Guest guest Posted August 9, 2007 Report Share Posted August 9, 2007 Today for you 37 new articles about earth's trees! (220th edition) Subscribe / send blank email to: earthtreenews- Weblog: http://olyecology.livejournal.com . --Alaska: 1) Logging behind McDonald's, 2) Tongass Truth by NatGeo --British Columbia: 3) Colonization kills everything, 4) Spotted Owl captive breeding begins, 5) San Juan river destroyed by logging, 6) Hollywood outs BC criminal leaders, --Pacific Northwest: 7) Feds find mass funds for logging, mass cuts for all other uses --Washington: 8) Pratt river wilderness proposed, 9) Port Gamble trail, --Oregon: 10) Representative Defazio on Mark Rey, 11) Wilderness nun, --California: 12) Direct action camp, 13) Maxxam fraud lawsuit, 14) 20,000 acre clearcut for grapes funded by state retirement fund, 15) Warming is killing Sierra Nevada trees, --Tennessee: 16) Time is right to reduce pine plantations --Maine: 17) Students map / measure forests for state database, 18) Lynx lawsuit, --Canada: 19) Permafrost and Carbon-Methane emissions --UK: 20) A old coppiced forest now an ancient woodland, 21) Truffle ability, --EU: 22) Agriculture plans to scrap land set-asides for the 2008 season --Congo: 23) New species in Misotshi-Kabogo Forest, 24) Town of Pokola, --Ethiopia: 25) Benefits of forests, --Kenya: 26) Ogiek squatters, 27) Butterflies will save Kakamega forest, 28) Kakamega, --Haiti: 29) Making charcoal from plants instead of trees --Belize: 30) Punta Gorda officials thieving the forest --Brazil: 31) FSC certification for the most corrupt of all the loggers --Argentina: 32) Greenpeace: Making a Stand --India: 33) Judge saves 4,000 mangrove hectares, 34) 1,200 hectares of Korean steel, --Australia: 35) Carbon sequestration stats, 36) Baw Baw National Park, 37) Murray River protections resisted by 'forest users' Alaska: 1) Well folks, the logging has started behind McDonald's off Egan Drive. The logs are stacked up about 10 feet from Jordan Creek and clear-cutting is occurring about 15 feet away from a recovering salmon stream. If it were a Native corporation logging this, government would require no logging within 100 feet of the salmon producing stream under the Forest Practices Act - but not in Juneau. The Juneau Assembly, the mayor and the Planning Commission just ignore the law and let the owner do what he wants. If it were a Native corporation doing this, the U.S. Forest Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, the city of Juneau, the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council and the Juneau Chamber of Commerce would be up in arms about the clear-cutting and advocating the maximum fine. The Assembly adopted a new Comprehensive Plan a few weeks ago stating the values they would like to see in the borough the next few years. Some of the values included respecting the environment; protecting the integrity of the streams; providing affordable housing; and many others. The area behind McDonald's is the first area developed following the adoption of the document and by going through with the development, the Assembly is telling us the document is not worth the paper it is written on. You need only look at this development to see that run-off from this clear-cutting will set back the recovery of Jordan Creek for decades. And, what will be built on one of the big plats? A huge building for storage - storage of our things we cannot keep in our homes. The area was a perfect place to build affordable housing. It is close to water and sewage, schools, bike paths, shopping, the airport, a great subdivision nearby, and many other things that would make this a great place to live and compatible with the area. http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/080707/opi_20070807021.shtml 2) Every river, every stream, quivers with salmon thrashing upcurrent to spawn like rapids running in reverse. Big trees, big birds, big fish, big bears, immense peaks wrapped in great glaciers that break off into bays where great whales spout: This is Southeast Alaska, the state's panhandle. It separates northern British Columbia from the open Pacific with a chain of misty, fjord-footed mountains and a jigsaw puzzle of more than a thousand islands. Known as the Alexander Archipelago, the islands help explain how a region less than 500 miles (800 kilometers) long can have 18,000 miles (29,000 kilometers) of shoreline (almost all wild, whereas the longest stretch of undeveloped coast in the contiguous states is 30 miles (50 kilometers), more than 10,000 estuaries, and 13,750 river miles (22,130 kilometers) that host oceangoing fish. About 5 percent of Southeast Alaska is owned by native tribes or the state. Another 12.5 percent makes up Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. All the rest—16.8 million acres (6.8 million hectares)—is the Tongass National Forest. The basic truth that lies behind the Tongass controversy is threefold. First, big-tree old-growth forests flourish on less than 4 percent of the land. Roughly one-third of the national forest isn't woodland at all but bare rock, glaciers, tundra, open muskeg, and slopes shorn by avalanches. Much of what remains is too high and cold or too soggy to support more than stunted or average-size trees. According to some experts, more than 90 percent of the giants among giants—trees exceeding ten feet (three meters) in diameter, " the big pumpkins " as sawyers say—are gone. In an average year, the agency spends some 30 million dollars overseeing timber programs. Many of the logging sales it puts up for bid have no takers. Others stay in limbo because of lawsuits filed by conservationists. For the approximately 50 million board feet (118,000 cubic meters) the Forest Service does manage to sell annually, it receives about $750,000. The deficit therefore comes to $29,250,000. Dividing that by 200 Tongass timber jobs, the government could pay each logger and mill worker $146,250 a year to stay home and let the rain forest be. " Under the latest Tongass guidelines, clear-cuts are supposed to be restricted in size, " Carstensen said. " But as soon as the trees growing back average five feet tall, it's legal to clear-cut the area next door, and so on. It's a prescription for what we call creeping mega-cuts. They lead to huge tracts of closed-canopy second-growth. " http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0707/feature4/ British Columbia: 3) " The root cause of indigenous peoples' spiritual, emotional, mental and prevailing poverty is colonization. The legacy of colonization lies in the enduring ramifications of the reservation and residential school system, systemic governmental, educational, judicial and societal racism. Under colonial rule, our ancestors were persecuted, imprisoned, and hanged for not subjugating themselves or the rights to our lands. They were persecuted for being in the way of progress. The legacy of colonization, lies in the prisons, skid rows, mental health wards, on the highway of tears, in addictions, alcoholism, those of our people living and working on the streets, and in our children being taken away from their homes, the legacy of colonization lies in the suicidal hearts of our youth. The legacy of colonization lies in the destruction of our earth due to globalization, ensuing pollution and physical destruction, clearcutting, pollution of our waters killing our ecosystem and creatures. It's time for us to recognize our rights as indigenous people. Our rights to our land and our rights to protect it's resources. Our very survival has been an uphill battle as we are still a marginalized race. Yet the legacy of colonization has been unsuccessful because we are still here! Still marginalized but we are working hard to show the beauty and strength of a beautiful culture. Our reality is very different from what we learned as children in school but we are a testament to the strength of our great-great grandparents. In terms of reconciliation and treaties, the government will only treaty when their best interests are in hand, not at heart. The government will only settle when it serves them for the future. " --Kat Norris, Coast Salish, Indigenous Action Movement, indigenousactionmovement 4) In April 2006, the B.C. government announced a $3.4-million plan to rebuild the dwindling population, focusing on captive breeding and release initiatives. At Mountain View, they've tried to recreate the dark seclusion of an old-growth canopy -- or what Beier calls a " little Hilton. " The Langley facility is waiting on final approval to be part of the breeding program, and has already started building a half-million-dollar new home for the owls. " It's unfortunate we have to bring them into a captive situation, but if we leave them any longer they're going to be extinct, " Beier said. " The areas that they are taking them out from the wild are areas that are being logged right now, " he explained. " We're in a situation right now that I think we don't really have much choice. " Conservationists are unsure if captive breeding will be successful and whether the birds will even have a habitat to return to. " These are the first spotted owls in the world that have ever been captured and taken out of the wild specifically for captive breeding and the scientific community is extremely divided, " said Western Canada Wilderness Committee staff scientist Andy Miller. " [breeders have] never run into this situation where they've been asked to do captive breeding but there's no habitat left to release these babies into and the government is actually on a plan to liquidate the habitat where they're taking the owls from, " Miller said. Miller said some conservationists are cautiously on-board with the captive breeding plan -- on the condition that their old-growth habitat in southwestern B.C. is protected. But others worry that breeding the birds in captivity won't work, or that it could signal the end of the fight for the forests while the spotted owl is kept " on life support, " Miller said. Government documents obtained by The Vancouver Sun last month revealed that the plan to save the owl will involve " no impact to existing cutting permits " and " no net loss of timber supply. " http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=92c78d03-df7b-406d-8f29-46\ c6e4daf163 5) Destruction inflicted on the San Juan River by logging companies, documented in detail in a scathing 1995 report to government, was so severe that it was doubtful the river could ever recover. The report blamed forestry companies for denuding hillsides, causing more than 428 landslides over 40 years and ruining salmon habitat through siltation and log-jams. Now, some Port Renfrew residents and environmentalists want government to take another look at logging practices on privately managed forest lands draining into the San Juan River valley, which they believe have contributed to massive log-jams on the river. The Provincial Emergency Program is picking up a bill of about $180,000 to clear jams on the north and main arms of the San Juan. It was feared debris could knock out bridges and flood homes in Port Renfrew and on Pacheenaht First Nations land if the jams broke free all at once when the rain starts. Rosie Betsworth, who runs a fishing charter company by the San Juan River, said forest companies should at least be paying half the cleanup bill. " They say it's Mother Nature. What a bunch of bull. Everyone points the finger at the forest companies and their poor logging practices. We are still having this stuck down our throat, " she said. A recent clearcut by a small logging company near Fairy Lake, which has " left all sorts of garbage on the ground " is an example of what is going on in the area, Betsworth said. http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=3970a90a-d302-415\ 5-ab7a-d07dab34 4ca2 & k=62173 6) B.C. eco-warrior Tzeporah Berman is taking her fight for the forests to Hollywood, where she's set to walk the red carpet today at a gala premiere for Leonardo DiCaprio's documentary The 11th Hour. The long-time conservation activist appears briefly in the film to warn that Canadian logging practices are contributing to the death of the world's forests. Ms. Berman said she ended up in the film - narrated by Mr. DiCaprio and including commentary from such heavyweights as environmentalist David Suzuki, physicist Stephen Hawking and former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev - by pure chance. She was at a conference in California last October when she overheard a couple of people frantically talking about needing someone who knows about the state of the world's forests. " I turned to them and said, 'What you really need is some of the satellite data that shows that 80 per cent of the world's intact forests are already gone and there are only three countries left - Canada, Russia and Brazil - that have enough forest to maintain ecological integrity and biodiversity,' " Ms. Berman said yesterday from the Vancouver airport as she waited for a flight to Los Angeles. One week later, Ms. Berman was on a flight to L.A to be interviewed for the film. Produced and narrated by Mr. DiCaprio, The 11th Hour explains how humans have changed the climate and how to fix the damage. Mr. DiCaprio, who debuted the film at the Cannes Film Festival in May, is one of several high-profile figures who have joined the environmental movement of late. Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore won audiences and critical acclaim last year for his Oscar-winning eco-documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. Ms. Berman, who rose to prominence as a leading figure in B.C.'s massive Clayoquot Sound protests of 1993 and who is one of the founders of ForestEthics, says she's pleased to see Hollywood embrace the cause she's dedicated her life to. " I'd much rather see celebrities working on environmental issues and that being reported in the media than many of the other things that we're barraged with every day, " Ms. Berman said. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070808.ECOWARRIOR08/TPStory/E\ ntertainment Pacific Northwest: 7) Northwest national forests are hurriedly boosting federal logging to the highest levels in years with a new infusion of cash, even as they close campgrounds and other recreation sites because money for them is drying up. The push for logging came so fast that some forests could not accelerate cutting as rapidly as top officials wanted, according to documents obtained by The Oregonian through the Freedom of Information Act. But dollars for other work in public forests remain scarce. As a result, U.S. Forest Service is likely to renege on its promise to fix existing, poorly maintained roads in Washington that violate clean water laws, for instance. Roads torn apart by storms last winter remain closed, cutting off access to trailheads and campgrounds. The new logging money is drawn from forests in other parts of the country and will underwrite new roads that will carry trucks loaded with freshly cut trees. Now, flush with more money than they have had in years, forests are scrambling to hire forestry technicians, engineers, timber appraisers and others. They are also contracting with private companies to carry some of the load their own workers cannot handle. In April -- halfway through the budget year -- forests in Washington and Oregon received an extra $24.7 million to boost logging levels, raising the timber budget about 32 percent over what they first received and nearly doubling it from last year. The doubling of money for logging contrasts with declines in other Forest Service funding. For instance, money for recreation programs in Oregon and Washington has dropped nearly 25 percent, from $28.7 million in 2003 to $21.4 million this year -- and the Bush administration is proposing a further cut to $19 million next year. National forests are now looking at closing recreation sites they can no longer afford. Washington's two U.S. senators and four congressmen, all Democrats, wrote to the Secretary of Agriculture in June, saying that plans to put extra money into logging while cutting road maintenance " reflect a serious misallocation of resources. " http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/118662993461110.xm\ l & coll=7 Washington: 8) Washington has scant federal wilderness acreage in lowland valleys or close to its urban core and little that hasn't involved political warfare between conservationists and industrial and private-property interests. But Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., and a host of leaders of environmental and outdoor-recreation groups are optimistic about developing a plan to protect the wild Pratt River valley, less than 50 miles from downtown Seattle, and nearby lands along the South and Middle forks of the Snoqualmie River. " It's not contentious, and I don't expect it to be, " the Republican congressman said as he, state and King County officials and hiking, mountain-biking and wilderness advocates unveiled their work-in-progress proposal to add the U-shaped Pratt valley to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. It is within Reichert's 8th District. Reichert said he hopes to introduce legislation in September or October after his staff and outdoor groups get public comment and work out the precise boundaries. The additions are expected to amount to between 20,000 and 25,000 acres, mostly in the Pratt River drainage. One of the factors likely to make the new plan less controversial than many is that it wouldn't include private property. All of it is within the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, and none has been logged for more than a half-century. It contains old-growth cedar, hemlock and Douglas fir. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/326880_alpine09.html 9) Along a trail among towering cedars, Jim Trainer points deep in the woods. " You see this area that's dark? " he asks. " That's perfect owl habitat. " That's the kind of information that soon will grace a trail being built in the woods in Port Gamble. Olympic Property Group, which owns and operates the former mill town, has begun building a short nature trail with interpretive signs with the help of Trainer, a local tree expert, and labor from the Kitsap County Juvenile Department's Alternatives to Detention program. The half-mile trail will have 14 signs that will highlight the natural features, such as a bear den and root structure of a fallen Douglas fir. It will also teach visitors about the cultural significance of the woods to Kitsap's first inhabitants, Native Americans, and the area's logging heritage, evident by the springboard notches in large cedar stumps. " It's an opportunity for people to learn a little bit about the history here, " Hood Canal Tree Farm area manager Patrick Raymond said. Much of the forest is around 100 years old — about twice that of an average forested area, though Trainer said some trees are 200 to 300 years old. During the Forest Festival in town Sept. 9, guides will lead tours of the area, Raymond said. While miles upon miles of trails cross Olympic Property Group's land in North Kitsap, this is the first to connect directly to the town site, Raymond said. Those involved in the project hope to finish by the end of the year. http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2007/aug/07/port-gamble-trail-carved-to-connect-fo\ rests/ Oregon: 10) Under the George W. Bush regime, our federal forestlands have suffered greatly. Not as much as Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Rey first dreamed, due to (1) aggressive and effective use of the federal courts to achieve some semblance of justice for these forests; and (2) a continuing revolution in most parts of the Forest Service (I cannot say the same about the Bureau of Land Management) that is moving away from commodity production and toward ecosystem protection and restoration—albeit with fits, starts, backsliding, diversions and incompleteness. Though I can imagine no worse president than this Bush, it is also possible imagine the next one being no better. Our victories in the courts to stop the rollbacks are based, for the most part, on statues passed by Congress in 1948, 1969, 1972, and 1976. We now have the opportunity to enact new and stronger statutes to conserve and restore the federal forestlands of the Pacific Northwest for this and future generations. The Pacific Northwest forest conservation community is at the proverbial crossroads. From 1995-2006, with the Republican control of Congress, with very few and minor exceptions (Opal Creek Wilderness, Bull Run Watershed, etc.), no good came from congressional legislation pertaining to Pacific Northwest federal forestlands. During the 102nd Congress (1991-1992), I was in the hearing room in Washington, DC, when the late great Rep. Jim Jontz' (D-IN) effort to move the Ancient Forest Protection Act through the House Agriculture Committee was stopped by key members of the Northwest Congressional Delegation. The 110th Congress (2007-2008) has brought not only the Democrats to power, but also a changed Pacific Northwest Congressional Delegation. Today, the most effective champions in Congress for Pacific Northwest old forests come not from elsewhere but are homegrown. How much they have changed and how much they will either resist or acceptably mitigate political realities (county payments, the last old-growth mills, etc.) opposed to the full conservation and restoration of these forests remains to be seen. http://www.andykerr.net 11) Wouldn't you like to meet a 66-year-old former nun who spends her days drawing a cross-cut saw over downed trees - sans pay - so people half her age can have access to trails in the Three Sisters Wilderness? And what if this woman has such great veins that the blood bank harvests her platelets every six to eight weeks as if she were some super-fit 20-year-old? And what if she explains her motivation by saying: " I don't have any money, so I can't really give money to anybody. I can give my blood, and I can give my time. " Whatever Mitchell does, she tends to give it her all. As a young woman, she chose the religious life and spent a decade as a Roman Catholic nun. Even after Mitchell decided the convent wasn't for her, she remained another 15 years with the church, serving as an educational director. At midcareer, Mitchell made the switch from cathedral to cathedral forest. She went to work for the U.S. Forest Service as the wilderness manager in the Willamette National Forest. She threw herself into the job, getting llamas to use as pack animals as she traveled deep into the Mount Jefferson, Mount Washington and Three Sisters wildernesses. She led work parties to clean campsites, educate recreationists and help maintain more than 3,000 miles of trail. The latter work required annual hikes to clear trees blown down in winter storms. Engines of any kind are forbidden in the federal wilderness, so tree clearing crews must use hand saws on smaller specimens and cross-cut saws on downed trees as much as two- or three-feet thick. " She can work a saw and work a trail with the best of them, " said Gary Guttormsen, a Springfield resident and forest volunteer. Mitchell loves the forest. You can see it in her gold, tree-shaped earrings and in the surplus Forest Service van she drives. She will travel to a trail-clearing project the night before and watch and listen to how the sky fades to black and to stillness and then to an owl's call. " So quiet, " Mitchell said. " Her soul is out there, I think, " Levine said. " It's not anywhere in the town or city. It's out in the woods. " http://www.registerguard.com/news/2007/08/07/a1.ranger.0807.p1.php?section=cityr\ egion California: 12) A direct action camp will be taking place September 6th-9th. Non-Violence, Solidarity, Back-woods and Climb trainings will be offered. The camp is free, but donations are needed and appreciated. A broad spectrum of people are expected, and the focus of the camp is to prepare activists to be affective in non-violent forms of direct action, including all areas outside the redwood curtain. We are brought together with the common goal of preventing old-growth logging, clear cutting, the use of herbicides and non-sustainable forestry in all areas of the region, the nation and the planet. Organizers are needed in guiding the next generation of activists through peaceful protest and solidarity, their skills are both welcome and appreciated. To volunteer time and skill, or to help support this opportunity to inspire and guide future generations of activists, please call 707-845-9046 or email spooner. 13) Maxxam has never before displayed any sort of shame, so we'd be disinclined to think that CEO Charles Hurwitz, the last of the great robber barons, had a sudden pang of conscience on behalf of the company and the community he has bankrupted. But you never know, we suppose. There was one other spicy bit of news to emerge from the first few minutes of Tuesday morning's hearing. That is, that the Maxxam family of companies has reached an agreement with Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos. Their agreement concerns the great issue that has defined Gallegos' career as a prosecutor -- the massive fraud suit he filed against the company shortly after taking office, which led to the dirty Maxxam-financed recall attempt against him, which led to his enshrinement as the untouchable figurehead and heartthrob of all good, right-thinking people. Then the suit itself was thrown out of court, after an out-of-town judge ruled that it had no basis in law. Gallegos appealed, but the appeal was automatically stalled when Pacific Lumber went belly-up. Well, at Tuesday's bankruptcy hearing, it was announced that Maxxam had magnanimously consented to allow the Gallegos appeal to proceed. This move can be read in two ways. Perhaps the company wishes to atone for its past sins against Gallegos -- and, by extension, the people of Humboldt County -- by allowing itself to be eviscerated by the DA's righteous pursuit of justice. Or perhaps it believes that Gallegos doesn't have the slightest chance in Hell of prevailing. You be the judge. http://www.northcoastjournal.com/080207/towndandy0802.html 14) A $100 million investment in vineyards by the California Public Employees' Retirement System is sour grapes to environmentalists, who claim the project violates the pension plan's own campaign against global warming. In partnership with Premier Pacific Vineyards of Napa, the nation's largest public pension plan in 2004 purchased a 20,000-acre tract of forest in the coastal mountains of Sonoma County. The venture wants to clear-cut 2,000 acres to plant premium grapes like the popular pinot noir and then sell the land at a profit to winemakers. Called Preservation Ranch, it would be the largest conversion of forest to vineyards ever in California, according to the the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. It also symbolizes a growing consumer thirst for premium wine that has driven recent forest-clearing projects along California's North Coast, where conditions are ideal for wine grapes. Environmentalists say the project will fragment habitat and contribute to climate change by eliminating coastal forest that could absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The spectacular and remote Preservation Ranch property lies near the town of Annapolis and covers much of Sonoma County's northwest corner. It includes sweeping ocean views, forested ridges, deeply shaded river canyons and oak woodlands. John Holland, president of Friends of the Gualala River, said the project conflicts with CalPERS' oft-stated desire to invest in ways that don't cause climate change or environmental harm. In March, CalPERS joined a coalition of institutional investors to urge the federal government to adopt mandatory greenhouse gas curbs. It also presses corporations to disclose environmental risks posed by their operations, particularly on climate change. http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/309420.html 15) Trees in the Sierra Nevada are dying at a rate nearly double that of two decades ago, and scientists say global warming is likely to blame. A federal study released this week says that one-time evergreens have turned brown and brittle because of drought, a condition that may become more frequent and more intense as the climate changes. While small trees are most at risk, the death rates have increased for a range of species at just about any elevation, the study by the U.S. Geological Survey says. Environmentalists said the news should reinforce the serious consequences of global warming by providing visual proof for the thousands who visit Lake Tahoe or Yosemite National Park each year or, closer to home, drive through the Stanislaus National Forest. " It's not as simple as saying temperatures will be a little bit warmer and you won't have to put on a sweater. The impacts reach much further than that, " said Jason Barbose, an advocate with the global warming watchdog group Environment California. USGS scientists in 1983 began monitoring more than 21,000 trees in 21 locations at Yosemite and Sequoia national parks. Annual visits to each tree showed that death rates were climbing an average of 3 percent each year, while the rate of new growth didn't change. The die-offs seemed to coincide with periods of drought, which typically make trees more susceptible to bug infestations or pathogens. Many fir and pine trees appeared to be most at risk; giant sequoias were too sparsely located to detect any trends. Climate change can bring about both drought and drenching rain, but in the arid Sierra Nevada, temperatures are warming without a marked increase in precipitation. http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070808/A_NEWS/708080323 Tennessee: 16) With timber companies such as Bowater selling and the state buying 124,000 acres, Bredesen said the time is right to reduce pine plantations in Tennessee. " This is not a pine state, it's a hardwood state, " Bredesen said. " I think any time you have monoculture you have enormous disease potential. I'd like to see some of these areas move back to native Tennessee forest, which is a mixed hardwood forest. " David Haskell, chairman of the University of the South's biology department in Sewanee, said he would welcome state efforts to convert pine plantations to hardwoods but there is no clear method to do that. " Over the very long term they might be able to, " Haskell said. " But measured over the length of human generations, it takes several. " Wayne Clatterbuck, an associate professor of forestry with the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, said areas that have been pine plantations will eventually return to hardwood forest. He said virtually the entire state, with the exception of some hard-to-reach gorges, already has been logged at least once. Most forests in Tennessee are areas that already have been logged several times, he said. " If you have a pine stand and leave it alone, it will regenerate to hardwood at some point, " Clatterbuck said. He said there are 12 million to 13 million acres of hardwood forest in Tennessee, but fewer than 1 million in pines. http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/aug/06/bredesen-tired-pines-embraces-mixed-har\ dwood-fores/ Maine: 17) UNITY -- Tell a kid about a forest and he may remember just long enough to pass the next test. Take a kid to the forest, have him touch it, analyze it and monitor it, and you may spark an interest in learning that will last a lifetime. " It prepares kids to be future citizen-scientists, " said Jay science teacher Rob Taylor during a break from Tuesday's Forest Inventory Growth reunion at Unity College. A program of Maine Project Learning Tree, which uses forest studies to help students understand environmental issues, FIG is designed to give high school students hands-on experience collecting information over one-tenth acre of forest. Students do everything from calculating the volume of the wood to documenting the different soils, mosses and wildlife in the area. The same area is monitored each year and the information serves as a reference point for future students. " It's an ongoing outdoors lab, " said Lois Ongley, assistant professor of chemistry at Unity College. " You can establish a culture in your school of studying a piece of land for generations. " That forest facts are not just kept in-house, however. The information is posted on a Web site managed by the Maine Forest Service. Using the Web site, students at Washington Academy in Machias can discover how their facts compare with what is found by students at Nokomis High School in Newport. The process is similar to water quality studies students have undertaken across the state, Taylor said, but this is the first program of its kind that allows students to study the forest. " When kids collect real-world data and actually get it published, that is a very special thing. It really piques their interest, " Taylor said. " This is an opportunity to collect data and publish it and actually use it in a much more global fashion. " Thirty-seven middle and high school teachers in at least 30 schools in Maine have taken part in the FIG training over the past three years, said Pat Maloney, state coordinator for Project Learning Tree. http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/4161695.html 18) RESTORE: The North Woods, the Wildlife Alliance of Maine, and the Natural Resources Council of Maine announced today that they are joining with Defenders of Wildlife and other conservation organizations from across the country that plan to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to force the agency to designate critical habitat for Canada lynx. The groups want the federal wildlife agency to throw out a 2006 decision that the Fish and Wildlife Service now admits was improperly influenced by political pressure. RESTORE Jym St. Pierre said a recent scandal which resulted in the resignation of a Bush Administration appointee in the Department of Interior provides an opportunity to get lynx protection in Maine back on track. According to St. Pierre, Maine has the only breeding population of Canada lynx in the entire eastern United States. In 2005, the USFWS proposed designating critical habitat in an area covering about 10,000 square miles in Maine and 8,000 square miles in the West. But in November 2006, following extensive public comment in favor of habitat designation, the Fish and Wildlife Service said it would not designate a single acre as critical habitat for lynx in Maine. We knew the original proposal was watered down from what biologists said was needed and the decision was a travesty. Now we know why. Interior Department deputy assistant secretary Julie MacDonald, a political appointee who oversaw the USFWS, resigned in May following the release of a report by the Inspector General of Department of the Interior. The report documented that she had bullied, insulted, and harassed the professional staff...to change documents and alter biological reporting. Contact: Jym St. Pierre, RESTORE: The North Woods, 207-626-5635 Canada: 19) Permafrost serves like a platform underneath vast expanses of northern forests and wetlands that are rooted, literally, in melting permafrost in many northern ecosystems. But rising atmospheric temperatures are accelerating rates of permafrost thaw in northern regions, says MSU researcher Merritt Turetsky. In the report, " The Disappearance of Relict Permafrost in Boreal North America: Effects on Peatland Carbon Storage and Fluxes, " in this week's online edition of Global Change Biology, Turetsky and others explore whether melting permafrost can lead to a viscous feedback of carbon exchange that actually fuels future climate change. Working closely with researchers from Southern Illinois University, Villanova University and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Turetsky, assistant professor of crop and soil sciences and fisheries and wildlife, found that permafrost degradation has complex impacts on greenhouse gas fluxes from northern wetlands. Permafrost collapse in peatlands tends to result in the slumping of the soil surface and flooding, followed by a complete change in vegetation, soil structure, and many other important aspects of these ecosystems, Turetsky said.The study showed that vegetation responds to the flooding with a boost in productivity. More vegetation sequesters more carbon away from the atmosphere in plant biomass. " This is actually good news from a greenhouse gas perspective, " Turetsky said. However, the report also cautions that this flooding associated with collapsing permafrost also increases methane emissions.Methane is an important greenhouse gas, which is more powerful than carbon dioxide in its ability to trap heat in the earth's atmosphere. Turetsky said it seems the permafrost degradation initially causes increased soil carbon sequestration, rather than the large releases of carbon to the atmosphere originally predicted.But over time high methane emissions will balance – or outweigh – the reduction of carbon in the atmosphere. http://newsroom.msu.edu/site/indexer/3138/content.htm UK: 20) In my village there is an ancient wood: now in your imagination this wood might be full of enormous gnarled old oak trees, but not so. It's full of spindly chestnut and hazel trees that have been coppiced for hundreds of years. Many of our high forests are the result of woodland management - such as coppicing – no longer being carried out. Coppicing – the word comes from the French word couper, to cut - is an ancient art that can be traced back to 4000 BC: it involves the cutting of trees and shrubs back to ground level on a regular basis to give a sustainable supply of timber. When the trees are cut back they are known as stools: stooling results in vigorous re-growth that produces multi-stems known as poles. These poles are then harvested on a regular basis – anything between 6 and 25 years - depending on the species and the product required. However, some wood is removed on an annual basis: if the trees have been planted close together they'll grow tall and straight and the wood used for bean poles (hazel) and the brush for 'dead' hedges. Coppiced ash was traditionally used for tool handles, oak and chestnut for fencing. Ancient or semi-ancient woodland is defined by the number of 'indicator' species: generally this is the number native flowering plants - ferns, lichens and native conifers -that are present on a particular site. The greater the number of these species present the more likely it is that the wood is ancient but, obviously, these species differ depending on the area. In Kent there are, amongst many, primroses, wood violets and sorrels growing in the woodlands; lichens, fungi and insects live on the dead wood and nightingales and dormice are resident. If the wood is too dark these species won't survive and eventually the woodland floor will become dense scrub: coppicing prevents this. http://lucyannwrites.blogspot.com/2007/08/butterflies-and-coppicing.html 21) There's an awkward pause on the phone when I suggest to Roger Jones that he might just be kidding about the blindfold. " We'll have a very nice one, " he coaxes. " We won't do a hood.It wouldn't be right to have you driving round the countryside wearing a hood. " As the alternative proves to be a Draconian five-page, non-disclosure agreement, this is how I come to be sitting blindly in the back of Roger's car, head tightly bound in a pashmina, as we bump and scratch along the narrow lanes of Berkshire and Wiltshire. Our destination is a ten-hectare patch of woodland whose exact location is a strictly guarded secret, because it is home to a valuable and extremely rare - if not unique in England - crop of that revered delicacy, the truffle. " I don't think there's anywhere in the world where you can find truffles in such a glut, " says Roger. Last year, about 75kg (165lb) of useable truffles were harvested and they can sell for up to £200 a kilo, depending on their quality, which can vary enormously. This year, even more are expected. Truffles are a serious business, and not only because of the prices they can fetch - last year, a Hong Kong tycoon paid £85,000 for a single white Piemonte truffle weighing 1.51kg (3.3lb). Roger, the chef-owner of The Harrow Inn in Little Bedwyn, Wiltshire, is joined by his 11-year-old son, Richard, who has an uncanny knack for finding the biggest and finest specimen among the tree roots. " I can feel them with my feet through the soles of my trainers, " explains Richard, dodging about on the edge of a track where I have finally been allowed to remove my blindfold. " But mainly it's just that I can see them better than everyone else, I think it's because I'm shorter so closer to the ground. " http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=4741\ 44 & in_page_id=1 770 EU: 22) Europe's bird and insect populations, as well as heavily stressed terrestrial ecosystems, face decimation as the European Commissioner for Agriculture plans to scrap land set-asides for the 2008 season. This unexpected move is a response to rising grain prices – caused by the growing biofuel sector and worsening climate change impacts. Europe's common farmland birds have declined by nearly 50% since 1980... 45% of Europe's butterflies are at risk of extinction and a recent study found 80% declines in bee diversity and 70% declines in the diversity of wild flowers dependent on pollination on hundreds of sites in the UK and Netherlands... the future Europe's ecosystem functionality such as pollination and provisions of food supplies may be at risk as pollinators are driven into extinction. Biofuel expansion for the European market is already causing massive deforestation, biodiversity losses, displacements of local communities and loss of food sovereignty in the global South – now Europe's wildlife and remaining terrestrial ecosystems are likely to become another victim. Please send the letter below to ask Europe's politicians not to scrap land set-asides until they are substituted for a more sustainable EU agricultural policy based on organic agriculture and biodiverse mixed farming system. Biofuel targets and incentives must be abolished now, to protect biodiversity and food supplies worldwide. http://www.climateark.org/blog/2007/08/alert_please_tell_the_eu_dont.asp Congo: 23) An expedition to a remote forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo has uncovered six new animal species. Conservationists discovered one new bat species, a new rat and two new species each of shrews and frogs. The region, which is in eastern DR Congo, near Lake Tanganyika, has been off limits to researchers since 1960 because of instability in the area. The survey, led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), was carried out between January and March 2007. It covered one square kilometre of forest. WCS researcher Dr Andrew Plumptre said: " If we can find six new species in such a short period it makes you wonder what else is out there. " The block of forest has probably been isolated from the rest of the Congo forest block for about 10,000 years. " Of the two new amphibian species discovered, one, a small bright green frog, is in the Hyperolius genus, the other, a 1-2cm-long black frog may belong to a completely new genus. The conservationists believe they might also have found several new plant species in the forested region, which includes the Misotshi-Kabogo Forest. The expedition's botanists were unable to identify about 10% of the new plant samples they collected. The specimens will now be examined by specialists to confirm if they represent new species. Dr James Deutsch, director of the wildlife organisation's Africa Program, said: " The survey has found that the Misotshi-Kabogo region is biologically important enough to conserve in the form of a protected area. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6936799.stm 24) A siren is heard blasting over the town of Pokola in the northern part of the Republic of Congo, warning hordes of passers-by to immediately clear the way for a rapidly approaching airplane. When not being used for arriving and departing flights, Pokola's makeshift landing strip in the middle of town serves as an important thoroughfare and gathering point. Originally, the landing strip was situated outside of town in a clearing in the dense tropical rainforest. But as the settlement grew from a small timber camp to a bustling town of over 13,000 inhabitants, houses and markets started to spring up around the strip. Today, business in Pokola is booming, especially its forestry sector, which exploits the rich natural resources of the Congo. Many wonder how long the economic growth can continue. " Timber companies are not always out to empty the rainforest of trees, " said Jacob Sterling, Conservation Director at WWF-Denmark. " In spite of all the hurdles, there are some companies working on ensuring that the industry is sustainable and can benefit the local community and contribute to the development of the national economy. " Today, the company harvests on average only one tree per hectare over a 30-year period. By any tree-felling standard this practice is considered very cautious, giving the forest the right conditions to regenerate after the chainsaws are silenced. If too many trees are cut, not only will the forest degenerate but it would mean an end to CIB's timber business, and by extension, an end to the town's improved social benefits.http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/index.cfm?uNewsID=110780 Ethiopia: 25) One wonders why, given their manifold munificence to us, we continue to consider forests as something easily dispensable and worthy only of our divided attention, merely worthy as photo op for dignitary's spouses during publicized seedling plantings. Let's have a look at the largess which by no means is exhaustive, of course, and perhaps realize once again, what we are missing out on every time we cut forests. We can start with the seemingly mundane; charcoal and firewood that we harvest from forests and burn. Without felled trees, how would millions cook their meals? From the mundane we go to the sublime. Forest environs are reputed to sooth your nerves and enhance your spirituality. A walk in the forest, some say, makes one admire nature and whoever was responsible for its being, if one have a religious bent. It makes one appreciate more one's country too. That is, as opposed to a walk in a busy street, that reminds you of car manufacturers and rising prices. In between the mundane and the sublime, you have so many things that trees are famous for. For starters, they give you your mahogany office furniture. They protect farmlands from being washed away. They make clean water possible. They increase evaporation. Increase evaporation, is that good? You bet. The more evaporation, the more likelihood for rain to occur and the whole system becomes wet as a result. http://allafrica.com/stories/200708080781.html Kenya: 26) Recently, Rift Valley provincial commissioner Noor Hassan Noor dashed hopes of resettling Ogiek squatters in their former homes when he said the Government would not resettle anybody in forest land. The PC said having land was not the only sure way to a successful life and instead asked the squatters to explore other income generating activities. " Water catchments, land under forest cover and the general ecosystem must be safeguarded against any form of depletion. Therefore, it's absolutely necessary to conserve our forests, " said the PC. He assertively said that the Government would only consider purchasing land elsewhere to resettle squatters and told them to forget the issue of returning to the forest. But, the Ogieks say they are willing to cope with new life only if the Government identifies the alternative settlement for them. " Why are we being treated as if we are not Kenyans? It's not our mistake to have found ourselves in the forests. We were born there and we don't know any other home, " said area resident Samwel Laldim, 39. He added that during their stay in the forests, they used to conserve the forests and could not allow anyone to cut trees for charcoal or any other purpose. This, they say, is because they knew trees were homes for the bees and destroying them also meant flowers, which are sources of nectar for bees, could be ruined as well. http://allafrica.com/stories/200708071162.html 27) Countries that are poor but rich in flora and fauna are increasingly seeking new ways to save wildlife from poverty and population pressure. Most rely on visits from dollar-bearing eco-tourists. For the people of western Kenya's Kakamega forest, though, there is more than one way to make money from your wilderness. Besides tourist lodges and tree nurseries growing valuable species of timber and herbal medicines, they set up a farm which cultivates butterflies for export in 2001. Buyers range from European scientists studying the behavior of forest-dwelling creepy crawlies to fashion designers and New York socialites wanting to spruce up their parties. " We get orders from Americans wanting 400 butterflies to look pretty around their wedding reception, " says Roseline Shikami, a project founder. " I don't know why butterflies. In Kenya, we use balloons. " Shikami says scientists in Europe request species to study their diets, anatomy or mating habits. A fashion designer ordered some to match her dress at a function. " Her outfit is black-and-white, so she wanted the butterfly to match the color of her dress, " she says, pointing to a black-and-white patterned insect flitting around an enclosure. Successful butterfly farming is tough. First, you have to catch at least two members' of the species you want — different sexes. Then you have to persuade them to mate.When the eggs hatch, you feed the caterpillars on their favorite forest leaves until they wrap themselves in a cocoon. The insects have to be exported in pupa form or they will not last the journey. http://www.trustedlog.com/2007/08/05/new-ideas-butterflies-on-your-wedding-party\ / 28)Kakamega is the eastern most patch of what was once a vast rainforest stretching from the jungles of west Africa across the Congo into modern day Kenya, before much was chopped down. Kenyan authorities are keen to halt the retreat of forests in a country mostly characterized by dry savanna and semi-desert. The Kakamega National Reserve is a 36 km2 reserve, situated at the north end of the Kakamega Forest, in Western Province, Kenya, at an elevation of about 1560 m, along the northeastern edge of the Lake Victoria basin. Along its eastern edge rises the partially forested Nandi Escarpment which runs along the western edge of the Rift Valley. The Kakamega Forest is generally considered the eastern-most remnant of the lowland Congolean rainforest of Central Africa. Faunally and florally, Kakamega is dominated by central African lowland species, but due to its elevation (predominantly between 1500 m and 1600 m) and proximity to the formerly contiguous Nandi Forests it also contains highland elements and is thus unique. The forest boundary (including the reserves) encloses about 238 km2, of which less than half is still indigenous forest. Throughout the forest are a series of grassy glades, ranging in size from about 1 to 50 ha, with a few larger clearings. The origins of the glades are uncertain. Some are certainly recent clearings, but others predate recent records. These may have originated from past human activity such as cattle grazing or may be the result of herbivory and movements by large mammals such as buffalo and elephants (both now extirpated from the region). The glades vary a great deal in structure, some being open grass and others having a considerable number of trees or shrubs. A number of streams and small creeks run through the reserve. The larger creeks are usually bordered by a few to tens of meters of forest on either side which divide the glades, while the smallest creeks flow through open grasslands, often forming small marshy patches. No complete floristic studies have been done at Kakamega. The forest hosts about 160 tree and shrub species, many of Congolean lowland forest affinities, including a number of endemic plant species, mostly ferns and orchids. The flora of the open areas and glades has not been well studied. The glades often have small trees. http://www.trustedlog.com/2007/08/05/new-ideas-butterflies-on-your-wedding-party\ / Haiti: 29) According to officials at MIT University, student Jules Walter, a Haitian national, joined with other students to create charcoal briquettes from organic material such as sugarcane waste. The students have now created a company called Bagazo and plans to produce these briquettes as cooking fuel for Haitians to help battle deforestation. Walter has seen firsthand the impact of deforestation in his native Haiti with nearly 98 percent of the island's forests gone and more trees being cut down every year. Deforestation is not only an environmental problem in that country, but it also makes life difficult for Haitians who rely on wood to cook their food. Walter and other students, Amy Banzaert and Kendra Leith, and Haitian community organizer Gerthy Lahens, recently won $30,000 in seed money from the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition. Walter, a computer science major who will be a senior at MIT this fall, is traveling to Haiti later this month to conduct a market study and meet with potential investors. He hopes his business will appeal to those who want to invest in something that is both profitable and socially responsible. " Traditionally people think you can either make money or help people, " said Walter. " But this is a project where we really think we can do both, and do both well. " http://www.hardbeatnews.com/editor/RTE/my_documents/my_files/details.asp?newsid=\ 13349 Belize: 30) " From June 15th the logging season should be closed but here in Punta Gorda, it is not so. Friday August 3rd,there was heavy logging going on here in Armado area here in Punta Gorda.What was shocking was that the forest officer was assisting and he went even after the time when I called Belmopan,he went and left something like over a hundred trees that have been pulled from the ground.The place was flood.I crossed the floods to go over to check a piece of property I have behind there and when I got up there,there was heavy logging operation.So I called Belmopan to report the matter because everybody has been stopped,even the poor man has been harassed and when I went there now,this operation was going on.On Saturday the rainforest officer came down and verified what I am saying here.That indeed yes,there was over a hundred trees,not logs,that were pulled out.They were freshly stomped and on Friday I called and spent like two hours on the phone and when we went back there on Saturday,the logs were stomped.So they stomped the logs between twelve the afternoon on Friday and Saturday morning and I went their with some witnesses.I think that it is unfair and because he is under the government.I think that man should be dismissed.It is a total disgrace.On the weekend Mr.Novelo goes with the BDF and police from village to village,harassing people about logging for one tree and keeps taking away and taking away and takes him to court and charges him.And the one that's been doing this now is the same one that's caught doing the same thing that he should be protecting.The worst is,he's still sitting in his office there and has not yet been suspended and I would say I am not going to rest until Mr.Novelo is dismissed because that is a shame and disgrace upon the government because logging continues to happen in Punta Gorda. " http://www.lovefm.com/ndisplay.php?nid=6201 Brazil: 31) We have recently learnt that Veracel has launched a process to obtain FSC certification for its plantations. It has hired the consulting company SGS for this purpose. Veracel ? which belongs to the Swedish-Finnish company Stora Enso and the Norwegian-Brazilian company Aracruz Celulose - is attempting to obtain certification for its plantations established over 78,000 hectares in the extreme south of the State of Bahia and its impacts are causing major local resistance. As part of the certification process, SGS undertook the main assessment during the week of 23 to 27 July. In the attached letter our Brazilian companions provide us with sufficient arguments (both related with the impacts of the plantations and with the consultation process carried out by SGS for certification), to show that Veracel should not receive certification. This letter will be sent to FSC and SGS on Tuesday 14 August. Those wishing to join us in this rejection may do so by sending their name and organization BEFORE MONDAY 13 AUGUST, to the following e-mail address: wrm Argentina: 32) With dramatic action footage, still photographs, lively interviews with unforgettable characters, evocative period and contemporary music, Greenpeace: Making a Stand explores what inspires people to risk their lives for their beliefs - to sail a ship into a nuclear test zone, to get between a pod of whales and an explosive harpoon, or to block bulldozers mowing down a forest. The film features Greenpeace pioneer Rex Weyler, a photojournalist on the campaigns to save whales an seals in the 1970s. Thirty-five years after the birth of Greenpeace, much of its daring edginess has been lost. However, Weyler rediscovers the original spirit when he joins Greenpeace Argentina in a fight to save vast tracts of virgin forest from being clear-cut. As determined individuals pursue their passions and dreams, one group will taste defeat - and the other, victory. What will those believing in Greenpeace experience? You'll have to tune in to find out! Knowledge Network encourages you spread the word about this important documentary by forwarding this message or displaying the attached poster. christinal India: 33) MUMBAI: The state government's failure to declare about 4,000 hectares of mangroves as protected forest land has irked the Bombay high court. The state has decided to keep out around 4,000 hectares of coastal mangroves from the protective ambit of the Forest Act. A division bench of Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud on Wednesday directed the state to explain why the areas have not been notified as " protected forests " . " What is the reason for excluding more than 50% of the areas from the notification? " asked the judge, while hearing a petition filed by the Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG). Assistant government pleader Niranjan Pandit informed the court that it was in the process of declaring the areas as 'protected forests' but had held back due to the demands by various government departments that they needed the plots for implementing various infrastructure projects.The court clearly unhappy with the move, asked the state counsel to file an affidavit on three aspects—the exact mangrove areas that have not been declared as protected forests, how much of the remaining area is required for public infrastructure projects and what percentage of the mangrove plots were being earmarked for private projects (apartments and golf courses). Earlier, advocate Navroz Seervai launched a blistering attack on the state's tardy implementation of the high court orders to declare mangrove areas as protected forests. Seervai pointed out to records gleaned from Cidco, which had asked the state to retain over 250 hectares of mangrove areas (out of the total 1,741 hectares in its jurisdiction) for development projects. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Mumbai/HC_raps_state_on_mangrove_move/article\ show/2266828.cm s 34) Charging the Orissa Government with " favouring " South Korean steel giant POSCO, the CPI today asked the Centre to reject the " dereservation " of forests proposal of the state government. In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, party Secretary D Raja sought his intervention saying the Centre " should reject the dereservation of forests proposal of the Orissa government immediately " . Observing that the state Forest and Environment Department had sought diversion of 1,253.225 hectares of forest land near Paradeep for establishment of the Rs 5,200 crore POSCO steel plant, he said, " unmindful of the concerns of the people, the state government is bent upon clearing everything in favour of POSCO. " This was " absolutely contrary " to the stated position of the Centre with regard to the conservation of forests and environment. " The allotment of such vast tract of forest land near the coastline is also contrary to the objections " raised by the Defence Ministry, he said. http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200708061862.htm Australia: 35) One hectare of mature, tall, wet forest can store the equivalent of 5500 tonnes of carbon dioxide. This is about the same as the annual carbon dioxide emissions from 1300 cars. Even less productive dry forests and woodlands store significant amounts of carbon. Most of the carbon in a natural forest is stored in the woody biomass of big old trees, dead wood on the forest floor, and in the soil. It is easy to forget about the carbon below ground: in the tree roots and associated fungi, other micro-organisms and decomposed plant material. These represent significant stocks of carbon that are continually replenished through natural ecosystem processes. Forests contain about three to four times more carbon than is now in the atmosphere. About half the world's forests have been cleared for agriculture and human settlement. Much of what is left is commercially logged for timber products; especially woodchip for pulp-based products. Forests that are commercially logged store about 30 per cent to 40 per cent less carbon than unlogged forests. If we were to halt further deforestation and allow the world's forests that have been logged to naturally regrow, the amount of carbon taken up and stored in these ecosystems would make. If global warming really is the mother of all environmental problems, then perhaps the time has come to bring to an end the clearing and logging of natural forests. This will make a significant and cost-effective contribution to solving the global warming problem. We must not forget that the laws of science apply universally and do not recognise political boundaries. Whether a natural forest is in Tasmania, Victoria or Papua, it performs the same kind of role in the global carbon cycle and in helping to regulate atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide. http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/save-the-forests-they-are-crucial-to-reduc\ ing-carbon-dioxi de/2007/08/06/1186252625010.html?page=2 36) On Sunday we went for a walk through a beautiful forest and also checked out the logging situation. The forest in the Baw Baw National Park are amazing; I cannot find words to describe them. We didn't go all the way down to the logging site but you could see the smoke rising from the areas being logged. It is an absolute disgrace that this is occurring. Honestly it really was beautiful and its such a shame that profits are being put before this natural wonderland and environmental gem. http://misspoliticsaustralia.blogspot.com/2007/08/week-that-was.html 37) An alliance of Murray River forest users has been formed to fight a recommendation to turn the forests into national parks. The Victorian Environmental Assessment Council says river red gum forests are suffering from a severe lack of water and need protection from logging and stock grazing. But the new alliance of farmers, shooting and timber groups, and fire brigades are protesting against the plan. Under this proposal 9925 hectares of State parks will be lost to National parks. The total area of National parks will increase threefold from 52,120 to 151,761 hectares. On ABC radio today, it was suggested that the proposal will allow up to 50 tonnes of light fire fuel per hectare. This is far beyond the capabilities of the CFA to fight fires safely and I can understand why fire brigades are protesting. DSE firefighters do not assist CFA brigades fighting fires on freehold property. They only become involved when the fire enters public land. Yet, they expect CFA volunteers to assist them on public land. If the Alliance of forest users campaigned CFA volunteers to refuse to fight fires on public land, the state government might take a lot more notice of the protesters. You can hear more about the river red gum forest draft plan at a series of forums to be held throughout the region. Watch for the one to be held in Wangaratta next week. http://kingvalley.wordpress.com/2007/08/06/alliance-to-fight-murray-national-par\ ks-plan/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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