063OEC’s This Week in Trees

This week we have 34 news items from: Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, California, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maryland, Kentucky, West Virginia, North Carolina, England, Russia, Liberia, Uganda, Congo, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia.

Alaska:

1) This just in from Alaska, The pebble mine would be the largest open pit heap leach mine in North America. 2 miles square. It would be constructed in the heart of the wildest portion left in Alaska. The landscape is tundra/permafrost. It would sit beside Lake Iliamna (Alaska’s largest lake), stradling the headwaters of the Nushigak and Kvichak river systems, the center of Alaskas famous Bristol Bay Sockeye run. This run of salmon is one of the grandest wildlife specticals left on earth, as many as 50 million salmon surging home to spawn in a matter of weeks. It is the living heart of native and non-native culture in Southwest Alaska. The late Jay Hamond said that the threat posed by this mine was worse than the threat of drilling in ANWAR. In particular, the local residents in the affected area from Dillingham to Nondalton have spoken out against the mine in the first poll taken on the issue. More than 70% of local residents are opposed to the mine and Alaska Magazine has come out in opposition to the mine. Please visit http://www.renewableresourcescoalition.org to download the current resolution and to learn more about the poll and read the AK Magazine editorial. http://www.reformakmines.org/

British Columbia:

2) As many of you may know, the Great Bear Rainforest has had much support over the years here in Germany, especially from AKU activists. See the Naturschatz website: http://www.naturschatz.org/kanada/index.html In response to the soon-to-be-announced news on the GBR, there is an enquiry on the AKU listserve which I have translated (and copy below with permission). I’m sure that AKU activists would much appreciate comment from their BC colleagues. –Karen Wonders Göttingen, Germany: “What do you think of this agreement, those of you who who have followed the process closely? Which environmental groups have shouted “Hurray” and why does the whole forest industry shout “hurray” in unison? Will the use of the unprotected two thirds (why so much?) really be ecologically sustainable (is this possible at all?)? Is the cut allowance really drastically reduced? Will the environmental groups and First Nations be further involved in the planning process for the land use plans in the areas to which the concession refers? Is this really a revolutionary deal or simply the resumption of “business as usual,” that the industry has been wishing for so long? What is needed now is an immediate reaction from our side.”

3) With the aid of greenwashing by the large mainstream and even “radical” environmental groups, 2/3 of Canada’s ancient temperate rainforests are to be heavily industrially logged in return for vague protections in 1/3 of this planetary ecosystem treasure trove. Ecological Internet’s network has campaigned against this deal in the past http://forests.org/action/alert.asp?id=greatbear There are no assurances these protection levels are adequate for regional ecosystem sustainability, that the logging can be done in a manner that maintains the full range of species, or that later the protected forests will not come under logging pressures. This new compromise collaborationism with industrial logging by the likes of Greenpeace and the Rainforest Action Network in general is a damn shame. Shockingly, these sorts of ancient forest giveaways are being heralded as models for future agreements in Canada’s boreal forests and the Amazon by these “ancient forest protectors” as well as Forest Unethics, the Sierra Chumps and of course WWF – the biggest panderer for “environmentally sustainable” industrial logging of ancient forests. This feel good do nothing conservation ethic threatens the Earth’s sustainability. The ecological wholeness of large ancient old growth forests are irreparably destroyed by commercial logging. Ecological Internet will not rest until certified industrial logging of ancient forests – much less this deal’s promises of logging as “ecosystem management” – is shown to be the ecological fraud it is. We will soon be
further pursuing a campaign in this regard – aggressively targeting environmental organizations and foundations that participate in this obscene abuse of the public’s and their member’s trust. http://forests.org/

4) The new map contains significant changes for the Northern Interior and Southern Interior Forest Regions. The new BECdb contains significant changes throughout the province, particularly for non-forested wetlands and new forested site series for southeastern BC. BEC mapping and BEC Codes are important sources of information for a variety of forestry operations purposes and are critical to the development of strategic level plans, particularly with respect to the specification of objectives for the retention of old seral forests. They are also used in many other natural resource management applications such as wildlife habitat interpretations and protected areas planning. The updated mapping and codes represent a significant improvement over previously available information for these purposes. If you have any questions about the development of the new mapping please contact me. Technical details are attached below. sincerely Marvin Eng, Landscape Ecologist Research Branch, British Columbia Forest Service. This new mapping is available to the general public, in digital form, on our ftp site at: ftp.for.gov.bc.ca anonymous login cd hre/external/!publish/becmaps The map is also available on the Land and Resource Data Warehouse (LRDW) as: WHSE_FOREST_VEGETATION.RES_BIOGEOCLIMATIC along with the associated layer WHSE_FOREST_VEGETATION.BEC_BIOGEOCLIMATIC_SCALE_SP Metadata is available using the LRDW Land Information BC Discovery Service. The updated Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification Codes and Names can be found at: http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hre/becweb/standards-becdb.htm
There have been numerous changes to the labeling, line work of the BEC map. Please consult http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hre/becweb/subsite-map/provdigital-01.htm for details Information about the BEC mapping and the Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification can be found at: http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hre/becweb/

5) Over the past three decades, several plans have emerged to develop energy reserves in the Canadian Flathead, a river drainage that crosses the border to form Glacier’s western boundary. Downstream residents – and not a few Canadians – have fought those proposals, though, arguing coal and coalbed methane projects could taint international waterways and impact both fish and wildlife. They have pushed to expand Waterton westward into the Flathead, as well as for greater protections throughout the Canadian river drainage. In support of their position, a study by a former B.C. Ministry of Finance manager concluded the value of the park expansion “easily exceeds any economic loss from ending logging and trophy hunting in the area,” adding that “the economic benefits associated with the park expansion far outweigh the economic costs.” But Conservative M.P. Abbott, who recently won the race to represent southeastern British Columbia, has opposed the park expansion, saying it’s time to “put this idea on the shelf, or in whatever suitable repository is available.” And Abbott has found newfound political purchase in Ottawa, where his Conservative colleagues recently wrested control from the Liberal Party, which has ruled for the past 13 years. At the north end of the Canadian Flathead sits a sprawling expanse of federal land, known as the Dominion Coal Blocks. The province has indicated strong interest in developing those lands for coal and coalbed methane. And so he and other conservationists find themselves uncomfortably atop a two-pronged dilemma: The feasibility study may well be shelved, and the Dominion Coal Blocks may be handed over for energy development. In the words of Canadian pollster Darrell Bricker, Harper has “a government on training wheels.” “They’re vulnerable,” Thomas agreed. “They’re very fragile. They certainly have no mandate.” In fact, more than 60 percent of votes cast in the Jan. 23 election were cast for political parties other than the Conservatives, a reality he says will push Harper toward the center. http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2006/02/02/news/mtregional/news05.txt

Washington:

6) Citizens from civic, environmental, business, neighborhood and community groups are joining with the University of Washington to create a 100-year plan for Seattle’s open spaces. Our collaborative vision will reach from the city limits to the downtown core, creating a comprehensive network of parks, civic spaces, streets, trails, shorelines, and urban forests that will bind neighborhoods to one another, create ecological conduits from the city’s ridgelines to its shorelines, and ensure a wealth of green spaces for all citizens to enjoy. Between November 2005 and March 2006, citizens are invited to a series of lectures that will address the design, sustainability, and equity of urban open spaces, and to participate in a 2-day participatory planning and design charrette (workshop). Each charrette team, led by professionals and composed of planners, designers, developers, artists, engineers, ecologists, citizens and open space advocates, will focus on a different part of the city to envision livable, healthy urban watersheds and neighborhoods for the next century. The resulting charrette teams’ plans will be coalesced, refined and presented to our partners and supporters in City of Seattle agencies (Parks, SDOT, DPD, SPU, DON and OSE), the Seattle City Council, the Mayor’s office, and the public. http://open2100.org/

Oregon:

7) “I think it’s absolutely criminal,” said Eric Hill, the University Honors College writing instructor. “It’s unethical and basically ridiculous.” The research, headed by OSU graduate student Dan Donato, was published Jan. 20 in Science, a top national scientific journal. Donato’s research suggests that forests, once affected by forest fire, be left alone. “Postfire logging can be counterproductive to the goals of forest regeneration and fuel reduction,” the study said. The letter asking for the delay highlights a potential failure of the peer review process and criticizes the scope of the research. Science, defending its selection process, went ahead with publication. “All institutes often have these kinds of disagreements,” said Luanne Lawrence, OSU vice president of university advancement. “The dean (of forestry) is addressing some of the cultural issues,” she said. In response to the panel of professors and professionals, Hal Salwasser, dean of the OSU College of Forestry, released a letter expressing regret over the incident and how it was immediately handled. For some on campus, that isn’t enough. “I appreciate his apology but it should’ve been thoroughly looked into before it was published,” said Kristin Price, graduate student in education. “It’s kind of been hushed up. As a student I don’t feel we’re getting the whole story.” Meanwhile, the political issues associated with the flap are continuing to play out. The Oregonian reported this week that John Sessions, a forest engineering professor and one of the leading critics of Donato’s research, plans to continue to push the issue. But Science Editor in Chief Donald Kennedy told the paper that Sessions — who has written reports used by the Bush administration to back plans to log areas hit by the 2002 Biscuit fire in southwest Oregon — may be the one affected by politics. http://barometer.orst.edu/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/02/03/43e3133a76d27

8) The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has come up with five alternatives to revise resource management plans guiding its six districts in Western Oregon, including the Medford District. The alternatives, from no action to various options, are contained in a 200-page planning document being sent out this week for public review as part of a revision required by a 2003 legal settlement between Uncle Sam and the Portland-based American Forest Resource Council. The deadline for commenting is March 17. The council, which represents about 100 forest product manufacturers and forestland owners, sued largely because the federal government had never met the timber volume of 1 billion board feet from federal forests promised in the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan. But Joseph Vaile, campaign director for the Ashland-based Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center, disagreed. He describes the court settlement as a “sweetheart deal” between the timber industry and the Bush administration. “This is being driven by political contributions from the timber industry to try to get more ancient forestlands on the chopping block,” he said. He is worried that environmental laws passed since 1937, including the Endangered Species Act, could be subverted by the agency as a result of the revisions. “With these planning criteria, the BLM seems to be interpreting its mission as one to log at all costs,” he said. “Not only does it have timber as most dominant and highest use of land, it says do it at all costs.” If approved, some of the alternatives could leave local BLM managers with no option but to log the remaining biggest and oldest trees, he said. “We’re trying to get them to go in another direction,” he said. “We believe we should be protecting the older forests, and thinning the smaller trees near rural communities for fuels reduction and fire safety.” http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2006/0202/local/stories/09local.htm

California:

9) Dams, Diversions, Mining and Logging continue to decimate fishery
Scientists and Conservationists were shocked last week to find out that the Salmon River fall Chinook run had dipped even lower than the previous year’s record low. Only an estimated 320 fall Chinook returned to the Salmon River according to the California Dept. of Fish and Game (CDFG). CDFG has counts for spawning fall Chinook that go back 27 years to 1978. A large tributary to the Klamath, the Salmon River had an all time low in 2004 with a run of 626 fall Chinook. Last fall’s run was low in most of the Klamath’s tributaries. Regulators and fishing communities alike worry that the last wild runs left in the Klamath basin are slowly going extinct. The Karuk Tribe’s ancestral homeland includes much of the Salmon River, which is in the middle of the Klamath Basin, below the Klamath dams. The Karuk is the second largest Tribe in California with over 3,400 members. Since time immemorial the Tribe has lived from the bounty of the river, but not any more. Last year Tribal fishermen caught a mere 200 fall Chinook. Recent reports indicate that loss of the fishery and other traditional foods are directly linked to the high rates of heart disease and diabetes among Tribal members. Regulators are still crunching numbers to see if the Klamath will meet the 35,000 fish natural spawning minimum set by the Magnuson Act. The size of the Klamath fall Chinook run effects future salmon fishing regulations and commercial quotas. The wild Klamath run, once the third largest on the west coast. For more information on this salmon run check out http://srrc.org/

10) A new multimillion-dollar endowment for Humboldt State University will seed redwood forest research for years to come, beginning with tree-top biology professor Stephen Sillett as its chair. The Kenneth L. Fisher Chair in Redwood Forest Ecology was announced at HSU Friday, establishing a $3.6 million investment fund that will yield $90,000 a year for research. The money will fund an HSU professor’s release from half his or her teaching schedule, and support graduate students and equipment. Sillett’s term as chair will last at least two years. His work has focused on organisms living in the upper canopy of redwood forests, and he has recently been working to see if second-growth forests can be managed to speed their way to taking on old-growth characteristics. That work was most recently the topic of a major story in The New Yorker. Kenneth Fisher is the founder and CEO of Fisher Investments, a $28 billion global money management firm based in Woodside. Fisher went to HSU in the 1960s to study redwood forestry, but ended up an economics major. But he kept records of regional logging history and collected and catalogued artifacts from excavating 35 abandoned lumber mill sites. ”All of that time it was backward-looking from a romantic interest in the way 19th century, steam-era redwood lumbering was done,” Fisher said in a statement. The endowment will “create a forward motion … a small step to creating a transformation in the way we understand trees and forests.” Fisher also expressed faith in Sillett as the first chair. Sillett is currently looking into how huge redwoods whose tops are dying along the Avenue of the Giants might be restored. ”I think I can fix it,” Sillett said. “It would involve pretty hard-core re-engineering of water courses … and years of effort to gather data.” HSU President Rollin Richmond said the gift will give HSU students unprecedented opportunities to participate in exploring redwood ecology. ”We also appreciate what it represents,” Richmond said, “the confidence of one of Humboldt’s most successful alumni in the institution’s capacity for cutting-edge research.” http://www.times-standard.com/local/ci_3476331

New Hampshire:

11) “I got (the American Tree Farm System’s) Northeast tree farmer of the year in 1997,” Thomson recalled last week, “right before we got hit with the ice storm.” That would be The Ice Storm, the one that glazed trees and roads and utility lines throughout northern New England and southern Quebec in January 1998, knocking out power for days and ruining for years great swaths of forest — including nearly a third of the 2,800 acres that Thomson and his wife, Sheila, maintain around Orford and in Ryegate, Vt. “The biggest challenge we’ve had has been the ice storm,” Thomson said. “We lost about 900 acres, every white birch and 50 percent of the yellow birch. Ever since, we have tried to deal with the hand we were dealt.” Which is pretty much what Thomson has been doing since 1956 when, at age 11, he joined his two older brothers in buying a woodlot of 125 acres on Strawberry Hill, east of Orford. “His whole life is about trees,” said Jeff Bargar, awards coordinator for the Nebraska-based Arbor Day Foundation, in a telephone interview. “It’s been a lifetime for him, not just the last couple of years.” Thomson is looking forward to more than just a few years more of working in the woods, but he’s also realistic. Consider a current effort to mix some spruce and fir into a patch of deciduous forest on the slopes of Mount Cube. “I won’t be cutting it, but maybe my grandson will be,” Thomson said. “It’s a long process to grow trees. You’re thinking and planning and managing a forest you will never see the end result of.” http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2006/02/05/thomson_sees_the_trees_and_the_forest/

Massachusetts:

12) UPTON — Local activists and state legislators are hoping to save 101 acres of privately owned land tucked within the Upton State Forest from being logged and developed. The Friends of the Upton State Forest, along with state Rep. George Peterson, R-Grafton, and state Sen. Ed Augustus, D-Worcester, are looking into buying the land before a developer does, although they’re not sure if the land is even for sale. The private land is completely surrounded by the 2,600-acre state forest, but is potentially developable because it’s located on both the north and south sides of Southborough Road. The road, which cuts through the northern part of the forest from Hopkinton to Upton, ends at Westboro Road. Fifteen acres of the private property stretch into Hopkinton. According to the Upton and Hopkinton assessors’ offices, the hilly plot is owned by Clifton Brown Realty Trust and has a total assessed value of $1.1 million. The Swamp Trail, a popular way for equestrians, bicyclists and hikers, cuts through the land in Upton. “People have been walking across that property and using that property thinking it’s state land,” said Ellen Arnold, creator of the activist group Friends of the Upton State Forest. “All of a sudden, it would come as a huge shock if there were bulldozers going through there and houses going there.” Arnold said she discovered the private property while researching the forest’s history several months ago. The former owner, H. Clifton Brown, lived in Hawaii and had sold off land in the 1980s, before his death. Recently, Arnold learned the trust’s controller has contacted a logging company about clearing 20 acres of the property. Through donations from several local organizations and land activist groups, the Friends have been able to pay for a private assessment of the land, which they plan to use as a starting point for negotiations with the owner. Peterson said he has been in contact with the Department of Conservation and Recreation and hopes the state will be able to purchase the land, but isn’t sure where the money would come from. http://www.milforddailynews.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=85528&format=&page=2

Maryland:

13) For years I have been explaining to the students in my classes that Maryland’s Eastern Shore has no old-growth forests left, whatsoever; that this land the early explorers called Arcadia because of its numerous stately trees has been completely altered, and not a single original forest remains. Last semester, however, I heard rumors that a twenty-acre remnant of old-growth forest remained. So one spring morning when I awoke to a “true blue dream of a sky,” I knew right away that this was the day I should visit the “leaping greenly spirit of trees.” The forest was more than sixty miles away, and detailed directions were necessary to find it. Even before the car stopped on the isolated dirt road, a sweet, rich, earthy smell filled my senses. I used to think that particular odor was the smell of the mountains, but here I was, still on flat land. Did my own ground once smell like that too–before the grandfather trees were gone, in a time when the trees’ breath merged with that of the fungi and the birds and the insects? When we discuss what we miss about forests after they have been cut, we usually mention the sight or the shade or the species; but now I was breathing deeply of a forest gift I had forgotten: the air! Americans largely ignore this dimension of the forest’s allure, but the Japanese recognize it and have a name for it: shinrin-yoku–wood-air bathing. Japanese researchers have discovered that when diabetic patients walk through the forest, their blood sugar drops to healthier levels. Entire symposiums have been held on the benefits of wood-air bathing and walking. Researchers working in the Sierra Nevada of California found 120 chemical compounds in the mountain forest air–but they could identify only 70 of them! We are literally breathing things we don’t understand. And when we lose our forests, we don’t know what we are losing. Some of the compounds in the air come from the bacteria and the fungi in the soil, but most are given off by the trees. Trees release volatile organic compounds from little pockets between their leaf cells. It is not inconceivable that the trees may be altering our perceptions with their chemicals. The volatile molecules evaporate into the air and come into contact with the sensory neurons in our nasal passageways. The olfactory nerves send messages directly to the limbic system in our brains, which deals with instinctive emotions such as sex, memory, and aggression. The molecules from the trees don’t just go up our noses, however; they are also part of the air that goes into our lungs, and once in our lungs, some of the molecules can enter our bloodstreams. So when we walk through the forest inhaling that sweet air, the wood-air, the forest actually becomes part of our bodies. –from Teaching the Trees, Lessons from the Forest; by Joan Maloof, University of Georgia Press.

Kentucky:

14) MOREHEAD – The ice storm that shut down Lexington three years ago this month also twisted and broke trees across 30,000 acres in Bath and Rowan counties. Two thirds of the damage was in the Daniel Boone National Forest, which yesterday announced plans to cut trees on nearly 13,000 acres. The controversial project — the largest ever in the Boone — could be delayed for at least a few more months by an administrative appeal by the environmental group Kentucky Heartwood. Environmentalists also have hinted at staging a tree sit-in when the chain saws arrive. The Forest Service says the weakened but still standing trees need to be removed because they could invite disease or insects. There also are plans to spray herbicides on invasive species that have spread into the area since the storm, and to clear tree-clogged ponds that are water sources for endangered Indiana bats and other species. Environmentalists say that the ice storm was a natural act and that restoring the forest should be left to nature. “The public does not support such massive projects that could kill entire creek beds, take years to implement and cost millions of dollars,” Nick Neises, a Heartwood coordinator who lives in Morehead, said yesterday. George Bain, deputy supervisor of the Daniel Boone, said the Forest Service had heard from people who felt like Neises, and also from those who wanted the agency to hurry up and start cutting trees. The damaged area has been the subject of a congressional hearing about speeding up such decisions on federal land. Bids will be sought for commercial timber sales on 4,845 acres. On an additional 8,000 acres, trees will be simply cut and left on the ground. Cutting the trees will allow younger trees a chance to grow without competition from the damaged ones, Bain said. http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/local/13780281.htm

15) The mixed mesophytic forest of the Cumberland Plateau was a great wonder and a great wealth before it was almost entirely cut down in the first half of the last century. Its regrowth could become a great wonder and a great wealth again; it could become the basis of a great regional economy-but only if it is properly cared for. In a little more than two centuries—a little more than three lifetimes such as mine—we have sold cheaply or squandered or given away or merely lost much of the original wealth and health of our land. It is a history too largely told in the statistics of soil erosion, increasing pollution, waste and degradation of forests, desecration of streams, urban sprawl, impoverishment and miseducation of people, misuse of money, and, finally, the entire and permanent destruction of whole landscapes. The natural resources of permanent value to the so-called coalfields of Eastern Kentucky are the topsoils and the forests and the streams. These are valuable, not, like coal, on the condition of their destruction, but on the opposite condition: that they should be properly cared for. And so we need, right now, to start thinking better than we ever have before about topsoils and forests and streams. We must think about all three at once, for it is a violation of their nature to think about any one of them alone. The process of soil formation is so slow relative to the human lifespan that it seems unrealistic to consider soil a renewable resource. By one estimate it takes 200 to 1,000 years to regenerate an inch of lost topsoil. And so on any still-intact slope of Eastern Kentucky, we have two intricately living and interdependent natural communities: that of the forest and that of the topsoil beneath the forest. A forest ecosystem, respected and preserved as such, can be used generation after generation without diminishment or it can be regarded merely as an economic bonanza, cut down, and used up. Thus, and not until now, it is possible to say that the people of the watersheds may themselves be a permanent economic resource, but only and precisely to the extent that they take good care of what they have. If Kentuckians, upstream and down, ever fulfill their responsibilities to the precious things they have been given—the forests, the soils, and the streams—they will do so because they will have accepted a truth that they are going to find hard: the forests, the soils, and the streams are worth far more than the coal for which they are now being destroyed. http://www.newsoutherner.com/Missing_Mountains.htm

West Virginia:

16) The U.S. Forest Service is in the final stages of updating its plan to manage West Virginia’s greatest preserve, Monongahela National Forest. The “Mon” is more than 900,000 acres stretching across 10 counties from the Maryland border south to Richwood and near White Sulphur Springs. It stands within a day’s drive of a third of the nation’s population. Since the national forest was designated in 1911, the Forest Service has gradually added special wilderness areas shielded from vehicles. Today, the forest includes five such areas — Cranberry Glades, Otter Creek, Dolly Sods, Laurel Fork North and Laurel Fork South. Of four alternative plans now before the Forest Service, we think that Alternative 3 offers the best balance. It would add 15 more wilderness areas, or about 140,000 acres. Alternative 2, favored earlier by the Forest Service, would add only 27,700 more acres of wilderness. Logging, road building, motorized vehicles and mountain biking are allowed in national forests, but not in wilderness areas. Hunting, fishing, hiking and horseback riding are allowed. The other alternatives would do too little to protect wilderness areas. The forest management plan guides people in balancing the needs of hikers and kayakers with those of mining and timber. It balances the pressure of traffic, both for industry and recreation with the needs of the plants, fish and other wildlife that coexist in those fragile areas. The West Virginia Wilderness Coalition, an alliance of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society, has found even more public support for the forest’s role in conservation than in 1986, the last time the forest management plan was updated. The final plan is expected in April. The original Wilderness Act of 1964 refers to places where “the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man and where man himself is a visitor.”Today, urban zones sprawl relentlessly across the countryside, paving over arable farmland and eliminating forever million-year-old ecosystems. The urge to conserve has never been more necessary. West Virginia’s future depends greatly on serving as a lovely, green, mountain retreat for the mushrooming population of the eastern seaboard. Protecting undamaged nature spots will enhance that role. http://sundaygazettemail.com/section/Editorials/2006020312

North Carolina:

17) North Carolina’s forestry industry, including lumber and solid wood products, pulp and paper, and wood furniture, is the state’s second largest manufacturing industry. It is also Craven County’s second largest industry. Statewide, it accounts for about 118,000 direct jobs and a $3.8 billion annual payroll. The total economic benefit of the industry has been calculated at $29.7 billion, representing 312,000 jobs. Many of those jobs are held by area residents who receive at least part of their income from trees. They work either directly with companies like Weyerhaeuser and Craven Wood Products, for the state or federal forest service, directly in the logging industries like Timber Harvesters, Canal Wood or Superior Timber, or in millwork from the harvested trees like Cove City companies Warmack Lumber Company, Wood Preserving and World Wood. But, a ride down many Craven County roads like U.S. 70 where loggers clear land for new housing developments can cause some to wonder how much longer the trees can last. since 1990 about 1.5 million acres of North Carolina’s forestland has disappeared, converted to mostly roads, businesses and residences for growing metropolitan areas. And, the size of the forest timber stands in the N.C. Coastal Plain decreased, with saplings less than five inches in diameter accounting for 50 percent of the forest acres in the northern and 33 percent in the southern Coastal Plain. http://www.newbernsj.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=26123&Section=Loc
al

England:

18) Sick of the fact that a popular area of forestry in South Wales was being tarnished by its burgeoning reputation as a dogging hotspot, one group of angry residents decided to exact their own distinctive brand of revenge. The protesters struck around 5.30pm last Friday in their attempt to stop the area being used for dogging, which involves strangers meeting up in public places to watch or take part in sex. It is believed the cars were trapped until 2am. It was one activity locals weren’t prepared to tolerate at one of their area’s most beautiful locations. Waiting until nightfall to put their plan into action, they stealthily approached the layby on Cwmcadlan Road, near Merthyr Tydfil, where the occupants of four vehicles were believed to be involved in the practice. Armed with chainsaws, the protesters cut down two 30ft trees, and used them to block the exits to the road, linking Penderyn and Cwmtaff, trapping the cars, and their owners, in the area. And while the male doggers frantically tried to move the trees, and free their cars, they were unable to escape before police were called. Council teams were sent to remove the trees. “It’s a meeting place for men day and night. You never see women up there. I’m not a prude and I’m not homophobic, but it’s just wrong. “I’ve gone up to cars and asked them what they are doing there – and they’re gone like a shot!” http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_objectid=16655140&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=
angry-locals-halt-intruders–sex-in-cars-name_page.html#story_continue

19) In a joint initiative with the Marston Vale Trust (MVT), Center Parcs is to support the creation of a new, publicly-accessible woodland within the Forest of Marston Vale in Bedfordshire. The holiday village group will fund a full ecological survey of the land which MVT is considering purchasing and, if it’s suitable, will then undertake all the planting – of around 20,000 trees. If the land isn’t suitable, the forest will instead be built on land MVT already owns. Center Parcs is currently awaiting a decision on its plan to open a new Forest Holiday Village at Warren Wood, on the Duke of Bedford’s estate. http://www.leisureopportunities.co.uk/newsdetail.cfm?codeID=13758

Russia:

20) “Knowing the origin of wood is important for UPM. The origin of wood tracing system is a practical tool which is used ensure that the wood purchased in Russia is sustainable, legal and not from protected forest
areas,” says Juhani Hongisto, UPM’s Chief Forester responsible for wood sourcing in Russia. UPM began logging site checks in Russia in 1998 and 133 logging sites were checked that year. The volume of wood procured in Russia has increased since then and the number of supplier audits has risen correspondingly. Audit information from previous years can be found on UPM’s internet site. Supplier audits are carried out according to an agreed format by UPM staff responsible for wood procurement. The logging site visit is most often carried out together with the supplier and the local forest authorities. “We openly discuss UPM’s requirements when we make the supply agreement and also when we carry out the audit. The supplier audits are a good method for giving feedback and strengthening cooperation”, confirms Mr Hongisto. http://www.kauppalehti.fi/4/i/eng/releases/press_release.jsp?selected=hex&oid=20060201/11388920666110&lang=
EN

Liberia:

21) The Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) Monday launched a new report entitled: “Changing Faces” challenging the new government to implement reforms in the forest sector in order to demonstrate that it is different from its predecessor, the transitional government both in character and vision. Moreover, SDI wants the government to implement substantive reforms in the natural resource sector to ensure that natural resource extraction is sustainable and equitable demonstrating a commitment to natural resource management, which benefits all Liberians. At the same time, the group called on the international community to insist on the full implementation of the Governance and Economic Management Assistance Program (GEMAP) by the government of Liberia as a key measure for achieving economic recovery and curbing corruption in the public sector especially in the extractive industries. SDI among other things called on the international community to provide adequate financial, technical and other resources to the government of Liberia to implement reforms in the natural resource sector to guarantee good governance of the country’s resources, which are needed for the country’s long-term economic and sustainable development. http://allafrica.com/stories/200602020561.html

Uganda:

22) Our excitement grew as the ground actually shook on our approach to Murchison Falls, where the river hurls itself through a narrow 20-foot crevice before plunging nearly 150 feet in one breathtaking leap. The next day we viewed game as we took a 10-mile-long boat excursion upstream, coming as close as we dared to the falls from below. This is a remote corner of Africa near the border of the Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is where part of the movie “The African Queen” was filmed. Murchison Falls National Park is the largest of Uganda’s national parks and has the highest concentration of wildlife along the entire Nile. The next leg of our safari stretched south along 200 miles of reasonably good but often bumpy roads to Kibale Forest National Park. This enchanting tropical forest is almost completely bordered by tea plantations, and is home to 12 species of primates, the highest density in the world. Although the altitude was about 5,000 feet, walking was not difficult as we hiked with our excellent local guide for several miles along clear paths in the shadows of the quite forest. The silence was broken by the sudden and ear-splitting calls of a nearby troop of chimpanzees, as they went crashing and hooting through the ancient forest during their morning search for food and companions. The sounds seemed to come from all around us in the giant trees. In addition to chimps, we also saw olive baboons, vervet monkeys, gray-cheeked mangabeys, red colobus, red-tailed monkey and black-and-white colobus. Seventy miles or so south is Queen Elizabeth National Park, the second-largest of Uganda’s national parks. It is classified as an Important Bird Area by UNESCO with 568 of Uganda’s 1,017 species of birds — more than a quarter of Africa’s bird species and more than any other park in Africa. Traveling even farther south (about 20 miles from the Rwanda border), we arrived at Gorilla Forest Camp, an intimate luxury camp exclusively situated inside the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. The eco-sensitive camp is designed to have as little impact as possible on the surrounding forest. This is true African jungle and the giant trees are festooned with creepers, orchids, mosses and incredibly thorny vines. It is both mysterious and awesome. While more than 120 species of mammals make their home here, Bwindi’s greatest claim to fame is that it is sanctuary to about half the world’s population of mountain gorillas. This is the world’s most endangered ape and it is found only in small areas of this protected mountain range that overlaps parts of southwest Uganda, northwest Rwanda and eastern Congo. http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/travel/article/0,1426,MCA_532_4439331,00.html

23) Thousands of Ugandans are up in arms with either the forestry or national parks authorities over illegal occupation of protected areas. The conflicts mainly have the National Forestry Authority (NFA) and the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) against neighbouring communities. Most prominent conflicts of this nature include the one in South Busoga Forest Reserve and that in the Elgon sub-region districts of Manafwa, Mbale, Sironko and Kapchorwa. In the Elgon sub-region, hundreds of people were mainly affected by the degazzetting of the Mt Elgon Forest Reserve into a national park in 1993. Whilst in the case of other forest reserves like that of South Busoga, often times the NFA has blamed the mess on its predecessor the Forestry Department. Officials in the corruption laden forestry department either illegally sold off government land or neglected it making it easy for neighbouring communities to reoccupy. A recent exercise that saw both the ‘stinging’ UWA and NFA reopen the boundaries of their respective protected areas made the conflicts pronounced as it dawned on many people that what they thought was their land actually did not belong to them. In the Elgon sub-region, the high population density further complicates the matter as the effect of land shortage is easily felt. NFA and UWA argue that the recent boundary reopening exercises of all the protected areas were based on records from the Lands and Survey department. But the issue has since become political seeing President Yoweri Museveni issuing a directive ordering a cessation to all forms of evictions across the country. While campaigning in Busoga region on January 19, Museveni ordered the Minister of Lands, Water and Environment, Mr Kahinda Otafiire, to immediately stop the eviction of the over 180,000 forest and wetland encroachers countrywide, until the government has met all the stakeholders. Since the President’s pronouncement, press reports have showed that encroachers have descended on the reserves destroying trees, this information is backed by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics. http://www.monitor.co.ug/news/reg02061.php

Congo:

24) Marino Abule and his fellow timber dealers in Hanga-Kidwera village in Masindi can now freely access timber from Budongo Forest Reserve. After giving up illegal logging, the forest authorities have rewarded them with part of the forest from which to fell trees. This new move is destined to preserve some part of the forest. So in allowing communities access timber and charcoal from part of the forest reserve, in return they (communities) have turned into ‘eagle-eyed watchers’ over the forest reserve. The communities have also been provided with tree seedlings to plant outside the forest reserve to reduce pressure on the forest. They have also been availed with an income generating activity — bee-rearing, to improve their welfare. The move has changed the legacy left by colonialists, where the poor communities in the vicinity of the protected areas were expected “not to touch” the hardwood trees in Budongo. Conservationists are now organising illegal loggers and encroachers into committees that can manage part of the forest together with the authorities. “We do not sneak into the forest at night anymore and this has helped us to avoid the being harassed which used to be the case in the event of arrest,” says Abule, who heads the reformers under North Budongo Forest Community Association. Under this new arrangement, some of the most notorious illegal loggers like Epraim Kyoma, who had mastered all the routes and markets in Masindi and Kampala for the illegal timber, have confessed and reformed. “It is now difficult to deal in illegal timber because we can trace it even when it is hidden under someone’s bed as we did recently,” says Abule. According to a forestry report, the concept of collaborative forest management under which communities are watching over the forest to curb the illegal activities, could relieve government authorities of the burden of monitoring alone. “We have given them 10 hardwood trees to fell and sell timber as start up capital,” says Michael Ojja of the National Forestry Authority (NFA). While confiscating chain power saws was the order of the day in Budongo, Abule and his group got help from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations who donated a sawmill that resembles a modified chain power saw. This is part of their start up capital. They are expected to pay for the trees they fell once their quota of 10 trees is exhausted. According to Ojja, it took them so long to get into agreement with the locals partly because there was bad-blood and mutual suspicion. http://allafrica.com/stories/200602060852.html

India:

25) The Judges wanted to know what action had been taken against the culprits, and what action had been taken to secure the trees that had been felled and protect them. The Judges also directed the Dindigul District Collector to file an independent report on what action he had taken to curb smuggling of trees. The petitioner alleged that felling and smuggling of trees were being done with the help and connivance of politicians. He also prayed for setting up of a committee of experts to probe the matter. The Advocate General had then said a special committee had been appointed to inquire into the charges of tree smuggling from Sirumalai. Forest officials had filed cases against those involved in smuggling timber and rose trees. Therefore, there was no need to set up a separate committee with an expert from Dehradun Forest Research Institute, it was contended. http://www.chennaionline.com/colnews/newsitem.asp?NEWSID=%7B253A19D9-C879-4E71-86B2-2C86939E685E%7D&CATEGO
RYNAME=Tamil+Nadu

26) LUCKNOW: Waking up from its slumber the UP forest department on Sunday prosecuted UP public works department (UPPWD) for illegally cutting down more than fifty green trees. These mainly included Sheesham, Jungle Jalebi, Cassia Siiamea, Australian Babool, Subabool among others. According to the range officer, Vikas Asthana, the job was very smartly done in the 2 kilometre range between government polytechnic crossing and Gomtinagar flyover toward Hazratganj. The department had however taken a permission for chopping over 400 trees in the name of the development work. The planks of wood have been confiscated by the forest department. Three persons were also arrested by the range officer in this connection. Felling of teak trees is prohibited under Indian Forest Act 1927. As per the Act, permission has to be taken from the district forest officer before the cutting of a tree. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1401859.cms

27) The Indian Paper Manufacturers Association (IPMA) here on Friday emphasised the need for handing over the degraded forest lands and wastelands to the paper industry for raising plantations for not only meeting the raw material requirement of the industry but also for “greening India” and meeting the fuel requirements of farmers in the rural areas. According to IPMA president, Rajeev R Vederah, there is nearly 65 million hectares of degraded forest and wasteland in India which continues to remain as the “non productive asset of the country.” He wanted the government to encourage the paper industry to undertake plantations in these lands. “In this regard, the government could as well constitute a regulatory framework so as to oversee and ensure that the paper industry properly utilises the land allotted to it,” Vederah, who is also the joint managing director of Ballarpur Industries Limited, told mediapersons while briefing the issues confronting the paper sector in the country. http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?storyflag=y&leftnm=lmnu1&leftindx=1&lselect=6&chklogi
n=N&autono=214139

28) Calcutta – A perfect building plan will no longer be enough to get a construction proposal cleared. If the project comes up after felling trees, the promoter or development agency will also have to submit a plantation plan — detailing the number of trees to be planted to make up for the loss of green cover. That, and a ban on chopping of trees anywhere in the state, form the crux of a piece of legislation — The West Bengal Trees (Protection and Conservation In Non-Forest Areas) Bill, 2006 — that forest minister Jogesh Burman will table in the Assembly on February 16. A building plan sanctioned by any authority will not be valid unless the plantation plan is approved. The bill stipulates that plantation will have to be undertaken before construction begins. Following enactment, the government will form an authority that will decide on allowing the felling of trees and sanctioning building plans. The decision to bring in a bill follows chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s order to the development agencies to compensate for the loss of green in various projects. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060204/asp/calcutta/story_5801261.asp

29) The residents here allege that the Akhil Bharatiya Shabarikumbh Samaroh Aayojan Samiti (ABSSAS), organiser of the Kumbh are felling down trees in an area of 250 hectares in Subir, 34 kilometres from the Ahava in the Dang district. Bharat Pawar , a local resident says, Many trees have been cut, on which a road has been constructed and a pipeline has been laid for organising the Kumbh. This is not the first time that the Sangh Parivars effort to organise such a mammoth event has come under the clouds of environmental concern. Earlier, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests had taken a serious view of the event and had sent an official team to assess the damage from the Kumbhs preparations. However, the organiser of the Kumbh completely denies the allegations and calls it as completely false and with malafide intention. Suresh Kulkarni, Secretary of Shabari Kumbh Organising Committe says, False allegations of cutting trees have been made against us. However, the fact is that we have not cut even a single tree and we have not even touched the trees that were already cut. The tribals are also concerned about the identity crisis which is at stake owing to this Kumbh since the Sangh has overtaken the identity of the tribal god Subir and have converted them to Shabri, a Hindu mythical character of Ramayana. Sangh in the recent past had been very critical of the Christian missionaries activity in this region and have called that the Shabri Kumbh is an effort to awaken Hindu minds and bring the vanavasi (tribals) back to the Hindu fold. http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=240341&cat=India

Malaysia:

30) Kota Kinabalu: The State Government said it has put in place vital realistic strategies that will ensure the sanctity of Sabah’s bio-diversity, including its Orang-utans. Nevertheless, the participation of all concerned is sought to accelerate the implementation of these strategies. In this regard, Sabah Forestry Director Datuk Sam Mannan said the Government appreciates the efforts of NGOs, communities and scientists such as Dr Benoit Goossens, in increasing awareness on conserving the bio-diversity of Sabah, and to come up with new scientific information. He said this in response to a Daily Express report quoting Dr Goossens of Cardiff University that the Orang-utans in Sabah and elsewhere in the world faced a catastrophic collapse in numbers. Goossens based this on the almost 100 per cent decline within a century of the Orang-utan population in Sabah. It was estimated that Sabah had 500,000 Orang-utans 100 years ago but a wildlife survey three years ago found the figure to be down to just about 13,000 now. The Government of Sabah acknowledges that the Orang-utan is a “flagship” species and the State has benefited immensely by conserving it, Mannan said. To ensure that the ape population is sustainable and would continue to exist in perpetuity, the following policy, operational and strategic measures have been taken and would continue to be implemented: 1) Sabah’s Sustainable Forest Management Policy (SFM) which is the cornerstone of the State’s forest policy, 2) The Security of Tenure of Forest Reserves and Other Conservation Areas in Sabah, 3) The Natural Forest Management (NFM) which is the cornerstone of the State’s forest management, 4) close collaboration with the NGOs, international agencies and research organisations which is a culture for successful environmental management, 5) Forest restorations and forest plantations outside reserves in Sabah; and 6) The sanctity of totally protected areas rich in Orang-utans. Further, through years of research and experience, Sabah has now come up with a hybrid strategy called “forest restoration” whereby multiple indigeneous fast growing species are planted in degraded forests more extensively which serves the dual purpose of high production and high bio-diversity. This reduces the perception of mono-cultures in tree plantations, besides providing a better environment for wildlife. http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=39897

Indonesia:

31) MEDAN, North Sumatra: Illegal logging threatens the future of Batang Gadis and Gunung Leuser national parks in North Sumatra, according to the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) on Thursday.The forum said the destruction of Gunung Leuser in Langkat regency had reached 25 percent of its 200,000 hectares, while Batang Gadis park in Mandailing Natal had lost 15 percent of its 108,000 hectares of forest. The forum’s executive director in North Sumatra, Job Rachmat Purba, said illegal logging in the two parks had been going on for some time and alleged that it involved the police, military and forestry officials. “Batang Gadis and Gunung Leuser national parks are facing critical degradation caused by illegal logging activities,” Job told The Jakarta Post. The director of the North Sumatra Police’s criminal division, Sr. Comr. Ronny F. Sompie, said police did not play down the alleged involvement of officers in illegal logging in the park. “We have received information on the involvement of officers and several businesspeople in illegal logging in North Sumatra. The police are currently gathering evidence to arrest them. We have no reluctance to arrest any officers proven to be involved in illegal logging,” he said. http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20060203.D13&irec=12

32) IN THE cool of dawn Betung Kerihun could almost be an English wood until the honks of a rhinoceros hornbill echo around the great creeperfestooned trees. It is a suitably primal noise for one of the world’s last surviving ancient wildernesses. To reach Betung Kerihun in central Borneo takes four hours by motorised canoe from the nearest settlement. The forest is an almost untouched Eden. Orang-utans and gibbons live high in the canopy. On the forest floor clouded leopards and eight-metre pythons hunt wild boar and deer and are themselves hunted by one of the last truly nomadic forest peoples, the Penan. But this rainforest, which has survived for millions of years, may now be doomed. A £4.2 billion plan proposed by a Chinese bank and backed by Jakarta politicians would clear 1.8 million hectares of this wilderness over the next six years to grow oil palms to feed the world’s growing appetite for margarine, ice-cream, biscuits and biodiesel fuel. Until now Betung Kerihun, technically a protected national park, has been saved by its remoteness despite the network of roads that illegal loggers have begun to push inside its boundaries. What survives is a biological treasure that staggers scientists newly arrived from Europe. It is home to thousands of tree frogs, bats and orchids. More than 1,000 insects have been identified in a single tree. In one ten-year period 361 new plant, animal and insect species were discovered in Borneo. Conservationists say that the plantation would strip trees from Borneo’s watershed, where 14 of the island’s 20 rivers rise. It threatens ecological disaster and continual flooding in settled areas. Haze — choking smoke from forest fires — would drift across Singapore and Malaysia’s cities as it has done regularly since the late 1990s. The plan, with finance from the China Development Bank, has powerful and enthusiastic backers. Big businessmen in Jakarta and the Economy and Agriculture ministries say that it would generate 500,000 jobs in an economically backward area. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2020557,00.html

Australia:

33) Police have been asked to investigate claims that anti-logging protesters were assaulted after they invaded the big woodchip mill near Eden, on the New South Wales south coast, last week. Four women were arrested after they locked themselves on to machinery at the South-East Fibre Exports plant on Friday and the police rescue squad from Cooma had to be called in to release them. Lawyers representing the women have now alleged that workers and security officers from the mill assaulted the protesters while they waited for police to arrive. “They were involved in a peaceful protest and they allege that during the protest they were sprayed with high pressure hoses and … one of them suffered bruising to the body,” spokeswoman Vanessa Bleyer said. “They also allege they witnessed an individual who was filming the incident get dragged away by security officers at the mill as well.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200602/s1560503.htm

34) PROTESTERS have locked themselves to excavating equipment in old growth forest east of Melbourne in a bid to halt logging in the area. The protesters, who also perched up a tree that was in the path of bulldozers, have called on the Victorian Government to scrap logging of old growth forest in the Royston Range near Lake Mountain, 120km east of Melbourne. Australian Conservation Foundation spokesman Lindsay Hesketh said the case against logging and woodchipping in the area was irrefutable. “This area contains significant stands of rainforest and old growth veteran trees which are a designated critical habitat for the Leadbeaters possum.” The endangered possum is Victoria’s fauna emblem. Other species also relied on the forest for food. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18053967-1243,00.html