Earth's Tree News - 131

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Today for you 37 news items about Mama Earth's trees. Location, number and subject listed below. Condensed articles listed further below. --British Columbia: 1) genotoxic pesticide, 2) Tofino forest protection history, 3) Save Mountain Caribou, 4) Ainsworth Lumber pulls out, 5) Save Our Valley Alliance--Washington: 6) Clearcut forest on I-5 for park-and-ride, 7) Cascara,--Oregon: 7) Pyramid Timber sale Canceled again, --California: 8) Stealing old-growth logs, 9) History of fire towers, 10) `let it burn' is not a FS policy, 11) WILDFIRE: A Century of Failed Forest Policy, 12) Fire in California,--Arizona: 13) Forests fires may make fuel for electricity--Michigan: 14) History of Ottawa National Forest--Minnesota: 15) 300-plus logging firms in the state--North Carolina: 16) More on Blowing Rock--South Carolina: 17) Steed Creek Road widening,--Tennessee: 18) Dry Creek floods caused by logging--Maine: 19) Additions to Baxter Park--Florida: 20) Tupelo honey production--Canada: 21) Grassy Narrows First Nation gets boil-water advisory,--Ireland: 22) Pearl mussel needs us to save trees--Kyrgyzstan: 23) swastika-shaped forest--Oman: 24) water-limited seasonal cloud forest threatened--Uganda: 25) Gov cancelled Katugo forest allocation --Congo: 26) Congo destruction certified by FSC--Kenya: 27) Karura forest, is the " lung " of Nairobi--South Africa: 28) Pine plantation advocates misguided--Peru: 29) US to expedite Amazon clearings--India: 30) transfer of 305 hectares to gov for compensatory afforestation--Indonesia: 31) More on Rimbunan Hijau logging and human rights corruption--Australia: 32) March of 3,000 opposed to Gunns' proposed mill, 33) Save Arcadia forest, 34) Australia & New Zealand Bank are major funders of destruction, --World-wide: 35) Illegal logging, 36) Logging as a means to launder money, 37) Google Earth and UN to work togetherBritish Columbia:1) Recently a press release has been published by Dr. Josette Wier of Smithers, BC, updating the community on the disgraceful proceedings surrounding the toxic legacy of trees in northern BC forests treated with a genotoxic pesticide - monosodium methanearsenate (MSMA) in a rash attempt to control bark beetles. A recent study by the Canadian Wildlife Service confirms the failure of the PMRA to adequately protect the health of Canadians and our forest environment. Full text of the press release, the media backgrounder and contact details are at:http://hp.bccna.bc.ca/~aa056/MSMA-PR.html2) With a year-round population of 1,500 people the town of Tofino swells to 22,000 during the summer months. Private financial gain is based on an environment that must be respected rather than ignored. The provincial government has been increasingly allowing private commercial corporations to regulate their own development. Drinking water for Tofino comes from the old growth rainforest on Meares Island which was protected by protesters in 1984 who challenged a logging corporation's right to log on public Crown land. These protests were the first of many that followed in attempts to protect the rainforest of Clayoquot Sound. In 1985, the Nuu-chah-nulth were granted a court injunction to halt logging until their land claim was settled. To date this has not happened and no treaty has been negotiated by the B.C. government. Logging continues to increase in Clayoquot Sound from a low of 17,000 cubic meters (1 cubic metre = 1 telephone pole) in 1998 to 145,000 cubic meters (4,400 truck loads) in 2002. This was the latest available statistic due to cutbacks within the B.C. Ministry of Forests. This year is worse than most. The Ministry of Forests is very clear that its employees are not allowed to walk on private land because they have no authority over private logging practices. On private land there are no limits or regulations for logging, mining, road building, or other forms of environmental destruction. Ownership allows destruction with no consequence even if these actions are effecting society as a whole. Both the Ministry of Environment and Transportation have little to no authority over private land owners. A prime example of how this lack of regulation can effect residents, and the flow of water, occurred in the Alberni Valley earlier this year. Timberwest logged the steep slopes above the small rural community of Cherry Creek, just outside of Port Alberni. As a result, residents suffered three boil water advisories over a few months. Today logging activities continue on these slopes despite landslides and drinking water problems. The watersheds of Englishman River, Little Qualicum River and French Creek continue to be logged despite the fact that they provide drinking water to the majority of residents in Oceanside. http://www.pqbnews.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=50 & cat=46 & id=729550 & more

3) For nearly 30 years, the government of British Columbia has been struggling to save the province's dwindling population of mountain caribou, a rare variant of a subspecies that is found almost nowhere else in the world. Numerous provincial management strategies have been drafted since the 1970s, with another expected out this fall, but a report to be released today by Valhalla Wilderness Watch says B.C. is losing the fight because of its consistent failure to protect forest habitat. " British Columbia's policy of liquidating its old-growth forest is killing mountain caribou, " states the report, written by Anne Sherrod, a veteran environmental writer and wilderness advocate from New Denver, in the West Kootenays. Valhalla Wilderness Watch is a relatively new environmental organization that grew out of, but is separate from, the Valhalla Wilderness Society, which has long campaigned for the protection of wilderness areas in B.C. The paper reviews nearly three decades of scientific research into the mountain caribou problem. It concludes that habitat destruction is the root cause of the decline, which has seen the mountain caribou population drop by more than 50 per cent in the past 10 years. " Forty-five years of accumulated clear-cuts have made mountain caribou more vulnerable to predators, exposed them to displacement by snowmobiles and helicopters, reduced their food supply, and disrupted their access to food. Old-growth forest is their only refuge. " At this advanced stage of old-growth liquidation, every additional clear-cut in mountain caribou habitat is pushing them into extinction, " the report says. The document states that the B.C. government identified as early as 1979 that caribou loss was related to logging, but little has been done to limit the cutting of old-growth forests. There are an estimated 1,900 mountain caribou in B.C., accounting for 98 per cent of the world's population, with small numbers found in Idaho and Alberta. They exist in 18 separate herds spread through a zone of inland temperate rain forest in mountain chains from the Peace River district in the north to the Idaho border in the south. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060915.BCCARIBOU15/TPStory/TPNational/BritishCol

umbia/4) Ainsworth Lumber Co. has pulled out of one of two licences awarded by Victoria to salvage up to 21 million cubic metres of beetle-killed timber, saying it has scrapped plans for two new oriented strand board plants in the province in favour of just one. The decision to scale back plans to use beetle wood comes as a blow to the province's beetle strategy, said NDP forest critic Bob Simpson. He said so far, industrial uses have yet to bear fruit for the estimated 1.2 billion cubic metres of pine forest already killed by the beetle. But Forests Minister Rich Coleman said the province now has a firm commitment for one mill and that the wood Ainsworth has turned down will go back out to tender. " We have people interested in it from both the pellet and bio-energy sectors, " he said. Industry analyst Paul Quinn said Ainsworth made the right decision in backing out of one of its licences because economic conditions have changed in the year it took Victoria to issue them. Ainsworth bid on the licences in mid-2005. They were awarded in November, but not signed until recently. Each licence gave the company access to 10.5 million cubic metres of beetle-infested forest for a total of 21 million cubic metres. " As we have evaluated things over the last year and a half, looking at markets, looking at the industry and gaining an understanding of the overall resource -- we made the decision we would sign the Quesnel licence alone and use that as the backdrop for building the first facility, " said Rose.http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=06df5ffb-c4515) For months, they've faced protests and the threat of blockades from an Alberni-based coalition called the Save Our Valley Alliance. Wednesday, however, a TimberWest spokesman fired back, criticizing the alliance for its negotiation tactics and for not making its membership known or agenda easily understood. In fact, Steve Lorimer, a TimberWest manager of community relations, told members of the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District's committee of the whole that he hasn't answered a list of SOVA demands for those very reasons. "We're not quite sure what this organization is," said Lorimer. "We're not quite sure what their agenda is.Is it about advocacy rather than constructive discussion? "We have a feeling that's what it is." Lorimer said nowhere on SOVA's website or brochures is there any indication of the group's membership. He said if the organization is interested in constructive dialogue it shouldn't be negotiating through open letters, published in community papers and mailed to politicians and environmental groups. At the heart of the issue was a June 16 letter sent to Lorimer by SOVA, stating the company must meet three conditions before it can win community support. The letter states TimberWest must 1) Submit logging plans that will protect drinking water in the Beaufort Range 2) Discuss damages to the Alberni Valley Enhancement Society's McLean Mill facility, the regional district's Log Train Trail and Wayne Crowley's property 3) And attend a community meeting at the Beaver Creek Hall-- "These remediation actions are required to renew your 'social license' to operate in our community," states the letter. "Why is it circulating," asked Lorimer, who said TimberWest is open to constructive discussions. Regional directors, however, backed SOVA. http://www.westcoaster.ca/modules/AMS/article.php?storyid=1154Washington: 6) Maple and alder trees are packed around second-generation hemlock, fir and cedar trees. A heavy carpet of vines and ferns covers the forest floor, making it hard to walk. Of all places, this forest is in the middle of I-5, within sight of the Everett Mall. It's also about to be mowed down. Starting next week, up to 15 acres of trees will be cut in the highway median to make room for a $41 million Sound Transit park-and-ride and bus stop. The new parking lot will be built just north of the 112th Street SE overpass. Estimates are it would cost taxpayers an extra $10 million to $12 million if the park-and-ride were not built on land the state already owns, said Lee Somerstein, a spokesman for Sound Transit. The state owns the unusually wide median at that location, which means it won't have to purchase or condemn privately held land to make room for the new park-and-ride, Somerstein said. " We won't have to take any private property to build this, " he said. Any trees in the freeway forest that are large enough will be milled into lumber. Sound Transit expects to spend $500,000 planting new trees and plants around the park-and-ride once the project is finished. Two retention ponds will be built to collect rainwater runoff. Several small wetlands on the project site will be left alone. The goal is to open the new 400-stall park-and-ride by the end of 2007, said Bob Adams, Northwest vice president for contractor Atkinson Construction. http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/09/17/100loc_b1trees001.cfm7) One tree that seemed to take everything the weather could produce in stride is an underappreciated native. Cascara (Rhamnus purshiana) is a lovely, small (20 to 30 feet), deciduous tree with beauty in every season. Straight, slim and silvery brown, its trunk is smooth and utterly strokable, its branches few but graceful. As autumn deepens, the broadly oval leaves turn first clear yellow, then rich gold. Cascaras trees growing in sunny spots often take on even hotter hues, sometimes becoming as showy as a vine maple. The inconspicuous, greeny-yellow flowers have a slight, spicy scent echoed in the berries, which taste distinctly of under-roasted coffee. Plump and rounded, the berries are what botanists call " globose drupes. " They spend the summer turning green, then red, then black as they ripen to a savory sweetness. The seeds, which often come in pairs, even look rather like coffee beans, ending up rounded on one side and flat on the other. In damp woods, the berries are eagerly eaten by birds, which gather in great, appreciative flocks to enjoy them. In the mountains, cascara often grows short and shrubby, making these succulent berries into bear food (indeed, it is sometimes called bear berry). The most popular local name, cascara sagrada (sacred bark tree), reflects its considerable economic value, as do its string of other common names. Bitterbark, coffee tree and wahoo are the politest, but the classic reference book " Forest Trees of the Pacific Slope, " written in 1908 by George Sudworth, calls it s--ttimwood. (It's famous for its laxative and tonic properties, so you can probably figure out the missing letters.) Cascara bark was harvested in huge quantities at the turn of the century. Invigorating drinks brewed from the bark were enormously popular throughout Europe. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/nwgardens/285046_lovejoy16.htmlOregon:8) Third time was not the charm for the Sweet Home Ranger District and its move to log 189 acres of mature forests under the South Pyramid Timber Sale. As of August 30th, Mike Rassbach, Sweet Home District Ranger, announced he was withdrawing his May 25th decision to move forward with this sale. Believe it nor not, it was the third go around for this problematic sale, and hopefully the last. The South Pyramid sale, located in the upper-mid Santiam watershed north of the town of Sweet Home, proposed to log right in the middle of designated critical habitat for the Northern Spotted Owl, as well as more than 100 acres of un-inventoried roadless forests. Each time this sale has been decided on, the Cascadia Wildlands Project and Oregon Natural Resources Council (ONRC) as been there to appeal it, and each time they've withdrawn their decision. Being adjacent to popular hiking destinations like Cone Peak and Iron Mountain, these forests provide important legacies for critters and people alike. Hopefully, the agency will abandon any future plans to log these late-successional forests and focus instead on restoring the heavily fragmented mid-Santiam watershed. Rest assured, if they don't, we'll be there again! : http://www.cascwild.org/southpyramid.htmlCalifornia:8) In the past eight months, five men have been convicted of stealing old-growth logs -- those 750 years old or more -- from Redwood National and State Parks, established in 1968 to protect nearly half of the world's remaining old-growth redwoods. The convictions follow a concerted effort by park officials to crack down on thefts and preserve one of California's greatest natural treasures. Poaching is a problem in every national park. There is seemingly nothing poachers won't take, be it snakes from Mojave National Preserve, fossils from Badlands National Park in South Dakota, American ginseng from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia or frontier-era pistols from Fort Davis National Historic Site in Texas. " There are no resources out there, besides air, that someone isn't taking, " said Todd Swain, a National Park Service special agent who has investigated such crimes since 1991. " There's a huge segment of the population who are commercially removing park resources, and it does a huge amount of damage. " Redwood theft has been a mounting problem at Redwood National and State Parks for about 10 years, and park officials believe its rise followed the decline of the timber industry. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/17/POACH.TMP9) Initially, fire towers were little more than windy platforms atop big trees where watchers looked for little fires before they burned out of control. Around 1914, structures in which fire watchers could live were introduced. They had staircases and cozy cabs, generally 14 feet square, surrounded by catwalks. Hikers sometimes come across such lookouts in remote places. ONCE there were 8,000 noble, low-tech but effective lookout towers in the U.S., on the front line of the all-out battle against fire that started about the time President Theodore Roosevelt created the U.S. Forest Service in 1905. Lookout construction became a priority in 1910, one of the worst forest-fire years on record. Five million acres went up in smoke, and 78 firefighters were killed. About 2,000 fire towers have persevered, but only about 800 are staffed and active, according to the Forest Fire Lookout Assn., which has its headquarters in Vienna, Va. The association has chapters in 25 states made up of architectural preservationists, hikers, environmentalists and nostalgic locals who think vintage fire towers are worth saving. Kathy Ball is part of the effort. Five mornings a week from June to August, she wakes up in the cab at Buck Rock, perched on an 8,500-foot granite cone in Sequoia National Forest, about 250 miles northeast of Los Angeles. Ball spearheaded the drive to restore and reactivate Buck Rock in 1999, followed by Park Ridge and Delilah towers, also in the area. Now she's a full-time seasonal employee with the Sequoia National Forest, living and working at Buck Rock on the western flank of the Sierra Nevada. It's her home, complete with a phone, electric stove, space heater, lamp, coffee maker, sink, radio, comfy single bed, solar-heated shower, hummingbird feeder and Tibetan prayer flag, as well as an Osborne Fire Finder, an instrument used to pinpoint suspicious smoke plumes. She occasionally gives up the cozy cab to volunteers who relieve her, and visitors who find their way to Buck Rock from the campground off Big Meadows Roadare welcome between 9:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-lookout17sep17,1,7532017.story?coll=la-travel-headlines & ctrack=

1 & cset=true10) " No one in the forest service has a `let it burn' policy, " Jaime Tarne, with the Klamath National Forest, said last week. " That's a media nomenclature, and it's incorrect. We look at how threatening the fire is, where it is, how easy or difficult it is to get to, " and devise a strategy from there. " But we never walk away from a fire and `let it burn.' We always watch them, monitor them. We have a strategy: `This is as far as we'll let it go.' " She sighs, adds, " I've been fighting that [let-it-burn mythology] for so many years! " Peggy Lawrence, with the Six Rivers National Forest, likewise recoiled at the question. " Our forest plan doesn't have a let-it-burn philosophy, " she said. The let-it-burn nomenclature was bandied about with extra fury after the 1988 Yellowstone National Park fire, a combination of prescribed fires and naturally sparked fires that consumed vast acreages. Some people accused the forest service of taking the so-called " let it burn " philosophy too far -- a philosophy, misunderstood some say, that in itself was a reaction to an emerging sense that nearly 80 years of fire suppression across the country had led to incredibly flammable wildlands. What has transpired in the last 10 years, say forest managers, is a national fire policy that prescribes an " appropriate management response " to distinct zones within a forest. In some cases, the strategy might indeed be to monitor a fire and confine it to a certain area, especially if that area could use a little clearing out. " We do not use, at this time, naturally caused fire for wildland benefit use, " said Odle with the Shasta-Trinity. " We haven't moved to that yet -- we are exploring its possible use in the Trinity Alps Wilderness. " But that change will come slowly. http://www.northcoastjournal.com/091406/news0914.html11) WILDFIRE: A Century of Failed Forest Policy, is a multi-authored account edited by George Wuerthner. It takes a polemical approach and, physically, promises to be one of Wuerthner's typical gigantic, large-photo-rich, heavy volumes that, presumably, could be used to wallop sense into the reader if the text itself doesn't do it. The book examines a variety of federally sanctioned practices on public lands, among them: logging that takes the most fire-resistant trees and leaves spindly frail forests at the mercy of wildfires; livestock grazing that encourages more tree growth where grass used to be, and grazing that encourages, conversely, the growth of the invasive cheatgrass -- which burns fast and often; and rural sprawl. " I expect we're going to see more and more big fires, " Wuerthner said from his home in Oregon last Friday. He says there are nuances in each forest. But he concludes: " We're putting all of these resources into stopping big fires, and it doesn't work. I think we should let the huge fires burn, and put a perimeter around them to protect the towns. And, they should spend more money upfront and focus on making communities fireproof, and on building codes. " http://www.northcoastjournal.com/091406/news0914.html12) Fire in California's Ecosystems, takes an academic approach and also has numerous authors. Co-editor Kevin Shaffer, who works for the California Department of Fish and Game, conceived of the book 10 years ago when the woods were ablaze, the public was screaming, and academics and agencies were trying to hash out what to do. The book covers the science of fire; how fire occurs across the state from bioregion to bioregion; and how people have dealt with fire over time: from how Native Americans used fire, to how fire affects endangered species and air quality, to how it interacts with invasive species, and more. Today, said Shaffer, " we are in the midst of deciding what changes we're making " in fire management. " We're finally starting to understand how fire works and what our relationship to it is. " HSU Professor John Stuart co-wrote Chapter 8 of the book, which covers the North Coast Bioregion (including Six Rivers National Forest). It's as diverse a region as one can hope for, both historically and geographically -- and where, incidentally, the second highest incidence of lightning strikes occurs, next to Riverside County. Stuart says the underlying message the book imparts is that fire policy is a moving target -- and what we decide to do about managing our forests becomes a value judgment. The trick is, do we base the decision on what we know, or on what happened far in the past, or on some other criteria? " I think we have to keep in mind that these things evolve, " he said. " The role of fire changes over time, climate changes, technology changes and human use of fire changes. The thing that concerns me is, the decision makers may be looking for simplistic solutions to what is a complex problem. " http://www.northcoastjournal.com/091406/news0914.htmlArizona:13) Trees damaged by the " Rodeo-Chediski " fire in eastern Arizona three years ago could find new life as fuel for a proposed power plant in Snowflake. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Monday that it will guarantee a $16 million loan to an Arizona businessman who wants to build a biomass electrical generating plant, which will create energy by burning timber and paper. Robert Worsley, sole owner of Snowflake White Mountain Power LLC, said he would put up the remaining $7 million to $10 million in cash needed to make the plant a reality. Worsley hired 75 loggers, who have begun removing 400,000 tons of singed trees, enough fuel to power 20,000 homes for four years, under a contract with the Forest Service. " They have been standing and drying for three years, " Worsley said. " They are perfect fuel for this application. " The company also will harvest green trees from a half-mile-wide swath near cities and towns from Payson to the New Mexico state line. The U.S. Forest Service is selling select trees for $7 per ton under its healthy forest initiative to thin trees in an effort to prevent catastrophic fires. Scraps from a nearby paper plant will make up a small portion of the facility's fuel. Worsley said this type of plant creates 97 percent fewer emissions than a prescribed burn or natural forest fire. Now the plant awaits approval from the Environmental Protection Agency, expected in January. http://www.matr.net/article-16512.htmlMichigan:14) KENTON — Lisa Klaus calls the Ottawa National Forest "a refuge for the spirit." The forest's public affairs specialist was one of many community members and current and former workers shaped by that refuge who came together Friday to celebrate the forest's 75-year mark. The forest dates back to 1931, when a presidential proclamation set aside land in the western Upper Peninsula; more specifically, Klaus said, "the lands that nobody wanted." Everybody had a point. Runaway logging and mining made the land an easy mark for erosion. The result: a burned-over dust bowl with swaths of white pine stumps. The rebirth began with the Civilian Conservation Corps, which hand-planted stands of white pine during the 1930s. While the wasteland days are long past, the forest still takes active managing. Some trees respond well to clear-cutting, particularly aspen, Klaus said. You can clear-cut it at first, but it grows back really quickly," she said. Those aspen saplings are favorites for deer, which in turn makes the area a favorite for hunters, who often stop in and ask for maps. Elsewhere, foresters selectively harvest trees to allow more growth for smaller trees.The end result has been exactly the sort of refuge Klaus speaks of. "People are here to enjoy nature," she said. "They sit on a rock, and watch the water, or watch the sunlight come through the branches." http://www.mininggazette.com/stories/articles.asp?articleID=3570Minnesota:15) Minnesota's 300-plus logging firms typically cut trees or buy trees at public auctions or from private landowners. They in turn sell to: Makers of oriented strand board used in housing construction 39% Pulp and paper mills 39% Lumber/ saw mills 17% Firewood/energy companies 5% Source: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources http://www.startribune.com/535/story/680856.htmlNorth Carolina:16) The source of contention is the National Forest Service's Globe Project, an operation that would remove some of the old growth and use herbicide on foreign invasive plants. The Globe is about one mile from downtown Blowing Rock and is visible from many parts of that town as well as from the Blue Ridge Parkway. Recently a 6,000-acre upscale resort called Laurelmor has begun development in Watauga and Wilkes County and the corporation in charge of the operation has put nearly 50 miles of road in previously undeveloped parts of those two counties. The commission noted that the Globe Project would create habitat "vital for several declining songbird species as well as wild turkey, bear and deer.The Wildlife Commission Resources Commission supports this proposal because of its anticipated benefits to fish and wildlife," said Gordon Warburton, a supervisory wildlife biologist with the agency. "A young forest—what we call an early successional forest—is just as important as a mature forest for creating diverse habitat that is part of a balanced ecosystem." Meanwhile, groups opposed to the Globe Project have been petitioning local lawmakers to protect not only the 231 acres in the current plan, but the entire viewshed area. A group called Friends of Grandfather/Blowing Rock Scenic Views has drafted a bill called The Grandfather National Scenic Area Bill that would designate "30,000 to 40,000 acres of the Pisgah National Forest as a scenic area." The bill would protect the acreage by designating it as "unsuitable for timber production" and any future logging would be limited to addressing forest health issues such as wildfire, storm damage or disease. "Our continued pressure has forced the Forest Service to come up with a plan that would drop the worst part of their proposal and protect the scenic views that are threatened in the Globe Project," said Lamar Marshal, spokesperson for Friends of Grandfather/Blowing Rock Scenic Views and executive director of the conservancy organization Wild South. http://www.mountaintimes.com/mtweekly/2006/0914/globe_proj.php3South Carolina:17) AWENDAW — Federal and state highway officials say they are fine-tuning plans to repair and widen Steed Creek Road through the Francis Marion National Forest to reduce the $10 million project's effects on endangered species. But conservationists say the Steed Creek plan remains a boondoggle that would transform a lightly traveled forest road into a major thoroughfare through one of the most environmentally sensitive areas on the East Coast. Steed Creek Road is a narrow, two-lane road off U.S. Highway 17 that stretches between Awendaw and Huger. Along the way, it passes through rare longleaf forests, home to endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers and plant species in danger of extinction. The U.S. Forest Service and Federal Highway Administration want to widen the road's lanes from 10 feet to 12 feet and add paved two-foot shoulders on each side. Original plans also called for even wider graded shoulders, giving the road a new profile of about 48 feet wide. If completed, the upgraded Steed Creek Road would have the same wide lanes and graded shoulders as the state's busiest high-speed highways, even though fewer than 600 vehicles a day travel it. It also would be significantly wider than other more-heavily traveled roads in and around the forest. Jane Lareau of the Coastal Conservation League agreed that the pothole-filled road needs to be repaired but said her group doesn't understand why it needs to be widened so much. Glen Ward, who's coordinating the project for the state Transportation Department, said truck traffic is the main reason engineers are pushing for 12-foot lanes. " Normally, a secondary road would have 11-foot lanes, but there are a lot of trucks on that road. " School buses are typically eight feet wide and logging trucks are usually six inches wider. Ward said the extra lane width would give motorists a better feeling of safety. He said that more traffic is " going to happen whether or not they widen or improve the road. We can't do anything about that. We're just trying to keep the road from tearing up. " http://www.charleston.net/assets/webPages/departmental/news/SpecialReports/details.aspx?newsId=5981

1 & section=localnewsTennessee:18) Charles Floyd Osborne almost lost his home to a flood that swept down Dry Creek near the outskirts of Dungannon. It was the first time Osborne's and nearby homes flooded. Later, when talking about it with his 92-year-old father, Osborne discovered it was the first time Dry Creek had overflowed its banks in at least 150 years. The 2001 flood happened shortly after logging crews began cutting on Stone Mountain above his home. Osborne was one of about 20 area residents who attended a U.S. Forest Service meeting at the Dungannon Depot earlier this week hoping to stop a future logging operation on Stone Mountain. Residents in Dungannon believe that the clear-cutting of timber on the slopes in the Dry Creek watershed contributed to the 2001 flooding. The timber harvest being planned by the Forest Service is a total of 400 acres with burning of 1,300 acres designed to help regenerate hardwood growth in the area. While flooding was the primary issue for residents living near the proposed timber sale areas, it didn't make the list of concerns for forestry officials. Their list of issues included possible effects on water quality, habitat of threatened and endangered species, and the visual quality following harvesting, roadwork and associated projects. They also listed as possible issues in a timber sale the habitat of management indicator species, defined by the forestry department as species of animals that have population changes that correspond with management activities, and sediment production that could affect downstream caves. " The Dry Creek watershed is like a funnel, and we're right here at the mouth of the funnel, " Osborne said. " The day it flooded, we had about 20 minutes from when it hit that bridge to when I came in and it was up to the floorboards of my four-wheel-drive truck. " http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=3677588Maine:19) Roxanne Quimby intends to manage her newly acquired parcel bordering Baxter State Park as a " nature sanctuary " , just like her other Maine lands. That means no harvesting, no hunting and trapping and no motorized access. " My first priority is to protect wildlife and plants, " the entrepreneur/philanthropist said Thursday. Quimby's quest to preserve resource-rich wildlands on Baxter's eastern border has been a four-year effort so far, and she now owns a total of 53,700 acres next to or near the park. The lands in six townships (four of them on the East Branch of the Penobscot River) are now in different stages of recovering from heavy harvesting by their forest cover by previous owners. Quimby envisions that her cutover lands will eventually equal the wilderness character of the forest in Baxter Park, Maine's premier " forever wild " preserve. Most of the park's lands were also subjected to extensive harvesting prior to acquisition by Percival P. Baxter. Quimby, co-founder of Burt's Bees Inc., the successful natural skin, cosmetics and body products company, has the financial resources to keep adding to her conservation holdings. She is interested in acquiring a key parcel bordering Baxter and located between two of her properties in T5R8 and T4R8. On Sept. 1, Quimby paid $10 million ($435 an acre) to H. H. Haynes and R. A. Crawford for 23,000 acres – the southern half of Township 3, Range 8, and the northern half of Township 2, Range 8. The purchase triggered another outcry from hunting and motorized recreation interests about land being placed off-limits to " traditional users " .The Sportsman's Alliance of Maine (SAM) asserted that Quimby's purchase removed the value from the controversial Katahdin Lake lands the state is trying to buy and that the pending deal should be re-considered by the legislature or even abandoned. The Maine Snowmobilers Association called for at least a discussion of the issues by lawmakers. http://www.meepi.org/files06/pa091506.htmFlorida:20) Tupelo honey production has been passed down through the generations. Lanier, 49, said he has parts of hive boxes that were used by his grandfather, who started beekeeping in 1898. But some academic researchers are concerned about the future of the industry and the forests they depend on. At least three research efforts are under way to understand the interrelated beekeeping industry and swamp forests along the Apalachicola River. The tupelo trees that the beekeepers depend on once thrived in swamps along the river. But another recent federal study suggests those swamps may not be getting as much water as they need. Researchers with Florida State University and the U.S. Geological Survey are trying to understand how water-level changes - caused by dredging and water use by upstream cities and farms - may be changing the floodplain forest. The FSU researchers also are trying to understand what challenges the beekeepers face. Beekeepers maintain their hives year-round in anticipation of the tupelo honey season each spring. The tupelo trees bloom for only two or three weeks each year, so beekeepers empty their hives of the honey that bees produced from other nectar, then collect the fresh tupelo honey as it is made. About a mile downstream from Wewahitchka and the Chipola Cutoff, Melanie Darst and Helen Light, scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey, are recording tree species along the Apalachicola River. A research study published in August said the Apalachicola River level was about 2 feet lower in the Wewahitchka area at low flow because of past river-straightening and dredging by the Corps of Engineers. The lower river level means more water is needed to inundate the floodplain at a time when less water is flowing downstream from Georgia and Alabama because of water use by cities and farms in those states. The study didn't say how the lack of water has affected the forested floodplain, which covers 82,000 acres. http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060917/NEWS01/609170325/1010

Canada:21) In Grassy Narrows First Nation gets a boil-water advisory from the Medical Services Environmental Health Worker for Treaty #3 First Nations. My first thought was: " I thought we were safe. " To say the least, it's very inconvenient to boil water for two minutes to kill any bacteria that live in it. But if we do not boil the water, the elders, infants and children, and weak adults are susceptible to severe stomach cramps, diarrhea and/or vomiting. December, 2002, the residents of Grassy Narrows First Nation decided to stop logging trucks from entering their traditional territory. We had completed three contaminant studies, and had found high levels of mercury in the fish and forty times the acceptable levels of mercury in an otter. We always knew there was a reason why women were miscarrying, why three children had brain tumours, the high incidence of thyroid disease, the Type 2 Diabetes, the cancers and the seizures in children. To put it simply, there is a silent war out there, and it does not only happen on Indian reserves. It is happening all around us. If we do not stop this desecration of humankind and our planet, then we will not survive as a healthy species in the next twenty years. I imagine all the living planets in the universe as I look up at the stars, and I often wonder if those living beings out there are as stupid as us. We know we are polluting the water. We know we are destroying the air, the plants, the animals, ourselves and the future generations, and yet we continue on with our lifestyles. http://www.canadiandimension.com/articles/category/environment/Ireland: 22) A TINY creature is about to cost the Irish forestry industry millions in lost revenue. The pearl mussel, which lives 120 years and is extremely sensitive to pollution, is set to change forever the way trees are grown and felled in parts of Ireland. The difficulties for Coillte, the state forestry agency, began after phosphorous and nitrate silt leaked into the Owenriff river in Galway in May 2004, and caused an algae bloom that asphyxiated most of the mussels living downstream. The bivalve is a protected species under European law, and Ireland has the largest remaining population. Mary Coughlan, the minister for agriculture, imposed a moratorium on forestry activities in all pearl mussel areas last May, some 18 months after officials in the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) recognised the problem. Coillte's forestry model, which involves regular clear felling of swathes of forest, is now known to acidify soil and dump huge amounts of phosphorous and nitrates into the ground and rivers. Coillte can now neither continue fertilising the trees in these areas nor cut them down in an economically viable way. Gerry Egan, Coillte's company secretary, said yesterday less than a quarter of the company's forests, were affected. But internal documents and environmentalists suggest otherwise. Aine O'Connor, an environmental officer at the NPWS, began an internal debate on the issue in an e-mail to her colleagues in October 2004, five months after the bloom emerged. "I am very concerned that populations in other river catchments are at risk," she wrote. "Current evidence suggests that clear felling of conifer plantations in blanket bog and heath catchments lead to massive losses . . . I believe that all forestry activities in mussel catchments should be suspended." http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2091-2361649,00.htmlKyrgyzstan23) TASH-BASHAT -- The origins of a swastika-shaped forest in Tash-Bashat are " myth-tifying, " The New York Times reported. The so-called Eki Naryn swastika, a man-made arrangement of trees near the edge of the Himalayas, is at least 60 years old and roughly 600 feet across. At least that's one account of the forest. Another has German prisoners of war -- pressed into forestry duty after World War II -- pulling a fast one on their Soviet guards and planting rows of seedlings in the shape of the emblem Adolf Hitler adopted, the Times said. It took more than 20 years, but trees grew and the swastika became visible. However, villagers say no prisoners worked there, the Times said. There are other, equally credible, stories about the forest's origin, including one that it was designed by a Nazi sympathizer sent to the area to improve efficiency. People studying the stand of trees agree, the Times said, that it is hard to know what's legend and what is not. http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060916-024406-1185rOman:24) In an area that is characterized mostly by desert, the trees have preserved an ecological niche because they exploit a wispy-thin source of water that only occurs seasonally, said Elfatih A.B. Eltahir, professor of civil and environmental engineering, and former MIT graduate student Anke Hildebrandt. A report on their research was published in a recent issue of Geophysical Research Letters. They are also advising the Omani government on handling the problem. The forest is especially unique, said Eltahir and Hildebrandt, because it " is a water-limited seasonal cloud forest " that is kept alive by water droplets gathered from passing clouds -- ground fog. The water dribbles into the ground and sustains the trees later when the weather is dry. The MIT work suggests the trees actually get more of their water through contact with clouds than via rainfall. In general, cloud forests are not really rare. But they occur most frequently in moist tropical regions where there is ample rainfall. So it is unusual, the researchers said, to find a cloud forest in a region known for chronic dryness. The researchers studied the area in Oman to learn how the Dhofar Mountain ecosystem " functions naturally, and how it may respond to human activity " that could lead to desertification and the need for reforestation. Eltahir and Hildebrandt, who is now at the UFZ Center for Environmental Research, in Leipzig, Germany, said the unusual forest is an interesting remnant " of a moist vegetation belt that once spread across the Arabian Peninsula " in the distant past. At that time the regional climate was generally wetter. The forested area in the Sultanate of Oman is now semi-arid, and most of the ancient tree vegetation is gone. This small remnant has managed to survive in the Dhofar Mountains. But it is under threat. Although many Omanis have moved into cities and towns as the country has grown rich on oil, Eltahir explained, a family's prestige still comes from owning many camels, and people now tend to keep more camels than they need, which is part of the problem facing the forest. " It is an unusual place, " Eltahir said. " It's a very good example of a unique and fragile ecosystem " where constant pressure from over-grazing can have consequences beyond defoliation. In fact, the forest illustrates how small changes can lead to major impact on far bigger systems, Eltahir said. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-09/miot-mtd091406.phpUganda:

25) THE National Forestry Authority (NFA) has cancelled the allocation of Katugo forest reserve in Nakasongola district to private investors under a 50-year concession, reports Gerald Tenywa. This follows a three-month wrangle over the concession. "I'm hereby instructing you to call off the bid exercise and notify the bidders accordingly," NFA's executive director Olav Bjella told his procurement manager. Bjella cited lack of sufficient competition from companies that expressed interest and that the would-be successful company did not meet the overall intention of establishing additional industrial capacity. Part of the top NFA management wanted the Inspector General of Government to investigate the allocation, saying there was influence-peddling. In a statement released on September 12, Gaster Kiyingi, the NFA spokesperson, said the forestry authority would consider the initiative later. Last month, The New Vision reported that the proposed allocation of Katugo forest reserve had split top forestry officials. One group on the NFA allocation committee ruled in favour of Nile Ply, whose bid was slightly above $9m (about sh15b). This was contested by another group, which preferred New Forests Company that had offered $13m, although most committee members said "it had inferior credentials.'' The ground for contention was that the company allocated the managing licence for the 3,000-hectare reserve had "a sound track record in sawmilling and had presented all the necessary conditions.'' http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/521696Congo:26) WWF and the Danzer Group, a leading global producer of hardwood veneer and lumber, have agreed to work together in Africa to promote sustainable forest management. As part of the cooperation, Danzer's subsidiaries, IFO in the Republic of Congo and SIFORCO in the Democratic Republic of Congo — which manage a combined total forest area of 3.2 million hectares — are scheduled to be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) starting in 2008. This is the largest concession in Africa currently being prepared for FSC certification. This schedule for certification will build upon the company's comprehensive Environmental and Safety Management System (ESMS) as well as the Danzer Group's strict procurement rules for African timber. The ESMS is based on the ISO 14001:2004 standard and covers the Danzer Group's entire global African supply chain from forest management and sourcing of timber to the processing and sale of products. Through its ESMS, Danzer has already met a number of requirements for certification of its own sustainably managed forests. Both IFO and SIFORCO have been granted an independently verified legality certificate by the Swiss auditing company, Société Générale de Surveillance. The measures and schedule for achieving FSC certification, which will be drawn up by WWF and Danzer in the coming months, are a requirement of GFTN membership. Danzer's IFO concession, comprising a total of 1.3 million hectares, is scheduled to achieve FSC certification in 2008. Gradual certification of SIFORCO's five concessions, totaling nearly 1.9 million hectares, is set to begin in 2010. " By adhering to the requirements set forth in a certificate, customers can rest assured that the wood they buy from us comes from responsibly managed sources, " added Hans-Joachim Danzer. http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/index.cfm?uNewsID=80460Kenya:27) The government is in the process of hiving off a section of the 7,000-acre Ngong forest which, together with Karura forest, is the " lung " of Nairobi. If all goes according to plans by the ministry, about 1,200 hectares (about 3,000 acres) of the more than 46,000-hectare Maasai Mau Forest will be given out. Besides drawing widespread outcry from Kenyans, the government's action is said to be contrary to the law. It is against the well-being of the country's environment and the economy and might create conflicts of jurisdiction with the relevant local authorities. For instance, alarmed by the government's action, Narok county councillors met this week and resolved to retain the boundaries of the Maasai Mau as had been delineated by the Ole Ntutu Commission, set up by former President Daniel Moi in 1986. " We also resolved to convert the forest into the Maasai Mau Nature Reserve, " said Narok County Council vice chairperson Agnes Pareyo. She said the councillors would hold a full-council meeting to ratify the resolution. Councillor Pareyo said this action by the council should not create conflicts with the central government. " The forest is trust land which, by law, is placed in the hands of the Narok County Council. " Conservationists are treating the recent action by surveyors to draw up new forest boundaries that radically deviate from the plan made by the Ole Ntutu Commission as abuse of office. " It should be investigated by the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, " said the coordinator of the Kenya Forestry Working Group, Michael Gachanja. In mid last year, the Government deployed a powerful force of personnel from the General Service Unit (GSU), regular and administration police, forest guards and county council rangers to kick out people who had settled in a number of forests. At the height of the operation – during which 10,000 settlers were ejected from Maasai Mau – the then Lands Minister, Mr Amos Kimunya, ruled out any compromise. He said claims that some settlers had " ownership papers " did not legitimise their occupation. " A forest is a forest and we are dead serious that it has to remain so. " But signs that such resolve had disappeared emerged during the Referendum campaigns when the Government started to promise goodies to different groups of people as enticement for voting " Yes " to the proposed Constitution. Besides handing back the Amboseli National Park to Olkejuado county council, the Government promises Kajiado residents a slice of Ngong forest, while top officials say some of those evicted from the Maasai Mau could be taken back. http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=39 & newsid=81375South Africa:28) A spate of letters in support of the pine plantations and other alien species on Table Mountain demonstrates how ignorant the public are with regard to conservation. One reader ( " Cut Up " , Cape Argus, September 12) claims that the trees are there by God's will and therefore should be left alone. Clearly the opposite applies - God created an incredibly complex but balanced natural ecosystem where animals, birds, insects and trees depend on one another for survival. Brett Myrdal and his team at Table Mountain National Park have done an incredible job and to those of us who understand what they are trying to achieve, the results are already evident.Myrdal is a conservationist who understands the complex issues of the interdependence of species and the importance of biodiversity What many Capetonians do not understand is that pines and eucalyptus are of no use to our indigenous fauna and the silence one experiences walking in the forest is the result of the fact that they sustain no life. Already, just a short few years since plantations were felled in the Newlands Forest, areas that were once " green deserts " under alien pines are now covered with young saplings of indigenous trees. In 15 to 20 years these will be beautiful natural forests that can sustain our indigenous birds, insects and other animal life. http://www.capeargus.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=463 & fArticleId=3438148Peru:29) The Amazon rainforest in Peru is one of the most biodiverse and environmentally vulnerable regions in the world, with hundreds of endangered and threatened species at risk. Unfortunately, the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement that Congress will soon consider will further endanger Peru's rainforest. I urge you to oppose this agreement. One of the most serious threats to the Peruvian rainforest is the widespread illegal logging of mahogany, an endangered species. This logging damages habitat for other endangered species such as the giant river otter. In addition, the International Labor Organization has documented the use of forced indigenous labor in many illegal logging operations. Most of the mahogany logged in Peru is exported to the United States in violation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. I'm concerned that the Peru Free Trade Agreement doesn't address these threats to Peru's rainforest. It includes only token, unenforceable provisions on the environment that do not even require enforcement of international agreements protecting endangered species. And it will expand the special rights of multinational companies to attack legitimate environmental protections. Please oppose this anti-environmental free trade agreement and help ensure that the rainforest in Peru is protected. http://action.foe.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=5183India:30) Thiruvananthapuram - The Kerala Government would transfer 305 hectares of land to the forest department for compensatory afforestation in place of forest land provided for Sabarimala Development. The land was being given in place of 122.675 hectare forest land for providing facilities at Nilackel and Pamba for Ayyappa pilgrims visiting Sabarimala, an official release said here today. The documents of revenue land at Kabakallu would be handed over by the Revenue Minister K P Rajendran to Forest Minister Binoy Viswom at a function to be held here on September 18, the release said. The master-plan for Sabarimala Development would be completed in a time-bound manner, the release added. http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/004200609162240.htmIndonesia:

31) It is a company called Rimbunan Hijau, one of the largest foreign investors in Papua New Guinea and its largest forestry business. Greenpeace's attack on the company is a proxy attack on commercial forestry in PNG, which it wants to stop. Greenpeace has been joined by the Centre for Environmental Law and Conservation in PNG and the Australian Conservation Foundation. A recently released CELCOR-ACF report claims to present new evidence of the human rights abuses of the forestry industry. But all that is new are claims of five instances of abuse in nine years, all of which are unsubstantiated. Conveniently, CELCOR and ACF report the complainants need to remain anonymous for their own safety. This means that none of the claims can be tested for truthfulness. Otherwise, the report repeats old claims, some of which have been made for a decade, about corruption, sexual abuse and enslavement in forestry in PNG. It repeats unsubstantiated reports published by Greenpeace in the past four years and unsubstantiated claims of human rights abuse in PNG aired by SBS, which has since removed the transcript of the program from its website. To freshen the green campaign, the CELCOR-ACF report carries insinuations that Australian military forces and forestry companies are responsible for distribution of arms throughout PNG. This is a calculated distortion of an ugly reality in PNG. Personal safety in the country has never been poorer. Businesses across the country are calling in help from police forces to keep order. For forestry (and other) companies operating in remote environments, this is crucial. These businesses frequently transport citizens, officials and firefighters. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20419525-30417,00.html

Australia:32) Police estimate about 3,000 people opposed to Gunns Limited's proposed mill at Bell Bay marched from Civic Square to City Park. Greens Senator Christine Milne says Mr Howard should be wary ahead of next year's federal election. " Prime Minister is no doubt desperate to hold Braddon and Bass. They are extremely marginal, " she said. " The turnout in Launceston showed that across the whole of the north of Tasmania, people are fed up with managed investment schemes that drive small farmers off their land, with the conversion of native forests to plantation, with the destruction of native waterways. " Liberal Member for Bass Michael Ferguson says he and Mr Howard are not too concerned about the rally. " The Prime Minister is supportive and so is the Howard Government, as am I, of the pulp mill, " he said. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200609/s1742682.htm33) Environmentalists campaigning to stop the logging of the Arcadia forest near Collie, in Western Australia's south-west, are now threatening to blockade the operation unless it is stopped soon. The Forest Products Commission (FPC) wants to log Arcadia and supply its timber to local sawmills. The environmentalists claim the logging will threaten a colony of quokkas living there but the FPC says it can do its work without harming them. Campaign leader Peter Murphy says despite several meetings with Environment Minister Mark McGowan the group has been unsuccessful in its bid to stop the logging. Mr Murphy says a new phase of their protest has begun. " We think that the Minister is fobbing us off and as we speak the FPC have actually moved into Arcadia and are now doing preliminary logging operations, " he said. The Environment Minister was unavailable for comment, but in a statement said he had met the environmentalists several times and is well aware of the issue. A spokesman for the FPC confirmed logging preparations are under way in the Arcadia forest. The FPC is marking trees to cut down and mapping out areas of forest to leave alone. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200609/s1741739.htm34) Australia & New Zealand Bank (ANZ) is currently Australia's leading financier of destructive projects. From rampant clear-cutting and human rights abuses in Papua New Guinea to toxic mines in Laos and western Australia, ANZ has a long history of bankrolling irresponsible projects that destroy the world's most pristine environments. ANZ is now considering funding a hugely destructive pulp mill project for one of its most controversial clients: Australian logging giant Gunns Limited. Australia's largest logging company, Gunns clear-cuts roughly 44 football fields of native forests every day in Tasmania, including some of the oldest and tallest trees in the world. Gunns is notorious for using napalm to firebomb the clear-cut patches of naked forest and then using a poison called 1080 -- which has been banned in many countries - to kill all surrounding native wildlife. All this to make it easier for Gunns to set up tree plantations after wiping out native forests. Now Gunns is planning to build a chlorine-bleaching pulp mill that would greatly accelerate the destruction of Tasmania's remaining native forests while polluting the atmosphere and local marine environment. What kind of bank would even consider funding such a destructive project? That's right: ANZ. Rainforest Action Network works to raise awareness about the links between destructive corporate practices and the money that funds them. By ending destructive investments from powerful banks and charting a new course towards a sane and sustainable global economy, we hope to put people and the environment first. http://ga3.org/campaign/taz_anz/ws838782v5bitmn?World-wide35) Illegal logging is threatening the livelihoods of millions of the world's poor, robbing governments of billions of dollars in revenue and undermining legitimate logging businesses, the World Bank said on Saturday. In developing countries, illegal logging of public lands alone causes estimated losses in assets and revenue in excess of $10 billion a year, the Bank said in a report released on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank meetings in Singapore. A further $5 billion in revenue was lost each year through tax evasion and loss of royalties on legal logging. Katherine Sierra, the Bank's vice president for sustainable development, said nearly a fifth of humanity was dependent on forests for some part of their livelihoods. Better law enforcement and land management were essential to protect their futures and lift them out of poverty, she said on Saturday. " Forests are a global public good, and their degradation imposes global costs such as climate change and species loss, " said the report. " Despite the magnitude of the problem, there are few instances of prosecution and punishment, " the report said. " In fact, if there are prosecutions it is the poor, looking to supplement their meager livelihoods, who are victimised and sent to jail. Large-scale operators continue with impunity. " It said illicit cash from illegal logging needed to be targetted and that anti-money laundering and asset forfeiture laws were important tools to fight forest clearing, corruption and organised crime. The report includes estimates of illegal logging rates as a percentage of total production in 17 countries, from Bolivia to Myanmar and Vietnam. Approximately two-thirds of those countries have illegal logging rates of at least 50 percent. In Indonesia, between 70 and 80 percent of all logging was illegal, in Boliva it was 80 percent, while in Cambodia it was estimated at 90 percent. The report also highlighted China's huge appetite for timber, with imports rising from US$6 billion in 1996 to US$16 billion in 2005. The timber came principally from Russia's far east, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Thailand. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP244004.htm36) For the past 15 years, I've noticed that much of the world's laundered money is laundered via the construction industry. That industry then turns to forests for raw materials. This places organized crime in a role as an indirect contributor to deforestation, as well as being a direct contributor via what it often called the global " logging mafia. " Which leads me to wonder how many others are tracking laundered money from the construction industry to the logging industry, and if the logging industry has any awareness of who all its ultimate customers are. Have you any information on these links? Lisa Mastny: I don't have any particular information on the links between money laundering and logging, though the connections are increasingly being recognized. I know Greenpeace has done some work on this. In general, it is becoming clear that the links between organized crime and environmental crime are much closer than were once thought. For instance, there have been recent reports that the Russian mafia is backing illegal fishers in the Bering Sea, that Italy's mafia has had a hand in illegal waste trading, and that Mexican drug lords also do a brisk trade in endangered wildlife and illegally fished tuna. Worldwatch Live Online Discussions International environmental crime Lisa Mastny: Senior Editor http://www.worldwatch.org/37) Google Earth has teamed up with the United Nations to allow users to monitor global environmental crisis zones. The website, which allows users to zoom in on any location on a satellite-based, colour, 3D depiction of the planet, will " overlay " information from partners on to its geographical images. A tie-up with the United Nations Environmental Program will allow users to see images illustrating the world's most extreme areas of environmental degradation. It will offer " before-and-after " imagery spanning the last 30 years of environmental disasters, including the deforestation of the Amazon. Separately, a partnership with Discovery Networks, owner of the Discovery Channel, will allow people to take a virtual world holiday tour. Users will see an icon appear on major tourist attractions and cities around the world and will be able to click to see Discovery video segments and information on each place. Other partners in the new programme - which Google is calling " featured content " - include the National Park Service representing 58 US parks and wildlife centre the Jane Goodall Institute. Visitors to Goodall's Gombe reserve in Africa can keep up to date, via Google Earth, with its " geo blog " , which monitors chimpanzees and deforestation in Africa. Earlier this month, Google appeared in its first European TV advertising campaign in a deal with British Airways to promote a new destination-viewing service using Google Earth technology. http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1872400,00.html