Guest guest Posted September 22, 2008 Report Share Posted September 22, 2008 --Today for you 33 new articles about earth's trees! (403rd edition) --Audio and Video version of Earth's Tree News: http://forestpolicyresearch.org --To Subscribe / to the world-wide email format send a blank email to: earthtreenews- OR earthtreenews- In this Issue: BC-Canada PNW-USA Index --British Columbia: 1) 10-year forest health management strategy? 2) Everything in the Charlottes is super-sized, 3) TimberWest is not necessarily looking to sell the land to developers? --Canada: 4) Greenpeace Blockades a freighter, 5) Only one of eight scenarios for Crown forest management is the right one, 6) K-C's massive stockpile of old-growth logs, 7) Save the Carolinian Zone, 8) Gov. will decide to protect our Acadian forest or push it to the brink, --Alaska: 9) Chabot/Andrews amendment to eliminate road subsidies in the Tongass, --Washington: 10) Chopping down slender trees for robust trunks to grow wider, 11) Godfather of northwest forest science, 12) 1,000 year old Grove, --Oregon: 13) Mobilize now to make sure bills pass, 14) Salvage logging trashes Mckenzie trail, --Californian: 15) We've lost more than 90 percent of our oak woodlands, 16) Mowing down 300 ancient acres of juniper for restoration? 17) Expansion of Pine Hill Ecological Preserve, 18) Stop Sierra Pacific Industries, 19) 9th circuit says extinction of the spotted owl " cannot be dismissed, " 20) 1.5 million acres of state " protected " in the past seven years, --Arizona: 21) Kaibab NF clearing 70 square miles - of heavy brush and trees --Colorado: 21) Drought stressed Walnut express Aspirin-like compounds for protection --Wisconsin: 23) More than 700 trees in 29 counties to be killed to " test " for Emerald Ask borer --Texas: 24) 612 million cubic feet of timber over 473,000 acres is ruined by Ike --Alabama: 25) Cities vulnerable to hurricanes need to plant trees --New Hampshire: 26) Court denies Sierra Club's request for a preliminary injunction on logging in White Mountain NF, --Virginia: 27) Madison Farm and Forest Protection Program --New Jersey: 28) College destroys half-million trees a year in paper consumption --Wasington DC: 29) Two of the oldest " special trees " in Kalorama Park are cut down --Pennsylvania: 30) Project aims to find and save ancient hemlocks of the Smoky mountains --Massachusetts 31) 700 Worcester trees with Asian long horned beetle to be cut down --USA: 32) USFS seeks comments on forest certification, 33) Illegal logging import law written way too broadly? Articles: British Columbia: 1) " We propose to develop a 10-year forest health management strategy funded by the provincial and federal government, " said Simpson. " The data is not there for us to manage our forests properly and we need to restore the forest service to be our eyes and ears on the ground. " Secondly, the plan would tax and discourage the export of raw logs and tap into value-added forest products to diversify the industry. " We would escalate raw log export taxes and force the companies to manufacture, " said Simpson. " We have all that capital – mills, but no wood. We would provide transition dollars to workers. " And that's the third point in the plan, providing transition funding to loggers and resource communities while the plan is implemented over a three to five year period. " We are looking at a three to five year transition period over all, " said Simpson, but added " we are committing to a 10-year transition window in our rural plan. " Simpson says his party would also create a permanent commission on foresty that would evaluate conditions and trends, identify options and recommend action. The last part of the plan would radically reform the tenure system. " We would abolish the softwood lumber agreement by changing the tenure system and delinking manufacturing from tenure holdings, " said Simpson. " That would take time, but in the interim we would go to arbitration to change the industry. " The response from North Islanders was generally supportive, but focused more on the problems of the past than on the details of the proposed plan. Worried about jobs and the future of forestry and particularly the future of Western Forest Products, Simpson encouraged loggers to hang on. " I am very concerned about the management structure of Western, but from what we have seen, the answer is no, I don't thing they are going down, " said Simpson. " There have been 16,000 forest workers out of work or temporarily out of work since January 2007. We are already in transition. We need to manage the work force better. " We are not maximizing economic opportunity. " If elected Simpson says the forest health plan and inventory as well as transition dollars would be implemented immediately. Reforms to the tenure system and a forest commission would take longer. http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_cariboo/williamslaketribune/news/28639239.html 2) Everything in the Charlottes is super-sized, from trees and bears (the biggest black bears in North America) to seaweed, scallops and record salmon that draw folks for some of the world's best sports fishing. You can hire a Masset fisherman or head to one of the exclusive luxury lodges on Langara Island off the north coast. We zipped over to one of them, the West Coast Fishing Club, by helicopter, scattering tame deer off the landing pad. The lodge is an elegant, manly place that encourages catch and release by offering world-class Haida art in exchange for letting your 40-pounder go. But I didn't have to make that decision because, as usual, nothing nibbled. We blamed a pair of killer whales patrolling in the distance and switched to deeper water halibut gear. I found myself childishly overjoyed to snag a modestly sized specimen, an experience akin to hauling a fridge door from the ocean depths. Masset is a no-frills fishing town of loggers and fishermen, hippies and Haida, like the rest of the island. It sits alongside Naikoon Provincial Park, a vast expanse of beach and forest occupying the northeast corner of Graham Island. We quickly became accustomed to the on-and-off light rain showers that are the Charlottes' trademark weather pattern as we beachcombed for agates, chatted with crab seekers and poked around a shipwreck.Great coffee is generally a rarity in remote places, but we found it everywhere here, even at Moon Over Naikoon, an offbeat, off-the-electrical-grid cafe/informal whale museum in the middle of Naikoon's rain forest, where we met guide Andrew Merilees over a fair trade Java and still-warm cinnamon buns. Merilees took us to nearby Old Masset, one of the island's two remaining native communities. " There were once over 500 Haida communities in the islands, with a population of over 7,000, " he said. The Haida were fierce warriors and traders, with a rich culture afforded by a bountiful land. In the late 1800s, though, a series of smallpox epidemics reduced their population to less than 700. Remarkably, their culture didn't disappear and has been undergoing a growing revival for 50 years. Artists here encourage home visits, so we dropped in on silversmiths, carvers of argillite - a black, coal-like stone - and to the home of Joyce Bennett, a fourth-generation button-blanket maker. Sarah's Haida Arts and Jewelry, in a stylized longhouse in Old Masset, sells the works of dozens of artists. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/21/TRVG12RJ9Q.DTL 3) Land owned by TimberWest in the Nanaimo Lakes area is being considered for non-forestry uses. Company spokesman Stephen Bruyneel said officials from TimberWest, Vancouver Island's largest landowner with 325,000 hectares of land, will visit Nanaimo this fall to meet with community and financial organizations about possible uses for the land around the Nanaimo Lakes and other areas close to the city. He said TimberWest is not necessarily looking to sell the land to developers, but to partner with community groups to get the best value and use out of the land. " We're responsible land owners and we have no intention of just selling the land and walking away, " Bruyneel said. " We own a lot of land and not all of it is being used for logging and we feel there's potential for other uses so we're consulting with communities all over Vancouver Island to determine what they would want to use the land for. " In 2007, an analysis of TimberWest property identified about 54,000 hectares of TimberWest land with the potential to be used for new, sustainable land management opportunities. The land represents about 17% of TimberWest's landholdings on Vancouver Island and includes land around the Nanaimo Lakes and Mount Benson. Last week, Bruyneel told the Parksville and District Chamber of Commerce said that while forestry remains TimberWest's main concern, with 80% of its holdings devoted to logging, land development is its new major thrust as the forestry downturn continues with no end in sight. http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=dadc1a76-4c98-4f7d-ab3\ e-48aaa911841d Canada: 4) Greenpeace Canada has begun a blockade of the freighter Jaeger Arrow from their ship, the Arctic Sunrise, in Quebec's Saguenay River near Chicoutimi. Three Greenpeace activists are hanging from the ship's mooring lines while two other activists block the freighter in a zodiac boat to prevent its departure. " Save the Boreal Forest " has been painted on the hull of the freighter. http://weblog.greenpeace.org/makingwaves/archives/2007/09/pulp_freighter_blockad\ e_in_can.html#more - http://c4cargo.com/pulp-freighter-blockade-in-canada 5) In an article published Sept. 12 in this newspaper, Mark Arseneault of the N.B. Forest Products Association eagerly suggested increasing tree plantations to fight the effects of climate change. Our forests can indeed play an important role in climate change adaptation, and it is crucial that enormous reductions in greenhouse gas emissions occur in the next 20 years. The Erdle Task Force report, which contains eight scenarios for Crown forest management, shows that conservation-oriented scenarios would produce up to 20 per cent more carbon sequestration than scenarios that emphasize increasing plantations. If Mr. Arseneault was earnest in his desire to combat the effects of climate change, he would not recommend conversion of our diverse Acadian forest to plantations of a few softwood species. Those softwood species found in commercial plantations are common to boreal (colder) forests, and are projected to fare poorly as our climate warms. Many other tree species that are part of New Brunswick's diverse forests (and are replaced in plantations) are projected to adapt better to future climate changes. In the Erdle report only one scenario (Option B) explicitly proposes returning New Brunswick's forests to past levels of diversity. That option also emphasizes increasing protected natural areas, allowing more forest to age into old-growth, and protecting critical species habitats - all essential in the face of oncoming uncertainties of climate change. If any of us is serious about adapting to the effects of climate change, then we need to choose forest diversity over plantations. http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/opinion/article/421411 6) Shocking new photos released today reveal the existence of a massive stockpile of old-growth logs that are destined to become disposable products like Kleenex tissue and Cottonelle toilet paper for tissue giant Kimberly-Clark Corporation (K-C). The logs originate from the Ogoki Forest, the single most ecologically valuable area left in Ontario's southern Boreal Forest and the site of growing controversy. The stockpile is evidence of Kimberly-Clark's egregious mismanagement of the forests despite company claims that " much of [the] fiber from the Canadian Boreal forest comes to K-C in the form of wood pulp produced from sawdust and chips – or leftovers – of the lumber production process. " As these new photos and recent government correspondence reveal, Kimberly-Clark is currently purchasing huge quantities of pulp made primarily from whole, old-growth trees from intact areas of Canada's Boreal Forest. And, some astonishing facts from a recent report that Greenpeace put out on Kleenex, " Cut and Run " : 1) Kimberly-Clark uses hundreds of thousands of tonnes of tree fibre from the Kenogami Forest every year to produce disposable tissue products, including Kleenex. 2) Kimberly-Clark directly managed and logged the Kenogami Forest for 71 years, from 1937 to 2004. 3) Since Kimberly-Clark started logging there, 71 per cent of the Kenogami Forest has been fragmented. Woodland caribou have been driven out of 67 per cent of the forest, and wolverines have completely disappeared from its boundaries. 4) Between 2001 and 2006 alone, 220,500 hectares (544,635 acres) of intact forest was fragmented—an area more than twice the size of Dallas. 5) Caribou are predicted to die-off in 95 per cent of the forest within the next 20 years, due to the logging that has already been done. Eighty per cent of the monitored species in the forest are predicted to decline substantially within the next 100 years. 6) Many of the remaining intact and old-growth forest areas in Kenogami, including critical threatened species habitat, are slated to be cut under the 2005–2010 and draft 2010–2011 plans. http://thebirdsandthepcbs.blogspot.com/2008/09/consumer-rumors-time-to-stop-buyi\ ng.html h 7) " This area is richer in plant and animal species than any other area in Canada. However, although these forests account for less than 1% of Canada's landmass they hold half of all the rare and endangered species of plants and animals in this country. The human population in the Carolinian Zone is expected to grow by a third in the next 25 years putting further pressure on clearing existing remnant forests. " I understand that some organizations like www.carolinian.org attempt to designate more Carolinian forest as " protected " . However, they do not attempt to promote an awareness of human overpopulation and the need to stop growth to preserve biodiversity. History demonstrates that protected areas will not be preserved alongside human population growth. " Smart Growth " is an oxymoron because regardless of how people are situated, each new person must consume finite resources in order to survive. Most of the population growth that destroys our Carolinian forests comes deliberately from immigration, and could be easily prevented by a simple policy change. Pronatalist incentives such as baby-bonuses are also easily preventable. Both measures will require adequate public education so that the average Canadian understands that their quality of life comes from biodiversity and a generous amount of natural resources per capita, not perpetual economic growth (year-to-year GDP increase driven by population growth and per capita consumption growth). My question to you is, what do you think it would take to preserve Southern Ontario's Carolinian forests in the long term? http://ecologicalcrash.blogspot.com/2008/09/strategy-to-preserve-carolinian-fore\ sts.html 8) By the end of the year the provincial government will decide whether to better protect our endangered Acadian forest or push it to the brink of extinction. They will use two reports released on Aug. 27 to guide their decision. One report is a menu of seven forest management options and the other is an analysis of global market opportunities for the forestry sector. The first report, prepared by the Task Force on Forest Diversity and Wood Supply, included the participation of the Conservation Council's Policy Director David Coon. This report describes the impacts of the different forest management options on forest diversity and wood supply. The second report by CIBC economist Don Roberts and Woodbridge Associates recommends increasing wood supply to forestry companies. Increasing wood supply would mean a reduction in conservation areas and an increase in tree farms at a time when our forest is at a critical state. Twenty-five per cent of our public forest is now less than 20 years old. Over half of our bird species' populations are not secure. Increasing wood supply would not ensure that mills stay open. Industry prefers Option E, which is the Self-sufficiency Task Force option the Minster of Natural Resources had the Task Force analyze. Option E would see 20 per cent of trees harvested by clearcutting and 37 per cent of our public forest converted to plantations. Many citizens of New Brunswick are repulsed by the impacts of clearcuts. Clearcutting must be cut in half to help restore our Acadian forest, protect animal and plant habitats, and safeguard our streams and rivers. The primary objective of the industry option is to increase current and future softwood supply through reductions in conservation areas and increases in plantation areas. Riparian buffers would be reduced to 20 metres under their option, which will destroy water quality, aquatic habitats, and kill fish. Option E would decimate forest diversity and weaken the forest's ability to recover from disturbances that are increasing in frequency due to climate change, including: fires, pest outbreaks, droughts and floods. We need to manage for abundant wildlife habitat, protection of streams and rivers, climate change impacts and forest diversity in terms of age and species. The Conservation Council therefore supports the conservation-oriented options A and B described in the first report. These options increase protected areas, and restore old growth forest conditions, while reducing clearcutting and capping plantations. Option B focuses on ensuring our forest can withstand the ravages of climate change by restoring the diversity of species, which will be unaffected by global warming. Option B also increases the minimum area of old forest to 51 per cent by 2062, providing critical habitat for species that can only survive in such conditions like pileated woodpeckers, owls and flying squirrels. http://www.conservationcouncil.ca/News/news09150803.aspx Alaska: 9) Last June, by a strong bi-partisan majority, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Chabot/Andrews amendment to eliminate taxpayer subsidies for logging road construction in the Tongass. The measure was eventually dropped from the bill in conference. This year, U.S. Representatives Steve Chabot (R-OH) and Robert Andrews (D-NJ) are taking the lead again to end fiscally irresponsible spending by re-offering their amendment to the annual Interior Appropriations bill. At a time when the government is running huge budget deficits, the Forest Service wasted $48 million taxpayer dollars last year to subsidize the timber industry's clearcutting of America's Rainforest - and they want to continue to throw good money after bad. If the Bush administration were to stick to its proposed logging schedule in the Tongass, over the next decade America's taxpayers could expect losses totaling over $1.2 billion-a hefty price tag for clearcutting America's Rainforest. If the President and Congress are serious about cutting government waste, the subsidy to the logging industry in Alaska is a good place to start. It should not be the responsibility of American taxpayers to foot the bill to clearcut America's rainforest. American taxpayers deserve better and so does America's Rainforest. Let's tell Congress to support the Chabot/Andrews Amendment to stop using taxpayer subsidies to log our nation's largest National Forest. The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on a pro-Tongass amendment on THURSDAY! Contact your U.S. Representative and ask them to VOTE YES on the Chabot/Andrews Tongass Subsidy amendment to the Interior Appropriations Bill. The amendment prohibits taxpayer dollars from being wasted on new logging roads in the Tongass National Forest. http://www.mailtribuneforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=13329 Washington: 10) TULALIP -- To grow a forest, one must cut trees. That's the paradoxical practice that began in July and will continue through November on 130 of 9,000 acres of forest on Tulalip tribal land. Crews from TimberTec, a ¬Bellingham-based logging company, are chopping down the area's most slender trees to give room for more robust trunks to grow even wider. Tribal leaders say that by the end of the project, about 4,600 tons of wood will have been removed from the area. Before thinning began, the forest had about 400 trees per acre. By the end of the year, there will be about 160 trees per acre. About 40 percent of the logs will be sold to paper mills, and the rest will go to sawmills. Forests are often planted so that trees must compete for sunlight, TimberTec President Christopher Secrist said in July. The limbs that can't reach the sunlight die and fall off, so the tree trunks grow smooth and without knots. Eventually, some of the thinner trees are often cut away to give those that remain more space to grow thick and tall toward the sun. Eventually, the forest will consist entirely of robust trees, ideal for logging. The tribes' forest managers have supervised thinning of about 3,000 acres since 1987 -- about 150 acres per year. About 20 percent of the 9,000-acre forest is Western red cedar, a tree that has long given strips of its bark to tribal members who weave hats, clothing, mats and other items with it. http://heraldnet.com/article/20080919/NEWS01/709199820 11) It's not often that you get to walk through the woods with someone who has forgotten more about forest science then you will probably ever know. So when you get the chance to hear the wisdom of the Godfather of northwest forest science, you better listen up. That's exactly what I and a dozen other conservationists and foundation reps did last week in Washington's Olympic National Forest with Dr. Jerry Franklin. Franklin is a professor of ecosystem analysis at the University of Washington and a co-architect of the Northwest Forest Plan. In the spring, Franklin's students will get to soak up four decades of knowledge in his Old Growth and Forest Management course. He's published scientific studies on wildlife habitat, forest fire, riparian vegetation, and more recently on forest restoration. Forest restoration is where that quote up top comes into play. Franklin has been a leading advocate for setting aside the conflicts of the past, protecting old-growth forests, and getting to work on the extensive restoration opportunities available on our public lands. Franklin wants the Service (USFS) and the BLM to do him a " service " and start restoring forests that have been hammered by This is exactly what Oregon Wild is working to do with our old growth campaign. Up in the Olympics last week we toured a few restoration projects that have already been completed and heard from Forest Service staff about the opportunities and challenges they face. Getting the fire fighting budget under control was one of the main topics of conversation when it came to brainstorming ways to find the resources to do some of this restoration work. Of course, some of these restoration projects will be self-funded and supply wood products to local mills and jobs to local communities. But all this can only happen if the Forest Service is given clear direction that old growth is off the table and restoration thinning is the name of the game mismanagement. http://www.oregonwild.org/about/blog 12) Grove of the Patriarchs in Washington states Mount Rainer National Park: In the Grove, trees of gigantic proportion have been protected from fire, avalanches and other natural hazards for as long as theyve been growing, in most cases for 10 centuries. One can stand next to the trunks of ancient coniferous trees in the Grove and dream of what's really important on the native American land today. In this small site, surrounded by the waters of the Ohanapecosh River, you hike a park trail leading in from a parking lot. In the Grove are 20 western red cedars (also known as giant arborvitae) more than 25 feet in circumference; among them is the largest cedar in the Park. The Grove also shelters nearly a dozen Douglas-firs that exceed 25 feet in circumference, with one reaching 35 feet or about the size of a two-car garage. These trees are estimated to be nearly 1,000 years old. http://wolverines.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/some-words-about-old-growth-trees-and\ -the-hemlock-woolly-adelgid/ Oregon: 13) The Senate is about to vote on a major package of public lands bills. This package contains over 90 bills, including several that will protect critical areas in Oregon. We need to mobilize now to make sure this bill passes. That means we need everyone to pick up the phone and take two minutes to call Oregon's Senators Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden. An obstructionist Senator from Oklahoma, Tom Coburn, is trying to recruit votes to stop this essential legislation. Oregon's Senators, specifically Senator Gordon Smith, can stop him from doing this and we need to let Smith know that now is the time to use his influence and get his colleagues on board. Oregonians have worked hard for years to protect high priority areas all across the state. The current legislation includes: 1) Lewis and Clark Mount Hood Wilderness Act: protects wildlife habitat, carbon sequestering forests and clean drinking water in the Gorge and on the slopes of Mount Hood. 2) Copper Salmon Wilderness: protects one of the last intact watersheds on the southern Oregon coast that is home to healthy runs of wild winter steelhead, fall Chinook, coho salmon and sea-run cutthroat trout. 3) Soda Mountain Wilderness: protects one of the most important wildlife corridors in Oregon, linking the Cascades and the Klamath Mountains. 4) Spring Basin and Badlands Wilderness: protects wildlife habitat, high desert wildflowers and ancient juniper trees near Bend and along the John Day River. Call Senators Smith (503-326-3386) and Wyden (503-326-7525) and let them know you strongly support the public lands package (bill # 3213) and urge them to ensure Oregon's natural areas are protected this year. The Senate is about to vote on a major package of public lands bills. This package contains over 90 bills, including several that will protect critical areas in Oregon. http://www.oregonwild.org 14) Wind storms come and wind storms go. But after a big one in the winter of 2007, a popular stretch of the McKenzie River Trail, just upstream of Trail Bridge Reservoir and on the way to Tamolitch Pool, was covered in down trees stacked several high in places. I scrambled over the mess early last spring, enjoying the fresh smell of splintered wood and green boughs, and seeing the benefits all this wood could have in the river and for soil and wildlife. Of course the trees needed to be cut off the trail so that hikers and mountain bikers could use it - it IS a National Recreation Trail. But once that was done last summer, the wind storm should have been a thing of the past, the trees left to naturally provide shade and moisture on the forest floor and fish habitat in the river. Unfortunately, it wasn't. The Forest Service proposed to " salvage " log many of the blown-down trees near the trail, while promising to stay away from the river and to leave plenty of down wood to meet the needs of critters and old-growth structure. Oregon Wild objected to the unnecessary and damaging proposal and sent an alert to our supporters. Hundreds of McKenzie-lovers also objected, but the project moved forward and the logging was done last month. A few weeks ago, after the logging was completed, I visited the area and found my fears confirmed: damaged trees and soil, and an ugly mess near one of my favorite trail heads. Granted, any logging (even the type of plantation thinning we support) looks kind of bad when it's freshly done - and I can live with that in some circumstances. But when a project seems unnecessary to begin with, and impacts so many people who use and enjoy a place for it's ancient trees, wildflowers, and world-class trail, this damage makes me feel a little sick. While I am working hard to promote responsible restoration-based management in the forests of the McKenzie (Willamette National Forest), I also have to push back on projects like this that cut and remove big old trees from healthy forests just because it's allowed. Hopefully someday I can do more of the first and less of the latter. http://www.oregonwild.org/about/blog/mckenzie-river-trail-logging California: 15) As a member of the California Oak Foundation and the San Diego Advisor, I bring to you one of California's beloved trees: the mighty Quercus oak. These majestic arbor giants are really one of California's signature trees within the ecosystem of the native flora with 22 main oak species located throughout the state. Unfortunately, we have lost more than 90 percent of the verdant stands of native oaks throughout California to date. Today our oak woodlands are being threatened by real estate encroachments, agricultural development, pathological fungi and myriads of new bugs attacking stressed trees within the pattern of our drought cycle which has been ongoing for decades. Proper care for oak can ward off many of these problems and it's all about understanding what makes them tick, good maintenance and proper stewardship. Oaks drink a lot of water over the course of a year and some of the moisture is released into the atmosphere through small pores in the leaves. The pores allow carbon dioxide to enter the leaves and be converted into food through the process of photosynthesis. When faced with low soil moisture, the deciduous oaks can either keep their foliage and continue losing water through the leaf pores or drop their leaves and conserve moisture. With the early shedding of green leaves, this can suspend photosynthesis and suppress acorn seed development. When this balance is upset and acorn production is reduced, the entire balance of the oak ecosystem goes awry. It has been stated that there are more than 300 species of native flora and fauna that live and thrive in a natural oak woodland setting. This varied combination can include native grasses, salamanders, the under-story of assorted vegetation, woodpeckers, fungi, owls, blue jays, coyotes, ferns, mosses, lichens and a whole menagerie of bugs. http://www.thevillagenews.com/story.php?story_id=32800 16) ALTURAS – Moments after he saw the centuries-old junipers on the ground, Glenn Fair felt sick to his stomach. A 60-year-old fishing guide from rural Lassen County, Fair has nothing against thinning forests to protect them from fire and disease. But the barren, dusty swath of stumps and downed junipers logged from public land last year and the adjacent house-high pile of wood chips was not that kind of cut. Not only were trees mowed down across nearly 300 acres, they were leveled under a banner of ecological restoration, energy independence and climate-friendly power. It was portrayed as a win-win by the federal government, which was paying for the removal to undo the legacy of poor land management. But to Fair, burning old-growth junipers in a wood-fired power plant to battle global warming just doesn't make sense. " These trees are our carbon collectors, " he said. " It's no different than if you went into a rain forest and cut it down. " The government's so-called " stewardship project " here in rugged, remote northeast California is a lens through which to view the changing nature of forestry. No longer is managing woodlands in California just about balancing jobs and the environment. These days, carbon, climate and restoration are part of the equation. Juggling that mix is no easy task. " There are no simple, formulaic answers, " said Laurie Wayburn, president of the Pacific Forest Trust, which manages North Coast redwoods for lumber and carbon. " Climate change is challenging us to think more quickly and deeply at the same time. " Even government officials acknowledge that the Modoc County job – designed to restore the land to its more open, range-like pre-settlement condition – was botched. " That cut was heavier than we wanted, " said Peter Hall, a forester with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. " We're learning from our mistakes and moving on. " This spring, the bureau and the U.S. Forest Service announced plans to dramatically expand the scope of the cutting. According to a more than 500-page environmental impact statement, the two agencies propose to use cutting and burning to eradicate junipers across 1.2 million acres – an area more than 11,000 times larger than Arco Arena and its parking lots. The reason for such dramatic action, they say, is to address historic land management mistakes, including heavy livestock grazing and fire suppression, that have allowed juniper woodlands to expand. That expansion has choked out grass and brush that support wildlife such as mule deer and sage grouse. " We're all in favor of forests, " said Tim Burke, manager of the Bureau of Land Management's field office in Alturas. " However, what's happening here is not natural. " http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1253187.html 17) El Dorado County officials say they are interested in adding a key piece of land to a rare-plant preserve but will not authorize its purchase until they reach an agreement with state and federal agencies. The Board of Supervisors also said the 20-acre Carriage Hill property, north of Highway 50 and east of Cameron Park Drive in Cameron Park, is overpriced at $3.32 million. Supervisor Ron Briggs asked the board to authorize the American River Conservancy to purchase the property using funds collected from developers to offset the loss of rare plants due to development. The four 5-acre parcels would be added to the Pine Hill Ecological Preserve. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has identified the Carriage Hill property as a priority for acquisition because it contains five of eight rare-plant species that grow in the area's gabbro soils. In addition to the rare plants, the acreage is important because it would connect two other properties within the preserve, making the lands easier to manage, said Rosemary Carey, a representative of the California Native Plant Society. But some area residents said it would be a mistake to preclude development of land along the Highway 50 corridor. They noted that the general plan, the county's blueprint for growth, designates the Carriage Hill parcels for multifamily housing and the property is needed to help the county meet its regional housing allocations. " Pine Hill Preserve " (BLM-California, Folsom Field Office) Located in western El Dorado County, Pine Hill Preserve is home to a collection of eight rare plant species. Three of the plant species that grow in the Pine Hill Preserve are endemic, which means they grow nowhere else in the world. Two more species are nearly endemic, with only a few plants found elsewhere. This assemblage of rare plants is part of a unique community confined to soils known as the Rescue soils, named after the nearby community of Rescue, CA. The Pine Hill Preserve is operated under a cooperative management agreement with several agencies and organizations. http://rare-earth-news.blogspot.com/2008/09/govts.html 18) Deforestation and logging account for one-fifth of all global carbon emissions - more than all trains, planes and, yes, automobiles combined. Any serious attempt to address California's contributions to climate change must include an understanding of what's happening in the forests of the Sierra Nevada. In April, ForestEthics released " Climate of Destruction, " a report outlining the logging practices of Sierra Pacific Industries, the state's largest landowner, and its effects on climate change. The results were not surprising: SPI's brand of forestry-large-scale clear-cutting operations across the Sierra and conversion of wild lands to sterile tree plantations-contributes mightily to climate change, more so than even wild fires. Its management plan calls for the clear-cutting and conversion of up to a million acres to " tree farm " plantations over the next 50 years. Studies have shown that California's forests are particularly carbon-rich and that the best way to preserve a forest's stored carbon is to preserve the forest itself. We often talk about weaning ourselves off fossil fuels as a first step toward greater sustainability, but addressing deforestation is arguably as important. As we put out our report, SPI released its own, titled " How California's Forests Store Carbon and Improve Air Quality. " It's a nice title, but so were President Bush's " Clear Skies Act " or " Healthy Forests Restoration Act " . A message of " don't worry, what we are doing now, which is what we have always done, is actually green " permeates the report to justify clear-cutting and tree plantations. And when clear cuts are called a climate solution, it's time to worry. http://chrisy58.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/the-sierra-forests-can-prevent-global-w\ arming/ 19) In May, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco rejected Judge England's view of the woods and reinstated a preliminary injunction against three thinning projects. The judges asserted that that the danger of extinction of the spotted owl " cannot be dismissed " and suggested that the Forest Service -- which has already spent its $1.2 billion budget for fighting fires this year -- should look to Congress for more money to pay for the thinning. Craig Thomas, executive director of Sierra Forest Legacy, which represents many of the environmental litigants, saw this decision as an important victory. " The court has made it clear that we don't have to choose between community safety and environmental protection. We can have both, " he said. During an interview last year, Thomas dismissed the environmental credentials of Jackson and his legal aide, Blum, calling them " two individuals who pose as environmentalists. " The Quincy Library Group and the Bush Administration are appealing the decision. California Attorney General Jerry Brown has lined up with the environmental groups. Both sides claim that science supports their position. Mark Rey, undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service, claims it is politics, not science, that has whipsawed the Quincy Library Group's proposal for a decade. " I don't sense that they've appreciated the reality of the fire situation in that part of the world, " said Rey. " California is a place where if you're going to cut a tree, first you have to hug it, then get six pallbearers and give it a good Christian burial. " He asserts that no solution that depends on continually increasing federal funding is likely to happen. " If you have a non-economic solution, you don't have a solution. " Lynn Jungwirth runs a nonprofit forest-thinning project in Hayfork, Calif. It clears the brush and small trees out of forest land and uses the wood to make small pellets that are used in wood-burning stoves and chips destined for the few remaining wood-burning power plants in the area. The approach helps protect forests and creates jobs, but California's Democrat-led Legislature, which she claims is dominated by " urban environmentalists " on forestry issues, hasn't shown much interest in providing incentives for such projects. Just whose " science " is applied to the Quincy Library Group's 15-year-old forest-thinning proposal may be litigated in the courts for months, if not years, to come. Because of the Forest Service's chronic funding problems and prolonged administrative appeals by environmental groups, the Quincy group's initial five-year thinning goal, blessed by Congress, remains about half accomplished after a decade. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2008/09/18/2/ 20) Together, our State parkland and wildlife habitat agencies and the Federal government have bought and preserved a record amount, or more than 1.5 million acres of California natural lands and wildlife habitat between 1/1/2000 and August of 2007. This comes after a 12 year lull (1988 to 2000) between approval of California Parks bonds. Since the year 2000, voters have approved 5 bond issues to save land statewide. To put this in context, the recently preserved land is 42% of the size of the land covered by urban sprawl in the state, based on a year 2000 State Housing Department study which found that around 3.5 million acres of California was then urban sprawl, equaling over 100 years of development. This newly preserved land equals over 4 times the acreage of the State's largest city, Los Angeles. This 1.5 million acres is also double the size of Yosemite National Park. Many of these purchases have been in partnership with local land trusts, which are non-profit charitable groups. The just-released report is part of the California Conservation Lands Inventory, which has been assembled by http://www.connectingcalifornia.org/, the place on the web to find information about saving land in our state, connecting our parks together, and supporting the groups that are doing it. Included in the report are maps and photos of the new parklands and links to reports, background information and the local environmental groups that helped make the purchases happen. http://www.rare-earth.blogspot.com/ Arizona: 21) The Kaibab National Forest's Williams Ranger District is undergoing two major forest-thinning projects, with a third in the works. The effort will clear nearly 45,000 acres - more than 70 square miles - of heavy brush and trees that could fuel wildfires. The Kaibab Forest has seen 140 to 266 wildfires annually in the past seven years. Firefighters suppress them, but there's always a potential for a blaze to build. " We want to be in the situation where if a large fire does get started, we're able to protect the community of Williams, " said Jackie Banks, a spokeswoman for the forest. The northern Arizona city and its 3,000 mostly year-round residents make up the largest community within the 1.6 million-acre national forest and is a major stop for tourists wanting to board a vintage train to the Grand Canyon. About 2,500 acres of land have been burned as part of the 13,000-acre City Project, with another 2,500 acres set to be treated this year. As part of the project, bout 163 acres are scheduled to be burned Monday about a mile from the heart of Williams and near Cataract Lake. The area is thick with trees, and pine needles easily snap below footsteps. A fire line has been built around the area, which abuts private property. Another 4,000 acres have been torched in the 15,000-acre Twin Project, with plans for 5,500 acres more this year. The McCracken Project, south of Williams, would be the largest at 17,337 acres. 'More than 8,000 acres would be commercially logged as part of the project, which officials hope to begin in 2010. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2008/09/20/20080920fireb\ urns0920.html Colorado: 22) Walnut trees stressed by drought and other factors release large amounts of an aspirin compound to reduce damage and possibly warn nearby plants, a study released Friday found. Experts at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado said the findings may fuel new research into the behavior of plants and their impacts on air quality, and could help give farmers an early warning signal about crops about to fail. " Unlike humans, who are advised to take aspirin as a fever suppressant, plants have the ability to produce their own mix of aspirin-like chemicals, triggering the formation of proteins that boost their biochemical defenses and reduce injury, " said NCAR scientist Thomas Karl, who led the study. " Our measurements show that significant amounts of the chemical can be detected in the atmosphere as plants respond to drought, unseasonable temperatures, or other stresses. " Scientists long had known plants in a laboratory setting could produce methyl salicylate, which is a chemical form of acetylsalicylic acid, or aspirin. Researchers however never had detected methyl salicylate in an ecosystem or verified plants emitting the chemical in meaningful quantities into the atmosphere. " Biosphere-atmosphere interactions are important. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gWgKH8JE64KQ4iIRd1vBhli0pcbg Wisconsin: 23) MADISON, Wis. - State agriculture crews will cut more than 700 trees in 29 counties by the end of the year in a search for the destructive emerald ash borer. The work is part of the state's ongoing efforts to detect a possible spread of the beetle which has been blamed for the loss of millions of ash trees in the U.S. and Canada. Crews began cutting ash trees this week in Ozaukee and Washington counties, where the emerald ash borer was found in July. Work also began in neighboring Fond du Lac County and will move into Sheboygan County within several weeks. The four counties are under an emerald ash borer quarantine. State agricultural officials say there are more than 765 million ash trees in Wisconsin forests. In urban areas, the ash variety makes up about 20 percent of all trees. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-wi-emeraldashborer,0,3032100.story Texas: 24) The Texas Forest Service conducted an aerial timber damage assessment two days after the storm on Sept. 15 and found that most of the damage was concentrated in East Texas, with Liberty County bearing the brunt of Ike's destructive effects. About 612 million cubic feet of timber on an expanse of 473,000 acres was damaged and affected as a result of the storm. Damage is defined as uprooted trees, trees leaning more than 45 degrees or those likely to die within 12 months. Affected landscape includes trees leaning less than 45 degrees, loss of foliage and a loss of part of their crown. There are three definitions of severity, according to the Southern Research Station of the USDA Forest Service. The first is scattered light, which means that approximately three percent of timber was damaged in the area. Light damage means that 5 to 10 percent of the forest was affected. When approximately 15 to 25 percent of the landscape is damaged and 20 to 30 percent is affected, it is considered moderate damage. Burl Carraway, department head for sustainable forestry in College Station said that the estimated value of the timber - stumpage value - would come to a total of $351 million dollars. Although the damage was severe and cut a wide swath of bare land into the local forestry, both Carraway and Wright said they expected the local ecosystem to bounce back from the blow. " It's not as bad as Rita. This that happened now is only about a third of what Rita did to the region, " Carraway said. Wright agreed. " It (Hurricane Ike) did make some trees fall and caused some damage, but overall there wasn't much damage to the area. The open country - such as the neighborhoods and other open spaces like that - had more damage than the wooded areas, " Wright said. http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/local/local_forests_spared_by_ike_09-18-2\ 008.html Alabama: 25) Tree experts at a recent Mobile conference held by the Alabama Cooperative Extension System encouraged cities vulnerable to hurricanes to plant trees that can better survive high winds, such as live oaks, bald cypress and southern magnolias. University of Florida tree expert Ed Gilman told the conference that research with a wind machine blowing at 120 mph, or the strength of a Category 3 hurricane, showed proper pruning can reduce wind damage but that the wrong pruning can make matters worse. " Hat-racked " and " overlifting " — too many bottom branches removed — are among the wrong ways to prune, tree experts say. Foresters in states battered by hurricanes in recent years have received federal grants to replant, with some $90 million for tree recovery going to Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Alabama after Ivan and Katrina. " We have both a standing Urban & Community Forestry program which provides federal funding to all states each year, and occasional focus funding such as that after major disasters like hurricanes, " said Steve Marshall of USDA's Forest Service in Washington, D.C. The urban forest strike teams are designed to be run and deployed by the states. The teams work with municipalities and assess trees that could pose a threat to public lands or rights of way. Some hazardous trees may be growing on private property, but if they are a danger to public property, the team's arborists will alert the municipality about the trees. The municipality then will have to decide how best to mitigate the hazard. Kuehler said that after Virginia and North Carolina foresters formed teams, " it kind of snowballed in the Southeast. We've got state certified arborists in the Southeast ready to be deployed. " http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jd8PK973RBBqX9SNt--vrOYeDshAD938E9AG8 New Hampshire: 26) A federal appeals court in Boston has denied the Sierra Club's request for a preliminary injunction to halt logging in White Mountain National Forest. " It's good to see that in Boston they recognize that we do know what is best for our forests, " said Sean Sullivan, communications manager for the New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association. " It recognizes that the management plan has been well thought out. " The Sierra Club, Wilderness Society and Center for Biological Diversity (formerly Forest Watch) appealed the first two timber sales allowed under the new forest plan. Read More The legal challenge over logging in the White Mountain National Forest has been settled and loggers and forest managers were rightfully supported by the court. Logging is an important agricultural industry, and lumber is a valuable renewable resource that our country depends on. Three environmental groups went to court to try to stop the logging with a preliminary injunction, pending further hearings. The projects, in Warren and Jackson, began last week. The Sierra Club, Wilderness Society and Center for Biological Diversity are appealing the first two timber sales allowed under a new forest management plan. They argue the environmental impacts were not reviewed adequately and that the sales violate federal law. Oral arguments on the appeal likely will begin in November, a lawyer for the Sierra Club said. http://www.unionleader.com - http://advocatesforag.blogspot.com/2008/09/logging-wins-in.html Virginia: 27) Since 1950, Madison County has lost about 735 acres of working farmland every year, according to a county-appointed committee report. The county's forests are also diminishing – with more than 20,000 acres lost to development in the past 24 years, the report states. The group – made up of local residents chosen by the board of supervisors – has spent the past year developing a local " purchase of development rights " program in an attempt to stop this trend. The program – called the Madison Farm and Forest Protection Program – would allow the county to purchase a piece of land's development rights that have been voluntary offered to the county by the property owner. (Even after a property owner has sold the development rights to their land, they continue to maintain control over their farm or forest business, according to the committee's report.) The program aims to preserve the county's farm and forest land while protecting its rural character and quality of life and promoting " agritainment " – also known as " agritourism " – as an important economic benefit to the county, the report states. These objectives are in line with many of the goals outlined in the county's comprehensive plan, which the supervisors last approved in 2006, according to the report. (The county's comprehensive plan is a state-mandated planning document that includes the county's goals, objectives and strategies regarding its controlled development.) Besides protecting Madison County's scenic assets, supporting agriculture in the community is also beneficial to the county's economy, according to one of the committee's members, Wolftown resident Beth Pastore. For every $1 that residentially developed land provides to the community in terms of taxes paid to the county, it costs the local government about $1.30 to provide its various public services, such as schools and law enforcement, according to committee representatives. On the other hand, for every $1 that farms – even in the land use program – provide to the county in taxes, it costs the county about 34 cents to provide public services. http://www.madison-news.com/mce/news/local/article/mc_group_guard_farmland_fores\ ts/27998/ New Jersey: 28) It is estimated that one ton of uncoated virgin (non-recycled) and office paper uses 24 trees to produce. Using those calculations, that means that just the student body population at the College, numbering approximately 6,000, could potentially destroy a little more than half a million trees per year. With every ton of paper taking an average of 16 trees to produce, approximately 1.5 billion trees are potentially lost to paper mills each year. It doesn't just stop at the destruction of forests and virgin trees. The American Forest and Paper Association cites paper manufacturers as the third-largest users of fossil fuels worldwide. The paper manufacturing industry releases more than 100 million pollutants into the air, water and land each year through the various processes to acquire pulp from trees to make the paper. From a report from the World Bank Group, I found significant environmental problems result from the processes of extracting pulp and bleaching it with chlorine or other chemicals. Sulfur compounds and nitrogen oxides are emitted into the air, and chlorinated compounds, organic compounds and metals are released as water waste. Air pollutants from paper mills include carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides, sulfur dioxides, carbon monoxides and particulates. These contribute to ozone damage, acid rain, climate change and human respiratory problems. http://green31.net/2008/09/16/paper-becoming-a-cultural-concern/ Washington DC: 29) Two of the oldest " special trees " in Kalorama Park — both once stately oaks — were cut down and removed on August 18th after having been found to be " hazardous " by two professional arborists on the staff of city's Urban Forestry Administration (UFA). UFA, a division of the District's transportation department, is the agency responsible for Washington's street trees, and, since October 1, 2007, the agency is also responsible for those inside parks under DPR's jurisdiction. UFA acts as the Mayor's agent on trees in public space and thus its designation of these two oaks as being hazardous and requiring immediate removal is, under current law, not reviewable. Nor are there in place any community notification requirements for such actions — not to the Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs) nor to " Friends of Parks " groups or to other recognized community civic associations. And thus occurred the heated debate and discussion over the actions affecting these two Kalorama Park " special trees " at the Adams Morgan ANC's September 2008 monthly meeting. John Cloud, the neighborhood's volunteer version of famed naturalist John Muir, hotly contested the UFA's determination that the two oak trees were even dead, and eloquently asserted that these two oaks would only have become hazards if in fact UFA arborists had first pruned and cut back the trees. He further bemoaned the loss of habitat for those birds burrowing into hollowed out tree cavities to create nests. Cloud pleaded for the adoption of a woodland preserve approach to those charged with nurturing the District's highly prized tree canopy, and repeated his oft-expressed outrage over the failure of either DPR or UFA to water newly planted trees — be they replacement street trees or 9/11 memorial groves, for example. John Cloud's exuberant and passionate intensity was offset, in contrast, by the calm and professional intensity of arborist John Thomas, Chief Urban Forrester and UFA Deputy Director. Noting his agency's recent assignment this fiscal year of responsibility for DPR's long-neglected tree population, Thomas corroborated the UFA's hazardous tree findings of the two Kalorama Park oak trees in question and strongly asserted his agency's responsibility to remove such trees as quickly as possible — once found hazardous — and thus preclude the possibility of accident or injury and the consequent liability to the District. http://www.intowner.com/2008/09/14/two-of-kalorama-park%E2%80%99s-oldest-oak-tre\ es-cut-down-by-dc-neighbors-agitated/ Pennsylvania: 30) Arborist Will Blozan is leading a project to find and save ancient hemlocks of the Smokies. Were finding them right as we lose them, Blozan told Henderson. All 15 of the tallest eastern hemlocks are already dead. (The) Hemlock woolly adelgid was introduced from Asia into the Pacific Northwest in 1924. It was probably introduced into the northeastern US in the 1950s, and it was first discovered in Pennsylvania in 1967. This insect has been damaging hemlocks ever since, and it is spreading. To date, 49 counties in the eastern two-thirds of Pennsylvania have been infested with this insect. I spoke the other day with Diane Madl, the chief educator and naturalist at Nescopeck Creek State Park. So far weve been spelled here. Diane said when asked about adelgids within the 3,500-acre natural area. Now we do have it over at Lehigh Gorge (state park). In fact, hemlocks at the Rockport access site to the Lehigh are infested as are many hemlocks within Hickory Run State Park. A friend who lives in the lower reach of Nescopeck Creek tells me that many hemlocks near his house have been victimized. Its easy to tell if a tree is infested. Just look for the small wool-like clusters on needles and twigs. I spotted such evidence on hemlocks growing just off the Butler-Conyngham road nearly 10 years ago and wonder if the hemlocks of Ricketts Glen are similarly in trouble. In Great Smoky Mountains National Park of the North Carolina, naturalists and National Park Service botanists are studying the advance of adelgids through ancient hemlocks there. The countrys tallest eastern hemlock, reaching to the sky from a cove of (the park), towers 173.1 feet from its five-foot thick base to its last pencil-thin sprig, reporter Bruce Henderson wrote for the Charlotte Observer newspaper. The tree is 400 years old, armored in rough-bark, and dead. Across the range of this tree species, the death of hemlocks will have severe impacts on many other aspects of the natural world, from warbler nesting habits to the water temperature of brook trout streams. And the situation is reminiscent of the death in the early decades of the 20th Century of the American chestnut, once the dominant tree of hardwood forests throughout the East. http://wolverines.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/some-words-about-old-growth-trees-and\ -the-hemlock-woolly-adelgid/ Massachusetts: 31) WORCESTER - The city of Worcester and federal officials have agreed to cut down only trees infested by a tree-destroying Asian beetle. That means potential host trees will be spared, greatly reducing the tree toll. At least 700 trees in Worcester infested by the Asian longhorned beetle will be cut down. But the numbers would be far higher with a clear-cutting approach. For instance, a New Jersey program that cut down all vulnerable trees, as well as infested trees, saw 21,000 trees destroyed. Worcester city manager Michael V. O'Brien called the agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture a good balance between eradication and preservation. The USDA says infested trees will be removed starting in November. Meanwhile, the beetles have been found in nearby Holden and West Boylston, but officials say that doesn't mean infestations have occurred there. http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view/2008_09_20_Only_beetle-i\ nfested_trees_to_be_felled_in_Bay_State/srvc=home & position=recent USA: 32) The USDA, Forest Service is seeking comments on forest certification and its implications for America's national forests. This Federal Register notice is to serve as a formal public solicitation of views on the question of National Forest System certification and its implications, if national forest lands were to become certified under one or both of the two major certification systems being used in the United States. The U.S. Forest Service, which manages 193 million acres, or approximately eight percent of the nation's land, believes that it is important to better understand the implications of third- party certification of National Forest System (NFS) lands and, in 2005, began exploring independent, third party certification as a potential option. To this end, the Forest Service initiated the National Forest Certification Study, which resulted in the report, ``National Forest Certification Study: An Evaluation of the Application of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) Standards on Five National Forests.'' This report documents the study in which third-party auditors evaluated current forest management practices on five national forest units using the existing certification standards of two certification programs, Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Recognizing that the Forest Service has not decided whether it will seek certification, public outreach and discussion is requested to obtain public and stakeholder views on the National Forest Certification Study and its associated report, as well as the potential implications of NFS certification in general before determining how to proceed. 1. What are your general views on the implications of independent, third party certification of NFS lands? 2. Would certification improve the management of national forests? 3. Could certification make it more difficult to achieve national forest management goals? 4. What questions would certification be able to answer, and what needs would it be able to meet, on national forest lands? 5. Are there key questions or needs that certification would be unable or poorly suited to address? 6. Would independent, third party certification be an appropriate or effective tool, given the unique role of national forests? http://wolverines.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/some-words-about-old-growth-trees-and\ -the-hemlock-woolly-adelgid/ 33) Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees. A congressional amendment designed to stop imports of illegal lumber was written so broadly, U.S. business groups say, that they fear the provision will cover many other products that contain wood or material from other plants. Thus, they may have to disclose the origin of wood in toys, guns, musical instruments, bubble gum and dresses that contain rayon made from cellulose. ``We don't want to undermine the law, but let's not get ridiculous here,'' says Erik Autor, vice president and international trade counsel for the National Retail Federation in Washington. The dispute over the measure, which is part of the farm bill that Congress passed in May, illustrates how well-intentioned laws can have unintended consequences. Regulators estimate 30,000 shipments a day could be subject to the new declaration requirement. The amendment added plants, defined as ``any wild member of the plant kingdom, including roots, seeds, parts, or products thereof,'' to the protection of fish and wildlife covered by the 108-year-old Lacey Act. The main exemption is food crops. ``The scope as we now interpret it is very broad,'' says Cathy Sauceda, director of import safety and interagency requirements for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. No proposed regulation or written guidance has been issued yet. The clamor for information led Customs to hold briefings, including an Internet-based forum on the subject on Sept. 11. Included in the Web presentation was a slide of a woman blowing bubble gum as an example of what may be covered. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039 & refer=columnist_skrzycki & sid=aQs\ O1YRnfbs4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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