–Today for you 36 new articles about earth’s trees! (359th edition)
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Index:

–Washington: 7) Weyco already spent a half-million dollars in US gov bribery in 2008
–Oregon: 8) “Oregon Treasures” legislation introduced, 9) Volutneer for NFC! 10) Settlement between loggers and enviros not needed if we simply want to protect the forest, 11) Future resource opportunities in Northwest Oregon? 12) Mark Rey on Lane county, 13) New woodlot owners surprised by workload, 14) Applegate Watershed disappointed with what happened to idea for credible FS thinning project,
–California: 15) UC Berkely Treesit raided, 16) Update from UCSC treesit, 17) Judge says UC Berkeley treesitters can stay, 18) Last cypress grove damaged / renewed by fire, 19) ForestEthics market campaign against SPI needs your help, 20) GE bugs that turn trees into crude oil,
–Idaho: 21) Morel Mushroom rush is on in fire burned stands
–Missouri: 22) 880 acres next to Diana’s Grove is being clearcut
–Indiana: 23) New State Eco assessment wants to log an additional 2000 acres a year
–Pennsylvania: 24) Burying the dead in Pocono forest
–Kentucky: 25) More on University logging, 26) University logging cont.
–Tennessee: 27) July 20th at 1pm: United Mountain Defense
–USA: 28) Wilderness protection as it relates to multi-prong eco advocacy strategy, 29) More wilderness to be preserved because of much larger oil and gas land giveway, 30) Bush’s end of office rewrite of as many eco rules as possible,

Washington:

7) Weyerhaeuser Co., one of the world’s largest timberland owners and wood products manufacturers, spent $580,000 in the first quarter on lobbying, according to a recent disclosure report. The Federal Way, Wash.-based company lobbied on legislation involving trade, taxes, energy, the environment and natural resources, and immigration, according to an amended report filed April 22 with House clerk’s office. Another issue of interest was railroad competition legislation. Weyerhaeuser (nyse: WY – news – people ) owns four regional short-line railroads, used mainly to deliver goods to mills in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Washington. Besides Congress, the company lobbied the departments of Commerce, Treasury, Agriculture, Energy and other agencies in the first three months of the year. http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/06/17/ap5125080.html

Oregon:

8) Representatives Earl Blumenauer and Peter DeFazio along with Senator Ron Wyden introduced the “Oregon Treasures” bill. The “Oregon Treasures” legislation protects 143 miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers in the Rogue watershed. The “Oregon Treasures” bill would make sure that the tributaries that feed the Rogue continue to run clean and cold, protecting vital salmon and steelhead habitat. This would also protect the view from this world-class recreational rafting and fishing destination. Unfortunately, Senator Gordon Smith has yet to throw his support behind protections for the Rogue. With widespread backing from local businesses, outdoor enthusiasts, and conservation groups protecting the Rogue should be a no-brainer for Senator Smith. You can let him know that the Rogue is worth protecting. Let Senator Smith know that you support keeping the Rogue River wild too. http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1780/t/430/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=131

9) Native Forest Council’s success at holding the high bar for forest protection is due in no small part to the help of our loyal volunteers. As a small organization with a small staff, our ability to influence the issues of forest and watershed protection depends upon the involvement of community volunteers. We would like to ask Native Forest Council members and supporters to please consider volunteering to help organize a “Rally to Stop the WOPR & Save our Forests” in Portland on July 27. More information about the rally is below. The next volunteer meeting will be on Monday, June 23 @ 5 pm – 6:30 pm at Eugene’s Grower’s Market (4th/Willamette – upstairs) for those interested in helping to organize the event, assist with advertising and outreach, and/or volunteer on the day of the event in Portland on July 27. This is a great opportunity to get involved with what’s going on locally to protect the forests that give us life. Hope to see you Monday. And bring a friend! If you can’t make the meeting, but would still like to be involved in volunteering for the event, please email info@forestcouncil.org or call 688-2600 and we’ll plug you in.

10) The recent settlement between conservationists, logging interests, and community leaders in eastern Oregon has been hailed as a grand compromise (“Longtime foes cut logging deal,” June 1). We represent the conservation groups involved in crafting the agreement, which resolved huge conflicts over two major logging sales in areas recovering from the Shake Table and Egley fires in the Malheur National Forest. Ultimately, the deal spares over 150,000 acres of old-growth forests and backcountry roadless areas from chainsaws and bulldozers. Some have called the deal a model for future cooperation between environmental advocates and big timber, who often find themselves on opposite sides of the courtroom. But the real question is: If this is a model, what is it a model for? It is certainly commendable that individuals were able to sit down, have honest negotiations and come up with a final compromise that both sides could live with. Though the back and forth was contentious at times, the process was successful in ensuring all parties both listened and were heard. In this light, these negotiations could serve as a model for breaking through divisiveness. However, it is clear that this deal is not a broader model for how our public forests should be managed. Sadly, the starting point for these negotiations was a Forest Service logging proposal targeting thousands of acres of fragile, recovering forest. The science on post-fire logging is increasingly clear-bulldozers and chainsaws do far more harm to a recovering forest than good. Post-fire logging sales are euphemistically called “salvage”, despite the fact that they slow forest recovery, increase the risk of future uncharacteristic fires, and fail to take into account the important habitat that a burned forest provides for a myriad of wildlife species. Presented by the Forest Service with a misguided scheme that fueled conflict and invited litigation, we managed to salvage a compromise that provided support for rural economies without sacrificing important natural resource values. While this deal brought disparate parties together to make the best of a bad situation, we know there is a better way forward. The Thorn/Egley timber sales show that the Forest Service needs clear direction from Congress that old-growth forests and roadless wildlands are off the table when it comes to logging and development. With approximately 90% of our old-growth forests already gone, Congress must enact federal legislation to permanently protect what we have left. http://www.oregonwild.org

11) Brad Witt wants to support jobs that can withstand today’s daunting economic, environmental and social challenges. With gas prices rising by the day, manufacturing jobs moving overseas and climate change upsetting the Earth’s ecological balance, some industries will have to adapt or die. “A lot of people see global warming as a big hassle they don’t want to deal with,” said the state representative from Clatskanie. “But I see an opportunity to create great, family-wage jobs and to develop significant employment opportunities in Northwest Oregon.” To explore those opportunities, Witt invited several speakers and panelists to lead a town hall meeting on sustainable jobs in rural Oregon in Astoria Monday. About 50 people turned out to talk about how to create those jobs on the North Coast. Speakers included Erik Knoder, regional economist for the Oregon Employment Department, Barbara Bird, climate change advisor for the Oregon Association of Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, William Street, a woodworkers representative for the machinists union, and Ron Williams, president of the Northwest Log Truckers Cooperative. The panelists, who responded to the speakers and asked questions, included Witt, state Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, District Attorney Josh Marquis, Clatsop Community College President Greg Hamann and Astoria City Councilor Peter Roscoe. http://www.dailyastorian.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=398&ArticleID=52143&TM=53033.09

12) Mark Rey, undersecretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, sounds glib when he says this, but it rings true: 100 percent of the people in Peter DeFazio’s district love trees. Half love them vertical; the other half love them horizontal. Call it the 4th District’s curse. The nation’s largest lumber-producing area with the highest concentration of sawmills and veneer plants also happens to be home not just to pioneering research on the animal species that require mature forests, but to the environmental activists who have sharply limited logging on public lands. “You’ve got this real pro-timber constituency, and then you’ve got a real anti-management constituency in Lane and even some parts of Douglas County,” said Paul Beck, timber manager for Herbert Lumber Co. in Riddle. Many consider the stalemate over Oregon’s most valuable natural resource as the 4th District’s top issue. In Lane and Douglas counties — the largest counties in the district — the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management own more than 50 percent of the land. The short version of recent Western Oregon timber history might go like this: record logging on public forests in the 1970s; painful recession shuts mills in the 1980s; environmental activism restricts logging in the 1990s; county governments, deprived of traditional revenue-sharing from federal timber harvests, cut public services in 2007-08. DeFazio “has got a crisis going on his district. He’s got a tough row to hoe,” Beck said. Up until this year, DeFazio and the rest of the Oregon congressional delegation were able to protect county governments from the most devastating effects of the decline in federal logging revenue. But the underlying dilemma, how best to manage the 4th District’s millions of acres of federal forests, remains unsolved, and some consider that DeFazio’s singular failure. To be fair, forest policy is convoluted and sprawling, a problem with so many moving parts it’s ludicrous to think that a single lawmaker could resolve it in a way that satisfies both those who want federal trees cut down and those who want them left standing. “Forest policy is very difficult for any politician to deal with,” said Jim Moore, political science professor at Pacific University in Portland. As long as interest groups resort to using the court system, it sidelines lawmakers, Moore said. http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.cms.support.viewStory.cls?cid=113496&sid=1&fid=1

13) JACKSONVILLE — When yoga instructor Olaf Kalfas and his wife, Nina, bought a wooded homestead in Jackson County two years ago, he had no idea how to use a chain saw. Kalfas, 41, certainly didn’t consider himself a forester. Now you can find him most days in a four-wheeler, Stihl saw strapped to the back, driving the old skid roads that crisscross his property. Or he might be running the 2,500-pound brush masticator they call the “death muncher” through a pile of manzanita and madrone limbs in his Bobcat. “When we bought the place, we had no idea what having 280 acres entails,” he said recently as Nina Kalfas, 37, served iced tea and sugar-free organic cookies in their home overlooking Jacksonville. “It was a bit overwhelming.” The couple, residents until recently of Mysore, India, are emblematic of a growing number of small woodland owners who buy rural property primarily for the beauty and lifestyle it offers, then realize just how much work owning an Oregon forest can be. “We had no idea what we were getting into,” Olaf said. “And if we had thought about it . . . We probably would have bought a condo,” Nina joked. A recent survey of members of the Oregon Small Woodlands Association found the most common reason for owning forestland was to “enjoy the beauty or scenery.” “It’s been a growing trend for the last 10 to 15 years,” said Mike Gaudern, the group’s executive director. That trend is particularly noticeable in Jackson and Josephine counties, where diverse mixed conifer and oak woodlands near cultural centers such as Ashland and Jacksonville have become popular retirement areas for urban exiles and others. In recent years, the number of tree farms has decreased while the number of landowners increased. Small woodland plots are increasingly threatened by development and division. “Losing forestland to development is a real risk,” said Mike Cloughesy, the institute’s director of forestry. “Much of Oregon’s small woodlands lie on the outskirts of urban residential areas, and that land is highly desired for other nonforest uses.” The good news is that there are emerging, nontraditional markets — such as carbon credits or biomass — that small-woodland owners not interested in selling logs can take advantage. http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1213417506253330.xml&coll=7

14) There is little doubt that 60 years of Smokey Bear’s fire suppression activities in the Applegate Watershed have significantly changed the area’s forests. Old-growth pine trees are stressed, and slow-growing oak stands are shaded out as young fir stands proliferate in the absence of natural fire events. Hence many folks applauded when the Rogue-Siskiyou National Forest proposed several thousand acres of small-diameter conifer thinning in the Wildland Urban Interface surrounding Upper Applegate Road. The project is located near at-risk communities, calls for a light touch on the land, and would reintroduce prescribed fire to these fire-evolved forests. Much like Ronald Reagan, KS Wild believes in trust with verification. For this reason, we carefully reviewed the Forest Service’s final proposal for the Upper Applegate Project and were disappointed to learn that it also authorized: (1) Removal of late-successional forests in the Kinney and Little Grayback wildlands; (2) Harming Spotted owl suitable habitat; and (3) Cutting 12’ foot-wide cable yarding swaths through riparian reserves. KS Wild responded by filing an administrative objection to the project in which we proposed ways for the Forest Service to accomplish its forest restoration goals while avoiding the harmful practices listed above. To there credit, the Forest Service worked with us to eliminate the objectionable elements of the project while allowing the positive restoration work to proceed. That’s called a “win-win.” The project will be auctioned in 2008 and likely implemented in 2009. Thanks to your support, KS Wild is able to keep an eagle eye on proposals to stop harmful projects while shepherding a restoration-based paradigm for public lands management. http://kswild.org

California:

15) Berkeley – This morning about 6:30 am, dozens of University of California (UCB) police and at least five hired contract climbers arrived at the Oak Grove, site of a year and a half long tree-sit protest. The hired arborists climbed up in the branches of the oak trees in the threatened oak grove on UCB campus and cut down platforms, climbing gear, ropes, food bags, water and other supplies that all came down to the ground, but the sitters remain. One tree-sitter had his climbing rope cut under him and was left hanging by his arms. He managed to regain a position back on a traverse line between branches. This rapidly unfolding situation is taking place the day before the decisive court ruling is expected. Police are cordoning off the area with barricades as oaks supporters have converged on the site. Police have now closed Piedmont Avenue in the northbound direction and a large crowd is on the scene. Supporters are not only protecting the trees, but keeping a highly risky situation under check, since the hired arborists are experienced at pruning trees, but not the kind of risky activity that would be involved in extracting the tree-sitters from their perches. There will be a candlelight vigil on Tuesday night at the oak grove starting at 8 pm. Oak Grove supporters are expected to gather early Wednesday morning to await word of the decision. The Oak Grove is located in the 2000 block of Piedmont Ave in Berkeley, one block north of Bancroft Way. A campaign to save a grove of mature coast live oak trees from University of California’s (UCB) axe that blossomed Dec. 2, 2006, when a couple intrepid activists climbed high into the branches and set up tree-sits that have lasted over a year and a half.

16) Tree sitters at UC Santa Cruz said they were concerned Tuesday for the fate of their seven-month demonstration after UC Berkeley hired arborists, climbers and a crane crew to disassemble platforms and equipment at a similar demonstration there. “I am concerned both for the safety of our peers in Berkeley and for the UCSC tree sit,” said a woman who was stationed about 75 feet high in the redwood encampment, which has been deemed illegal by a Santa Cruz County judge. “Extracting tree sitters can be very dangerous for the people in the trees and the hired climbers,” said the woman, who would only identify herself as Raven. Barry Shiller, a UCSC spokesman, said he could not discuss whether the campus had any immediate plans to remove the tree sitters or whether the action in Berkeley would give UCSC leverage to do so. “There are myriad reasons that our circumstances are different than Berkeley,” he said, declining to elaborate. Three months have passed since Judge Paul Burdick issued a preliminary injunction against the UCSC demonstration, ordering the protesters out of the perches they ascended in November as a gripe about campus expansion plans, which include a new biomedical facility to be built on the tree sit site. Other than to say resources are limited, Shiller said he could not offer specific reasons why the campus hasn’t tried to physically remove the demonstrators or resume arresting their supporters. UCSC, which began its summer break this week, came under fire from faculty after the December holiday break, when police arrested a professor and several others who brought food and supplies to the demonstrators. http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_9620721?source=rss

17) Alameda County Superior Court Judge Richard Keller denied UC Berkeley’s request to oust the protesters, who took up residence in the Memorial Stadium oak grove nine months ago after the university announced it wanted to clear part of the grove for a sports training center. Keller said the university did not supply enough evidence to show an immediate threat of fire or health problems and scheduled a full hearing for Oct. 1, 10 days after the court hears a trio of lawsuits intended to stop the sports facility. The university asked for the court order Monday when police found several propane tanks in the tree houses. There have also been an increasing number of excrement and urine spills from the tree-sitters’ buckets, UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said. “We have a long tradition of honoring and protecting free speech on this campus, but we also have to protect the safety of the students, community and the people in the trees,” Mogulof said. “This is becoming a small village, and we’re seeing all the same sanitation and safety issues you see in any small village.” Doug Buckwald, an activist supporting the half-dozen or so tree-sitters, said he wasn’t surprised by the judge’s ruling because he said the tree-sitters have an excellent safety record. He also said he wasn’t surprised UC asked for the restraining order. “UC has been trying to do a number of things to stop the protest lately,” he said. “They didn’t like all the coverage we got at the Cal-Tennessee football game, and they really want this to be over with.” Another big crowd is expected at the grove Saturday, when the Cal football team plays Louisiana Tech. The university built a fence around the tree-sitters before the Tennessee game Sept. 1 in an effort to protect the protesters from rowdy football fans. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/13/BAPSS5049.DTL&tsp=1

18) Several endangered Santa Cruz Cypress trees burned in the Martin Fire. The species exists in just five locations in the world, all of which are on the Central Coast in Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties and the largest is in Bonny Doon. Although there were only about 3,000 Santa Cruz Cypresses left before the fire, the blaze might actually help the trees regenerate. http://www.mercurynews.com/centralcoast/ci_9605046?nclick_check=1

19) You already know Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) is wreaking havoc on the forests of the Sierra. It’s time to make sure everyone else knows, too. For three days, ForestEthics volunteers will hold SPI accountable for their destructive practices. We need everyone on board to save the Sierra. Can you help on June 25th, 26th, or 27th? Sign up for an outreach action now! SPI is the largest destroyer of the Sierra Nevada’s forests. National treasures, including the famous forests John Muir traveled, are rapidly being turned into clearcuts and tree farms. Since 1995, SPI has destroyed at least a quarter of a million acres. But even that staggering amount of land isn’t enough — SPI has plans to destroy at least a million acres in the next fifty years. Sign up for an outreach action now! Most people don’t realize the Sierra’s forests are under siege, but we know when people stand up against these kinds of destructive practices we can inspire concrete changes. Through actions like these, we have protected over 12 millions acres of forest. By talking to people for just a few hours, you can make a real difference for the Sierra. Help save the Sierra on June 25th, 26th, or 27th!
For the forests, Josh Buswell-Charkow Sierra Campaigner P.S. In just a few hours, you can make a difference for the Sierra. http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/281/t/467/signUp.jsp?key=3406

20) “Ten years ago I could never have imagined I’d be doing this,” says Greg Pal, 33, a former software executive, as he squints into the late afternoon Californian sun. “I mean, this is essentially agriculture, right? But the people I talk to – especially the ones coming out of business school – this is the one hot area everyone wants to get into.” He means bugs. To be more precise: the genetic alteration of bugs – very, very small ones – so that when they feed on agricultural waste such as woodchips or wheat straw, they do something extraordinary. They excrete crude oil. Unbelievably, this is not science fiction. Mr Pal holds up a small beaker of bug excretion that could, theoretically, be poured into the tank of the giant Lexus SUV next to us. Not that Mr Pal is willing to risk it just yet. He gives it a month before the first vehicle is filled up on what he calls “renewable petroleum”. After that, he grins, “it’s a brave new world”. Who would’ve thought! Though I still believe they should permanently fix the price of gas at just under $4 by creating a tax floor. People will become a lot more rational with their car usage – similar to what it’s like in many countries in Europe. http://golyndon.com/2008/06/14/scientists-find-bugs-that-eat-waste-and-excrete-petrol/

Idaho:

21) Woodsmoke from Mushroom Picker Camp No. 1 hung low over last year’s burn. It drifted among the blue tarps and makeshift wall tents packed in among the trees. Steam billowed from family-sized noodle pots, rising into the gray morning. Weary pickers stamped off the morning cold as they laid out their buckets and baskets and drying trays. Quiet groups slurped noodles or polished off breakfast tacos. Every two minutes, another rig crept out to Warm Lake Road, the passengers’ eyes straight ahead, hoping no one was watching where they headed. It was well into the second week of the biggest mushroom season the Boise National Forest has seen in a long time. Toyota trucks from Portland, Ore., beater minivans from the Tri-Cities and small sedans with California plates spread out each morning along the forest road system seeking the elusive morel carpet. “You’re supposed to be able to strike it rich out here,” said Jose Gutierrez, a young welder from Seattle who traveled with his father and five Mexican pickers from Centralia, Wash. Gutierrez hoped to take home a wad of cash for new motorcycle parts. “Mushrooms are gold,” he said. The only problem was that every mushroom picker from Missoula to Tacoma to Redding was en route to Cascade, Idaho. Several hundred of them—Cambodians and Laotians who have been picking mushrooms in the Northwest for two generations, and growing numbers of Guatemalan and Mexican migrant workers—had beat the Centralia crew. Last summer’s mega-fires around Cascade registered quickly on mushroom Web sites. Buyers called up hunters and told them Idaho was the place to be in June. Mushroom buyers across the Pacific Northwest, including Canadian outfits, follow the pickers from cache to cache each summer buying up morels, chanterelle, porcini and matsutake, a fungus that fetches an unbelievable price in Japan. Gutierrez told me his Washington coast group had a tip on Seeley Lake, Mont., near Missoula. They spent a few days there, but found slim pickings. A mushroom buyer at Seeley Lake told them to head to Cascade or McCall. When I drove up to Cascade last weekend, an odd assortment of tents and trucks lined Main Street. Mushroom buyers sit in large tents along the road with their scales and wads of cash and wait for the pickers to come into town every evening. They sell the fresh ‘shrooms before they begin to dry out and lose weight. Fred John works for a Canadian mushroom exporter. http://www.boiseweekly.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A314780

Missouri:

22) A couple months ago we began hearing the sounds of logging to the south of Diana’s Grove. Eventually we discovered the 880 acres bordering Diana’s Grove to the South and East are being clear cut. The impact of this logging is devastating to the wild life, habitat, and (needless to say) the beauty of the land. The green hills that border the Grove on two sides will be gone. This company is cutting to the bare earth and leaving nothing. One of the values we hope you share with us is a value for the environment, for the preservation of land, and making an ecological difference in the world. We have explored a variety of options and actions that might be taken including contacting various individuals, neighbors, agencies, and organizations. The land is being clear cut at a rapid rate. The logger plans to complete the 880 acres by late Fall of this year. We have developed a plan that will enable you to help with the preservation of this land if now is the time in your life for such action. Attached is our initial proposal of action and a map of Diana’s Grove and the land around us. If you are at all interested or know someone else who might be, please let us know. Also, you may forward this information to any individuals or lists you think might be able to help. Thank you! The Land Proposal page also has a link to Frequently Asked Questions which gives more detail on the financial and management side of how people can get involved. The short version – donations are welcome, and there will also be a land-share program where people can help them purchase the land. Land share participants will then have a 50-year+ lease on the land with some options for time share in a community cabin, and possibly the option to build a personal cabin on a small piece of the land as well. They’re trying to do this in a way that makes it beneficial for participants, and remains ecologically sensitive, protecting as much land as possible. The more people get involved via donation and purchase, the more land they can afford to save. Read the FAQ for the details. http://skywind8.livejournal.com/380122.html – http://www.dianasgrove.com/landproposal.html

Indiana:

23) The Indiana DNR Division of Forestry has released its Environmental Assessment of the timber sale program on Indiana’s State Forests. Entitled, Increased Emphasis on Management and Sustainability of Oak-Hickory Communities On the Indiana State Forest System, the DoF proposes to increase logging an additional 2000 acres a year, to double the amount of clear cutting, and to burn thousands of acres of forests. This is an alert from our friends at Indiana Forest Alliance, and we fully support this effort. They are suing the Indiana Division of Forestry over their failure to comply with the Indiana Environmental Protection Act. To try and get around the lawsuit, the Division is trying to slide by with a superficial environmental assessment (EA) for their plan to increase logging on the Indiana state forest system by up to 5 times the current level. The justification for this plan is that Oak-Hickory forests are declining, and must be cut down to save them. They claim that the increased logging will be beneficial for endangered and threatened species, even though they do not have the scientific studies to back up this claim. This is happening even thought the vast majority of the public in Indiana oppose the commercial logging of public lands. Please take a moment to send a comment to the Indiana State Forester. http://www.indianaforestalliance.org

Pennsylvania:

24) Ecology meets eternity today as a Pocono forest becomes sacred ground where human ashes will be buried for the ultimate “green” farewell. A company called EcoEternity will lease trees in the cemetery forest in cooperation with the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church. The land is part of the church’s Pocono Plateau Camp and Retreat Center off Route 191 north of Mountainhome. Clergy will gather at 11 a.m. to consecrate the forest with a ceremony adapted from a church dedication. Don’t look for marble tombstones or plastic flowers. Environmentally conscious clients can lease a tree and arrange for their cremains to be placed in a biodegradable urn and buried in the tree’s root system at the drip line. “People are more aware of nature, the environment. People are looking for alternatives (to traditional funerals),” said Axel Baudach, who pioneered the concept in Germany. Leasing a 30- to 40-year-old “Family Reunion Tree” or “Friendship Tree” starts at $4,500. The price is the same for one person or 15 family members interred under the same tree, making it affordable at $300 per person. Individuals who like the idea but don’t want to lease their own tree can become part of a “Community Tree” for $500 each. Cost varies based on tree species, age and location. The cost of cremation is not included. People can have their ashes buried along with those of cremated pets at no extra cost. This is the second EcoEternity forest in the U.S., and the first of three set to be designated in eastern Pennsylvania. The other two will be in suburban Philadelphia. http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080618/NEWS/806180317

Kentucky:

25) Those who know me know that I have been heavily involved over the past year in the fight to stop the University of Kentucky Department of Forestry from pursuing a research proposal that would essentially clear-cut 1000 acres of Robinson Forest. Most UK students, faculty and staff probably have no idea that the university owns a 15000 acre forest in the southeastern part of the state, much less what they plan to do with it. So after a semester of nothing happening and a strong-handed university president refusing to further discuss the issue, the time for the forest to be logged has finally come…This time last year, state environmental groups (most notably, Kentucky Heartwood) got word that UK was planning to cut approximately one-tenth of the forest’s main block for a research study of ’streamside management zones’. SMZs are essentially the buffer that foresters are supposed, but not required, to leave uncut when performing logging operations in proximity to bodies of water. In the case of the UK Forestry study, the plan calls for three variable SMZ sizes and three variable percentage cuts to investigate the varying degrees of disturbance and non-point source pollution in the streams as it relates to the nine possible scenarioso while the UK study shows some scientific merit as far as research design goes, the project seems to lack any sort of ethical regard for the forest or the politics of land management. if at all interested in getting involved with fighting against the Robinson Forest logging, contact the good folks at Kentucky Heartwood (kentuckyheartwood [at] gmail [dot] com) http://www.kentucky.com/254/story/433597.html – http://greenky.org/2008/06/14/logging-begins-in-uks-robinson-forest/

26) University of Kentucky’s “experimental” logging just another dishonest sham — Logging rules if they existed at all in Appalachia have been entirely inadequate. This “study” does not even attempt to include a no-cut buffer which is essential for most wildlife such as cavity nesting birds (In a real world this would not just be about aquatic life obviously). No loggers want to leave any trees to mature to late seral stage because they expect the next improvement in the rule to be a retention of old growth which they cannot stand for. The stream protection zone is the biologically obvious location for this if the intent was real and not a fraud. The ten “mature” trees pre-acre rule does not mean that these same trees will not be cut on the next entry when they are bigger and more valuable. Getting universities to front for this pro-industry version of science is standard PR strategy. Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo) is the go to public school for the logging industry in California, Berkley and others chip in. stumps@forestcouncil.org

Tennessee:

27) July 20th at 1pm United Mountain Defense, Mountain Justice and Three Rivers Earth First! ask you to march with us for Appalachia. STOP STRIP MINING TENNESSEE’S WATERSHEDS! This will be the day, this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning “My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!” Martin Luther King This is a call from the Mountains of Tennessee to those who understand the value of a living forest, clean water and a place to call home. This is a call for you to take a Sunday out of your life to help preserve some of the oldest watershedson Earth. This is a call not for any organization or group—but for the Mountains of Tennessee. March with us to defend the highland watersheds in which we all depend. March with us to defend some of the oldest mountains on Earth. March with us in solidarity against the watershed annihilation machine known as mountain top removal. Currently in Tennessee strip mine corporations are blowing up Tennessee highland watersheds for short term profit—meanwhile surrounding counties hold regional drought commissions meetings. National Coal has bought over 75,000 acres in the nearby Sundquist Wildlife Management Area and has the repeatedly stated intention on increasing its rate of blowing up mountains in this Watershed. Sundquist WMA is 84,000 acres of public access property offering public hunting opportunities for deer, turkey, grouse, and small game. The Sundquist is a Watershed for the New River. The New River flows into the Cumberland River which is Nashville’s drinking water source. Some geologists have suggested that this is the oldest watershed on Earth National Coal is intent on blowing up. National Coal is intent on blowing up a watershed that is one of Tennessee’s state capitals sources of drinking water. http://www.southeasternoutdoors.com/outdoors/hunting/wma/sundquist/sun
dquist-wma.html

USA:

28) There are now roughly 107 million acres of land designated as wilderness, up from the original 9.1 million set aside in 1964. Western states such as California, Alaska and Idaho have the most, while Connecticut, Rhode Island and four other states have no federally recognized wilderness areas as defined by the act. I am sure that many of us would agree that the Wilderness Act of 1964 has been a boon to the nation, if not the world. But why do we value wilderness? Nowhere was our attempt to understand our relationship to the land demonstrated as aptly as it was in 1962 when Rachel Carson published “Silent Spring,” which inaugurated the modern environmental movement. Thus, as Congress considered the Wilderness Act, Carson was documenting our treatment of the Earth far closer to home. This paradox is important. The Romantic sentiment prevailed. Thanks to the federal government, there would always be a mountain or a lake or a vista where we could not screw things up, where we might be assured of finding God, or ourselves, or some charismatic fauna. The effects of our thoughtlessness and rapine elsewhere would be mitigated by our non-presence in this magnificent wilderness. But as environmental historians remind us, that pristine place has always been difficult to find. And this is why wilderness is so profoundly important as an idea, because it reflects our own changing attitudes about nature; what it is for, and what it means. For instance, we no longer recognize the “hideous and desolate wilderness” that William Bradford noted as he decamped the Mayflower. Nor, however, is wilderness the romantic salve for industrial capitalism. To go into the wilderness today is unhappily to meet with any number of examples of culture: the planes overhead, the SUVs driven by Sierra Club members, the fast-food chains ringing its edges. Perhaps we need to start seeing wilderness differently, more holistically, as a part of our urban and suburban worlds. It makes me ask, along with environmental historian William Cronon, whether our drive to preserve wilderness areas has had one very detrimental effect: allowing us to despoil those places where we live, where our daily choices are most keenly felt. http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/commentary/hc-plcmajor.artjun15,0,3248519.story

29) With little fanfare, Congress has embarked on a push to protect as many as a dozen pristine areas this year in places ranging from the glacier-fed streams of the Wild Sky Wilderness here to West Virginia’s Monongahela National Forest. By the end of the year, conservation experts predict, this drive could place as much as 2 million acres of unspoiled land under federal control, a total that rivals the wilderness acreage set aside by Congress over the previous five years. A confluence of factors is driving this wilderness renaissance: the shift in Congress from Republican to Democratic control; environmentalists’ decision to take a more pragmatic approach in which they enlist local support for their proposals by making concessions to opposing interests; and some communities’ recognition that intact ecosystems can often offer a greater economic payoff than extractive industries. “It may not seem like it on most issues, but in this one arena Congress is getting things across the goal line,” said Mike Matz, executive director of the advocacy group Campaign for America’s Wilderness. “Nobody gets everything they want, but by coming together, talking with age-old adversaries and seeking common ground, wilderness protection is finding Main Street support and becoming motherhood-and-apple-pie.” Against the backdrop of Bush administration policies that have opened up millions of acres of public land to oil and gas exploration, logging and other commercial uses, environmental advocates and lawmakers argue that it makes sense to cordon off more of the country’s most unspoiled places. The administration has offered more than 40 million acres in the Rockies for oil and gas drilling and other “extractive” uses, according to the Wilderness Society, and it has done the same with 70 million acres in the Alaskan Arctic. In addition, the Forest Service estimates that development eliminates 6,000 acres of the open space every day. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25181901/

30) The most visible of the Bush administration moves in Colorado was the BLM’s decision last week to open 52,000 acres of the Roan Plateau to oil and gas leasing. The lease sale is scheduled for August. Among other actions are: 1) The issuance of a new BLM handbook on implementing the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, which exempts some drilling, logging and mining activities from environmental review. 2) A commitment by the BLM’s Utah office to issue six resource-management plans this summer that will set the stage to offer almost 9 million acres for oil and gas leases.3) Revisions of the BLM’s manual on threatened and endangered species that would remove state-designated species from protection on BLM land. Among the species losing protection in Colorado would be the kit fox and boreal toad. 4) New National Forest Management Act regulations, filed April 21, that would remove protecting species on national forest land as a management goal and loosen controls on logging. 5) A commitment by the BLM to issue proposed oil-shale- leasing rules this summer — even though Congress has prohibited the bureau’s spending money on issuing final rules. 6) An effort by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to issue by December its final rule on whether to protect the greater sage grouse — even though in a court settlement the agency had agreed to issue it in 2009. 7) The granting by the BLM of “categorical exemptions” created under the 2005 Energy Policy Act to spare drilling operations from environmental reviews in areas where drilling has already taken place. — In each of the cases, a succeeding presidential administration could reverse policies and rules — though it might take time. “Virtually nothing is undoable,” said Trent Orr, an attorney with Earthjustice, an advocacy law firm that has sued to block the Forest Service management rules. “But the more that the Bush administration does, the longer it will take to undo,” Orr said. http://www.denverpost.com/politics/ci_9589531