150 - Earth's Tree News

[Guest guest]

Today for you 42 news items about Mama Earth's trees. Location, number

and subject listed below. Condensed / abbreviated article is listed

further below.--Alaska: 1) Build a road to plan the building of road that has yet to get permits, --British

Columbia: 2) Massive waste in beetle logging, 3) Pacheedaht First

Nation seeks 'community tenure', 4) Timber Fraud technology leads to

busted loggers, --California: 5) Buying 16,000 acres of redwood and Douglas fir forests--Idaho: 6) Research Station in Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness--Maryland: 7) Garrett County's Savage River Forest threatened by Gypsy Moth war

--Massachusetts: 8) Save Robinson State Park--Pennsylvania: 9) Old trees and forests of the state--Tennessee: 10) Bill to ban strip mining--Maine: 11) Canada Lynx and White Tailed Deer losing habitat--USA: 12) Save the Roadless Rule, 13) Prevent / Reclaim sprawl for wildland, 16) recreation sites shutting down, --Amsterdam: 17) Anne Frank's Chestnut to be cut down--Tanzania: 18) Government threatens to protect forest lands because of mismanagement,--Liberia: 19) Has half of the remaining forest cover in West Africa

--Guyana: 20) Profit without plunder becomes plunder without profit--Chile: 21) Save the Chilean plum yew--Peru: 22) Mining Bahuaja-Sonene National Park--Brazil:

23) Green Desert Movement, 24) National Day of Black Conscience, 25)

Logging town turns to a ghost town due to crackdown,--Philippines: 26) 32,000 board feet of illegally cut lumber --New Zealand: 27) Fourfold increase on the present production rate--Malaysia: 28) Promoting plantation policies

--Papua New Guinea 29) Desperate measures to silence illegal logging debate--Australia:

30) Labor party would create new national parks, 31) Victorian

Rainforest Network launches new website, 32) Early morning raid at

Hobart's anti-logging camp, 33) 2 Chained themselves to a log truck in

Hobart's, 34) Global Warming Forest Action Group, 35) Senator supports

forest protests, --World-wide: 36) UN diplomacy, 37) FSC's 'mixed'

policies, 38) Award of FSC certificate ensures future profits for

certifiers, 39) Systematics, biogeography and conservation biology, 40)

Mapping technologies, 41) I am furious, enraged at old growth logging,

42) Green PrintAlaska:1) State officials announced

Wednesday that contractors could begin submitting bids Nov. 21 for the

project, which would extend 23 miles north from Cascade Point to Slate

Creek. The road, which would be closed to the public, is a necessary

step for building the 51-mile Lynn Canal highway, said Mary Siroky,

special assistant to transportation commissioner Mike Barton. " It

allows us to just get things in place so it we can be ready to go. If

we didn't do this, we could be in the position of not having the

contracts awarded, " she said. The building period lasts just nine

months, and having the contractor in place will assure the time is

well-used and money well-spent, she said. " You don't want to have to be

competing for the last bulldozer, " she said. Environmental

organizations sent a letter Friday to the Federal Highway

Administration asking for intervention, contending that U.S. law

requires the DOT to have necessary permits in hand before a contract is

awarded. Permits include one to assure compliance with the Clean Water

Act and two from the Tongass National Forest for right-of-way access.

Earthjustice attorney Michael LeVine said that awarding a contract " is

unwise fiscally and illegal. " The groups include Southeast Alaska

Conservation Council, Alaska Public Interest Research Group, Skagway

Marine Access Commission, Sierra Club, and the Natural Resources

Defense Council. They said they hope to avoid a lawsuit; LeVine said if

the project is not stopped until the required permitting are obtained,

they will continue " evaluating all possible options " including legal

action. Siroky said that since the pioneer road would be built with $30

million state dollars, federal rules don't apply. http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/111906/loc_20061119016.shtmlBritish Columbia:

2)

Forest companies are leaving behind huge volumes of timber stacked in

massive burn piles throughout B.C. Interior pine stands in a

government-endorsed strategy to haul only the best beetle-killed wood

to sawmills. The waste timber is being burned to prevent even worse

problems -- from wildfires to new pest infestations -- but the sheer

volume of waste is raising questions over the way Victoria is managing

the beetle crisis. " They are only taking the best wood out, " said Fred

Knezevich, a retired forests ministry employee who wants to see higher

utilization standards imposed by the government. " If 80 per cent of a

log is salvageable but they need a length that is 100 per cent [to meet

highly specialized sawmill requirements], then the whole log gets

burned, " Knezevich said in an interview from his Williams Lake home.

" They used to take the whole log into town. Now the logs they are using

are all being cut to the same lengths, with the rest of the tree being

left behind. " He also said forest companies do not permit other users

on their roads or cutblocks to salvage what they don't want. " We are

burning a resource up and deriving no benefit from it. " Knezevich has

photographed some of the piles visible from roads throughout the

Interior, which he provided to The Vancouver Sun Forests Minister Rich

Coleman said Monday he has seen the same piles of waste wood and has

directed ministry staff and forest licensees to make whatever changes

are needed to make better use of the wood. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=5b705ff5-1e26-4e5b-a88e-7e64335e7774

& k=49223 & p=23)

The Pacheedaht First Nation has four reserves on 174 hectares in the

Port Renfrew area, as well as toward Cowichan Lake. Their traditional

territory includes the Mount Bolduc area where the forest co-op

currently logs. "It's called a community-based tenure that's strongly

supported by the community and the First Nation," said Jones. "There is

stumpage reform for these tenures. The idea is to put revenue into

communities rather than the boardrooms of the forest companies." In

response to a question from Ken James of the Youbou TimberLess Society,

Jones said the forest co-op will have to look for markets if it gets

the new licence. "We'll have to look at that," he said. "It's pretty

hard with 15,000 cubic metres, but with more volume" it would be more

feasible. The forest co-op made a profit of $43,720 last year, or about

six per cent on sales of $826,457. Chair Lorne Scheffer said the

logging of just under 15,000 cubic metres allowed the forest co-op to

supply logs to several local mills, as well as employ Jones and hire

financial contractor Mary Gordon, auditor Gerry Cross and part time

office manager Carolyne Austin. "We started out on good footing," said

Scheffer in his report to the AGM. "The previous year's logging

generated sufficient funds to maintain staff and invest in our

community." Scheffer also noted a new five-year agreement has been

signed with Teal Jones Forest Products. http://www.cowichannewsleader.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=9 & cat=43 & id=774980 & more=

4)

A Kettle Valley man and his wife were convicted of timber fraud and

fined $60,000 in Nelson earlier this month. They had marked prime saw

logs as though they came from a site 50 kilometres from the man's

timber licence where logs were valued at 75-per-cent less, cheating the

government of $14,800 in revenue. But a trio of log salvors on the

remote B.C. coast literally got away with theft on a grand scale when

they walked from charges of stealing $120,000 worth of cedar logs. B.C.

Supreme Court Justice David Tysoe ruled Oct. 5 that although at least

one of them was a crook, he did not know who actually did the deed. In

the case of the log salvors, forests ministry investigators and the

RCMP matched 38 logs in a boom of 250 logs with stumps from tress that

had been cut illegally. The logs were stored at Spiller Inlet on B.C.'s

remote central coast in 2002. The boom was kept by Ryan Andrew Bowes,

his deckhand and common-law partner Jennine Kristy Rouse, and Kenneth

Peter Rodney. After seizing the boom, investigators began a detailed

three-month forensic investigation of the logs. They were looking for

four characteristics found on the boomed logs which they wanted to

match to stumps on the ground that they had located in 200 sites where

illegal harvesting had taken place. " The first unique characteristic is

the shape or morphology of the trunks because the trunks of red western

cedar tend to fan out in distinct lobe shapes, " Justice Tysoe stated in

his reasons. " The second is age ring patterns which are similar to

fingerprints in their uniqueness. The third is biological features,

such as fungus, which can affect the trees uniquely. The fourth is

referred to as accidental characteristics, such as markings left by the

chainsaw used to fell the tree. " As a result of these unique

characteristics, it is possible to match the butt end of a felled log

to the stump from which it was felled. " When the investigators believed

that they had matched a log to a stump based on photographs, they cut

off the butt end of the log and the top slab of the stump. These

cuttings are called " cookies " . When the cookies were physically

together and compared, the investigators were able to confirm that

there was a match between them. " http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/index.html5)

In a deal set to be announced today, the Arlington, Va.-based

Conservation Fund, in partnership with the state of California, has

purchased 16,000 acres of redwood and Douglas fir forests along the

northern California coast from the Hawthorne Timber Co. for $48.5

million.The Conservation Fund intends to try this strategy elsewhere.

" We hope to use this deal as a model for additional lands to acquire

not only in California, but for other parts of the country, " said Larry

Selzer, president of the Fund. The acquisition was made possible by a

$25 million loan from the California's State Water Resources Control

Board, a state agency that extends credit mostly for water treatment

and recycling programs to municipalities. The board concluded that

acquiring the land would serve to protect a water source by preserving

two salmon streams in the forest. This will " do a lot to protect the

water quality, because they are going to implement sustainable forestry

practices and other work, " said Charlie Hoppin, a director of the water

board. The deal involved securing $14.5 million in grants from two

other state conservation agencies and a pledge to raise $7.5 million

from philanthropic sources. A smaller, undisclosed amount of funding

support also came from Centex Corp., a home builder in Dallas, Texas,

and the ACE Group of Cos., a Bermuda-based insurer. Both companies said

they participated in the deal because they are committed to the

environment. Forest conservation is becoming one of the top priorities

for environmental groups. At issue is the trend among logging companies

in recent years of selling timberland for property development and

other uses. As many as eight million acres of forests a year in the

U.S. are being sold off, and environmental groups are seeking to buy

the tracts they deem of highest priority for conservation. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116372886594125850.htmlIdaho:6)

The 65-acre Taylor Ranch lies between the Middle Fork of the Salmon

River and Big and Monumental creeks, 36 miles from the nearest road. It

was once an outfitter's ranch owned by Jess and Dorothy Taylor. They

sold it to the University of Idaho in 1969 as an educational and

research facility. Now, through grant and intern programs, lucky U of I

students, including at least 19 this year, get to spend summers here.

To get to the Taylor Ranch Field Research Station in the heart of the

Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, you can hike or horseback

for several days through some of the more remote and uninhabited

country in the continental United States. Or you can spend 35 minutes

on a wilderness plane ride with Walt Smith. The 29-year-old is a pilot

for Arnold Aviation in Cascade, one of several such companies that

serve the Frank. Ray and Carol Arnold started Arnold Aviation in 1972.

At first, it was a part-time gig, but in 1975 they got the " mail call "

business and went full time. The couple chucked their jobs teaching in

Cascade. Ray took to the skies. Carol took reservations and grocery

orders. They do it year-round. These days, they fill 35 to 40 weekly

grocery lists in the summer, when it's " way more " busy, and deliver

mail and people — friends, relatives, campers and hikers — to about 21

airstrips scattered throughout the wilderness. Then there are the

hunters. " Last year we took 250 hunters in and out of the Frank, " Ray

says. It's a big place, yes, he says, " and it's a lot bigger on foot. "

Flying a small plane into the wilderness can be daunting. " There's a

saying about flying: 'It's better to be on the ground wishing you were

in the air than being in the air wishing you were on the ground.' " http://www.idahostatesman.com/379/story/60816.htmlMaryland:7)

Garrett County's Savage River Forest, Maryland's largest state forest,

faces a catastrophic fate unless some major management changes are made

in Annapolis. Gypsy moths defoliated more than 15,000 acres of trees in

the county, including some 10,000 acres in Savage River Forest alone.

If left unchecked, a second defoliation next year could likely kill 60

percent of the mature timber in these areas, devastating the region's

forest products and affecting outdoor recreation industries. One of

Maryland's most scenic areas would also be lost. Trees in many of these

areas were already severely stressed by the 2002 and 2003 ice storms.

The Maryland Department of Agriculture sprayed an estimated 14,000

acres of Garrett County forests, which was less than half of the

severely defoliated acres. Most of the forest re-leafed since spring's

massive defoliation. So to the casual observer, all is well in Garrett

County's forests. But in reality, millions of gypsy moths have laid

billions of eggs for the 2007 defoliation. Plus, an extremely dry

season has further stressed these trees. The state asks the private

sector to be good stewards of its forest lands, but due to state budget

cuts and hiring freezes in both DNR and MDA, there are inadequate DNR

foresters and MDA entomologists to adequately manage our state forests

and provide assistance to private landowners. Writing citizens' timber

management plans, for example, may take a year. Also, Savage River

State Forest's limited personnel struggle to generate $1.5 million in

annual timber sales, while other work is postponed. (The Savage River

Forest is the only entity of DNR that generates more income than its

budget every year). http://www.times-news.com/opinion/local_story_324102016.html?keyword=secondarystoryMassachusetts:

8)

AGAWAM - Roberta Green just finished hiking past towering oaks,

clusters of birch trees and an unusual black maple in the Robinson

State Park when she pulled three photographs from her backpack. The

pictures posed an ugly comparison to the bright foliage surrounding her

on a recent early fall day. Instead of a vibrant, lush forest, they

show invasive plants and chunks of fallen trees littering the woodsy

floor of the nearby Chicopee Memorial State Park. Green uses those

pictures as a warning against the state's plan to cut down about 810

hectares of trees during the next year. " This is what happens, " said

Green, a regular member of the Wednesday Walkers, a group of seniors in

western Massachusetts who take weekly strolls through the region's

parks and forests. " They want to come in and destroy the forest. " State

officials say the " thinning " is needed to weed out dead, decaying and

diseased trees that threaten to injure hikers and prevent healthy trees

from properly maturing. Foresters say the practice is common throughout

New England, across the country and around the world. But opponents

liken it to an act of violence. Robinson State Park has become a

flashpoint in the state's forest thinning programming. A group led by

local residents is trying to stop the harvesting of 53 hectares in the

324-hectare park. So far, they've been able to convince the state to

hold off on any tree cutting until November 2007. Japanese knotweed.

Burning bush. Bittersweet. These are the subjects of Roberta Green's

photographs taken in Chicopee, and a problem that can easily get out of

control. " They take over and then you have no regeneration of trees

beneath it, " said Robert Leverett, executive director of the Eastern

Native Tree Society. Although thinning is an important forest

management tool, he said, it needs to be used wisely. http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Science/2006/11/19/2417014-ap.htmlPennsylvania:

9)

In a previous position I had with The Bureau of Forestry, I was

fortunate to travel across Pennsylvania examining the different

old-growth forest reserves that remain. From the Sweet Root Natural

Area in the Buchanan State Forest of southern Bedford County to the

Forrest H. Dutlinger Natural Area in remote, northwestern Clinton

County, I got to see the overwhelming majority of old-growth left

behind from the lumber era. Some of these state forest natural areas

were relatively easy to find and were not too far to hike, while others

tested your physical toughness to get the chance to see trees that are

300 to 500 years old. There are various reasons these old-growth

reserves were spared during the lumber era of the late 1800s. Often,

the rugged terrain made harvesting the trees almost impossible. Other

areas were the beneficiaries of land disputes between different lumber

outfits. When companies couldn't agree to whom the trees belonged, but

were unwilling to go to court, the trees were left untouched. Our

beloved state tree, the eastern hemlock, is the species that remains

predominantly in old-growth tracts. There are not too many places where

one can find old-growth eastern white pine. White pine was the species

that fell first, during what many people consider the first wave of the

lumber era. Eastern hemlock was not harvested until years later, after

the white pine was nearly eliminated from most mountains. Furthermore,

eastern hemlock grows and thrives in very rugged places, making it very

difficult to extract. If we could go back and walk into a virgin forest

in Pennsylvania, it would not only contain ancient white pine and

hemlock, but American chestnut and several oak species as well. White

pine, hemlock, American chestnut, and oak all can attain a very old

age, with hemlock having the potential to become the oldest due to its

ability to grow seemingly forever in a shaded environment. http://www.sungazette.com/outdoors/articles.asp?articleID=11578Tennessee:

10)

Entire mountains are being blown up, highland watersheds are being

buried forever and the most diverse habitat in the world is being

destroyed for short term greed. The tide is turning! This is it. We can

kill strip mining for coal in Tennessee for good with your help. This

is for all the marbles. In the last year the entire tone of the

campaign against strip mining has shifted; the strip mine companies are

on the defensive. Now it's time for a knock out punch. United Mountain

Defense and its attorneys recently helped members of the Tennessee

Student Legislature draft a bill which out and out bans strip mining

for coal in the State of Tennessee no 'ifs', 'ands' or 'buts' a flat

out abolishment of the practice known as strip mining for coal. We are

not asking for less strip mining, or kinder gentler strip mining we are

demanding the permanent abolishment of this horrendous attack on

Tennessee's jobs, environment and culture. This bill was passed by the

Tennessee Student Legislature and now is being passed to Governor

Bredesen's desk. Yes, Gov. Bredesen will read our bill to ban strip

mining in Tennessee! After a week or so there, the bill will be

introduced and debated by the Tennessee General Assembly. If it becomes

law all strip mining for coal in the state of Tennessee will be

forbidden by statute. Needless to say, we need your help now more than

ever. We need folks to call, email, write, fax, talk to, petition, fly

planes with banners? to contact Governor Bredesen in every way possible

and to express support for this bill. Please be polite! Governor

Bredesen has sent clear signals that he is not happy with the strip

mining for coal happening in our beautiful state, as has our General

Assembly. http://unitedmountaindefense.org Maine:11)

Canada lynx and whitetail deer tend to keep to their own parts of the

forest. Lynx favor the dense undergrowth, and the tasty snowshoe hares

that live there. Deer, on the other hand, retreat each winter into

older, shaded patches of forest to escape the wind, the deep snow and

the coyotes. The animals do have one thing in common, however: Both

have been thrust into the struggle over the future of Maine's North

Woods. Wildlife advocates said this month they will sue the federal

government to formally protect northern Maine as critical habitat for

the lynx. And state officials said last week they are considering

stronger protection for deer wintering areas that are facing increased

logging pressure. Protection of wildlife habitat has been an issue in

the Maine woods for decades, but tensions are rising now with changes

in forestland ownership and new development pressures. Millions of

acres in Maine have changed hands in the past 10 to 15 years as paper

makers sold off huge parcels to investment companies that are seeking

financial returns from the wood, not just a steady supply of pulp. " Now

you've got a whole different corporate structure in much of northern

Maine, " said Ken Elowe, director of resource management at the Maine

Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife. " A lot of (new owners)

have some fairly aggressive wood needs. " Development pressure also has

created tension. Many see Plum Creek Timber Co.'s plans for two resorts

and nearly 1,000 house lots in the Moosehead Lake region as the first

of many remote landscape-scale projects that could fragment the huge

expanse of wildlife habitat in the state's 10.5 million acres of

unorganized territories. http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/061119wildlife.htmlUSA:12)

The Bush administration wants to challenge our recent courtroom victory

for Roadless forests, but you can fight back by writing USDA Secretary

Michael Johanns today. The Bush Administration wants to block

reinstatement of the Roadless Rule... Take action to save our national

forests. It's been an exciting couple of weeks for our roadless

national forests. Recently, Earthjustice scored a huge victory for our

roadless national forests when a federal district court ordered the

reinstatement of the Roadless Rule.Today, this victory is under attack.

Over the last few weeks we've started a nation-wide campaign to defend

our victory and today we need your help to fight back. Here's the

situation: Our victory means that roadless areas are once again

protected from road-building and most logging. This is bad news for the

logging, mining, and oil & gas industries... And so they're putting

pressure on their friends in the Bush administration to challenge our

victory for roadless forests. Our win has put the Bush administration

on the defensive. Now, we must safeguard our victory and keep up the

pressure to enforce the protections we've fought so hard to secure. http://action.earthjustice.org/campaign/roadless_1006/13)

Fragmentation of God's " Tapestry of Life " by the cancerous sprawl of

urban, suburban, and rural development will ultimately destroy the

ability of our biosphere to maintain its health and integrity and thus

will eventually cause the collapse of civilization as we know it today.

Such foolish and senseless destruction of Creation must be halted

immediately if Earth is to be maintained as a decent place to live for

future generations of humans and all other species. Our growth patterns

in America during the last half century have been based on wasting

irreplaceable resources and when an area becomes unfit for 'man or

beast', moving on to the next pristine area which then becomes the next

victim of this continuing crime against God and Creation. Left behind

as slums, junk yards, empty warehouses, abandoned factories, and

decaying strip centers, are millions of acres of land which can and

must be restored and re-cycled. It is absolutely imperative to not pave

over, subdivide, develop, or otherwise compromise even one acre of what

little is left of our native ecosystems as loaned to us by God. http://www.zerosprawl.org/16)

By the end of 2007, each of 155 national forests and 20 grasslands must

complete a recreation-site facility master plan evaluating recreation

facilities on their condition, frequency of use and how they fit in the

forest's recreation focus, or " niche. " Federal officials said they are

weighing the value of each of roughly 15,000 campgrounds, trailheads

with bathrooms and other developed recreation sites in the 193 million

acres under the agency's authority against the costs of maintaining

them. The agency faces a $346 million backlog in maintenance and

growing costs for fire suppression, which now makes up 42 percent of

expenditures. Its budget for 2007 was cut 2.5 percent to $4.9 billion.

The Forest Service hopes to cut its maintenance backlog 20 percent by

2010, 70 percent by 2015 and 90 percent by 2020. Decommissioned

campgrounds will still be available for camping but won't have toilets,

trash cans, picnic tables or water systems, Sherwood said. http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/112106/sta_20061121011.shtmlAmsterdam:

17)

After a long battle with illness and infection, the famous chestnut

tree which provided Anne Frank inspiration and support during her years

of hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam will now have to be cut down. For

the last two years, the 150-year-old tree has been the victim of an

aggressive fungus, as well as the dangerous horse chestnut leaf miner

moth, for the last two years. It's now at risk of falling over. The

decision was announced on Tuesday by the Amsterdam city council. The

news comes after a long battle to keep the tree alive. Last year, the

tree's crown was cut back for stability. A number of botanists have

also been performing tests and observing the chestnut in the past six

months to do what they can to save it. " Nearly every morning I go to

the attic to blow the stuffy air out of my lungs, " she wrote on Feb.

23, 1944. " From my favorite spot on the floor I look up at the blue sky

and the bare chestnut tree, on whose branches little raindrops shine,

appearing like silver, and at the seagulls and other birds as they

glide on the wind.... " In May of that year, she wrote: " Our chestnut

tree is in full blossom. It is covered with leaves and is even more

beautiful than last year.... " The Frank family's hiding spot was

discovered on August 4, 1944 and the eight people hiding in the attic

were deported shortly afterwards to Auschwitz. Anne and her sister

Margot were later transferred to Bergen-Belsen where they both

succumbed to typhus just weeks before the British liberated the camp. http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,448855,00.htmlTanzania:

18)

The government has threatened to declare forest lands under the

management of local authorities protected areas to be managed by

Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA). The Minister for Natural Resources

and Tourism Prof Jumanne Maghembe made the threat here at the weekend.

Addressing a meeting of forestry experts, he said many forests were

being destroyed as majority of forestry officials were corrupt. "They

collaborate with unscrupulous businessmen who harvest the forest

products illegally and export logs to foreign countries," he said. Prof

Maghembe said the government was aware that some forest officials were

exporting logs. "We have been taking legal measures against those

behind the business," he said. "Yes there are forests which are not

taken care of, we are going to hand them over to TANAPA for posterity.

We cannot allow them to die," he said. As a result of such problems,

Meru and Pare forests have been handed over to TANAPA, Prof Maghembe

said. http://www.ippmedia.com/ipp/guardian/2006/11/20/78751.htmlLiberia:19)

Liberia lies within one of the world's severely threatened biodiversity

hotspots, in the upper Guinean Forest of West Africa. The country's

11.3 million acres of forest represent 45 percent of its landmass and

half of the remaining forest cover in West Africa. The forests are home

to 2,000 flowering plants, 150 species of mammals, 620 species of

birds, 125 known reptiles and amphibians, and more than 1,000 described

insect species. Charismatic creatures like the Western chimpanzee, the

forest elephant, and the pygmy hippo live in Liberia's forests. Until

recently, so did corrupt warlords who traded timber for arms. Following

14 years of conflict, Conservation International (CI) and its partners

now are helping the Liberian government better protect the country's

species and ecosystems, in part by ensuring that violence does not

return to the forests. In October 2006, collaborators reached a new

milestone when Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf signed a

forestry reform measure that aims to balance the needs of the country's

depleted forests with those of its human communities. "It signifies a

new era of governance and the rule of law," says Alex Peal, director of

Conservation International-Liberia. "There is a legal framework

governing the protection, use, and conservation of this significant

heritage that was blatantly abused for personal gains, fueled the war,

and deprived a majority of the citizenry of their birth rights."

Conservation, community use, and commercial use are each accounted for

in the new law. The measure protects certain forests and regulates

others for both community benefit and commercial logging. Balancing

these multiple uses is the result of the Liberia Forest Initiative, a

collaborative effort initiated in 2004 by U.S. government agencies and

international nongovernmental organizations, including CI. Striving to

help Liberia revive its economy and environment, CI has helped craft

wildlife and protected areas provisions, for example, while the United

States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service worked to

restart commercial timber opportunities. http://www.conservation.org/xp/frontlines/2006/11150601.xmlGuyana:20)

Asian transnational companies are taking advantage of loopholes in the

current forestry laws without much profit accruing to the country and

the forestry commission is unable to properly monitor the sector. This

is the view of researcher Janette Bulkan, who gave a presentation

entitled 'Plunder without Profit' at the Cara Lodge on Thursday. The

lecture, hosted by the Guyana Citizens' Initiative, looked at the state

of Guyana's forestry sector and the extent to which Asian multinational

corporations harvest and export logs, sometimes in breach of local laws

and international best practices. In 'Plunder without Profit', Bulkan

stated that none of the seven key recommendations of Nigel Sizer's

paper 'Profit without Plunder' done ten years ago have been taken up.

Using social, economic and environmental indicators, Bulkan has

determined that the forestry sector has retrogressed. She said that the

forestry sector in 2006 is an enclave sector, supplying unprocessed

logs to Asia. According to Bulkan, Guyana's trees should be left

standing since the money the country earns amounts to US$4.50 - " less

than a towel ($1,000), " she said. She noted that Chinese company Jaling

was given permission to cut bulletwood, a protected species. She

contended that the majority of logs on the log market at Port Kaituma

were of bulletwood. She said that she was on the ground in Port Kaituma

and spoke to workers of this company who all complained about the

conditions under which they work. Some months ago, Barama's Managing Girwar Lalaram said that even though it has not turned a

profit in its 15 years of operation it still contributes to Guyana's

economy and aims to do more of this. Lalaram had said that the company

will further contribute to the economy through the sale of its

certified forest products. Barama was certified by the Forest

Stewardship Council after a long process of auditing administered by

SGS-Qualifor, the agency FSC appointed to carry out the certification. http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56507827Chile:

21)

A seed of the Chilean plum yew is a precious thing, which clings

precariously to life. Once prevalent in the South American rainforest,

the attractive conifer has become synonymous with the country that was

once its stronghold. However, it is now estimated that fewer than

10,000 of the trees, which have a similar status in their native land

as the Scots Pine to people here in Scotland, remain scattered across

the country. This may sound a lot, but only about 10 per cent of each

tree's seeds actually germinate, and this process can take four years

to occur. In the natural forest, such a poor rate of reproduction

appears to have been acceptable for a tree that can live up to 400

years. But in recent years, vast stands of plum yews have been felled

for farming, while Chile's commercial forestry companies have ripped

out the slow-growing trees and replanted more profitable eucalyptus.

Hydro-electric power schemes have also seen large swathes of plum yew

habitat flooded, while animals, especially goats, tend to eat the tasty

fruit. The tree was heading towards extinction, but work by experts

from the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh and the Forestry Commission

has brought new hope, it was revealed ahead of National Tree Week,

which starts next Wednesday. A painstaking method of nurturing the seed

has been developed, resulting in the trebling of the germination rate.

Increasing the birth rate threefold at almost a stroke should go a long

way to save the tree from what seemed to be a certain fate. http://living.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1701262006Peru:22)

It was proof of a crime against nature, the desecration of a national

park. A backhoe and bulldozer were parked casually amid dozens of acres

of bare earth where virgin jungle had recently stood. Thick hoses

snaked down to a gully, where a team of men blasted the dirt with

torrents of water, seeking to flush out specks of gold. Dario Flores,

the top ranger of Peru's Bahuaja-Sonene National Park, stomped over to

the miners. But he didn't lay down the law. He begged. " This is the

third time that we've been here, " he said, as another ranger behind him

kicked at a rock. " Please tell your boss that he can't be mining here.

You should move out. If you go, we won't be bothering you any more.

Please. " " Sure, we'll tell him, " one worker said, grinning, as he kept

swinging his pick into the rushing mud and stones. Flores turned and

trudged away. As he walked, he explained wearily that he had no way of

expelling the miners. " If we ask the police to come enforce the law,

they tell us to pay for their transportation, their per diems, their

food, " he said. " That's a lot of money, and we don't have enough budget

for that. " Across the Amazon, the battle to save the primeval jungle

continues to be a losing one. Mining, logging, ranching and farming are

expanding at an anarchic pace, little constrained by government

authorities who are often unable or unwilling to crack down. At the

same time, the international environmental movement is spending larger

and larger sums to protect the Amazon. This battle is being led by the

Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation of San Francisco, which since its

founding in 2000 has become the world's largest non-governmental donor

for forest protection and other conservation efforts. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/19/CMGV6LVQP91.DTL

Brazil:23)

According to Abramovay, the case of the Tupinikim/Guarani has priority

but at the same time, he did not give any guarantee that a decision of

the Minister will be taken before 31 December of this year, when Bastos

probably will leave the government, according to his own declarations

recently in the press. On 12 October expired the legal period for the

Minister of Justice decide about the demarcation of the lands. The

delay in the decision is concerning very much the indigenous

communities and their supporters. On 10 October, more than 1,000

workers and outsourced workers of Aracruz Celulose occupied the streets

in the centre of Vitória to demonstrate against the Tupinikim and

Guarani and their supporters. They handed over a signature petition

with 78,500 signatures in favor of Aracruz and its right to private

property, in this case the lands claimed by the Tupinikim/Guarani

indigenous peoples. Director of Aracruz, Walter Nunes, declared " We try

to dialogue with the Indians, solve the situation without going to

Court. But the interception of NGOs financed by the foreign capital,

who only think of causing damage to the company at an international

level, impeded that an agreement was signed. We are not against the

Indians, but I doubt if anybody is able to prove that the land is not

ours " . The Green Desert Movement had a meeting after the demonstration

of Aracruz Celulose, and decided to launch also a signature action to

show that the indigenous and other peoples, whose rights are violated

by Aracruz, in fact has a large support in our own society. Our aim is

to collect 100,000 signatures in Espirito Santo and Brazil, in support

to the struggles of the Indians, and also the quilombolas and small

farmers against Aracruz Celulose. At the same time, the petition

condems the racist and discriminatory practices of Aracruz against the

Tupinikim and Guarani Indians. http://www.globaljusticeecology.org24)

In São Mateus, the quilombola communities of the North of Espirito

Santo occupy the roads of the town today in the Second " Scream of the

Quilombolas " (Grito Quilombola) for the demarcation of their

traditional territory. This demonstration is happening on the National

Day of Black Conscience in Brazil. The demonstration aims to show to

society that the quilombola communities exist and today are aware of

their rights to their lands, to their culture, to health and education.

The communities protest against the enormous delay of the government in

repairing guaranteeing these rights This year for the first time, the

area of a traditional territory of a quilombola community in the North

of Espirito Santo, has been published in the National State Gazette,

and is waiting since July for a decision from the authoritites. Other

communities are following the same process. http://www.globaljusticeecology.org25)

Inside, leaning against the bar's garish pink wooden walls, its

41-year-old madame puffed her cheeks. " The city's finished, " said

Marina Ketts, an immigrant from the southern state of Paraná. " The

thing that brought money to Castelo was wood. Now that's all gone. "

During the timber boom, Ms Ketts said, the bar made up to R$2,500

(£615) a week in alcohol sales alone. Now it struggles to bring in

R$100. " It used to be one big whorehouse around here. Today, as you can

see, there is nothing. " The tale of Castelo dos Sonhos's economic

decline is the downside of the Brazilian government's success in trying

to protect the world's largest rainforest. Until recently, when

authorities began clamping down on illegal deforestation in the region,

the town was at the centre of a timber boom as lucrative as it was

illicit. Illegal logging has not been completely eradicated. When night

falls on Castelo dos Sonhos's potholed streets lorries laden with wood

emerge from what is left of the surrounding forest and head on to the

BR-163 highway, a dirt road cut through the Amazon rainforest in the

1970s by the military dictatorship. But it is on a much reduced scale -

most of the 30-odd sawmills in Castelo dos Sonhos have stopped

production. With no alternative economy and little support from the

authorities, such communities are falling apart. Nine miles to the

north, down another dirt track off the BR-163, is Nova Brasilia, a

community of landless peasants who scratch a living from a patch of

land clawed from a wealthy owner. Ask them to explain the region's

sudden decline and they respond: " Dorothy Stang " . Stang was an American

nun, known to some as the Angel of the Rainforest, shot dead on

February 12 2005 because of her fight against illegal loggers. Stang's

death is seen as a watershed by many people. Spurred on by the massive

international reaction to the murder, authorities stepped up the fight

against Amazon destruction. On February 18, six days after the killing,

Lula's government ordered the creation of two vast conservation areas

in Para and declared a freeze on logging in an area of 8m hectares

around the BR-163, including Castelo dos Sonhos. http://www.guardian.co.uk/brazil/story/0,,1952953,00.htmlPhilippines:26)

Environment Secretary Angelo T. Reyes has ordered that a thorough

investigation be conducted on the alleged involvement of RED Maximo

Dichoso and Mamacaya Lucban, Community Environment and Natural

Resources Officer of Iligan City, in connection with the release of

some 32,000 board feet of illegally cut lumber. Under the law, public

officials found guilty of the alleged misconduct similar to case of

these DENR officials, may be dismissed from the service, and their

retirement benefits may also be forfeited in favor of the government.

In his order, Secretary Reyes said that both accused should immediately

submit a written explanation why they should not be administratively

charged with the alleged anomaly. He noted that in spite of an existing

policy to impound all vehicles used in illegal logging operations, the

two 10-wheeler trucks used to haul the contrabands were also released

under mysterious circumstances. It will be recalled that Secretary

Reyes issued an Administrative Order mandating a total log ban in Lanao

del Norte and Iligan City, due to persistent information that alleged

rampant illegal logging operations were being carried out in the area.

In his letter to Rep. Abdullah Dimaporo (Lakas, 2nd Dist., Lanao del

Norte), Secretary Reyes encouraged those who may have any knowledge on

the involvement of some DENR officials on alleged bribery being hurled

against them, should come out and substantiate their claims, in order

to speed up the investigation. http://news.balita.ph/html/article.php/20061118193225967New Zealand: 27)

HIKURANGI Forest Farms, the East Coast's major forest owner, is aiming

for an annual harvest of 800,000 tonnes within a few years, the

managing director of the Asian parent company has told the Malaysian

press. That would be a fourfold increase on the present production rate

and is believed to be about twice the present annual export figures for

the port of Gisborne. The comments were made by Mr Yaw Chee Ming,

managing director of Malaysian forestry company Lingui Developments

Bhd, and a subsidiary of Samling Global Ltd. He was speaking to Asian

newspapers after the company's annual meeting. The companies own

Hikurangi Forest Farms (HFF), which owns 35,000ha of pinus radiata on

the East Coast and intends to build a major plant in Dunstan Road,

Matawhero. HFF is seeking Overseas Investment Office approval of its

purchase of additional land for the plant for $5 million from Gisborne

District Council. Mr Yaw said the company had been harvesting 100,000

cubic metres to 150,000 cubic metres annually, because it was clearing

land for forestry roads, The Star newspaper reported in Kuala Lumpur.

" When the trees start to mature in three to four years, we should be

able to boost our production as we build more infrastructure, " Mr Yaw

said after the company's annual meeting. Mr Yaw said the group would

continue to look for a further NZ investments. " If there are

opportunities, we will look for forest and softwood-planted land in New

Zealand " , he told The Edge Daily newspaper. The company already holds

850,000ha of forestry concessions in the Malaysian state of Sarawak.

The purchase of the land from Gisborne District Council was announced

by the company and Mayor Meng Foon earlier this month. http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article.asp?aid=7332 & iid=575 & sud=27

Malaysia: 28)

KUCHING: Forest plantation owners should limit themselves to

cultivating two to three tree species for greater productivity and

efficiency. State Forest director Datuk Cheong Ek Choon said that fewer

species in a plantation made disease control easier, lowered research

and development costs and reduced difficulties in the utilisation of

the timber produced. "Countries like New Zealand and Australia only

plant between one and three species," he said recently. Cheong said

fast growing acacia and kelanpayan were two common species grown by

tree plantation companies in the state. He said it was vital to ensure

that there were suitable end users for the species grown. The state

government plans to reforest one million hectares with fast growing

tree species, Cheong said. About 140,000ha, mainly in Bintulu Division,

have been planted. These plantations would supplement the supply of raw

material for the local timber processing mills. For paper and pulp

making, five-year-old trees would do but for the manufacture of solid

wood products, the trees would have to be between 10 to 15 years old,

he said. Cheong said companies should set up their own tree tissue

culture centre and have seedling nurseries to ensure that there were

enough planting material. He said the global demand for timber

continued to exceed supply and timber would have to come from planted

forests. "Applied research and development will go a long way in

addressing the questions of what, where, why and how to develop these

forests," he said when opening an applied forest science research

seminar here. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/11/21/southneast/15905643 & sec=southneastPapua New Guinea:

29)

Rimbunan Hijau's little boy, Forest Minister, Patrick Pruaitch, is

resorting to ever more desperate measures to try and silence the debate

over Papua New Guinea's notoriously corrupt and destructive logging

industry. After attempts to prevent discussion of key issues

spectacularly backfired at last months Forest Law Enforcement Seminar

organised by the PNG Forest Authority, the Minister has now demanded

that Forestry Officials do not 'participate, facilitate or engage' in

any 'seminars, conferences or studies' that are not personally approved

by himself. By acting like a totalitarian dictator and overriding

Constitutional freedoms, the Forest Minister hopes to stop any further

critical analysis of the abysmal performance of the logging industry.

However, now that his scheme has been exposed, Pruaitch will find that

he has only succeeded in reinforcing the international perception that

he is desperate to cover up the illegal and unsustainable logging and

human rights abuses of Rimbunan Hijau and other logging companies. On

November 10, the Forest Minister, Patrick Pruaitch sent out an

impressively titled 'MINISTERIAL DIRECTIVE' that demands that the

National Forest Board and PNG Forest Authority 'refrain from

participating, facilitating, or being engaged in any Seminars,

Conferences or Studies that are not duly sanctioned by the Government

of PNG through my Ministry'. The Directive is addressed to both the

Chair of the National Forest Board and the Acting Managing Director of

the Forest Authority and it ends with the threat that 'any breach of

this Directive would tantamount (sic) to serious disciplinary action'.

Although the Minister is struggling here with his use of the English

language, the meaning is clear – don't ignore me on this one or you'll

be in trouble! http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0611/S00348.htmAustralia:30)

Victorian Labor would create new national parks and move to end logging

in old growth forests in the state's east if re-elected in the November

25 poll. Premier Steve Bracks released Labor's timber policy on Friday

with a pledge to protect the last significant stands of old growth

forest available for logging in East Gippsland. The pledge includes the

Goolengook Block, the site of much protest against logging in recent

years, and will add more than 33,000 hectares to protected forest

areas. As well, Labor plans to create a Great Alpine National Park by

adding 5,000 hectares of state forest, currently able to be logged, to

existing national parks in the state's high country. Two new national

parks - Cobboboonee near Portland on the state's south-west coast and a

Red Gum national park in the state's north - would be created under

Friday's announcement. But Mr Bracks said the initiatives would not

threaten the timber industry, which would get access instead to forest

that had regenerated after fire or previous logging. " While protecting

significant parcels of land, our policy will result in no job losses

and will provide significant assistance in building the timber industry

for the future, " he said. http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Labor-pledges-new-national-parks-in-Vic/2006/11/17/1163266759

637.html31)

Today Victorian Rainforest Network (VRN) has launched a website that

provides a new way to learn about rainforest and native forest logging

issues (on public land) in Victoria by providing overlays to be used in

Google Earth, so anyone can have a 3D virtual reality forest tour of

Eastern Victoria. With the help of overlays that can be downloaded from

the VRN website into the Google Earth 3d virtual reality world, it is

possible learn and expose, in a visual way, what is happening in remote

forested landscapes. So far VRN has created overlays for all of East

Gippsland and the Central Highlands, (two million hectares of Eastern

Victoria. "This new website by VRN will move the forest debate within

Victoria into the 21st century" said Simon Birrell spokesperson for the

Victorian Rainforest Network. "Now it is possible to easily communicate

complex land management issues in a visual way using the VRN overlays

in conjunction with the 3D virtual reality landscape provided by Google

Earth.These overlays make forest issue far more accessible to

growing numbers of people who have computers that are less than a few

years old and a faster internet connection.The VRN focus has been

rainforests and the threat to rainforest by clearfell logging

practices. However, as the website was developed, we discovered there

was so much the native forest woodchipping industry has been hiding

that can now be exposed for everyone to see on their computers." http://www.vicrainforest.org32)

On November 15, 60 police raided Camp Weld, a blockade that has for

over a year prevented logging in Tasmania's majestic Weld Valley. The

area was immediately declared an exclusion zone, extending 500 metres

either side of Eddy Road, where the camp site had been. Jenny Weber

from the Huon Valley Environment Centre said the actions of the police

and the partially privatised Forestry Tasmania will " open up the forest

to destruction " . The Weld Valley, on the fringes of Tasmania's World

Heritage Area, is largely comprised of tall, old-growth forest and is

rich in biodiversity. The Lower Weld Valley was listed as

high-conservation value in the original Regional Forest Agreement and

has been registered with the National Estate, but the federal

government's forestry industry package did not list it for protection.

The valley provides habitat for the endangered Tasmanian wedge-tailed

eagle, and the Lower Weld contains some of the tallest eucalyptus

obliqua documented in Tasmania. Camp Weld featured the magnificent

" Weld Ark " , a pirate ship constructed on a logging road (Eddy Road)

that Forestry Tasmania plans to extend deep into the Weld Valley.

Should this be achieved, a further 2000 hectares will become accessible

for logging. The Weld Ark has been dismantled and 150 metres of road

have been bulldozed since the raid. Tasmania's ancient forests are

being logged, woodchipped and burned at an unprecedented pace, and

replaced with quick-growing monoculture plantations to feed the timber

industry. The Tasmanian Labor government and Liberal opposition support

this practice. http://www.greenleft.org.au/2006/691/3590333)

Police have not pressed charges against the protesters who chained

themselves to a log truck in Hobart's CBD this afternoon.About 20

protesters held up a lane of traffic in Macquarie Street to protest

against police dismantling a long-term tree sit in the Weld Valley.

Police borrowed bolt cutters from a nearby work site to remove two

protesters from the truck. Spokeswoman Yula Majewski says the group

wanted to bring the protest from the forest into the city. " We

basically stopped a log truck in the middle of Macquarie Street and had

two activists lock onto it, in order to protest against the imminent

threat to the Weld Valley which was raided this morning by police, and

the camp was half dismantled. " Police arrested one man when they

dismantled the tree sit in the Weld Valley this morning. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200611/s1789458.htm34)

A new environmental alliance known as the Global Warming Forest Action

Group is threatening to run candidates against Western Australian

Greens, after accusing them of supporting the logging of native

forests. The group wants all logging in the state's native forests to

stop. Group member Mark Sheehan from the Northcliffe Environment Centre

says the Greens' forest policy supports the Labor Government's

continuing logging. Mr Sheehan says if it does not get a commitment

from Greens' south-west MLC Paul Llewellyn, the group will campaign

against them at the next state election. " If they don't, we will run

candidates against Paul Llewellyn and Giz Watson, stating that they

have a policy of logging our forests and with global warming increasing

by the week, we believe that people will be very disgusted with the

Greens' policy, " he said. Mr Llewellyn says he is willing to hear the

group's concerns, saying he acknowledges the important role forests

play in climate change. He says his party does not support the logging

of old-growth forests. " The Greens have never been pro-logging. What

we've always said is that we should be getting our forest products from

the plantation sector and from the farm forestry sector and that's

where we believe that our real forestry of the future lies, " he said. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200611/s1793398.htm35)

Greens Senator Bob Brown has come out in support of environmentalists

protesting against old growth logging in the Weld Valley in southern

Tasmania. The arrest tally for activists is now up to 16 after two

protesters locked themselves to a log and a bulldozer. Forestry workers

are trying to build a road for further logging, but conservationists

are trying to get world heritage listing for the area. Jenni Webber

from the Huon Valley Environment Centre says the protest will continue

despite the arrests. Senator Bob Brown likens Tasmania's forest

practices to those in the Amazon and Indonesia, in terms of the

clearing and burning of forests. He calls Tasmania's forest policies

madness and says they are contributing to climate change. " It's the

Minister for Forests who should be in the dock, because what's

happening there is a crime against nature, " hesaid. Senator Brown says

using police to protect forestry interests is a mismanagement of

resources. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200611/s1793152.htmWorld-wide: 36)

United Nations: The present note has been prepared to provide

Government-designated experts with a summary of the country and

regional group proposals and follow-up comments and to facilitate the

work of the ad hoc expert group meeting in considering the content of

the non-legally binding instrument on all types of forests. The purpose

is twofold: to identify and analyse common elements in the 18 proposals

and 5 comments provided by member States of the United Nations Forum on

Forests, as well as to identify other elements for possible inclusion;

and to provide further elaboration of substantive, working and

institutional elements for developing a nonlegally binding instrument.

The note includes an annex, in a tabular format, containing all the

proposed elements provided by countries and regional groups. The note

has been compiled and elaborated through a comprehensive analysis of

all country and regional group proposals and comments. http://www.un.org/esa/forests/pdf/aheg/nlbi/Secretariat_note_NLBI_E.pdf

37)

One of the more controversial of FSC's policies has been the 'Mixed

Sources' policy, which allows manufactured products such as plywood,

paper and furniture to be labelled as 'FSC' even though the amount of

wood fibre from FSC-certified sources is actually as little as 10% of

the total wood material in the product. Quite apart from the fact that

such 'Mixed Sources'-labelled products are likely to be seriously

misleading to the consumer (following recent changes to FSC's rules,

the product labels no longer even have to say how much of the product

is actually from FSC-certfied sources), there is also the question of

'what about the remaining uncertified material'? Some FSC members have

been warning for years that, in the absence of any meaningful controls,

there is a real risk that Mixed Sources products would become a way of

'laundering' wood from unacceptable sources into FSC-labelled products.

In 2004, the FSC introduced the concept of 'Controlled Wood' to deal

with this 'non-certified' portion of wood in Mixed Sources products.

The trouble with the 'Controlled' FSC wood is that it isn't controlled.

Under the new FSC standards, there are several categories of wood that

are supposed to be completely excluded from FSC products. These include

wood from areas where there are significant abuses of civil rights

being perpetrated by logging companies, wood from illegal sources, and

wood from areas of forest that are being cut down and completely

destroyed. But for each of these important categories, responsibility

for ensuring compliance is left to the forest manager (i.e, logger)

themselves. http://www.fsc-watch.org/archives/2006/11/13/The_joke_that_is_FSC_s__Controlled_Wood_Standard___the_

laundry_is_open_for_business38)

One the major structural problems that seems to underlie much of what

is going wrong in the FSC is that contracts for certification

assessments are arranged directly between logging companies and the

FSC's accredited certifiers. Because of this - and especially because

the award of a certificate will ensure future profits for the

certifiers from monitoring and re-assessments - certifiers have a

strong financial incentive to award certificates even when the logging

company does not comply with the FSC's Principles and Criteria. Another

consequence is that certifiers are effectively competing with each

other to show that they are the most likely to award a certificate -

and the way that they do this is by lowering their assessment

standards, 'turning a blind eye' to any major problems that they find,

or taking a very 'sympathetic' view towards the company under scrutiny.

This serves to completely undermine the integrity of the FSC system.

The FSC should, through its monitoring and accreditation procedures, be

dealing with these problems, but in practice it cannot and does not:

its contract with the certifiers prevents it from doing anything that

might 'harm the economic interests' of the certifiers. Moreover, some

of the 'Big 4' certifiers (SGS, SCS, SmartWood and Soil Association

Woodmark) have simply threatened to leave the FSC if it is too strict

in applying the rules. Thus, the certifiers are effectively completely

out of control. http://www.fsc-watch.org/archives/2006/11/15/Reforming_the_FSC_by_Competitive_Tendering39)

In the interconnected fields of systematics, biogeography and

conservation biology where I mostly dwell, the most important

development will be the complete, or at least near-complete, mapping of

global biodiversity at the species level. With the great majority of

species on the planet still unknown to science, especially small

invertebrates and microorganisms, the advance will be crucial to

ecology and resource management. But it will also produce results -

often surprising - of great importance throughout biology as a whole.

--E.O. Wilson http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19225780.086-edward-o-wilson-forecasts-the-future.html

40)

Satellite and GIS mapping technologies such as ESRI ArcGIS, Google

Earth and LANDSAT enable people to explore the planet from their homes,

offices and schools. It is now possible, for example, to go online and

see the lush forests of Gombe National Park in Tanzania, and the

effects of deforestation in the surrounding region. I believe the

breakthrough that lies ahead is how we act on this information. The

consequences of our short-sightedness are only just beginning to play

out, as species disappear and our world's precious resources – forests,

land, water and oil – are consumed at reckless rates. Satellite images

are a way of graphically linking people to the natural world. I hope

that in the next 50 years we learn to connect our brains to our hearts

and apply this knowledge to help protect our planet before it is too

late. Jane Goodall is founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and a UN

Messenger of Peace. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10556-jane-goodall-forecasts-the-future.html 41)

I am furious, enraged that the Earth has not outlawed industrial

ancient forest loss and diminishment. These remaining large, contiguous

rainforests are a requirement for global ecological sustainability. I

am full of rage that government's still find once off liquidation of

life giving forest ecosystems as an acceptable economic activity. I and

others are enraged that the logging industry engages in ecocide to feed

their families dooming their children to death. And most damned for

their sins are the well-heeled environmental bureaucrats who

outrageously make a living lying about the ecological sustainability

and social desirability of logging primeval ancient forests. If

anything is sacred, it is the world's last Primeval Ancient Forests,

with their incredibly complex interactions of genes, species, plant

communities, animal populations; constrained and formed by their

physical environments. Since the rise of flowering plants, a crescendo

of evolution has lead to diversity and beauty beyond belief.

Incidentally, these plant assemblages regulate hydrological and

atmospheric processes making human and all life possible. http://earthmeanders.blogspot.com/42)

A friend of mine just officially launched a new software product called

Greenprint, which created a solution for the wasted pages that occur

when they are mistaken printed out (e.g. the last page with just a URL,

banner ad, logo, or legal jargon). The software analyzes everything

that is sent to the printer and then highlights and removes unnecessary

pages (thus saving $$/paper/ink/ trees!). I am passing along to you in

case you or any organizations/businesses you work with may be

interested in the product - please forward along to anyone you think

would benefit from this software! If you would like more info, his

website is http://www.printgreener.com and The Portland Tribune just published an article about him (link below).

http://www.portlandtribune.com/sustainable/story.phpstory_id=116337939592692000