310 – Earth’s Tree News

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Today for you 35 new articles about earth’s trees! (310th edition)
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–Pacific Northwest: 1) Feds learn trees with green leaves might not be dead,
–Washington: 2) Most remote coastal timber town after log boom
–Oregon: 3) AX men, 4) Thin Ponderosa for Beetles in Deschutes NF? 5) WOPR protest,
–California: 6) Stop SPI’s million-acre clearcut, 7) Salmon exemptions for loggers is challenged, 8) View of PL/ Maxxam reorganization, 9) Local loggers goes to Alaska, 10) Ode to LA trees in Springtime, 11) Court enjoins UCSC sitters, 12) Fire emissions,
–Colorado: 13) Public acceptance of Beetle salvage? 14) Save the road in roadless area?
–Illinois: 15) Replaced with ash borer-resistant trees
–Missouri: 16) Amphibians hide or escape logging, then come back after trees regrow
–Ohio: 17) First Kansas now another state kniting sweaters for trees
–New York: 18) Gov finally raises enough cash to again buy off green wood certifiers
–New Jersey: 19) Garden state burned regularly
–Pennsylvania: 20) Too many old trees?
–Appalachia: 21) Turkeys and trees
–USA: 22) What real forestry is about, 23) Petition for a do not mail registry
–Canada: 24) Another College cancels forestry program, 25) Tribal Fire-preparedness,
–UK: 26) Chainsaw happy tree doctors
–Scotland: 27) Forests and climate change
–Poland: 28) Polish Forest Certification Scheme
–Russia: 29) Logging depends on road funds 30) Devastating tarriffs
–Finland: 30) Industry suffering!
–Macedonia: 31) The Day of the Tree — Plant Your Future
–Kyrgyzstan: 32) 200 lawsuits against illegal loggers
–Africa: 33) The Guinean Forest now only a footnote
–Ghana: 34) Illegal logging summary, 35) WWF and GFTN training foresters

Pacific Northwest:

1) The dispute began in 2004, when environmental groups accused the Forest Service of violating its own rules prohibiting the harvest of large, living trees in a burnt area of Oregon’s Malheur National Forest. The latest case is over a similar logging plan in Umatilla National Forest in Washington. The practice is known as salvage logging. After years of often severe wildfires across the West, the Bush administration has aggressively sought to harvest scorched timber before insects or disease make the lumber worthless. To do that, federal foresters have been using a set of mortality guidelines to determine whether a partially burned tree would die, either immediately or by succumbing to insects or disease. Critics of the practice say that the agency often tagged healthy trees for harvest and that trees marked for cutting continued to thrive years after a fire. The 4-year-old legal dispute has largely focused on the Forest Service’s definition of the word “live.” At Pioneer Courthouse on Tuesday, Ralph Bloemers, an attorney representing the Spokane-based Lands Council, said the Forest Service’s rules governing old-growth logging say trees larger than 21 inches in diameter have to be dead before they are cut. But under the mortality guidelines, the agency has been approving logging of trees it predicts are dying. Bloemers told the judges the practice used flawed science to justify logging for financial gain, not forest health. And he said the Forest Service has “chosen to short-circuit the public process” because it did not hold hearings on the new guidelines. http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1205288706258400.xml&coll=7

Washington:

2) Gone are the days of seemingly endless streams of log trucks roaring in and out of town, making the local Bank of America’s multi-lane drive-through service, which is large enough to accommodate 16-wheelers, a strange relic. According to one city official, more millionaires per capita once frequented the bank than anywhere else in the state. The boom years of the 1970s and 80s came to a crashing halt after a series of legal challenges created habitual protection, in particular the listing of the northern spotted owl. Washington is the second largest supplier of soft wood (from conifers) in the United States, accounting for 13 percent of total production, according to the Washington Forest Protection Association. In the twin cities of Hoquiam and Aberdeen located in Grays Harbor County, roughly 193 kilometres south of Forks, the unemployment rate is approaching 10 percent, five points higher than the state average. Also dependent on the timber industry, a majority of jobs is now in the services and government sectors, as manufacturing jobs have spiraled downwards. Although the unemployment rate is closer to the state average in Forks, employment trends are similar as the community is highly dependent on jobs from the city hospital, school district and Clallam Bay Corrections Centre located more than 80 kilometres to the north. Tourism generates additional revenues during the summer months, with visitors filling up the buckshot of lodges and hotels scattered around the community — mostly urbanites seeking the pristine beaches or steelhead and salmon fishing in one of the many local rivers. “I think you’re looking at a 20-year transition,” said Al Vaughan of the Department of Natural Resources, who is based in Forks. “I think forestry is still going to be a primary income production. It’s going to take light industry, and I think the industry needs to be associated with forestry in some way.” Vaughan believes local production of products that are in worldwide demand is the key. “In the end we’re a natural resource dependent community,” said Calhoun. “We have to rely on our basic competitive advantage which is our abundant natural resources. We just have to find a way to do it. It’s not going to be cutting old growth logs and shipping them to Japan, which was the heyday.” http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41584

Oregon:

3) Joining a whole genre of shows that depict unusual or dangerous occupations – such as “Ice Truckers” and “The Deadliest Catch” – the first episode of “Ax Men” aired last Sunday on cable TV’s History Channel. “It was pretty exciting,” said Pihl, who watched the show with his children two times in the same evening. “It shows a lot of different personalities that work in the forest. Out there, it’s survival of the fittest.” Pihl and his son-in-law, Kelly Baska, 26, were filmed on the job by a professional camera crew from Original Productions, which was sent up from Los Angeles last fall. “We were logging in (Vernonia’s) Stub Stewart State Park at the time,” recalled Pihl, who said taping all the show’s segments took more than four months to complete. Videographers stayed at the Vernonia Inn and rode out to the job sites with Pihl’s crew every morning, said Baska, who has worked for his father-in-law for eight years. “He started out mowing lawns, and now he’s mowing down trees,” Pihl observed. When the loggers took a job in Pacific City on the Oregon Coast, the film crew tagged along. If they traveled to Astoria, the cameramen did, too. “We go anywhere there are trees to be buzzed,” said Pihl. “There really wasn’t anything staged.” Also featured on “Ax Men” are employees of Stump Branch Logging in Buxton and two Astoria firms, Gustafson Logging and J.M. Browning Logging. Men in hard hats and heavy shirts are shown attaching cables and shouting instructions, sometimes experiencing near-misses when the giant fir trees fell. Logging terms like “bull buck,” “side rod” and “rigging slinger” pepper the narrative after Pihl announces, in a gravelly voice, “I’m Mike Pihl. I’m an ax man.” http://www.forestgrovenewstimes.com/news/print_story.php?story_id=120535339549414800

4) Right now, mountain pine beetle activity in ponderosa isn’t nearly as dramatic as what’s happening in lodgepole pine, he said. There are a few patches in the Deschutes National Forest where the beetles have burrowed into ponderosas, eating the cambium innards of the tree and killing it. But because of logging that happened in the 1910s and 1920s, and then subsequent thinning that happened in the 1980s, there are many dense stands of even-aged ponderosa pines. And those dense trees just don’t have the ability to repel an insect attack, Eglitis said. “Where the density of all the trees gets great enough, everything there is pretty vulnerable,” he said. To prevent those ponderosa pines from getting beetle infestations, which could result in patches of dead trees throughout the forest and increased susceptibility to fire, the Forest Service is planning to start an effort that could take more than a decade and will involve cutting down some trees to thin the stands most at risk of infestations. “We recognize that those stands are going to be susceptible in the future,” said John Allen, Deschutes National Forest supervisor. “We want to get it thinned before the beetles come.” http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080313/NEWS0107/803130410/1001&nav_cat
egory=

5) Activists protesting a proposed increase in logging in Western Oregon forests partially blocked downtown Eugene traffic when they marched from the University of Oregon to the Wayne Morse Federal Courthouse on Friday afternoon. Calling out “Put a stopper in the WOPR,” about 50 people walked along 13th Avenue to Pearl Street with some taking up space in one lane of traffic as they went. Eugene police observed but did not intervene. The rally was organized by the Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group to draw attention to a Bureau of Land Management proposal that would almost triple logging on 2.2 million acres of Western Oregon forests. The BLM manages forests in Oregon that since 1937 have been logged, at the direction of Congress, for the financial benefit of the counties where the forests are located. In the mid-1990s, the Northwest Forest Plan substantially reduced the amount of logging on public lands in Washington, Oregon and California, in an effort to preserve habitat for species at risk of extinction. BLM’s proposal — the Western Oregon Plan Revision, known as WOPR — has drawn a raft of criticism, not only from environmentalists, but from other federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Marine Fisheries Service, whose scientists say it will threaten clean water and salmon. Because the BLM-managed forests are intermingled with private lands in a checkerboard of one-mile square units that extend from Portland south to California, the proposal to increase logging has drawn the attention of many rural residents who worry about the loss of old growth forests. Students planned the rally to coincide with the Environmental Law Conference taking place this week at the university, said OSPIRG organizer Carly Barnicle. “Sacrificing trees older than this nation for a short-term economic fix is just beyond belief,” Barnicle said. http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.cms.support.viewStory.cls?cid=74788&sid=1&fid=1&p
=print

California:

6) Sierra Pacific Industries plans to clear-cut 1 million acres in the Sierra and are well on their way. Clearcutting is a destructive logging operation that involves removing all (or nearly all) trees and existing vegetation, applying herbicide, and then replanting with a mono-crop of seedlings. Imagine the impact upon our water supply (60% comes from the Sierra), mountain communities where many of us vacation, and the animals that live there. Help us convince them to stop clear-cutting and practice selective logging instead. Our goal is for 50 Sierra Club members to call SPI on St. Patrick’s Day and ask them to “Keep the Sierra green and stop clear-cutting.” Learn How SPI, the second largest land owner in the country, is transforming our state without public discussion or even awareness. You’ll be interested to hear what’s happening, but, beyond the basic facts and the “ask”, you don’t need to inform the person you call. Take Action: Deschutes By phone (530) 378-8000 or by email at sierra@spi-ind.com Tell them to “Keep the Sierra green and stop clearcutting” Let us know you called by emailing the chapter’s Forest Protection Committee at jchase@stanford.edu

7) Seeking to overturn new regulations they believe could jeopardize coho salmon and their habitat, several environmental and fishery groups filed suit last week in San Francisco Superior Court against the California Department of Fish and Game. The group is charging that the regulations, as adopted by the DFG in Dec. 2007, violate the California Endangered Species Act, according to a press release issued by the Sierra Club, California Trout and the Environmental Protection Information Center. At the center of the lawsuit is DFG’s move to delegate some fish protection duty and authority that revolves around the issue of incidental take to the agency that approves logging plans, The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Also factoring into the dispute are the CDF road management rules. The press release put out by the plaintiffs in the case states that the DFG regulations are tied to a package of new rules the State Board of Forestry adopted last year that allow the timber industry to continue “business as usual” practices that harm salmon habitat. “Fish and Game is trying to pawn off its responsibility to protect our threatened salmon on CDF,” said Scott Greacen of EPIC. “And CDF has just put in place road management rules that ensure coho will continue to be routinely harmed by logging practices.” Coho salmon have been listed as threatened or endangered from the Oregon border south through the San Francisco Bay since 2004, and have been designated as endangered from San Francisco to Monterey Bay since 1995. The federal government also lists coho salmon as an endangered species. Recently the California Supreme Court upheld an earlier Court of Appeal and State Superior Court ruling that affirmed the endangered species status for the coho. In Oregon, on Oct. 9th, 2007, a federal judge declared the Bush administration’s decision to remove endangered species protections for Oregon coast coho salmon as illegal. “California Trout fought long and hard to have coho salmon listed as endangered by the State of California,” said Brian Stranko, Chief Executive Officer of California Trout. “DFG has a legal obligation to protect native salmon. We are disappointed that this administration has put the interests of the logging industry above long term survival of coho salmon, a species that is clearly at risk.” http://www.mtshastanews.com/articles/2008/03/12/news/area_news/04coho_lawsuit.txt

8) The bankruptcy plan, simplified, has many different entities vying for control over PL’s 200,000+ acres of Coast Redwoods and Douglas Firs. The most locally favored plan allowed by bankruptcy proceedings Judge Richard S. Schmidt was submitted by Marathon Capital Group backed Mendocino Redwoods Corporation(MRC). Ironically, the MRC is owned by The Gap corporation, and has a history of community resistance towards it’s logging practices in Mendocino County. The MRC has Forest Stewardship Council(FSC) certification which creates a major misconception for the local community and conservation groups in regards to the future of our forests. It seems that a majority of concerned citizens and groups have been duped into believing that the MRC will not be harvesting Old-Growth trees on PL’s disputed lands. Wishful thinking, lack of information, and blatant ignorance has created an atmosphere of believing that the lesser of the evil reorganization plans will save the last of the Ancient Trees left on our county. Aside from the controversy over the lack of unified Old Growth protection, MRC will be utilizing herbicides, logging steep slopes, clear cutting, and removing previously inaccessible trees by helicopter, as they have and still are using these practices in Mendocino County. All of these unsustainable and environmentally destructive practices are allowed by the FSC, and nowhere on the FSC site do they claim otherwise. In fact, the MRC justifies it’s usage of herbicides through The Nature Conservancy‘s “Weed Control and Methods Handbook“. However, in light of this deception and controversy, action is still the antidote for despair. Humboldt County, one of the birthplaces of forest activism, has been fighting for Old Growth protection for over twenty years. There are still solid and persevering tree-sits taking place right now on PL’s disputed lands. One action, Fern Gully Tree-sit Village in Freshwater, Ca, is going on strong for six years coming this October. Nanning Creek Tree-sit Village near Scotia, Ca, home of the famous “Spooner” tree, continues to safeguard some of the largest Coast Redwoods ever protected since November of 2005. And let’s not forget The Mattole, located in the Lost Coast, Ca. The Mattole is continually monitored for any sneaky attempts by PL to log the Ancient Douglas Firs that were defended by countless and dedicated activists since 1983.
http://humboldtforestdefense.blogspot.com/

9) “I was working with a guy falling trees. He was cutting and I was jacking [using a hydraulic jack in the cut of the still-standing tree to bring it down in a specific direction]. I had begun to notice that previous stumps he’d cut were hideous. I was getting nervous cutting trees with this guy. “So he makes his cut, walks away and I approach the tree to install the jack but the tree is already making the popping and groaning noises it does when it is starting its fall. But it wasn’t moving yet. I didn’t know what it would do. While I’m setting up the jack, he comes over and says, ‘Sounds like hippie music.’ That was a rough crowd. “I wasn’t done when the tree started over. We were jacking through some little trees and the branches started to rain down all around me. I grabbed the jack and ran, and they are falling all around me until finally one just clubbed me and laid me out. I got swatted like a bug. It made me want to go back to school.” Dan transferred to Humboldt State in 2000 (“the commute was easier”) and entered the forestry program. He also went to work for the City of Arcata as a forest technician. The City owns a portable Wood Miser band saw, and Dan cut lumber for bridges and trail structures under its Non-Industrial Timber Management Plan (NTMP). After graduating Dan spent a summer in the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska. He saw wondrous things. “I was on one island where the logging roads were built from crushed pure white marble and ran like white streams for miles in the green forest. Right in the town of Ketchikan was a little stream where I fished. The scene was what I imagine Humboldt County looked like 100 years ago. The salmon were so thick you could walk on their backs, and those fish stocks in Alaska are 5 percent of what they used to be. I counted more than 30 eagles around the little cove foraging on dead fish and parts left by the fisherman. The eagles are like crows in Alaska.” http://www.northcoastjournal.com/031308/offthepavement0313.html

10) Topping, after all, reduces leaf litter and the risk of hazardous limb breakage — and it clears away pesky branches that obscure billboards, storefronts and canyon vistas. In Los Angeles, we assume we needn’t worry much about a severe hack job here or there, what with our never-ending growing season and abundance of exotic trees. Here, the Australian bunya-bunya flourishes alongside the Bolivian Tipuana tipu and the South African baobab. Of course, all trees benefit from the occasional judicious pruning. Recently a crew from the Department of Water and Power arrived on my block, revved up and ready to cut back some Indian laurels that had embraced the power lines. “You’re only going to trim back the branches that are in the way, right?” I asked in my best concerned-citizen voice. The trimmer’s buddy slapped him on the back and laughed. “Well, let’s just say we don’t call him Freddy Krueger for nothin’.” The trimmer smiled and said, with a mixture of sheepishness and pride, “Some of these guys do so little you can’t even tell they’ve been there. I like to be able to see what I’ve done.” My pleading, however, seemed to sway them; they left the trees largely intact. Two trees saved, a million-plus to go. Last summer, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa launched his wrongheaded Million Trees LA initiative. The idea is to plant a million seedlings all over the city over the course of a decade. On paper, the plan looks great. According to the mayor, a million trees could eliminate more than 2 million pounds of air pollutants and trap more than 2 billion gallons of storm water. Problem is, the trees are free to anyone who wants them, further reinforcing our sunny L.A. notion that all our great greenery has no value. And what chance do these tender saplings have in a town that is clueless about caring for the trees it already has? To truly save our trees, we must tap into the beauty-and-celebrity-obsessed psyche of Los Angeles. Let’s make healthy, full-limbed trees a status symbol, like trim thighs or shiny BMWs. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-catania12mar12,0,4450768.story

11) In a preliminary injunction issued yesterday, Santa Cruz County Superior Court enjoined seven defendants and others from lodging in trees occupied since November 7 on Science Hill. The court’s order affirms that this tree occupation was and is unlawful and not, as some have claimed, protected free speech. The injunction http://www.ucsc.edu/news_events/protest/biomedical/prelim-injunction_03-10-08.pdf
prohibits not only the named defendants, but anyone with notice of this order, from lodging in or climbing into the trees, carrying possessions into those trees, providing tree-sitters with food and supplies, or engaging in other related activities. Those who ignore the court’s order may be subject to criminal and/or civil penalties. This court order gives the people who have been illegally occupying university property a new opportunity to obey the law — by leaving voluntarily. The current situation will not be the last time our community is challenged by the conflict that arises when people hold passionate but opposing views on important issues. As a community, we have a collective responsibility to come together around difficult issues and seek understanding that can inform our thinking and our actions. To that end, I am sponsoring two initiatives. The first will engage individuals and groups in continuing dialogue about the issues that have recently divided us. Longer term, I will be implementing a campus-based mediation program; the goal of the program will be to expand dispute-resolution options for the UCSC community. I am hopeful that these two efforts will open new pathways to shared understanding and tolerance. (To: UCSC Community, From: David Kliger, Executive Vice Chancellor, Re: Court order concerning Science Hill protest)

12) A new study has found that California wildfires emit more greenhouse gases than previously believed largely through the post-fire decay of dead wood, a finding that is raising questions about how effective the state’s forests are at storing carbon and slowing global warming. The study by Thomas Bonnicksen, a retired forestry professor at Texas A&M University, found that four major wildfires – from the Fountain fire near Redding in 1992 to the Angora blaze at Lake Tahoe last year – are responsible for the release of 38 million tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, far more than the 2 million tons the state estimates that fires produce on average each year. “Up until now, we have not fully appreciated the magnitude of the impact of wildfires on climate change,” Bonnicksen said. “This is a very important part of the problem.” His study, which is not peer-reviewed and has been found lacking by some, is one of a flurry of reports that have begun to explore the critical role that forests play in regulating carbon dioxide, the principal atmospheric gas responsible for global warming. Traditionally, forests have been viewed as green reservoirs of landlocked carbon, soaking up and storing CO 2 from the atmosphere in their leaves, needles, roots and soil. Bonnicksen’s study casts that view into question. Forests today are so overcrowded with spindly, unhealthy trees – partly the result of decades of fire suppression – that as they burn and decay they are turning into an actual source of greenhouse gas pollution. His study, for example, estimates emissions from just one blaze alone last year, the Moonlight fire in Plumas County, at more than 19.6 million tons, three-quarters of which are expected to occur over the next century as trees killed by the fire decay. That much carbon is roughly equivalent to the emissions from 3.6 million cars for a year. Overall, California fires are producing so much CO 2, he said, that they will defeat the state’s pioneering efforts to respond to climate change by reducing emissions elsewhere. http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/778649.html

Colorado:

13) The deafening roar of the huge tree-cutting machines in the Pike National Forest near Woodland Park on Thursday once would have caused outrage as whirling blades leveled patches of ponderosa pine. But in 2008, as a pine-beetle infestation has killed millions of acres of trees in Colorado, the noise in the forest is music to the ears of Woodland Park residents. Residents of the town, and particularly the Sunny Glen subdivision, are happy that the U.S. Forest Service is attacking the beetles, which are eating the ponderosa pine on the subdivision’s perimeter. Woodland Park Councilman Steve Randolph was pleased as he watched three tree-pulverizing machines swallow the beetle-infested ponderosa, depriving the beetles of food. “Years ago, they would have been screaming and protesting,” Randolph said of the Woodland Park residents. But the massive beetle infestation across Colorado and the mammoth Hayman fire changed all that, he said. Sally Riley, planning director for Woodland Park, said the city has had a law on the books for 25 years intended to identify and mitigate the ravages of the pine beetle. “Our community has been very focused on this issue for a number of years,” Riley said. “With the Pike National Forest surrounding us on all sides, we’ve asked the Forest Service to come in as good neighbors.” Targeted by the Forest Service is 150 acres of the Pike National Forest where pine-beetle infestation during the past four to five years has left a large amount of standing dead timber. The project area had been studied by Forest Service entomologists for three years. Forest officials said Thursday the area is only 5 percent to 10 percent infested. By cutting the “brood” trees that harbor the pine-beetle larvae — which are particularly susceptible in the late winter and early spring months — they can attempt to stop the spread. During two hours of cutting operations by contractor Bill Schulze, what once had been fairly dense forest was turned into an area moderately dotted with healthy ponderosa. In the end, the area looked much like the closely maintained White Ranch Open Space in Jefferson County. http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_8484181

14) Your support is needed to protect valuable singletrack in one of Colorado’s largest roadless areas, West Hermosa Creek. A new management plan for public lands outside Durango, Colorado, includes a proposal to close access to the famous Colorado Trail and several other cherished routes. Local riders are proposing a common sense solution that would protect natural resources and bicycle access. There are many ways to protect land and allow for bicycle access. For West Hermosa Creek, the Forest Service should recommend that Congress create a National Protection Area. This designation prohibits mining, logging, road-building and motorized travel while allowing bicycling. For the larger Hermosa Creek area, which encompasses West Hermosa Creek, the Forest Service should recommend that Congress create a National Conservation Area. This would protect more land than a Wilderness designation alone. A National Conservation Area allows existing motorized travel on designated routes, but it bans road building, mining and structures. Also at issue is the plan’s failure to consistently treat bicycling as equal to and in the same category as hiking and equestrian travel. Bicycling should not be lumped together with motorized travel and should not be referred to as “mechanized” travel. Bicycling should be appropriately categorized as a “non-motorized” activity. The environmental impacts of bicycling are similar to hiking and considerably less than other uses. Bicycling should be allowed on trails unless they are specifically closed to this use. The plan now proposes the opposite — that trails will be closed unless designated open. This is inconsistent with the policy of many National Forests across the country. http://oskarbluesbrewsbikes.blogspot.com/2008/03/march-11th-boulder-mountain-bike.html

Illinois:

15) GENEVA – The Kane County Forest Preserve on Tuesday began removing 100 trees infested with the emerald ash borer from Campton Township. “The infested trees are part of a 20-year-old tree planting that unfortunately was heavily struck by the emerald ash borer,” said Drew Ullberg, director of natural resources for the Forest Preserve District. The trees are concentrated near the entrance of the Campton Township preserve, on Town Hall Road, west of Randall Road. They will be replaced with ash borer-resistant trees, such as oak, hickory and walnut. The emerald ash borer was first found in Campton Township in 2006 and, despite efforts by the state to regulate movement of ash wood, has spread to nearby suburbs, including Batavia and Elgin. Since 2002, emerald ash borer has killed more than 20 million ash trees in the Midwest; the infestation started in Michigan. The forest preserve district has been planting oak seedlings in the Campton Township preserve since shortly after the borer was first discovered. http://www.kcchronicle.com/articles/2008/03/11/news/local/doc47d6f2f517fde283716375.txt

Missouri:

16) The number of amphibians drastically decreases in forest areas that are clearcut, according to previous studies. A University of Missouri researcher, however, has found that some animals may not be dying. Instead, the biologist said some animals may be moving away (possibly to return later) or retreating underground. The finding could have major implications for both the timber industry and the survival of amphibians. “Everyone jumped to the conclusion that the frogs and salamanders were dying after a clearcut had occurred,” said Ray Semlitsch, professor of biological sciences in the MU College of Arts and Science. “Anecdotal data accumulated through the years indicated there were potentially three things amphibians could do: stay and die, retreat underground or evacuate the site. We have never been sure of how they respond to strong habitat changes, especially behaviorally.” Semlitsch and his graduate students at MU found, during a period of two years, that significantly more salamanders and frogs evacuated clearcut treatments than entered, although the researchers cannot say what portion also may have died or retreated underground. Documenting this evacuation response is important because animals are potentially available later for re-colonization once the forest begins to grow back. http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1289236/amphibians_suffer_greatly_from_clear_cutting_of_for
ests/

Ohio:

17) The town of Yellow Springs is working hard to keep their pear trees warm, by knitting a colorful selection of cozies for the limbs and branches of the trees. When I first spotted this article, I wondered if there was actually a problem with the trees and the weather, maybe they were having a particularly cold winter and the trees needed protection. As I read further along the article, I discovered that it’s an art project, rather than an act of kindness from the people to the fruit trees. However, the vividly colored project has raised the town’s awareness of knitting, crafting and the pear trees that live in their midst. What’s next? A tomato plant cozy? http://www.slashfood.com/2008/03/11/keeping-the-pear-trees-warm/

New York:

18) New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis announced today that state-owned forests have regained their status as “green certified” by internationally recognized standards, meaning they are managed with the highest sustainability requirements. The designation applies to all state-owned forestlands outside the Adirondack and Catskill parks – about 762,900 acres. This status has been awarded to only 10 percent of the world’s forests and only a few American states. “At first blush, saying you manage a ‘green’ forest might sound redundant. But it’s a designation few have earned,” said Grannis. “We’re very proud of this recognition. It not only validates the state’s efforts to practice forestry in an economically, environmentally and socially-responsible way, but also adds value to our forest products.” State-owned forests previously had been certified but certification lapsed several years ago following a period of cutbacks in the department. When he assumed leadership of the DEC in April 2007, Commissioner Grannis made a goal of regaining the designation. Green certification is not only a validation of management practices, but similar to the organic label on grocery products, certified forest products can carry a stamp or imprint that increases their value in the marketplace. New York state-owned forests annually generate about $5 million in revenue from the sale of forest products such as lumber, furniture, flooring, pulpwood, particle board and paper products including envelopes, greeting cards, catalogs and other products. Interest in certified products has been growing and there are now roughly 80 green certified paper or wood businesses in New York, ranging from paper mills to printers to flooring suppliers. “A majority of our state forests were acquired over 75 years ago, not as healthy forests but as abandoned farmland with depleted soils and serious erosion problems,” said State Forester Robert Davies. “The recognition we are receiving is due to the support of Commissioner Grannis and the dedication of the department’s past and present professional forestry staff.” http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2008/2008-03-12-095.asp

New Jersey:

19) The Forest Fire Service finds itself in a game of “Beat the Clock” this year, with Saturday’s start of the spring fire season quickly approaching and less than half its planned prescribed burns completed. Every year the service maps out 15,000 to 20,000 acres of the state’s about 3 million acres of forest where prescribed burns are needed. The targeted areas are typically chosen based on a repeating cycle. “Once an area is burned, you really wouldn’t have good potential for fire there for another five to 10 years because fire wouldn’t be able to carry. So we try to space it out so we can reburn areas as needed,” Assistant State Fire Warden Jim Petrini said Wednesday. As of Wednesday afternoon, Petrini estimated, only about 7,000 or 8,000 acres have been burned this season due to an abundance of inclement weather. “It’s like threading a needle. We have to wait for the conditions to be dry enough to burn, but not so dry or windy where the fire can become uncontrolled,” said Horace Somes, the division fire warden of the Forest Fire Service’s central region, which stretches from Burlington County to Middlesex County. “What we look for is a happy medium. But this year it seems like every three days we had rain showers.” Now the Forest Fire Service must play catch-up. “We’re a little behind where we want to be, but we’re doing everything we can. It all depends on the weather,” said Frank Bollante, the assistant division fire warden for the Forest Fire Service’s southern region, which encompasses all six of the state’s southern-most counties. http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/186/story/105493.html

Pennsylvania:

20) Pennsylvania’s forest is maturing — especially in Wayne County, says Service Forester Jack Gearhart, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), Bureau of Forestry. Gearhart says Wayne County’s trees are in the 80-90 year-old category. “That means the trees are getting bigger,” he said. That’s good news for forest landowners selling timber. “There’s no real negative as long as there’s adequate regeneration to back it up. If an area is harvested …you need to have a new generation of trees,” he said. And therein lies the problem. The number of smaller trees is decreasing, he said. In Pennsylvania, “Advance regeneration is occurring on only half of the forest land where it should be occurring and only one-third has adequate regeneration of commercially desirable timber species. This is a serious threat to the future productivity and health of our forests. A healthy forest is a species rich forest,” he said, sharing data from the United States Forest Service or USFA PA forest inventory which is completed every 10 years and is currently in progress. The data is from the first five-year cycle report (2000-2004). Certain tree species, including hemlock, sugar maple and oak are decreasing in number, along with the increase in red maple slowing, while the black birch thrives, he said. “A lot of (tree) species do not produce seed every year …Some species may go five, six years without a seed crop,” he said, naming sugar maple, ash and oak. He said they may generate a small seed crop, but not a large one between years. Red maple, also referred to as soft maple, does produce a bumper seed crop, he said. “That’s why we see so much of the farmland coming back to soft maple just because of that seed crop just about every year,” Gearhart said. Soft maple has increased in demand over the years, utilized to make furniture. “Diversity of species in a forest is very important for the insect and disease resistance of that forest. In other words, a disease or an insect may effect one species in that forest …but you’ve got the other species to back it up. http://www.wayneindependent.com/news/x39090366

Appalachia:

21) I knew from various history books that, in days long past, wild turkeys had lived throughout the forests I found myself enjoying. But since the days when these lands were part of a great Cherokee Nation, the big birds had found themselves on the shit end of the stick. The forests in which they had grown fat and numerous had been leveled by timber companies and by invasive species and by blight and by mining operations that slathered poisons in amazingly hideous swathes across the rugged mountains. There was a point during which there were almost no turkey at all in the hills that stretched from Alabama to Virginia. If one was lucky enough to spot a wild turkey in some part of this vast land, then that’s what you were: lucky. And, then, something amazing happened. Regulations, strict ones that were enforced by the rule of law and the backing of government money and legislation, were put into effect. Forests were placed off limits to the bite of the axe. Places were made free of the stench of motors. The poisoned lands laid bare by mining were repaired by virtue of forcing corporations to stop poisoning the streams and the earth. Forests came back. Denuded mountaintops were once again green. The turkey returned. Now, whenever I go hiking in the mountains of Georgia or Tennessee or North Carolina or South Carolina or West Virginia or Virginia or Kentucky (or even in Maine!)…I almost always encounter turkeys. Big flocks of wonderful, stupid turkeys. All due to socialist regulations that have, in some small measure, put things to right. http://jabberous.blogspot.com/2008/03/turkey-tale-03.html

USA:

22) Forestry is about the forests. It’s about protecting, maintaining, and perpetuating living forest ecosystems!!!!!!!!! NOT ABOUT THE LOGS!!!!!!! Look, I know that you all live in wooden framed structures made of boards that came from trees, or else in concrete Stalinist tenements that were built using wooden forms. Naturally, you are concerned about the price and availability of construction lumber since your very lives depend on them. And I know you all read newspapers made of pulped-up trees, and that you love your paper and spend wads of cash just to have it delivered to your door everyday. So naturally you want as much logging done as possible worldwide to keep the newsprint prices down, no matter what the carbon footprint. But that is not what forestry is about. Sorry, wrong number. You are thinking of tree farming. That is the commercial business of making logs from trees to remanufacture into the products you hold so near and dear. Tree farming is not forestry. Two completely different things. It’s like baking and cooking. To an untrained, ignorant observer they seem like the same things, but they are not. Baking is it’s own world, cookery is another. They both happen in kitchens, but they are not the same. Foresters do not do salvage logging. Salvage logging is not in the text books. There is no forestry course in salvage logging. It is not a function of foresters. It has nothing to do with forestry. Salvage logging is what happens when forests have been destroyed, and there is no forest left, and there is nothing else to be done. Salvage logging is like a funeral for a dead forest. Foresters work strictly with live forests, not dead ones. We’re like doctors that way. Once the patient is dead, the doctor hands off the corpse to a mortician. No more doctoring required. Similarly, once a forest is dead, there is no more need for foresters. Right now, the main job for foresters is to somehow prevent society from destroying forests. http://westinstenv.org/sosf/2008/03/11/the-only-task/

23) Exactly five years ago, the United States Congress created the immensely popular Do Not Call Registry, giving every American the choice to live free of telemarketing calls. Today, we’re still forced to live with a different form of harassment: junk mail. Despite the fact that 89% of Americans support a national Do Not Mail Registry in the United States, junk mailers continue to invade our privacy, waste our time and damage our environment. The time to make Do Not Mail a reality is now. Support our petition to create a national Do Not Mail Registry! The consequences of junk mail are more serious than a lot of people realize. Did you know that on average, you’ll spend eight months of your life opening junk mail? I know I’d choose to get those eight months back — if I actually had a choice. Then there’s the devastating impact that the junk mail industry has on the environment. Consider these disturbing facts: 1) Junk mail destroys 100 million trees a year — the equivalent of deforesting all of Rocky Mountain National Park every four months. 2) Largely due to deforestation, junk mail manufacturing creates as much greenhouse gas emissions annually as 3.7 million cars. 3) Every year, Americans receive 848 pieces of junk mail per household — 44% of which ends up unopened in a landfill. – This massive waste of time and natural resources has gone on for too long. We at ForestEthics have begun a major campaign to make a national Do Not Mail Registry a reality — and we need your help. Sign our petition urging Congress to create a Do Not Mail Registry! http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/281/t/5980/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=941

Canada:

24) Forest industry and professional organizations are calling on the College of New Caledonia to reconsider its decision to cut the forestry resource technology program, the last of its kind in northern B.C. The forest sector representatives warned the demise of the CNC program could result in a shortage of needed forest professionals. CNC president John Bowman made the announcement on Monday, citing the need to eliminate a $1.1-million budget shortfall. Bowman noted the two-year forestry program had declining enrolment and was the most expensive to deliver per student. Programs have also fallen recently at Northwest Community College in Terrace and at Northern Lights College in Dawson Creek. Central Interior Logging Association manager Rick Publicover called the move disappointing and shortsighted. http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=122835&Itemid=556

25) Ottawa’s failure to provide B.C. natives with cash for large-scale firebreak construction in the pine-beetle-ravaged Interior is a recipe for disaster as forest fire season approaches, a British Columbia aboriginal leader warned MPs yesterday. “Make no mistake about this: Lives as well as livelihoods are on the line in the coming months,” Chief Bill Williams told the Commons natural resources committee. “The long-term survival of communities are at stake. I’m talking about schools and homes,” he said. About 13 million hectares of B.C. Interior forest have been attacked by an exploding population of mountain pine beetles. This has left many trees dead or dying in an area the size of Greece. As it decays, the wood turns into dry tinder, which is especially vulnerable to flame when forest fire season begins in June, Mr. Williams said. Inside this zone are about 103 native communities – representing 100,000 people from 300 reserves, said Mr. Williams, speaking for the B.C. First Nations Forestry Council. “It’s a huge tinderbox … the aboriginal communities are starting to live in real fear of the fast-approaching fire season.” Mr. Williams called on MPs to press the Harper government to funnel more cash to native fire-abatement efforts. “It’s hoped this committee can raise the alarm bells and generate some action.” He says at least $135-million is needed to create two-kilometre-wide firebreaks around all the 300 reserves and prepare evacuation plans for these communities “most of which are in isolated, hard-to-access locations.” The chief said the Tories should be able to find the cash because they promised $1-billion during the last federal election campaign to combat the effects of the pine beetle – cash that they’ve only started to dole out. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080312.wbcfire12/BNStory/National/?page=rs
s&id=RTGAM.20080312.wbcfire12

UK:

26) Environmentalists have accused tree doctors of being ‘chainsaw happy’ after they felled 40 trees in Chorlton Park. The environmental group have also claimed there was a lack of public consultation over the fellings. Mr Leach said: “There was a small sign at the gate of the park stating that felling was part of the council’s strategy to control venturia disease, but there was nothing more. We have received no details on any plans of how the park is to be compensated. There has been some talk about animals being carved out of the five-foot poplar stumps that have been left, but what good is that after they’ve just got rid of the homes of plenty of live animals? Rob Madden from the Friends of Chorlton Park said: “The ground has been badly churned up during this process and I want to make sure that the council are going to rectify this problem.” http://www.southmanchesterreporter.co.uk/news/s/1040707_anger_as_40_park_trees_are_axed

Scotland:

27) Scotland’s forestry sector must make drastic changes to combat the effects of climate change, the industry’s leading organisation announced yesterday. Creating new woodland to capture carbon, reducing the sector’s own carbon footprint, and establishing a deforestation policy are just some of the recommendations laid out in a draft climate change action plan, compiled by Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS). The fledgling plan points out that carbon sequestration should form a key goal of the FCS in future years, something it believes could be achieved by increased planting. Currently, only around 17 per cent of Scotland’s land is forest, but the FCS is hoping to raise the proportion to 25 per cent by the second half of this century. That figure, announced two years ago, would involve the planting of around 38 square miles of new woodland every year, but there are doubts as to whether this is realistic. The FCS admits this is an “aspirational” rather than a definitive target, and warns productive arable and improved grassland are profitable in agriculture, and therefore less likely to be made available for tree-planting. But one example proposes the planting of four million trees surrounding Loch Katrine in the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, which would cover around 8,000 acres alone. Equally, the FCS plan aims to cut down on the number of “timber miles” – wood being transported by road – with rail and sea taking precedence. In January, the FCS began a voluntary survey of hauliers, and its findings will be published later this year. Already, the Scottish Government is investing £15m over the next three years to upgrade transport links in order to re-route seven million tonnes of timber from communities and unsuitable public roads. Michael Russell, the Scottish environment minister, who launched the plan yesterday, said Scottish forestry has a “fundamental role” to play in tackling climate change. He said: “Forests have a key role to play in helping Scotland combat climate change, particularly as one of forestry’s great strengths is its ability to deliver a uniquely wide range of social, economic and environmental objectives. http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Why-we-must-plant-enough.3867100.jp

Poland:

28) The Polish Forest Certification Scheme has been endorsed by the PEFC Council following a rigorous assessment process. The Polish system is the second new forest certification scheme to achieve PEFC endorsement this year after Estonia. Forest cover in Poland is 8.6 Mha, almost 28% of the country. About 82% of the forests belong to the State, while approximately 1,4 million forest owners own 16% of the forest land. An average private forest holding is about 1ha/owner. Dr Jaroslav Oktaba, Secretary General of PEFC Polska said “We are delighted with the endorsement as it provides choice for our forest owners and also for the timber and paper sectors which play an important role in our national economy and our trade links with other countries. The international recognition of our national system means that companies can fully participate in the global trade of certified products.” Mr Ben Gunneberg, Secretary General of PEFC added “As with all national forest certification schemes endorsed by PEFC, the standards are publicly available on our website, as is the full independent assessment report which was used to guide PEFC’s decision. The evaluation report includes the now mandatory Panel of Experts peer review which provides an extra level of scrutiny, transparency and accountability which is unique in the assessment of forest certification schemes.” http://www.internationalforestindustries.com/2008/03/13/pefc-endorses-polish-forest-certificat
ion-scheme/

Russia:

29) Forest occupy more than billion hectares in Russia, which is almost one fourth of all world reserves. In the short-range the Government of Russia plans to certificate Russian forest according to the international standards, create reliable system of monitoring of timber origin and traffic to restrain illegal deforestation. Head of Karelia Sergey Katanandov spoke at the session of the Council. Head of the republic has told about implementation of investment projects in the field of forest development and problems which today restrain development of timber processing complex of Karelia. According to Sergey Katanandov, total amount of investments in projects implemented in timber branch of the republic in 2007 has made about 5 billion roubles, that is 36% more than in previous year. Within the past two years export of raw product from Karelia was reduced by half. The same tendency will continue this year. In Karelia there proceeds reconstruction of the largest in the Northwest of the country Segezha pulp-and-paper mill, and after modernization on Kondopoga pulp-and-paper mill waste paper will be used as raw material for paper making. Last year in Petrozavodsk there opened Solomensky saw mill, the factory producing furniture components Swedwood Karelia constructed by IKEA was started in Kostomuksha. According to plans for the branch development, within the next few years in timber branch of the republic there will be created about 3 thousand of additional workplaces. In 2007 in Karelia there have been constructed 260 kilometers of wood tracks, however the normative need has made 540 kilometers. Head of Karelia has suggested to develop the state target program on road network structure development. It is also important to accept the program because the constructed roads will be used not only by timber merchants. As the Prime Minister of Russia has informed, for these purposes Investfond assigns about 1 billion roubles. http://gov.karelia.ru/gov/News/2008/03/0312_15_e.html

30) S&P in a special report said that Russia plans a further moderate increase in duty on April 1, 2008 and a third and potentially devastating increase in January 2009. ‘The duties have already contributed to a considerable drop in timber imports from Russia to the Nordic region. If imposed as planned, the third increase will probably put a complete end to Nordic imports, as Russian wood will be simply unaffordable,’ S&P’s credit analyst Andreas Zsiga, said. S&P said it believes the duties will have a particularly negative effect on supplies of short-fiber pulpwood, such as birch and, to a lesser extent, aspen. They are also likely to result in further indirect upward pressure on wood prices across the wider region. In Finland alone, it is likely to reduce the supplies used by the forest product industry by 10-15 pct, and it is unlikely that the industry will be able to fully make good the deficit through increased supplies from domestic or other sources, S&P said. ‘Faced with this situation, we believe that Nordic companies will have to close further significant capacity in the region and invest in modifying pulp and paper machines to accommodate a different wood supply mix,’ Zsiga added. http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/AFX-0013-23706057.htm

Finland:

31) “The forest industry is in trouble, and exports are slowing down due to slackening international demand,” it added. Finnish forestry firms have warned they are being forced to close down further paper and pulp capacity as rising wood costs are denting already low profits. Russia increased the export duty on hardwood timber to 10 euros per cubic metre last July and plans to raise it to 15 euros in April 2008 and to 50 euros in January 2009. Finland is home to Europe’s biggest paper and board producer Stora Enso , top magazine paper maker UPM-Kymmene and fine paper maker M-real . Inflation has accelerated sharply in early 2008 partly due to higher excise duties and food costs, but the ministry said it expects a slowing growth in housing costs this year, which among other factors will cause inflation to decelerate. But the finance ministry said it sees inflation at 3.3 percent this year, compared with a 2.4 percent estimate given in the autumn, and up from 2.5 percent last year. In 2009, the ministry forecasts an inflation rate of 2.2 percent. http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7374904

Macedonia:

31) SKOPJE — Macedonians took a day off work on Wednesday to plant more than two million trees throughout the country in a bid to revive its forests after fires ravaged an estimated 35,000 hectares (87,000 acres) last summer. The initiative, held under the motto “The Day of the Tree — Plant Your Future,” was organized by Boris Trajanov, prominent Macedonian opera singer and UNESCO Artist for Peace. More than 200,000 people, among them ministers, policemen, government officials, artists and ambassadors, gathered at some 63 sites throughout the country, to plant a “tree for every citizen of Macedonia,” organizers said. The action was a bid to revive the forest cover in Macedonia, which suffered at least 600 devastating fires in summer 2007, mostly caused by human error, but also due to extremely high temperatures, especially in July. It was estimated that more than 35,000 hectares of forests were burned, causing damage of up to 20 million euros (30.9 million dollars) and claiming one victim. Experts said that restoring the damaged ecosystem could take up to 50 years. Macedonian border police joined in the action, planting the trees along the frontiers together with their colleagues from neighbouring Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece and Albania. This is the first such event since Macedonia proclaimed independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5idy_kz6JvlxHbHQJGL2NwrAgtrqw

Kyrgyzstan:

32) In recent years, the agency has brought more than 200 lawsuits against illegal loggers but only one case has actually reached the courts. “It’s difficult to wean people off stealing,” complained Davletkeldiev. “Everyone is involved, from local government officials to our own specialists, the police, the traffic cops who escort lorries carrying illicit timber, and sometimes other law enforcement officers.” Moreover, with only 800 foresters, the agency is short of staff, and does not have nearly enough vehicles to patrol in what are often remote locations. The loss of forested areas increases the danger of a range of natural disasters, such as floods, landslides and droughts. At the same time, the disappearance of trees means a reduction in biological diversity as plants and animals begin dying out. This, too, can affect the health of the surrounding human population. Tatyana Volkova, an ecological expert, sees little future for forests as long as people remain so poor that they have to rely on timber for heating and cooking. She said she was “horrified” by what she had seen in the southern Jalalabad region, where deep gashes in hillsides caused by logging “could at any moment become landslides threatening human settlements.” Experts say the government is not doing enough to preserve the forests. They want tougher laws, a greater focus on environmental matters, and efforts to uphold standards set out in the environmental conventions to which Kyrgyzstan is a signatory. Other recommendations include an expansion in the area of land designated as nature reserves, and more work to explain to local communities why preserving the forests is in their own interests. “People have to start understanding that destroying forests is like cutting down the branch they are sitting on,” said Volkova. “Many of the forests in our country are in such a bad state that they are unable to perform their ecological functions,” said Domashov. “Forests are degrading from the inside.” In the last 50 years, the former Soviet republic has lost more than half its forests, and experts are warning that if logging continues at the current rate, the whole Central Asian region will suffer from a scarcity of water, health problems and more frequent natural disasters. http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2008/2008-03-11-02.asp

Africa:

33) http://www.africanloft.com/ AfricanLoft has a multi-media piece on the state of Africa’s rainforest. The short of it: The band of tropical forests that once extended from Guinea to Cameroon is now a footnote, argues Mongabay.com. This band is called the Guinean Forest, and is known as a biodiversity hotspot, home to 9,000 vascular plant species, 785 bird species and an estimated 320 species of mammals, representing more than 25 percent of all the mammals in Africa. Hey, primate lovers, the region is home to 18 species of primates. And, reptiles too: A 100 species of snakes and all three types of African crocodiles all live within these boundaries. The bulk of Africa’s forests now reside south of Cameroon, especially in the basin of the mighty Congo River. From AfricanLoft: There are a variety of causes for the diminishing forest in Africa – sustenance farming and infrastructure and real estate development, but the major culprit has always been the foreign corporations’ indiscriminate and excessive logging for African prime wood. This quest to export African timber is been aided by poverty, top level corruption, regional warfare, and misplaced priorities of African governments. http://africaflak.blogspot.com/2008/03/west-africas-diverse-forests-now.html

Ghana:

34) The Kintampo South District Chief Executive, Yaw Adjei Duffour, has called for extra measures to check the incidence of illegal logging, in the District. According to him the illegal harvesting of teak in the Anyima and Amoma section of the Bosoma Forest Reserve constitutes a grave loss of revenue to the state. Mr. Adjei Duffour was speaking at the third Ordinary Meeting of the Kintampo South District Assembly at Jema. The meeting should have been held during the last quarter of 2007 but was postponed to this year. The DCE urged assembly members and the traditional authorities to team up to fight the incidence of illegal logging since as it stands now the assembly is not benefiting from exploiting of the reserve. The DCE was not happy about bushfires in the districts this season, saying in one instance two children died and others sustained severe burns. He announced that the assembly will ensure that community members create fire belts to protect them from bushfires. He also called for the intensification of preventive measures. Touching on revenue generation, the DCE revealed that the assembly exceeded its revenue target by 44.7%. Mr. Adjei Duffour said a figure of over GH¢79,000 was raked in although the assembly projected to mobilize just over GH¢43,000 thousand Ghana cedis. http://gbcghana.com/news/18980detail.html

35) A two-day Forest Auditor and Capacity Building Training Course to improve on forest management practices to meet the requirements of forestry standard opened in Accra. It is also to help eliminate illegal logging through forest management and chain of custody certification. The training course being organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) through its Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN) is to provide technical support, guidance and framework for forest managers and committed companies in Ghana to achieve certification. About 40 participants from timber companies and officials from the Forestry Commission across the nation are attending the course to build their understanding of the concept of forest management and chain of custody certification. Mr Mustapha Seidu, Assistant Forestry Programme Officer of WWF, said the fund sought to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans lived in harmony with nature. He said they hoped to achieve this by conserving the world’s biological diversity, ensuring that use of renewable natural resources was sustainable and reducing pollution and wasteful consumption. He said the GFTN had, since 2004 been supporting seven timber companies altogether managing over 390,000 hectares (about 50 per cent of total forest reserve concessions in Ghana) and were at different stages of meeting the requirements of the forest standards. Mr Seidu said the WWF had conducted a number of tailor-made training programmes on reduced impact logging, forest certification and auditing in practice and high conservation value forest concept. http://www.accra-mail.com/mailnews.asp?id=4178