Earth’s Tree News 117

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Hey tree friends, 39 news items for you. The subject heading and number of each is listed below, the article follows even further below:--Alaska: 1)Bear-fish-tree ecology --British Columbia: 2) Great Bear Travesty, 3) Kimberly-Clark fraud, 4) Enviros for BC interior protection, 5) Spite Cutting the last Owl habitat--Oregon: 6) Governor seeks roadless comment --California: 7) Pacific Lumber's story, 8) 273,000 acres of new wilderness, 9) Thinning Tehachapi Mountain Park --Montana: 10) Stream restoration in Lolo NF, --Colorado: 11) Battling Beetle infestation in Cordillera --New Mexico: 12) Lincoln NF long-term plan--Wisconsin: 13) Selling Sauk County Forest --Indiana: 14) Ash Borer wood products--North Carolina: 15) loblolly pines clearcut on the 29 acres 16) Forest Stewardship Award--Southeast Forests: 17) Invasive Tallow as a forest product?--USA: 18) American Recreation Coalition Corruption--Canada: 19) The Papineau Oak--England: 20) City destroys Cherry tree forest--Spain: 21) Planting a 3.5 hectare Mediterranean forest--China: 22) China to Rent Siberia, 23) 24) 25) Russian Timber Trade--Liberia: 26) Malaysian criminals posing as investors--Guyana: 27) Need for Kilns to dry wood--Venezuela: 28) Government runs strong reforestation program--Brazil: 29) Drought details, 30) McDonald's will not buy Brazilian Soy, --Paraguay: 31) Ayoreo Indians territory logged--Japan: 32) Need for certification to import lumber--Cambodia: 33) Many Jailed in Logging Scandal--Malaysia: 34) Battling illegal logging, 35) Rimbunan Hijau (RH) dominates the logging industry, --Indonesia: 36) Forest rangers have confiscated 100 logs, 37) planned logging of the Malua and Ulu Segama 38) Borneo, Georgia Pacific story, 39) Hunting Reserves in Sabah, ------------Alaska:1) An analysis of more than 20,000 carcasses revealed that bears consumed about 25 percent of each captured salmon, selectively eating only the parts highest in fat content, such as the eggs. In fact, it is common for bears to carry a carcass to the stream bank and not eat a bite after finding it is a male salmon or a female that has already spawned her eggs. Salmon do not feed once they enter freshwater, so their body fat, which is quite high initially, is progressively depleted--by 90 percent or more--as they migrate and spawn. At a small stream in southeastern Alaska, for instance, we observed a 200-kilogram female brown bear capture more than 40 chum salmon during several foraging bouts over the course of eight hours. She removed over 143 kilograms of salmon (70 percent of her body weight!) from the stream but consumed only a small fraction of this bounty. Flies, beetles, slugs and other invertebrates colonize the carcasses almost immediately and deposit their eggs there. Gulls, ravens, crows, jays, magpies, mink, marten, and other species of birds and mammals readily and often quickly make a meal of the carcasses. In Washington State, researchers have compiled a list of more than 50 species of terrestrial vertebrates nourished by salmon carcasses. We have found that densities of insectivorous songbirds can be higher along salmon streams than along waterways that do not support spawning salmon, suggesting that the bird communities respond to the abundance of insects produced by the harvest of salmon carcasses. In the longer term, the foraging of all these animals, together with leaching by rain and microbial activity, breaks down the carcasses, making the nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients available to riparian plants. Plant growth in northern forests is often limited by either nitrogen or phosphorus, and thus the bears' foraging activities may influence growth rates of many plant species in these areas. In some cases, up to 70 percent of the nitrogen in the foliage of streamside shrubs and trees is of salmon origin. Not surprisingly, one study found that growth of Sitka spruce, the dominant streamside tree in the area, was three times greater along salmon streams than along nonsalmon streams. Thus, any management action that reduces the number of salmon or bears will affect the nutrient flow and the many creatures that depend on it. http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006 & articleID=000C6B0F-B1A0-14C0-B04F83414B7F0000 & p

ageNumber=3 & catID=2British Columbia:2) To continue to hear the celebration of the Great Bear travesty (again and again) is the tip of the iceberg. The thing that bothers me the most is the lying....yes, telling lies about what the word Protection means, making statements regarding glorious " cooperative " work and planning. The funders require the grand-standing and the PR, but do they also need the lies? Every time I read another 'story'....self-congratulating and filled with mis-information........ I think how much this approach is hurting the environmental movement...in BC and in Canada. It is not just the stupidity of collaboration with power structures; it is the simple-minded arrogance that if " they " say it...then it is so. Fact checks and careful reading expose to everyone I know that these people(ENGO-powers) are not honest, accurate or trustworthy. This affects all of " us " and our work. We have come to a point where the " assumed authority " of the major ENGO's should be challenged. They don't care about what we think, they don't care about our values, and they certainly don't care about our opinion. They are a handful of people that only talk to themselves and their funders; this not the basis for good decision-making. Even the process/point of dialogue (discussion and diversity where parties disagree) and the growth of principles (based on truth and honest assessment) is impeded by the control and PR-power of the 'ENGO-group'. I have had it said to my face that un-paid enviro's " resent " the paid staffers and managers; that I resent paid workers. I have never resented fair payment to anyone (and I have been paid at times) since I know that environmentalists can be more effective if they are financially secure. That principle has been turned on it's head so that we now have paid ENGO's who routinely exploit unpaid volunteers. I cannot tell you how many times and for how many paid ENGO's I have been asked (and completed) technical assessment and work. I still do this because I think it may help some locals or save someplace from contamination. I am sure that I am not the only one that is exploited financially by ENGO's. Where are the principles of fairness, equity and respect for everyone? Glenda Ferris [gferris]3) Greenpeace requested that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) look into statements by Kimberly-Clark executives regarding their wood pulp policy. The environmental group publicly revealed investigative evidence today that Kimberly-Clark uses pulp from the coastal temperate rainforests of British Columbia, despite repeated public claims to the contrary. The claims, which date as far back to 1998, appear in numerous company publications including the company's 2006 proxy statement, 2005 Sustainability Report, and correspondences with the SEC. The pulp in question is used in the manufacture of disposable tissue products sold around the world, including the Kleenex brand. "We now know that Kimberly-Clark has been lying to the public and its shareholders for years to make itself look like a greener company than it actually is," said Christy Ferguson, a forests campaigner with Greenpeace. "This is totally unacceptable. Kimberly-Clark executives need to stop making empty claims and start implementing meaningful policies to track the company's fibre supply and reduce its impact on ancient forests." The evidence, compiled in an investigative report entitled Chain of Lies: the Truth about Kimberly-Clark's Use of Ancient Rainforests for Tissue Products, details the movement of wood pulp from coastal temperate rainforests in British Columbia to Seattle-area sawmills to the company's pulp mill in Everett, Washington. The evidence is based in part on US Customs data. 4) Twelve environmental organizations in the southern and central Interior of BC say that the area is losing many species of plants and wildlife that are dependent upon old-growth forest and wilderness. The groups have signed a declaration that says the major cause is habitat loss due to logging, roads and hydroelectric development. The declaration calls upon the federal and provincial governments to cease logging all old-growth forest over 140 years of age. " The public needs to know that after 40 years of industrial clearcutting, we have very little old-growth forest left in this part of BC. There is very little old-growth protected in our parks, and most of it is high elevation, which leaves unprotected the large ancient trees at low and mid elevations on which so many species depend. " Chris Blake, Project Manager for the Quesnel River Watershed Alliance, adds " if we protect the habitat of a large species, like the mountain caribou, we are actually protecting many more species that depend on that ecosystem. " The declaration says that federal and provincial programs to save the mountain caribou have been inadequate. " The chief problem with the current recovery process is that the government has been dragging it out for years while the logging of mountain caribou habitat is going on, " says Colleen McCrory, Executive Director of the Valhalla Wilderness Society. " This talk-and-log process is a sham. Logging old-growth forest reduces mountain caribou numbers, it just does it more slowly than if the animals were shot or killed by predators. The government doesn't get to claim it is trying to save caribou while in fact it is allowing its habitat to be destroyed. " The signatories to the Declaration are the Applied Ecological Stewardship Council, Argenta Creek Concerned Water Users, Fraser Headwaters Alliance, Friends of the Lardeau, the Granby Wilderness Society, Kids for Caribou, Perry Ridge Water Users Association, Purcell Alliance for Wilderness, Quesnel River Watershed Alliance, Save-The-Cedar League, Western Canada Wilderness Committee, and the Valhalla Wilderness Society. " We call this the Grassroots Environmental Declaration for British Columbia's Inland Rainforest Region, " says Colleen McCrory. 5) "Why would a logging company purposefully fall trees in an area with a documented nest of one of Canada's most endangered species?" Miller asked. In early July, Miller got a close look at the mini-clearcuts in a remote area of the Anderson Valley north of Hope, BC. "It appears that this covert logging operation was not completed, and that the loggers quickly abandoned the site for unknown reasons." Trees were felled but not hauled out, he said. The old-growth groves in the Anderson Valley are not accessible by road. The logging crew apparently came and went by helicopter. Cattermole Timber spokesman Ted Holtby and Chilliwack District Forest Supervisor Kerry Grozier deny any wrongdoing, and a provincial official says logging has been suspended pending more surveys to determine if any owls remain in the area. Kevin Jardine at the Species At Risk Coordination Office said Cattermole Timber was asked in April to voluntarily suspend logging in the area, in return for logging rights in other timber stands.[1] Holtby is angry with the conservation group about what he calls "misinformation." Holtby said the company is financially pressured by court delays and the costs of preparing the grove for logging, which have already hit $60,000.[2] "There's no way to recoup that money and the government isn't going to cut us a check," Holtby said. Experts have predicted Canada's spotted owl population will be extinct by 2010.[3] The loss of a nest site this month stacks the odds against new chicks hatching next year and in the future. http://www.gnn.tv/articles/2438/Killing_Spotted_Owls_with_ChainsawsOregon:Governor Kulongoski is opposing this reckless policy and is preparing to submit a petition to the federal government that will call for protecting ALL of the roadless wildlands in our state. But before he does, he wants to hear from you! Please attend the Governor's upcoming public forum in Medford, or submit an official comment and let him know that you support full protection for Oregon's roadless wildlands. Wednesday, August 16, 6 - 8 pm, 411 W. 8th St. or submit a comment by Sept. 8 to Governor Kulongoski, Natural Resources Office 900 Court Street NE, Salem, Oregon 97301 Your support is important! Because once these special places are gone, they're gone forever. Oregon's pristine wildlands are vital parts of what makes our state such a special place to live, work, and raise a family. They provide our communities with safe drinking water, scenic beauty, wildlife habitat and world-class opportunities to hike, camp, fish, and hunt. But many of the roadless areas in our National Forests are threatened by the Bush administration's ill-advised plan to open them to logging, mining, and road-building. When the President repealed the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, he put 58.5 million acres of America's public lands at risk for development, including two million acres here in Oregon! California: One by one, Murphy clasped the bales with a mechanical claw, lifted them into the air and ferried them back to a flat-bed trailer, stacking them in neat rows to be hauled off to the barn. He worked the field alone. Above him, boxing in the 350-acre family ranch on three sides, were steep, forested hills Pacific Lumber land. There was a time when Warren Murphy, like his ancestors before him, had a personal interest in those hills, and in the rest of Pacific Lumber's hundreds of thousands of acres. His great-great-grandfather had owned the company. Succeeding generations expanded its timber holdings, especially during the Depression, when land was going cheap. Even after his father, Stanwood A. Murphy, took the company to the New York Stock Exchange in the 1970s, he continued to run the place, and many expected that his sons and their sons would continue to do so. But that was before Pacific Lumber and with it, the county at large ran headlong into the Wall Street sharks that ran amok in the country in the 1980s. Since then, the forests above Murphy's house are only scenery to him. They have to fend for themselves. And who knows how they'll end up? After a bumpy 20-year run in Humboldt County, the Maxxam Corp., the Houston-based holding company that bought out Pacific Lumber, is on the wane here. Charles Hurwitz, Maxxam's founder, chief executive officer and largest shareholder, financed his takeover on the back of the company, putting it deeply into hock to pay for the pleasure of becoming owned by him. That debt has never been paid down significantly, despite the billions of dollars the company generated from operations and from asset sales in years since. Nowadays, the company struggles to keep itself out of bankruptcy, selling off land and frantically borrowing cash in order to scrape together enough to service the company's massive debt. The company has to find around $28 million each January and July this semester's payment comes due this week just to pay off the interest. Lately, that money hasn't come from making boards. After Maxxam bought the company, it instantly increased doubled or tripled the rate of cut. The strategy then and the strategy since, cynics say, has been to convert those paper assets into hard cash as fast as ever the company could. http://www.northcoastjournal.com/072006/cover0720.html8) The legislation would permanently protect more than 273,000 acres of beautiful coastal mountains, scenic rivers and wild forests from the Oregon border to Napa County as wilderness. The legislation includes additions to the Trinity-Alps, Siskiyou and Yolla Bolly Wilderness Areas. This marks the greatest victory for California wilderness since the passage of the Big Sur Wilderness and Conservation Act of 2002 and the largest California wilderness bill since the passage of the California Desert Protection Act of 1994. Congressman Thompson, wilderness advocates and their supporters have fought diligently and passionately for this bill. Senator Barbara Boxer said she hopes to move the House bill through the Senate for quick passage. While this is great news and reason to celebrate, hundreds of thousands of acres of wilderness quality lands in the Klamath-Siskiyou, both in California and Oregon, remain at-risk. Many of these areas receive less attention due to their remote location and political landscape. For example, more than 100,000 deserving acres of roadless lands along the Siskiyou Crest (near the Oregon/California border) lie in Congressman Wally Herger's district, who has staunchly opposed efforts to permanently protect them. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/25/MNGJCK4UM91.DTL take action: http://www.kswild.org9) Looking up at Tehachapi Mountain Park (TMP) from Highline or Water Canyon Road below may give the impression of a lush green forest filling Tehachapi's southern horizon. That beauty is deceptive, like the translucent rainbow of a jellyfish waiting to sting; TMP is a tinderbox waiting to explode. Devastated by years of overgrowth, combined with a bark beetle infestation of the numerous fir trees, TMP's fuel supply for a catastrophic fire is at a critical point. "I think we're lucky with all these lightning strikes that we haven't had a fire," said Kern County Fire Department (KCFD) Battalion Chief Ken Stevens. Reinforcing both opinions was Matt Pontes, assistant parks director for Kern County, and the lead in charge of the pending thinning and healthy forest project. "Every year we wait, more and more fuel builds up there and with all the fires going on, it's got us pretty nervous," said Pontes. The thinning project was the brain child of the Greater Tehachapi Fire Safe Council (GTFSC), headed by Joe Fontaine, who works with the Sierra Club as well. Pontes said Fontaine, an environmentalist, "had his eyes opened" when he viewed the upper regions of the park. He also said Fontaine couldn't believe how bad it had gotten. The project is known as the Timber Harvest Plan and is still awaiting approval by the CDF. The plan will involve the clearing of deadfall and slash that now cover the forest floor. Stevens said the more deadfall on the ground, the hotter a fire will burn. A Licensed Timber Operator (LTO) will also remove the dead and dying trees.Stevens said standing snags (dead trees) act as sparklers, catching embers at their tops and sending out more embers to ignite other trees.http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/viewarticle.php?cat_id=383 & post=19067Montana:

10) Standing on the end of a pile of logs jutting out into Rock Creek, Brian Riggers peers in its not-so-cool waters. "It's already scoured a foot or more and fish have found it," said the Lolo National Forest fisheries program manager. "This hole is just going to get larger and better for fish. Š Next spring's high flows will be moving basketball size rocks out of here." The debris jam has everything a trout could want on a hot summer day - cool shade and a deep pool. And when high water hits next spring, the huge root wads will slow the rush and give fish a place to rest. Using a relatively new program called stewardship contracting - which allows the agency to sell timber and use the receipts for nearby projects - the Lolo National Forest put together a plan to cut down the dead trees that could be hazardous to humans. About 150 trees were sold for timber and about 50 were set aside to use in building new homes for trout. Money the agency made selling the trees would pay for the habitat improvement project. Over the past few weeks, a pair of skilled excavator operators from Idaho's Worman Contracting carefully pushed over dead Douglas fir and eased them through the forest maze and into place in Rock Creek. It's a remarkable feat considering some trees topped out taller than 130 feet. http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2006/07/27/news/mtregional/news03.txtColorado:11) In a massive effort to control the spread of the pine beetle infestation in Cordillera, the community's Property Owners Association and Wildfire and Healthy Forest Committee hired contractors to remove about 4,000 trees this summer. "This is the most aggressive effort by any private community in the valley," said Marty Suarez, Cordillera Metro District's marketing director. Another 2,500 trees were sprayed with a special mix of chemicals, called Astro, which was the most effective and least toxic spray recommended by the Division of Forestry, said Emily Mitchell, the metro district's president. "The pine beetle problem hit us hard this year and we're trying to get ahead of it," Mitchell said. "We believe in getting ahead of it, we can take out the infested trees and allow our forest to start to regenerate so you're not taking out massive amounts of trees at once, where you have landslide problems." Spraying the trees cost $11 to $12 per tree and is 90 percent effective, whereas removing a tree costs between $150 and $200 each, the district officials said. In all, the metro district spent close to half a million dollars. About 40 percent of the infested trees were on private property and in people's yards, said Bob Egizi, the director of public safety for Cordillera, who headed the effort. The homeowners had to pay for the removal of the trees in their yard, but the spraying was free. http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20060726/NEWS/60726009New Mexico:12) The Forest Service will be working with the public to develop the strategic direction that will guide the Lincoln Forest into the next 10 to 15 years. " We're going to be emphasizing the implementation of the southwestern region's central priority, " Woltering said, the central priority being the restoration of " fire into fire " adapted ecosystems. Fire into fire, he explained, is an attempt to reestablish the natural fire systems that existed long ago, so that there isn't excessive undergrowth that can provide fuel for wildfires. " Historically, " he said, " our ecosystems burned every 40 to 50 years, over hundreds of years. " Bryan Bird, Southwest forests program director for Forest Guardians, said a study called the Lincoln Capability Assessment examined the option of increasing logging and dropping protections for the Mexican owl around certain communities. " Scientists are saying we don't need to drop protections for the owl, to keep the forest safe, " Bird said. " Lincoln has a critical Mexican owl population, because it is helping to repopulate other parts of the state where there are not enough of them. " Rosmarino explains that one of the owls' important sources of food is the Mexican vole, a type of rodent. She said the vole needs four inches of plant cover, which they use for food and for cover. If pastures are being over-grazed, this can drop below four inches and threaten the vole population. Rosmarino said grazing levels need to be lowered during times of drought. She said droughts are " a natural part of our ecology, and with climate change they're going to be even more of a factor. " According to Rosmarino, there is an " abysmal over-utilization of forage on the Sacramento allotment. The elk herd has been reduced by more than half. " Rosmarino said there used to be a population of 4,000 elk, and as of the last count the population had dwindled to 1,768. " Few people benefit from livestock operations, " Rosmarino said.She said the forest service is not doing enough to control grazing, and that dozens of times per year the livestock are in unauthorized areas. " Gates are left open, perhaps intentionally, " Rosmarino said. http://www.alamogordonews.com/news/ci_4093447Wisconsin:13) The Property and Insurance Committee will discuss the 690-acre Sauk County Forest when it meets Wednesday morning, said Supervisor Virgil Hartje of rural La Valle. Selling the property has been suggested as one means of raising money to build a new county nursing home, he said. Sauk County acquired the first 272 acres of the forest as tax delinquent property in 1939, said Steve Koenig, parks and recreation director. At the time it was a heavily eroded land with blowing sand and scrub oaks. Over the following decades the county planted thousands of trees there and worked to turn it into healthy pine plantation, he said. In 1949 the county purchased another 77 acres, and made several other purchases through 1959 until the forest reached its present size. Sauk County periodically cuts trees from the property to raise money, remove unhealthy trees or thin overcrowded areas, he said. http://www.wiscnews.com/bnr/news/index.php?ntid=92649 & ntpid=1Indiana:14) Few companies are authorized to remove the emerald ash borer or other pests from trees. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has certified 15 companies nationwide can handle infested wood. Eight of the certified companies, including Solid Rock Forestry, actually remove the insects from the wood, USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service spokeswoman Karen Eggert said. The rest distribute wood from quarantined areas to other parts of the country where the emerald ash borer has not yet infested trees. Solid Rock Forestry, which employs 28, expects to reach full production by the end of this month. Only four months after the company set up shop in a 12,000-square-foot warehouse and office along U.S. 20, Solid Rock Forestry already is considering expanding its building and workforce, said Dennis Carey, a part owner of the business. http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/15125106.htmNorth Carolina:15) Because the felling of loblolly pines on the 29.8-acre site on Calabash Road near U.S. 17 falls under forest management, it is regulated by the state and is immune to the town's new tree ordinance, says Charles L. Tate of Lake Waccamaw, a real estate broker and "consulting forester" for the site known as the Mitchell heirs tract. Gary DeNobrega, president of the Carolina Shores North Property Owners Association, said residents are skeptical the clear-cutting was done for "forest management" and without future development in mind. DeNobrega complained the recent tree-felling, along with the installation of storage buildings at the adjacent Carolina Business Park has destroyed buffer zones around the neighborhood. "We want to protect the interest of our property," DeNobrega said. "We don't want our property to devaluate. We're trying to pursue some avenue." http://www.brunswickbeacon.com/articles/2006/07/26/free/03-free.txt16) Dr. Birch McMurray, retired veterinarian, was recently certified by the North Carolina Forest Stewardship Program for his management accomplishments on his 140 acre tract in Polk County. As a certified forest steward, Dr. McMurray joins the ranks of a growing number of landowners being recognized for their commitment to natural resource conservation and management on private land. Curtis Jessen, Service Forester with the North Carolina Forest Service explains, "The Forest Stewardship Program provides interested landowners with the means to develop a forest management plan based on their goals and objectives for their property. The plan is designed to help a landowner address ways to promote wildlife, improve timber production, protect forest health, conserve soil and water, and enhance recreation and aesthetics, both in the long and short term." Dr. McMurray enrolled his old family farm, located in Green Creek Township, in the program in 1998 at the urging of the Polk County District Conservationist. "The farm has been in my family for three generations. My dad and my grandfather both farmed the place, and struggled to keep the soils productive. Trees have been planted over the years. Members of the Polk County Stewardship Committee presented the landowner with a certification plaque, a bluebird box, and a Stewardship sign to display on his farm. http://www.tryondailybulletin.com/news/19373.aspSoutheast Forests:17) Because Chinese tallow tree grows rapidly, has seeds rich in oils, abundant flowers, and colorful fall foliage, it has been widely planted both as an ornamental and a crop across the Southeast. Now considered a noxious pest by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, the plant has become a serious problem in east Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, where is establishes dense stands that quickly out compete most other tree species. The rapid expansion of the Chinese tallow tree into Southern forests has lead to a call to investigate its possible uses in the forest products industry. The low density and light color of the wood make it an ideal candidate for producing composite panels, especially oriented strandboard, medium density fiberboard and particleboard, said Les Groom, project leader for the SRS Utilization of Southern Forest Resources unit in Pineville, LA, and co-author of the article with SRS research scientist Tom Eberhardt and technologist Chung Hse. One of the barriers to using Chinese tallow tree for composites has been the fear that by developing an industrial use for the plant we would be encouraging people to plant more of it, Groom continued. But if it performs well as the sole material for composite panels, it should also perform well when mixed with other species. So, if mixed stands of trees are harvested commercially for use in composites, the Chinese tallow tree in the stand could be added in without affecting product quality. http://www.azom.com/details.asp?newsID=6161USA:18) Today, a major shift in federal land management policy is being developed and implemented. Instead of extracting commodities from nature, nature itself is being converted into a commodity to be repackaged, marketed and sold in the form of value-added recreation products. The American Recreation Coalition are not happy campers. Last year they came within an inch of re-writing the mission of the National Park System when Paul Hoffman introduced their preferred version for new NPS Management Policies. Fortunately, the American people refused to go along, and the ARC was handed a major setback. As you will see below .... American Recreation Coalition is now prepared to fight the American People. Mind you ... the American Recreation Coalition has been fighting the American People for over two decades. Unfortunately, until recently, the American People just never had a clue what the ARC was doing to them. http://www.funoutdoors.comTake action: http://www.wildwilderness.orgCanada:19) About one hundred kilometres (80 miles) outside of Montreal in Montebello, Quebec is the former residence of Louis–Joseph Papineau. Papineau was the leader of an uprising in 1837 in Lower Canada (Quebec) that demanded representational government for the colonies. Papineau's attempt at change was a failure and he and other leaders were forced to flee to the Untied States where they spent ten or so year in exile. When he returned to Quebec in 1845 he set to establishing his home in Montebello and it was while having the lands cleared for its building that he preserved this solitary oak to give his home a sense of history. Today, just like some of its older relatives in Europe, the Papineau Oak is on crutches. Three props, one ten meters and two six meters, are now being used to help support the weight of the lower branches. Parks Canada is hopeful that this will be sufficient to ensure that the tree outlives the rest of us. Near the beginning of this post I wondered what it is about oak trees that makes them appeal to so many people. While some, like me, have specific reasons for being attracted to oak trees, I think the fact that they are so old gives them a certain romantic appeal. You can stand in Sherwood Forest and say Robin Hood walked by that tree. Or you can visit The Chapel Oak of Allouville-Bellefosse in Normandy, France that is two chapels built inside the hollow core of a nearly 800-year-old tree and think of the pilgrims over the years who have worshiped in the shrine. In this highly impermanent world that we are living in now, the oak tree is a sign of strength and endurance in the face of all that the world and nature has to throw against it. Perhaps we look to it as an example to help us carry on in the face of so much strife. Or maybe it's just because they make such nice places to have picnics under, with lots of shade. http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/07/27/153533.phpEngland:20) NEIGHBOURS were horrified to find the trees outside their houses were hacked down by council employees last week. The cherry blossom trees in North Bank Road, Walthamstow, have been keeping residents in the shade for at least 36 years and blossoming beautifully every spring. But homeowners were dumbfounded when they saw that they had been chopped down. Before the work was carried out, residents received letters from Waltham Forest's environmental services department saying that their street would be part of a footpath renewal scheme. It said: " The work is part of our Clean Conscience campaign to make the borough a cleaner and greener and safer place to live and work. " But Ms Meyer said: " How can they make the borough greener if they are cutting the trees down? I think it's disgraceful. " The council confirmed that the trees which had been chopped down would be removed completely. Cllr Bob Belam, cabinet member for the environment, said: " The council is committed to being greener, planted more than 800 trees across the borough last year and replaces every tree it has to remove. They are removed for a variety of reasons including disease and old age. " In some instances, pavement renewal works can cause extensive damage to roots so a decision is taken to remove them before they become decayed and/or unstable. " http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/walthamforest/walthamforestnews/display.var.851504.0

..councils_green_policy_involves_total_removal_of_healthy_trees.phpSpain:21) Around 30 volunteers aged between 18 and 26 are currently contributing to the creation of a 3.5-hectare Mediterranean forest at parque guadalteba in campillos. The project has been underway for a number of years, with students of local occupation-training programmes usually responsible for carrying out the work. But the group currently working at the site is part of a summer work camp put on by the Andalucía Youth Institute. The young volunteers are preparing a recreation area at the site, planting trees, restoring pathways and trails and installing litter bins, benches and tables. The zone they are working on will serve as the main arrival and reception area of the forest-park. Over the last several years, students of occupational-training programmes have collected seeds and plants to be distributed throughout the site. A wide array of plants and trees, many of them threatened species, are to be planted in zones representing different sub-types of the forest. A 1.3-kilometre trail will lead visitors through the various zones and to the Sierra de Peñarrubia bird observatory and the nearby Roman ruins. One zone includes medicinal plants and trees, herbs, olive trees and other commercially grown species. The site already counts 106 distinct varieties of olive tree. Project organisers say that within two years about 45 per cent of the manmade forest will be accessible to visitors. http://www.costadelsolnews.es/localnews/000000980e091890a/Russia:

22) China is ready to rent 1 m ha of forest in Siberia as part of " a pilot project on joint use of forest resources " , Ministry for Nature press service reported with a reference to recent Russian-Chinese talks. Such a proposal was made at the meeting of Li Yuchai, a deputy-head of PRC State Administation on Forestry with Boris Bolshakov, a deputy-head of Russian Federal Forestry Agency (Rosleskhoz). Li Yuchai reported that Chinese economy was in acute need of forest resources and considered Russia its main strategic partner with its huge timber stocks. As Rosleskhoz explained, the pilot project assumes " establishment of an enterprise that will rent forestry, 1 m ha in area, produce and process timber, including pulp production, with Chinese investment at conditions of forestry laws of the Russian Federation (long-term rent of woods) " . A Siberian region may become an experimental ground. Rosleskhoz is ready to provide any information about wood stocks in Russia, ways of its production and procession, facilities and transport logistics. http://english.newslab.ru/news/19725323) At the edge of a sawmill site in Dalnerechensk in Russia's Primorsky region, 1,100 cubic meters of oak and ash timber is piled high. The logs, some of which are about a meter across, were seized in March by the Economic Crime Bureau of the region's Interior Department and have been kept by it ever since. Evegeny Tur, vice chief of the bureau's fourth special investigation force in charge of the timber probe, said: " We found the logs in a storehouse in a village about 122 kilometers from here. But we didn't find any documents indicating where the logs were cut down or who they were bought from. " According to Tur, when investigators discovered the logs, two Chinese men who owned them had returned to their home country to extend their visas, but never came back to the village. " They probably intended to transport the logs into China by train or export them to either Japan or Canada from a port at Vladivostok, " Tur said. Timber exports from Russia have soared recently. According to the Russian Natural Resources Ministry's forest management department, Russia exported 48 million cubic meters of timber in 2005. Between January and March this year, total exports increased by 10 percent compared with the same period last year, with most of these logs being shipped to China. According to foreign trade statistics compiled by the Chinese government, timber exported to China from Russia in 2005 rose to 20.04 million cubic meters, about 38 times more than the 520,000 cubic meters reported in 1996. These logs are processed in China and some are exported to Japan, Europe and the United States to be used for furniture and flooring materials. http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/science/20060727TDY04002.htm24) Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev said he intended to stamp out illegal logging. As part of this push, Nurgaliev ordered investigative authorities across Russia to crack down on corruption and smuggling, in addition to uncovering cases contravening the public servant law. Investigations in the Primorsky region resulted in 24 cases being established over violations of the law. In one case, the head of the regional forest office in Roschino, a town 90 kilometers from Dalnerechensk, has been charged and is scheduled to appear in court. According to environmental prosecutor Gennadii Zherebkin, the office head has been indicted for allegedly allowing a company to cut down 800 cubic meters of oak and ash trees without official permission, violating Section 260 of the penal code. The company had been allowed to log the trees to curb the spread of disease and insect damage among trees to keep the rest of the forest healthy. But the office head failed to conduct an environmental evaluation before the logging, in which he was supposed to assess the overall environmental impact it would have, in addition to examining whether the requested logging was necessary at all. " I'm 100 percent confident that I'm going to win the case, " he added. However, logging under the guise of protecting forests from disease and insect damage has been conducted more often than necessary, and one expert pointed out that under current conditions lumber companies and regional forest offices are making huge profits. http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/science/20060727TDY04002.htm25) The forest in the Roschino case is on a mountain at about 1,500 meters above sea level in the central Sikhote Alin mountain range. From a distance, the mountain surface looks like a mosaic of deep greens, dazzling yellow-green and reddish brown. Yet a closer look reveals the several spots where trees were cut down. The trees were cut in a 120,000-hectare area that the Russian government has designated as a first-grade zone to protect Korean Pines and the nuts harvested from them. The logging was supposedly allowed to clear away sick trees. But the sick ones have been left lying on the ground, while the healthy timber has been carried out from the zone. Sergey Brotashov, a 55-year-old mining firm employee who drove the writer to the mountain, complained, " What a reckless thing they've done. " Sergey Ananin, chief of the Forest Complex Department in the Primorsky region, said, " Out of about 4 million cubic meters of timber cut down last year in this region, 20 percent is believed to have been logged illegally. " http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/science/20060727TDY04002.htm

Liberia:26) The pro-environmental group, Association of Environmental Lawyers, says Liberia will not welcome criminals posing as investors. The warning of the association, also referred to as the Green Advocates, came in the wake of what it called influx of gangsters, underworld characters, criminals, and rights abusers into the country to rip the nation's forests as it were during the Taylor administration. " They supported, financed and fueled the war economy of Liberia and promoted the war machinery of Liberia's worst despots and tyrants," he said. A Green Advocates press statement issued yesterday revealed that representatives of a " notorious " Malaysian conglomerate, Rimbunan Hijau Group of Companies and its shell surrogate, Mafrica Corporation Sdn. Bhd, were amongst fly-by-night investors who were currently in the country to take advantage of the partial lifting of UN sanctions on Liberian forest products. The group said it was alarmed and appalled by recent local media reports that the Vice President of Liberia has received a reciprocal visit from a Malaysian investment delegation comprising Hii Hung Kai, managing partner, Wong Soon Seng, General Manager, Koo Chok King, Chief Surveyor, all of the Mafrica Corporation and Carlos Alberto Fonseca Almeida, Director of UTA Corporation in Malaysia..http://allafrica.com/stories/200607280494.htmlGuyana:28) Underinvestment in downstream production has resulted in Guyana's forestry sector realizing less than 12% of its foreign exchange earning capacity according to Managing Director of Case Timbers/UNAMCO Hamley Case. Speaking with Stabroek Business earlier this week Case said that the shipment of cut logs instead of processing the timber in some form of value added production has meant that Guyana has failed to take advantage of the existing lucrative external market for high-quality wood products. Case told Stabroek Business that the paucity of kiln drying facilities in Guyana was one of the primary constraints to the development of the forestry sector. He explained that if Guyana is to expand its market for timber to most countries outside of the Caribbean and the southern United States the timber has to be properly dried. " Wet wood has a very limited market. If we want to extend our market to the rest of the United States, Europe and Scandinavia where prices are much better then we need to invest in kilns, " Case told Stabroek Business. He said that given the high cost of kiln drying equipment very few companies were likely to undertake that level of investment without proper incentives, either directly from government or through some lending facility. Case told Stabroek Business that the lack of kiln-drying facilities was just one of several deficiencies in the local forestry sector. " Before you even reach that stage there is the need to invest in equipment that will manufacture downstream products, " Case said. http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article_business?id=56500419

Venezuela:28) Venezuela has launched a five-year reforestation project for Orinoco headwaters and tributary rivers in which more than 900 conservation committees and students from more than 100 schools will help plant 100 million trees in a 150,000-hectare area. " Campesinos who used to clear land for crops or cow pasture are now turning to agroforestry, which is more profitable and better for the local environment, " Miguel Rodríguez, vice minister of environmental conservation, told Tierramérica. President Hugo Chávez launched the program, entitled Misión Árbol (Tree Mission), on Jun. 4 (Tree Day), and then led school children in a day of planting in El Ávila National Park, which separates the Venezuelan capital from the Caribbean coast. The next step entailed collecting seeds from fruit trees and native forest trees, with the help of 926 conservationist committees -- mostly rural women -- who submitted 495 projects in conjunction with the Environment Ministry and 95 schools. Tree Mission -- which has a first-year budget of 23 million dollars -- will also finance the creation of tree nurseries. The Ministry has created technical assistance and monitoring units to follow up with the projects. " Nothing will be achieved if we just hand over the money -- between 15,000 and 25,000 dollars per project -- and walk away. Instead, we will ensure continuous monitoring, and distribute the funding through committees that verify targets are being met, " said Rodríguez. These committees are set up in areas the Ministry has determined to be in need of reforestation. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34123Brazil:29) Twenty-five years ago, the Brazilian scientist Eneas Salati demonstrated that the Amazon forest makes half its own rainfall. The discovery has been partly obscured by the immense biological value of the great forest. Today what once seemed somewhat esoteric is central to the very welfare of much of South America. The mechanism is relatively simple. As air moves toward the Andes, moisture originally drawn from the ocean falls as rain and is then transpired by the trees and evaporated off the complex surfaces of the forest. Further to the west it condenses into clouds and falls again as rain. Today we know that this cycle is not only of national interest to the Amazon countries and their forest. We know that 40 percent of the rainfall in the rest of Brazil comes from the Amazon, as do important portions of the rainfall for all countries east of the Andes that lie south of the great forest. For Brazil this is critical both for agriculture and for hydropower. The great moisture machine also has connections with other parts of the world's climate. It has been obvious from the beginning that deforestation could at some point cause this hydrological cycle to unravel. Deforestation of the Amazon in Brazil (the only country with adequate measurement) is at 17 percent to 18 percent and progressing at a rate approaching 20,000 square kilometers a year, http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/27/opinion/edlovejoy.php30) McDonald's has agreed to stop using soya grown on deforested land in the Amazon in a deal with Greenpeace. The two-year moratorium from the fast-food giant is expected to prevent Amazonian soya farmers trading the crop, following a three-year investigation from the environmental pressure group. A statement from McDonald's, who use the crop as animal feed, said: "We are determined to do the right thing together with our suppliers and the Brazilian government, to protect the Amazon from further destruction." This deal comes on the same day as the multinational company announces strong second quarter operating results.European restaurants did particularly well with like-for-like sales up 6.3% – the strongest quarterly result in 10 years. The company attributed the boost to the World Cup, which it had a number of promotions tied to. http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/2006/07/27/307891/McDonald's+to+stop+using+soya+grown+

on+deforested+land.htmParaguay:31) A group of Ayoreo Indians has angrily condemned the landowners who are logging their territory illegally. Senior government officials have travelled to the Ayoreo's villages to investigate. The Ayoreo-Totobiegosode's territory was recently included in the Chaco Biosphere Reserve in an attempt to protect it from the private landowners who are determined to log the area of all its valuable hardwoods. The forest is protected by injunctions which make any activity on it illegal, but these injunctions have been repeatedly flouted. The area is home to an unknown number of uncontacted Ayoreo families, whose forest home is being encroached upon from all sides. Amongst the worst offenders is the firm of Carlos Casado S.A., who have refused government attempts to buy the land from them to transfer to the Indians. The Ayoreo have denounced 'the theft of our forest and resources, especially the cutting of palo santo [a valuable hardwood] for fence posts... Marcelo Peyrat [the representative of Carlos Casado S.A.] is making himself rich through the theft of our timber.' http://www.survivalfrance.org/news.php?id=1771Japan:32) In February, the Japanese government revised the Law on Promoting Green Purchasing. The law requires government agencies to purchase and obtain lumber products that have the least effect on the environment. Following Europe and the United States, Japan will launch a system from autumn that only allows lumber and wood products to be made from legally cut logs. In response, 20 Russian and Far East timber trading companies belonging to the Russian Far East Timber Export Association in April drew up guidelines to acquire forest certification. Those companies have taken on 43 percent of the total timber exported to Japan. Under the certification system, an international private sector assesses and proves that a timber dealer cuts trees legally and processes and distributes them in an environmentally friendly manner. Several agencies have promoted the prevalence of such certification. Lobbying from the Japan Lumber Importers' Association, which consists of 49 companies, has driven Russian authorities to accelerate the acquisition of the certificate. Furniture maker IKEA has independently checked the legality of the logging in Russia. The firm's forestry auditor, Andrey Rudykh, 27, in Irkutsk visits about 100 timber distributors to IKEA every two years. The distributors sign a pledge stating they do not use illegally logged timber, answer a questionnaire and turn in any necessary documents within 48 hours if needed. http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060728TDY04001.htmCambodia:33) Eleven people, including police and military officials, have been jailed over a logging scandal in which tonnes of timber was taken from a key Cambodian park. The defendants, who also included forest rangers, were sentenced to between five and seven years in prison for allowing a Vietnamese company to log large swathes of the northeastern Virachey National Park. Prosecutor Ngeth Sarath said logs with an estimated value of $US15 million were taken from the park in 2004. Seven of the defendants remain at large and were sentenced in absentia. Illegal logging is a major environmental issue in Cambodia, with vast tracts of forest coming under increasing threat. http://abcasiapacific.com/news/stories/asiapacific_stories_1699346.htmMalaysia:34) Two years ago, forest rangers, police officers and the military conducted a joint crackdown at the Betung Kerihun National Park near the Malaysian border. They arrested three men in charge of illegal logging and confiscated seven bulldozers, six Japan-made four-wheel-drive vehicles and about 2,900 logs. They also placed into protective custody three caged orangutans, a protected species. After finding a dirt path the group had made leading to the border, park manager Agus Sutito said a company headquartered in Malaysia likely was involved in the illegal logging. According to the WWF (formerly World Wildlife Fund) the forest coverage in Kalimantan, which is about 1.5 times the size of Japan, shrank from 75 percent in the mid-1980s to about 50 percent today. The World Bank has warned that if deforestation continues at the current rate, most forests in Kalimantan will have disappeared by 2010. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N., deforestation has a significant impact on climate change, resulting in a 25 percent increase in annual greenhouse gas emissions. In recognition of the problem, the summit meeting of the Group of Eight major nations in St. Petersburg adopted an action plan calling on the international community to work on eradicating illegal logging and warning of the dangers of worldwide deforestation. http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/15144250.htm35) Malaysian-based Rimbunan Hijau Group of Companies: " Rimbunan Hijau (RH) dominates the logging industry in Papua New Guinea and has interests in Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Malaysia, Vanuatu, Indonesia, New Zealand and Russia, " the Green Advocates observed. It then quoted reports it said it has in its possession as saying that many of Rimbunan Hijau operations were characterized by documented illegalities and environmental destruction. " The company seems impervious to criticism and appears to be protected by an extensive and well-established network of political patronage and media control, " the statement said. Besides, it said, a recent Greenpeace report described Rimbunan Hijau as an " untouchable " that is noted for most of the world's forest crimes and political patronage. " Rimbunan Hijau uses tactics such as political corruption and abuses of indigenous peoples' rights within its operations. In Papua New Guinea, for example, Rimbunan Hijau is logging without landowner consent in logging concessions that have not been initiated or allocated properly under the National Forestry Act and in contravention of environmental law, " the Green Advocate press statement quoted a report of Greenpeace International as saying. The Greenpeace reported was further quoted by the Green Advocates as saying that a billion-dollar business is owned by Sarawak tycoon Tiong Hiew King and his family. " Tiong has since made forays into the media business, and is the owner of three newspapers: Malaysia's Sin Chew Jit Poh, Hong Kong's Ming Pao and Papua New Guinea's National newspaper, among others. " Police and forest department officials have arbitrarily arrested and detained those indigenous people who put up any form of protest, even though such protests are undertaken within the confines of their own lands and they have legitimate rights under the law to such forms of protest, " Greenpeace reported. http://allafrica.com/stories/200607280494.htmlIndonesia: 36) Forest rangers have confiscated 100 logs illegally felled in Senami protected forest, Batanghari regency, an official says. Jambi Forestry Office head Gatot Moeryanto said the logs were confiscated from a sawmill in Bungku village in Batanghari. The rangers also took sawn timber but failed to capture the perpetrators, he said Monday. Possibly they heard we were coming, Gatot said. " But we will hunt them down. " He said the sawmill was also operating without a permit. Nearly 50 percent of the 15,500-hectare Senami forest has been cleared due to illegal logging. http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20060726.G11 & irec=1037) Kota Kinabalu: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) hopes Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will act to halt the planned logging of the Malua and Ulu Segama forest reserves just as he had expressed concern for Pulau Sipadan. She said the potential losses in terms of extinction of many species of Bornean wildlife such as orang-utans, sumatran rhinocerous, sun bear, pygmy elephants, tembadau, sambar deer, bearded pigs, muntjacks, clouded leopards and civets, among others, would be colossal compared with the coral damage, even though what happened at Sipadan was regrettable. In this context, she said it was ridiculous for State Forestry Director, Sam Mannan, to claim that wildlife thrived very well in logged areas. " Don't take Sabah people for fools. If he still insists on this theory, I can show him a copy of the findings of a study conducted by environmentalists in the world. " Don't bully the orang-utans just because they can't speak up and are defenceless, " she said, adding that the decision-makers involved must be made accountable for their actions, even after they have left the scene. The Malua and Ulu Segama forest reserves are seen as the last strongholds for about 5,000 wild orang-utans on Borneo. The Forestry Deaprtment had earlier assured that the logging would be according to sustainable methods. She said Sipadan, Mt Kinabalu, the Maliau Basin and Danum Valley, to name a few, are all Sabah treasures beyond price. What has happened to Sipadan and Mt Kinabalu where the construction of another RM5 million resthouse project had been abandoned at 9,000ft are not only tragic mistakes but crimes against nature. " To prevent further tragedy, she said, the Government should call off the logging in the Malua and Ulu Segama forest reserves. http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=4343338) Borneo - In 1981, Georgia Pacific, one of the largest American timber companies, built a logging camp on traditional Bentian lands in the Anan River area. They came close to sparking an armed conflict with the Bentian when they resettled villagers and destroyed ancient grave sites and rattan fruit gardens during base camp construction. Georgia Pacific built a corridor logging road approximately 100 km long, parallel to the Lawa River, the main transportation/communication artery for the area. Instead of building bridges over the feeder streams to the Lawa, the company dammed all of the feeder streams for the entire length of the road. This severely reduced water flow to the Lawa and created malarial swamps on the other side of the road. Due to an unsatisfactory business climate, Georgia Pacific pulled out of Indonesia in the mid-1980's and concession areas were taken over by Bob Hasan, an Indonesian timber tycoon with close links to President Suharto. Attempting to secure the rest of their ancestral lands, the Bentian have been petitioning the Indonesian government since 1986, completely without results. In July, 1993, the new concession holder PT Kalhold/Kalimanis sent armed bulldozer and chainsaw crews onto Bentian lands to prepare for a new transmigration settlement and an " industrial forest plantation " . The bulldozers plowed 150 hectares of Bentian forest and rattan gardens, destroying over 10,000 rattan clumps and 2000 fruit trees. In addition, Bentian grave markers were bulldozed and burned and the bones of Bentian dead were scattered over the charred ground. Beginning in 1993, the Bentian publicly protested the destruction of their traditional lands by logging companies and industrial forest plantations. They have repeatedly requested a stop to the violations of human rights and environmental destruction which have accompanied the land clearing of the first 150 hectares of thousands of hectares of Bentian lands scheduled for destruction. As a result of their protests they have been met with increased repression, threats, and intimidation from Indonesian governmental officials and security forces. http://www.ecoworld.com/Home/Articles2.cfm?TID=39439) A CONTROVERSIAL move to set up special game reserves for hunting in Sabah could help stop the illegal hunting of wildlife. Two or three game reserves, each measuring between 400 and 2,000ha on the east coast will be identified by the Sabah Wildlife Department. " When we have the special game reserves, we will not allow hunting in other areas, " said Laurentius Ambu, deputy director of the department. " It will be easier for us to monitor hunters, something which is a bit difficult to do now. " The target market are urbanites, who have had enough of shooting static objects in shooting ranges, and hunters from the region. " Many people have this itch to hunt because they own firearms. They are no longer keen to go to the shooting range, they want the thrill of shooting game. " While the department now charges a minimal fee for hunting, it is losing millions because hunters illegally hunt game, with wild boar topping the list. Game meat is sold at tamu (weekly market in the districts) and at restaurants, according to a study by a consultant, commissioned three years ago. Ambu said they will look at all angles before the hunting reserves are set up. " First, we need to speak to forest plantation owners and those who own large land areas. Then, we want to make it clear there will be a hunting season of between three to four months. " We will also have a nursery to stock and breed game like wild boar, barking deer, mousedeer and porcupine to be released into the reserve before the season starts. " Of course, we have to do an inventory first and then decide which game animals to replenish. At the moment, we don't have a census on game animals. " Before a hunting licence is issued, a hunter will have to attend a course. " The hunter must know how to identify species, have knowledge of the law and know his responsibility in handling firearms. " http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Sunday/Focus/20060722191537/Article/index_html