Guest guest Posted August 28, 2007 Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 Today for you 36 new articles about earth's trees! (226th edition) Subscribe / send blank email to: earthtreenews- Weblog: http://olyecology.livejournal.com . --British Columbia: 1) Who is Betty? 2) Clearcut for parking lot in a park, 3) Drinking water protections are not as important as clearcut logging, --Washington: 4) Too many conifers are ruining northwest forest diversity --Oregon: 5) Last of the Black Walnuts, 6) Plantations not old growth, --California: 7) What' killing all our trees? --Idaho: 8) Salmon-Challis is an important migration corridor --South Dakota: 9) Forest service claims thinnings slow beetle kill --Vermont: 10) Newly designated Joseph Battell Wilderness --West Virginia: 11) Health care providers want wilderness protection --Kentucky: 12) Save Robinson forest --Canada: 13) Save the Boreal, 14) Crooked Aspen grove, --UK: 15) Turning woodland to heathland, 16) Logging Ainsdale nature reserve, --Scotland: 17) We need an Edinburgh sized forest to offset our pollution --Bulgaria: 18) Nation's forests symbolize unity and revival --Greece: 19) Forest fires kill at least 37 people --Lebanon: 20) 90% of forest destroyed in recent war, 21) Tree thieves in Tarshish, --Ethiopia: 22) The need for forests to save and forest to use --Namibia: 23) 8 native trees --Uganda: 24) Warning encroachers in South Busoga forest --Liberia: 25) The once-great Upper Guinea Forest --Cameroon: 26) EU to help investigate illegal logging --Mozambique: 27) Illegal exports of hardwood still going on --Guyana: 28) Delaying controls on log exports --Kashmir: 29) Decimation of the Chinars --Bhutan: 30) Climate change to threaten forests --China: 31) Rapid expansion of the Chinese biofuels to ruin southwest China, --Australia: 32) Give 'em a $6 million dollar fine for ruining Tiwi! 33) Battling Gunns mill, 34) Murray-Darling wetlands destruction investigated, 35) Lawsuit against eco-protests win battle, but war of proceedings continues, 36) New NSW forest code weakened, British Columbia: 1) I'm quite shocked and embarrassed how little I know about 78 year old Betty Krawczyk. The amount is nothing, really—and that is shameful. And lately her name has been spinning around me, mentioned here, passing there. I'm at a family reunion in Kamloops, and lying in bed tonight, I just wanted to know more about Betty. So I got up in the early hours and read. Betty is a legendary and incredibly brave protester on behalf of the preservation of things beautiful, like young people's lives (anti-Vietnam) and the environment (which tends to help young people and old people live). She is truly heroic—in the same mould as, say, Ghandi (and I'm serious). And for defending her sustainable beliefs in people, non-violently, against the interests of big business, she has been repeatedly imprisoned. Prison Time Served by Betty for BC Forest Defence (and us): 1994 - Clayoquot Sound - 4.5 months, 2000 - Elaho Valley - 8.5 months, 2002 - BC Working Forests - 10 days, 2004 - Upper Walbran - 9.5 months, 2006 - Eagleridge Bluffs - 2 months, 2007 - Eagleridge Bluffs - 10 months. It's shameful. Shameful. Betty has seven children, and who knows how many grand-children (especially if you include the rees)? She's in prison. For caring, it seems. For being passionate, it seems. http://www.petemccormack.com/blog/?p=317 2) To create space for the parking lot, loggers have clear-cut an area the size of a football field, a move that alarmed one visitor, but will be to the benefit of the park in the long-term, said park supervisor Eric Meagher. " In the end, it will mean a cleaner and safer Prospect Point,'' Meagher said. Once the new lot is built, an existing lot on the edge of Prospect Point near the seawall will be torn up and returned to its natural state. The work is continuing in spite of a civic strike that has entered its second month. Still, not everyone is so enthusiastic about the visual impact of the clear-cut area, which has taken on the appearance of a logging camp. " It's a very sad thing, very emotional, actually, if you've been here many many times, " said tour bus driver J.R. Panerio. " I can't believe what I'm seeing. " Work on the car park began after roughly 3,000 trees were destroyed by hurricane-force winds in mid-December. The cost of restoring the affected area has been estimated by Vancouver Park Board staff at $9 million. http://www.cbc.ca/news/credit.html 3) A local board of health order that was meant to protect drinking water by stopping logging in a community watershed on the Sunshine Coast has been largely struck down by the Supreme Court of British Columbia. A key provision of the health order will remain in effect, however, so that while Western Forest Products Inc. gets to resume most its activities in the Chapman Creek watershed, it is banned from logging on slopes that have a steepness of 60 per cent or more. Both sides greeted the decision as a partial victory. The ruling by Mr. Justice Bruce Butler allows Western Forest Products to continue road-building, to resume logging on gentle slopes and to remove trees that, before the order two weeks ago, were already down or were partly cut at the base and waiting to be extracted by helicopter. The ruling came in response to an application by the company for a stay of the health order, pending an appeal that is to be heard by the courts over four days starting Sept. 4. Judge Butler said both sides presented strong cases and his decision was meant to maintain the status quo until full arguments could be heard in the appeal. He said that by maintaining " the fundamental provisions " of the order, concerning logging on steep slopes, the regional district could protect its water and Western Forest Products could resume most of its activities, prior to the appeal. " Obviously we're pleased with the decision, " company spokesman Gary Ley said outside court. " We are also very cognizant of the public concerns. ... We'll be complying with the order and not doing any further harvesting on those steep slopes. " Daniel Bouman, executive director of the Sunshine Coast Conservation Association, said he had http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070824.BCWATER24/TPStory/TPNa\ tional/BritishCo lumbia/ Washington: 4) The study by the United States Geological Survey focused on managed forests that are planted densely with conifers — cone-bearing evergreens such as pines and firs — which dominate the forest within a short time. Broadleaf trees and shrubs are often killed with herbicides soon after the forest is planted, to diminish competition. The natural forests of the Pacific Northwest have always been dominated by conifers. But they also have had trees of varying ages and sizes along with a diversity of shrubs, hundreds of different plant species and perhaps a dozen or more kinds of hardwood trees, according to the study's author, Joan Hagar, a USGS wildlife biologist. And 78 vertebrate species in Oregon and Washington rely on a diversity of plants in the forest to survive, Hagar found. The northern spotted owl, for instance, gets 90 percent of its diet from small mammals that live off nonconiferous vegetation. The study says that planting conifers less densely, thinning more and spraying less all would contribute to a broader variety of vegetation. Mike Mosman, vice president of Port Blakely Tree Farms, a family-owned company based in Tumwater, said even managed timberlands are diverse. By law, they include buffers along streams and other sensitive areas that are not planted with conifers. That maintains some diversity of habitat across the landscape. And while managers spray with herbicides to allow newly planted forests to get going, once the trees are established, the underlying vegetation grows back, he said. " You can't think of it as the cornfields of Kansas; it's a more diverse landscape. " Even so, Mosman said, managed forests aren't intended to mimic natural ones. " Compare it to a garden, " he said. " If you have a quarter-acre garden, and you have five clumps of lettuce, you are not going to do very well. " http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003851030_forestry24m.html Oregon: 5) Progress killed most of the black walnut trees in The Dalles, and now disease appears to be wiping out what's left. Bob Schecter of Pine Creek Wood Company in Dufur said only 20 to 30 black walnuts remain in The Dalles, and most are dead or dying. " My son and I were trying to come up with walnuts in The Dalles (that are living), we couldn't come up with very many, " he said. " It's pretty much over. " Schecter said the popular opinion among those in The Dalles is that a disease called walnut bunch is to blame. Gary Goby of Albany, the Oregon chair of the National Walnut Association, compared walnut bunch to diabetes in people. Both, he said, block the vascular system causing the ends to die. In the case of diabetics, they often lose circulation to their toes; in trees, the death starts at the top. " Walnut bunch disease is in Oregon; it's in Oregon big time, " he said. Goby hasn't visited The Dalles recently, but said " we know some trees have died from walnut bunch disease in that area. " But Melody Putnam, director of the diagnostics laboratory at Oregon State University, said the Willamette Valley has seen a high mortality rate of black walnuts in recent years, and those trees have been tested for bunch with results returning negative. " I've never seen it, " Putnam said, " and it was never confirmed by the people who were working on it. " Putnam described the symptoms of walnut bunch as " witch's brooming, " where dense clusters of short branches appear within a small area, in the shape of mistletoe.Whatever is killing the trees, people who have them in their yards are sad to see them go. Mike Wacker has a roughly 90-year-old black walnut next to his house that is dying. Schecter has told him it will need to be removed within the next year because the tree could start shedding its mammoth branches. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OR_DEAD_WALNUT_TREES_OROL-?SITE=ORSAL & SEC\ TION=HOME & TEMPLA TE=DEFAULT 6) The Siuslaw National Forest pioneered a way forward. Tired of lawsuits, foresters began thinning young tree plantations created after past logging rather than cutting native forests. Today, the Siuslaw is one of the only national forests that consistently exceeds logging volume targets and returns a profit to the U.S. Treasury, and without controversy. More recently, the Willamette and Umpqua national forests also focused on restoration forestry in young plantations. The BLM can implement the same program. Half of the lands BLM considers suitable for timbering were clear-cut during the 20th century and transformed into overstocked plantations whose small trees can benefit from thinning. BLM plantations could offer more than 2 billion board feet of commercially valuable timber over the next two decades if actively thinned. Investment in Oregon mills that process logs smaller than 9 inches in diameter doubled from 1994 to 2003, making the proposition feasible. Demand for large logs from old forests on public land persists, but production capacity and economic premiums for such material are declining relative to small logs. Premiums for large logs will increase if they are available only from private lands and markets. Public lands should not be considered a piggy bank; their natural capital already is overdrawn. But the public has strong interests in the restoration of previously logged forests. Cutting some young trees can improve wildlife habitat by releasing other trees to grow bigger faster. If done smartly, thinning can reduce fire hazard. And forest restoration provides economic benefits from job creation, worker skill enhancement, and improved ecosystem services such as water quality and carbon sequestration. There is no reason why timber byproducts of restoration should be withheld from a smarter, leaner Oregon wood products economy. The public has every right to expect active management of BLM forests that sustains county payments at diminished but stable levels and creates forestry and manufacturing jobs. Like most Oregonians, the Cascadia Wildlands Project supports professional foresters who identify restoration thinning opportunities that benefit watersheds and generate wood products without compounding past mistakes. http://www.cascwild.org California: 7) Allan Buckman, a former Associate Wildlife Biologist, Central Coast Region, California Department of Fish & Game, has been seeing vegetation changes and climate shifts over wide areas of Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, and Lake Counties, in California, for several years, that are not normal to this area. As a wildlife biologist, recently retired from assignment in Sonoma and Lake Counties, Mr. Buckman completed field reviews of projects, land acquisition, and animal census over wide areas within these counties, and has had over 35 years of field experience here and in the North Bay areas of California. Mr. Buckman noted: " In the past I have seen localized die-off of plant communities from a myriad of sources, and there tends to be a trend toward one to several problems at a time, and it varies year to year. But I have never seen the present condition of wide spread impact to almost all special in all areas from a wide assortment of insects, fungus, molds, mildews, bacteria and virus. I have seen areas where every tree and shrub in a drainage area has some form of health problem " Mr. Buckman took vegetation samples from one such area in Lake County, from chamise, ceanothus (buck brush), red bud, laurel, yellow willow, black willow, elderberry, leather oak, black oak, blue oak, interior live oak, walnut, Yerba Santa, Manzanita, and toyon. Mr. Buckman, ound similar sites in Sonoma County that included live oak, valley oaks, ceanothus, chamise, pears, apples, plums, roses and a number of ornamentals. The larger question of just exactly why they are all infected, and what it is that could trigger such a broad response to an entire suite of plant communities remains unanswered. Many California Redwood Trees across wide areas are dying or showing signs of severe stress. The questions remain unanswered: Why? Trees are being cut down in record numbers across the United States without anyone doing the studies to determine why these trees are dying and what is causing this problem. There are over 50+ weather modification programs ongoing, according to NOAA records, in the United States. What impact does this chemical manipulation of our weather have on the regional micro-climates that are needed for tree, plant, and agricultural crop health? http://www.newswithviews.com/Peterson/rosalind4.htm Idaho: 8) The Salmon-Challis is an important migration corridor connecting the greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to the Northern Rockies Ecosystem and ultimately serves as an important linkage in the the Yellowstone-to-Yukon Corridor. But the future of this forest's wild character is in question as the Forest Service, feeling pressure from national ORV advocacy groups, moves to open wild areas of the forest, including areas proposed for wilderness protection, to dirt bikes, ATVs, and other off road vehicles. We can't let that happen. The highest and best use of this forest is for wildlife protection, especially now, as species face growing environmental threats due to climate change. Help us stop this plan. Take action now. At the urging of national off-road vehicle advocacy groups, the Forest Service is proposing to open up several roads and trails for off-road vehicle use within recommended wilderness areas and important fish and wildlife habitat on the Salmon-Challis National Forest. These include the 12,600 foot Mt. Borah, the Pioneer Mountains, parts of the Boulder White Cloud Mountains, and proposed additions to the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness. The Forest Service is also planning to open several roads and trails in important fish and wildlife habitat. Proposed routes in the Centennial Mountains along the Continental Divide are particularly troublesome because the Centennials are an important migration corridor between the Yellowstone Ecosystem, the Northern Rockies and ultimately the Yukon. A brief moment of your time will help to protect the wildlands, wildlife and serenity of Idaho's Salmon-Challis National Forest. Your voice will help to demonstrate that a balanced and responsible system of roads and trails is needed on the Salmon-Challis National Forest to protect its wildlands, wildlife, clean water and opportunities for quiet recreation and solitude. For more detailed information on the Salmon-Challis Travel Plan visit: http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/sc/recreation/Travel%20Plan/index.shtml Sample letter E-mail to: comments-intermtn-salmon-challis Indicate " Travel Planning " on the subject line. Bill Wood South Dakota: 9) Logging, non-commercial thinning and prescribed burns in dense stands of ponderosas give individual trees better access to water and nutrients, Forest Service natural resources officer Dave Thom said. Larger, healthier trees are better able to reject bug attacks. " Like humans, if they're malnourished, dehydrated and crowded they're more subject to illness, " Thom said. Recent Forest Service aerial photographs show patches of reddish-brown trees killed by beetles in dense stands of timber, next to logged and thinned timber where there are no red " bug trees. " Thom said thinning programs were focusing on areas around Custer, Hill City, Keystone and Deerfield Reservoir. Other large pine beetle outbreaks are in Custer State Park, upper Spring Creek near the Medicine Mountain Boy Scout Camp and in the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve, including the Black Elk Wilderness Area and Harney Peak. The Forest Service also is thinning in the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve, which includes state and federal land, but thinning is prohibited by law in the Black Elk Wilderness. About 700,000 acres of the 1,000,000 acres of ponderosa pine in the Black Hills are at " high " risk for major beetle infestations or catastrophic wildfires, according to a recent Forest Service report. " We're thinning more than 50,000 acres a year, " Thom said. Bobzien said he had requested authority for even more thinning, but he added that the current thinning level is close to what's possible given the current staff. http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2007/08/26/news/top/doc46d21d550be6f911\ 741111.txt Vermont: 10) HANCOCK –Halfway up the trail-less ridge of Monastery Mountain — after wading a sea of stinging wood nettles, before fighting a nearly impenetrable jungle of hobblebush — hiker Warren King looked around at the forest of skinny maple saplings, stunted hemlocks and old logging debris. Most people would have described the view as a mess. King saw the forest of the future. " I can't go into a wilderness area without thinking that the trees we see now are as small as they will ever be, " he said. Someday, here in the newly designated Joseph Battell Wilderness of the Green Mountain National Forest, maples and beech will elbow toward the sky, protected forever from the whine of chain saws. It's been six years since debate over the future uses of Vermont's national forest began, and nearly a year since the final showdown between wilderness and timber-cutting. In November, Congress settled the matter. The House and Senate agreed to expand the forest's wilderness areas by 42,000 acres, including the 12,333-acre Battell. As wilderness, those parts of the forest will be off-limits to timber-cutting, motorized travel and machines of any kind, but open to hunters, anglers, hikers and the like. " Wilderness areas are a draw; people will come visit them, " Forest Supervisor Meg Mitchell said last week. " We shouldn't think that wilderness is the land of no use — there are many uses. " The new wilderness designation will not bring any dramatic changes, she said. Instead, the Forest Service has launched a series of small steps to protect the forest. They include: Field crews have begun walking the new wilderness boundaries, concentrating on areas where wilderness borders roads or surrounds private property. Seasonal employees will compile an inventory of uses — like roads, flagged ski trails, hunting blinds — that conflict with wilderness. Some are likely to be removed, although the Long Trail, its side trails and shelters are exempt. http://www.earthportal.org/news/?p=417 West Virginia: 11) Citing health-related benefits, nearly 100 West Virginia healthcare providers have weighed in to support more permanent Wilderness protections by Congress for the Monongahela National Forest.These healthcare providers are supporting the West Virginia Wilderness Coalition's proposal to protect the Mon's remaining wild places through Congressional designation as Wilderness. Their sign-on letter notes that " clean air, clean water, physical exercise, relief of stress, anxiety and other pressures of daily life, and development of self confidence and self esteem are important for maintaining and improving the physical and mental health and well-being of West Virginians, as well as helping prevent a variety of chronic diseases that afflict the health of many of our citizens. The undeveloped wild lands of our state, especially the public lands accessible within the Mon, can provide all of the above health benefits. " Wilderness bills are moving forward in Virginia, Georgia, Washington, New Mexico, Oregon, and other states. Currently, just one half of one percent of the state is designated Wilderness, with less than nine percent of the Mon permanently protected against interstate power-line corridors, industrial energy expansion, logging, road building, and other developments. These West Virginia healthcare providers join a diverse, widespread and growing chorus urging additional Wilderness designation for the Mon, which includes nearly 150 businesses across the state, the Mountaineer Chapter of Trout Unlimited, the Pocahontas and Greenbrier County Convention and Visitors Bureaus, the towns of Lewisburg, Shepherdstown and Renick, the West Virginia Council of Churches and many other organizations and individuals. http://www.herald-dispatch.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070826/LIFE/70826032\ 7/1004 Kentucky: 12) Now the University of Kentucky wants to assault the forest with which it was entrusted, Robinson Forest, with monster stomps and killing footsteps. UK wants to log 800 acres of the finest intact watersheds on the Cumberland Plateau. The patina of research that UK would like to hide its profit motive behind is ridiculous: " To see the impacts on streams when steep hillsides are logged. " These impacts have been well-known for at least 50 years -- it ruins the streams. Must the forest be ripped up and countless animal and bird habitats and lives lost for profits? Must bulldozers and chainsaws destroy the trees we need for solace, clean air and water? This exquisite forest will become kitty litter, paper napkins and plates -- all thrown away by an institution that ought to know better. UK could save enormous amounts of money by simply stepping lighter on the Earth: lights and computers turned off when not in use, alternative energy, mandatory recycling, etc. If our learning institutions cannot be shining examples of how to lower our collective carbon footprint, then what hope do we have of stopping this cancer of a warming planet? --Laurie Schimmoeller, Frankfort http://www.kentucky.com/595/story/158081.html Canada: 13) Some 60 per cent of Canada's forestry takes place in boreal regions, including Manitoba, where clear cutting is permitted in Whiteshell, Nopiming, and Duck Mountain provincial parks. The province says it is all sustainable, but Greenpeace isn't buying. According to the organization, which recently helped broker a historic plan to protect B.C.'s Great Bear Rainforest with improved logging practices, the boreal's regenerative powers are being wiped away. Greenpeace's pun-intended " Kleercut " campaign urges consumers and businesses to pressure paper giant Kimberly-Clark to stop purchasing pulp clear cut from ancient forests and to use recycled paper in all of its products. The campaign is more than clever posturing. The IPCC scientists warn that, as the world continues to warm, the boreal may shrink, unleashing millions of tonnes of stored carbon, as well as losing its capacity to soak up new carbon dioxide. With the planet's temperature warmer now than it's been for 12,000 years, protecting the 67 billion tons of carbon stored in Canada's Boreal region seems like a pretty good idea, but policy makers can't seem to see the forest for the trees. A new report by the Pembina Institute may help change this. It puts the value of Canada's boreal region in the billions. The report's non-market annual values include $77 billion for flood control and water filtering by peat lands, $5.4 billion for pest-control services by birds; $4.5 billion for nature-related activities; $3.4 billion for flood control, water filtering, and biodiversity value by non-peat land wetlands, $1.85 billion for carbon sequestration; $575 million in subsistence value for aboriginal peoples; $79 million in non-timber forest products and $18 million for watershed services. http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/editorial/story/4028889p-4639811c.html 14) HAFFORD, SASK. - Legend has it that cattle will not go into this small thicket of aspens northwest of Saskatoon. This is a freaky clump of trees, after all. Welcome to Saskatchewan's Crooked Bush, a clump of mutated aspens that grow in every direction but up. The result is a tangled mess of gnarled tree trunks and bent branches. No wonder the cattle are not interested in grazing in this bush. Even the most athletic Holstein would take one look at what it would take to navigate and wander off in the other direction. Some of the tree trunks here shoot up only half a foot or so, before taking a right-angle detour. Why grow straight up when you can grow straight sideways? Locals first noticed the strange trees in the 1940s, and the aspens have been changing directions ever since. As the years passed, some trees decided they didn't want to grow sideways anymore, they would rather twist skyward. Or perhaps downward. So they do, until they decide otherwise and change direction again. Other tree trunks in this grove take a softer approach to geometry, with squiggles or gentle arches. One of these arches sweeps so low that only children can zip along the pathway in the bush without bonking their heads on the deformed trunk. If one of the Seven Dwarfs got married in Saskatchewan, the bride and groom would take wedding pictures under this little arch. " It is unreal, " said Wayne Mc-Lean, a tourist who travelled about two hours with his wife and friends from his home in Big-gar, Sask., to see the trees. " I can't believe it. It's pretty amazing. " " They look like a bunch of snakes, " said Val Shewkenek, Mr. McLean's friend, visiting from Grande Prairie, Alta. http://communities.canada.com/nationalpost/blogs/bestofsummer/archive/2007/08/24\ /straight-good s-on-bent-trees.aspx UK: 15) As an independent and professional arboriculturalist living in the New Forest and working in Dorset, I wonder how many readers are concerned about the number of trees being felled locally (particularly in the Forest). Trees seem to be disappearing and little or no new planting is taking place to compensate. I suspect that the felling is all part of the new policy of returning woodland to heathland' and certainly such a policy is being pursued rigorously in two other woods in the country that I know of. I have been informed by locals in Ringwood of woodland disappearing at Linford Bottom, Roe Inclosure, Newlands Plantation (near Moyles Court), Ilkham Inclosure, South Oakley Inclosure, Slufter Inclosure and Rose Inclosure. There could be more and I would like to obtain approximate times when the tree cutting took place from the public and information on where replanting of young trees is taking place to replace those removed. My particular concern is young oak and beech are being removed from inclosures which is harming the diversity of plantations. The New Forest is a forest - not a heathland - and I believe we need to be monitoring what is going on. My questions so far have been unanswered. Perhaps you, the readers could be my eyes and ears and e-mail me on treelady with information about tree felling. http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/mostpopular.var.1638674.mostcommented.keeping_\ a_watchful_eye_o n_the_new_forest_felling.php 16) Thousands of trees must be felled or many more will die and more than 100 rare species will be wiped out from Sefton's coast, environmentalists have said. Natural England, who own Ainsdale nature reserve on the Southport and Formby coast, say there is no other option but to fell the trees. But Sefton councillors do not want the trees cut down. The cabinet made a unanimous decision in 2004 that no more trees could be felled on the coast and say they will not overturn this. " You can plant a forest anywhere but what you can't do is develop a dune system anywhere, " Ainsdale nature reserve site manager Alice Kimpton said. " And with global warming sand dunes are also really good for sea defence. If they are forested they don't work as well. " That area of Sefton's coast is registered as a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) as it is home to rare flowers and animals such as the natterjack toad, sand lizard and great crested newt. These species need to live in areas called slacks - lime-rich sandy land that is damp in winter and spring and dries out in summer. Pine trees acidify the soil and dry out the slacks, but they will re-form if trees are cut down. " Sefton coast has 40% of the country's dune slacks so we have a very specific responsibility to make sure they are maintained, " assistant site manager Mike Downey said. Ainsdale cllr Brenda Porter described the reserve looking " as though someone had dropped a bomb " the last time trees were felled in 1997. But Natural England accepts this and says the next felling will be different. Instead of cutting down an entire section of trees over two years, forested areas will first be thinned out and then only parts of the forest will be removed so the slacks will exist next to pockets of wooded land. http://www.champnews.com/html/newsstory.asp?id=5982 Scotland: 17) A forest the size of Edinburgh would need to be planted every year - and maintained for eternity - to offset all the pollution caused by road traffic in Scotland. That is the conclusion of an expert report for the government agency, Transport Scotland, which says that planting trees to soak up climate-wrecking vehicle fumes is " not practical " . The report casts serious doubt on the viability of the previous Executive's plan to plant trees on roadside verges to protect the environment. Even if all the available verges were covered with woodlands, the report says, only 17% of a single year's carbon emissions from traffic would be offset. The report, based on a detailed analysis by the UK Transport Research Laboratory and consultants Young Associates, points out that it could cost £53 million to offset pollution belched out by Scotland's road vehicles in a year. The whole idea is " questionable " , it says. To offset the one million tonnes of carbon emitted by vehicles on the trunk road network would require 244 square kilometres of trees, approximately the size of Edinburgh. " This will only offset emissions for one year and the trees will need to be maintained for all time, " the report observes. http://www.robedwards.com/2007/08/eternal-city-si.html Bulgaria: Bulgaria's forests should be regarded as a national symbol, President Georgi Purvanov said, according to Focus news agency. He attended at a regional conference about forest preservation and restoration issues in the south-eastern Bulgarian town of Yambol. " If I have to enumerate Bulgaria's five symbols, I would definitely include our forests, which symbolise Bulgarian identity, " the President said. Purvanov added that the Bulgarian forestry sector needs a clear strategy and also a real governing policy that could yield visible results. " Over the transition years the sector was the most neglected one. No effective reforms have been implemented. No energy, strength and courage have been put in so that an effective reform can be implemented, " Purvanov said. He called for reforms that would combine experience and tradition. " I hope the establishment of State Agency for Forestry will revive the love of forest and care of its fate, " Purvanov said. He expressed his hope that next year's budget would allow the financial independence of this agency. http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/president-affirms-bulgarias-forests-as-national\ -symbol/id_245 65/catid_66 Greece: 19) Massive forest fires swept uncontrolled across Greece for a second day Saturday and killed at least 37 people in the south of the country, including several children, the fire department said. Arson was suspected in several of the more than 170 fires that have blazed since Friday morning. At least 25 of the fires ignited after dark, not close to any of the fires that were already burning, said fire department spokesman Nikos Diamandis. Police and firefighting investigators were heading to the areas. Earlier, 27 people had been confirmed dead across the Peloponnese, with at least 20 near Zaharo. Firefighters searching through charred houses in the region after daybreak found 10 more bodies in the village of Makistos, the department said. They were believed to include a mother and her four children reported missing during the night, it said. Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis - who last week called early general elections for mid-September - was to chair an emergency meeting of senior ministers in Athens. " This is a day of national mourning, " Karamanlis said after visiting burned areas. " I wish to express my deep grief over the lost lives ... We are fighting against heavy odds, on many fronts and under particularly tough conditions. " http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/G/GREECE_FIRES?SITE=FLDAY & SECTION=HOME & TEMP\ LATE=DEFAULT & C TIME=2007-08-25-07-14-15 Lebanon: 20) BEIRUT: More than 90 percent of the vegetation covering Southern villages was damaged by last year's war with Israel, according to a report published on Friday by the Association for Forests, Development and Conservation (AFDC). " Damage from last year's war has touched most of the Southern villages, as well as 94.6 percent of vegetation covering there, as a result of direct bombing, especially during the last days of the war, " the report said. It said that a total area of 1,021.3 hectares (712.5 hectares of forests and 308.8 of olives groves) were damaged. AFDC found that 37 percent of total damaged vegetation consisted of oak trees, 3 percent were pine trees and 60 percent were mixed forests. According to the report, the largest affected area was in Tyre, followed by Nabatiyeh, then Bint Jbeil. AFDC, in collaboration with the Society for Austro-Arab Relations held a news conference at their Hamra headquarters late this week to discuss the impact of last year's war on forests and rangelands in the South and assess the damage to livelihoods and the affected areas. The report was conducted following extensive study of the vegetation of 26 southern villages. The report said that the 2006 war adversely affected the local population that benefits from forest resources, including beekeeping and animal grazing. Pine nuts and wood collection are common activities wherever significant forests exist. AFDC's post-war study said that over the next 25 years, Lebanon will lose a total of $94,150,000 due to the damage of 152 hectares of pine trees, with an annual average loss of $3,766,000. It added that losses of $2,961,000 will result from the damage of 444 hectares of oak trees, an annual average loss of $987,000 for a period of the next 15 years. In addition, losses of $43,225,000 will result from the damage of 308.8 hectares of olive groves, an annual average loss of $1,729000 over a period of the next 25 years. http://www.dailystar.com.lb http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1 & categ_id=1 & article_id=84781 21) Forests in a nature reserve in the town of Tarshish in the Metn region are under threat after coal factories in the town and surrounding areas started chopping down the protected trees, an environmentalist told The Daily Star. At least three factories have been chopping down the trees to produce coal, generating profits valued at up to $10,000, said Mahmoud Ahmadiah, the head of Tabia Bila Houdoud (Nature Without Limits), an environmental association. " There are several scandals in the village of Tarshish, " Ahmadiah said, in reference to the threats to the nature reserve. Ahmadiah added that because security forces are currently stretched thin, " some people are taking the advantage of the absence of surveillance to conduct deals that damage the country's green reserve. " He lashed out at the Agriculture Ministry for doing little to prevent the companies from cutting down trees in Tarshish. http://www.dailystar.com.lb He described the owners of coal production companies as " mafias, " saying that they are threatening officials in the ministry against taking action. Ahmadiah also accused Tarshish's municipal council and its major of conspiracy with the coal factories. " This support shows that political cover is offered to the municipality members, and is encouraging them to overlook the government and its institutions. " He slammed what he called " dead consciences and prevailing apathy, " calling on officials to show more concern for forests. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1 & categ_id=1 & article_id=84751 Ethiopia: 22) 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. If you are, however, reluctant to buy the suggestion above, that forests are good rain makers, what you can't possibly doubt is the fact they are the biggest hoarders of moisture underground once it has fallen as rain. In a way, they save the water in the soil for people to use it later in whatever form—- spring, river, and subterranean water. Forests are the ideal haven for animals that find themselves fugitives from man. Forests comprise biodiversity and in a way shelter it. Clear forests and you invite assured extinction. Let's not forget too that millions of aborigine people live entirely dependent on forests both within and on peripheries. You may ask, what is new? Have we not been there and heard all that before? Well, you are right but what is new is this: Forests have been under attack for as long as history has been recorded. Now, a brand-new nemesis is on the offing. It comes in the form of what people call biofuel. It is the growing of huge mass of known staple crops and converting them to usable, mainstream energy, similar to fossil fuels. But how much and where to grow them is what makes it niggling. http://desertification.wordpress.com/2007/08/26/ethiopia-forests-for-biofuel-a-d\ ubious-swap-fao -allafrica-daily-monitor/ Namibia: 23) In this article, we bring you information on eight trees.1) The makalani palm tree (known as omulunga in Oshiwambo) is common along many ephemeral rivers in north-western Namibia and is a prominent feature of the oshana landscape of channels in the Omusati, Oshana and western Oshikoto regions. Their leaves provide fibre to weave mats, hats and baskets, while leaf stalks are often used for fencing. The nuts are very hard but can be processed and eaten. An Oshiwambo traditional alcoholic drink called ombike is made from makalani palm fruits. 2) Leadwoods are highly respected for their spiritual and cultural value. Leadwood ash has been used as a toothpaste or when mixed with milk as a whitewash paint. 3) The kiaat tree grows in warm, frost-free areas in Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, northern Zimbabwe, Mozambique and into Tanzania. Namibian kiaats are strictly limited to sandy soils in areas where rainfall exceeds 400 millimetres a year. Mature trees normally reach a height of 10 to 12 metres and have characteristic flat-topped crowns, giving the trees an umbrella shape. Kiaat trees are the mainstay of the woodcraft industry and the whole tree trunk can be used to produce mukoro dugout boats. 4) In Namibia, the burkea tree (in Oshiwambo known as omushehe) was particularly abundant in Kavango and eastern Ohangwena and it is a deciduous tree, growing up to 12 metres tall and resembling a syringa. Its wood is often used for building huts and for pestles and mortars. Their leaf litter adds significant amounts of nitrogen to the soil. 5) Of all trees in Africa, the baobab (omukwa in Oshiwambo) must be the best known. It is one of the largest trees in the world and is often associated with legends and superstitions. Their leaves are rich in vitamin C and sugars and are often cooked as spinach. Young roots are cooked as well and many animals eat the leaves and flowers. 6) The marula tree is a medium-sized deciduous tree, usually growing to a height of 10 to 20 metres. Marula fruits are collected at the end of the rainy season and processed into a variety of products. 7) The mopane tree provides many resources to rural communities lucky to live near populations of this species in and around Omusati, Oshana and Eastern Caprivi. Livestock browse the trees and shrubs, stems and longer branches provide branches for construction and fencing. 8) The Welwitschia is perhaps Namibia's most famous tree, attracting tourists and scientists because of its rarity, peculiar growth from and survival in a harsh environment. It is a stunning tree and some very large Welwitschias are reputed to be between 2 000 and 3 000 years old, but these ages have not been confirmed. http://www.namibian.com.na/2007/August/environment/07B0F68CA0.html Uganda: 24) The environment state minister has warned forest encroachers in the Busoga region against cutting trees. Jessica Eriyo identified encroachers on the South Busoga forest reserve in Mayuge district, as the biggest culprits. Eriyo cautioned the encroachers against constructing permanent houses and schools on forest land. She said many of the illegal occupants of forest land claimed to have the backing of kingdom officials, ministers and MPs. The minister also asked encroachers, especially in Mayuge, to stop insulting National Forestry Authority (NFA) staff and ignoring demarcated forest boundaries. She added that a gradual eviction policy would be implemented with guidance from the courts. Eriyo, who was last week officially opening the Kyoga Range national forestry authority offices in Jinja, urged the public to plant more trees. " Trees reduce global warming through formation of rainfall. " We can keep our green environment by protecting the trees we have and also plant more in order to get timber, food, medicine, fuel and help in soil conservation. " The trees, Eriyo said, were promoting eco-tourism, where foreigners come to Uganda to learn about the trees, birds and insects. She explained that the forests in Busoga and Buganda regions were instrumental in conserving Lake Victoria and River Nile. Destroying the trees, noted Eriyo, would mean destroying the water sources, which many countries depend on. The construction of the premises was sponsored by the European Union. http://forests.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=82453 Liberia: 25) A few miles outside Monrovia, capital of the west African state of Liberia, the humid scrubland gives way to seemingly endless vistas of tall, geometrically spaced rubber trees. This is one of the largest rubber plantations in the world. Drive on, and after a few hours you will find yourself in deep virgin forest full of tropical hardwoods. It is the largest remaining portion of the once-great Upper Guinea Forest, which used to spread across west Africa. Look carefully through the forest cover and you will find miners panning for gold and diamonds. Soon enough, you will then come across a railway that was built solely for the evacuation of iron ore. It leads to a vast iron-ore mountain range in the north of the country that is currently being rehabilitated with a $1bn investment. Welcome to a resource-rich, but still dirt-poor Liberia. The study of Liberia - by the Canadian lobby group Partnership Africa Canada and a group of Liberian lawyers called Green Advocates - looks at the country's history of plantation-style and mining-camp exploitation of tropical timber, rubber and minerals. It concludes that the raw materials sector requires a major re-organisation so that more of the population has a stake in it. And it warns that Liberia has an urgent, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to address this issue, with its first democratically-elected government protected by a temporary United Nations peacekeeping force. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6958883.stm Cameroon: 26) The European Union and Cameroon have agreed to investigate illegal logging, which often benefits from official connivance and costs the central African country an estimated $100 million a year, a government minister said. Timber is big business in Cameroon's tropical forests, with 700 companies and individuals licensed to fell trees. But many more, often individuals working alone with a chain saw, cut wood illegally to sell locally as rough timber or cooking charcoal. " Every year our country loses about 50 billion CFA ($103 million) due to these illegal forest exploitation practices, making it impossible for the forest sector to play its expected role in the economy, " Forestry and Wildlife Minister Elvis Ngolle Ngolle said after meeting EU diplomats late on Wednesday. Ngolle Ngolle said he had agreed with ambassadors from EU countries to set up a six-member committee to investigate illegal logging and how to stop it. Cameroon is in the early stages of discussions with Brussels on an agreement regulating timber exports to the European Union aimed at curbing illegal logging. Ghana and Liberia are also in talks on similar agreements. Ngolle Ngolle said officials at his ministry were part of " a network of complicity " with those illegally felling trees. He said the government planned to fund its own study on illegal logging and its effect on the country's economy. Illegal felling of protected species and trees smaller than the legal minimum diameter undermined sustainable forestry management, while some licensed operators deliberately underestimated the volume they logged, he said. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L23742403.htm Mozambique: 27) Despite a number of previous reports denouncing illegal exports of unprocessed precious hardwood, the trade continues to flourish in the Port of Nacala, northern province of Nampula. In what is described as a blatant affront to the current country's legislation by the Friday's issue of the daily paper " Noticias " , the Chinese company China-HK Development Group L.da has shipped illegaly a new consignment of 1,248 logs of prime hardwood made up of ironwood and leadwood through the Port of Nacala in the last few days. An investigation carried out by " Noticias " at the Forestry Inspection Services of Nacala-Porto district, shows that logs falling under the category of prime wood are required to be processed prior to their export, and these include species such as leadwood, ironwood, jambire, chanfuta, and umbila. Interviewed by Noticias, Armando Uahide Coerre, director of the District Services for Economic Activities, gave his assurance that his institution had ceased issuing export certificates since last June for both processed and unprocessed hardwood. But, evidence in possession of Noticias proves otherwise. It shows that those claims are untrue. Besides of the HK Development Group L.da logs consignment, now aboard of the ship sailing under the name of LEILA and heading to the Chinese market, there are other 323 containers officially packed with 6,135 tons of 'processed' logs lying in the export pipeline, but that Noticias believes to be part of another illegal operation. Just in the last few days of this month, according to data disclosed by the Provincial Directorate of Industry and Trade at Nacala-Porto, eight companies have been granted licenses to open new lumber mills, most of which with Chinese capitals. Of that number, eight are already operating at full steam, each having a capacity to process 20 cubic meters a day, such as the cases of " Metal Wood " and " Africa Timber " . Unfortunately, the managers are not concerned with the profile of their suppliers who could turn out to be illegal operators. As for illegal operators, the authorities seized recently three trucks carrying 25 cubic meters of logs that had as their final destination the district of Nacala-Porto. http://allafrica.com/stories/200708241034.html Guyana: 28) It is difficult to understand why the Forest Products Association (FPA) prefers to delay controls on log exports: either the solution preferred by economists (government / national capture of excess rent or surplus value by an export levy), or the ban preferred by the Guyana Forestry Commission. At least since 2001, the FPA has had a stated aim to develop the forest industries of Guyana ( " A Profile of the Forest Products Association of Guyana " ) so why is it back-pedalling and preferring to export logs ? According to the GFC's survey of timber processing capacity, Guyana can process 504,000 m3 of logs annually, not including the single plywood mill. From the GFC's 2006 Forest Sector Information Report (recently available on its website www.forestry.-gov.gy the total log produc m3, of which 191,000 m3 (48 per cent) were exported unprocessed. Plywood (Barama is the only producer, with declining output) took about 75,000 m3 of logs, leaving 126,000 m3 for domestic milling. Using the FPA's own conversion of 40 per cent log-to-lumber, Guyana's static-mill output was 51,000 m3. To this must be added 68,000 m3 of chainsaw-milled lumber making 119,000 m3 total. Of this Guyana exported 45,000 m3 sawn lumber, leaving 74,000 m3 for secondary processing. This is far below the installed capacity according to the GFC survey. So again we must ask why the FPA is opposed to making more timber available now for in-country processing (with attendant employment, NIS and PAYE taxes, training, jobs in supporting services, etc.). http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article_letters?id=56527278 Kashmir: 29) For hundreds of years, the Chinars have dotted Kashmir's landscape. But these magnificent woods are now facing decimation. They were pruned ruthlessly during road repair and other construction activities and left to die. From 42,000 trees in 1970, the number of Chinars has gone down by more than half. But poet and environmentalist Zareef Ahmad Zareef is one individual who is working round the clock to save the Chinars. Zareef plants 100 Chinar saplings in a year, which is something that he's been doing for over two decades. ''Kashmiris were the residents of a beautiful environment. And now they are drifting away from it. They are after high-rise and concrete buildings. I started a movement to stop it and stop the vandalisation of Chinars,'' said Zareef Ahmad Zareef. Clearly much more needs to be done to protect these majestic trees as they are fast vanishing from Kashmir's landscape. Despite ban on cutting them, hundreds of them perish every year - all in the name of development. http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070023796 Bhutan: 30) NEC officials fear that climate change and the consequent rise in temperature and forest fires, along with changing rainfall patterns, could affect the country's extensive forest cover, rich biodiversity and clean water resources. Bhutan's biodiversity is one of the richest in the world. It ranks among the top ten countries with the highest number of species per unit area, contains three of the World Wildlife Fund's ecoregions of great biological wealth, and many of its plants have medicinal value. Unsurprisingly, conservation is central to Bhutan's 1998 National Environment Strategy, which aims to balance economic development and environmental conservation. The core of Bhutan's conservation strategy is a system of national parks and protected areas that form 26 per cent of its land. An additional nine per cent is designated as 'biological corridors' or 'wildlife highways' that link protected areas to allow free movement of animals. Yet much of Bhutan's biological wealth remains unexplored by scientists. There is no baseline data to help scientists document and monitor changes in vegetation, wildlife and forests. Some efforts have been initiated, with NEC due to sign an agreement with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) this year to set up the Bhutan Integrated Biodiversity Information System to gather, interpret and document biodiversity information from both protected and other areas. http://www.bhutanmajestictravel.com/news/2007/bhutan-happiness-vs-development.ht\ ml China: 31) The rapid expansion of the Chinese biofuels industry, along with the government's stated plans to convert huge swaths of forest into biofuels plantations, has many environmentalists worried for southwest China's unique ecologies. In January, China's State Forestry Administration (SFA) announced an agreement with the oil company PetroChina to develop 40,000 hectares (100,000 acres) of Jatropha curcas plantations in the southwestern states of Yunnan and Sichuan. The plantations in each state are slated to have a production capacity of 10,000 to 30,000 tons. Jatropha curcas is a bush prized for the high oil contents of its seeds (30 percent) and its ability to grow in even marginal lands. While SFA and PetroChina claim the plantations will be built in just such marginal zones, environmentalists have expressed doubt, pointing to the common practice of local governments classifying highly diverse, healthy forest lands as " waste " and selling them to logging companies. The conclusion of this article appears on NewsTarget.com, the independent natural health news source for consumers. This article, along with other uncensored news on important consumer health topics, can be found at: China's new biofuels project may level forests to make way for " clean " energy farming. http://www.newstarget.com/021992.html http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?storyid=21483 & ret=Default.aspx Australia: 32) Australia's biggest agribusiness investment funds manager could face fines of more than $6 million for alleged illegal land clearing, after a federal investigation of its woodchip operations on the Tiwi Islands. Tiwi traditional land owners claim the project has failed to deliver jobs and income for their communities, despite promises it would " deliver millions " in royalties from sawlog and woodchip exports to Asian markets. More than 90 Tiwi women have signed a petition claiming the project is ruining the land for future generations, clearing forests providing ceremonial artefacts, bush foods and materials for sought-after traditional arts and crafts. Perth-based company Great Southern, which manages more than $1.9 billion for 40,000 investors in tax-minimisation schemes including forestry plantations, olive and almond groves, vineyards and cattle feedlots across Australia, acquired the Tiwi Islands forestry operation in 2005 from South Australian forestry company Sylvatech. Former federal environment minister Robert Hill gave approval in 2001 for Sylvatech a subsidiary of Adelaide company Australian Plantation Group to clear up to 26,000ha of native eucalypt forests on Melville Island to establish quick-growing acacia plantations for export woodchips. The decision approved what was to be the biggest single land-clearing operation in northern Australia, imposing 11 environmental conditions, including retention of buffer zones around rare tropical rainforest habitat, wetlands, river banks and nesting sites for threatened bird species. It also stated that no more than 10,000ha could be cleared over any two-year period. Sources within the Department of Environment and Water Resources recently told The Canberra Times a report on the alleged breaches had been passed to the Attorney-General's Department for further consideration. http://moora.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=lifestyle%20news & subclass=news%20\ extra & story_id=1 043330 & category=news%20extra 33) The Wilderness Society today applied to the Federal Court to fast-track its appeal against the Federal Environment Minister's assessment process for Gunns' proposed pulp mill in a bid to avoid imminent environmental damage. While normal appeal processes may not see a decision until next year, Gunns has indicated that work will begin on the pulp mill in early September pending government approval. Wilderness Society spokesperson Sean Cadman said the federal government was likely to approve the pulp mill and that bulldozers were ready to begin as soon as that happened. " We challenged the Environment Minister because we did not believe that the pulp mill assessment process provided adequate environmental safeguards for a mill which could threaten Tasmania's forests and waterways. " Nothing less than a full public enquiry to scrutinise this huge development proposal will now suffice. " We agree with the Minister Turnbull that the Tasmanian government assessment process is flawed and there can be no confidence in it. That is why the Federal government process is so important, but we don't have confidence in that either. " We are appealing because we simply don't believe that Federal environment laws allow a company to process shop in the way that Gunns did by withdrawing from the approved RPDC process. http://www.wilderness.org.au/campaigns/forests/tasmania/gunns_proposed_pulp_mill\ /appeal2/ 34) The clearing of up to 700 hectares of native vegetation on private property adjacent to internationally recognised wetlands were reported in May this year. A remediation notice has been placed on the property however the Government is yet to lay any formal charges. The bulldozing of the wetlands, one of the most important bird rookeries in the Murray-Darling system was decried by scientists and environment groups as wanton environmental vandalism. At the time Minster Koperberg said his Department would immediately investigate the clearing and that if charges were laid and proven then large fines could apply. " It is now 3 months since this clearing was brought to public attention and no charges have been brought. Even allowing for extensive investigation and collation of evidence, this is a long time " , said Turner. " The public needs to know if the actions of the Catchment Management Authority are relevant to the delay. Appointing a former judicial officer to oversee a review of the CMA's actions is a very positive step by the Minister, " said Turner. Ending illegal land clearing, a destructive process that kills wildlife, cause salinity and creates greenhouse gas pollution, remains a major policy commitment of Premier Iemma. The NSW Auditor General found that in 2005, 30,000 hectares of native vegetation was cleared without authorization in NSW. http://www.wilderness.org.au/campaigns/landclearing/nsw/gwyder/ 35) The Wilderness Society today claimed another victory in the long running case against environmentalists brought by Tasmanian logging giant Gunns Ltd. Today in the Victorian Supreme Court the third defendant, Russell Hanson, was dropped from the case. Mr Hanson, who was CEO of The Wilderness Society until his retirement in December last year, accepted an offer put by Gunns to discontinue the case against him with no admission of liability and no damages payable. Russell Hanson always denied doing anything unlawful, and the case was formally discontinued today after his Counsel, Philip Bornstein, gave the agreed undertakings that his client would not trespass or interfere with any Gunns' operation. Spokesperson for The Wilderness Society, Dr Greg Ogle said. No damages, no admission of liability – this is a win for another defendant. The undertakings appear pretty meaningless and unproblematic as Russell had never done anything like that anyway. We are very glad that the case has been discontinued against Russell. For Gunns it is another retreat from a case which began nearly three years ago claiming involvement in a grand conspiracy and $6.4m damages. Today's discontinuance against another defendant is not only a victory for the defendants, it is another indication of the problems which have been evident with this case since it started – too much claimed against too many people in a case which has already cost Gunns more than they are seeking in damages. Gunns sued 20 environmentalists in December 2004 in relation to the campaign to protect Tasmania's forests. The first three versions of the statement of claim were struck out by the court and 5 defendants have previously been dropped from the case. Gunns are now proceeding with the 4th version of their claims against 14 defendants. http://www.wilderness.org.au/campaigns/corporate/russell_out/ 36) Environment groups have welcomed the long overdue delivery of a new Code of Practice to control logging on private land in NSW, but have expressed grave concerns about the impacts of the Code on waterways and threatened species. " We congratulate the NSW Government on finally delivering on its repeated promises to regulate logging on private land in NSW. This Code of Practice is long overdue and it is urgently needed to control this environmentally damaging industry, " said Andrew Cox, executive officer of the National Parks Association of NSW. " However, we are deeply concerned about the details of the Code, which has obviously been drastically weakened to appease logging interests. The controls it contains are completely inadequate to prevent environmental degradation, " said Carmel Flint, spokesperson for the North East Forest Alliance. " The worst aspect of the Code is its abject failure to protect our precious waterways. It allows intensive logging to within 5 metres of streams and rivers, in both coastal forests and in iconic River Red Gum forests, " Ms Flint said. " In this day and age, when the importance of protecting streams is so well known, it is appalling that the Government has failed so badly in its duty to protect them, " said Susie Russell, Vice-President of the North Coast Environment Council. " Threatened species will also bear the brunt of the failings of the Code. The Code does not require any surveys to search for threatened species prior to logging. It's a case of ignorance is bliss – if you don't know they are there, then you don't have to do anything to protect them and you can destroy their habitat with impunity, " Ms Russell said. " There are also grave concerns about important high conservation value areas across the State. Irreplaceable River Red Gum wetlands along the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers, which are already under severe stress due to water shortages, are available for all out industrial logging, " said Reece Turner, spokesperson for The Wilderness Society. " The Code also has a loophole that allows logging of Endangered Ecological Communities, and we are worried that the 'as yet unseen' rules for identifying oldgrowth and rainforest areas in the field may also allow logging of these important habitats, " Mr Turner said. http://www.wilderness.org.au/campaigns/landclearing/logging-code/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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