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Today for you 32 new articles about earth's trees! (274th edition)

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earthtreenews-

Weblog: http://olyecology.livejournal.com

 

--British Columbia: 1) Building a dump at Cornwall Hills Provincial park

--Washington: 2) Weyco gets to run house forest committee, 3) Dollars

for road removal, 4) We must revisit forest protection standards, 5)

Low impact forestry in the Olympics?

--California: 6) Restoration near San Gorgino pass --Montana: 7) A

land use train wreck courtesy of Plum Creek's latest land scandal,

--Colorado: 8) De-icing roads is killing trees, 9) Beetle kills are natural,

--Nebraska: 10) ORV troubles from too few restriction

--Michigan: 11) Thieves moving thru neighborhood cutting Walnuts trees

--Illinois: 12) Project Quercus also oak stats --Indiana: 13) Hardwood

Scanning Center

--Massachusetts: 14) Author of mapping software known as IDRISI

--Pennsylvania: 15) Public Land expansion, 16) ATV madness, --North

Carolina:17) Update on Blowing Rock / Globe

--South Carolina: 18) Pine straw suddenly a near million dollar a year industry

--Kentucky: 19) Timber theft starting to be taken seriously

--Florida: 20) Midnight forest history

--USA: 21) Plum Creek never runs out of land scams, 22) ATV madness,

23) No biofuel production from National Forests, 24) Roadless battles

continue,

--Canada: 25) Rare forest amid Redtail nature awareness, 26) Longest

stretch of uninhabited Atlantic Coastline, 27) Quebec Industry update,

--UK: 28) Save the Red Squirrel, 29) New reserves designated, 30) An

acorn-ring-town,

--Italy: 31) Olive trees brief us on climate change

--World-wide: 32) State of world's Primates

 

British Columbia:

 

1) Over the last two weeks over 180 people have added their names to

those who oppose the proposal of a Metro Vancouver Mega Dump on the

land adjacent to Cornwall Hills Provincial Park. I would sure like to

see the number of signatures climb beyond 200 before I present the

petition early in the New Year. If you can think of anyone who you

think might be interested in adding their voice to our concerns please

invite them to visit My sense is that the battle has turned and that

we have momentum on our side. We are seeing that many of the

politicans are amazed to learn that the proposed Metro Vancouver dump

is next to a provincial park and they immediately recongize how wrong

that is. My hope is that the current politicans of Metro Vancouver

recognize that the proposal to build a dump on Ashcroft Ranch that

they have inherited from the politicans of the past and which has been

so aggressively promoted by the MV staff is not the right decision for

2008. A lot has changed since Metro Vancouver purchased Ashcroft Ranch

in 2000 with the plans to build a 100 year/500 acre mega dump. My hope

is that the new realities of social conscience and environmental

awareness are recongized and that Metro Vancouver finds better ways of

dealing with the trash from the city than logging over 8 million truck

miles a year hauling it up the Fraser Canyon to hide in the hills of

the interior next to a provincial park. What else could we do? Two

things come to mind. The first is that if you wish I encourage

everyone to send a letter to Premier Campbell and Minister Barry

Penner (Environment). If you live in one of the major urban areas that

will be the big contributors to the proposed dump (Surrey, Coquitlam,

New Westminister or Abbotsford) you might want to let your local Mayor

and Councillors know that you would like them to find another solution

other than building a Mega Dump on Ashcroft Ranch.

http://www.cornwallkeepers.com

 

Washington:

 

2) As the newly appointed chair of the House's Agriculture and Natural

Resources Committee, Representative Brian Blake (D-19, Aberdeen) will

have significant control over bills dealing with the use of

state-owned wetlands, forests, conservation areas, and fish and

wildlife. His appointment to the committee is causing alarm among

environmental advocates. The local Sierra Club's Cascade Chapter gives

Blake a C on environmental policy. For the past 10 years, Blake has

worked for Weyerhaeuser's logging operations. " Brian Blake, in the

past, has not had environmental issues as a priority and he has been

hard to convince, " Clifford Traisman, state lobbyist for Washington

Conservation Voters, said diplomatically. Blake is replacing Brian

Sullivan (D-21, Mukilteo) who's leaving the legislature for a spot on

the Snohomish County Council. Sullivan rated an A+ from the Sierra

Club. http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=469627

 

 

3) Congress recently adopted a key appropriations bill that includes

$40 million to tend a growing number of abandoned or damaged roads on

Forest Service land across the country. The measure was sponsored by

U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., and was strongly supported by Gov.

Chris Gregoire and other local leaders, so there's hope that

Washington will get a good chunk of the money. Local Forest Service

workers won't know how much money is coming here until later this

winter or early spring, said Peter Forbes, district ranger for the

forest's Darrington Ranger District. There's hope that this money will

be the first of much more to come, allowing an agency with a staff

that has dwindled over the last decade to bring back people to fix the

roads. " We've downsized over the last few years to the point where

we're pretty well booked with the work we have, " Forbes said. " If we

feel pretty comfortable that the money is going to keep coming in,

we'll probably look at increasing staff as we feel its appropriate. "

Forest managers have been waging a losing battle to fix some roads and

safely dismantle others since the 1990s, when money to maintain the

roads dried up with the end of large-scale logging.

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20071231/NEWS01/899998239

 

 

4) While forestry is called a science, and while states promulgate

rules about clear-cuts and cutting on slopes, judgment also comes into

play. So does public opinion. That's why Weyerhaeuser and the OSU

School of Forestry find themselves in the hot seat. And that's why

Oregon and Washington must revisit their decisions that allowed these

questionable harvests. The Seattle Times photo of the steep slope in

Lewis County that was clear-cut is startling. To the non-forester,

it's hard to believe that the state of Washington approved this

harvest. It's also hard to believe that Weyerhaeuser thought it was a

good idea. Moreover, it causes us to wonder whether Weyerhaeuser was

so desperate for cash that it would clear-cut a precipitous slope.

Perhaps Weyerhaeuser views its forests more as a cash box and less as

environmental stewardship than it did three decades ago. Steve Rogel,

who is retiring as Weyerhaeuser's CEO, executed a hostile 2002

takeover of Willamette Industries, his employer for 25 years. In that

transaction, Weyerhaeuser gained some one-third of Clatsop County's

land. Willamette Industries would have taken better care of our

county's forests. The forest practices of this multi-national

corporation, known for years as the Jolly Green Giant, merits a dose

of healthy skepticism from the rest of us.

http://www.dailyastorian.info/main.asp?SectionID=23 & SubSectionID=392 & ArticleID=4\

7916 & TM=62078.26

 

5) This proposal represents a logical first step in a process designed

to create a low impact forest industry on the Olympic Peninsula. Low

impact forestry involves the use of techniques and equipment designed

to maintain forest health and productivity while at the same time

minimizing disturbance in the forest. It is characterized by multiple

entries into the forest using equipment designed to cause the least

amount of disturbance possible, during which trees are removed

selectively in a way that places high value on improving the forest

ecology. Low impact forestry is well suited for maintaining esthetic

and environmental qualities in a diverse forest while at the same time

providing good economic return. When compared with traditional

forestry, economic studies in the eastern United States and Canada

have suggested that low impact forestry can provide positive economic

return by both increasing the amount and duration of employment and

increasing economic return (stumpage value) to landowners. The

Brinnon/Quilcene area of Jefferson County is ideal for a demonstration

project to develop low impact forestry in the Pacific Northwest. This

project has four objectives. These are: 1) To determine the viability

of developing Low Impact Forestry in the Quilcene area; 2) To identify

and evaluate human and other resource requirements and their

availability; 3) To identify the knowledge, skills and abilities

needed by workers doing Low Impact Forestry and determine the training

that such workers would need; and 4) Develop an appropriate working

plan for building a local Low Impact Forestry industry.

http://wsuforestry.blogspot.com/2007/12/low-impact-forestry-study-proposal.html

 

California:

 

6) An Inland conservation group has spent the past 15 months stripping

away the remnants of a trout farm wedged in a scenic canyon in the San

Gorgonio Pass. They've dismantled thousands of feet of fencing,

removed 250 old tires and rust-scarred vehicles, demolished nearly 20

dilapidated structures, including four houses, and unearthed 40

disease-ridden, non-native trees. " If you came a year ago, it was a

total mess. You couldn't even see upcanyon, " said Frazier Haney, 26,

of the Wildlands Conservancy, a nonprofit group based in Oak Glen.

Haney is the manager of what has been evolving from the Whitewater

Trout Co., which raised trout and allowed fishing for more than 65

years, into the Inland region's latest outdoor haven. Known as the

Whitewater Preserve, it is slated to open in mid-February for free

hiking, camping and outdoor education. Initially purchased by two

other Coachella Valley conservation groups, the preserve is also a

vital passageway for animals traveling between the San Bernardino and

San Jacinto mountains. It is also within striking distance of the

Pacific Crest Trail, a 2,650-mile trail that runs from Mexico to

Canada. The conservancy's five preserves, some 60,000 acres all

together, connect Joshua Tree National Park, Big Morongo Preserve and

mountain wilderness managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and

the U.S. Forest Service. The idea is to make the preserve system an

Inland Empire version of the Santa Monica Mountains National

Recreational Area, which protects the mountains looming above one of

the nation's largest urban areas, said David Myers, the conservancy's

executive director. " With all the Inland Empire growth happening, it's

just amazing how important these lands become, " for wildlife and

humans alike, Myers said. The sand-to-snow network includes the

conservancy's Pioneertown Mountains Preserve in San Bernardino County

and Mission Creek Preserve in Riverside County. Together, the

preserves connect a kaleidoscope of landscapes from Joshua tree

woodlands in the Mojave Desert to creosote scrub in the Sonoran

Desert, chaparral in Whitewater, and pine forests and mountain peaks.

http://www.pe.com/localnews/environment/stories/PE_News_Local_D_wildlands29.303d\

2cb.html

 

Montana:

 

7) Not far up the road from Steve Brown's house, out west of Whitefish

and just around the corner from forest burnt black by the Brush Creek

fire, a quarter-mile of new road is headed off into the woods. The

short stretch will cross U.S. Forest Service land, using that public

patch to connect Plum Creek Timber Co. with the rest of the world.

Plum Creek has another route in, a winding six-mile twist of road used

seasonally to haul logs, but the new neighbors weren't going to put up

with that. Because Plum Creek's not going to log that land anymore.

Instead, the company plans on selling it as subdivided real estate

parcels. And so the Forest Service has granted a new easement to

hasten access, that quick quarter-mile over public land. " Fire costs

are huge, " said Timchak, the district ranger who had to review Plum

Creek's easement request. " We're becoming a skeleton of an agency. But

right now, when they ask for something like this, the Forest Service

doesn't have the tools to deny it. Fire costs are not part of the

review criteria. " And that worries taxpayers like Brown, as well as

land stewards like Timchak. " Given Plum Creek's new emphasis on real

estate, " she said, " we have to assume this is just the beginning of

these requests. Subdivision is where it's headed. " Investors told of

Plum Creek's business structure - since 1999, the company's been a

Real Estate Investment Trust - and how it means they pay no corporate

income taxes in the state. Planners told of the difficulties they face

designing coherent growth in the face of unknown Plum Creek land

development. Firefighters warned of the increased danger and cost

associated with building homes in the woods. State and county leaders

discussed budgets strained by infrastructure needs in neighborhoods

that not so long ago were working woods. Now, those far-flung

homeowners want roads and snowplows and police and bus routes to

schools, but property tax revenues from the new subdivisions don't

begin to cover the costs. The Forest Service may still have to grant

that easement out by Steve Brown's house, but it could prove a road to

nowhere. The question is, do you wait for that to happen, or do you

plan for the inevitability of it? Do you wait until you're broke, or

do you get serious about land-use planning now? "

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/12/30/news/local/news04.txt

 

Colorado:

 

8) A Colorado State University study conducted under Bill Jacobi in

the Department of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management looked

at the effect of magnesium chloride on trees that grow along dusty,

unpaved roads where the chemical is used as a stabilizer. Trees

downhill from the roads suffered the most, the report said, because

water moves the chemical down into the soil. Mick Mercer, manager for

streets and solid waste in Loveland, said city workers also see some

damage to trees along paved roads — especially junipers — where the

use of magnesium chloride-based de-icer products is especially

intense. " We obviously care about what we're putting on the road and

what we're putting in the environment, " Mercer said. " It's the

trade-off — trying to make the roads safe but minimize the

environmental impact. " In both liquid and solid form, the magnesium

chloride used by Loveland is essentially a salt, which lowers the

freezing temperature of the road, with additives to make it less

corrosive. Weeks like this, the city's crews cover the roads with

de-icing chemicals before storms and then treat the roads throughout

the storms. " Do we want safe roads? Then salt-based products are the

best, " Mercer said. " Is there a consequence? Yes. " The city switched

last winter to Apex, its current magnesium chloride product, because

it's less corrosive to metals in cars and bridges. And using the

liquid before storms allows crews to use less of both liquid and solid

products after storms, with the goal of reducing environmental

impacts. The report from CSU said the study looked at other possible

causes for tree damage, including disease and insects, but " the

strongest factor to explain the decline in health of the trees was the

magnesium chloride. " http://www.timescall.com/News_Story.asp?id=5493

 

9) Dead trees stand next to living ones, but on almost every trunk are

the small, telltale protrusions called pitch tubes that indicate

beetle infestation. The trees are producing the defensive, sticky

resin that, in younger, more vigorous trees, would repel the boring

invaders. Kim Vogel, public information officer for the United States

Forest Service in Steamboat Springs, Colo., is in the middle of the

fight. But she does not consider it a fight — she says it is nature.

" We were due for one of these, " Vogel said. " Our forests are old, and

natural history evidence suggests that these events occur every 100 to

300 years. " Additional culprits are the warmer winters and the drought

conditions recently afflicting the inner ranges of the Rockies,

allowing the beetles to proliferate in numbers that can simply

overwhelm the forests and render the trees defenseless. Even some of

the young ones that normally have plenty of sap to repel the pests

cannot survive because the soil lacks adequate moisture. On its Web

site for the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests, the Forest Service

states: " This epidemic cannot be stopped. " In areas with high tourism,

like resorts and campgrounds, officials are spraying trees in an

effort to control the infestations, but at nearly $30 a tree, it is

unworkable for widespread control. Because of the massive size of the

affected areas, nature will take its course. The next hazard may be

fires. With enough heat and wind, fires could damage the forests'

future by wiping out the seedlings on the forest floor. Vogel said

officials were already bracing for fires and their impact on human

communities. " We are going to clear forests areas to create 'speed

bumps' for control and enact large-scale removal of trees to protect

human habitation and other valuable areas, " she said. The next few

years will be a time of dynamic change for the Western forests. But

change may not necessarily mean tragedy. It may simply be nature

running its course. And who knows, the alterations may even make the

hunting better.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/29/sports/othersports/29outdoors.html?_r=1 & adxnnl\

=1 & oref=slogi

n & ref=sports & adxnnlx=1198962473-ZGC/6V0kMPtfuOxuBAEhjQ

 

Nebraska:

 

10) LINCOLN - Forest officials are considering restricting off-road

vehicles at the state's national forests and grasslands. The proposed

rules would confine off-road vehicles to designated roads and trails.

There are now few restrictions. The changes could also affect hundreds

of miles of roadways and trails now open to both highway and off-road

vehicle traffic. Open houses to discuss the changes are planned for

January in Valentine, Chadron, North Platte and Grand Island. Areas

that would be affected include the Nebraska National Forest Bessey

Unit near Halsey, the Samuel McKelvie National Forest near the

confluence of the Snake and Niobrara rivers, and the Nebraska National

Forest Pine Ridge Unit near Chadron. The Oglala National Grassland in

the northwest corner of the state would also be affected.

http://www.kptm.com/Global/story.asp?S=7554975 & nav=menu606_2_4

 

Michigan:

 

11) Money doesn't grow on trees, but there's some serious coin to be

made on black walnut trees, and demand is exploding in Flint. That may

have motivated the theft of several walnut trees in Flint. City police

arrested six people Dec. 22 in connection with the thefts of trees cut

down on Thayer Street. Two companies were part of an organized effort

to fell trees in a few neighborhoods, said Flint police Capt. David

Porter. The trees can fetch thousands of dollars on the market. Porter

said there may be more arrests in the next few weeks. The city is not

releasing suspects' names or the companies to which the thefts are

connected until charges are issued. Police seized two semitrailers, a

front-end loader and chain saws. Katie Straw, an Eastlawn Drive

resident, said several men came to her door last week to try to get

access to two towering black walnut trees on her neighbor's property.

They have a shared driveway, and her neighbor is rarely home. " One guy

offered me $20. His buddies were yelling, 'We just want the trees. We

just want the trees,' " said Straw, who shooed them away three times.

John Seifert, president of the international Walnut Council in West

Lafayette, Ind., said the black walnut market is expanding due to

accelerated demand in Asia. " It's the noble wood of the hardwoods, "

Seifert said.In countries such as China, people are buying more walnut

furniture, he said, and more companies there are manufacturing

furniture. " We haven't seen a market like this for black walnut since

the 1970s, " Seifert said. " When the profit margin is that big, it

brings out some people on the margins. " Seifert said prices have

increased more than 30 percent recently. Straw said that for a few

weeks starting in December, she heard the sounds of chain saws

reverberating through the neighborhood. " It's not a quiet crime, " she

said. But she really didn't put two and two together until men saying

they were from timber companies came to her house. She called the

police when she saw a different crew cutting down walnut trees at a

vacant house a few doors down. The men scattered before police could

arrive, she said. Porter said he didn't know whether the

Eastlawn/Lawndale area was targeted, but Straw's description fits the

pattern.http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/newsnow/2007/12/thieves_target_walnut\

_trees_in.html

 

 

Illinois:

 

12) When Susan and Gilbert Tauck moved into their Marengo-area home 35

years ago, the couple decided to do whatever they could to protect the

surrounding environment. That included preserving a 40-acre oak forest

and keeping it clear of invasive species that otherwise would prevent

saplings from taking root. " I was very interested in saving it because

I'm quite a proponent of [conservation], " Susan Tauck said.

Environmental advocates here hope that she's not the only one who

feels that way. Oak tree numbers have been on a steady decline over

the past 150 years that, if left unchecked, conservationists fear

could mean that the tree would all but disappear during the next 20

years. A coalition of local governments, private businesses, residents

and conservationists has formed in an effort to reverse that trend.

Dubbed " Project Quercus, " the group is trying to rally oak numbers

through a combination of restoration, protection and education.

Quercus is Latin for oak. " A place has character based on what makes

it different from another place, " McHenry County Conservation District

Natural Resources Manager Ed Collins said. " A larger part of [McHenry

County's] character are these large, open oak groves. " In 1838, when

the first surveys of the land that would become McHenry County were

conducted, 143,000 acres of oak groves covered the area, Collins said.

Today, he said, only 18,000 of those acres still exist. That's just

shy of 12.6 percent of the original cover. From 1838 to 1872, oak

populations plummeted by about 50 percent, from 143,000 acres to

72,000 acres, Collins said. That number further fell to 26,350 acres

in 1939. By 2005, the acreage had dropped to about 18,000, Collins

said, in a county that measures 390,685 acres. He presented those

numbers at an early December meeting of the McHenry County Board, with

the hope that board members would consider oak preservation as an

element of its developing conservation-design ordinance. In addition

to their historical value, the massive trees provide food, shelter and

shade for native animals, said Lisa Haderlein, executive director of

the Land Conservancy of McHenry County. " Whether that's birds, ...

deer, rabbits, squirrels, whatever, " Haderlein said. " A lot of the

wildlife that I think most people appreciate having in the area ...

don't get food from a maple tree or an ash tree. "

http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2007/12/28/news/local/doc4774c498252ac348867500\

..txt

 

Indiana:

 

13) U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar voted to allocate $875,000 to the Hardwood

Scanning Center at Purdue University. The funding was approved as a

part of the FY 2008 Omnibus Appropriations bill which passed in the

Senate on December 18, 2007, and was signed into law by the president

yesterday. " The Hardwood Scanning Center and Hardwood Tree Improvement

and Regeneration Center at Purdue University have helped Indiana and

America better compete in the hardwood industry, and this continued

support, will help conserve hardwood resources through increased

conversion efficiency. The Hardwood Scanning Center has kept Indiana

on the cutting edge of technology in hardwood lumber research, " Lugar

said. The next technology needed to improve lumber-grade yield is log

scanning, which would help sawyers " see " the defects inside a log and

convert logs into lumber. Primarily, the Center would develop and

commercialize such technology. The 180 sawmills comprising Indiana's

hardwood lumber industry employ 2,000 workers and support 530 logging

firms with an additional 2,000 employees. Indiana's hardwood veneer

industry is the second largest in the U.S. and is comprised of 28

companies. Federal funding was also maintained for Hardwood Tree

Improvement and Regeneration Center (HTIRC) at Purdue University,

which the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service established in

1998. The center improves the genetic quality of forest trees and

ensures greater success in their regeneration, thereby promoting

increased forest productivity, biological diversity and resource

sustainability. Lugar is a member and former Chairman of the U.S.

Senate Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Nutrition. He has

championed programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and

farm Best Management Practices, which have resulted in the increased

potential of trees and crops to sequester CO2 and other gases. The CRP

is the largest tree-planting program in history. Millions of acres

have been planted to trees since 1985 and millions more have been left

as grasses and not tilled.

http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=27072

 

Massachusetts:

 

14) From the Charles River to the Amazon, Ron Eastman has been able to

connect environmental researchers with unique data. The 57-year-old

Waltham resident is the author of IDRISI, one of the world's most

widely distributed software packages for studying and tracking the

earth's natural resources. Whether it's predicting where a wildfire is

likely to occur in California, or projecting the effects that rising

sea levels will have on coastal rice-producing areas in Vietnam, the

software enables researchers to study the past and plan for the

future. " The uses are limitless, " explains Eastman. " It is of value to

climatologists, ecologists, foresters, anybody who works with the

environment. " Eastman is a professor of geography and the director of

Clark Labs for Cartographic Technology and Geographic Analysis at

Clark University in Worcester. He began working at the college as a

visiting professor in 1981, and started his company, IDRISI, in 1987,

with $3,000 in savings. The name IDRISI was chosen in honor of Abu

Allah Muhammad al-Idrisi, a cartographer and geographer of major

significance during the medieval period. Eastman now has a staff of 31

- 10 are full-time employees, and the rest are undergraduate and PhD

students. Eastman and his co-workers develop information system

software, called GIS, that captures, stores, analyzes, and manages

geographical data. The software produces results that differ from

standard computer-generated maps because they're composed of multiple

layers that can be clicked on and off to focus on various aspects of

the subject, such as elevation data, roadway information, even

locations that are susceptible to fire. Information garnered can be

used for emergency response, fire management, and natural-disaster

planning, as well as preserving animal habitat and looking at trends

in weather and crop production. The software analyzes the trends

through what is called " image time series, " a fairly new method where

various types of satellite images are taken daily and entered into a

database. Eastman's software is updated every 18 months and currently

used in more than 175 countries.

http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=90852

 

 

Pennsylvania:

 

15) Public lands in the county expanded by about 1,600 acres after a

partnership of public and private agencies purchased two parcels. The

group has secured 3,500 acres for preservation across five

southcentral counties. The Conservation Fund, the state Department of

Conservation and Natural Resources and the Western Pennsylvania

Conservancy bought nine parcels adjacent to public lands from

Gladfelter Wood Pulp Co. ''This means these lands are open to the

public for recreation, from hiking, to hunting, to

wildlife-watching,'' said Chris Novak, DCNR press secretary. The two

parcels in Huntingdon County in Springfield and Todd townships now are

part of Rothrock State Forest. Novak said the 1,500-acre Springfield

Township parcel abuts state gamelands. The remaining 155 acres in Todd

Township border an existing section of the state forest. Bedford

County's Buchanan State Forest gains about 120 acres from the

acquisition. DCNR, which contributed $5.5 million toward the $9

million purchase, will maintain the additional forest land. Parcels

also are in Fulton, Cumberland and York counties.The purchase was

negotiated by TCF, a national nonprofit land and water conservation

organization, and Gladfelter, in the process of selling about 20,000

acres in southern Pennsylvania. ''The Conservation Fund and Gladfelter

have had a strong relationship in Maryland, Delaware and now

Pennsylvania,'' said Vanessa Vaughan, TCF media relations manager.

Vaughan said TCF to date has bought about 33,000 acres from Gladfelter

across the three states. ''This acquisition protects some of the most

important [formerly] privately held conservation lands along the

southern tier of Pennsylvania,'' said Todd McNew, TCF state

representative. ''Gladfelter's cooperation and commitment to working

with this partnership was key to ensuring that these lands have

permanent conservation status and will be forever open to the public. "

http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/503107.html?nav=742

 

16) Given the documented destruction that ATVs are exacting on public

lands, including state game lands where they are banned, you have to

wonder what the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is

thinking in moving to expand ATV trails in state forests. The scheme

includes permitting ATVs to travel on 170 miles of township roads

between 29 miles of new ATV trails to be built in Sproul, Bald Eagle

and Susquehannock state forests. The state forests already are home to

247 miles of ATV trails. In addition, there are more than 100 miles of

ATV trails in Allegheny National Forest and countless other miles on

private property. While ATV proponents claim that only a small number

of users violate the rules and ride where they are prohibited, the

evidence of widespread damage speaks for itself. And one thing you

don't do in this situation is reward bad behavior. ATV users would be

well advised to clean up their act. Rather than providing more

opportunities for ATV-abuse of forests, their wild inhabitants and

those who search in ever-growing futility for the tranquil sounds of

nature, DCNR should be bolstering the ranks of the state's forest

protectors and giving them the tools, resources and legal authority to

confront this menace to sustainable forests. Fines for violators need

to be significantly increased from the current $50 to $1,000 or more

and their machines confiscated. If the ATV violations continue in the

face of such enhanced enforcement measures, then the vehicles should

be completely banned from state lands as antithetical to healthy

forests.DCNR also needs to reconsider permitting ATV travel on

township roads. Pennsylvania already leads the nation in ATV-related

deaths, and it would seem to be the height of irresponsible public

policy to encourage what oftentimes are children too young to have a

driver's license to travel on public highways in a vehicle that

enhances the prospects that they will be killed or injured.

http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/opinion/119886810\

6317600.xml & col

l=1

North Carolina:

 

17) Opponents have been fighting the plan, saying that it will ruin

priceless views from Blowing Rock. In October, the forest service

announced a decision to move ahead with the project in a way that the

agency says will protect views and scale back the logging. No

clear-cutting of timber would be allowed. Instead, partial harvests

would be done in small sections averaging about 11 acres. A third of

the trees in each of those sections would be left standing. There

would be 17 of those small sections, which add up to 212 acres to be

harvested out of the 11,225-acre area. Environmental groups filed an

internal appeal with the forest service, appealing the local ranger's

decision to Marisue Hilliard, the agency's forest supervisor for North

Carolina. The environmental groups' appeal focuses primarily on

old-growth forests within Globe. The Southern Environmental Law Center

and Wild South, which is an environmental group known, until a recent

reorganization, as the Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project, said

that it has conducted field surveys that show many of the trees range

from 100 years old to more than 300 years old. Joy Malone, the forest

service's district ranger who made the Globe decision, has said that

the harvest would not significantly affect old-growth trees. No

harvests would be done in any stands of trees that, on average, are

more than 100 years old, she said. The environmental groups have met

twice this month with the forest service. Terry Seyden, a

forest-service spokesman, said that a decision could be made in

January. The appeal is being considered by a team from the regional

office, which will make a recommendation to Hilliard. Chris Joyell, a

spokesman for Wild South, said he feels good about the negotiations.

" My impression is there was a sincere effort to find some middle

ground and what is a creative solution, " Joyell said. This review

would exhaust the internal appeals process for the forest service, and

the next appeals step would be to federal court, if things go that

far. Joyell said that both sides would like to avoid a lawsuit. The

harvest is tentatively planned to start in 2009. The forest service

said that the project is part of managing a healthy forest and is

designed to improve habitat for wildlife and to regenerate oak trees.

The forest service announced the plan in January 2005, and during a

feedback period got more than 1,800 written comments, mostly from

people opposed to the logging. The Globe area can be seen to the south

and west of Blowing Rock.

http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ/MGArticle/WSJ_BasicArti\

cle & c=MGArticl

e & cid=1173354007087

 

South Carolina:

 

18) The Sand Hill State Forest in Darlington and Chesterfield counties

made $734,856 in 2006 selling leasing rights to rake pine straw. Just

seven years ago, those rights barely brought in $50,000. The windfall

came inadvertently, after the state started replacing slash pines,

which grow fast and are ideal for timber sales, with longleaf pines in

part to prevent the loss of the specialized longleaf ecosystem, said

Brian Davis, who coordinates the pine straw program at Sand Hills. Now

the demand for longleaf pine straw to use as garden mulch makes the

pine needles of the tree more valuable than the wood. For the past

three years, Sand Hill State Forest has made more money selling pine

straw than timber. The state sells both short- and long-term leases.

The shorter leases are rotated so pine straw can stay on the ground in

some areas to help wildlife, which need the straw as part of their

habitat, Davis said. About 25,000 acres of the 46,000-acre Sand Hill

State Forest is in the program, Davis said. The revenue made from the

program pays for state forest operations, and 25 percent of all money

made by state forests is given to local school districts. Pine trees

usually drop needles twice a year, in early summer and late fall, and

the pine straw business has just started to operate year-round, Davis

said. " A few years ago, pine straw sales were very seasonal, " Davis

said. " People did most of their yard work in the spring. " But a rise

in professional landscapers has led to demand throughout the year.

Home gardeners and landscapers like pine straw because it's easy to

handle, said Mike Wilson of Jim Ken Nursery and Landscape in Gilbert.

Wilson's company sells more hardwood mulch than pine straw, but he

said some people like pine straw better because it is cheaper. " Things

come in phases, " Wilson said. " They go in and out of vogue just like

fashion. " http://www.charlotte.com/205/story/424343.html

 

Kentucky:

 

19) WHITESBURG — The crime scene a once-wooded landscape marked by

tire tracks and tree stumps makes the victim, Verna Potter, feel

physically violated. " It's just like someone cut your heart out, " says

the 77-year-old Potter, who lost an estimated $50,000 worth of

generations-old oak trees, which were taken from her property and

sold, without permission, while she was away. Rogue loggers have long

preyed on private properties from coast to coast, taking advantage of

the elderly, the absent or in Potter's case both. And they

traditionally had little to fear from law enforcement officials

hesitant to pursue criminal charges, instead chalking up most

complaints to property disputes. But as timber values rise, so have

the stakes for landowners and the attitude of law enforcement is

adjusting accordingly. " The authorities who have dealt with it as a

property matter are starting to look at it as more of a criminal

matter, " said Joseph Phaneuf, executive director of the Northeastern

Loggers' Association. The problem has resulted in the formation of the

Appalachian Roundtable, a nonprofit that joins forestry experts,

attorneys, law enforcement and victims to alert landowners to logging

scams and pursue criminal charges against timber thieves. The group is

drafting legislation to be introduced in the 2008 Kentucky General

Assembly to make timber theft a felony punishable by a prison

sentence. the same local prosecutors who vigilantly try other felonies

are reluctant to get involved in timber cases. That's because they

anticipate questions about property boundaries and few people have the

money or the resources to hire a lawyer, pay thousands of dollars for

a survey or hire an expert to place a value on the timber lost. Timber

thieves manipulate these obstacles, experts say. They usually operate

along adjoining property lines and claim to have either owner's

permission to log on the property in question, according to the New

York Forest Owners Association. With the overseas demand for North

American hardwoods growing, it's become a more costly issue for

private landowners, whose tree farms and woodlands make up 55 percent

of U.S. timber production, forestry officials say.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/5411466.html

 

Florida:

 

20) The oldest national forest in the eastern continental U.S., it was

even created in controversy a century ago, leading to an unusual

nickname: the " Midnight Forest. " " The whole discussion going on for

over 100 years is how much use now versus maintaining use for the

future, " said Rick Lint, the Forest's district ranger. " We want people

to use the Forest, but how do we, at the same time, protect it so the

uses can be sustained? " The Forest covers roughly 384,000 acres -

almost the entire eastern half of Marion County. It also spreads into

Putnam and Lake counties. The Forest was established on Nov. 24, 1908,

when President Theodore Roosevelt signed the proclamation. " He

proclaimed more national forests in the system than any other

president, " Lint said. But it was not done without a little trickery.

Because Roosevelt created so many national forests, Congress tacked a

rider onto a spending bill taking away a president's power to create

national forests. Roosevelt had 10 days to sign it. " He waited to the

last minute, " Lint said. Meanwhile, maps were pulled and the U.S.

Forest Service began circling land to designate as national forest

land. Before he signed the bill that would limit his own power,

Roosevelt signed the proclamation that created the Ocala Forest, along

with others. They became known as " midnight forests, " because the

action was taken so quickly. " Teddy was a rebel, " Lint said. In 1891,

before the Ocala Forest was established, there was discussion about

the need for forest reserves for watersheds and a constant supply of

lumber. People began to question why the government should own

timberlands. Is it to be used or is it to be protected? That

discussion continues today. The Forest is bound roughly by the

Ocklawaha River on the north and west, the St. Johns River on the

east, and almost the county line to the south. " It's the only

subtropical forest there is, " Lint said. And it is the continental

United States' most southern forest. When the Forest was established

in 1908, it largely consisted of 165,000 acres of sand pine scrub,

according to " Cultural Resources Overview, " by Ocala archaeologist

Alan W. Dorian. " Nobody wanted it, " Lint said of the original forest.

" The scrub, you couldn't farm it. You couldn't settle it.

http://www.ocala.com/article/20071230/NEWS/712300346/1001/NEWS01

 

USA:

 

21)Plum Creek has about a quarter-million acres targeted for

residential real estate development nationwide. Include the 975,000

acres of company lands to be sold for recreation, as well as 500,000

acres to be sold for conservation, and about 1.7 million acres are on

the block. Another half-million acres of " non-strategic " timberlands

are under review for possible sale, as well. In 2004, Plum Creek

reported the sale of 375,000 acres for $300 million. In 2005, 232,000

acres sold for $292 million. This year, the company announced it's

hoping for land sales in the neighborhood of $340 million. The third

quarter showing, however, was dismal, with Plum Creek profits down 36

percent from the previous year. The reason: a national credit crunch

and, not surprising, wildfire. Fires stopped logging, burned trees

bound for market and, most importantly, scared off potential land and

home buyers. Still, in announcing the losses, company officials

predicted that many of the scotched sales would be completed by year's

end. Whether that has come to pass remains unknown, and Budinick said

no announcement regarding recent real estate deals would be made until

fourth-quarter earnings are released Jan. 28. So far, she said, 30,000

Montana acres have sold in 2007, less than 3 percent of the company's

acreage here. Much sold into conservation easements, rather than

residential development.

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/12/30/news/local/news04.txt

 

22) From Colorado's forests to Utah's sandstone canyons and the

evergreen mountains of Montana, federally owned lands are rapidly

being transformed into the new playgrounds — and battlegrounds — of

the American West. Outdoor enthusiasts are flocking in record numbers

to lesser-known forests, deserts and mountains, where the rules of use

have been lax and enforcement infrequent. The federal government has

been struggling to come up with plans to accommodate the growing

numbers of off-highway vehicles — mostly with proposed maps directing

them toward designated trails — but all-terrain-vehicle users have

started formidable lobbying campaigns when favorite trails have been

left off the maps. The temptation to go off-trail, legally or not,

comes from the desire for variety, federal land managers say. " The

more a route is used, the less challenging it becomes, " said Mark

Stiles, the San Juan forest supervisor. " You end up getting lots of

little spurs off the main route. " Even a few errant riders, he said,

" can do a lot of damage. " On the other side, opponents of the trails

have been alarmed that the proposed networks of authorized paths would

permanently eliminate large areas of Utah's unroaded wild lands from

consideration as federally protected wilderness areas. Many quiet

users are not rich newcomers but longtime locals who spent their lives

in the forest. One of them, Tom Powers, a backcountry hunter in

Montana who first hunted elk in the Bitterroot as a young man in 1969,

still takes his horse into the woods, but less than before, to avoid

the summertime traffic of motorcycles, pickups and all-terrain

vehicles. " They've ruined what used to be a quality experience in the

backcountry, where you were just up there with nature, " Mr. Powers

said. Environmentalists worry about the destruction of fragile soils

and erosion, when outsize Western rainfalls course through the ruts

left by hill-climbing all-terrain vehicles. There are also concerns

for streams, rivers and wetlands, precious resources in the arid West

and magnets for those who think all-terrain-vehicle riding is best

when muddy. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/us/30lands.html?_r=1 & oref=slogin

 

23) A last-minute change in the federal energy bill discourages the

use of wood chips, tree limbs and other wood waste from national

forests in the production of ethanol, according to a forest industry

spokesman. The surprise provision makes no sense, says Aaron Everett,

a spokesman for the Black Hills Forest Resource Association. The

energy bill passed by Congress and signed by the president earlier

this month requires an increase in the amount of ethanol produced from

renewable biomass materials such as grasses and wood waste. The bill

requires 21 billion gallons of ethanol to be produced from biomass,

including cellulosic materials, by the year 2022. Corn-ethanol

production is slated to double, to 15 billion gallons. All of South

Dakota's congressional delegation worked hard to make sure slash piles

and other wood waste from national forests would qualify for the

definition of renewable biomass in the energy bill, Everett said. Rep.

Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., a member of the House Natural

Resources Committee, made sure the definition included national

forests when the bill came out of that committee, Everett said.

However, the bill had been changed in the House to exclude national

forests before it got to the Senate. Everett said he suspects

environmental interests got the provision inserted at the last minute.

" I think it fell victim to groups whose aim is to limit, in any way

possible, forest management on public lands, " he said. Everett said

the exclusion discourages the use of hundreds of thousands of tons of

wood waste just from the Black Hills National Forest. The provision

was discovered too late in the process to change by the time it

arrived in the Senate, according to Brendon Plack, a legislative aide

to Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. Plack said much of the language of the

1,100-page bill apparently was written behind closed doors in final

negotiations. The provision doesn't outright ban using wood waste from

national forests to make ethanol, Plack said. However, it ensures that

ethanol made from such national forest biomass will not count toward

the increased renewable fuels standard target in the energy bill, he

said. That means ethanol made from national forest biomass will not

qualify for government incentives, Everett said. " It represents a

policy disincentive, " he said.

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2007/12/28/news/top/doc477327442c1ba519\

197233.txt

 

24) Before Mr. Bush took office, a Forest Service chief proposed new

rules to prohibit the agency from building or approving new road

construction in roadless areas of national forests covering 5,000 or

more acres, a policy that protects more than 58 million acres. The

Bush administration tried weakening the rule, and in 2005 tossed it

out, requiring governors to petition if they wanted to protect

national forests within their states. Four states sued and last year a

victory in federal court reinstated the roadless rule across America.

But the agency has sparked new problems in Idaho, Colorado, Alaska and

California. In Idaho, a new Forest Service draft environmental impact

statement puts at risk the state's 9.3 million acres of forests, the

largest intact forest system in the lower 48. A loophole opens

two-thirds of the forest to road construction and increased timber

harvest. In Colorado, new Forest Service rules would allow new coal

mines, oil and gas drilling and ski area expansions, leaving

now-pristine forests with fewer protections. In Alaska, the Forest

Service plans to re-open the Tongass National Forest in Alaska's

panhandle to large-scale timber logging, allowing 33 miles of road and

a new log transfer facility to be built in North America's largest

rain forest. In California, the Forest Service has angered Gov. Arnold

Schwarzenegger by not honoring agreements it made earlier and planning

to build new roads in four southern California forests. National

forests - including the Apalachicola, Osceola and Ocala forests on 1.2

million acres in north and central Florida - are national treasures.

It's not too late for the Bush administration to stop seeking ways to

exploit them and, instead, protect them http://www.palmbeachpost.com/

 

Canada:

 

25)Most people are aware of the ecological richness of Nova Scotia's

forests, even if they don't spend much time in them. Nova Scotia is

home to many hundreds of thousands of acres of forest that have not

been logged for hundreds of years. These places are truly wild; humans

rarely set foot in them. They are sanctuaries for wildlife from the

mighty moose to the meek mouse, and a last bastion of nature's

disappearing splendour. However, places like these are rapidly

diminishing. Logging companies, some from the U.S., are chopping down

our forests, killing wildlife and eradicating special places. One in

particular is near Scotsburn, in Pictou County. It has hundreds of

acres of old-growth forest - mostly hemlock and maple - that has never

been logged or farmed. In these forests is a place called Redtail

Nature Awareness, named after the redtail hawk. Its primary function

is as a year-round camp for people of all ages, to provide them with a

retreat from today's busy world and educate them about nature. I

attend camps there all year, and it has become a very special place

for me, and my favorite spot in the world. In the summer, we go for

hikes in the forest, through wilderness and ravines, swimming in the

creeks and rejoicing in nature's glory. Recently, the community around

Redtail received word that several hundred acres were to be logged in

that area. This was a great blow to people who have a special place in

their hearts for Redtail. If it were to be logged, the wild integrity

of the place would be lost. The worst thing is that it is owned by an

American company: Wagner's. How can they have control over so much of

Nova Scotia's natural heritage? The community has raised money to try

to buy this land, but Wagner's has callously rejected a generous offer

of $120,000 for 213 acres. If this forest is logged, dozens of people

will be devastated, many animals will die from loss of habitat, and a

sanctuary will be lost forever. If you want to know more about this

issue, or if you want to make a donation, please contact

friendsofredtail

http://www.hfxnews.ca/index.cfm?sid=93562 & sc=160

 

26) The shore from east of St. Martins to Alma is reputedly the

longest stretch of uninhabited Atlantic coastline between the tip of

Florida and the St. Lawrence River. The area joined 14 other spots in

Canada and more than 500 around the globe by meeting the UN's

biosphere program's stringent criteria. The upper Bay of Fundy coast,

anchored by Fundy National Park and stretching from St. Martins,

southeast of Saint John, to the Tantramar Marsh near Sackville, and

inland to Moncton, fall within the boundaries of the reserve.

" Biosphere reserves are a sort of ark, " said University of New

Brunswick scientist Graham Forbes, who has extensively researched the

area's forest practices and wildlife. The upper bay earned this

recognition - and the challenge of going beyond the lip service of

sustainability - for many reasons. One key reason is the efforts of

committed volunteers who first met to talk about the bay's threatened

sub-species of salmon in 1998. " That was the original concern that

brought people together, " said Peter Etheridge, the executive director

of the Fundy biosphere group, who was involved from the start. At one

point, they generated a 300-page submission to UNESCO, which

culminated in the agency's decision-makers granting the status at a

conference in Paris in September. This coast is known for its powerful

tides, often promoted as the world's highest. The coast's steep,

dramatic and windswept headlands are home to a handful of rare plants

with names so whimsical - Rand's Eyebright, Livelong Saxifrage and

Bird's-eye Primrose - you'd think hobbits discovered them. It boasts

the oldest documented red spruce tree living on the planet, discovered

in 2005. Surprisingly slender, thriving today, the tree was a seedling

when a young Elizabeth I assumed the crown. Each summer, roughly three

million sandpipers (most of the world's population) descend on this

coast's mud flats to feed on fat- and protein-rich mud shrimp that are

found nowhere else. The feast fuels the birds for their three-day,

non-stop journey to South America. Along the coastal Fundy Footpath,

in deep, wet, slippery ravines where moss grows on moss that's growing

on moss in a half-dozen shades of green, and where the small rivers

draining the ravines fan out onto pristine beaches, hikers can go days

without seeing other people.

http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/front/article/169153

 

27) The industry in Quebec operates 360 mills, supports 200,000 direct

and indirect jobs, generates $13 billion in sales and contributes $1.5

billion a year in taxes, he claims. But the too-big-to-fail argument

is one we've all heard before. It's the standard line from people who

don't have any other case to make. Chevrette recently released a

report predicting another 12,000 jobs will be lost in 2008, as a North

American economic slowdown chops demand for lumber, pulp and paper.

" If I look at the prospects for 2008, it's worse, " he remarked at the

time. And it's hard to find fault with his diagnosis. The industry's

aging mills are too small, costly and inefficient, while wood supply

is more expensive than in many competing jurisdictions. But if the

industry is going to restructure, it should do so on its own. Even

Chevrette admits there are too many players. You can't fight the

forces of supply and demand. The issue in the new year will be whether

the Quebec government attempts to bail out the struggling sector.

We've already heard a bizarre suggestion from PQ leader Pauline

Marois. She wants Quebec to commit the one-per-cent cut in the GST,

already announced by the federal government, to a one-year aid package

for the industry. I doubt Marois asked many consumers whether they'd

be happy to give up a tax cut to help an industry that's already

uncompetitive. If you want to pour $1.1 billion a year into a black

hole, her plan is hard to beat. Even with a government bailout on that

scale, Quebec companies would probably still be in the red next year.

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/columnists/story.html?id=3d0eec10-6156-49e\

3-a769-6a2d0ce3

7b3a

 

UK:

 

28) Mr Maclean has already put down a Commons early day motion urging

greater control of grey squirrels and intends to put down further

motions criticising Natural England for permitting the release of 257

grey squirrels back into the wild by animal sanctuaries over the past

18 months. He now believes a select committee inquiry is the way to

establish how parlous the position of the red squirrel actually is and

to re-evaluate the best national policy options for controlling the

advance of greys. Meanwhile, it is not only people concerned about the

possible extinction of the red squirrel who are calling for a re-think

of Government policy but private woodland owners. Richard Coke is the

owner of the 250 acre Weasenham Wood, near Swaffham in Norfolk,

Britain's oldest example of continuous cover forestry – a system in

which only the largest and most mature trees are logged. He spends

£20,000 a year on a full time member of staff who kills 250 grey

squirrels a year that migrate in from un-keepered woodland all around.

Otherwise, he says, there would be 2000 grey squirrels in the woods

where the first grey arrived in 1973. He said: " Nobody can afford to

go on doing this. In reality this is probably the only country in the

world where it is almost certain that trees planted in woodlands and

forests have almost no chance of becoming high quality healthy, mature

trees, be they planted for amenity or commercial reasons. " It is

highly debatable whether any woodlands in this country are

sustainable. " He says the squirrels strip the bark off young and

mature trees, which means trees die or are stunted and never grow to

their full height. They are often prone to disease and fungus and of

no value other than as firewood.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/12/30/easquirrel130.\

xml

 

29) Two wildlife sites in Conwy have been designated as Local Nature

Reserves because of their " outstanding " natural features. Bodlondeb

Woods in Conwy town and Upper Dingle Woods in Colwyn Bay have been

designated as reserves by Conwy County Borough Council. John Lloyd

Jones, chairman of the Countryside Council for Wales, said: " It is

fitting that Bodlondeb Woods and Upper Dingle Woods have been

designated as Local Nature Reserves. This reflects the excellent work

being done by Conwy County Borough Council to manage both reserves'

outstanding natural features so we can all enjoy them. " Bodlondeb

Woods lies between Bodlondeb Park and the southern bank of the Conwy

Estuary. Oak, birch, beech and sycamore trees make up this native

broadleaved woodland, providing a rich habitat for birds such as the

nuthatch and sparrow hawk, and butterflies like the speckled wood and

painted lady. The woods are popular with local people and community

groups. The first Conwy Scout Group has been particularly busy,

planting trees and making the most of the new woodland orienteering

course. Upper Dingle Woods is a small broadleaved woodland, which lies

near the Nant-y-Groes stream close to Ysgol Bod Alaw in Colwyn Bay.

Field roses, lords and ladies and enchanter's nightshade are among the

flowers found there.

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/2007/12/28/sites-become-reserve\

s-55578-20292109

/

 

30) It is thought that Accrington got its name because it was once

surrounded by old oak woods and the name is derived from the phrase

acorn-ring-town. Now environmental charity the Prospects Foundation is

looking into the possibility of creating a " ring of oaks " somewhere in

the centre of Accrington. It is hoping that a large-scale green

project could be created near the town centre but an exact location

has yet to be found. Development manager Ellie Taylor said she hoped

that the plan will catch the imagination of residents and provide a

unique area of green land for the town.The cost and sources of funding

have yet to be finalised but she said. She said: " It is early days for

the project but it is one that we are very keen to see created. There

will be a large circle of oak trees surrounding an area of green land

" I think it will be a really popular idea in the area and people will

feel a real ownership of the site because of the connotations of the

name Accrington.

http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/news/headlines/display.var.1930946.0.green_tri\

bute_to_the_or

igins_of_a_town.php

 

Italy:

 

31) It is a little weird to be getting briefed on the state of the

world's climate by an olive tree. And yet the Olea europaea has been

telling it straight since long before ancient reporters scratched

dispatches onto pounded bark. Watching my gnarled old Mediterranean

tree season by season, I see the bad news fast getting worse. Our

future food supply is at risk, olives and most everything else

besides. The routines around here go back to ancient Romans who

planted our back hills with olive shoots in their baggage. Late each

winter, the trees are cut back hard. In spring, buds cover the new

wood. By fall, branches droop under the weight of green fruit. As they

turn purplish black in December, the olives are pressed into oil to

remember. It is December now, and my trees should be heavy with

olives. But they're not. Like last year, rains fell at the wrong time,

too hard or too soft. When it mattered, there was no rain at all. A

warming trend with freak cold snaps confuses plant metabolism and

emboldens killer pests. Last January, my trees budded, convinced it

was spring. Then it froze. In June, the Dacus fly bore into the fruit,

causing it to drop off the tree. Many olive growers are somewhere

between disbelief and denial. In an old Tuscan grove, the proprietor

assured me her trees were fine. A quick look suggested otherwise; most

of her olives were pierced by telltale holes. The Italian government

predicts the olive crop for 2007 will be about 500,000 tons, 17

percent less than last year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/opinion/23rosenblum.html

 

World-wide:

 

32) A survey, worked out by 60 experts from 21 countries, cautions

that failure to respond to the mounting threats has now been worsened

by climate change. On the whole, 114 of the world's 394 primate

species are categorised as threatened with disappearance on the

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list.

Illegal wildlife trade and commercial plant-meat poaching have been

largely blamed for their disappearance. They encage them for live

business; and farmers, loggers and land promoters destroy their

habitat. One species, Miss Waldron's red colobus of Ivory Coast and

Ghana, already is feared extinct, while the golden-headed langur of

Vietnam and China's Hainan gibbon number only in the dozens. The

Horton Plains slender loris of Sri Lanka has been sighted just four

times since 1937. " You could fit all the surviving members of these 25

species in a single football stadium; that's how few of them remain on

Earth today, " said Conservation International President Russell A.

Mittermeier, who also chairs the IUCN/Species Survival Commission

(SSC) Primate Specialist Group. " By protecting the world's remaining

tropical forests, " Mittermeier says, " we can save primates and other

endangered species while helping prevent climate change. " Eight of the

primates on the latest list, including the Sumatran orangutan of

Indonesia and the Cross River gorilla of Cameroon and Nigeria, are

" four-time losers " that also appeared on the previous three lists. Six

other species are on the list for the first time, including a recently

discovered Indonesian tarsier that has yet to be formally named.

Madagascar and Vietnam each have four primates on the new list, while

Indonesia has three, followed by Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Ivory Coast,

Ghana and Colombia with two each, and one each from China, Cameroon,

Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Nigeria, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Peru,

Venezuela and Ecuador. All 25 primates on the 2006-2008 list are found

in the world's biodiversity hotspots-- 34 high priority regions

identified by Conservation International that cover just 2.3 percent

of the Earth's land surface but harbour well over 50 percent of all

terrestrial plant and animal diversity. Eight of the hotspots are

considered the highest priorities for the survival of the most

endangered primates: Indo-Burma, Madagascar and the Indian Ocean

Islands, Sundaland, Eastern Afromontane, Coastal Forests of Eastern

Africa, Guinean Forests of West Africa, the Atlantic Forest of Brazil,

and Western Ghats-Sri Lanka.

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=16762

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