Guest guest Posted August 12, 2006 Report Share Posted August 12, 2006 Today for you we have 38 news items. Number and subject of each listed below. Articles listed further below.--British Columbia: 1) Native history of holding off multinationals, 2) Clayoquot standard vs. Great Bear standard, 3) Save the Tahltan wilderness, 4) Harrop-Procter Community logging Co-operative gets license, 5) Special zone for loggers needed?--Washington: 6) Stop logging owl habitat--Oregon: 7) Cultural shift in protests, 8) Why direct action for the Biscuit? --California: 9) Sierra Pacific's Windmill logging plan--Nevada: 10) White Pine wilderness bill in Senate --Colorado: 11) Chainsaw and bulldozers to make rabbit habitat for lynx --Rhode Island: 12) Tiverton Land Trust to protect 48 more acres--New York: 13) Save the Zoar Valley--New England: 14) Stone wall in the middle of the woods --Pennsylvania: 15) Support of Pennsylvania's Wilderness, 16) Gifford Pinchot's legacy--North Carolina: 17) logging project in Pisgah National Forest, 18) Blowing Rock's town council opposes Forest Service plan to log 231 acres--Kentucky: 19) Power Lines approved in Daniel Boone NF--Southeastern Forests: 20) Forest Service denies of 2.7 million acres of logging plans--USA: 21) federal appeals court overturned Bush forest rules, 22) Series of public hearings, 23) A Road Runs Through It: Reviving Wild Places,--Canada: 24) The city of Timber Baron, 25) Native License Agreement with Terrace Bay Neenah Paper Mill, 26) Spruce Beetle epidemic to end soon.--England: 27) Temple Woods logged to improve old growth?--Sweden: 28) complete switch to biofuels in the works--Finland: 29) Wood value back up after tax change, --Belgium: 30) Controversial felling of trees at Fort III, 31) Action update from Fort III--Burundi: 32) Post civil war treeplanting--Jamaica: 33) 30% forest cover and more reforestation encouraged--Brazil: 34) 46 arrests in Illegal logging bust, 35) Logging the oldest conservation area in Brazil, 36) half of Amazon's recent deforestation in Mato Grosso--Ecuador: 37) Direct Action against exploratory drilling--Bangladesh: 38) 'illegal sale' of roadside timberBritish Columbia:1) Can subsistence hunters bring down a charging multinational company? Or form a united front against corporate tactics of divide and conquer? It does happen. In the 1950s, Dr. Edward Teller ( " Father of the H-Bomb " ) championed a scheme to use nuclear weapons to carve out a harbor in Arctic Alaska. Successful resistance to " Project Chariot " united native villages. In British Columbia, native leaders in ceremonial robes blocked logging trucks on Lyell Island in the Queen Charlottes. The protest helped create Canada's Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve. Haida natives later went to court and won a greater voice in how Weyerhaeuser logs its lands. The great MacKenzie Valley of the Northwest Territories was slated for a natural-gas pipeline in the 1970s. Native villages took their case to a government inquiry headed by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Thomas Berger. Berger's scathing report blocked the pipeline. The project is likely to go ahead, three decades later, with far more direct involvement by the valley's aboriginal residents. Yet, the airplane flight back down to Vancouver shows the pains of a resource economy. At sunset, you can look down and see thousands of drowned trees sticking out of the Ootsa Lake reservoir. Ootsa is a natural lake, dammed and vastly enlarged in the 1950s. Its waters were redirected through the Coast Range to power the giant aluminum smelter at Kitimat. The lands to be flooded were not logged. Thousands of moose, elk and woodland caribou drowned in the debris-filled reservoir. Native subsistence hunters were packed off to farms bought by the government. The result: rampant alcoholism. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/280933_joel11.html2) Chris Genovali, the executive director of the Raincoast Conservation Society and a veteran of the Clayoquot battles of the early 1990s, says, " People are voicing opposition to the Clayoquot plan, but calling the Great Bear Rainforest plan great conservation. I don't think you can have it both ways. " Even with the recently announced logging plans, 61 percent of Clayoquot is protected, he says. Logging similar to what's allowed under ecosystem-based management will be applied to some 90,000 hectares. But over in the Great Bear, only 30 percent of the landscape is protected, and some 4.4 million hectares will be open for logging. " If you just look at it objectively you have to conclude that these two positions don't mesh, " says Genovali. " What's happening in Clayoquot right now highlights how inadequate the Great Bear Rainforest deal is from an ecological standpoint. That shouldn't be lost on the public right now as the Clayoquot controversy heats up again. " Groups signing on to the Great Bear Rainforest deal include Greenpeace Canada, the Sierra Club of Canada's B.C. Chapter, Forest Ethics and the Rainforest Action Network. " We don't see this as an inconsistency, " says Lisa Matthaus, a Sierra Club director. The plans for the Great Bear were drawn after a scientific study, she says. " That contextual question has never been asked in Clayoquot Sound . . . Until the contextual question is asked on a regional basis for Vancouver Island, I don't see an inconsistency with where we got to on the Great Bear Rainforest. " Genovali says the situation in Clayoquot is a reminder that environmentalists should be careful about declaring victory too soon. http://web.bcnewsgroup.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=117 & cat=23 & id=704688 & 3) There are few places in the world more beautiful than the wilderness area that British Columbia's Tahltan people call home. There are great sweeping mountains, volcanic cones, surging rivers and lakes so clear that you can look down from a float plane and see fish swimming. On dark cliffs, white mountain goats shine like flecks of mica and driving the Stewart Cassiar Highway north from Kitwanga, it is not unusual to round a curve and find a pair of black bears sitting on the centre line. In that stunning landscape, the Tahltan have some special places and few are more spiritual than the place they call Klabona, or " sacred headwaters. " Here in a range of mountains can be found the beginnings of three of the West's great salmon rivers: the Skeena, Stikine and Nass. Over the long weekend the Iskut Band, part of the Tahltan First Nation, played host to an unusual gathering in those mountains that included hereditary leaders of four other northern bands: the Gitxsan, Wet'suwet'en, Haida and Haisla. They were there to talk about the sacred headwaters and the threat they see in the growing demand for access to the area from resource companies. In addition to being rich in wilderness values, the Tahltan country also has gold, coal, methane gas, timber and potential hydro power. Last year, the Iskut band blockaded the main access road into the headwaters in an effort to keep Fortune Minerals from developing the Klappan coal fields. In June, some elders tried to block bcMetals from drilling in the area. The Iskut Band had also made it clear to Shell Canada last year that they are opposed to the extraction of coal bed methane gas in the region. Guujaw, president of the Haida Nation, said that saving places such as the sacred headwaters is something that he thinks a broad spectrum of the public will support. " Is it only a native fight? No. It's got to be everybody's fight . . . http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060808.BCNATIVES08/TPStory/Environment 4) The Province has offered the Harrop-Procter Community Co-operative a 25-year forest licence, providing it with long-term certainty in managing the local forest in the local interest, announced Forests and Range Minister Rich Coleman today. "This long-term agreement will allow Harrop-Procter to continue building on its vision for a strong, vibrant forest economy," said Coleman. "This government is committed to more community involvement in managing local forest resources." The Harrop-Procter community forest covers about 10,900 hectares of public land near the communities of Harrop and Procter east of Nelson. The Harrop-Procter Co-op works with local sawmill owners and remanufacturing businesses to produce rough-cut lumber and home finishing materials, which support local manufacturing jobs. "When we began this adventure with a five-year pilot project, we were hopeful we could acquire a longer-term agreement," said David Johnson, chair of the Harrop-Procter Community Co-operative. "We are very pleased that the Province's confidence in our organization's performance and in the community of Harrop-Procter has resulted in a 25-year agreement, allowing us to explore more economic opportunities and to create as much local employment as possible." Since August 2004, government has provided new or expanded community forest opportunities for 26 communities across the Province. These agreements give local governments, community groups and First Nations the opportunity to more fully participate in the stewardship of local forest resources. New community forest agreements are limited to a term of five years, after which they may be extended for another five years or replaced with a long-term agreement. --Tiffany Akins BC Public Affairs Officer 250 356 7503, Reference #: 2006:###FOR0098-0010355) " A special economic zone means that you put a wall around an area of the province where you can be very creative, " says Roger Harris, former junior minister of state for forestry. " Maybe we have a unique silviculture policy, maybe a different policy for BC Timber Sales - when you say " special zone, " it really says nothing, so under that window you have to put down a menu of options and choices that government can look at doing in that zone which will get things rolling again. " People from virtually every sector of the northwest woods industry are once again calling on the provincial government to designate the area a special economic zone for forestry. It's a call that's been made numerous times over the last two decades. This time the calls are more urgent because a high Canadian dollar, a soft international lumber market and costly softwood lumber tariffs are strangling an already devastated industry. The idea of a special economic zone in which companies would pay lower amounts for the timber they buy from the province and in which the province itself would pay for roads to timber stands and spend money to boost silviculture gained momentum in a 2000 report commissioned by the former NDP government. " The New South Wales Nationals, through the Shadow Minister for Forests, Andrew Fraser, have announced that a National-Liberal Coalition government will throw this code of practice in the bin the day after the state election on March 24, 2007, and we will initiate a proper consultative process. " http://www.wltribune.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=37 & cat=42 & id=706424 & more= Washington: 6) State forestry rules aimed at protecting the northern spotted owl will neither aid the bird's declining numbers nor stop a possible lawsuit from conservationists, a lawyer said Wednesday. " These rules don't protect habitat. Period. End of story, " said Washington Forest Law Center director Peter Goldman, who is representing two Audubon Society chapters threatening to sue the state. At issue are a pair of timber rules adopted Wednesday by the Washington Forest Practices Board, which oversees timber harvesting on 12 million acres of state and private lands. One measure freezes state attempts to open certain owl-protecting buffer zones for logging. The second rule prevents landowners from counting previously logged land as owl habitat. The rules had been in effect since November on an emergency basis. Making them permanent will help stop the slide of protected spotted owls in Washington, Department of Natural Resources officials said. But the rules were not enough for owl conservationists, who favored a stricter approach calling for environmental reviews before logging in owl habitat. " We need a very, very high-level plan to get us out of this mess, " Goldman said. " We're not saying we have all the answers. But you don't just log all the habitat while you're waiting for an answer. " The rules made permanent Wednesday will not forestall a potential lawsuit from the Seattle and Kittitas chapters of the Audubon Society, Goldman said. Those organizations already have filed a required notice of their intent to sue Weyerhaeuser Co. and the state Department of Natural Resources over what the groups see as lax owl protections. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Spotted_Owls.htmlOregon: 7) Ashland resident Andy Kerr, a senior counselor to the ONRC and one of the protesters against roadless-area logging in the Bald Mountain area in 1984, said protests are necessary. " It's important to recognize here that much has changed in the last quarter of a century, " he said. " It's the same issue of trees and the same roadless area, but the public attitude has changed. In the first case, the protesters were ahead of their time. In this case, the Forest Service and the forest industry are behind the times. " The southwestern Oregon protests and arrests have caught the attention of folks in Washington, D.C., said Jennifer Stephens, regional communications director for the Wilderness Society office in the District of Columbia. " As an advocacy organization, we don't condone or support illegal activities, " she stressed. " But this shows how passionate people are in regards to protecting roadless areas. " People are talking about it here, " she added. No one should be surprised by the protests, Sutherlin said. " We were driven to it — people have been pushed to be arrested for what they believe, " said Sutherlin, an Applegate Valley resident. All other efforts to stop the logging had failed, he said. http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2006/0810/local/stories/protest-reax.htm8) In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, " As in so many past experiences, our hopes bad been blasted, and the shadow of deep disappointment settled upon us. We had no alternative except to prepare for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and the national community. " Seeking to draw media attention and raise public awareness on the values of roadless areas and the precedent being set, we formed a peaceful blockade in front of the Siskiyou National Forest office. We then sat down in Medford's main street with potted trees and a banner that read " Roadless is Priceless. " The police quickly moved in and arrested us, charging us with disorderly conduct. Our arrest made national press. I was featured being interviewed and cuffed on southern Oregon's three TV stations. Jail is hardly a vacation. After being in a holding cell with my fellow female protestors for four hours, we had to strip and change into jail clothes (which, despite being hideous, are surprisingly comfortable). Along with two other women from our group, I was assigned a jail cell that already held four other women (mostly there on drug-related charges). The women were surprisingly welcoming, friendly, and supportive of our cause. The cell was cold, bright with fluorescent lights, and rank with despair. Dinner looked and smelled worse than dog food. Most of the cops were respectful, but some were cruel. They yelled, told us we had no rights, made condescending remarks. One " perk " : our cell had cable TV. I never imagined I'd spend a night in jail watching the Princess Bride. Sleep was slow to come that night, but when it did my dreams were vivid and frightening. At 4 am, two officers hauled the girl in the bunk below me off to prison. She was pregnant and battered by her boyfriend. http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2006/8/11/165337/850California:9) Sierra Pacific Industries Windmill logging plan was approved yesterday. Logging could begin any time. The plan includes clearcutting Old Growth Douglas Fir near the coast, several miles north of Petrolia. The 538 acre-logging plan was submitted to the California Dept. of Forestry (CDF) on December 23rd, 2003. A controversial plan from the beginning, it proposed extensive clearcutting and herbicide spraying on the most of the remaining old growth Douglas Fir forest in the Davis creek watershed. This area is home to rare creatures like Spotted Owls, Mountain Beavers and Sonoma Tree Voles. The Mountain Beavers are not actually beavers but a rare type of ancient rodent, a sort of " living fossil " like the coecelanth fish. The company was not required to identify what subspecies they are even though this was the first confirmed report of the creatures in the lost coast region. Clearcutting of the Mountain Beaver sites is likely to kill them. If they aren't crushed in the process they can be killed by the higher temperatures found after the shade from trees is gone. On April 27, 2006 the Fish and Wildlife Service determined that approximately 136 acres had to be removed from the logging plan, otherwise the logging would result in "take" (illegal harm or killing) of the threatened Northern Spotted Owl. 136 acres makes up 1/4 of the original proposed logging area and includes 72 acres of oldgrowth. 129 acres of oldgrowth remain proposed for logging. On June 13. 2006 CDF reopened public comment for 10 days after Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) added a lengthy section to their THP regarding herbicide use and their scope of assessment of impacts to animals. The addition of this information was clearly prompted by a ruling against two of SPI's THPs in the Sierras. The court concluded that SPI's herbicide assessment and "biological assessment areas" were inadequate. As outlined in EPIC's public comments* the ruling applies to the Windmill THP. Public comment closed on June 28th, the plan was approved August 8th, 2006. http://saveancientforests.blogspot.com/Nevada:10) Several of us are working on summaries and analyses. I encourage any and all to download and read the bills--that's more than what any but a handful of people will do. Here's a brief rundown: WHITE PINE, S. 3772 (1) Sell off 45,000 acres of federal land. (2) Give the State 6900 acres for free (3) Give the County 1700 acres of airport expansion and industrial park (4) Give 15% of the land sale proceeds to local and state government (5) Amend the So. Nevada Public Land Management Act to expand the local uses to which proceeds from Las Vegas federal land sales can be used--including a county program to remove turf grass from public institutions; development and maintenance of state parks in Clark County, other things. (6) Amend the same to change the affordable housing standard from affordable to those who make 80% of median income to those who make 120% of median income. Developers will get discounts on federal land if they follow the new standard. The bill contains the fast-becoming-standard special exceptions in " wilderness " and other provisions that will be part of a bigger analysis we and others are working on. http://www.westernlands.org White Pine County in eastern Nevada is at the heart of the Great Basin. It is a place where majestic mountains tower over wide valleys of sagebrush and bunch grass. Mysterious caves and ancient fossils hide in rugged limestone cliffs, and crystalline streams cascade through twisting canyons. This is a land where deer and elk browse among the evergreens and aspens. White Pine County is also home to 5,000 year old bristlecone pines that stand sentinel high on windswept peaks. http://www.wildnevada.org/index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id_8 Colorado:11) A 43-acre stand of mostly mature spruce and fir trees will be thinned out, and the forest floor will be scarified in a manner that spurs regeneration of trees. Snowshoe hares depend largely on conifer needles for food in the winter, so the idea is to provide them with more forage, according to Kelly Colfer, a principal owner of Western Bionomics LLC, a consultant to the Skico. By improving snowshoe hare habitat, the Skico and Forest Service hope to make the area more inviting to lynx, a reclusive predator reintroduced to the state starting in 1999. " Lynx rely heavily on snowshoe hares as prey; consequently, good snowshoe hare habitat translates to good lynx forage habitat, " Colfer wrote in a description of the project. The stand of spruce and fir trees targeted for the local project is on the far east edge of the Snowmass Ski Area permit boundary, between Snowmass and West Buttermilk. Several Forest Service experts, Skico officials and consultants, and a reporter visited the area last week. Although the site is within the ski area permit boundary, the Skico doesn't plan to use it because it is relatively flat. Stark said he rarely has seen ski or snowboard tracks leading into that part of Burnt Mountain because it would require walking out. So a small bulldozer will head to the site from the Elk Camp section of Snowmass in late August or early September. A crew will chop down some of the larger trees, and the 'dozer will topple others to ensure more sunlight penetrates the canopy. It won't be a clear-cut, officials said. A brush rake attached to the bulldozer's blade will uproot and clear vegetation from the ground to improve regeneration of conifer seeds. The Skico's consultant and foresters with the Forest Service discussed the work in the field to make sure they agreed on the targeted density of conifer trees. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is also part of the team. http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20060810/NEWS/108100060Rhode Island:12) TIVERTON – The Tiverton Land Trust has announced the July 26 purchase of a 48 acre strip of undisturbed land from the Alfred and Mary Pereira family, to be held and protected for preservation purposes. The acreage lies north of the Pardon Gray Preserve and east of Main Road near its intersection with the south end of Nannaquaket Road. The purchase price was $350,000, with funding from a combination of state and local sources (see insert). " This is an exciting time to have been able to work with the Pereiras and further the land trust's efforts to preserve Tiverton's rural character, " said Trish Sylvester, president of the Tiverton Land Trust. Negotiations for the purchase began in 2000, when Mary Pereira, the widow of Alfred Pereira, approached the land trust through her daughter Myrtle Letendre, expressing an interest in preserving her family's land that stretched from the roadway to the ridgeline. According to information made available by the Land Trust, " forest cover of this size will support area-sensitive breeding birds " such as the wood and hermit thrushes, and the hooded and worm-eating warblers. The forest is also an important feeding and resting station for migratory bird species. With protection over a few decades, the Trust believes the area could develop into an " extremely rare ecosystem. " According to the Trust, " The Pereira parcel contains a wonderful diversity of habitats seen throughout the Pocasset Ridge area. " These include swamps, upland forest, and exposed areas of ridge and bedrock. " The western wall of the Pereira section of the ridge forms a sheer vertical bluff that towers some sixty-five feet over the swamp below with a sweeping view of the landscape to the west, " said the Trust. Trees found in the area include Sassafras, maple and gum trees, and several varieties of oak, birch, and hickory. http://www.eastbayri.com/story/347365163100087.phpNew York:13) Zoar Valley is Western New York's last unspoiled wilderness and it is in need of our help to see that it receives protected status. Zoar Valley's ecosystems include some of the largest areas of intact Ancient Forest in the eastern United States; shale gorges up to 400' high with spectacular waterfalls; forest, meadow, riverine, stream, pond, and wetland habitats; endangered plants and wildlife; and unblighted species of trees that are facing threats elsewhere – Hemlock, Butternut (White Walnut), etc. Zoar Valley is undeveloped and roadless, providing pristine habitat for wildlife and a true wilderness escape for the rest of us. The NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation has issued a Draft Unit Management Plan for Zoar Valley for public comment. (The draft plan can be viewed on their website.) While the state is proposing to support placing 1,522 acres in the NYS Nature and Historic Preserve Trust, the state is also proposing to adversely impact the remaining 1,405 acres through logging, thinning to promote growth of certain hardwoods for logging, plantation planting of certain hardwoods for logging, putting in permanent logging roads, suppression of vegetation growth to create artificial conditions for hunting (a veritable hunting preserve), and release of non-native game for hunting – all planned without having completed a biodiversity inventory of Zoar's habitats. Public participation in the land planning process for Zoar has already made a world of difference in obtaining protections for some of Zoar's ecosystems. Every comment counts, so please take a minute to send yours to the NYS DEC. Let's leave this one as a legacy to our children and their children and generations to come. And let's remind the DEC that their role is stewards of this public land and the people overwhelmingly want this piece of unspoiled planet earth left alone, forever wild. http://www.heartwood.org/alerts.phpNew England:14) One example of a change in land use that should be familiar to New Englanders is implied by the common sight of a stone wall in the middle of the woods. Of course, nobody builds stone walls in the woods. New England's stone walls have always been a means of separating crop fields and pastures. Robert Frost's classic New England poem, " Mending Wall " paints as evocative a picture of rural neighbors as we have in our literary canon, and describes the construction and mending of walls as a quintessential component of neighbors getting along. There isn't nearly as much farming going on in New England as there once was, and stone walls in the forest are but one evidentiary presence in establishing that fact. Many other indicators of land-use change are much more subtle than that. " After 1970, when satellite imaging became developed enough to be useful, it has been pretty easy to get accurate assessments of land use changes, " Hurtt said in a recent interview in his Strawbery Banke area home. " Our study required history, anecdotal evidence and, of course, scientific exploration to get reliable data. " As America's " manifest destiny " under President Monroe expanded the United States ever westward, farming became much more the province of the Midwest and the plains states, and the fields and farms of New England dwindled, allowed for young forests to develop in New England. The eastern region of the United States, as well the heavily forested northwest, have become the country's lungs, absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere and expressing carbon into it. Hurtt's study is a gridded look at three centuries of land-use change, mapped out across the entirety of the globe degree by degree. It is stunning in its scope and detail, and whatever level a reader's science knowledge might be, much can be learned from the data that has been so fastidiously assimilated by Hurtt and colleagues. http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/08102006/health-f-a10-unh.htmlPennsylvania:15) Let Your Voice Be Heard in Support of Pennsylvania's Wilderness Forest Service Will Hold Two Public Hearings on Allegheny National Forest Plan As you know, the Forest Service's proposed long-term management plan for Pennsylvania's Allegheny National Forest recommends too little wilderness and does not do enough to protect the plants, animals, and recreational opportunities most people care about. The Forest Service must review public comments before finalizing its Land and Resource Management Plan for the forest. If you have not done so already, there are now two ways for you to make your voice heard and support more wilderness in the final Allegheny National Forest Plan. First, the Forest Service has scheduled two public hearings on August 21 and 22 in western Pennsylvania for citizens to make oral comments on the draft forest plan. We really need people to come out and voice their support for more wilderness at these hearings! A court reporter will be present to record testimony. Monday, August 21, 5-9 pm: Spotts World Culture Building, Slippery Rock University (north of Pittsburgh) (Driving directions available at http://www.sru.edu) http://www.wilderness.org16) Gifford Pinchot is often remembered for the two terms he served as governor of Pennsylvania, but his greatest contribution is often overlooked. John Muir, John James Audubon and Aldo Leopold often pop into people's minds when they think of conservation, but those at the U.S. Forest Service would hail Pinchot as the man with the greatest vision for forestry. The second annual Festival of Wood this weekend in Milford celebrates and examines the heritage of wood. The U.S. Forest Service is hosting the event at Grey Towers, the ancestral home of Pinchot, founder and first chief of the forest service from 1905 to 1910. Pinchot suggested using " the resource for the greatest good, for the greatest number of people in the longest run. " Meaning that it was appropriate to use trees but had to be managed. Since no forestry school existed in the United States, Pinchot traveled to France and then Germany and Switzerland to gain knowledge. When he returned, his father endowed the Yale School of Forestry. For 25 years, the school held summer classes in Milford at Forest Hall, which is now an antiques store. http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060811/NEWS01/608110308North Carolina:17) BREVARD — The Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project and Wild South will host a public meeting to address concerns on a U.S. Forest Service logging project in Pisgah National Forest. The meeting will be at 7 tonight at Brevard College's Dunham Music Center. Case Camp Ridge is in the heart of Pisgah National Forest, near the Shining Rock Wilderness. The Forest Service has proposed logging 275 acres of forest between the Blue Ridge Parkway and Looking Glass Rock. The proposal also calls for the use of herbicides to reduce invasive plants and trees such as dogwood, maple and beech. The logged area will be clearly visible from atop Looking Glass Rock – a popular destination for hikers and climbers. Conservation and recreation groups are questioning the scale of the project as well as its effects on recreation and wildlife. http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060810/SPORTS03/60809073/1019 18) At 3,586 feet, Blowing Rock offers spectacular long-range views. The council resolution cited " serious concerns about the negative ramifications of this project on property values, tourism-related impacts, recreational income and wildlife. " Blowing Rock's town council Thursday unanimously opposed a U.S. Forest Service plan to log 231 acres nearby, and asked the agency to create a " scenic view special designation " for the area to be logged. Residents worry that the cuts, in an area known as the Globe, will mar scenic views from the mountain resort town and cause environmental problems from herbicide use. The acreage to be logged would be in 18 parcels spread over several square miles south and west of Blowing Rock. The Forest Service says up to 30 percent of the tree canopy would be left intact, and that edges would be softened around cut areas to make them less noticeable. The district's ranger plans to make a decision in September. Among her options are going forward with the logging as described, modifying it, doing more study or halting the plan. http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/15243290.htmKentucky:19) East Kentucky Power can build a controversial power line through the Daniel Boone National Forest after the U.S. Forest Service issued the permits Wednesday to let the project go forward. The 6.9-mile, 138-kilovolt line will connect a substation near Triplett to a substation near Morehead in northeast Kentucky. Almost five miles of the line will cross through the national forest. Construction of the line through an area known as Big Perry has been tied up for four years in legal and administrative battles between the power cooperative and environmentalists, who say construction of the line will damage the ecosystem in the forest. The co-op said the line is needed to improve the reliability of electrical service in the area because existing lines have been overloaded and have had low-voltage issues. " Project delays already have exposed thousands of residents and businesses to the real possibility of cascading blackouts, " said John Twitchell, East Kentucky Power's vice president of power delivery. " This situation will only worsen until we complete the project. " Two environmentalist groups and Rowan County resident Doug Doerrfeld sued last year in U.S. District Court in Lexington seeking to stop the line's construction, but the case was dismissed as premature. The groups said the line, which would have crossed Big Perry Mountain, would cut through one of the largest chunks of forested land in the area. Doerrfeld said Wednesday that the suit will probably be refiled. The Forest Service failed to consider alternate routes for the power line, including one that would have run the line along Interstate 64 and followed an existing power line, Doerrfeld said. Doerrfeld said the line would be a clear-cut through a popular recreation and wildlife area that already will suffer from a timber sale. " I'm extremely disappointed that the Forest Service has gone ahead and issued that permit, " Doerrfeld said. " We'll follow it through the judicial system and see if we can get some satisfaction. " http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/15235885.htmSoutheastern Forests:20) After a two-year wait, the U.S. Forest Service last month denied an administrative appeal from conservation groups who argued the plans could threaten wildlife habitat in 2.7 million acres of forestland in Georgia, Virginia, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee. Now the Southern Environmental Law Center and other green groups are debating whether to appeal the decision, while vowing to challenge the " worst " projects individually. They are also ramping up local efforts to pressure state governors to use their executive powers to protect more forestland. " At the highest levels, the administration has decided not to respond to what the citizens and public wanted, " said Sarah Francisco, a staff attorney with the center. " It's going to have real impacts on the forest. The plans allow for logging at much higher levels and forests are already aggressively pursuing this. " She pointed to north Georgia's Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest, where the new plan could allow 50 million board feet of timber to be harvested every year. That's nearly double the 28.9 million board feet a year gathered through much of the 1990s. The other plans targeted by the groups involve Virginia's Jefferson National Forest, Tennessee's Cherokee National Forest, South Carolina's Sumter National Forest and the National Forests of Alabama.The federal government stands by the plans, saying that they drew upon unprecedented public participation and will foster better conservation and management of the forest's ecosystem. " Conservation of the forest in the South requires a lot of active management, " said Chris Liggett, the Forest Service's director of planning for the southern region. " You can't just stand back and let things go everywhere. " http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/politics/15244534.htmUSA:21) A federal appeals court today overturned Bush administration forest rules while upholding a lower court decision giving the public greater say in national forest management. The decision by the Ninth U-S Circuit Court of Appeals means the U-S Forest Service must take public comments and consider appeals on projects such as prescribed burns and timber sales on public lands. Thursday's decision stemmed from a 2003 lawsuit by environmental groups challenging the harvest of burned trees in the Sequoia National Forest in Northern California. That plan was approved without public comment or appeals. http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=5267232 & nav=9qrx22) The Bush administration is holding a series of public hearings or " listening sessions " across the country to get the public's input on cooperative conservation projects. According to the administration's website, " cooperative conservation describes the efforts of landowners, communities, conservation groups, industry, and governmental agencies who join together to conserve the environment. " This is an opportunity for the public to speak out in support of our nation's environmental protections and ensure that current environmental laws and regulations are strengthened - not weakened. These meetings, taking place in August and September, are the latest in a series of discussions the Administration has hosted since the President's Conference on Cooperative Conservation in August 2005. The conference identified three broad approaches to improving conservation results: promoting cooperation within the federal government, promoting cooperation between the federal government and others, and eliminating barriers to cooperation in existing policy. Increased cooperation is good, but cooperation and voluntary actions should not replace or weaken existing environmental protections for clean water, forests, and endangered species. The Administration is trying to build momentum to weaken critical environmental laws and has already proposed " Cooperative Conservation Legislation " that would weaken the Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act. By attending these listening sessions or sending your comments, you can tell the Administration that you support strong environmental laws and you do not want them weakened or replaced by voluntary programs. http://www.stopextinction.org/site/c.epIQKXOBJsG/b.933389/apps/nl/content.asp?content_id=%7bB 794FD5F-4440-41B9-8018-2308CC8C5AEB%7d & notoc=123) Wildlands CPR recently released A Road Runs Through It: Reviving Wild Places, a collection of essays that explore the loss of wildlands from the more than 500,000 miles of roads built on federal public lands. While roads for transportation purposes are important, the majority of roads on public lands were not built for that reason, but rather to access and extract natural resources. These wildland roads become veritable highways for off-road vehicles; degrade wildlife habitat and hunting opportunities; spread invasive weeds deep into the backcountry; and damage fisheries and clean drinking water sources by bleeding sediment into streams. In short, roads take the wild out of wild lands.The anthology features some of America's best nonfiction writers, including Barry Lopez, Janisse Ray, David Quammen, William Kittredge and two-dozen others. They tell stories to remind readers, from an emotional and personal level, about the impacts of wildland roads and off-road vehicles, and then move these informed readers to action. For more information contact Tom Petersen, Wildlands CPR and Editor for A Road Runs Through It, at 406-543-9551 or trp.Canada:24) Bernie Banovic of Timber Baron, city councillor and former forest district manager Brian Downie, Dave Martin, president the Northwest Loggers Association and Rick Brouwer from Northwest Timberlands joined together to drive home the importance of making changes here. While they recognize the dangers of appearing that changes could be seen as a subsidy, what they want is the recognition of the factors that make this region unique. They say what they want is not unlike the province's recognition that the pine beetle epidemic in the interior is a crisis worthy of policy changes. " Over the past 30 years we've had a series of failures of major licensees and we haven't seen that in other parts of the province, " says Rick Brouwer, a registered professional forester. " I guess the question is you just have to start to treat it similar to how you are treating the mountain pine beetle area - they are saying it's an area in crisis and this area is in crisis too. " Brouwer suggests a complete change in how the province charges for wood that's cut here. That's because the costs of logging here often far exceed the kind of money that can be made on pulp quality logs. " The way we calculate stumpage right now is you calculate a number and if it's negative you pay 25 cents per cubic metre, " Brouwer says. But he says the real value of the wood is less than 25 cents. Brouwer's floating the idea of what he calls stumpage ledger whereby if the calculation ends up being a negative number, that number be put into an account which could then be sold to companies who pay higher stumpage rates. http://www.terracestandard.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=33 & cat=23 & id=703156 & more= 25) Area native leaders say they're looking forward to negotiating a new Forest Licence Agreement, now that the sale of the Terrace Bay Neenah Paper Mill has been finalized Chiefs from the Mattawa First Nations Tribal Council and the Robinson Superior Treaty say 11 bands in the area of the Kenogami Forest are affected by the wood supply agreement provisions of the sale. Chief Veronica Waboose of the Long Lake 58 First Nation says she's looking forward to taking part in a process that will decide how the forest is managed in the future. And the chiefs are hopeful the deal will provide additional benefits for their communities. http://www.tbsource.com/localnews/index.asp?cid=8558326) Nothing has seemed to slow the beetles' advance — first detected in Kluane National Park in 1994. Since then, the insects have consumed nearly 350,000 hectares of forest in the park, the nearby Shakwak Valley and beyond. Now, researchers say aerial observations over the last two years show the beetles' spread has slowed, and may soon collapse completely. " The numbers were way down, although the area was still large, I'm suspecting somewhere between 40,000 and 60,000 hectares, " said Rod Garbutt, a forest health technician with Natural Resources Canada, about last year's survey. " But within those areas it was almost exclusively very light attacks. " Killing of trees declining Garbutt, who has been monitoring the attack since it began, says less than five per cent of trees were killed in areas infested last year, a marked decline from past years. He says that over time, parasites, disease and predators have put pressure on the insects. Poor weather slowed the bugs' important spring advance as well, as has the natural chemical resistance the trees have to the insects. " These all sort of pile up on top of one another and the beetle population declines as a result, " said Garbutt. While the insect population will collapse, it won't be the last the area has seen of the beetles. " The infestation as we witnessed will essentially be over, however there is always going to be a remnant population of spruce beetle in the forest, " he said. Older and sickly trees will still fall prey to the beetles, but healthy trees should be able to repel their attack. Garbutt said the total collapse of the population should be complete within two years, ending Canada's largest infestation of spruce beetle on record. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2006/08/11/beetle-spruce-spread.htmlEngland: 27) This month people will get the chance to witness the raw power which can fell a one-ton tree and slice it up in seconds. The Forestry Commission's county team are letting people into the secrets of 21st century woodland management. Seeing their colossal timber harvesters at work is rare – 200m safety cordons usually surround the machines. Operations manager Hugh Mannall said: " Our demonstration in Temple Woods, north of Bourne, will be the first of its kind in the county. And our felling machine is going to be the star of the show. " People will be able to see for themselves why we always seal off the areas they are working in. " The chainsaws at the ends of their massive hydraulic arms run so quickly a broken link would fly off at the speed of a rifle bullet. Operators sit behind specially armoured glass just in case. " It only takes a second to slice through a one-tonne tree trunk. The machine then holds it aloft as it strips off the branches and chops it into logs. " Mr Mannall said the event, starting at 1.30pm on Thursday, would also give people an insight into the region's biggest ever landscape restoration scheme.South Lincolnshire is part of the Commission's 17,300-acre Ancient Woodland Project to restore the region's forest to the way it would have been in medieval times. Booking is essential for the demonstration, which is free. Call 01780 444920 to book. http://www.stamfordtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=837 & ArticleID=1689723Sweden: 28) Sweden has announced a national plan to wean itself off the black stuff by 2020. In 'Costing the Earth' Tom Heap asks if the Swedes can really pull it off . In Sweden they believe that the commitment will pump investment into renewable energy. Saab and Volvo are already reaping big profits from their best-selling bio-fuel cars whilst universities and research centres throw time and money into the search for new energy sources. Stable, cheap, reliable power should give Sweden 's export industries a commercial advantage, no longer reliant on foreign governments or world oil markets. Tom visits the city of Vaxjo which made the same oil-free commitment ten years ago. Today the university is running one of the most advanced bio-fuel plants in the world, making use of the forests that still carpet the country. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/costingtheearth.shtmlFinland:29) After a lull in timber sales during the spring, sales volume is back to normal in Finland, with forest owners doing brisk business with all grades of wood. The wood processing industry is producing record amounts of paper, paperboard, and pulp. Sawn timber is also selling well. Earlier in the year, forest owners were selling wood at a rate of about one third less than in the previous year. The slow start to the year was attributed to changes in taxation that took effect at the beginning of 2006, prompting sellers to keep an eye on the development of wood prices. The change in taxation allowed all forest owners to shift to a taxation system based on actual sales and not just potential earnings based on forest ownership. In previous years, some forest owners were taxed on the basis of the surface area of their forest holdings, providing an incentive to cut and sell as much as possible. Figures put out by the Finnish Forest Research Institute indicate that the industry tolerated the vacillation of forest owners for four months. By early May prices of pine and fir rose quickly. There were also hidden price hikes; UPM began to pay for branches and treetops, which it had previously taken for free. Metsäliitto lowered its quality standards for logs, which means that it is buying lower quality wood at previous prices. http://www.hs.fi/english/article/High+wood+prices+inspire+forest+owners+to+sell+timber/11352 21019067Belgium:30) Preparations for the controversial felling of trees at Fort III in Borsbeek started at about 8am on Wednesday, but three green Groen! politicians were arrested for trying to hinder the work. The trees are to be cleared to maintain the safety of the Deurne Airport at Antwerp, but a group of about 20 protestors have been staging a sit-in protest at the forest for more than a week. The protestors are fighting against the disappearance " of the biotope of endangered bats for an economically non-profitable airport " . The contractor designated the area on Wednesday morning where only workers will be allowed to enter and police urged the protestors to leave. The protestors refused to move. Some 25 activists were then forcibly removed from the trees. One of them had chained himself to a tree so that workers needed a chainsaw to free him. Groen! politicians Freya Piryns, Frans Neyens and Johan Malcorps were arrested for standing in front of the vehicles of forest clearing workers. The arrested activists were to be questioned at the Mortsel police station. A pregnant activist who spontaneously developed a blood nose was taken away for medical treatment. Meanwhile, it has been revealed that the Flemish government has not yet issued an urban development permit to the contractor. This means that the complete clearance of the forest at the Fort is still not possible. The contractor is reportedly only in possession of an environmental permit, which allows only the clearing of specially marked trees. http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=48 & story_id=32173 & name=Activis ts+arrested+in+forest+clearing+protest31) At the eviction, 13 people got arrested on the ground and 6 persons in treehuts. Among the arrestants some local politicians and a former member of parliament from the green party, supporting the occupation, got arrested. Until now only a small part of the action camp is sealed off and 3 huts got evicted. During the night of Monday the 31st of July to 1st August, about 20 activists occupied the forest on Fortress III near Antwerp. They did this to protest against the clearcutting of a valuable, bij european law recognised nature reserve with the excuse of the " safety " (read: possible development plans) of the local airport. This airstrip already costs taxpayers more than 3 million euros a year and is mostly used for private business jets. GroenFront! (EarthFirst!) doesn't agree that the biotope of endangered species such as the Natterer's bat must disappear for an economically not profitable airport hardly 35 kms from Zaventem, which is the main Belgian airport. For this reason they have decided to defend the forest by means of an occupation. In less than a week's time the activists have built a whole tree-hut village with 13 huts and one tower. At the beginning, most huts were built during night, but since Friday people have been working day and night. It's the first time that such a big action camp has been built on elevated tree-platforms in such a short time span. The occupation aims at physically preventing the cutting of the trees for as long as possible. Meysmans BVBA, the company hired to do the cutting, originally planned to make their preparations on the 1st of August and to start with their destroying work on the 2nd of August, however it seems now that they will start on Wednesday the 9th or Thursday the 10th of August. http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/08/347369.htmlBurundi:32) Through the project, local people are planting 400,000 trees in a 600-acre area. Organizers hope that reforestation will increase water supplies for farmers in the region. When Mukashama married in the late 1980s, the area was forested and the couple's fields were fertile and productive. They were self-sufficient and able to send their children to school, she says. Known for its beans and sorghum, the region helped supply the rest of Burundi with these staples. A rapid demise of the area's forests began in the 1990s. After civil war broke out in 1991, the government felled trees to destroy shelter for rebels. People cut trees for fuel and to create pasture for cows. Throughout the 1990s, Africa as a continent experienced the highest rates of deforestation in the world. Within Africa, Burundi placed first in deforestation—an incredible 9 percent annually, according to figures supplied by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. This was 45 times higher than the 0.2 percent annual rate of global deforestation in the 1990s. In northern Burundi, deforestation has affected agriculture in two major ways. Without trees that add moisture to the atmosphere, it has rained less, prolonging the dry season. When it does rain, the water washes topsoil from the denuded areas. In nearby Vumbi district, 47-year-old Sophie Nkankuyo says she and her neighbors hoped and prayed for an end to the interminable dry season, believing their hunger would end. But when rains finally came, the water washed away most of their newly planted seedlings—and dashed their hopes. Viewing the world from her corner of Burundi, Nkankuyo says she and her neighbors are witnessing the biblical apocalypse. " We have no reason to think our children will outlive us, the parents, " she says. http://www.mcc.org/news/news/2006/2006-08-10_burundi.htmlJamaica:33) It is estimated that Jamaica has a land area of 10, 991 square kilometers. In a land use cover survey done in 1998, it was revealed that 30 per cent of the island had forest cover with 110, 000 hectares designated forest reserve, while 428, 000 hectares was estimated to be non-forest land. The Department provides a variety of seedlings to communities wishing to develop forests. These include timber trees including cedar, mahogany, mahoe, and ornamental trees such as puis and poor man's orchid. Mr. Bennet said the seedlings are mostly offered free of cost but assured that in instances where there are costs attached to some of the species, these are minimal, " so the cost of establishing any area of trees for community beautification in terms of the provision of the seedlings and the technical advise is borne by the Department and ultimately the government " . Speaking to the long term benefit of the forests to the community, he said, that, " you want trees to help to provide relief from a boring concrete environment, the trees provide shade, provide for bird and other animals to live, the trees will provide some shelter from winds, it helps with control of dust and such pollutants plus remember trees take in carbon dioxide that we breath out " . An average of 20 hectares (50 acres) of trees are needed to absorb the carbon dioxide released from one car over its lifetime. Planting trees on the south and west side of an house or office building can reduce energy costs by 20 to 50 per cent. In addition, trees can enhance property values, increase community pride and serve as a buffer for traffic noise. http://www.jis.gov.jm/agriculture/html/20060810T100000-0500_9707_JIS_FORESTRY_DEPARTMENT_SEEKS _TO_INCREASE_FOREST_COVER_IN_URBAN_AREAS_.aspBrazil:34) Police arrested 46 people, including 16 agents of the federal environmental protection agency, for allegedly operating illegal logging operations in the Amazon rain forest and in southern Brazil, the environment ministry said Wednesday. The group is accused of selling an estimated 32 million cubic feet of illegally logged tropical hardwoods, worth an estimated $25 million, the ministry said. The environmental agents are accused of selling permits that allowed loggers to cut down and transport trees while breaking Brazil's strict environmental laws. Other members of the ring included loggers and lobbyists, the ministry said. Federal police carried out arrests in four states. Police called it the second-largest operation to crack down on illegal logging. The biggest was in June, when federal police and environmental officials broke up a ring involving 74 suspects in five states. http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/08/10/100wir_a8brz001.cfm35). The National Forest of Caxiuanã is the oldest unit of conservation created in the Amazonian. It dates from 1961 and it includes parts of the municipal districts of Portel and Melgaço. The area shelters a base of scientific researches of the Museum Emílio Goeldi. The deforestation, according to Marcílio Monteiro, state superintendent of Ibama, had origin in Portel and it was already threatened the unit of environmental conservation. At least one of the seven operations that the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and of the Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) maintains in course against the illegal deforestation in Pará was ended yesterday. Only one incursion in the National Forest of Caxiuanã apprehended hundreds of cubic meters of wood in log, motor-saws, trucks and guns, among other, besides the application of almost R$ 150 thousand in fines. Baptized of 'Surucuru', the operation was practiced from June 24 to August 7, in partnership with the battalion of Environmental Police of the Military police. To proofs for pictures of satellite of the accusations of illicit environmental in points of the forest it mobilized Ibama to counterattack the vandals. A team of 20 fiscal, with the military policemen's reinforcement, it identified and it destroyed several clandestine highways used for the drainage of the illegally extracted wood. Some of those roads had more than 50 kilometers of extension. They were made apprehensions of 1.400 cubic meters of wood in log, 30 cubic meters of sawed wood, two mountain sheets, ten motor-saws, 100 liters of fuel, eight cartridge holders, four home-made weapons and heavy machinery. The organ applied fines that added R$ 142.962,40. Nobody was arrested. Marcílio Monteiro recognized that the incursion won't be enough to impede the deforestation in the area. http://planetsave.com/ps_mambo/index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id=7629 & Itemid=69 36) According to the Brazilian government, nearly half of Amazon deforestation in 2003 and 2004 occurred in Mato Grosso, though total forest loss in the Amazon basin dropped by about 37 percent between 2004 and 2005, from 10,088 square miles (26,129 sq km kilometers) to 7,298 square miles of rainforest (18,900 square kilometers). The new NASA images show the ongoing transformation of the biodiverse rainforest for pastureland and farms. 60-70 percent of deforestation in the Amazon results from cattle ranches while the rest mostly results from small-scale subsistence agriculture. Despite the widespread press attention, large-scale farming (i.e. soybeans) currently contributes relatively little to total deforestation in the Amazon. Most soybean cultivation takes place outside the rainforest in the neighboring cerrado grassland ecosystem and in areas that have already been cleared. Logging results in forest degradation but rarely direct deforestation. However, studies have showed a close correlation between logging and future clearing for settlement and farming. http://news.mongabay.com/2006/0808-amazon.htmlEcuador:37) It sounded like direct action was imminent but Oscar was quite relaxed, ensconced on the top deck of Junin's cloud forest cabaña. The radio communication was rehearsed and intended solely as a mind game. " We're not going to do anything, " grinned Oscar. " We just want to see if the miners are listening and see what they do. " Later, there was a motorbike patrol by company guards that suggested someone may have been monitoring their conversation. There can be a touch of sport at times as the people of Junín struggle against Ascendant Copper, a junior mining company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange that is trying to launch an exploratory drilling project in their bush-clad mountains. But that said, they are tired of the need to fight and a daily struggle can take its toll on community life. We arrived in early April in the rainy season, the two newest international human rights observers sent by the United-States based Intag Solidarity Network which aims to have a permanent presence on the ground. Since Ascendant arrived in 2004 in the Intag region, of which Junin is part, there has been an escalating conflict. Opponents to the project have received death threats, local government meetings have been derailed by the abusive behaviour of the company´s paid supporters and Ascendant purchased property from land traffickers which in reality belongs to the community-owned forest reserve in Junin. Hence the observer programme aims to prevent an escalation of the conflict by making the company aware its tactics are being documented and that concerned foreigners like ourselves are present in the midst of this isolated corner of Ecuador. Bangladesh:38) The Roads and Highways Department (R & HD) has filed a case with Shibganj thana against the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) here on Thursday for 'illegal sale' of a large number of roadside timber of the R & HD. Earlier, the R & HD had lodged several general diaries (GDs) with Shibganj police against the DFO for 'illegal auction sale' of trees on Bogra-Joypurhat highway. The DFO had allegedly sold on auction roadside trees at different places in the district, including Katham area of Nandigram upazila, without informing the R & HD. DFO Shamsul Alam denied the allegations and said forest department has now stopped felling of trees on Bogra-Joypurhat road because of various allegations. But he claimed that the trees belonged to forest department, and there was no need to inform the R & HD about this. R & HD officials had earlier said when forest department started cutting trees on Bogra-Joypurhat highway, they were requested to stop this pending a joint inquiry but they ignored it. More than 2,000 trees on different roads have already been cut and many more marked for auction sale, they mentioned. http://www.thedailystar.net/2006/08/12/d60812012314.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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