123 Earth’s Tree News

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123 Earth's Tree News

This week we have 39 tree news items for you. Items and numbers listed below, condensed articles further below.--British

Columbia: 1) Betty Fights Eagleridge charges, 2) Raw log exports, 3)

Clayoquot Field Station, 4) Clayoquot Field Station, 5) Last Spotted

Owl ain't no whooping crane, 6) Private resorts in wilderness parks, 7)

Save Our Valley Alliance in Port Alberni, 8) Wilderness Committee 2nd

annual Parks Day of Action, 9) Quesnel Alliance, --Washington: 10)

DNR to issue forest health hazard orders, 11) Citizens for Saint Edward

State Park, 12) Nature Conservancy on I-933, --Oregon: 12) Solo

and Borg forests saved, 13) City of Forest Grove logs its drinking

watershed, 14) A better way to manage fire, 15) More roadless logging

begins, 16) Wilderness legislation for Mt. Hood,--California: 17) YMCA redwood logging proposed --Montana : 18) Logging in Swan River, 19) logging of 3,400 acres near Bozeman,--Idaho: 20) WildWest Institute testifies before the Senate

--Colorado: 21) Save Roadless Roan Plateau and Battlement Mesa, 22) They're killing my forest up there--Minnesota: 24) lawsuit challenges Forest Service logging plans--Pennsylvania: 25) Drilling in Allegheny National Forest

--Florida: 26) Trees and preserves flooded by rise in sea level--Puerto Rico: 27) Caribbean National Forest--USA: 28) Roadless review hearings, 29) temperature increase correlates to wildfire--Canada: 30) Traditional territory of Grassy Narrows, 31) Reverend Billy action,

--Brazil: 32) Via Campesinaís occupation--China: 33) World's greatest forest consumer denies wrongdoing,--Bangladesh: 34) Moulvibazar forests threatened--Vietnam: 35) Official in Quang Ngai province resigns after admitting negligence

--India: 36) India's 5000 year old sandalwood industry--Indonesia: 37) Coastlines being wiped out by climate change--Australia: 38) Sandalwood plantations, 39) Save Arcadia Forest,British Columbia:

1)

How's that? Civil disobedience strengthens the law? Yes. The history of

the evolution of law that governs human rights is primarily the history

of civil disobedience. It is citizens, by their actions, who turn

unjust laws into just ones, not the courts or the legislatures. In

Louisiana (raised there) I witnessed how civil disobedience of the

black people morphed into laws of equality for all races. And I've

studied the history of the WOBBLYS (our first unionists) who were

jailed and even killed for trying to legalize unions. And along with

these pioneers were all the women who resorted to civil disobedience in

order to gain the vote, or even be considered persons under the law.

First Nations? Look at their history of trying to regain some of their

ancestral lands in BC. Civil disobedience is huge for them. In some

areas it is the only way First Nations have made any gains. In fact,

every law and ruling in the criminal code and the charter dealing with

the humane treatment of citizens is either the direct result of, or has

been heavily influenced, by some group of citizen's previous civil

disobedience. I blockaded a roadway! I want to be charged for

blockading a roadway, which is covered under the criminal code and the

Highways Act. I did not blockade the court. I did not feel contempt for

the court. I feel a healthy contempt for the way Sgt. Almas arrested me

and others, waiting for a foreign company to order our arrest rather

than arresting immediately. And Attorney General Wally Oppal? He is the

one who instructs police on how they should arrest, and why is he under

the control of a foreign company? In spite of this stacked deck

(alliance between courts, police, Kiewit and Sons and Gordon Campbell)

we accused have a right in court to declare that we are not guilty of

the charge of contempt of court. We all have the right to say that

section fifteen of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees

everybody equality under the law and that when the contempt of court

charge (which stands outside the Charter and the criminal code) is used

to place us into a special category where there is no defense, then

that's wrong. We have a right to argue that we shouldn't even be

accused of contempt of court, that the charge itself is wrong. And in

this process we may be influencing the law, even nudging it forward.

Betty Krawczyk 604-255-4427 betty_krawczyk2) The

province plans to question its own raw log policy, but locals are not

convinced change will happen The appointment of Bill Dumont and Don

Wright to review log exports is meeting with opposition in the Cowichan

Valley. Forests and Range Minister Rich Coleman announced the

appointments Thursday to review the rationale for raw log exports and

the effects on industry related issues. Dumont is the former chief

forester for Western Forest Products and Dumont is a former deputy

forests minister, causing Valley forestry pundits and politicians to

voice concerns. " I don't want to be disparaging to the individuals that

were appointed but you've got someone who was involved in making the

decisions that have led us to where we are and someone whose interests

involved exporting logs, " Youbou Timberless Society leader Ken James

said. " A panel of two isn't much of a panel. I'm a little concerned

groups such as ours and enviro-groups won't get equal or fair input.

The two appointees are expected to consult with interested parties,

including unions, forestry associations, industry, communities and

government, yet local MLA Doug Routley feels the public will be left

out of the decision-making process. " I think it's a glaring omission to

leave the public's input out of this, " Routley said. " Coleman has

repeatedly told us that B.C. was driving the bus on the softwood deal.

Now it looks like the bus has hit the ditch. " This review should be

undertaken with the intent of eliminating the export of raw logs. "

Routley said in order for the review to be taken seriously, terms of

reference must be laid out and the report must be made public. 4)

Tofino, B.C. — " Our mission is to inspire conservation of the world's

temperate rain forest, " says Gordon Patterson, an American expat who in

1999 turned his five-hectare private property into the non-profit

Tofino Botanical Gardens, and this summer unveiled the Clayoquot Field

Station, a kind of hostel for students, researchers and anyone

interested in learning about the region. Patterson's new field station

couldn't be more timely: With the B.C. government announcing earlier

this month that it has reopened logging throughout Clayoquot Sound —

ending a 1999 agreement that put the area's pristine watershed off

limits — public interest in local conservation has spiked once more.

The $1.5-million facility opened in June to provide affordable

accommodation in a town where a booming real-estate market has pushed

an acre of empty ocean-front property over the million-dollar mark.

With its basic bunk rooms, communal kitchen, classroom facilities and

$32-a-night rates, Patterson says his field station is inspired by a

similar facility he visited in a biosphere reserve in Costa Rica. The

idea, he says, is to provide a place where rain-forest research and

education can flourish. " It's getting so expensive to stay out here

that we've had Masters students and senior researchers camping out for

months in order to do their work, " he says. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060819.wclayoq0819/BNStory/specialTravel/

home5)

Environmentalists are accusing the federal Conservative government of

" hammering the nail into the coffin " of the spotted owl. The Sierra

Club of Canada held a brief ceremony on Parliament Hill on Friday to

mourn what it says is the impending loss of the spotted owl from

Canada. The group says Environment Minister Rona Ambrose is refusing to

use the Species At Risk Act to protect the owl's habitat from logging

in British Columbia.There are less than two dozen spotted owls left in

Canada - all in British Columbia - compared with 200 birds in the early

1990s. There are about 6,100 spotted owls in the western United States.

Scientists have expressed concern the birds will be extinct in Canada

within four years if logging in their habitats isn't stopped. " How low

must the spotted owl population go before the minister admits that

extirpation is imminent? " asked Stephen Hazell of the Sierra Club.

" Canada's whooping crane population collapsed in the early 20th

century, bottoming out at 16 birds in 1941. Is it not embarrassing to

all Canadians that the federal government is not prepared to fight for

the spotted owl, as Canadian and American governments did for the

whooping crane in the midst of the Great Depression and the Second

World War? " The B.C. government has launched a five-year recovery plan

that focuses on captive breeding and locating owls in new places. But

environmental groups say the plan does not do enough to protect habitat

and they want the federal government to step in. A spokesman for

Ambrose said appropriate steps are being taken to protect the owls.

" We've been working with the B.C. government on this file since we came

into power and right now we've deemed British Columbia's response is

more than adequate, " Ryan Sparrow said. http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/news/shownews.jsp?content=n081865A#6)

Environment Minister Barry Penner recently announced a new government

policy encouraging " fixed-roof accommodations " to be built in

provincial parks. Ten sites have been selected to house the new

facilities. Many of them are seen as Olympic showcase sites, expected

to siphon tourist dollars during the 2010 Games. Although Penner said

" fixed-roof accommodations " could be anything from resort hotels to

Mongolian yurts, it's not hard to guess which sleep-over style the

government prefers for its intended target: an aging population not

interested in slumbering in tents on lumpy ground. " Some people say it

doesn't feel quite the same way when they're 60 as when they're 20, "

Penner noted. Fair enough. But the beauty of the backcountry shouldn't

be compromised for the sake of those with bad backs. An untouched

wilderness, free from amenities like parking lots and double-tall

half-caf lattes, is precisely what prompts people to hike hours into

the bush. The natural state of the forest, valleys, rivers, streams and

mountains should be showcased, not diminished by development. http://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=15 & cat=48 & id=709414 & more=

7)

The war in the woods that seemed to simmer down in the Clayoquot last

week may have found a new flash point in Port Alberni. A local activist

group, including at least one millionaire, blames poorly regulated

logging methods for polluting water, eroding land, damaging roads,

risking lives and sucking jobs out of the area. According to a

statement by the Save Our Valley Alliance in Port Alberni, beginning at

8 a.m. Thursday, members of the alliance will be at the junction of

Horne Lake Road and the Inland Island Highway to protest TimberWest's

logging practices in the Beaufort Range watershed overlookingthe

Alberni Valley. Immediately below the logged-off hillside on the edge

of the Beauforts overlooking the Alberni Valley, activists pointed

angry fingers at TimberWest late last year and early this year over

problems with soil and siltation from the felled slope. Locals

complained of soil and sediment damage to the fish-bearing Woodward

Creek, a reported fish-kill at a small fish hatchery and five

boil-water drinking-water advisories to the homes in the Beaufort Water

Improvement District. They also expressed their frustration about

logging-related damage to roads in the area, which led to the regional

district telling TimberWest not to use the roads in its area any more.

And they voiced anger that the forest industry was hauling huge amounts

of timber out of the valley and away from its mills, leaving the mills

starving for fibre and having to bring supplies in over " the Hump " –

the high point of the highway into the valley from the Inland Island

Highway on the east coast of Vancouver Island. Members of Save Our

Valley Alliance, including president Keith Wyton, continue to protest

the fact that much of the timber harvested in their region is being

exported as raw logs to the United States. http://thetyee.ca/News/2006/08/16/NewWar/8)

On Saturday, August 19th, the Wilderness Committee and 10 other

conservation groups will be in parks around BC for our 2nd annual Parks

Day of Action. The Day of Action seeks to raise awareness amongst park

visitors about the need to protect BC's world famous park system

through the reinstatement of adequate government funding, and the

halting of all privatization and industrial development initiatives

within provincial parks and protected areas in BC. From 11:00am to

3:00pm groups will hand out information and circulate petitions to

educate park visitors about the problems with inadequate funding and

staff, privatization, parking meters, logging and mining in our

protected areas. Conservation groups will be at: Cultus Lake Park,

Pinecone Burquenhead Park, Brandywine Falls Park, Strathcona Park

(Paradise Meadows entrance), Goldstream Park, Rathtrevor, Cathedral

Grove Parks, Sunoka Park, Valhalla Park, Kokanee Creek Park, and Elk

Lake Park. If you can't come to one of these parks, now is a great time

to write a short letter or email to your local MLA. It has only been 3

weeks since the controversial Lodge strategy was announced, and the BC

government will still be gauging public reaction. Find your local MLA

at http://www.legis.gov.bc.ca/mla/3-1-1.htm, or write to:9)

Following up on their Grassroots Environmental Declaration calling for

increased protection of wildlife habitat in the Inland Rainforest of

B.C., representatives from the 12 signatory groups met in New Denver

July 28-29, says Chris Blake, Quesnel River Watershed Alliance project

coordinator. Dr. Lance Craighead a wildlife biologist from the

Craighead Environmental Research Institute presented the Conservation

Area Design (CAD) of the Inland Rainforest of B.C. - a blueprint for

future conservation that shows the highest value core habitats and

travel corridors. The report focuses on protecting habitat for six

species of wildlife: grizzly bear, wolverine, lynx, cougar, gray wolf,

and mountain caribou. Blake said she was particularly struck with one

of the overlay maps which indicate how all six of these large animals

share the same habitat resources on the west side of the Cariboo

Mountains (headwaters of Quesnel Lake) along with some areas just north

of there. " It points out how important this area is provincially and

globally because the Inland Rainforest is the only one of its kind in

the world. Our own backyard is a very special place " said Blake.

" Everyone has different angles and information to share with us on how

to manage the old growth forests, " said Blake. Pat Field from the

Species at Risk office in Victoria also talked about how the three

recovery implementation plans for the threatened species of Mountain

Caribou are moving forward in Victoria. " We expect some significant

news in early September, " said Blake. She said the recovery plans were

developed by three recovery implementation groups working in separate

areas of the province. Each group included representation from a wide

variety of sectors including environmental groups, timber harvesters

and snowmobile and heli-skiing groups. Blake served three years with

the group working on the Hart and Cariboo Mountain recovery area, which

included the three northern regions of Prince George, Central Cariboo

and Kamloops. http://www.mountaincaribou.orgWashington:10)

DNR's plan to return our timberlands to better health is structured in

three levels. The first tier teaches landowners, both private and

corporate, how to better manage their timberlands. The next tier is

reached when landowners fail to follow out the suggested management

goals. That's when they receive a " forest health hazard warning. " If

the landowner continues, either through neglect or willful intent, to

ignore the fire danger on his or her property, DNR will finally lower

the hammer when the third tier is reached and issue a " forest health

hazard order. " Worse yet, if there is a forest fire and the state

determines that the negligent landowner helped to contribute to the

devastation, the landowner could be held liable for damages. That's a

very big hammer, indeed. The Legislature has rejected earlier proposals

from a task force looking into forest health, concluding they either

lacked any enforcement tools or failed to help landowners make the

necessary improvements to their timberland. This latest plan seems to

answer both of those concerns. There's certainly no question our

state's timberlands require constant vigilance. Each year, more than 13

percent of annual forest growth is lost to diseases. In Eastern

Washington, the damage is particularly severe. Douglas fir has taken

the place of the once prevailing stands of ponderosa pine and larch,

leading to the further spread of bug infestations. But help is on the

way. Through the assistance of universities and government agencies,

DNR will provide landowners with the most up-to-date ways to improve

the health of their timberlands. Also, through demonstration sites

across the state, landowners can see how preferred practices actually

get the job done. Again, education appears to be the hallmark of this

plan. That's where the attention should be centered. Far more can be

gained through cooperation than through the fear of heavy-handed

enforcement. http://www.yakima-herald.com/page/dis/28683865049944511)

WALKING THROUGH SAINT EDWARD State Park on the northeast shore of Lake

Washington feels vaguely like walking through a college campus on

spring break. Despite the activity -runners jog on trails lined with

Douglas firs and big-leaf maples, toddlers climb through a wooden

playground with castlelike turrets and swimmers shiver underneath

towels as they leave an Olympic-sized indoor pool on the grounds-the

316-acre park in Kenmore has an empty feel to it, perhaps due to the

massive brick Catholic seminary building that's at its center. The

building has sat empty since the state took over ownership of the

property nearly 30 years ago. That could soon change. McMenamins - a

Portland-based developer of pubs, restaurants and hotels - has made a

proposal to Washington State Parks to lease the seminary building and

renovate it, turning it into a hotel with 75 to 100 guestrooms,

restaurant and a conference center with gardens and parking, consuming

up to 20 acres of the park. The company expects the renovation to cost

$8 million to $10 million. " The scale and scope of the proposed

development is so huge it would completely take over the park, " says

Ray Benish of Bothell, a member of Citizens for Saint Edward State

Park, a group that's opposed to the project with concerns that range

from traffic to the consumption of alcohol on park grounds. " There

would be no park left. " The group numbers about 50 people, and most

live within 10 miles of the park. While it would be easy to dismiss

them as the usual not-in-my-backyard opponents, they raise valid

issues, especially about the idea of a private business opening shop in

a public park. " I'm not opposed to McMenamins, because they have a good

reputation and they have done a good job with their developments in

Oregon, " says Manny Mankowski of Kirkland, another member. " But I am

opposed to privatization of parks. " http://www.seattlemag.com/12)

The Nature Conservancy does not often weigh in on ballot measures. But

after much deliberation, we have joined Citizens for Community

Protection, a broad-based coalition of conservation groups, business

leaders, labor organizations, and others opposed to Initiative 933.

Thanks to the support of thousands of dedicated members like you, the

Conservancy is a major landowner in Washington. So you might think of

this as a business decision by the Conservancy. On your behalf, the

Conservancy has made significant investments in Washington's

landscapes, much as a homeowner invests in his or her neighborhood. And

in the same way, those special places could be harmed by incompatible

uses on neighboring lands. More to the point, opposing I-933 expresses

a value at the heart of the Conservancy's mission: mutual

responsibility to the health and safety of our communities—for those

who live here now and those who follow. By supporting the No on I-933

campaign, we're underscoring our commitment to this life-affirming

mission and to our collective responsibility as citizens and

conservationists. http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/washington/contact/art18708.htmlOregon:

13)

An almost 10-year battle to stop the old-growth Solo and Borg Timber

Sales culminated in victory last week. Judge Garr King ruled in

district court that the Forest Service failed to analyze the

consequences of clearcut logging 220 acres of old-growth forest and

suggested that they should consider "...abandoning these projects." The

Forest Service may appeal the decision, but their success is unlikely.

Thank you to everyone who helped groundtruth, write comments, attend

protests, and of course, to Pete Frost and the attorneys at Western

Environmental Law Center! To celebrate this victory, I hope you can

join us on our September Bark-About to the Solo Timber Sale Sunday,

September 10. In the meantime, have a great weekend and don't forget to

purchase your raffle tickets (tickets available online until 5pm

tomorrow!) for your chance to win one of two Mt. Hood getaways and to

support Bark's continued efforts to protect Mt. Hood National Forest. http://www.bark-out.org13)

Long before it gushes out of faucets, sprinklers and shower heads, much

of Forest Grove's drinking water first flows through a patch of Coast

Range woods four miles northwest of town. The 4,400-acre property,

owned by Forest Grove, is home to fir trees, red huckleberry shrubs, a

robust population of black bears, as well as two competing demands

which directly affect the quality of the city's water – as well as its

price. Preserving the trees above and around these creeks helps

maintain water purity. Cutting them down garners a hefty chunk of money

used to lighten citizens' water bills. The man in charge of balancing

the forest's health with its cash-generating capacity is Scott

Ferguson, whose company, Trout Mountain Forestry, oversees timber

harvest and regeneration in the watershed. Forest Grove first drew

water from the region in 1908, and began buying up land in 1917. Most

of the current property was acquired by the end of World War II, and

the city started actively logging in the area in 1950. Sizeable blocks

of forest – some as large as 160 acres – were harvested at once. The

clear-cutting continued for nearly 40 years, until public pressure

ended the practice in 1989. Heavy logging had caused the soil structure

of the steeply sloping hills to become unstable, said Ferguson. The

effect road failures and mud slides were having on water quality was a

main concern."This is a risky soil for a watershed creek area," he

said. "We want to keep the soil disturbances down." Now, about 40

percent of the property is essentially off-limits to logging. In the

remainder of the watershed, a thinning-based system is used to

selectively remove about 200 to 250 truckloads of trees annually

without large-scale environmental disruption. Roughly a million board

feet are sold to mills each year by the city, which translates to about

$300,000 in revenues. In the meantime, new and existing stands are

maturing rapidly, said Ferguson. "The growth is about double of what

we're cutting." Rather than build permanent roads to access diverse

areas of the forest, loggers now rely on the existing 17 miles of roads

for their thinning projects, and set up temporary ones only when

necessary. Soon, they'll also be installing a cable logging tower to

selectively extract trees from hard-to-reach areas. http://www.forestgrovenewstimes.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=115575363752165700

14)

I first experienced it in 1987. Because there were so many fires

locally and across the West that year there was no way the Forest

Service could actively seek to suppress them all. Therefore, a

significant number of 1987 fires burning in the Klamath Mountains were

" loose herded. " What this means is that a small locally-led crew was

dispatched to observe the fires up close and, when opportunities

presented, to steer the fires into rocky, sparsely vegetated and more

remote areas and away from towns and homesteads. Allowing backcountry

fires to burn unless and until they move toward residential areas frees

up suppression resources to concentrate on the forest-community

interface areas where fires can and should be quickly and aggressively

controlled. The restrained, local approach also results in reduced

impacts to forest ecosystems and considerably less post-fire erosion

and watershed degradation. This strategy local leadership working with

rather than against natural, backcountry fires is both feasible and

effective. But it is unlikely to be adopted on a large scale any time

soon. That is because the power and profits of the massive fire

bureaucracy and the army of no-bid contractors depend on the

continuation of the command-and-control military-industrial approach to

forest fire suppression and because politicians can manipulate the

public's fear of wildfire for their own advantage. http://www.counterpunch.org/pace08162006.html15)

AGNESS – Helicopters will be heading to the Agness area " any day now "

to begin harvest of areas damaged by the Biscuit Fire, which burned

499,965 aces in 120 days in July 2002. Silver Creek Timber Co. was the

high bidder of three for salvaging the Blackberry area, southeast of

Agness. Silver Creek bid $1,673,720.80 for the rights which officials

had originally estimated would bring in less than $320,000. " It sold

quite well, " Patty C. Burel, public affairs officer for Rogue

River-Siskiyou National Forest, said Friday. " It is the last of the

Biscuit sale. " The Blackberry area contains 274 acres with an expected

harvest of 7.9 million board feet. The area, part of the nationwide

inventory roadless area, will be harvested with helicopters with no

roads allowed for trucks. " The fellers go in and cut down the trees, "

Burel said. " Then they fly the trees to a site where they can be loaded

onto trucks. " The area will remain roadless, " she said. http://www.currypilot.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=1335816)

This plan is a compromise between Wyden's legislation to protect nearly

180,000 acres around Mount Hood and in the Gorge and the smaller

77,000-acre plan that was passed by the US House of Representatives in

July. While ONRC believes there are many more Wilderness quality areas

that should be protected, the Wyden/Smith compromise would be a huge

step forward for wildlands and river protection in Oregon! The

compromise plan includes everything that that would be protected under

the smaller House package. But it also protects many important places

that were left out, such as the scenic canyons along the White River,

the important wildlife migration corridors of Bonney Butte, the

old-growth forest surrounding Memaloose Lake, and the beautiful

whitewater of the East Fork of the Hood River! http://www.onrc.orgCalifornia:17)

Under a logging plan the YMCA of San Francisco submitted to the

California Department of Forestry, 360 acres of its 907-acre Camp Jones

Gulch site west of La Honda would be selectively logged over the next

century. The logging permit plan, which the CDF will consider at a

public hearing Thursday was created partly to generate income for the

camp and partly to reduce a major potential fire hazard in the dense

woods that surround the year-round nature camp for children and adults.

" They're proposing to cut the trees to the maximum allowable limit in

our district — it's not sustainable in the long term, " said Lennie

Roberts, legislative advocate with the Committee for Green Foot hills.

Roberts and several local residents have lobbied the YMCA to withdraw

its plan, which was submitted to the CDF in June, and they intend to

make their voices heard at the only public hearing the issue will

likely receive. They are concerned that the use of heavy machinery to

transport lumber and equipment and maintain logging roads, especially

in the rainy season, will create landslides and disturb animal habitat

on the forest floor. The harvester also plans to apply pesticides to

tanoaks and other, smaller trees. Cutting of old-growth trees is

prohibited under the proposal, but environmentalists worry that the

permit, which would be issued in perpetuity, would allow the YMCA to

amend the plan anytime in the future. Roberts is especially concerned

about soil erosion resulting from work on steeply angled slopes,

particularly in winter. " You're disturbing the soil, and it washes away

downstream and affects the fish in Pescadero Creek and Pescadero

Marsh, " she said, echoing the findings of a California Department of

Fish and Game biologist who reported on past causes of erosion in the

watershed. More surveys will be conducted prior to the beginning of the

harvest. http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/localnews/ci_4188751Montana:18)

A logging project to reduce fire danger on the uphill side (North) of

the Swan River Nature Trail should take place this winter. The trail is

located along the river corridor known as the Wild Mile east of

Bigfork. Approximately 480 acres of land, the majority of which is

owned by PacifiCorp, will be thinned to protect the area from fire

danger.With advanced logging technology and a concern for ecology,

this project will seek to reduce risk while promoting forest health and

wildlife habitat. " We're really trying to balance the goals and

objectives of this project while being sensitive to community

concerns, " Jerry Roppe, a manager for Pacific Power, said. " We want to

ensure diversity and wildlife habitat while following the theme of fire

risk reduction. " Haveman's role as a " logging artist " will be to cut

the trees in a way that creates natural, mosaic patterns. Not every

dead tree will be removed due to wildlife habitat concerns. His

equipment is state-of-the-art, as described in a previous Bigfork Eagle

article, and reduces the damage caused by heavy machinery. " This will

be minor compared to what could happen, " he said. In fact, frequent

users of the trail will be hard pressed to even notice the logging

project. Parts of the trail will be closed at times for safety reasons,

but visually, the area around the trail will look about the same as it

does now. Very little work will occur between the river and the trail.

Because of the steep slope, PacifiCorp may need to cut into the bank

above the trail, but will reshape any land disturbed by the project. http://bigforkeagle.com/articles/2006/08/17/news/news02.txt19)

BOZEMAN — The U.S. Forest Service says it will remove trees and debris

by logging and burning on 3,400 acres south of here, to help protect

the city's watershed in case of fire. An earlier proposal called for

work on up to 9,000 acres. Ranger Jose Castro of the Gallatin National

Forest said it is not a matter of if — but when — a wildfire occurs in

the area important to Bozeman's water. Some of the trees to be removed

have market value, Castro said, but overall the project will cost more

than it brings in. An environmental group, the Greater Yellowstone

Coalition, said it supports collaboration by the Forest Service and the

city to address concerns about water quality. http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060820/NEWS01/60820006

Idaho:20)

During my testimony I told the senators that the WildWest Institute is

an active participant in a number of collaborative efforts to help

protect communities from wildfire and move real restoration work

forward on our national forests. Our goal is to work together with

diverse interests to help protect communities from wildfire and be a

catalyst for the establishment of a new, sustainable restoration

economy in our region. For example, we helped form and serve of the

steering committee of the Montana FireSafe Council, which serves as a

clearinghouse for homeowners seeking information, resources and

assistance on community wildfire protection. WildWest is also an active

member of the Salmon Forest Collaborative in Lemhi County, Idaho and

the Kootenai Forest Stakeholders Coalition in Lincoln County. Together

with community members, county commissioners and business leaders we

are seeking to find common-ground surrounding community wildfire

protection and restoration projects on the Salmon-Challis and Kootenai

National Forests, respectively. We joined forces with the DeBorgia

Volunteer Fire Department for a tremendously successful community

wildfire protection work weekend to create defensible space around the

homes of elderly members of that community, along key roads and

establishing a safety zone near the firehouse and community center.

While Congress and the administration continue to increase funding for

controversial industrial logging - including logging of ancient,

old-growth forests and roadless wildlands - we have yet to meet anyone

within the Forest Service who believes that Congress is even coming

close to properly funding ecologically-based restoration programs. As I

told the senators, this is unfortunate because if Congress is looking

to help revitalize rural communities, the best place to start is shift

their misplaced funding priorities from more industrial logging into

the watershed and road restoration opportunities that abound on our

national forests. http://www.newwest.net/index.php/citjo/article/10858/C38/L38Colorado:21)

The fate of the Roan Plateau and roadless areas on Battlement Mesa is a

personal issue for outfitters such as lifelong Republican Jeff Mead,

owner of Rifle-based Mamm Peaks Outfitters. Since gas rigs began

drilling near Mead's hunting grounds, he said he's lost nearly $70,000

in business because gas development is driving away Battlement Mesa's

big game. More than 3,000 acres of natural gas leases within roadless

land in the White River National Forest near the Mamm Peaks went on the

auction block Aug. 10. Across the Colorado River on the Roan Plateau,

dust, noise and a plethora of heavy trucks are a sign of the times. "A

year ago, you didn't see speed limit signs posted on top of the Roan,"

said Clare Bastable of the Colorado Mountain Club. Tapping a natural

gas reserve that totals more than 15 trillion cubic feet, two Williams

Production gas rigs are drilling two new wells on private land on the

top of the Roan Plateau, home of eight producing natural gas wells,

according to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

Conservationists have fought for years to protect the Roan Plateau,

which is rich not only in natural gas, but also in oil shale. More

development is on the way for the Roan: 21 additional permits to drill

have been issued for private land on the plateau, said Commission

hearings manager Tricia Beaver. http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/08/20/08_20_Roan_Plateau.html

22)

Ed Kruse had just come down from the trails he has climbed for the last

two decades and was leaving a desperate message for a reporter he

thought might remember him from jury duty. " They're killing my forest

up there, " Kruse said, in tears. " You've got to get up there tomorrow

and see what they're doing. " Some stretches of National Forest that

might bear no special markers nevertheless bear special, private

meanings. He moved into the house at the bottom of the hill 25 years

ago so he could enjoy this unlikely access to Hidden Valley, an area of

trails between county roads 205 and 203 south of the Falls Creek

subdivision. Kruse, uninsured and a Type-1 diabetic, needed the

exercise. " This is my health insurance, " Kruse says. So with some trial

and error he found a manageable if somewhat dangerous route up the 200

feet to the trails on top. Soon his son and daughter, now 19 and 21,

were joining him. But something deeper than play was happening here.

Kruse is an artist, a painter, and his children have both grown to be

artists as well. " This forest was my therapy after the divorce, " he

explains. " I thought maybe they would thin a little, but they're

knocking down every thicket, every oak that ever lived out there, " he

said. " I'm a grown man, and I'm big, and I'm 6-6, 225, and I'm crying. "

As Kruse cried with his children, he envisioned himself standing up to

the machine, chaining himself to it, doing whatever he had to. http://durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news & article_path=/news/0

6/news060820_4.htmMinnesota:23)

MINNEAPOLIS - The U.S. Forest Service is being sued by a coalition of

conservation groups over a management plan they say threatens the

Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northeastern Minnesota. In a lawsuit

filed in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis Tuesday, the coalition

contends that a 2004 plan to manage the Superior National Forest would

harm the wilderness values of the BWCA. The Forest Service plan would

allow clear-cut logging within a quarter of a mile of the lake-dotted

wilderness area. The lawsuit also challenges a method the Forest

Service is proposing to estimate the logging plan's impact on wildlife.

The groups filing the lawsuit include the Sierra Club, Friends of the

Boundary Waters Wilderness, Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness and

Defenders of Wildlife. http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/15290540.htmPennsylvania:24)

WARREN -- Visitors to the cool, leafy green Allegheny National Forest

stand a much better chance of seeing an oil or gas well than a black

bear. Some will argue that's because there are roads leading right to

the wells and they don't move around or hide like the bears. But the

numbers have a lot to do with it, too. There are between 300 and 500

bears in Pennsylvania's only national forest. But there are more than

8,000 active oil and gas wells pumping away. Throw into the mix at

least 20,000 old, inactive wells, the 1,000 wells that will be drilled

in the forest this year, plus the prospective plumbing for 1,200 wells

planned for next year, and the odds of spotting a burly bruin before

coming upon a well rig are getting longer by the day. The rapid

expansion of exploration and well drilling in the national forest over

the past two years has been spurred by skyrocketing oil and gas prices.

And its location along scenic roadways, in endangered rattlesnake

habitat, in the middle of popular hiking trails, in the Allegheny Front

National Recreation Area and around the edges of possible wilderness

designations has caused concern within the Forest Service and

widespread consternation outside of it. The wells have become such a

hot issue that an unlikely alliance of snowmobile groups and the

Allegheny Defense Project, an environmental group opposed to all

commercial logging in the forest, has formed in opposition and is

threatening court action if it isn't curbed. Despite that growing

controversy, oil and gas exploration and well drilling are not among

the " major issues " addressed in the Forest Service's draft 10-year

management plan for the 513,000 acres of federal forest land 150 miles

north of Pittsburgh. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06232/714920-113.stmFlorida:26)

Levy County, Florida — Palm trees along Florida's Gulf Coast are dying

off at an alarming rate and some scientists believe global warming and

salt from rising sea levels could be the cause. A team from the

University of Florida has been monitoring sample plots of coastal

cabbage palms and say the trees are dying faster than ever before. Jack

Putz, University of Florida Forest Ecologist: "The idea of this process

accelerating is what's alarmed us." UF Forest Ecologist Jack Putz

believes salt water is slowly creeping inland stressing trees to the

point they die. "With the chronic affect of salt, they started

producing fewer and fewer leaves, and smaller and smaller leaves. You

don't kill that many 200-year-old trees in that period of time without

something unusual happening, and that's what's alarming." Putz says

what once was forest will someday soon be marshland. As the saltwater

rises coastal palms and other trees are quickly running out of room.

"We have a series of splendid coastal preserves with no place to go,

because they're stuck between the deep blue sea, and it's getting

deeper… and the devil of development and private land ownership." Putz

says the answer is reserving more land for nature preserves further

inland before the sight of palm trees on Florida's Nature Coast

disappears forever. http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=37851Puerto Rico:27)

Our visit to El Yunque, the Caribbean National Forest, had been delayed

that morning. The rain forest was closed because of rain. Actually, a

storm that ebbed as we arrived had scattered tree limbs, and U.S.

Forest Service rangers had to make sure the roads were clear. " The

Taino Indians called the land sacred, so the rain up here is holy

water, " said Manuel, our guide and driver. " We're getting baptized. "

The Caribbean National Forest is the only tropical forest in the U.S.

Forest Service system, and the smallest unit at 38,000 acres. The

Spanish preserved the section of the rugged Sierra de Luquillo in 1876,

making it one of the oldest protected areas in the Western Hemisphere,

with virgin forest that looks much as it did when Columbus landed 500

years ago. Often obscured by misty rains, the forest locally is called

El Yunque, which is pronounced " yoon-kay " and translates to " forest of

the clouds. " The forest has more than 240 species of trees and plants,

26 of which are found nowhere else, including the world's smallest

orchid. Two of its most famous animals are the highly endangered Puerto

Rican parrot and the ubiquitous, but secretive, coqui. The coqui is

found only in Puerto Rico, and provides the graceful melody that fills

each evening. Although introduced to other countries, the exiled coqui

never sing once removed from their native land. Likewise, ask a Puerto

Rican what he misses most once off the island, and often he'll say the

song of the coqui. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/lifestyle/stories.nsf/travel/story/806230EB4C993B32862571CD0

05D20F0?OpenDocumentUSA:28)

The 13-member committee will meet from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Sydney

R. Yates Federal Building, 201 14th Street SW to review the latest

petitions received from New Mexico and California. They may also review

other petitions received before the meeting. The committee's mission

includes reviewing petitions submitted by states, seeking consensus,

identifying issues and providing the Secretary with advice and

recommendations on implementing the rule. The rule provides a process

to give governors an opportunity to establish or adjust management

requirements for National Forest System inventoried roadless areas

within their states. Petitions will identify areas for inclusion, and

may also incorporate ways to protect public health and safety, reduce

wildfire risks to communities and critical wildlife habitat, maintain

critical infrastructure, such as dams and utilities, and assure

citizens access to private property. After a petition is received, the

committee has 90 days to review and provide recommendations to the

Secretary. Once a state has developed and submitted its petition and

the petition is accepted by the Secretary, the Forest Service will work

with the state to develop and publish a subsequent state-specific

rulemaking for inventoried Roadless areas. Together, they will address

the management requirements proposed by the petitioning state. Each

state-specific rulemaking will include the required National

Environmental Policy Act analysis and public input during the notice

and comment period. http://www.roadless.fs.fed.us.29)

Six years ago, climate scientist Anthony Westerling began obsessively

poring over the meticulously detailed invoices that U.S. Forest Service

and National Park Service land managers use to itemize firefighting

expenses. " These things will have 170-plus fields, " says Westerling —

including information on when a fire was first reported, when

firefighters finally controlled it, and how many acres were burned.

Westerling, who works at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (which

also studies climate and earth sciences) in La Jolla, Calif., didn't

aspire to be an accountant, nor was he searching for fraud in

government spending. He was hoping to answer a question that had not

been seriously asked before: How do rising global temperatures affect

wildfire behavior? Along with fellow researchers in La Jolla and at the

University of Arizona in Tucson, Westerling wove the information in the

invoices together with data from streamflow gauges, soil moisture

measures, and temperature and precipitation records to form a

comprehensive picture of the driving forces behind the West's fires.

The group will present its findings in the journal Science next month;

a preliminary article appeared in the July 6 issue of Science Express.

The basic conclusion may not startle: Large forest fires increased

beginning in the mid-1980s — particularly in the Northern Rockies, the

Sierra Nevada and the southern Cascades — and the changes closely

correlated with an increase in spring and summer temperatures during

the same time period. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1844789,00.htmlCanada:30)

Today, we are asking you to take a minute to put the Ontario government

on notice. Join thousands of other activists in sending a letter to

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty calling on him to end clear-cut logging

within the traditional territory of Grassy Narrows. http://ga3.org/campaign/fairtreatment

In the United States, activists in Seattle and Los Angeles continue to

pressure Weyerhaeuser homebuilding subsidiaries that have been

repeatedly linked to the conflict. Quadrant, a subsidiary of

Weyerhaeuser, is actively using wood taken from Grassy Narrows. The

Seattle Rainforest Action Group (SeaRAG) took the lead, planning

pickets at model home sites and a two-day activist training in

September. Meanwhile, RAN activists in Los Angeles went door-to-door,

talking to homeowners who were misled into buying what they thought

were " green " houses from Pardee Homes. These homes were in fact built

with wood bought from Weyerhaeuser and extracted from Grassy Narrows.

Demand that Premier McGuinty and the Ontario government stop logging

Grassy Narrows territory and stand up for the rights of the community

so more trees from Grassy Narrows don't end up in American

subdivisions. http://ga3.org/campaign/fairtreatment/wu385gu4y5bmn3b?31)

Reverend Billy is ramping up his fire-and-brimstone campaign against

the lingerie giant, demanding it stop using wood pulp from Canada's

Boreal Forest. Reverend Billy, a.k.a. Bill Talen, has made the campaign

the centerpiece of his current Sunday afternoon show at the Spiegeltent

summer performance space in the South St. Seaport, which runs through

September. At his opening show on Sun. Aug. 6, Talen planned to take

his choir and any willing audience members to the Victoria's Secret

shop in the South St. Seaport mall, which happens to be only 50 feet

from the Spiegeltent. Talen, who leads the anticonsumerist Church of

Stop Shopping, has in recent years taken on corporations ranging from

Disney to Starbucks for their practices. His latest preaching against

Victoria's Secret's catalogues is of dire importance, he says, because

it's a matter of life and death for the planet. "Do the research! Do

the research!" Talen exhorted the shocked shoppers as he strode among

the brassieres and bustiers. He then announced they would perform a

"cash register exorcism." Placing his hand on the till, he called for

"the chainsaws" to be removed from the cash register. However, the

negative energy may have flown into an emotionally disturbed woman who

entered the store with the protest. Shouting angrily and spitting on

the floor, she seemed to have a relationship with a sidewalk vendor

selling headbands and neckties in front of the store, who objected to

Talen's message of stop shopping. After about 20 minutes, police

arrived and took away the woman in an E.M.T. van, though allowed the

vendor — now acting calm again, apparently satisfied he had disrupted

the protest — to remain. Meanwhile, Talen and the protesters slipped

off. He later said he decided not to get arrested because he felt the

message was diluted by the chaos caused by the woman and the aggressive

vendor. http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_171/reverendbilly.htmlBrazil:32)

The Via Campesinaís occupation of Syngentaís experimental site has

helped secure land and resources for landless families in the region

that are struggling to survive. About one hundred families remain at

the site, now called ëTerra Livreí or ëFree Land,í and have begun

cultivating traditional foods. In June, a regional workshop on

agroecology, with participants from various social movements in the

region, was realized at the site, during which 3,000 seedlings of

native trees were planted. The Via Campesina is campaigning to have the

site expropriated from Syngenta by the government in order to turn it

into a Center for Agroecological Research and education for landless

rural workers and small farmers. This school will enhance these

movementsí efforts to spread agroecological production throughout Latin

America. The Via Campesina envisions that the site will also become a

seed bank for the production and storage of native seed varietals. In

response, Syngenta is currently launching an intense media campaign

against the landless families occupying the site, and is using its

political clout to call upon Roberto Requi"o, Governor of the State of

Paran·, to forcibly expel the families with police force. Requi"o has

yet to respond to the request. Terra de Direitos therefore calls upon

you to take action right away and support the Via Campesina. http://www.terradedireitos.org.brChina:33)

" The Chinese government consistently upholds and puts in practice

collective international responsibility, opposing and firmly cracking

down on illegal logging and illegal wood imports, " he said. The

environmental protection group Greenpeace says half of all tropical

trees logged in the world end up in China. Most of those are felled

illegally from forests in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. The

London-based Global Witness organization says almost all logs imported

by China from Burma last year were illegal. Cao says Chinese logging

companies operating abroad are legal contractors and not involved in

the illicit trade. And he says claims that China's growing wood

consumption is unsustainable have no basis. " According to our plan, by

2020 China's forest cover will reach 23 percent. Looking at this we can

see that China has not depleted forests, we are developing them, " added

Cao. Conservation organizations say China is also a major market for

forest animals and plants, including endangered species for use in

exotic foods and traditional medicines.Bangladesh:34)

Flora and fauna in Moulvibazar forests are now threatened with

extinction as these have been declining over the years due to unabated

logging of trees and poaching of wild animals. It is learnt that some

influential people, in connivance with a section of forest officials

and the local administration, have been plundering huge forest

resources with impunity. Besides, continuous poaching of wild animals,

indiscriminate killing of birds and random felling of trees were also

posing a serious threat to bio-diversity. Sources in the district said

a large number of panicked wild animals like small tigers, monkeys,

wild-cats, hares, wild hogs, deer, wild-fowls and otters, more often

than not, come into human contact at different places in the district,

being chased by the poachers and loggers. "Many animals are being

crushed under the wheels of motor vehicles along the forest roads,"

said Mohammad Ashraful, an inhabitant of the district. He also pointed

out that various creepers and small plants were being wiped out by the

impact of sedimentation in the streams of the forests. " With the

man-made and natural calamities, several species of plants have already

gone out of sight from the forests," Ashraful said. Sources said drying

up of small canals flowing through forests was also pushing the aquatic

life such as earthworms, snails, snakes and water insects on the verge

of destruction. Wild animals were regularly being forced to intrude

into human habitations for their survival because of lack of fodder,

sources said. Earlier on June 14 in 1997, explosion at Magurchhara gas

well, which was adjacent to the Lawachhara Reserve Forest, had

destroyed the flora and fauna of the forest to a great extent. The

Lawachhara Reserve Forest is situated on 300 hectares of hilly land of

Kamalganj and Srimangal upazilas. http://nation.ittefaq.com/artman/publish/article_30101.shtmlVietnam:35)

A top district official from Vietnam's central Quang Ngai province has

resigned, admitting negligence in supervision which resulted in several

logging offenses in his district. Tran Dinh Trong, 55, secretary [head]

of the Son Ha district's Communist Party Committee has just tendered

his resignation, said Pham Dinh Khoi – acting secretary of the

provincial party committee – on Friday. In his resignation paper, Trong

explained he was "not thorough [not determined enough] in instructions

and leadership". Trong cited the destruction of hundreds hectares at

the Thach Nham Forest several months ago and the illegal logging of

hundreds of cubic meters of precious woods at the Nuoc Nia Forest last

year as the reason for his decision. The provincial party committee has

worked with Trong and will be cautious in sanctioning his resignation

since "Trong has not been found to be involved in any wrongdoings so

far", Khoi said. http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/?catid=3 & newsid=19048India:36)

India's 5000 year old sandalwood industry, is in its last gasps, thanks

to smugglers who have ensured that the official trade is killed.

Sandalwood production in the country has fallen from about 4,000 tonnes

per annum in the 1960s to less than 1,000 tonnes during the 2000s.

Three years ago India exported 1800 tonnes of hard-core sandalwood, out

of the world trade of 6000 tonnes. Last year 2005 it was a bare 400

tonnes. As a result, India, once the undisputed leader in the 1800

crores-a-year market for global sandalwood exports, has lost its

position to suppliers in Australia and Indonesia. "The large trees have

been virtually wiped out," says Madhav Gadgil, a professor of

ecological sciences at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.

India's own local requirements is about 150 tonnes a year, and in 2006

our supplies can continue for just to more years as stocks are on the

decline. A sandalwood tree lives for 60 to 70 years and, when it is

brought down for profit, it is never felled like other trees, but

uprooted in the rainy season, when the roots are richest in the

precious essential oil. The yield of oil is highest in the roots, about

10 per cent, and lowest in chips which are a mixture of heartwood and

sapwood (1.5-2 per cent). The oil content of the heartwood varies from

tree to tree and is higher for older trees. One tonne of sandalwood

yields 40-50 litres of oil. And, not surprisingly the mafia involved in

it are believed to be better equipped than the forest department

personnel, both in terms of arms and vehicles. So much so, that many

forest guards feel it is safer to run into wild elephants at night as

travelers often to - rather than these miscreants! Veerappan in his 13

year regime destroyed more than ten thousand sandalwood trees. Marayoor

has the best quality sandalwood in the world and it is the only place

in Kerala where sandalwood grows naturally. Smuggling of this costly

wood is rampant, where a single tree can fetch more than a lakh of

rupees. http://www.navhindtimes.com/articles.php?Story_ID=082170Indonesia:37)

MALASIGA, Papua New Guinea -- First, their fathers noticed the palm

trees that seemed to be inching toward the water's edge and the fire

pit that vanished beneath the tides. Later, researchers came, scribbled

measurements and offered a grim diagnosis: The sea is coming. There is

not a power line or factory or air conditioner within a day's walk of

this village of 400 people in the southwest Pacific, but these

subsistence fishermen are no strangers to the power of

industrialization and climate change. " There used to be two rows of

houses, " said Mickey Tarabi, a wood carver in his 50s, nodding toward

the crystal blue sea. " The first one has been moved, and the second one

will be gone soon. " Far over the horizon from the most advanced

nations, scientists are measuring the effects of global warming in the

world's least-industrialized corners. Professor Hugh Davies of the

University of Papua New Guinea calculates that if the estimate holds

true, a rise of 50 centimeters to 100 centimeters would be enough to

affect all of PNG's coastal plains and swamplands. " If you are on one

of these islands, " Hunter said, " you will be continually swamped by

water-laden sand, and if you don't clear it up, you eventually get

drowned. " PNG has a plan, of sorts. While the country might seem to

have little role in reducing carbon emissions--it is better known for

forests than factories--its leaders see a way to take part in global

efforts to control greenhouse gases. In international climate talks,

PNG and eight other rain forest countries have proposed that nations

that reduce deforestation should be eligible to earn and sell " carbon

credits. " Current rules allow countries to earn credits for planting

new trees but not for protecting existing ones. " You want us to go down

the path to sustainable forest management. Now give us the right

incentive to do this, " said Gunther Joku, a senior policy planner at

PNG's Department of Environment and Conservation. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0608200380aug20,1,3457454,print.story?ctr

ack=1 & cset=trueAustralia:38)

Today, Australia has become the home for sandalwood plantations with a

total annual harvest currently standing at 2,000 tonnes. It has

embarked on a long term project for sandalwood tree and the largest

sandalwood farm in the world is at Kunnumurra in western Australia,

with 12000 sandalwood trees in each of its 300 acre farm segments. The

oil content of Australian-grown trees is between 1 and 2 per cent,

which compares to 6 per cent from Indian trees. But now plant

scientists in Australia have developed a method of extracting

sandalwood oil from trees as young as 15 years, unlike in India where

we were not touching the trees till they were 40 years old. That means

for one extraction cycle of ours, the Aussies do thrice. The Australian

scientists are also striving to achieve an oil production figure closer

to the Indian trees. Scarcely two decades old, the Australian sandal

wood industry has today the green sandalwood resources available for

harvest in excess of 200 000 tonnes and the quantity of dead sandalwood

available for harvest was in excess 15 000 tonne. At the same time

Australia does not want to flood the market lowering the price and its

Ministry of Agriculture has decided to keep exports locked at around

3,000 tonne a year. http://www.navhindtimes.com/articles.php?Story_ID=08217039)

An environmental group trying to stop the logging of a forest near

Collie says the only way to save the land is to incorporate it within a

national park. The Arcadia Forest is set to be logged later this year

but environmentalists say it will destroy the habitat of a rare colony

of quokkas. Peter Murphy from the Save Arcadia Forest Ecosystem Group

says he will raise those concerns with the Western Australia

Environment Minister, Mark McGowan, at a meeting tomorrow. He says he

will urge Mr McGowan to stop the logging and re-mark Arcadia's

boundaries. " Putting Arcadia in to the Wellington National Park would

be the ultimate solution, " he said. " The area of Arcadia that will be

logged is an important corridor between the Preston River and the

Collie River. " That corridor is actually in the Wellington National

Park and we think that corridor is incredibly important to the quokkas'

survival. " The Forest Products Commission maintains the logging program

will not impact on Arcadia's wildlife. The commission says the logging

will target specific sections of the forest and leave areas of habitat

untouched for the quokkas to live in. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1716122.htm