and blowing horns and pounding on the walls and floors,” said Jeanne Curran, public information representative for the state Department of Conservation. At one point Monday, Department of Conservation Commissioner Patrick McGowan had a heated exchange with a protester in which McGowan accused a protester of saying he knew where McGowan lived; the protester denied saying that. “You better not show up at my home!” a red-faced McGowan shouted at protesters outside the main entrance to the building. He moved inside at the urging of state police troopers. Each refused to walk, and so was removed from the building on a stretcher. Then they were put into the backs of two waiting Kennebec Sheriff’s Office vans as police tried to block the view of their removal from other protesters, who shouted and cheered. http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/5461441.html

USA:

29) From the Call to Action below: “Article 12 of the Declaration [United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples] affirms that “Indigenous peoples have the right to manifest, practice, develop and teach their spiritual and religious traditions, customs and ceremonies and the right to maintain, protect, and have access in privacy to their religious and cultural sites.” … “Tribal Nations and Native rights organizations are aware of hundreds of threatened sacred places throughout the US and are highlighting two critical threatened sacred places as evidence for immediate political action: The Medicine Lake Highlands located in California and the San Francisco Peaks located in Northern Arizona.” Please fax a brief letter to Senate Indian Affairs Committee urging that a hearing be held on these issues as soon as possible. The Committee fax number is 202-228-2589. Advocates for the Protection of Sacred Sites; Save the Peaks Coalition; Indigenous Environmental Network; International Indian Treaty Council; Seventh Generation Fund; Vallejo Inter-Tribal Council; Morning Star Institute. info@firstpeoplesrights.org

30) The U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide whether the public can effectively challenge illegal government regulations and in the process will decide whether citizens have a voice in the management of national forests. On October 8, the high court will hear a case that started out as an important challenge to the Bush administration’s weakening of the public’s right to weigh in on major decisions impacting our national forests. The case began when conservation groups successfully challenged federal regulations issued in 2003 that eliminated the public’s ability to comment on and appeal U.S. Forest Service actions such as commercial timber sales, oil and gas development and off-road motorized vehicle use. The victory has been upheld on appeal and the administration’s request for a rehearing was denied. However, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the government’s request to review the case — not on whether the limitations on public participation were permissible, but on a much larger issue that could make it virtually impossible for citizens to effectively challenge any regulation (not just environmental) issued by a federal agency. The Bush administration is arguing that the courts generally lack authority to hear cases brought by public interest or citizens’ groups that challenge federal regulations, and that even if a court can hear such a case, it can’t set aside a regulation nationwide, but only within its local jurisdiction. “Right now, timber and mining companies are calling all the shots. Average citizens deserve a voice in how their forests are managed and how their tax dollars are spent.” said Sierra Club representative Aaron Isherwood. “By creating financial and logistical hurdles, the Bush administration is silencing citizens.” “The government knows that the public interest community’s resources are limited, and that its position would allow unlawful government action — whether a timber sale or deprivation of personal rights — to go unchecked in most instances,” states lead attorney Matt Kenna from the Western Environmental Law Center. “Citizens must obey the law; there is no reason why governments should be allowed to continue violating the law once their actions are found to be unlawful.” Kenna will be presenting the case to the Supreme Court. The case, Summers v. Earth Island Institute, has garnered significant interest. State government, academic, and public interests have filed amicus briefs siding with conservation groups. The timber and building industries have filed amicus briefs joining the government’s argument that a nationwide set-aside of an illegal regulation should be available only to plaintiffs with an economic interest at stake. “Obviously, that is a nonsensical and self-serving position,” stated Jim Bensman of Heartwood. “This case is about whether or not the public has a right to be involved in the most important decisions that affect our public lands. The number one priority for the Bush administration has been to reduce public accountability, and this has been especially true when it comes to logging on our National Forests.” http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2008/summers-v-eii-09-29-2008.html

31) Wood chip costs in Western US, which have been some of the highest in North America, declined 13% in the 3Q, but are currently still 25% higher than a year ago. Another region in the US that has experienced substantial fiber cost changes this year is the Northeast, where hardwood log prices have increased for five consecutive quarters and currently are 45% higher than a year ago. Pulpmills in Maine are struggling to supply their mills with wood fiber, and they now have the highest hardwood log costs in North America. Due to the local fiber shortage, mills are importing logs from neighboring states, Canada and as far away as the Lake States. With the hurricane season more intensive than usual, wood raw-material supply flow for both pulpmills and sawmills in the US South were interrupted in the 3Q. Heavy rainfall that followed the severe winds has drastically reduced both logging activity and the transport of logs. Late summer and early fall is typically the season when pulpmills build their log inventory for the winter season. Unless logging can be increased when hurricane season is over, wood fiber supply may be tight next spring. There is still time to catch up in terms of inventory building, but much depends on when the weather improves. In addition to better logging conditions, there is also the issue of finding enough loggers and truckers to move the wood. This is becoming an increasing problem in the US South and many wood consumers are worried that this will not only be a problem this fall but also in the coming years. However, the current financial crisis and the increasing unemployment rates could potentially make it easier to recruit personnel to the forestry sector. Many pulpmills in the hurricane-impacted regions have reached out further to source their logs this fall. Pulpwood stumpage prices were practically unchanged this quarter, so landowners continue to experience lower stumpage prices for both sawtimber and pulpwood in 2008 than last year. http://pr-canada.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49900&Itemid=61

32) Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, has introduced a bill in Congress to protect national forests, federal lands and wildlife refuges from aggressive logging tactics. “This legislation bans logging practices that are decimating our nation’s forests,” Eshoo said. “The situation has reached the breaking point in America’s forests, federal lands and wildlife refuges Congress must step in to protect the biodiversity of these ecosystems before it is too late. The added benefit of decreasing carbon emissions amplifies the need for this legislation.” HR 7090, the Act to Save America’s Forests, will end logging in some areas while allowing for ecologically sustainable logging on federal lands. The act would also transfer the Giant Sequoia National Monument from the National Forest Service to the National Park Service. Logging has continued in the monument area but would cease if it became part of the National Park Service. Eshoo said HR 7090 has the bipartisan support of 70 members of Congress. http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=9441

33) Did you know 85 percent of realtors across the country say having mature trees in your landscape can increase the value of your home by as much as 20%. This is especially true if the home’s original appraised value was greater than $150 thousand? Planting trees in your landscape today can help you sell your home tomorrow and can also raise the value of your home. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “The net cooling effect of a young, healthy tree is equivalent to ten room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day.” So how does this translate to you, the consumer? Energy consumption – that’s how! Planting shade trees on the east and west sides of your home can directly impact your utility bill by as much as 35%. It doesn’t all have to be about energy consumption, however. What about aesthetically appealing landscapes? What about wildlife? Trees serve as bird sanctuaries and food for all forms of wildlife. Many more benefits exist that we will not mention here. In our area, trees do well if planted in the fall of the year. This can be done as early as October here in Northeast Louisiana. Planting trees October through February allows ample time for the roots to establish themselves before the scorching sun and heat arrives in summer. Okay, so you’re convinced! You’re going to purchase that tree for your backyard. But there is a small problem. You have no idea how to properly to plant it to achieve the best long-term success and health for the tree. That was until you picked up this article, right? http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080929/DELTASTYLE07/80929019