Guest guest Posted August 16, 2008 Report Share Posted August 16, 2008 --Today for you 34 new articles about earth's trees! (384th edition) --You can now RSS tree news in a regional format at: http://forestpolicyresearch.org --To Subscribe / to the world-wide email format send a blank email to: earthtreenews- OR earthtreenews- In this issue: PNW-USA Index: --PNW: 1) Bush Administration creates more court rulings against them: Spotted Owl --Washington: 2) Save the school's trees, 3) cont. 4) Save Tenino Quarry pool forest, --Oregon: 5) BLM wants to log 40 million board feet of blow down, 6) Four enviro groups file lawsuit over Spotted Owl on State Lands, 7) Is thinning a happy ending to the forest wars? --California: 8) Artist destroys palm trees, 9) Treesit campaigns in the redwoods finally have a happy ending, 10) FS firefighters may be destroying native peoples sacred sites, 11) Fire suppression limits carbon sequestration, 12) Lack of 'let it burn' policy kills 9 firefighters, 13) Plants and trees migrate upslope, 14) County Club bared from digging up & selling trees, 15) Redwood Empire thinks they can do illegal logging if they call it Fire Salvage, 16) Forester Gary Paul too inept to get Grizzly Flat logging plan approved, 17) What if selective logging of redwoods was a bigger fire hazard than no logging at all? 18) More on State's denial of logging restrictions that could protect fish extinctions, --Montana: 19) Roads and housing mar the landscape --Colorado: 20) Last days of old logger's sensibilities, 22) 55,000 acres of BLM's most biodiverse land on Roan Plateau will likely be destroyed for mining and gas, --Illinois: 22) Cutting 3,400 trees just because of a handful of Emerald Ash borers? --Ohio: 23) Make Shawnee State forest a wilderness area --Virginia: 24) Lawsuit filed against clearcutters who work for mountain top removal --New Jersey: 25) They're gonna Clearcut the park for a 911 memorial --New Hampshire: 26) 2,121-acre swath of the Upper Connecticut River protected --Connecticut: 27) How Mr. Gillespie's clearcut ambitions are administrated, --Maine: 28) " Two Countries, One Forest " 29) Caught stealing town's trees, --Tennessee: 30) Seven arrests at Kimberly-Clark protest, --North Carolina: 31) Heights of fir trees limited not by logging but ability to raise water? --USA: 32) A forest defender named Jim Bensman, 33) Pulp business in the northeast, 34) 2,000 concerned citizens across the country protest Palm oil, Articles: PNW: 1) The Bush administration has decided that the northern spotted owl can get by with less old growth forest habitat as it struggles to get off the threatened species list. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday it would cut by 23 percent the federal forest land designated as critical habitat for the owl in Washington, Oregon and Northern California. Designating critical habitat for protection is a requirement of the Endangered Species Act. Meanwhile, owl numbers are dropping by 4 percent a year. Conservation groups say the critical habitat designation and a new plan for restoring owl populations are contrary to the advice of leading scientists and are crafted to fulfill a Bush administration promise to the timber industry to increase logging. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D92GU7EG0.htm Washington: 2) Vicky Prestrud carefully taped pictures of a dozen birds on the chain-link fence surrounding a small forest at Ingraham High School. These are the birds, owls, chickadees and woodpeckers that spend time in a grove of trees at the school slated to be cut down, Prestrud said. " I live next door to the school, " she said. " I've seen all these birds in my yard or the school yard. A dozen people who live near Ingraham in north Seattle gathered outside the fence today to protest plans by the Seattle school district to cut down more than 90 trees, many of them decades-old. Supporters said the trees are 25-years older than the high school itself. The protesters, part of Save Our Trees, say they may go to court to block the school district's plans and, if the trees are cut down, will launch a recall petition of Seattle School Board members who supported the Ingraham plan. The district wants to cut down the trees as part of a $24 million renovation project authorized by voters last year. Residents argue the trees provide a welcome buffer between their homes and the high school. " This is a terrible example for the students of the city, " said Steve Zemke, a spokesman for Save Our Trees. " The school district is playing the role of a schoolyard bully. " The school district plans to cut down nearly 70 trees, primarily evergreens, from a stand of 133. The district also plans to cut down 30 more trees deemed to be diseased. It wants to remove portable classrooms and replace them with an addition to the school. The district plans to remove the trees next Friday and Saturday, while students are not at the school. The school district asserts, in a letter to neighbor's of the high school, that it has already passed the environmental hurdles necessary to remove the trees, including a city examiner's determination that the tree cutting did not require a full environmental study and the trees could be cut down. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008100292_webingraham08m.html 3) A King County Superior Court judge on Wednesday blocked the Seattle School District's plans to cut down about 100 trees on the campus of Ingraham High School later this week. After a one-hour hearing, Judge John Erlick granted a temporary restraining order to a group calling itself Save Our Trees, which has argued that the trees, many decades-old evergreens, provide a needed green space, a habitat for birds and a buffer between the school and its neighbors. The judge set a hearing date of Aug. 25 on the group's request for a temporary injunction. The school district had planned to cut down the trees Friday and Saturday as part of a major renovation and expansion of the school, which was built in 1959. A spokesman for the district said Wednesday's ruling was not a surprise and that the district expects to prevail when the issue is fully heard in court. A hearing examiner earlier had supported the district's plan. The group filed a lawsuit this week over the tree-cutting and a hearing is scheduled for Sept. 2. In court Wednesday, Keith Scully, attorney for Save Our Trees, argued that if no restraining order was issued, the trees would be gone before the hearing. He said the trees are more than an urban forest, in that they are a migration corridor for birds and habitat for other animals. Last week, the district informed neighbors it had withdrawn its pending application for a master-use permit for the school addition, which meant — had the court not intervened — it could have removed the trees now. The school district's attorney, Shannon McMinimee, said the delay will have a huge impact because the district could find only one contractor willing to cut down the trees for $17,000, and now it's not certain whether that contractor could still do the job. Furthermore, she said, the district wants the trees cut this summer while students are not in school. Erlick said Save Our Trees has a " well-grounded fear " and added if the trees are removed this week it would be an irreversible process. " Once they're removed, they can't be replaced, " he said in granting the restraining order. He set a bond of $7,500 that Save Our Trees must post to help cover the cost of the school district putting off the tree-cutting. Steve Zemke, a spokesman for the plaintiffs, said his group could cover that cost. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008112745_trees14m.html 4) Tenino community groups working to preserve 12 acres of forested property above the Quarry Pool have scheduled a fundraising concert Sunday at the city park. Admission is $10. The event will follow immediately after the Quarryman's Auto Show at 2 p.m. The City of Tenino, the Heernett Foundation (Tenino's own non-profit land preservation group) and the Friends of Tenino are jointly moving forward with a grant application to the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office to obtain the funds necessary to purchase ~16 acres of Weyerhaeuser owned property that adjoins the current city park. The property will be owned by the City of Tenino and become dedicated park land for the people of Tenino. The Weyerhaeuser property consists of upland forest with mature trees, forested and class B wetlands, and stream headwaters. We will be asking for donations to help with the $20-$25,000.00 matching funds collectively required for the state and federal grants that we are applying for. We have until August 2008 to collect the match for the Federal Grant and June 2009 to collect our match for the state grant. The Heernett Foundation has agree to allow donations to this City managed grant project to pass through their organization which will allow all financial and " in kind " contributions to the project to be tax deductible charitable donations. Once we have acquired the property and protected the Quarry Pool and the athletic fields then an expanded trail system will be developed including educational signage. The idea is to create an educational forest trail system for residents and visitors to get a wilderness/recreational experience while learning about the plants and animals native to our area. After the first phase of the project is complete our group will be seeking to acquire additional lands to add to the City Park and the Heernett Foundation land holdings in the area. http://www.friendsoftenino.org/ Oregon: 5) MEDFORD - The Bureau of Land Management wants to salvage 40 million board feet of timber blown down in a Jan. 4 windstorm. Environmentalists, who have opposed many salvage sales in the past, are at least partly on aboard. A 196-page environmental assessment for the Butte Falls blowdown salvage project was issued July 27 for a 30-day public review, with comments due Aug. 26. " This put about 40 million board feet on the ground, everything from large trees to small trees, " said Chris McAlear, the Butte Falls area field manager. A timber industry group supports the project while a conservationist organization will go along with some of it but has concerns about the rest. BLM personnel have inspected about 28,000 acres and are proposing salvage on about 6,100 acres to harvest as much as 35 million board feet. In perspective: It takes about 16,000 board feet to build a 2,000 square-foot home. The 40 million board-foot targeted salvage would build about 1,100 such homes. The BLM Medford district annual target harvest is around 57 million board feet. Four road salvage sales will offer just over 3 million board feet, mostly Douglas fir with some pine and incense cedar. The fir will be good for up to five years, but the downed pine will start to deteriorate after a year, officials said. The BLM also worries about wildfires. A June 30 lightning strike on the downed trees triggered a fire that grew to eight acres before ground crews got to it, said John Bergin, the BLM's forest manager for the resource area. " It could have been about an acre fire but they couldn't get in there because of the trees across the roads and in the fire area, " Bergin said. " They couldn't get hand crews in there. We had to bring two cats (bulldozers) in. It took five hours to get a cat line around it. Normally, it would have taken about 45 minutes. " Most of the blowdown occurred in the Butte Falls area. " A lot of the trees are blown down in one direction from the east to the northwest, " he said. The National Weather Service predicted high gusts that day. " We have an antenna out there that's rated 120 mph that snapped, " McAlear said. The BLM wasn't initially aware of the extent of the blowdown, which was covered by a heavy blanket of snow. http://www.katu.com/news/26866044.html 6) Four conservation groups filed suit today against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to reconsider how logging mature and old-growth stands of trees in the Elliott State Forest harms the northern spotted owl, in light of new information showing the owl is facing increased threats from the combination of habitat loss, the barred owl, and disease. " New information shows threats to the spotted owl have increased dramatically, yet the Oregon Department of Forestry is plowing ahead with clearcutting the owls' habitat on the Elliott, " said Noah Greenwald, science director at the Center for Biological Diversity. The Center, along with Umpqua Watersheds Inc., Cascadia Wildlands Project, and Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, filed the lawsuit. " Oregon could do more to protect the owl and old-growth forests and still provide funds for schools, " Greenwald said. In 1995, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a permit to the Oregon Department of Forestry to log in spotted owl habitat in the Elliott Forest and to " take " owls – permit activities that would result in the death of owls – based on mitigation measures proposed in a state habitat conservation plan. The permit allowed the Department to log 22,000 acres of spotted-owl habitat, which was expected to contribute to the loss of 43 owls in at least 22 owl territories over 60 years. That would have left, at most, 13 owl territories. A 2003 survey found that after just eight years, all owls in the 22 territories had indeed died and the remaining owls were already limited to 13 territories. The survey also found that barred owls – which prey on spotted owls – were present within six of the 13 territories, and within two territories where spotted owls were no longer found. " The barred owl presents a substantial new threat to the spotted owl that was not anticipated in 1995, " said Francis Eatherington, conservation director of Umpqua Watersheds. " Continued clearcutting of the limited spotted owl habitat on the Elliott should stop until it can be shown that it will not further endanger the spotted owl. " The 93,000-acre Elliot State Forest, located in the Coast Range east of Coos Bay, includes some of the last, best habitat for the spotted owl, marbled murrelet, coho salmon, and other threatened species in the Coast Range. http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/ 7) Is thinning the happy ending to the forest wars? After fights over timber harvests came to a head in the 1990s, logging was dramatically reduced and there were pretty hard feelings all around. Eventually, some environmentalist groups and timber communities sat down to talk. Now many agree that forests both east and west of the Cascades need some trees taken out. In the drier east, big concerns are insect infestation and fire. In the moist woods of the west, former clearcuts replanted with a single species of seedlings are now seen as too dense for overall forest heath. Thinning is part of a forest management approach called stewardship. Collins Company in Lakeview just won a ten year stewardship contract with the US Forest Service. The deal means Collins pays the Forest Service for commercially useable timber it thins from the Fremont National Forest. In turn, the Forest Service uses that money to pay Collins to stabilize roads, remove culverts and clear brush in the same forest. Thinning is not expected to ever generate the income logging did, but as part of this shift of timber practices, Collins invested millions in a mill that could speedily handle logs down to four inches in diameter and is planning a biomass plant to convert forest " thinnings " into energy. This is only the second ten-year stewardship contract the Forest Service has signed and it's brought an increased sense of stability to the mill. But not all thinning is created equal, and not all environmental groups support it. Some timber sales deemed thins by the Forest Service are still contested in court. This trend of forest management has fans in Congress. But even among those environmental and industry groups who are willing to work together now to thin and restore the forests, there are different visions for what our national forests should look like and be used for fifty years from now. Do you live in a logging community or one that has depended on timber in the past? Have you participated in any community dialogs including environmental groups and industry on forest management? Do you feel we're at a point now where " we all can get along " and agree on forest policy - or is the consensus, well, too thin? http://action.publicbroadcasting.net/opb/posts/list/1419609.page California: 8) OCEANSIDE – Artist Steven Tustison said he thought the two 60-foot-tall palms in front of his Oceanside house belonged to him when he cut tiki faces into them earlier this month. Then he received a visit from an official with the Public Works Department who told him he had defaced public property on a city easement. " He said there had been a complaint, and I said, 'Well, I don't think one complaint outweighs hundreds of compliments and supporters and people that enjoy them,' " Tustison said. Known to locals as " Tiki Daddy, " Tustison had long kicked around the idea of carving tiki faces into the trees. He took up his chain saw after being spurred into action by neighborhood children. The city's arborist looked at the trees, which Tustison had scorched with a propane torch to add an authentic appearance, and determined that the trees were damaged and unable to recover. Assistant City Attorney Barbara Hamilton said the city sent Tustison a letter this week asking him to remove the trees and replace them, though not necessarily with palms. " No matter what we all might think about the quality of his craftsmanship and the aesthetic value of it, the arborist has said that it poses a public safety hazard, " Hamilton said. " If they fell, they're in this area where there are a lot of cars and houses that could be damaged. " Tustison said he is aware the city might rip out his festive palms. The sight of work trucks driving by puts him on edge. " I get nervous, " he said. " Every time I see one of these rigs come down the street, I'm like, 'No, don't cut down my trees!' " http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20080814-9999-1mi14tiki.html 9) After years of direct action, struggles, pains, perseverance and determination, Fern Gully and Nanning Creek tree-villages are finally — and rightfully — protected. After an 18 month struggle, Mendocino Redwood Company has successfully taken oven Pacific Lumber Company (PL), naming the new company Humboldt Redwood Company (HRC). Good riddins Maxxam Corp! Michael Jani, chief forester and vice president of Mendocino Redwood Company, has told activist directly (via phone and in person) that no old-growth trees will be cut, and ensuring that both current tree-villages will be protected. The old-growth trees will be tagged with " Wilderness Tree " signs after activist didn't accept having the trees traditionally sprayed with paint, disrupting the aesthetic value of the forest. All current Timber Harvest Plans (THP) containing old-growth trees will be modified to selective logging plans. Does this mean that Humboldt Redwood Company is in the clear? Absolutely not. As long as companies are still clear-cutting, there's a problem that needs to be dealt with. Also, there's the question about the second growth-trees that are living within the tree-village groves. Will they be protected as well? What, exactly, will be the perimeter around each grove? Will heavy machinery damage the old-growth groves to access second-growth trees? There are still many, many questions for which we currently have no answers. I applaud Humboldt Redwood Company for their pledge to protect old-growth and save both tree-villages; however, activists and forest defenders will keep a very close eye on their actions and developments. Making sure that they live up to their word. With companies such as Green Diamond Resource Company (a.k.a. Simpson Timber Company) and Sierra Pacific Industries both owning a total of over 2 million acres of California " Timber Land, " there's no time to take a breather. Both companies are still noxiously clear-cutting trees, including old-growth, as I write this article. Activists are demanding to have something put in writing, which has yet to happen. [This shouldn't be a problem since Jani has already agreed, right? well... we'll see .] We expect new developments to take place in days as to the protection of the tree-village groves. Until it's is writing or the THPs are dropped, tree-sitters will remain in trees until Octobers when both THPs are set to officially expire. http://www.forestdefenders.com/2008/08/12/its-just-about-official-all-current-hu\ mboldt-county- tree-sits-are-saved/ 10) Indian tribes from the Klamath River canyon are worried that the U.S. Forest Service is violating some of their sacred lands by fighting a remote wilderness wildfire rather than leaving it to burn naturally. " Talking with Forest Service firefighters, I have been saying this is the Sistine Chapel, the Mount Sinai, the Vatican, " for the Yurok, Karuk and Tolowa tribes, Chris Peters, the Yurok tribe's liaison with the Forest Service, said from Arcata, Calif. " If fire should move in naturally, we're comfortable with that, " Peters said. " But if you bring a drip torch into the Vatican and intend to ignite it, you are going to have some opposition. " The Siskiyou and Blue 2 fires have been burning for weeks at low intensity in the Siskiyou Wilderness on the Six Rivers National Forest in the Siskiyou Mountains between the Klamath River and the Oregon border. With so many fires in the area, it took weeks for the Forest Service to send its first crew, and they adopted a strategy of burning out a perimeter around the fires to prevent them from spreading as the weather gets hotter, drier and windier. Under protocols established years ago, the tribes have been meeting with the Forest Service over the management of the fires, and Six Rivers National Forest Supervisor Tyrone Kelley said they are being sensitive to their concerns. " We realize the significance of this area, " Kelley said. " We're working with them. " But though the fires are far from any homes, leaving them to burn without a strong perimeter around them is not an option, given the nearby timber resources and expectations that the fire conditions will get worse, he said. He added that because the fires are in a wilderness area, fire lines are built by hand, not with bulldozers. http://www.kgw.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D92H24HG1.html 11) The current policy of wildfire management by supressing small fires is causing less carbon to be stored in trees, according to a new study from the University of California. The research team, led by Michael Goulden found that during the period from the 1930's to the 1990's mid-altitude conifer forests increased in area by 34%, but contrary to the conventional wisdom that more trees mean additional carbon storage- they found that the amount of stored carbon actually diminished by 26% during the same period, according to the Scientific American article. Current wildfire policy is to stop more ground blazes, which is preserving more and more small-sized trees which hold much less carbon compared to bigger, more mature trees. Preserving the heftier trees is the easy solution to augmenting carbon storage and allowing them to play their ecological roles, says Nathan Stephenson, an ecologist from the U.S. Geological Survey. As the climate changes and puts stress on plant life, Stephenson says, it is probably better for the forest to get back to the way it used to look: thinner and less crowded. In fact, the national parks of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, with which he closely works, already use prescribed fire to thin forests. Burning or cutting down trees will release some carbon into the atmosphere. But at least, Stephenson notes, “you reduce the chance that you're going to lose all [the carbon] in a catastrophic wildfire. http://global-warming.accuweather.com/2008/08/another_argument_for_the_thinn.htm\ l 12) As transportation officials probed Tuesday's fatal crash of a firefighting helicopter, questions arose about why firefighters were in the area at all. The crash occurred in the remote Trinity Alps Wilderness, between Green Mountain and Pony Mountain, at an elevation of about 6,000 feet. It killed nine people and injured four whose conditions ranged Thursday from good to critical. Unlike some national forests, the Shasta-Trinity National Forest has no plan in place to allow fires to burn unchecked in some conditions. This approach, dubbed " wildland fire use " by the Forest Service, has been embraced in many other forests and national parks. It can be a cheap and effective means to thin overgrown forests and restore more natural conditions. Shasta-Trinity forest's policy " is all suppression, " said forest spokesman Mike Odle. " We have made no progress implementing wildland fire use here. " Such a policy risks exposing firefighters to more dangerous situations. " Eventually they're going to have to do serious fire planning, " said Rich Fairbanks, a fire expert at the Wilderness Society, who spent 20 years as a Forest Service fire management official in Washington, Oregon and California. " Between global warming and urban sprawl, we've got to figure this stuff out ahead of time. " But Fairbanks was reluctant to criticize the decision to battle the Buckhorn fire. " Without knowing, all we can say is it sucks, it really sucks, " he said of the tragedy. All of the dead and injured men lived in southern Oregon. Three of the survivors remained at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento on Thursday. They are co-pilot Bill Coultas, 44, in critical condition; and Jonathan Frohreich, 18, and Michael Brown, 20, listed in good condition. A fourth man, Richard Schroeder, 42, was in fair condition at Mercy Medical Center in Redding. http://www.sacbee.com/288/story/1141398.html 13) Warmer temperatures and longer dry spells have killed thousands of trees and shrubs in a Southern California mountain range, pushing the plants' habitat an average of 213 feet up the mountain over the past 30 years, a UC Irvine study has determined. White fir and Jeffrey pine trees died at the lower altitudes of their growth range in the Santa Rosa Mountains, from 6,400 feet to as high as 7,200 feet in elevation, while California lilacs died between 4,000-4,800 feet. Almost all of the studied plants crept up the mountain a similar distance, countering the belief that slower-growing trees would move slower than faster-growing grasses and wildflowers. This study is the first to show directly the impact of climate change on a mountainous ecosystem by physically studying the location of plants, and it shows what could occur globally if the Earth's temperature continues to rise. The finding also has implications for forest management, as it rules out air pollution and fire suppression as main causes of plant death. " Plants are dying out at the bottom of their ranges, and at the tops of their ranges they seem to be growing in and doing much better, " said Anne Kelly, lead author of the study and a graduate student in the Department of Earth System Science at UCI. " The only thing that could explain this happening across the entire face of the mountain would be a change in the local climate. " The study appears online the week of Aug. 11 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In the UCI study, 141 different species were identified along the tape, but the final analysis focused on 10 that were most abundant at different elevations. Those species included white fir and Jeffrey pine trees; golden cup oak trees; sugar bush, California lilac, Muller scrub oak, creosote bush, ragweed, and brittle bush shrubs; and agave plants. The mean elevation of nine of the 10 species rose, with an average gain of 213 feet. " I was surprised by how nice the data looked and how unambiguous the signal was, " Goulden said. " It is clear that ecosystems can respond rather rapidly to climate change. " http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-08/uoc--ccc080608.php 14) The Barstow court issued a cease-and-desist order to prevent the company the owns the old Barstow Country Club from selling trees from the property, at the request of the Barstow Redevelopment Agency. At issue was the fact that the property owner, Barstow Community Developers LLC was removing and selling trees from the property to a nursery, possibly in violation of its agreement with the city, said city spokesman John Rader. The company acquired the title to the property, which has not been an active golf course since early 2006, in April 2006, according to the Barstow office of the San Bernardino County Office of the Assessor. When Barstow Community Developers bought the property from previous owner Michael Popovich, it also took over a 10-year agreement with the city that specified it should be maintained as a golf course, Rader said. The city believes that the agreement includes keeping the trees intact, he said. Initially, Barstow Community Developers had been planning to buy properties adjacent to the golf course to expand the course and build homes around it, but in the past six months, those deals fell through, Rader said. Within the past couple of weeks, the city learned from neighbors that full-grown trees were being removed and sold to a nursery. He estimated that the trees were being sold for between $3,000 and $30,000 each. " The city's interest is to stop them from removing further trees to maintain the value of the golf course, before all the trees are gone, " Rader said. " ... We think basically they're just taking the value that's left on the golf course and selling it off. " http://www.desertdispatch.com/news/orders_4025___article.html/owner_barstow.html 15) Redwood Empire is currently conducting salvage logging in Ramsey Gulch under a Notice of Emergency Operations. The Notice covers nearly 18 acres of redwood and hardwoods burned in the Summit Fire with harvest projected at more than 25 mbf. CCFW submitted a letter to CAL FIRE alerting them to the fact that the operations are not in conformance with the FPRs. The CAL FIRE Emergency Notice form filled out and signed by RPF Michael Duffy says that 'timber operations conducted under this notice must meet minimum stocking standards at the completion of operations. The RPF has said explicitly that he does not intend to meet stocking: " The damaged area is within and adjacent to an existing THP (1-08-016 SCR) that was scheduled to be logged in 2008 or 2009. The proposed removal of dead and dying timber will drop stocking levels below the standard requirements of the southern sub-district and the County of Santa Cruz. Hence, the existing THP would not adequately recover the dead and dying timber form the property. " In addition, CCR 1052.2 requires the RPF to use a " risk-rating system recognized by the profession " to determine that the trees will be likely to die. This, also, was not done. But has CAL FIRE stopped operations? Of course not. A brief email from CAL FIRE's Leslie Markham explained that after Bill Snyder spoke with me at the Board of Forestry last week he had more information and, " As such the thought is that it would be more productive to answer your letter in a more comprehensive fashion. " JodiFredi 16) While the Watsonville Public Works Director may have thought they would begin harvesting this summer on their Grizzly Flat watershed lands, CAL FIRE has other ideas. Gary Paul, RPF who prepared the plan, didn't do his homework. The plan was stamped 'Returned' after First Review with about 40 questions needing to be answered. Paul forgot that Corralitos Creek is 303(d) listed as impaired for fecal coliform. He neglected to include information regarding inventory design, cruise methods, cruise intensity and additional essential inventory data. He asked for an exemption which was rejected by CAL FIRE from mapping locations of spawning and rearing habitat for anadromous salmonids (that would be state and federally listed steelhead). Nor did he give adequate information regarding California Red-legged frogs (federally listed as threatened) which have been found on the property. The plan identifies growth and yield information as 'trade secret'. Apparently it is so secret it was not included in the NTMP. Paul even managed to get the slash treatment requirements wrong. You'd think the Summit Fire, which burned into Grizzly Flat, would have been a wake up call to ensure that the more restrictive slash treatments for the Southern Subdistrict would have been included. Data on snag presence, density and distribution of den and nest trees and snags was omitted. Then he neglected to label a number of watercourse crossings, and his legend did not identify which symbol is used for landings, seasonal, permanent or skid roads. Just to name a few of the more salient errors and omissions. JodiFredi 17) The timber industry continues to publicly claim that selection logging reduces fire risk through reduction of crown fires, although their colleague, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Professor, Dr. Christopher Dicus, has conducted a study in the Santa Cruz Mountains showing that logging actually increases fuel loads and fire risk to the forest and adjacent homeowners. Dicus' study, " Fuel Loading and Potential Fire Behavior After Selective Harvest in Coast Redwood Stands " was conducted on Cal Poly's Valencia Creek timber holding. (ams.confex.com/ams/pdfpapers/69763.pdf) Because fuel depth and loading play a significant role in fire intensity and rate of spread in redwood forests (Nives 1989) (from the Cal Poly report), Dicus' study was designed to examine fuel loading and potential fire behavior immediately before and after a selective harvest to evaluate the potential fire hazard in the residual stand. The report concludes: " ..the increased fuel load from harvesting coupled with hot, dry foehn winds, which are not uncommon on the site, could quickly increase fire behavior and subsequent mortality of the residual high-value trees in these stands. Further, home sites adjacent to the study site are presently at an increased risk of wildfire. " JodiFredi 18) Kevin Collins and I represented Santa Cruz County at the Board of Forestry in support of the petition to require additional mitigations since coho salmon are now on the verge of extinction. It was amazing and completely demoralizing to watch industry (including Piirto, Cal Poly, who represents the public) claim there was no proof that logging was a problem for the fish, while simultaneously claiming that the whole problem was in the oceans. Charlotte Ambrose, NOAA Fisheries was outstanding as she was grilled for 45 minutes by the timber barons. Shamefully, DFG and CAL FIRE refused to come out in support of the emergency petition. Rather they claimed that landowners 'voluntarily' applying the additional mitigations would save the day and the fish. California officials reject emergency salmon protection petition. JodiFredi Montana: 19) For anyone who has been hiking in the mountains of Montana or has flown into Missoula on a clear day, the beauty of the area is often tinged with a multitude of dirt-colored bands that wrap around the mountains like topographic lines on a map. The bands are logging roads, dirt tracks that wind up seemingly every slope in some areas. while I might have once seen logging in this area as unpardonable, a sin against the beauty of the place, now my feelings of loss were met equally with a new acceptance of logging. Things have changed. I've gotten some perspective. Some of that perspective came about 50 miles north of Nine Mile in Plains, Montana. Plains is just downstream from where the Flathead and Clark Fork Rivers meet. It's a mostly agricultural town, where fields of nursery stock and small gardens dot the land. On the river, children swim in eddies during the summer while flies are casts from the banks. On each side of the valley, mountain slopes rise up to frame the town in shades of forested green. And it's here, on the edge of town, where Plains shows the signs of a change taking place in Montana. Just outside of town, I drove up a road leading into the forest. A few miles up, I stopped at a sign, an advertisement for a new development. On past the sign a road wound up a steep slope, where the forest had been clear-cut and house sites now sat. The plots were empty for now—save for signs marking 1, 2, 3…—but it's only a matter of time before this forest is a small settlement, with cars driving down to Plains to fetch groceries. Plum Creek Timber Co. owns that parcel of land above Plains, just as it owns 1.2 million acres of forestland all over the Montana. With the domestic timber industry in a downturn, Plum Creek is searching for the best way to capitalize on its property, and that increasingly means building subdivisions instead of harvesting trees. If the logging roads are scars, surely their impact will fade with time. The same cannot be said of subdivisions—at least not in a meaningful timeframe. A new perspective: saving some forests in the West will mean embracing logging, if in a new, more limited form. What the environmental movement is beginning to embrace, I think, is a middle ground, one that acknowledges the need for natural resource development, but in a more local, more thoughtful way. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/contemplating_compromise_among_the_forests_\ of_montana/C41 /L41/ Colorado: 20) In the backwoods of the Roosevelt National Forest in northern Larimer County, woods boss Jerry Heggie has barely introduced himself before he starts hauling the U.S. Forest Service over the coals. " It's a challenge to do any logging anywhere, especially with the Forest Service, " said Heggie, of Laramie, Wyo.-based Heggie Logging. " Nine out of 10 forests don't even have a timber program. " Heggie's frustrations are deep-rooted, but the past few years have been especially maddening for the third-generation logger. In response to what Heggie considers a bungled response to the mountain pine beetle epidemic, what may once have been irritation is now full-blown contempt. In January, the U.S. Forest Service announced that bark beetles' total infestation reached more than 1.5 million acres in Colorado, nearly all of the state's lodgepole forests. " It's all over, " Heggie said. " It really is. It's horrible. And the Forest Service isn't doing anything about it. " His teeth are stained by Copenhagen chewing tobacco. In a white hard hat, brown boots, jeans and a filthy " Loggers Lagers " T-shirt, Heggie trudges uphill through chest-high slash piles. He throws out his criticisms recklessly, with no fear of retaliation in the form of losing any work in the national forest. " We'd have to do something illegal or timber theft, " Heggie said. " Or threaten them, I guess. It's come close to that once or twice. You'd like to threaten them, but you don't. " At the top of the hill, Heggie's 20-year-old nephew, Beau, is in the cab of a harvester with controls that look every bit as complicated as those of a fighter jet. In a dance involving his feet and hands, Beau Heggie effortlessly controls the long-armed machine, dropping lodgepole pines, stripping them of their branches and setting them aside. http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2008/aug/10/boon_or_bust/ 21) Unless a last-ditch lawsuit filed by environmental groups is successful, the Bureau of Land Management will lease 55,000 acres of Colorado's most biodiverse lands to the energy industry on August 14. The Roan Plateau, which sits atop one of the largest natural gas reserves in the state, has become an icon in the battle over energy extraction in Colorado. BLM officials say their plan will protect the watersheds and wildlife habitat on the plateau, but a coalition of citizen groups, sportsmen, environmentalists and government officials -- including Gov. Bill Ritter -- are pushing for stricter regulations. The leasing of Roan will mark the end of a seven year battle. http://www.hcn.org/articles/roan-on-the-auction-block?utm_source=wcn1 & utm_medium\ =email Illinois: 22) BLOOMINGTON -- The invasion of the emerald ash borer will force the City Council to plan for the removal and replacement of about 3,400 trees. At a work session Monday, the council learned there are few options for treating and saving ash trees once ash borer arrives. Bloomington Parks and Recreation Director Dean Kohn said the city is " looking at a total loss for our ash tree population. " More than 2,300 ash trees are planted along the city streets and another 1,064 are in the city's parks and golf courses. " Just in Forrest and Miller parks we have 300 ash trees, " Kohn said. " It will be quite a project to take them down. " How much it will cost the city has not been figured and will depend on how the City Council decides to approach the problem, said City Manager Tom Hamilton. " But clearly the city is looking at a significant budget impact because it will not only have to remove the trees but make sure the disposal is handled properly and then replant, " Hamilton said. Treating the trees is a possibility, said Paul Deizman, the emerald ash borer program manager for the Illinois Department of Agriculture. However, he said the two primary treatments – insecticides either injected into the trees or poured at the base of the tree — are still new and the long-term results are unproven. http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2008/08/13/news/doc48a1b0f76bc7d589187939.txt Ohio: 23) Shawnee State Forest's Day Trail, near Portsmouth, is ranked the 19th-best trail in Ohio by Trails.com. " Hiking Ohio, A Guide to Ohio's Greatest Hiking Adventures " includes this trail. In addition, the Day Trail is a local historical site. The area's first white settler, John Belli, is believed to have built a home in Williamson Hollow, the exact site of the upcoming clear-cuts. A stone chimney remains today. Bids will be accepted on Aug. 13 to clear-cut 89 acres alongside this pristine 7.2-mile trail. The clear-cuts are broken-up into five cuts, to remove 2,765 trees, 2,603 of which are oaks needed to produce acorns for the wildlife. An Ohio State University study concluded that industrial logging on state forest land is not necessary to maintain Ohio's timber market. The clear-cutting of the Day Trail and Shawnee State Forest would be needless destruction. If Shawnee State Forest, in its entirety, had been named a Wilderness Area, as suggested in a study for the U.S. Department of Interior, it would be a financial gold mine and a haven for one-third of its endangered species. Please demand that officials preserve Shawnee's historic Day Trail. http://blog.cleveland.com/letters/2008/08/deny_logging_in_shawnee_state.html Virginia: 24) ABINGDON – U.S. Magistrate Judge Pamela Meade Sargent heard evidence on Thursday from two companies involved in logging that has been stopped on Ison Rock Ridge in Wise County. Penn Virginia Operating Co. and Mountain Forest Products have been added as defendants in the lawsuit filed by two environmental groups against U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne to have the work stopped. U.S. District Judge Glen Williams issued a preliminary injunction stopping the work on Monday; the companies are seeking to have the injunction dissolved. Penn Virginia, a landholding company, owns the property being clear-cut by Mountain Forest Products, a timber company. Penn Virginia also has a lease agreement with A & G Coal Co., which is seeking a permit to surface-mine the area. Larry Jackson, manager of timber operations for Penn Virginia, testified that the area is being clear-cut both for profit and timber management. He argued that the area had been high-graded – or had its most valuable timber removed – in the past and clearing out the less valuable trees would be necessary for a healthy forest to regenerate. " The future is after it is harvested it will regenerate and be put back into our timber properties, " he said. Both he and Doug Shupe, property manager for A & G, testified that they individually knew nothing about what other companies and other parts of their respective companies were doing with regard to the property. Walt Wieder, a surface mine inspector from the Office of Surface Mining, said his office had come to the conclusion that the timber operation was not classified as a surface coal mining activity but " appeared to be a typical clear-cut logging operation. " In making the determination, he said regulators found no connection between the timber operation and the proposed mining operation. On cross-examination, however, he said he was not aware that the lease agreement between A & G and Penn Virginia, which contracted for the logging, required the two companies to communicate and work together on development of the property. The agreement was a focus of questioning by Walton Morris, who represents the Sierra Club and Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, which believe any logging on the property should be regulated by the proposed mining permit. http://www.tricities.com/tri/news/local/article/judge_hears_evidence_from_compan\ ies_involved_i n_logging_which_has_been_stop/12483/ New Jersey: 25) The north Jersey town where I grew up has always aired its political laundry on a clothesline in the town square. Well, if they had a town square, that's where the clothesline would be. People from miles around knew about my little town from its word-of-mouth reputation long before that TV-mob show was set there, or the Jersey Boys hit Broadway. It won't be long before the rest of the world learns of Belleville, the little town in north Jersey that cut down trees on a public space to build a memorial garden. The mayor and members of the council proposed the Belleville Sept. 11, 2001 Memorial Park. It will be built on town property at the corner of Chestnut Street and Franklin Avenue. The project includes removing some of the trees on the vacant land, landscaping, and installing first, a Sept. 11 ribbon, blocks and flags. The second phase will include an outside walkway. One town official said that the Belleville flag will be flown at the new memorial. He was quoted as saying, " to my knowledge this will be the only place in town flying the town colors. " If that is accurate, it certainly says a lot about Belleville and its flag. Perhaps it's time for a new flag pole at Town Hall? Perhaps each school should fly the town flag? I don't get it. If the town has a flag, then why doesn't it fly in town? But I digress. Reading about the proposed park in the local papers, I thought, well, maybe the council is thinking out loud. The announcement from the town manager's office seemed so informal. There was no stated project cost, not even an estimate was mentioned. The town fathers kicked around ideas including fund-raising ideas including a golf outing, selling naming rights to bricks, benches or a tree marker. http://blog.nj.com/njv_anthony_buccino/2008/08/chop_trees_build_memorial_park.ht\ ml New Hampshire: 26) This is the power of people: Eight hundred individuals cared enough about a pristine 2,121-acre swath of the Upper Connecticut River in New Hampshire to protect it forever. The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, also known as the Forest Society, raised $2.8 million to preserve the working forest and six miles of pristine shoreline along Route 3 north of Colebrook. The area is a gathering spot for feeding deer, a favorite spot of anglers and is used by snowmobilers " We are grateful to the many donors and organizations throughout the state, region and country who came forward to make it possible for us to protect this land,'' said Jane Difley, president/forester of the Forest Society. The land was bought from the Washburn family who has owned the land for the last 60 years, and it will be renamed the Washburn Family Forest. It will continue being used for logging and the public is guaranteed the right to hike, fish, hunt and snowmobile on it. For more information go to: http://www.spnhf.org/news/press-release.asp?id=184 http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/greenblog/2008/08/a_place_for_wildlife_for\ ever_1.html Connecticut: 27) SHARON - Resident Jim Gillespie's plans to harvest timber on his Morey Road property will be considered Monday at a meeting of the Inland Wetlands Commission. The 18.52-acre piece of land is located on an abandoned section of Morey Road. In his application to the town, Mr. Gillespie, a certified forester, explained that the harvesting is " part of a long term forestry plan for a tree farm. " Sharon does not have regulations regarding timber harvesting. The town asks only that applications be in line with state regulations. State agricultural statutes permit forestry activities " as of right. " Mr. Gillespie's application likely falls under the category of clearcutting of trees for the expansion of crop land. However, Sharon's Inland Wetlands Commission is entitled to review the proposed clearing because of planned disturbances to wetland areas. Ed Kirby, chairman of the commission, said Mr. Gillespie plans to use corduroy crossings on two wet areas and one intermittent stream. The stream is usually dry, but has been fairly full this year. Corduroy crossings involve laying logs across the wetlands, which spreads the weight and impact from the load of trucks over a larger surface area. This reduces the impact on soil and vegetation. Although he was hesitant to speak for the commission, Mr. Kirby did not indicate that there was anything unusual about the application or the proposed corduroy crossings. " We have approved them in other areas. It's pretty standard, " he said. A part of the Morey Road property borders Kent, which does have regulations regarding timber harvesting. Kent's Inland Wetlands Commission received notification of the planned activity at its July 28 meeting. Without reviewing the application, it was unable to comment on the project's potential impact. Mr. Gillespie has proposed forestry activities in Kent before and successfully worked to limit harvests and maintain area habitats. However, the commission planned to contact Mr. Gillespie and examine the application in case of possible harm to Kent wetland. Members of Sharon's Inland Wetlands Commission are scheduled to visit the Morey Road property Saturday. Monday's meeting begins at 7 p.m. at town hall. http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19897960 & BRD=2303 & PAG=461 & dept_id=4789\ 76 & rfi=6 Maine: 28) The study is part of a cross-border scientific initiative called " Two Countries, One Forest (www.2c1forest.org) designed to conserve the lands and wildlife of Eastern Canada and the Northeastern U.S. The Society created a detailed map of some 198,000 square miles Northern Appalachia and Acadia (The area from the Green Mountains of Vermont, east to Maine's North Woods and north to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Quebec East of the St. Lawrence River) by analyzing roads, railways, farms, population densities and homes, forestry, mining, electrical utility corridors and dams. It turns out we have a lot more impact on areas – even those we may consider pristine – then many people may realize. It makes sense, of course. Although there are more trees than people in Maine, logging roads slice through a forest that has been repeatedly cut over the last 200 years. Old railroad lines – grown over in many cases – crisscross the region, as do more than 190,000 miles of highways and roads. The report notes that even so-called wild lands such as the White Mountains, Central and Northern Maine and parts of Canada are becoming increasing fragmented and isolated from each other by zones of more intense human uses such as subdivisions and strip malls. All is not lost, however. The map was designed to provide a detailed picture of the human landscape to allow planners and conservationists develop better strategies for land protection and use. " People should not be discouraged by the extent of human impact shown by this map,'' said Gillian Woolmer, assistant director for the Wildlife Conservation Society-Canada. " Rather, the map can help identify opportunities for conservation and guide decision-makers as to how we use these lands so that we can keep both wildlife and wild places connected and close to home. " http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/greenblog/2008/08/even_in_nature_humans_ha\ ve_inf_1.html 29) NEWPORT -- A local man allegedly wanted wood so badly that he's been driving onto town-owned woodland, felling trees with a chainsaw and taking off with the goods. Police this week charged Kerry Wilber, 45, with theft. A local forester has also charged Wilber with unlawfully cutting down trees. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection might also file charges against him because the trees were on designated wetlands, said Newport Police Chief Leonard R. Macdaid. Police say Wilber was caught red-handed Tuesday around 9 a.m., driving out from a trail on his all-terrain vehicle with a load of trees. Police said they were recently tipped off by an alert citizen. " I understand these times are tough and people are having trouble heating their homes, " Macdaid said. " But the state has plenty of services out there. There's no need to do such serious stuff. " Wilber allegedly cut trees in an area that includes 100 acres owned by the town, Macdaid said. It's behind the town dump, between Mountain Stream and the Sebasticook River, accessible off Cemetery Street, he said. Macdaid was uncertain how much wood Wilber allegedly chopped down. The local forester will make that determination later, he said. Wilber is scheduled to be arraigned in court Sept. 24, Macdaid said. R. Alec Giffen, director of the Maine Forest Service at the Department of Conservation, said he and his colleagues have not noticed more timber thefts recently as a result of high home-heating costs. " I can't say I'm aware at present there's any big uptick in that activity, although with increasing values of firewood, it wouldn't surprise me, " Giffen said. Generally in cases of timber theft, Giffen said the district attorney's office will need to decide how big of a fine to seek. State law offers a per-tree value of up to $25, or the fine can be triple the price of what such trees would normally be sold for, he said. This week, Gerald L. Nelson Jr., of Skowhegan, was sentenced for defrauding a dozen woodlot owners of $279,000 in timber value. He was given a three-year suspended sentence, placed on probation for two years and barred from working in the woods. The prosecutor had sought $279,000 in restitution. The jury found that Nelson stole more than $10,000 worth of wood, but did not indicate a precise value. http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/5301114.html Tennessee: 30) All seven environmental activists arrested this morning during a protest against Kimberly-Clark at the company's administrative center on Summitt Hill Drive downtown have been identified. Two women and a man who affixed themselves to the company's glass doors with bicycle-type locks will face criminal trespassing charges, according to Knoxville Police Department spokesman Darrell DeBusk. He gave their names as Charis Lynn Stone-Racer, 28, of Asheville, N.C.; Emma Cassidy, 23, of Northport, N.Y.; and Kellen Dunlap, 26, of Round Hill, Va. Four others will face charges of criminal trespassing for hanging a banner from the Summer Place Garage next door, TVA spokesman Gil Francis said. Officials had initially planned to charge them in federal court but later today opted to filed charges in state court, he said. Francis identified those defendants as: Erica S. Madrid, 28, of Washington, D.C.; Ashley B. Lauth, 24, of Riverwood, Ill.; Scott Cardiff, 31, of Washington, D.C.; and Basil George Tsimoyianis, 22, of Burlington, Vt. The garage is a federal building used by TVA and Kimberly-Clark employees. Two women rappelled down the side of the garage and hung a large yellow sign that said, " Kleene, " with an " X " formed by a drawing of a chainsaw cutting down a tree and the words " wiping away ancient forests. " Beneath that is www.greenpeace.org. Kleenex is a Kimberly-Clark brand. The banner covered at least three levels of the garage. Activists said it stretched 30 feet by 20 feet. http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/aug/14/activists-stage-protest-kimberly-clark-\ building-do/ North Carolina: 31) The height of Douglas fir trees appears to be limited by their ability to raise water to the highest branches, a problem that can be appreciated by anyone who has struggled to suck a thick milkshake through a straw. Sure, water is thinner than a milkshake, but some firs are trying to raise it up as much as 350 feet. Moisture evaporating from leaves reduces pressure in the narrow channels inside the tree, drawing water upward. But researchers say the process seems to have a height limit. " People have always been fascinated by how some trees, such as Douglas fir or redwoods, can grow so tall, " said Barb Lachenbruch, a professor of wood science at Oregon State University. " This is not an easy thing to do. Think about trying to drink water through a narrow, 350-foot-long straw. It takes a lot of suction. " The longer the column of water the more likely it is that an air bubble will get into the tube — a sort of tree embolism — blocking the water flow, researchers report in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. At a point of about 350 feet, air bubbles become so common they defeat the tree's ability to move water upward, according to the researchers who are working to understand how trees adapt to their environment. The research was led by Jean-Christophe Domec of North Carolina State University. It was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jDNzvPcucklTd553G4o9KY89QaBgD92GAJ5G1 USA: 32) Environmental activist Jim Bensman of Alton is on the frontline to save beautiful forestland from destruction across the United States. Bensman's name is familiar to environmental groups across the country for his one-man court battles to preserve the beauty of national park land and forests. For 32 years, Bensman has been an activist for the local Piasa Palisades group of Sierra Club to protect the environment, from the scenic bluffs of the Great River Road to the woodlands of Pere Marquette State Park. On behalf of the Heartwood environmental group, Bensman has filed lawsuits against the U.S. Forest Service to stop logging operations of forest trees in national parks. In the lawsuits, Bensman acted as his own attorney against a battery of government lawyers. " I filed seven lawsuits and won them all, " said Bensman, the forest watch coordinator for Heartwood. One of Bensman's major accomplishments was his lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service to stop a big logging operation in Mark Twain National Forest, near Eleven Point River. Bensman argued his case against five government attorneys in U.S. District Court in Springfield, Mo. Cutting of the trees would destroy the forest habitat for wildlife, including the Indiana bat, Bensman argued in court. A federal judge issued a temporary injunction against the Forest Service and it dropped the case. " Winning the case against the Forest Service set a huge precedent to protect thousands of acres of forests across the country from being cut down in logging businesses, " Bensman said. http://www.thetelegraph.com/articles/bensman_17109___article.html/forest_nationa\ l.html 33) SOUTH GLENS FALLS -- The pulp and paper industry is hardly a fountain of happy economic tidings. The Northeast's heavily forested Paper Belt -- from Corinth to Millinocket, Maine -- is dotted by shuttered mills, leaving a once proud industry bruised and battered. Last month brought more bad news: The Newark Group will eliminate 64 jobs with the Aug. 30 closing of the Bennington Paperboard mill in North Hoosick. But amid the gloom came a ray of light Wednesday: The decision by SCA Tissue North America to expand its factory here, just across the Hudson River from downtown Glens Falls. The $20 million project, which won't bring any new jobs, will add a 50,000-square-foot building to the sprawling River Street complex and includes equipment upgrades designed to make the aged mill more efficient and competitive. It also will give the 285,000-square-foot plant a facelift, adding greenery and a new entrance. " In our industry, there are a lot of mills that are closing and a lot of mills that are consolidating, " said Mike Mound, director of Northeast operations for SCA. " We feel like we're unique. " Even before the expansion, SCA's South Glens Falls plant already had transitioned to a new era in papermaking. Built in the 1860s to consume forest products from the Adirondack hinterlands, the mill now recycles thrown-away paper from cities like Boston and New York. That paper enters the mill in large bundles, is turned to pulp, then -- under the watchful eye of goggle- and earplug-wearing workers -- is reconstituted as paper towels, napkins and other products. The mill doesn't make the softer papers you might buy for your bathroom or use to wipe a child's runny nose. Instead, it specializes in what Mound called " the away-from-home market " of paper towels and napkins, supplying restaurants, schools, convenience stores -- even Giants Stadium. SCA is a big company, headquartered in Sweden under the name Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget, with 53,000 employees in 50 countries. http://timesunion.com/ASPStories/Story.asp?StoryID=711748 & LinkFrom=RSS 34) More than 2,000 concerned citizens across the country went to supermarkets in San Francisco, Minneapolis, New York and dozens of other cities today to apply stickers reading, " Warning! Product May Contain Rainforest Destruction, " on any items found to contain palm oil. The day of action was organized by Rainforest Action Network (RAN), which also sent letters to more than 300 companies urging them to stop using palm oil in commercial products until more sustainable palm oil sources are made available in the market. Demand for palm oil, which is commonly found in soaps, cosmetics, food products and other consumer goods, has risen significantly in recent years. As a result, palm oil plantations are expanding at a rate of 2.5 million acres per year into the tropical forests of Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea. Pristine forests are clear-cut and burned to accommodate the expansion, contributing heavily to global climate change, species extinction, and the displacement of Indigenous and local communities. Deforestation is the primary reason that Indonesia, a top producer of palm oil, is now the world's third highest greenhouse gas emitter. " If Americans knew the extent to which their food and common household items were contributing to rainforest destruction, they'd probably think twice before buying them, " said Leila Salazar-Lopez, director of RAN's Rainforest Agribusiness Campaign. RAN is targeting U.S. agribusiness giants Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Bunge and Cargill as the largest global traders of palm oil and the leading importers of the commodity into the United States. To increase pressure on the agribusiness industry, RAN recently launched " Though they may not know it, companies like Hostess and Nestle are perpetuating rainforest destruction and human rights abuses by using palm oil in their products, " said Salazar-Lopez. RAN's letter requested that companies: 1) Research their supply chain and inform RAN of who provides the palm oil they use in their products; 2) Contact their palm oil suppliers and tell them that if they are unable to provide a supply that can be independently verified as not being derived from recently cleared tropical rainforests, to find an alternative supplier and/or phase out palm oil from their products altogether; 3) Support the moratorium on palm oil expansion in tropical rainforests.http://www.commondreams.org/news2008/0813-03.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.