125 Earth's Tree News

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Today for you we 38 news items. The number and subject is below. The condensed article is further below.--Alaska: 1) Greenpeace gives guitar makers tour of old growth Spruce forests--British Columbia: 2) Betty Krawczyk promises Supreme Court challenge, 3) Save our Valley Alliance demonstrates, 4) Tree farms are not ecosystems--Washington: 5) Green trees turning red--Oregon: 6) World biggest organism is an Armillaria fungus, 7) dealing with forest fires, --Californian: 8) Bristle Cone Pines, 9) Rise in real estate values inspire new non-profit funding strategies, 10) DNA sequence of Laccaria bicolor might help trees grow better--Wyoming: 11) Scientists study carbon budgeting--Mississippi: 12) Hurricane impacts and resultant subsidies--Vermont: 13) Interconnected tree roots means forest health about more than thinnings--Maryland: 14) Catoctin Mountain Park--New York: 15) Vermont forester writes history of the logging of the Adirondacks--Belgium: 16) Protestors prepare for more eviction attempts--Finland: 17) Biofuel conversion plans are too idealistic--Armenia: 18) Timber trade--Turkey: 19) Forest fires blamed on Terrorists, 20) Forest fires and land development--Greece: 21) Aftermath of forest fires--Russia: 22) Park creation efforts--Ghana: 23) 'Forum Project' hosts four day workshop on forest protection--South Africa: 24) Cutting non-native trees for more water--Madagascar: 25) Description for tourists--India: 26) Convention in protecting sandalwood trees, 27) Tree Smugglers shot at--China: 28) Threats to the forest and government protection efforts--Indonesia: 29) Bogor Botanical Garden recovers, 30) Crackdown on arson fires, 31) Tourist view of Borneos destruction and preservation--New Zealand: 32) Forest Act loopholes,--Australia: 33) senior citizens have joined the campaign to stop logging, 34) demand to protect forests on private land, 35) Forest practice code delayed againAlaska:1) SITKA, Alaska - Bob Taylor, president and founder of Taylor Guitars, admits his company doesn't need 250-year-old Sitka spruce to make perfectly fine sounding guitars. But for now, he said, it would be " a marketing sin " to promote a high-end instrument made of wood with a lesser aesthetic value. " People buy guitars for a lot more reasons than sound, " Taylor said. " All instruments have aesthetic value. If we could continue that, that would be great. Otherwise in the future we could make guitars that are not as good looking. " As guest of the environmental organizations Greenpeace and the Alaska Rainforest Campaign, Taylor was in Southeast Alaska recently with representatives of other guitar manufacturers, the Gibson, Fender and Martin companies. Greenpeace arranged the visit as part of a project to promote " sustainable " logging practices in Southeast Alaska. All four guitar makers purchase Sitka spruce harvested by Southeast regional Native corporation Sealaska for use in the sound boards of their instruments. Taylor said they use only wood from trees more than 250 years old, which has the tight grain that imparts superior aesthetic and tonal qualities to the instruments. Over the last three years, Greenpeace has made Southeast Alaska a focal point of a campaign to get timber around the world certified as being harvested by sustainable management standards set by the international Forest Stewardship Council. The campaign focuses entirely on private land, as Greenpeace doesn't believe any logging should be done on the Tongass National Forest. Sealaska is the largest private landowner in Southeast. Paul said Greenpeace learned about guitar makers purchasing of Southeast timber through a vast analysis conducted over the last few years of the region's timber market. The study revealed that over 80 percent of Southeast timber is shipped to Asia, largely for home building in Japan, while the bulk of what stays in the United States is used for window frames. http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/ap_alaska/story/8123186p-8015509c.html

British Columbia:2) " Supreme Court of Canada, here we come, " environmental crusader Betty Krawczyk, 78, declared outside B.C. Supreme Court yesterday. The aging, raging activist was charged with criminal contempt after disobeying a court injunction to stay off Eagleridge Bluffs. She had been arrested three times in the area, where construction crews continue to clear land for the $600-million expansion of the Sea-to-Sky Highway. She and her lawyer, Cameron Ward, were in court yesterday to argue she be tried by judge and jury. Criminal contempt cases traditionally do not receive a penalty of more than five years in prison, and therefore have been denied the right to a trial by jury. Ms. Krawczyk's lawyer wanted to change that. " There's no sound reason at all to deprive her of a jury, " Mr. Ward told the court. He argued that Ms. Krawczyk's history of arrests and previous jail terms makes her more susceptible to an unprecedented longer sentence, despite Crown counsel's admission that a sentence of five years will not be sought. Bound by past cases, Madam Justice Brenda Brown dismissed the application, saying it was unlikely she would receive such a sentence. Instead, Ms. Krawczyk's trial will be heard by judge alone on Sept. 18. Ms. Krawczyk has already spent a total of two years and seven months in jail for fighting environmental causes over the years. Her determination to take a stand has not faltered and she said she is prepared to go back, if sentenced. " We're in a serious ecological crisis, " she said. " Our icecaps are melting, our forests are disappearing at such a rapid rate, our fish are dying. Everything is in an ecological collapse. Unless we do something, we're all going to be in trouble. " But her stand is also against what she calls an " obviously unjust " court system. " The courts have always bent backward to satisfy corporations in this province as opposed to the rights of the citizens, " she said. Meanwhile, as the court proceedings drag on, blasting and clearing has continued on the site, which overlooks Horseshoe Bay. Ministry of Transportation spokesman Mike Long said yesterday that the project is still in its initial stage and crews could be at that particular site until early next year. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060825.BCBLUFFS25/TPStory/Environment

3) Around 30 people gathered Thursday morning at Horne Lake and the Inland Island Highway to publicly express their outrage at TimberWest's logging practices in the Beaufort Range watersheds. The protest was organized by Port Alberni based environmental group Save our Valley Alliance (SOVA). SOVA says 200 people have volunteered to blockade TimberWest if they attempt to bring out logs from their clearcuts without meeting community concerns first. Recently, the company began heli-lifting the logs up the mountain to another road network from which they can truck them out through Horne Lake. "The reason we're in Horne Lake," says SOVA's chair Keith Wyton, "is because TimberWest has elected to bring wood by helicopter out through the top of the Beauforts. We would have preferred community watershed protection plans." The conflict between the community members and TimberWest has heated up since a washout event last winter that caused mudflows across properties and boil water advisories for the Beaver Creek Improvement District. SOVA claims the problems stem from the logging company's steep clearcuts and inadequate road building. In the wake of the washout TimberWest was fined a total of $30,000 by the PMFLC for four culverts that were not built to standard. MLA for the region Scott Fraser lays the blame directly at the feet of the Campbell government. "They've orchestrated the devastation that's happening through the creation of the private managed forest lands," he says. "That report was woefully lacking. Their mandate doesn't allow them to deal with any substantive issues." The protestors, many who have worked in the logging industry, say they just want practices that are sustainable and don't threaten their drinking water sources. http://www.pqbnews.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=50 & cat=23 & id=715607 & more=

4) First of all the concept of a "tree farm" is illustrative of the results of "Scientific Creationists" wanting to banish the teaching of evolution from the schoolroom, since the farm is the sine qua non for all those who think we can "tame" all nature to suit our short-term, human-scaled time-frame. Now we are finding out that regarding the forest, scientists cannot ignore how these evolutionary processes have developed, since ignoring their evolution dismisses those clues found only through puzzling-out long-term cause and effect. The first element which farms require are crops and animals which have been genetically altered to fit farming conditions found during tens of thousands of years of trial and error of previous generations, through endless crop failures and hardship, until we have finally arrived at the relatively few species which have lent themselves profitably to domestication. Very few of these crops and animals can survive in the wild, and those that do have to quickly revert to an economically undesirable "wild" state. The second thing farms require is the exclusion of various forms of predators, competitors and disease. Farms require intensive management to maximise for the necessary density of only the domesticated species. A third thing farms need is huge inputs of Capital for feeding and tending these various crops, supplying water and medicines and so on. The fourth and last of these primary inputs is that in this modern age of agribusiness, such ventures require massive investments of Capital to acquire and set up the necessary structure for mass production. If we consider the first three elements required for farming, we can see the reason why the fourth maximises only short-term profit and why a forest cannot possibly exist as a "farm", the essence of which must be economic sustainability. Moreover, the capitalisation required precludes long-term investment – which NEVER fits in with the private Capitalist's world-view, unless it involves setting up a dynasty. The only people who would bring long-term societal values into a capital investment equation are Socialists. Even WAC Bennet recognised that, and thought he had it covered – or so he told us. Jack Miller scyllaWashington:5) Signs that our local forests are stressed by global warming recently struck me while traveling over North Cascades passes in Washington state. The forest is dying near the top on both east and west sides; trees are still partially green but turning red -- old trees, young trees, the forest itself. Tents, and campers, in the Lone Fir Campground were surrounded by these dying trees. The same reddening trees can be seen hiking through the Glacier Peak Wilderness on the trail to Spider Meadow in the Chiwawa River watershed of the Wenatchee National Forest. People are reporting that forests are dying near Mt. Rainier, on Chinook and White passes and down to central Oregon. Forests have an upper heating limit that they can tolerate. When heating goes beyond that limit, trees and other plants go into a rest state, a kind of hibernation, where they rest until conditions might improve. In that state they do not convert carbon to oxygen. Further stressed, they die. Forests created and maintain the planetary atmosphere. They are having a difficult time maintaining the conditions for life as it is known because humans have removed so many of them. Now, as massive amounts of forest are dying and no longer convert carbon to oxygen, the conditions necessary for our life here are being lost. Which other forests are at or nearing that stress point from global warming? As I look around, I see humans continuing life as usual, seemingly unaware that the planetary forests that make life possible are more and more stressed, pushed toward death, by our actions. We stand at the edge of a catastrophic precipice, where life as we know it may no longer be possible. http://www.wtrc.orgOregon:6) A study of a tree-killing fungus in rugged northeast Oregon, USA, found that a single individual covered an area equivalent to about 1,600 football fields, according to a report in the current issue of the Canadian Journal of Forest Research. " The fact that an organism like this has been growing in the forest for thousands of years really expands our view of the forest ecosystem and how it works, " said Dr Catherine Parks, a pathologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture who led the study. " From a broad scientific view, it challenges what we think of as an individual organism. " The fungus is the most outstanding known individual of the Armillaria ostoyae species, which grows in high-latitude northern hemisphere forests and causes large production losses due to root disease. It lives in the soil and spreads mainly along tree roots by shoestring-like threads called rhizomorphs. Apart from dead and dying trees, its only surface evidence are its fruiting bodies, known commonly as honey mushrooms. The researchers discovered the giant fungus in the Malheur National Forest, some 590,000 hectares of rugged high-desert grasslands, pine forests and alpine lakes. Elevations range from 1,200 to 2,750 metres, the highest point being the Strawberry Mountain range that passes from east to west and through the forest. The single organism discovered has yielded new insights into a fungus' role in forest ecology. It had been thought that Armillaria fungi grew in distinct clusters within forests, visible from the air by ring-shaped patches of dead trees. " It's one organism that began as a microscopic spore and then grew vegetatively, like a plant, " she said. " If you could take away the soil and look at it, it's just one big heap of fungus with all of these filaments that go out under the surface. " " It's one organism that began as a microscopic spore and then grew vegetatively, like a plant, " she said. " If you could take away the soil and look at it, it's just one big heap of fungus with all of these filaments that go out under the surface. " http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/enviro/EnviroRepublish_828525.htm7) Any sound forest and fire management policy should protect lives and property, protect and restore the ecology of the forest and protect taxpayers. No policy should subsidize any activity that degrades the taxpayers' forest " portfolio. " Is such a policy really possible? Yes. Protecting lives and property primarily requires implementing fire-wise techniques within a few yards of human habitations and developing site-specific firefighter access. Distant forest thinning will not protect lives or property. Protecting the ecosystem after fires means primarily aggressive practices to conserve soil in the parts of the forests crisscrossed by roads. The extent of chronic erosion and the risk of catastrophic erosion are magnified by the effects of a fire, so that the period following a fire represents the time of greatest risk, and conversely the moment of highest need for soil conservation and watershed restoration. Protecting the taxpayer requires both eliminating hidden subsidies and critical examination of the effectiveness of yet-unproven forestry techniques. In practice, the forest can be treated as consisting of three large zones. First are roadless areas and wilderness. In this zone, fire exclusion is neither possible nor desirable. The second zone consists of forested areas with extensive road access: the forest outside of wilderness. This is the zone where chronic erosion from the road system can be aggravated by wildfires, leading to increased and sometimes catastrophic erosion (mudslides) and essentially permanent damage to the watershed. The third zone is the inhabited forest, where people have built houses in fire-prone areas. Here, the policy should concentrate on firefighter access and managing vegetation and fuels immediately adjacent to structures. http://www.oregonlive.com/commentary/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/editorial/115636110166840.xml & c

oll=7California:8) The Ancient Bristlecone Pines Forest is a 28,000-acre special interest area administered by the Inyo National Forest service to preserve these ancient trees for scientific study and public enjoyment. Hiking trails, interpretive exhibits, naturalist programs and a staffed visitor center all provide for a special day of exploration. A few years ago I traveled up to the White Mountains with some good tree friends to join in a 50th anniversary celebration of the discovery of these elder trees right here in California. In 1953, Dr. Edmund Schulman of the University of Arizona was searching in Idaho for old limber pine trees with growth rings sensitive to climatic variations. On his way back to Arizona, Schulman decided to check reports of very old trees in the White Mountains of California. He took core samples of many of the bristlecone pines in the area that is now called Schulman Grove and discovered the first known 4,000-year-old tree in the world, and it was still living! Dr. Schulman was suspect of older trees in the area and in 1957 discovered a bristlecone pine with growth rings extending back over 4,700 years. He named this tree "Methuselah" and it is still recognized as the oldest living tree in the world. Bristlecone pine wood can remain intact for thousands of years in the cold, dry climate of this unique area just east of the Sierra Mountain range. Using a cross-dating technique that overlaps tree-ring patterns of dead wood and living trees, scientists have assembled a continuous tree-ring pattern extending nearly 10,000 years. This record of growth patterns has provided a window to look into past climatic and environmental conditions and changes back almost to the last ice age here in California. The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is located at an elevation of 10,000 feet and climbs up to 14,000 feet in elevation. http://www.thevillagenews.com/story.asp?story_ID=170069) In 1984, Raymond and Eleanor Devereaux paid $100,000 for 11 acres atop a small mountain about 35 miles from San Diego. By last year the property — with its log home and views of Cleveland National Forest — was worth $1.3 million. When it came time to plan their estate, the couple decided to give their mountaintop retreat to charity. In exchange for donating the property to Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, they got a $60,000-a-year annuity and the right to live there for the rest of their lives. The deal also helped them avoid some capital-gains taxes, eliminated estate taxes on the property and gave them a federal income tax deduction. And, of course, they got a free lifetime subscription to the magazine. The Devereauxs are part of a growing wave of philanthropists looking to avoid or reduce bigger tax bites created by the rapid run-up in real estate values. Nonprofit groups, which once shied away from real estate donations because they feared getting stuck with swamp land or lacked the expertise to handle complex land transactions, are seizing the opportunity with new marketing programs. Charities often sell donated properties quickly and reap the proceeds, though some that provide community services may be able to adapt a building for their programs. And some — such as the Trust for Public Land, which preserves open space, and Habitat for Humanity, which builds homes for low-income residents — expressly need land to fulfill their missions. http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/realestate/08/19charity.html10) WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — The DNA sequence of Laccaria bicolor, a fungus that forms a beneficial symbiosis with trees and inhabits one of the most ecologically and commercially important microbial niches in North American and Eurasian forests, has been determined by the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI). "The steady rise of global atmospheric CO2 concentrations suggests that we are on the trajectory for serious environmental problems. This situation could be eased by modeling and actively managing the complex relationships between trees and fungi," said Martin. Key factors behind the ability of trees to generate large amounts of biomass or store carbon reside in the way that they interact with soil microbes known as mycorrhizal fungi, which excel at procuring necessary, but scarce, nutrients such as phosphate and nitrogen. When Laccaria bicolor partners with plant roots, a mycorrhizal root is created, resulting in a mutualistic relationship that significantly benefits both organisms. The fungus within the root is protected from competition with other soil microbes and gains preferential access to carbohydrates within the plant. Such mycorrhizae are critical to terrestrial ecosystems, Martin said, since approximately 85 percent of all plant species, including trees, are dependent on such interactions to thrive. Mycorrhizae significantly improve photosynthetic carbon assimilation by plants and are estimated to fix more phosphate and nitrogen than the entire worldwide chemical fertilizer industry produces. "The study and management of such relationships holds immense potential for the agriculture, forestry, and horticulture industries, as well as far-reaching implications for land management policies and the impact of global climate change on plants," said Gopi Podila of UAH. "We can now harness the interaction between these species and identify the factors involved in biomass production by characterizing the changes that occur between the two genomes as the tree and the fungus collaborate to generate biomass. It also helps us to understand the interaction between these two symbionts within the context of the changing global climate." http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/m-news+article+storyid-15569.htmlWyoming:11) Carbon, the element that defines organic compounds, is considered the core of life processes and has been the subject of much local, national and worldwide research. " For example, in 2001, the Wyoming State Legislature created the Carbon Sequestration Advisory Committee, " Tinker says. The eight-year committee is to provide the state with scientifically-sound information concerning management practices and economic opportunities to store carbon in Wyoming's agricultural and forest lands. " There's interest here and in other states to see whether we can increase carbon storage through forest management, range management or through crops, " Tinker adds. Coniferous forests contain more than one-third of all carbon stored in terrestrial ecosystems. Tinker and a team of researchers focused on the stand-replacing fire cycle in lodgepole pine forests and how it affects carbon storage in the short- and long-term. " Forests are important for the carbon cycle because they both emit CO2 (carbon dioxide) and store carbon, " he says. Tinker's group, comprising Daniel Kashian and William Romme, Colorado Sate University; Monica Turner, University of Wisconsin; and Michael Ryan, United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, studied hypothetical scenarios and worked primarily under the " warmer/dryer scenario. " " The idea is if you have more drought conditions like we've been experiencing over the last several years, fuels dry out sooner in the summer and that may result in a higher risk of severe fire, " he says. " If we have more fires, what's that going to mean for carbon storage? " For 30-40 years following a fire, the decomposition of the trees killed by the fire is greater than the photosynthesis taking place from the young trees," Tinker says. Based on preliminary analysis, the group believes changes in long-term carbon storage are resilient to changes in fire frequency. " It takes just about the whole fire cycle -- 230 years -- before the carbon balance evens out again, " he adds. http://www.uwyo.edu/news/showrelease.asp?id=9821Mississippi:12) " We have weathered storms before, " Maples said. " But this was different. After Hurricane Frederick 27 years ago, there was a market for the down wood. There were two mills in Mobile, one in Moss Point, one at Wade and another on the George and Greene County line as well as others around. Those mills are all gone. There was no place to take the down wood. " Prices dropped as well he said. Pulpwood prices fell to under $2 per ton and saw timber fell to about $75 per ton. Prices for green wood have recovered to near pre-Katrina levels, Cooper said. But, that is only for green wood. The few remaining mills are not buying any of the dead or down wood. Trees killed by the storm are a complete loss to the grower. The toll for Hurricane Katrina is still mounting, according to Cooper. Many trees not killed outright by the storm were severely weakened. Some of those damaged trees are still snapping off, sometimes for no apparent reason. Others, first stressed by the hurricane have been further stressed by the drought experienced this spring and summer. The stressed trees are falling victim to the worst pine beetle infestation he can remember in the last 30 years. Collecting insurance to help cover the loss is not an option. " There are no insurance policies available on timber, " said Maples. " There are also no tax deductions if you have owned the land for any period of time. " The only thing to do is to start over. We grew up with this, " he said. " My old Daddy used to say: You've got to plow on. " ' The Federal government is making some help available according to the USDA Web site. An Emergency Forestry Conservation Reserve Program is open to area growers. To qualify a grower must have owned the land for at least one year, be raising timber for commercial purposes and have suffered a 35 percent or greater loss. The grower signs a 10-year contract with the Farm Service Agency, which will pay up to $150 per acre to clear, burn and replant the land. This is about half the actual cost of replanting. After the trees are planted the grower may receive an annual rental payment that is contingent upon a number of factors. These include certain conservation measures and the going land rent prices in the county. http://www.gulflive.com/business/mississippipress/index.ssf?/base/business/1156673777311420.x

mlVermont:13) " This research indicated that the role of ... competition in determining which trees in a ... stand will survive was overrated. In many stands, many trees are linked into organic unions.... Participants in the union have lost at least part of their individuality and are subject to the ... influence of their grafted companions. " As long ago as the 1920s root grafts had been observed in white pine, Douglas fir, and balsam fir forests, as had the phenomenon of " living stumps. " By 1966 Bormann and his colleague B.F. Graham could write a review article listing more than 180 scientific articles on the passage of materials between the roots of at least 150 species of trees. There were even reports of root grafts between different species -- maple and birch, birch and elm, and sandalwood and Eugenia (which gave the Eugenia the scent of sandalwood). Radioactive tracers injected into one tree showed up in many neighboring trees. Oak, maple, linden, spruce, ash, larch, birch and pine all have been observed in subterranean trade networks with each other. This tree trade network is apparently well known to many biologists, but they haven't exactly made a big deal of it. I have taken many biology courses, but I was surprised when a friend, forest ecologist Scot Zens mentioned root grafts casually a few months ago, as if I surely knew about them. I didn't know. The very idea stopped me in my tracks. It changed my whole view of what a forest is. " What? The roots grow together? The trees pass stuff around? What does that MEAN? " What does it mean to forest management, to selective harvesting, to clear-cutting? The literature, including many of Bormann's articles, mainly tries to spell out what tree transfers mean for forestry. Cutting a tree but leaving its stump clearly is no help in preventing the spread of disease. Trying to kill selected trees by injecting herbicide is a bad idea; the chemical will spread to other trees. Girdling trees with strong root grafts won't kill them, at least not below the graft. Interlocked trees may be more resistant to wind throw, but, of course, less resistant to disease. Selective cutting may produce unexpected results -- you may be removing not a competitor but a nurturer and partner. http://www.sustainabilityinstitute.org/dhm_archive/search.php?display_article=vn806rootgrafted

Maryland:14) This year marks the 70th anniversary of Catoctin Mountain Park, a national park that began as the Catoctin Recreational Demonstration Area, established in 1936. In 1954, about half the approximately 10,000 acres was transferred to the state and became Cunningham Falls State Park. The remaining acreage stayed with the National Park Service and was renamed Catoctin Mountain Park. By the 1930s, the mountain had been ravaged by logging, charcoal making for the iron industry, bark stripping for tanning, clear cutting for farming and wood cutting for heat. Fire, erosion and over-farming had robbed the soil and the mountain of its natural beauty. It bore little resemblance to the mountain today. The government acquired the mountain land, along with thousands of other tired plots of land around the country, to demonstrate how federal and state agencies could work together to restore tracts of land to their natural beauty. " It was the Great Depression and one out of every four people was out of work. President Roosevelt had to come up with something to help, " said Sally Griffin, supervisory park ranger at Catoctin Mountain Park. Catoctin was one of 35 areas in the program, according to " Maryland's Catoctin Mountain Parks " by John Means. One of the program's goals was to put men to work developing the land into recreation areas. " At the same time he created the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Both groups came to Catoctin and built it as a park, " said Ms. Griffin. The WPA workers arrived first, using skilled labor from the area. They built cabins, a contact station and a blacksmith shop. The CCC, designed to teach unskilled workers a skill, followed, building roads and log cabins, and replanting the forest again. http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/features/display.htm?storyid=51742

New York:15) TUPPER LAKE — Retired Vermont forester Bill Gove has written one of the most definitive history books on the spiderweb of logging railroads that opened up the Adirondacks to large-scale timber harvesting, changing its physical and economic landscape for the next hundred years. "The shrill cry of a steam logger's long whistle," he read to the audience of 25 gathered Tuesday evening in the Goff-Nelson Public Library in Tupper Lake, "is never forgotten if one is fortunate to have ever heard it." Most logging areas in the 19th century relied on waterways to float logs, but the absence of navigable rivers up here — aside from the Hudson and Moose in the southern Adirondacks — meant a web of crudely built rails had to be constructed into areas of thick, virgin forest. These logging railroads — about 22 at its peak in 1925 — were connected to the common carrier railroads like the New York Central's Adirondack Division, or the Delaware and Hudson that runs up Lake Champlain. These logging railroads were often quite short — the longest spanned 20 to 30 miles — but they were the lifeblood to the communities by linking them to the outside markets. With the establishment of the state Forest Preserve in 1885 and the subsequent logging ban on preserve land in 1894, Gove said logging intensified on private land. "The private land was hit pretty hard," Gove said, "a situation that's true up to today." With the vanishing of the lumber mills and the logging railroads that served them also went many large settlements that once populated the Adirondacks. Communities like Conifer, Derrick and Santa Clara are now almost completely gone.http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/news/articles.asp?articleID=3803Belgium:16) Over the past three weeks activists have been delaying the 'forest maintenance' significantly by chaining themselves to barricades or the logger's machinery and by occupying trees using walkways, platforms and swings. Officially the clearcutting of oaks (there is no permit for other trees) is called " forest maintenance " . This particular form of maintenance keeps about 40cm of the trees standing. This has been done despite very unsafe cutting procedures by the company hired to do the cutting, with trees falling only a few meters from occupied trees. The police has taken its own share of causing unsafe situations incluing using pepperspray only centimeters from an activists' eye, trying to arrest people in trees whilst not being secured themselves and indiscriminateley cutting ropes. Over the past few days the police seems to have learned how to behave safely however and the indiscriminate use of pepperspray and pressure points have stopped after media exposure, public support etc. There have been recent instances however of police threatening to use long periods of remand and at least one climbing harness has been cut to pieces by the police. Last week in a strange and almost panicky action police arrested 5 activists after a hammer fell out of a wooden structure when police was on site. One activist was officially charged with attempted manslaughter but this charge was dropped after 24hrs when the charge transpired and there was no legal basis for it. The occupiers of the forest see this as an example of ongoing police intimidation. Next week will be critical for the site as the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) will determine whether Antwerp airport is 'Safe' on the 1st of September and part of the cutting permits may lapse. If there are still trees standing the airport may possibly loose its permit to operate medium sized jet aircraft! Many people will be needed over the weekend and next to help building more barricades, walkways and treehouses and of course to occupy these during the coming week. http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/08/349157.htmlFinland:17) The surge in the price of crude oil in recent months has inspired political parties to come out in favour of a significant increase in the production of bio-energy. Most recently, Social Democratic Party chairman and Minister of Finance Eero Heinäluoma spoke on behalf of biological energy sources, setting as a goal freeing Finland of dependence on oil by 2030. Sailas said that even elementary-level economic textbooks write that a nation's energy supply cannot be based on subsidies. In the view of Sailas, any possible subsidies should either be of limited duration, or should have positive external effects - that is, other societal benefits. He suspects that bio-energy subsidies would have no such positive side-effects, and they would probably remain permanent. Raimo Sailas is concerned that thanks to the trade in greenhouse gas emission allowances, a new situation is emerging in pricing. The energy industry could soon offer a better price for raw timber than the pulp and paper industry, making it economically more viable to burn wood for energy than to use it as raw material for paper. Sailas also questioned moves to remove all debris, such as branches, treetops, and stumps that have been left in the forest after felling, and use them for energy. He noted that such scrap wood contains nutrients that the next generation of trees would need. Sailas, known as an outspoken advocate of Finnish forestry, was awarded this year's award by the Society of Finnish Foresters and Nordea Bank for his work on behalf of the forests. http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Finance+Ministry+official+lashes+out+at+religious+fanaticism

+in+advocacy+of+bio-energy/1135221213543Armenia:18) At the expense of our forests, in 12 years the occupants extracted 720,000 cubic meter wood At the expense of occupied Azerbaijani territories, Armenia re-sells 70 cubic meter wood and 1500 dimension abroad per annum. According to accounts, for last 12 years Armenians extracted 720,000 cubic meter wood from the occupied territories. In connection with that our State sustained the damage amounting to 11,000,086 manats. Rovshan Jalilov, director of Forest Development Department at the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan informed that fires which recently took place in the occupied territories, caused damage 1,500 ha that makes up approximately 409,702 AzN: " Annually, fires destroy 15-16 million ha forests worldwide. In Azerbaijan, in 2002 the fires covered 77 ha, in 2003 - 9 ha, and in 2005 - 21 ha. " " Under Department's accounts, in 2003 the cases of the violation of law were revealed in the territory of forests extending 38,493 cubic meters and entailed damage in the amount of 303,610 manats. The offenders were found out and compensated 41 per cent damages. In 2005 the same cases were observed in the territory of forest of 19.87 cubic meters, and damage amounted to 127,254 manats. In 2006 because of the violation of the law 11 men were detained, and few people were brought to suit. To date 4 forest departments are examined. The case was transferred to the Republican Prosecutor. " http://www.demaz.org/cgi-bin/e-cms/vis/vis.pl?s=001 & p=0055 & n=001742 & g=

Turkey:19) A terrorist Kurdish group yesterday claimed responsibility for the recent fires that have engulfed Turkey's southern forests. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) claimed responsibility for the fires that started over the weekend in several different locations in the country's southern forests. The TAK is a terrorist group and a volatile, hard-line subordinate of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), operating throughout Turkey. Most TAK attacks have been directed against tourist areas in Istanbul, Ankara, and southern coastal resort areas. In the first three months of this year they claimed responsibility for eight bombings that killed two and injured 47. However the PKK yesterday denied any connections with the TAK and the recent forest fires. Top PKK figure Murat Karayilan said his organization has no connection with the TAK. The fire in Antalya's southern Kas district has continued to burn furiously through a national park famous for its wildlife for six days, as conditions have made it hard for firefighting teams to reach the fire. Officials said conditions only allow them to work to extinguish the fire by helicopter, which, they said, has hindered their efforts to put out the fire quickly. Police are investigating the possibility of arson, but Environment Ministry officials have said that the fires were due to the high temperatures. http://www.thenewanatolian.com/tna-13422.html20) From the Mediterranean to the Aegean, Turkey's coasts are engulfed in flames. The lungs of this country, our beautiful forests, are falling victim one after another to gross negligence and the incorrect priorities of our administrators. Reports are rife that the Environment Ministry has been trying to contact and persuade private helicopter owners to allocate their fleet to the fire-fighting effort. According to reports at least one of our prominent businessmen has even refused to answer a call from the minister, because most probably he did not want to feel compelled to place his choppers under the orders of the ministry. That is, of course, unacceptable and definitely irresponsible behavior. However, don't we know that every year summer comes around April-May and continues until early October? Don't we know that thousands of acres of our forests fall victim to fire every summer? Why can't we take precautions? If we can't afford to buy fire-fighting choppers and planes, we can at least lease them during the summer and deploy them close to forested areas so that we can extinguish fires before they engulf entire forests and burn our lungs. Turkey is burning and we are all watching, while most probably many people are celebrating because they will have plenty of deforested lots on which to build new hotels and villas…Don't be surprised if we see our environment minister and another 21 members of the Cabinet presenting a motion in Parliament in the not-too-distant future demanding that Parliament give the government authorization to sell formerly forested areas to those people living on them. I just don't believe statements that new trees will be planted in the place of burned trees. I have great difficulty, because of my experiences here over the past years, believing that such pledges will be kept. http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=52476Greece:21) Residents and authorities in Halkidiki and the Peloponnese yesterday began assessing the damage caused by forest fires in their areas which are gradually being brought under control by firefighters. The fire service in northern Greece said that it had curbed the progress of the blaze in the Cassandra prong of the Halkidiki peninsula. Firefighters contained the fire near the area of Cassandrino. The blaze appeared to have destroyed 200,000 trees in the area, which relies heavily on olive production. The brushfire is thought to have scorched 10,000 hectares of land in total. In Cassandra, locals insisted that the fire had burned some 5,000 hectares of pine forest, even though the general secretary of central Macedonia, Giorgos Tsiotras, said that the fire did not claim more than 3,000 hectares. It is still not clear how many houses were destroyed. Residents and farmers began assessing the damage to their homes and crops so they could submit compensation claims to the local prefecture. A three-member team from the prefecture will tour the scorched areas to confirm the scale of the destruction before asking the Interior Ministry to cover the costs of compensation. http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100002_25/08/2006_73498Russia:22) Natural park "Shcherbakovski" is known for the diversity of its landscapes It comprises caves, cretaceous slopes, rivers, waterfalls and forests. Aleksei Zimenko, the General Director of the Biodiversity Conservation Center said, "Very few regions have the same variety of natural scenery and it is important to preserve and rationally use this potential. These natural treasures will attract visitors who in turn will bring investment to the region, which will result in job opertunities for the locals." However, the increase in tourism can also have a negative effect. It would be a tragedy if such unique sites as Urakov hill, Danilovski ravine, Shcherbakovskaya girder would follow the fate of the caves and green spaces of the Crimea already suffering from tourism and vandalism. It is important to seriously tackle the problem security. Unfortunately, the rights enjoyed by the inspectors of regional natural parks and forestry employees are minimal. Alexei Ushkov, the Prosecutor General Deputy of Kamyshinski region recommended to actively apply to the Office of the Public Prosecutor for the help. He said, "The employees of the natural parks should promptly inform the office about violations of natural legislation. Any activities contradicting the decree of natural parks should be terminated and eliminated. Last year we spotted 141 violations in this sphere. We filed charges against 3 violators. Besides, the natural parks should closely cooperate with local administrations, which can resort to the help of their mighty administrative commissions." The results of the meeting were summed up in the Administration of Volgograd division of the Natural Inspection of Russia (Rosprirodnadzor), where the round- table discussion took place. http://www.forest.ru/eng/news/?AA_SL_Session=25732b51f3c78e52dc22b2004df94c2a & x=9217

Ghana:23) The Forum Project, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), which aims at slowing-down the degradation of the country's forests has begun a four day workshop to introduce the project and share experiences with community elders, opinion leaders, assembly members and chiefs in the Upper East Region. The Project had been operating in the Volta Region for the past 15 years to increase vegetative cover through protecting the remaining natural forests, rehabilitating some degraded forest reserves and encouraging the planting of woodlots. It emphasises a number of components including the rehabilitation of degraded forest reserves, promotion of private and communal woodlots, buffer zone development and soil conservation. Mr Winfred Kofi Bimah, Project Leader, in a brief to introduce the scheme to participants, said before the work began in the Volta Region there was extensive degradation and disappearance of forest resources. This, he attributed to uncontrolled bush fires, indiscriminate tree felling for fuel and land cultivation by communities without regard to the value of forests. " The situation has now turned positive and many of the practices that caused degradation have been stopped " , he said. Participants at the workshop will discuss current forest laws, development of forest protection strategies, roles and responsibilities of co-operating partners and how to plan and implement forestry activities. http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/regional/artikel.php?ID=10947324) In South Africa, the most pressing problem isn't water pollution, it's water scarcity — an unintended consequence of human behavior. South Africa's unique natural environment features plants — like the fynbos — that thrive on very little water, suiting them perfectly to this arid climate. When European colonists arrived in South Africa they set out to recreate the forested landscape familiar from their homeland. They scattered seeds for pine and eucalyptus that have grown into forests. Today, these invasive trees are a threat to the human population, competing for water by soaking up billions of gallons that once filled mountain streambeds. Already, one-third of South Africans have an inadequate supply of water. Five years ago the government decided to combat the problem — the invasive trees had to go. They have since trained 40,000 formerly unemployed people to cut thousands of non-native trees down, restoring the precious water that flows from the mountains to the rivers. Already, people who live near the streams say that the water is flowing more strongly than they have seen in 20 or 30 years. The Working for Water Programme has successfully restored a precious resource to thousands of South Africans. http://www.pbs.org/earthonedge/program/index.html Madagascar:25) Madagascar is an island of huge variety and not a few extremes: from the tropical rainforests of the north east, where rain and sun splice the day at regular intervals, to the dry baking heat of the west and south west coast, to the cooler central highlands, where winter can take root with freezing rain and biting cold. Given the wildly different textures of climate and landscape, you would be well advised to sit down with a guidebook before deciding which bits of this beautiful country to sample. And it's not only beautiful: the country's isolation, for millions of years, helped to spark and then protect an explosion of unique vegetation and wildlife. When the current president tripled the amount of protected land on the island in 2005, WWF (formerly the World Wide Fund for Nature) described it as a 'gift to the Earth'. And visitors of an ethical bent may want to pay particular attention to the type of places they stay. Madagascar is a desperately poor country, but there are tour operators who will guide you towards places that offer the locals a chance to share in the wealth you bring. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/travel/story/0,,1858864,00.htmlIndia:26) THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Forest Minister Binoy Viswam on Saturday said the government would conduct a public convention for protecting sandalwood trees at Marayur in Idukki district on August 28. Talking to presspersons here, he said about 3,000 people, including political leaders from various parties, students, environmental activists, social, cultural and religious leaders and local people would participate in the convention. Mr Viswam said the government had realised that without public participation the menace of sandalwood mafia could not be completely wiped out. Pointing out the involvement of inter-state forest poachers in sandalwood smuggling, the Minister said he had already discussed the issue with the Tamil Nadu government and they had assured full co-operation in this regard. The government was taking steps to set up a sandalwood oil factory under its control, he said and added that the government had no knowledge about the functioning of sandalwood oil factories in the state. http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEO20060826123504 & Page=O & Title=Thiruvananthapuram

& Topic=027) METIKUPPE: Forest officials opened fire on timber smugglers in the Metikuppe forest range in Nagarhole forest on Friday night. The officials suspect that one of the four timber smugglers is injured though the others had managed to escape in the dark. Police and forest officials along with additional forces, who have been combing the Metikuppe forest range, are looking for the injured. The police have recovered teakwood logs, hatchets and sickles left behind by the smugglers at Gudihala in Metikuppe forest range. They recovered small pieces of wood with blood stains from the scene of the crime. According to forest authorities, a group of four timber smugglers had felled a teak and were cutting it into pieces. The four forest guards on duty asked them to surrender. When the assailants threw hatchets and sickles at the forest guards, they opened fire. He said that they had also alerted K R hospital in Mysore, hospitals in H D Kote, Coorg and neighbouring Kerala urging them to inform about the arrivals of any person with bullet injuries. Nagarhole DCF Jagmohan Sharma said that the timber smugglers had managed to carry out their illegal activities like felling of trees in Nagarhole. He said that it would be difficult to check the vast forest area spread on Karnataka- Kerala borders. He said that they had set up anti-poaching camps, increased mobile parties and had started round-the-clock patrolling in the national park. http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEK20060827013835 & Page=K & Title=Southern+News+-

+Karnataka & Topic=0China:28) China's temperate and tropical forests, some the most diverse in the world, are greatly threatened by high population growth rates and intensive commercial logging. Threatened species include the giant panda, red panda, South China tiger and golden snub-nosed monkey. Human populations have suffered as well: in 1998, over 2,500 people died in floods resulting from widespread deforestation. This catastrophe prompted a government ban on commercial logging of natural forests in seventeen provinces. China's manufacturing sector consumes nearly one out of every two tropical trees harvested in the world. The logging ban has resulted in a dramatic increase in the amount of wood and pulp China imports from Southeast Asia and Siberia, increasing pressure on biologically rich habitats already endangered by illegal logging. To continue servicing its factories while alleviating pressure on tropical forests abroad, China is looking to resume logging in its state forests in a sustainable manner that will maintain wildlife habitat and help control flooding.In collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund, the Chinese Academy of Forestry and others, the Rainforest Alliance is promoting Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) forest management certification in China by educating foresters and stakeholders on the principles of FSC certification. By training these experts and giving them the tools and materials they will need to replicate the workshops on their own, we are able to multiply the impact of our efforts. Forest management certification efforts in China are coming at a critical time as, according to an article in the July issue of Nature, " there is...clear scientific evidence that we are on the verge of a major biodiversity crisis. " Indonesia:29) With the largest collection of plants in the country, Kebun Raya Bogor (the Bogor Botanical Garden) was regarded as being almost better than the wild -- until strong winds swept through the park, uprooting many of its rarest and oldest trees. On June 1 this year, over 200 trees in the 87-hectare garden were knocked over by a great storm, leaving some parts looking as though illegal loggers had been recent visitors. Most of the park's nutmeg trees were toppled, along with damar and canary trees along Jl. Astrid. Collection maintenance sub division head Tatang Darajat said the wind had caused serious damage to many of the garden's most precious species, including a 173-year-old teak tree. Other trees killed included an 83-year-old pouteria firma, a 41-year-old myristica simiarum, a 127-year-old cinnamon tree and a 100-year-old parinari excelse sabine from Africa. " Those were trees that were already in a critical condition because of their age and we only had one of each. We had not managed to reproduce them because most of them were around 50 to 60 meters high and we needed clippings of their youngest branches, " Tatang said. http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailfeatures.asp?fileid=20060825.D05 & irec=5

30) Some 20 people have been arrested in connection with forest fires that are sending choking smoke into neighboring countries, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said Friday. " I've instructed the police in Riau to take firm action (against suspected fire-setters), " he told reporters Friday as quoted by Antara news agency. " Those arrested included Indonesian entrepreneurs and some of them are related to Malaysian investment firms, " he added. Welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie said the government has identified a handful of companies it believes started forest fires in their concessions. " There are seven companies, but currently we are still gathering evidence, " he said, declining to name them. State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar acknowledged that authorities often caught people who were ordered to burn land, but never reached the people who were giving the orders. " We're still looking for those who told them to set the fires, " he said. Rachmat said the government would impound plantation and logging company land that is suspected of having been cleared by burning, and bring the managers of the companies to justice. " It's a desperate measure. They (the companies) may claim that it's the work of local farmers but they won't be able to use the land and will not be able to profit from it, " he told Reuters. http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20060826.H09 & irec=731) Destruction is everywhere in southern Borneo. After arriving on the island by plane, I drove for six hours in the direction of Tanjung Puting without seeing much more than a small copse. The area used to be a verdant paradise and one of the most biodiverse regions of the planet. While there are just over 30 native species of trees in the UK, Borneo has at least 5,000. But vast tracts of forest have completely vanished. Over the past few decades, Indonesia as a whole has lost about 80% of its original forest habitat. Illegal logging for lumber is still partly to blame, but expanding plantations producing palm oil, a wonder crop found in 1 in 10 western consumer goods, are now the main culprits. Roads across Borneo are lined by the remnants of once mighty rainforests. By the time the BBC crew and I arrived for an overnight stop in the town of Pangkalan Bun, close to the national park, the devastation had become thoroughly depressing. The next morning, Zacky whisked us towards Tanjung Puting in a couple of speedboats, and we skirted the park boundary on the Sungai Sekonyer river. On our right was the protected national park, with thick forest containing some 220 bird species, 17 kinds of reptile and 29 types of mammal, including orang-utans and proboscis monkeys with six-inch bulbous hooters. On the left was a 20- to 50-metre patch of trees, then endless acres of deforested land. Zacky had assured us that we would see orang-utans inside the park, and we were not disappointed. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2100-2327847,00.htmlNew Zealand:32) A senior forestry official says claims that there is a " loophole " in the Forests Act that allows unrestricted milling of native logs using so-called " free-hand slabbing methods " are wrong. " Use of a chainsaw to produce sawn timber is milling by use of a portable sawmill, " Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's indigenous forestry unit manager Rob Miller said. The claim was made in news coverage of MAF's seizure of 100 cubic metres of rimu logs near Patea in southern Taranaki which officials said did not have the necessary approvals for sustainable harvesting of native trees. The contractor involved, Steve Harris, claimed he was able to cut the trees and chainsaw slabs of timber under a provision in forestry laws which said timber could be legally taken for firewood or other uses as long as it was not put through a sawmill. But MAF said using chainsaws on a guide bar to cut timber slabs was a sawmill and if sawing indigenous logs, the " mill " had to be registered and use only timber from approved sources. http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3775203a7693,00.htmlAustralia:33) A group of senior citizens have joined the campaign to stop logging in Victoria's East Gippsland old-growth forest.Members call themselves Oldies for Old-Growth Forests, and have adopted the slogan, Respect your Elders - Protect Old-Growth Forests. Spokesman for the group Wolf Passauer says it will lobby the Government in the lead-up to the state election.He says members regard their age and experience as advantages and when they attend forest protests, they are less likely to be arrested by police. " If you look at the typical environmental movement you see what has been called in the press, young ferals, drop-out dole bludgers, people like this sitting in the trees and protesting against the environment, " he said. " Our group is just the opposite, we are elders, we are old people, we look completely different. " Mr Passauer says the group is campaigning for the future of their children and grandchildren. " We have something to offer to society, specifically to the environmental movement, " he said. " We have stood the rigours of time, like an old forest, we're still alive and we [try] to give the best that we can do in our sort of sunset years. " http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1723667.htm34) ENVIRONMENT groups across the State have written to the Government demanding that NSW fulfill its commitment to protect forests on private land from uncontrolled logging. Andrew Cox, NPA executive officer said, " The NSW Government, along with all of the mainland State and Federal Governments is a signatory to the National Forest Policy Statement, which states that public forest codes of practice should be applied to private land. " " That commitment was made nearly fifteen years ago, and threatened forest species in NSW are still being ignored and neglected, " said Mr Cox. A Draft Code of Conduct for Private Native Forestry has been on public exhibition for the last six weeks, and opportunity to respond to the Draft ends today. " Conservation groups from Tweed to Bega to the Murrumbidgee have written in response to the Draft Code, which fails to protect old growth and rainforest, does not require threatened species surveys prior to logging and has not attempted to regulate the loss of millions of tonnes of hollow-bearing trees from forests every year for commercial firewood, " said Mr Cox. http://bega.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news & subclass=general & story_id=504939 & category=

General & m=8 & y=200635) THE drafting of a code of practice to control logging on private land in NSW has been delayed until June next year. NSW Minister for Primary Industries Ian Macdonald yesterday said he would restart consultation between his department, farmers, landholders, the timber industry and environmental groups on a code to regulate private forestry. "A number of groups have indicated they believe a better code could be achieved if the stakeholder groups were allowed to negotiate it out themselves," Mr Macdonald said. "I have heard that message and the Government will be responding accordingly. The ball is now firmly in their court."An exemption allowing private forestry will be extended until June 30, 2007, Mr Macdonald said. The announcement was welcomed by the Opposition and the NSW Farmers Association but environmental groups say the Government has again broken a promise to regulate private forestry. The North East Forest Alliance's Carmel Flint said the Government had been promising to deal with a private forestry code for years."More recently, the government promised to introduce a code of practice for logging on private land by June this year, she said. "Two broken promises later and now it's due for June next year." http://www.bordermail.com.au/news/bm/national/391256.html