Guest guest Posted December 13, 2008 Report Share Posted December 13, 2008 --Today for you 30 news articles about earth's trees! (447th edition) http://forestpolicyresearch.org --To Subscribe / to email format send blank email to: earthtreenews- OR earthtreenews- Index: Articles: --Canada: 1) Acid rain from the oil sands is ruining the forests, 2) Nation's REDD conference leaders insult indigenous people, --Montana: 3) Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Proposal, 4) Lawsuit filed on B-D National Forest, 5) Travel management gets litigated, --Colorado: 6) Nature's Beetle-kill diversity program to improv park haelth destroyed by clear-cut-dumb-foresters, 7) Last days of resistance to Roadless rules, 8) More unhelpful clearcutting to " battle " beatles, 9) Beetle Kill might may not be that bad and clearcutting may be a huge overreaction, --Wisconsin: 10) Beech trees are rare so he's making a legacy forest --Arkansas: 11) Sawmills fade & other businesses take their place, --Louisiana: 12) Campaign to get Home Depot to not sell rare cypress tree mulch --Ohio: 13) Timber theft escalation creates demands for new laws --Connecticut: 14) More logging awarded for American Legion state forest --Vermont: 15) White Mountain NF to acquire forestland, --Virginia: 16) Shallow thinking related to clearcutting, --West Virginia: 17) Trees growing so fast loggers can't cut 'em fast enough --Massachusetts: 18) Overreaction to long horned beattle will destroy urban forest --South Carolina: 19) State's money for logging goes for good cause, --Tennessee: 20) Beware of people trying to turn your trees in Carbon Credits --Maine: 21) Beetles imported to defend Hemlocks from Wooly Adelgid --USA: 22) Return of the Chestnut recipe, 23) WRI & EIA launch partnership to combat illegal logging, 24) BofA to phase out funding of mountain top removal, 25) Pressure grows on Citi to get out of mountain top removal, 26) How to use the forest service to promote your brand, 27) New online software calculates Urban forest sequestration, Green Collar Job creation, 28) Forest Watershed Restoration Corps, 29) Fast food Packaging protest needs your support, Canada: 1) A new government report says acid rain in Alberta's oilsands region may already be pushing forest soils past their tolerance level. The report tries to define how much acid the province's soils can take. But it finds that up to 12% of the forest soils in northeast Alberta would already be considered over the limit in other provinces. Author Julian Aherne says more research is needed to draw a clearer picture of what's happening in the region. His study was just released by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment. http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Alberta/2008/12/09/7687831.html 2) Canada's position on the rights of indigenous people at the UN climate-change talks in Poland led Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl to receive a public tongue-lashing yesterday as he appeared at a gathering of Assembly of First Nations chiefs in Ottawa. The chiefs made Mr. Strahl wait nearly an hour before allowing him to speak, and scolded him on stage before and after his speech. " The actions of Canada in Poland are designed to undermine the rights of indigenous people here and elsewhere, " said AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine, standing in front of the seated Indian Affairs Minister. " It's completely unacceptable. " Negotiators have been grappling with measures to protect tropical forests in Third World countries. Forest loss accounts for about 20 per cent of global greenhouse-gas emissions, and limiting releases from this source would be a major way of slowing climate change. As part of the talks, negotiators were considering the extent of the rights that indigenous people have over the forests they live in. But Canada and a number of other countries argued successfully against making mention of these rights in a new international climate-change pact. One delegate from a developing country who took part in the closed-door negotiations said Canada opposed all references to indigenous rights in the discussions.The delegate, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Canada's actions mean indigenous people could lose out on any financial compensation for protecting forests on their land. Instead, compensation in the form of international carbon credits would go to their national government. " It was very sad, " the delegate said of Canada's actions. Environment Minister Jim Prentice, speaking at a news conference in Poznan, defended Canada's position, saying the question of legal rights aside, he believes indigenous people should be involved in talks on preserving the forest they live in. " It is important that aboriginal people, indigenous people, be consulted and be part of any discussion of those issues, " he said. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081212.wclimate12/BNStory/N\ ational/home Montana: 3) The Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Proposal (BCSP) has gotten a lot of positive press, including most recently in an editorial in the Missoulian on December 1st and another on December 9 in the Billings Gazette. To put it bluntly, the BSCP appears to be a trade of public trees to the local timber industry in exchange for their support for wilderness designation. The major part of the plan appears to be a public subsidy of the Pyramid Lumber Company based upon flawed assumptions about forest health, fire suppression, and the effectiveness of thinning as a fire hazard reduction mechanism. Other alternatives to achieve the same goals that would not involve logging are not given serious consideration. Plus, the real environmental costs of logging are ignored and glossed over to make this proposal sound environmentally benign or even environmentally beneficial. One of the potentially positive aspects of the BCSP is the removal of culverts, closure of roads, and other activities that would benefit the environment. But how these removals and restoration activities are funded is problematic. Stewardship logging is an Orwellian idea whereby money generated by the presumed profits of timber sales will be used to repair land damaged by logging. With such an incentive, it's easy to imagine that agencies will advocate more logging to do more repair of logging damaged lands. That's like advocating more gambling to fund gambling addiction programs. While I don't doubt for a minute that the plan's proponents have the best intentions and goals, I believe they may have deluded themselves into thinking the BCSP is a good thing for Montana and the public by ignoring and/or glossing over some potential problems. in their rush to reach consensus, there has been a tendency to forgo critical review of the plan's underlying assumptions, particularly on the part of environmental groups who should be providing such a critique. Without such a balanced review of the pros and cons of the proposal, I, as well as the American people, cannot determine whether the BSCP is ultimately in the best interest of the country and the forest ecosystems of western Montana. While I have serious reservations about the logging aspects of the BCSP, the designation of 87,000 acres of wilderness additions to the Bob Marshall and Mission Mountains Wildernesses would be a terrific net benefit. http://wuerthner.blogspot.com/2008/12/questions-about-blackfoot-clearwater.html 4) Logging planned in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest in southwestern Montana would put owls at risk, say two groups who sued the U.S. Forest Service in an attempt to block the project. The Native Ecosystems Council and the Alliance for the Wild Rockies on Tuesday challenged plans for the Barton Springs tree-thinning project on about 160 acres, 18 miles northwest of Philipsburg. The project would harm owls by diminishing an old-growth forest where the birds use large, dead trees for nesting, the groups said in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Missoula. In February, the Forest Service announced authorization of the Barton Springs project and said thinning would reduce risk that wildfires eventually would burn trees valued as a source of ponderosa pine seeds. The seeds are sprouted at the Forest Service nursery in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and are used to produce trees used in reforestation. Fire in 2000 burned the Barton Springs area and other major ponderosa seed areas nearby in the Bitterroot National Forest, the Forest Service said. The proposed logging, combined with earlier logging of nearby land, would result in a considerable area without nesting habitat for Great Gray Owls and Flammulated Owls, said Sara Johnson, Native Ecosystems Council director and a former Forest Service wildlife biologist. She said cumulative effects on owl habitat were not analyzed before approval of the Barton Springs project. " The Forest Service treats this forest like a crop of trees, not a forest, " Michael Garrity of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies said in a statement. " This isn't farming. It is subsidized mining of wildlife habitat. " http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/12/10/ap5803886.html 5) On Tuesday, the MWA, which works to promote and protect wilderness in the state, filed to intervene in a lawsuit on the side of the Forest Service and its new travel management plan for the Little Belt, Castle and northern Crazy mountains. In September, a coalition of recreational groups filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court challenging the Lewis and Clark National Forest's travel plan, saying there were too many trail closures. The travel rules, which guide where motorized users can go, were finalized in October. " This plan that came out still provides plenty of opportunities for motor vehicle use, " said MWA spokesman Mark Good of Great Falls. About 1 million acres in the three island mountain ranges are affected by the plan. A national rule adopted in 2005 required forests to reduce damage caused by motor vehicles and to designate roads for motorized use. " We aren't happy about everything in the new plan, but it is a reasonable effort to reach a compromise among conflicting user groups, " MWA member Norm Newhall said. The final travel plan states that 75 percent of the Little Belt, Castle and the northern half of the Crazy mountains remain open to motorized use in the summer. The Forest Service previously said motorized use took place in about 88 percent of those areas. The drop is more pronounced in the winter, when snowmobilers will have access to 46 percent of the acreage, as opposed to the 95 percent that's open now, according to the Forest Service. MWA says the winter travel plan is similar to an agreement between MWA and the Great Falls Cross Country Club that was negotiated with area snowmobile groups. That deal preserved groomed snowmobile trails and play areas while expanding the Silver Crest ski area and designating areas for quiet backcountry skiing and snowshoeing, Good said. http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20081210/NEWS01/812100311 Colorado: 6) " It's sad, huh, " citizen Kathy Lewis said about Point Park on Grand Lake's shoreline. Once where a fairy-tale grove of trees stood witness to countless weddings along the alpine-blue water, the park is now nearly devoid of trees. Lewis and her husband Randy were married there in 1989. It was believed to be the first wedding at the little park. Upon seeing Point Park after the U.S. Forest Service cleared it recently, " I wanted to cry, " Lewis said. " It was so sad. It was such a beautiful place. " The absence of trees has opened the park to a more commanding view of Mount Craig ( " Baldy " ) and cleared the area of beetle-damaged trees; nevertheless, Grand Lakers mourn the loss of shady woodland. At least 200 trees have been taken out, according to Dan Matthews, manager of the Arapaho National Recreation Area. After it was cleared, slash riddled the park landscape; stumps remained, rising from the barren ground. " The parking lot was a mess and so was the walkway down to the lake, " Lewis said. Just prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, however, the tree-removal crew from Oregon — the company awarded the bid from the Forest Service — returned to the park and removed the slash and debris. The town of Grand Lake has an operating agreement with the Forest Service and is responsible for park restrooms but is now looking into how it can help restore the park. For starters, stumps need to be reduced or removed, said Grand Lake Mayor Judy Burke. The Forest Service has been cutting down trees in Point Park ever since the onset of the beetle epidemic, but because of lodepole pine trees' shallow root system and their tendency to stay protected from the wind in large stands, the loss of many trees forced foresters to take out the remainder for safety. http://www.skyhidailynews.com/article/20081202/NEWS/812029978/1079 & ParentProfile\ =1067 & title=Beetle%20kill%20removal%20denudes%20popular%20Grand%20Lake%20park 7) The Bush administration appears to be charging even harder down the road to a new Colorado roadless rule despite a meeting of a U.S. Forest Service advisory group in Washington earlier this month that revealed numerous problems with the plan. This is the Bush administration's last chance to implement its vision of how to administer pristine forest and park land. While in the Senate, President-elect Obama opposed the Bush administration's plans for roadless areas. A top U.S. Department of Agriculture official reportedly told a Nov. 19 meeting of the U.S. Forest Service's Roadless Area Conservation National Advisory Committee (RACNAC) that the goal is to have a final Colorado roadless ruled published in the Federal Register by Jan. 16. " We have heard through channels that the Forest Service is trying very hard to get this thing out the door before the end of the Bush administration, which would make it arguably a little harder for [president-elect Barack] Obama to reverse, " said Rocky Smith of the nonprofit conservation group Colorado Wild. " We, of course, want a national rule, and any rule, whether it's a state rule or a national rule, has to be a hell of a lot better than the draft Colorado rule. " Smith and others have repeatedly objected to numerous exceptions for logging, oil and gas production and ski-area expansion in the Colorado roadless rule. The rule dictates the management practices for 4.4 million acres of public lands throughout the state that have been designated as essentially pristine and untrammeled by not only roads but development in general. Environmental groups have been fighting for nearly eight years to reinstate the federal Clinton administration roadless rule that was quickly cast aside by the Bush administration in 2001. The Clinton rule has been batted about in court for years, most recently suffering a setback in a Wyoming district court, which ruled the Clinton administration didn't conduct proper public scoping while drafting its rule in 2000. That decision is currently under appeal. http://coloradoindependent.com/16565/roadless-rule-hurtling-down-bush-fast-track 8) The snow of winter has arrived, but the battle against the pine-beetle epidemic in Grand County continues with logging operations under way on U.S. Forest Service lands in the Fraser Valley. This winter, loggers be cutting and removing beetle-killed trees in the Arapaho National Forest west of Fraser and Winter Park Resort. Also being logged is the " Arrow " area, east of the Town of Winter Park on the Moffat Road. Temporary closures are being imposed in the areas that are undergoing logging. " These are only temporary closures and only in the immediate area around the logging operations, " said Craig Magwire, District Ranger for Arapaho National Forest's Sulphur Ranger District. " The length of these closures will vary, depending on size of the job, the loggers and their equipment, " he said. " The closures could take a couple of days or up to a month. The closure areas will be posted on the ground. " Forest Service rangers are advising cross-country skiers, snowshoers, hikers, snowmobilers and other recreationists to stay clear of the logging areas while they are closed. " We're trying to minimize the closures because we want the public to continue to enjoy their national forest, " Magwire said, " but we also want to ensure public safety. It's a good rule of thumb to stay several hundred yards away from an area of active logging. The loggers are focussed on their task and not necessarily keeping an eye out for the public. " At present, a logging operation is ongoing near the headquarters of the Fraser Experimental Forest. When completed, the loggers will move onto a section of forest adjacent to Elk Creek Road. " As each closure is completed, we'll get the word out on our Web site, " Magwire said. This winter's logging operations are part of the Sulphur Ranger District's efforts to mitigate the pine-beetle epidemic. An estimated 183,000 acres of the district's 450,000 acres has already been hit by it. http://www.skyhidailynews.com/article/20081203/NEWS/812049981/1079 & ParentProfile\ =1067 & title=Forest%20Service%20plans%20more%20logging-related%20Fraser%20Valley%\ 20trail%20closures%20this%20winter 9) Some commentators have suggested that, as the trees die and release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, that will in turn trigger further trouble for the world's forests, including disease and insect infestations, in a compounding effect that will in turn worsen global warming. But according to one expert, Jeff Hicke of the University of Idaho, current research suggests that even in areas hardest hit by the beetles, not all the trees will die. And as the forest regenerates, several scientists argued, the trees will be able to undo any damage done to the atmosphere by their dying off in the first place. " It's highly likely that the forest will come back ... in probably less than 50 years, " said Ryan, adding that in that case the evidence indicates that the forest, once regenerated, will be able to reabsorb all the carbon it lost through the beetle kill. Not enough is known about the mountain pine beetle infestation of Colorado's forests, and similar infestations in other forests around the world, to say for sure whether the phenomenon will contribute heavily to global warming in the coming decades. In fact, experts cannot entirely agree on exactly how much of Colorado's lodgepole pine forest will be decimated by the ravenous beetles. The infestation already has killed huge numbers of trees over much of the western United States, including Summit and Grand counties in Colorado, and is now threatening the hillsides and mountaintops around Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley. Colorado's forests have been under siege by the mountain pine bark beetle, also known as the mountain pine beetle, for several years. The current wave of infestations of Rocky Mountain forests began in Canada, where it has killed off as much as 50,000 square miles of forest, and is rapidly spreading south. Some experts believe the infestation eventually will get as far as Florida. The beetles attack primarily lodgepole and ponderosa pines, but they have been known to jump to other species when neither of their favorites is available. http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20081212/NEWS/812119920/1077 & ParentProfile=105\ 8 & title=Forest%20experts%20gather%20in%20Aspen Wisconsin: 10) In Wisconsin, beech trees are native only within the fog distance of Lake Michigan, so you find them in Grant Park along the lake but not a couple miles inland. They are common in the Middle Atlantic States and in Central Europe. It is hard to tell the European beech from the American. The European comes in more horticultural varieties, so if you see one at the nursery it is probably a European beech. Beech trees are shade tolerant. They show up only near the end of natural succession and you find them in old well-established sites with rich and well developed soils. When you see lots of beech trees, you know that the place has not been disturbed very much for a long time. I am very fond of the beech trees along the stream beds. This is my hardwood legacy forest. You can see from the picture below that the young trees are beech. They are the ones with the brown leaves. This is a good time to see them. They stand out, since they characteristically keep their dead leaves until pushed off by the new ones in spring. Nobody will cut this forest as long as I am alive. Right now we have some big beech trees, along with oaks, red maples, tulip poplars & ash. In a generation the beech will be more dominant. The big tulip trees will start die out. The little pines you see in the picture above are volunteers. They need to grow in the sun and none of them will reach maturity. The oaks will not regenerate in the shady forest but they live for centuries and will be around for a long time yet. Beech and oak are both mast producers and provide good wildlife food. The understory already has a lot of holly. More will fill in. I am not leaving this forest completely alone. When this land was part of somebody's farm, they high graded (i.e. took out the biggest trees and left the little ones). This degraded the quality of the stock and there are some old but small trees that are just sucking up resources. Other trees were damaged by ice storms past. I am cutting out the runts and the damaged trees to make more room for the robust young ones. A well managed forest just looks untouched. http://johnsonmatel.com/blog1/2008/12/beech_woods_humid_forests.html Arkansas: 11) With the recent downturn in the economy and the housing decline, Parnell is afraid he may have to lay off one or more of the 20 employees at Everett Parnell Sawmill in Norfork. Parnell said 50 percent of his business is selling mulch. Some he sells to companies that bag the mulch and resell it. The sawmill also sells to nurseries in Little Rock, Kansas City, Tulsa, Okla., and other larger cities in the region. Workers were making chips of red cedar wood which will go to Huntsville, Ala., where a company is going to extract cedar oil. " There is a big market in that, " Parnell said.He estimates that in previous years the sawmill burned wood pieces that they thought they could not use. Now it is turned into chips and mulch. He also sells sawdust and shavings to the turkey industry. " Right now it is beginning to slow up, but it has been pretty good all year, " Parnell said. " Cedar is all we do, " Parnell said. Even international sales have dropped, he said. " We exported a lot of cedar earlier this year to China, " Parnell said. " Then they kind of backed up on their orders, so we have not sold anything to China in the last four to five months. But last year we sold a lot to China. " Parnell said he is registered with the Arkansas Forestry Service and believes that is where the Chinese were able to find his business. A number of years ago, he also sold lumber to businesses in South Korea. The sawmill has tried to diversify into other markets. " We have developed a domestic market, " Parnell said. " We sell locally. We started selling cedar deck boards and red cedar house logs. Inside the house we sell tongue-and-groove for paneling. " We have seen a downturn in the last two or three months, " he added. " It is beginning to hit pretty good. " According to the Associated Press, Arkansas sawmills are struggling as the demand for hardwoods and pine has declined due to the downturn in the housing market. The sawmills have lost 3,000 full-time jobs between June 2006 and March 2008 Parnell said he gets notices almost daily of auctions of sawmills in Arkansas and surrounding states. This is all he knows. Parnell started working for his father-in-law before he and his wife started their own sawmill. According to the Associated Press, Arkansas has 163 hardwood sawmills in 52 of the state's 75 counties, citing the latest figures from the Arkansas Forestry Commission. " If we had a rough time, it usually did not last over four or five months in the cedar industry, " Parnell said. " We would just keep buying logs and stacking them. We have a lot of sawed material here we have not sold. We are hoping it (business) will come back. It always has before. " http://www.baxterbulletin.com/article/20081203/NEWS01/812030315 Louisiana: 12) A group pushing Home Depot to stop buying cypress mulch from Southern forests planned to hold a crab boil in front of the Atlanta-based company's headquarters on Thursday to bring attention to the issue. Dan Favre, the campaign organizer for the Gulf Restoration Network, drove from New Orleans for the event with 50 pounds of crab, saying that while Lowe's and Home Depot " temporarily said no to mulch from coastal Louisiana, that's not good enough. " They are selling cypress mulch that comes from endangered forests that don't have the capacity to regenerate, " Favre said. Wal-Mart, he added, no longer sells cypress mulch from Louisiana at all. Home Depot spokesman Ron DeFeo says the company has a firm policy about not depleting natural resources and the ban on coastal Louisiana cypress mulch is not temporary. " We notified all our suppliers that we won't accept it. And our suppliers have provided written confirmation that they're compliant. " . " We obviously take customer concerns about cypress mulch very seriously, " he said. " We continue to review the situation with industry, state and local foresters. We're dedicated to buying only wood products from forests managed in a responsible way. " http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/business/stories/2008/12/04/home_depot_mulch.ht\ ml Ohio: 13) The Ohio Forestry Division's phone rings at least once a week with another report of timber theft, the illegal harvesting of trees from another's forest. Less frequent are calls reporting that a chainsaw-wielding criminal has been caught and prosecuted. Andy Ware, assistant division chief, says that's because state law puts the burden on landowners to prove that the theft was intentional. He said the criminals know this, and some use it to avoid prosecution. " It's a real issue, " Ware said. " The people who are impacted are losing tens of thousands of dollars. " That's why state Rep. Ross McGregor, R-Springfield, hopes to introduce a bill in January that would make timber theft easier to prosecute and tougher on criminals. " We drive by and think these trees will always be there, but when someone comes onto your property and cuts down trees those can't be easily replaced, " McGregor said. Ware said the crime is not limited to the heavily timbered Appalachian counties of southeastern Ohio. Two Knox County men charged with unlawfully cutting trees in a state wildlife area were recently fined more than $1,500 each for cutting down a stand of black cherry trees near Knox Lake. No one has been able to estimate the annual cost of timber theft in Ohio, Ware said, because much of it goes unreported or is detected months after it happens. A 2003 study conducted at Virginia Tech University determined that timber theft costs landowners more than $300,000 a year in a 20-county Appalachian region that covers portions of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. Thieves stalk hardwood forests and sell the stolen logs for lumber. Gary Chancey, spokesman for the Wayne National Forest, said timber theft is a continuing problem in the 241,000-acre forest. He said forestry officials are currently pursuing six cases, which is about average. Tom Donnelly, law-enforcement supervisor for the Ohio Division of Wildlife's Athens-based District 4, said the problem fluctuates with the price of timber. " These people are opportunists, " Donnelly said. Whenever his officers notice an illegal cut, Donnelly said, they get out their chainsaws and do some sawing of their own. The officers cut a cookie -- a 3-inch section of the remaining stump -- and take it to the local mills to look for a match. Most modern mills attach bar codes to logs as they come in. When a cookie matches a log, it's easy to track who brought the log in, when they did and how much they were paid, Donnelly said. He said the current law makes it easier for the state to go after timber poachers than private citizens because it expressly prohibits unauthorized cutting on state-owned or -administered property. Where McGregor's proposed bill could help the state is in beefing up penalties for those who do steal timber, to reduce the risk of repeat offenders. http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/12/06/State\ trees.ART_ART_12-06-08_B1_S1C596I.html?sid=101 Connecticut: 14) This week, the local newspaper announced the results of the timber contracts for logging in the Northern Highlands/American Legion State Forest. In the years 2009-2010, 2673 acres of the NH/AL will be logged, netting the DNR over $2 million. This is of interest to us, of course, because one of the projects is called " Hwy P Popple " and is the site that you have heard about near Carlin Lake Road and Pinecone Road. The contract for these 31 acres went for $44,274, to Wiitala & Vozka Logging. Jim Stocker says this company did some logging around Camp Manito-wish a couple of years ago, and are a reliable and careful company. He said he and Bob Ruch especially enjoyed watching the interesting and complicated machines that did the logging. The paper quotes S. Petersen, superintendent of the forest: " Some people think we pick these harvesting areas out by throwing darts at the board, and the bulls-eye is over Presque Isle at the moment. That's not the case...We reconcile the ecological potential of a stand with our public goals, our social goals for it, and then we make decisions on what we should do. " He continues: " It also provides revenue to the state---I cannot deny that--which is a great thing, especially in times like these. " The article does not give any more information about when the logging will take place, although the original letter said either this winter or next, after the ground was frozen. http://nineshift.typepad.com/carlin_lake_association/2008/12/logging-contracts-a\ warded.html Vermont: 15) JAMAICA -- Two representatives from the Green Mountain National Forest Service received the support of the Jamaica Selectboard in the acquisition of what they described as a " very good piece of property " on Sage Hill. The property, owned by Chip and Laurie Cobb, is about 75 square miles and varies in terrain from flat land to rocky ledges. Alex Sienkiewicz, district ranger for the United States Department of Agriculture, and Pat D'Andrea of the forest service's supervisor's office in Rutland, said they would like to acquire the land because, among other things, it illuminates boundary maintenance and reduces the threat of trespassing and encroachment. Six months ago, the forest service approached the Selectboard to gain support for the " Blake Parcel, " a piece of property also in Jamaica that, if purchased by the service, would join existing parcels and create larger, more cohesive blocks of land. The board issued the same statement Monday as it did six months ago. The statement, read by Selectboard Chairman Oliver Olsen, said that by endorsing the transaction, the Selectboard was affirming its belief that the right of private property owners, including the right to sell one's property, is " of paramount importance. " The statement went on to say " the Selectboard remains concerned about the loss of tax revenues that would accrue under ownership by the US Government and any restrictions that. would inhibit public use of the land. " Federal payment on the land will be slightly less than the town would be receiving back in taxes. The forest representatives told the board that this is " just the tip of the iceberg " in the process, and the land has not yet been appraised. The Cobbs are under no obligation to sell. " We are at the point now where we're seeking support and would like to have the property appraised, but it will probably take one to two years to be finished with the appraisal, " said Sienkiewicz. The Cobbs, who have owned the land since 1975, said they don't want to see the land developed. " I used to go hunting there, and we want to preserve the natural setup, " said Chip Cobb. " I can't imagine condos going up. " If the forest service ends up acquiring the land, commercial logging will still be allowed. The existing trails can remain, but no new trails may be made if the land is under protection. http://www.reformer.com/ci_11174784 Virginia: 16) Even Wendell Berry, the poet who writes philosophically about farming, attacks clear cutting in one short sentence in " The Unsettling of America " . He does not without expound upon what clear cutting means but rather tosses out those two menacing words " clear " and " cut " as if that were enough to convey his message of evil run amok. For the shallower thinker those two words would be enough because they are so firmly etched into our psyche that they need no elaboration. But when I asked the Virginia Department of Forestry to survey my farm, clear cutting is exactly what they recommended. That will probably surprise the laymen but it makes for the best possible forest. Bill Twarkin is as humble a fellow and honest as you are likely to ever meet. He hails from Upstate New York and has felled timber in the Pacific Northwest, Colorado, and most recently in Madison County, Virginia and on my farm. My consulting forester, Kevin Lyle, had surveyed the timber and put out a request for bids but no one had even placed a bid finding my forest of rather low quality. The bigger local loggers were busy felling trees at The Marriott Ranch and the 8,500 acre Lane farm in Woodville. So Kevin talked to local lumber mill operators and they recommended Bill. Bill owns his own logging equipment: a John Deere bulldozer and a single axle logging truck complete with a hydraulic lift and boom. Like the average working class fellow none of this was paid for in full so Bill owed the bank money on both. His equipment now sits for sale at a local trucking company Bill having completed the job and deciding that logging is no longer profitable for him. He says his 1995 model bulldozer is worth perhaps $35,000. I am not sure what the value of his logging truck is. http://www.rosewoodhillfarm.com/2008/12/logging-farm.html West Virginia: 17) West Virginia forests are growing faster than timber interests can harvest them, ballooning 22 percent since the last inventory was taken 19 years ago, forester Randy Dye revealed Tuesday. A large reason for the growth is that little use has been made of the Monongahela National Forest as a source of timber, he told the Forest Management Review Commission. Dye's agency is working on a 12-month mission, tackling a different aspect each month, to provide lawmakers with a new strategic plan for timber. While environmental interests must be achieved, Dye suggested that visions held by some groups are negative. " A forested ecosystem is not like a photograph that can be framed and hung on the wall, unchanging for all time, " he said. " Forestry is conservation; setting aside is preservation. The words are not synonymous. In many cases, the setting aside guarantees that the values thought to be preserved will be lost. Forests are constantly changing, and cannot be kept the same forever. From a percentage basis, West Virginia is the second most heavily forested state, trailing only Maine, he said. West Virginia conducted its first forest inventory in 1949, when the total acreage was 9.9 million. " The forest symbolizes West Virginia, " Dye said, telling the panel some 15.4 million acres are in trees. Of that number, some 11.5 million are regarded as " timberland " since it will produce at least 120 board feet per acre each year, and the land is available to be harvested. " If we harvest at today's rate, it would take 135 years to cut down every tree in West Virginia, " he said. Senate Finance Chairman Walt Helmick, D-Pocahontas, a co-chairman of the commission, asked Dye to update the panel on how the Division of Forestry is using the 71,000 acres under its purview. " I guarantee you that if a company had at least 71,000 acres, they'd do something with it, " Helmick said. About 14 percent of the timberland is owned by government interests, Dye pointed out. Private owners legally may decide their objectives, but Dye alluded to " a public responsibility " to manage their acreage as part of the rural community with an eye toward preventing destruction. http://www.register-herald.com/local/local_story_344221623.html Massachusetts: 18) WORCESTER - Ann Tivnan remembers going out as a young girl to help care for the maples planted in her neighborhood after a 1953 tornado left the city flattened, as if " a giant came through and stomped everything down. " Tivnan says she is sad to see many of those now-grown trees marked with red dots, a sign they will soon be removed because they are infested with the invasive Asian longhorned beetle. " It's 50 years of growth. To lose them all is really very hard for a lot of people, " Tivnan said. " All along Kendrick Avenue, people are really concerned. They want to do the right thing, but it's heartbreaking. " There are 4,500 infested trees in a 2-square-mile area of the Greendale and Burncoat neighborhoods, considered the epicenter of the beetle outbreak in Worcester. This week, homeowners with infested trees will be sent a legal notification, and next week city officials will be available for one-on-one consultations. Meanwhile, infested trees that are on public land will begin to be cut down next week. " Certainly, it is a difficult process for property owners, " said city manager Michael O'Brien. " Legal notification to these property owners can be intimidating. We've worked very hard with property owners and citizens, and this is just one more step to ease into this difficult process. " Another 15,000 trees in the neighborhoods are classified as susceptible to infestation, and the US Department of Agriculture has recommended that they also be removed. No final decision has been made. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/12/09/worcester_bra\ ces_for_loss_of_trees/?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed4 South Carolina: 19) The South Carolina Forestry Commission delivered $672,000 to 12 South Carolina counties in which the agency has land. The money (a record total) goes to the local school districts. Jasper County received $671; the agency has no land in Beaufort County. The total represents 25 percent of the revenue generated by these forests and serves as an example of the economic power of healthy, well-managed forests, which can and do drive South Carolina's economy. This revenue-sharing program from timber sales, recreation fees, pine straw sales and other forest product sales is unique within state government. And it supports our communities in one of the most important ways possible -- education. In addition, management costs of all five state forests are fully covered by the other 75 percent of revenue, so that no state funding is required. Highlights from the commission's past year of revenue sharing include Chesterfield County schools receiving $364,000 from the Forestry Commission's revenue from Sand Hills State Forest. Sumter County youngsters benefit from $203,400 because Manchester State Forest grows in their " neck of the woods. " Williamsburg County educators receive $60,000 from revenue generated by Wee Tee State Forest. So, Arbor Day lends itself to that great old metaphor of " planting the seedlings of knowledge and beauty for tomorrow's generation. " And, " money does grow on trees. " You'll find the satisfaction of planting one tree on Arbor Day will make the effort worthwhile. Imagine what it feels like to plant thousands or even a million trees and share the benefits. For more information on trees and forests, please see the Forestry Commission's Web site at www.trees.sc.gov and our tree planting campaign Web site at www.GrowSomeGreen.com http://www.beaufortgazette.com/181/story/637842.html Tennessee: 20) Forestry officials with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture and the University of Tennessee Extension are urging forest landowners to become better informed when considering selling carbon credits to a trader or aggregator of carbon credits. " The emerging carbon markets have the potential to encourage landowners to actively manage their land and keep forests as forests rather than losing this resource to other land uses, " said State Forester Steve Scott. " The Division of Forestry is interested in watching this market develop, but wants to advise landowners who are interested in getting involved to proceed with patience, caution and awareness. " " Presently there are very few certified forests in Tennessee eligible to participate, and even fewer aggregators capable of marketing carbon, " said Mercker. " Participants should seek full disclosure of all potential benefits and risks prior to enrolling. " Brokers, known as carbon aggregators, provide services to individual forest landowners to gain access to carbon markets. Services include enrolling forestland in the program, ensuring that wooded acres conform to market standards and that enough acres are accumulated (aggregated) to trade stored carbon in large blocks. A service fee covering administrative expenses associated with the management of the program is charged by the aggregator, and varies by aggregator. " Because restrictions apply, only forest landowners with a serious and lasting commitment to long-term sustainable forest management should consider this program, " said Mercker. " Sellers be advised, " said Scott. " Landowners should do their homework on this before they sell their credits. " More information on carbon sequestration can be found on the following federal Web sites: http://www.fs.fed.us/ecosystemservices/carbon.shtml; http://www.epa.gov/sequestration/ http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_140562.asp Maine: 21) The state of Maine has called up troops from Virginia to combat a menace that's already wreaked havoc in the forests of Southern New England. The new " troops " are small enough to sit on the head of a pin, but they are big eaters. The little white dots, resembling snow, contain an invasive aphidlike-insects called hemlock wooly adelgid. Long a problem in states to the south, the adelgid is an unwelcome newcomer in Maine's southernmost county. And, it is already causing problems for wholesale growers like David Linney at Groundnut Hill Nursery in Cape Neddick. The Maine Forest Service is hoping to curtail the wooly adelgid's hungry march north with beetles. The tiny laricobius nigrinus feeds exclusively on adelgids. Entimologist Allison Kanoti is carefully placing the beetles on a stand of infected eastern hemlocks on land owned and harvested by the York Water District. There are roughly 670,000 acres of hemlock in Maine, or 6% of the forest. Losing these Maine native could have a devastating impact on both the economy and the environment. Hemlocks provide critical habitat for deer and other mammals. The soft wood is also harvested and used by Maine's pulp and paper industry. http://www.necn.com/Boston/SciTech/2008/12/03/Beetles-They-may-be-our/1228340835\ ..html USA: 22) A couple of years ago, a farmer brought locally grown chestnuts to the back door of the restaurant where I worked. My coworkers and I were excited to see them and, of course, we wanted some. However, we had no idea what to do with them in their raw form -- not one of us had ever cooked with them. Chestnuts seemed almost exotic to us -- I assumed they must be of European or Asian origin, since I had only encountered recipes and dishes made with chestnuts in cookbooks based on those regions. But a few years ago, I was with my father at a market in Asheville, North Carolina. It was mid-December and a man was standing outside selling roasted chestnuts. My Mississippi-born-and-raised father knew what they were and had a taste for them. Clearly, there was some history here that I was missing. It turns out that nut made famous by " The Christmas Song " isn't exotic at all in these parts. Until the early 20th century, chestnuts were a staple food along the Eastern seaboard, and chestnut trees dominated forests. The trees were massive -- up to 100 feet tall and five feet in diameter -- and were the center of the rural economy of the eastern United States. It has been said that in 1900 a squirrel could have traveled from Maine to Georgia on nothing but chestnut branches. By some estimates, one in every four trees in the Appalachian Mountains was a chestnut tree. The trees provided the soundest timber for construction, and with every mature tree producing 6,000 nuts, they delivered a key source of fodder for wildlife and livestock. Humans enjoyed them, too. They were relished for the sweet flavor that they added to breads, soups, and stews, and they were a very valuable food crop to Native Americans, who pounded them into meal. Everything changed in the early 1900s, when a Chinese chestnut tree at the Bronx Zoo suffered blight caused by a parasitic Asian fungus. The result was only cosmetic damage. But in perhaps the greatest ecological disaster in the history of the United States, the fungus spread to the American chestnut and completely decimated the majestic native forests from Maine to Mississippi by 1950. Although old American chestnut trees can still be found on the West Coast, all that remains of them on the East Coast are stumps, old barns, and split-rail fences. In 1983, the American Chestnut Foundation began with the goal of reestablishing the original glory of eastern chestnut forests by transferring the disease resistance of the Chinese species genetically to the American species while preserving all other characteristics of the American species. http://www.grist.org/advice/daughter/2008/12/04/?source=daily 23) The World Resources Institute and the Environmental Investigation Agency today launch a partnership to combat illegal logging worldwide and clean up timber supply chains. The partnership focuses on the 100-year old Lacey Act, which was recently amended to include plant products - including timber and wood. " The Lacey Act, if enforced, has the potential to send a powerful signal around the world that the U.S. is serious about curtailing illegal logging. Increasingly, illegal logging and deforestation contribute to climate change, " said Jonathan Lash, president of WRI. Signed into law by President William McKinley, the Lacey Act has been a powerful tool used by the U.S. to battle wildlife trafficking by prohibiting the transportation of illegally captured animals or wildlife products across state lines. The new amendment extends this protection to plants and their derivative products, including items ranging from lumber and wood furniture to paper and sporting goods. " The bill marks the first time that a major consuming country has made the trade in illegally logged wood a crime. It provides a precedent-setting tool to change the face of a $1 trillion industry, reduce deforestation, and improve forestry governance, " said Alexander von Bismarck, executive director at EIA. Proposed in 2007 by Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), with co-sponsorship by President-elect Barack Obama, the bill received widespread backing from a broad coalition of environmental, industry, and labor groups, led by the EIA. The WRI-EIA partnership will support the coalition by delivering objective and timely information to governments and the private sector to facilitate adherence to Lacey Act requirements. The Lacey Act allows the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute if a product is produced in violation of the relevant laws of the country of origin and is brought into the United States. " The WRI-EIA partnership will provide companies and government officials with FAQ sheets, forest information reports, and procurement guides. These will help them ask important questions to ensure their producers and importers trade in legally-sourced products, " said Dr. Lars Laestadius, senior associate at WRI. " The U.S. is the world's largest market for forest products, " said David Bonistall, vice president, Environmental, Health & Safety at NewPage. " The Lacey Act is monumental in that it could domino into other countries and increase transparency within the global wood market, ultimately enhancing the reputation of forest products as a sustainable material. " http://www.wri.org/press/2008/12/wri-eia-form-partnership-stem-illegal-forest-pr\ oducts-imported-us 24) Bank of America will phase out financing for companies that practice mountaintop removal coal mining, a destructive and controversial method of coal extraction, according to a statement from the banking giant. The policy comes the day after the Environmental Protection Agency — at the behest of the Bush administration — approved a rule that will make it easier for coal companies to dump waste from mountaintop removal mining operations into streams and valleys. " Bank of America is particularly concerned about surface mining conducted through mountain top removal in locations such as central Appalachia, " the company said in a statement. " We therefore will phase out financing of companies whose predominant method of extracting coal is through mountain top removal. While we acknowledge that surface mining is economically efficient and creates jobs, it can be conducted in a way that minimizes environmental impacts in certain geographies. " Bank of America is currently involved with eight of the U.S.'s top mountaintop removal coal-mining operators, according to the Rainforest Action Network, an environmental activist group that is campaigning against coal use. " Bank of America's decision is a giant leap forward in the fight against mountaintop removal coal mining, which has devastated Appalachian communities and the mountains and streams they depend on, " said Rebecca Tarbotton, director of Rainforest Action Network's Global Finance Campaign, which has pressured Bank of America since October 2007 to cease financing of mountaintop removal mining and coal-fired power plants. " We hope that Citi, JP Morgan Chase and other banks follow Bank of America's lead. " http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1204-coal.html 25) Now that Bank of America is cutting back on lending to mountain top removal mining companies, citing the environmental costs, rival Citigroup is weighing its options. " Bank of America's announcement has just been released so Citi will study the content, " the bank said on Friday. Citi and Bank of America were prime targets of Rainforest Action Network and others for their support of mountaintop removal mining for coal in Appalachia. Cutting the top off a mountain is a cheap and efficient way to get coal — and environmental groups call it an ecological disaster. " We are continuing to learn about this issue through engaging and listening to a variety of stakeholders, including our clients. Today we met with a number of industry, scientific, and community experts to listen and learn from their perspectives. Citi has a long history of engaging in dialogue with our stakeholders on this and other critical environmental issues, " the bank said. Rainforest Action Network says the bank has a history of funding dirty coal and has called Citi's steps to curb its carbon footprint small. The coal industry, on the other hand, says Bank of America is pandering to the the green movement at the expense of work in a place where jobs are few and far between. http://blogs.reuters.com/environment/2008/12/06/citi-mulls-moving-coal-mountains\ -after-bank-of-america-acts/ 26) On November 17, representatives of the National Forest Service, the National Forest Foundation and the local Chamber of Commerce gathered with iGPS personnel to plant a dozen new seedlings, the first of at least 100,000 that will be planted over the next two years, thanks to funding from iGPS. In prepared remarks, San Bernardino National Forest Supervisor Jeanne Wade Evans expressed the Forest Service's appreciation for iGPS' and the NFF's support. " Partners like iGPS and the National Forest Foundation play an important part in the restoration of the San Bernardino National Forest. It's this shared forest stewardship that is key to the management and restoration of our national forests. Planting new seedlings will help our wildlife, water systems and air quality and is important to future generations who are yet to enjoy our national forests. " Representing iGPS at the ceremony was Vice President of Marketing, Gary Garkowski. " iGPS is based on a foundation of sustainability and we are extremely pleased to contribute to the work that the National Forest Foundation is doing. For many years, pallets were always made of wood and dependent upon wood consumption. iGPS represents a change in technology and innovation that can help reduce deforestation. We are proud to be helping in the restoration of our national forests. " The iGPS campaign is helping to restore several of our nation's forests including Southern California's San Bernardino National Forest. Trees planted through the iGPS / NFF partnership will help absorb carbon and revitalize this landscape, which provides critical habitat for wildlife, fresh water resources, and outdoor recreation for millions of visitors. http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/iGPS-Launches-Partnership-With-National/st\ ory.aspx?guid={987C95C0-66B2-4711-9740-0FF85FB2FA17} 27) U.S. Forest Service scientists at the Center for Urban Forest Research are providing online software that can show users how much carbon dioxide an urban tree in California has sequestered in its lifetime and the past year. The Tree Carbon Calculator is free and programmed in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that provides carbon-related information for a single tree in one of six California climate zones. It is the only tool approved by the California Climate Action Registry's Urban Forest Project Reporting Protocol for quantifying carbon dioxide sequestration from tree planting projects. It can be found at the U.S. Forest Service Climate Change Resource Center Web site, http://www.fs.fed.us/ccrc/topics/urban-forests/ In addition, the tool is available on the Center for Urban Forest Research Web site, http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/programs/cufr/ Users enter information such as a tree's climate zone, species name, size or age. The program then estimates how much carbon dioxide the tree has sequestered in the past year and its lifetime. It also calculates the dry weight of the biomass that would be obtained if it were removed. Trees planted near buildings to cut heating and cooling costs require additional inputs because they also reduce the greenhouse gases power plants emit while generating electricity. The Tree Carbon Calculator automatically calculates power plant reductions using emission factors for local utilities. " The Tree Carbon Calculator is easy to use and provides quantifiable incentives for tree planting and stewardship projects, " said Greg McPherson, director of the Center for Urban Forest Research. " Anyone from homeowners to certified arborists can use it. " McPherson and his colleagues measured the size and growth of 5,000 trees in the six climate zones to determine how much carbon dioxide the trees sequestered and stored. The scientists determined tree shade effects on building energy performance by conducting more than 12,000 simulations that examined combinations of tree sizes, building locations and architectural styles for each zone. " Microclimates, building characteristics and other factors can vary greatly within the six climate zones, " McPherson said. " But, this software demonstrates the feasibility of a tool that quantifies the effect of urban trees on building energy performance. " In 2009, the Center for Urban Forest Research will add data for tree species in climate zones across the nation, McPherson said. http://www.fs.fed.us/ccrc/topics/urban-forests/ 28) The Forest Service is estimated to have a $10 billion road maintenance backlog. The new Forest Watershed Restoration Corps would invest $250 million annually for two years reclaiming roads that are no longer needed, fixing culverts and performing critical maintenance on needed roads to ensure long-term access for resource management and the public. Borrowing a page from one of the most popular New Deal programs, The Legacy Roads Restoration Initiative today proposed a program to create a $500 million Forest Watershed Restoration Corps within the National Forest Service. The Forest Watershed Restoration Corps could be funded as part of the Economic Stimulus Package currently being planned by Congress and President-Elect Obama's Transition Team and would restore ecologically damaged forest watersheds while creating 3,500 high-skill, family-wage jobs per year in rural communities. The funding would be invested in the Forest Service's Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative – a program first funded in 2008 to protect and restore clean drinking water, fisheries and aquatic habitat by reclaiming unneeded roads, restoring fish passage, and performing critical maintenance on needed Forest Service roads. The proposal was announced in conjunction with an oversight hearing on green jobs and economic stimulus in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee this morning. Nearly 100 individuals and organizations from around the country, including retired Forest Service officials, labor unions, and conservationists, have endorsed the program. " This year, with the onset of the recession and job losses skyrocketing, the coalition saw an opportunity to tackle two problems with one solution, " said Wildlands CPR Executive Bethanie Walder. " President-elect Obama's economic stimulus package is not only a chance to create high-skill green- collar jobs with long-term economic benefits, it will also protect valuable resources — our forest watersheds and fisheries — from degrading. " The jobs proposed for the Forest Watershed Restoration Corps would go to local workers in rural, resource-dependent communities. " Many of the green-collar jobs currently being discussed would provide much-needed urban jobs and focus on reducing our carbon footprint. This proposal is a great companion to those programs – it would provide rural jobs with an emphasis on restoring our public lands and water so they are more resilient to climate change, " said Dennis Daneke, Representative with Carpenters Local 28 in Missoula, MT. According to the Forest Service, more than 60 million Americans, in 3400 communities, get their drinking water from Forest Service watersheds. " The first, and most important, step towards protecting clean drinking water, productive fisheries and critical wildlife habitat is to take care of the crumbling road system, " said Emily Platt, Gifford Pinchot Task Force Executive Director. " National forests in Washington alone have a $300 million backlog just to meet minimum clean water standards. " http://bark-out.org/content/article.php?section=news & id=534 29) The Fast Food Junkies are still at it! Trashing our forests to make their throw away packaging! And during the holidays even more so? This is a busy season for food on the go, and all that food is still being wrapped in Southern forests. Before Thanksgiving we made over 500 calls to the CEO of Wendy's/Arby's, Mr. Roland Smith, to make sure he took some Dogwood Alliance activism with him to the turkey table. Now this week, before Christmas, we can send him another message loud and clear - Click here to send a message on your own fast food billboard! We've whipped up a very special holiday gift for Mr. Smith and we need you to deliver it to him. Take a few minutes out of the hussle and bustle to put your own thoughts on a fast-food billboard. Use your creativity and humor to let him know that our forests should not be used for fast food packaging! We'll create a forum with the photos, and we want to be sure to include yours. If you can do more than one, that's great! Click here to generate your fast food sign! http://www.dogwoodalliance.org/sg/default.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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