138 - Earth's Tree News

[Guest guest]

Today for you 38 news items about Mama Earth's trees. Location, number and subject listed below. Condensed / abbreviated article is listed further below.--British Columbia: 1) Vicki Husband steps down, 2) Save Cedars of Driscoll ridge, 3) Cause of the loss of mountain caribou,--Washington: 4) DNR to clearcut nature trail, 5) Wood-framing is " green " building? --Oregon: 6) Southern Oregon Vole nests need protection--California: 7) Prosecutors reward developers by busting an invasive tree remover, 8) Increase in population requires more park protection, 9) Town removed from rare forest,--Idaho: 10) Columbia Helicopters goes where roads don't, 11) Wildfire is good, --Montana: 12) Commentary on FS collaboration, 13) Judge: Protect Wolverines,--New Hampshire: 14) Push to save 24,000 acres of timberland--New York: 15) Logger defies orders to stop logging--Pennsylvania: 16) Wangari Mathai once learned here--Massachusetts: 17) Dramatically increasing the harvest of trees on public lands--North Carolina: 18) Earth First! and Rising Tide do GE tree action--USA: 19) Mass retirement from FS anticipated--Canada: 20) Job cuts in Quebec, 21) Balsam woolly adelghid, 22) INCO and WWF unite. 23) INCO and WWF are not credible,--Liberia: 24) Landmark National Forestry Reform Law of 2006--Botswana: 25) First African country to sign a Tropical Forest Conservation Agreement --Central America: 26) Agro-forestry coffee plantations--Guatemala: 27) New stove design decreases deforestation, --Chile: 28) Hiway and Hydro-electric plans to destroy wilderness,--Nepal: 29) Deforestation and Squalor at the base of Mt. Everest--Indonesia: 30) Forest where community lack cultural values are first to be logged--Papua New Guinea: 31) Logs 5% of all exports in Papua New Guinea --New Zealand: 32) 70% of our forests are in foreign hands,--Australia: 33) Final design for harvest in Arcadia Forest, 34) Landowner loopholes,--World-wide: 35) Save coral reefs by stopping deforestation, 36) FSC is a sham, 37) Global movement against monoculture timber, 38) Deforestation / incursions leads to PTSD in Elephants,British Columbia:1) " Let's just say it is with great sadness that I leave my role with the Sierra Club after 18 years, " she said. Husband has been the public face of the Sierra Club's B.C. chapter for almost two decades, serving as a director with national and B.C. boards while winning international recognition for campaigns she planned and led. She holds the Order of Canada, the Order of B.C., a United Nations Global 500 Award, an honorary doctorate from the University of Victoria and a special service award from the Sierra Club's U.S.-based parent body, and is an honorary citizen of Victoria. " She is the founding mother of environmentalism in B.C. She's had the respect of everyone she's dealt with and there are virgin forests with trees still standing because of Vicky Husband. There are millions of salmon swimming in our waters today because of her, " said Terry Glavin, a prize-winning environmental author. Glavin advised Husband on oceans policy issues while she was leading the Sierra Club's marine conservation campaign, ruffling feathers in the fishing industry by demanding strong protections for groundfish and for endangered salmon runs like the Cultus Lake and Sakinaw sockeye and Thompson River coho and steelhead. By way of contrast, the Sierra Club's website posts a direct link to sites promoting a commercial fishing company, which the club cites as a supporter. For almost a generation, Husband was prominent in virtually every major environmental story in B.C.: Protecting the Nitinat Triangle of lakes on the west coast of Vancouver Island; bringing the debate over Clayoquot Sound to international attention; protecting the Carmanah, Walbran, Tahshish-Kwois and Tsitika watersheds; protecting the whale-rubbing beaches of Robson Bight; forcing moratoriums that eventually set aside much of the Great Bear Rainforest; defending the Tatshenshini watershed from mining; establishing the Khutzeymateen grizzly bear sanctuary and the Gwaii Haanas national park reserve in the Queen Charlotte Islands. Among her less-known but important initiatives was the Sierra Club's role in developing a satellite-based mapping system that provided accurate independent inventories of old-growth forests with which to challenge industrial logging plans. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/columnists/story.html?id=ac2717b9-1996-4ac5-b4ec-67cce6ff2d32

2) The new Ancient Cedar Forest Trail on Driscoll Ridge was launched 24 September 2006, with 75-100 people attending. This trail provides Robson Valley residents and eco-tourists a new opportunity to experience the world-unique Ancient Rainforest, starting 5 km west of the Dome Creek Diner on Highway 16. Here you will see some of the world's oldest and largest ancient Cedar trees, the widest Cedar tree known to exist in Robson Valley, and the largest nesting population known for the rare Pacific-Slope Flycatcher. All this is nestled within the only Inland Temperate Rainforest in the world--existing right in your own backyard. Despite the above and the world-class importance and life-sustaining functions that the Ancient Forest Trail site displays it is still slated for logging by TRC, even at a time when deforestation is causing climate change and global warming that is destroying life on earth as we know it. Support for Ancient Rainforest conservation has substantially grown since Save-The-Cedar League and scientists first informed the public of the Ancient Inland Rainforest and its rich biodiversity in Robson Valley 20 years ago. This is made more evident today by the government's protection of Old Growth Management Areas (OGMAs) surrounding the Ancient Cedar Forest Trail on Driscoll Ridge, and by the unprecedented numbers of people and groups supporting the trail system. How is it possible that corporate interests are allowed to continue the unsustainable destruction of this Ancient Rainforest? Why are a select few given the liberty to destroy this irreplaceable Rainforest for their own short-term gain, at the huge long-term loss to the many who derive life-support systems, sustainable incomes, and all of the above benefits from the same Rainforest? http://www.robsonvalleytimes.com/index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id=747 & Itemid=92

3) For decades the government's own scientists have been warning that the destruction of habitat by logging is a major cause of the loss of mountain caribou. The warnings of impending extinction were ignored to protect the profits of hugely wealthy logging corporations. This is the message of a 60-page report by Valhalla Wilderness Watch. The report is entitled, " How the BC government is killing mountain caribou. " The B.C. Liberal government cannot claim to be trying to save mountain caribou when it has been busy slashing the budget and staff of our environment ministries, deregulating the logging industry, refusing to lower the rate of logging, and fast-tracking tourism development in mountain caribou habitat. The federal Species at Risk Act does nothing to require the provinces to protect the habitat of endangered species. So far the main action by the B.C. government has been to initiate predator killing programs to boost the number of mountain caribou. Government scientists say that the majority of caribou deaths are now caused by wolves and cougars. But the Valhalla Wilderness Watch report presents a large body of scientific opinion that these unusually high rates of predation on mountain caribou are caused by the destruction of habitat. " There are only 1,900 mountain caribou left in this world, " says Anne Sherrod, a director of Valhalla Wilderness Watch. " They are so far gone that only the full, sincere commitment of the federal and provincial governments to protect habitat will save them. Most of the old-growth forest has already been logged. Any real effort to save the caribou must bring about an end to logging old-growth forest over 140 years old. We also need immediate programs to restore clearcuts to a condition more suitable to mountain caribou survival. Further delays can only be called the deliberate annihilation of species in the name of profits for multinational corporations. " http://www.savespiritbear.org/http://www.caribounation.org/article.php?id=108

Washington:4) The Department of Natural Resources announced 20 acres of McLane Creek Nature Trails Demonstration Forest will be clear-cut in 2008. DNR did not use the words " clear-cut " since they intend to leave a few snags behind. Although the land is within the demonstration forest, there is no educational value to clearing trees. Clear-cutting land only puts it one step closer to being developed. This land should become a Thurston County Park. The land is an extension of the adjacent McLane Creek and beaver pond that thrives with running salmon, rich riparian habitat, pristine wetlands areas and an abundance of wildlife and native plants that offer excellent educational opportunities. This is land worth preserving for our children, and for their children as well. Once this land is clear-cut and habitat is destroyed, it will not return to its former state when it is bordered by development on both sides. Please contact your elected state and county officials to let them know the McLane Creek Nature Trail should become a county park, NOT a clear-cut. --Chester Werts, Olympia http://www.theolympian.com/208/story/44407.html5) Should traditional wood-framing count as a " green " building technique? Or is something else, such as steel or concrete, a more environmentally-friendly choice? Houses with steel or concrete framing can sometimes earn credits towards LEED " green building " certification -- a fact that the concrete and steel industries are more than happy to tout. On the other side of the debate, there's CORRIM--the Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials--a research group loosely affiliated with the University of Washington's College of Forest Resources. CORRIM has completed a series of exhaustive life-cycle analyses comparing wood-framed construction with competing steel and concrete technologies. As a result, CORRIM finds, it's actually more climate-friendly to cut down a forest and use it for timber, than to use concrete and steel substitutes whose manufacture relies on coal, oil or gas. Still, I think there's a fair amount of hair-splitting going on. I've also got some quibbles, like the fact that they don't seem to account for soil carbon in their accounting -- even though some northwestern forest soils can store truly immense amounts of carbon -- see this study:http://www.esajournals.org/esaonline/?request=get-abstract & issn=1051-0761 & volume=012 & issue=05

& page=1303 …I combed through CORRIM's life-cycle analyses to try to find the total difference, over 75 years, between carbon emissions for a steel-framed vs. a wood-framed home. And when you add together all life-cycle carbon emissions -- for manufacturing and transporting the materials, building the home, maintaining, heating, cooling and lighting it for 75 years, and dismantling and disposing of it at the end -- the difference between the two isn't much more than a rounding error. Take a look: http://www.sightline.org/daily_score/archive/2006/10/09/steel-vs-wood-does-it-matterOregon:

6) The Northwest Ecosystem Survey Team (NEST) homed in on the Medford BLM this summer. Armed with crossbows and fishing line, the all-volunteer crew was highly productive in finding previously undiscovered red tree vole nests at three different mature and old-growth timber sales. Active nests are required 10 acre protection buffers as outlined by the Northwest Forest Plan. The results: 37 nests discovered at the Anderson West timber sale; 27 nests found at the East Fork Illinois timber sale and 5 nests located at the Tennessee Lime timber sale. Nest samples and data were turned into the BLM during the comment period. The CWP is now working to ensure the BLM honors these discoveries and ensures protection for this rare, upper canopy critter. Earlier this summer, CWP was fortunate enough to connect NEST surveyors with red tree vole experts Eric Forsman and James Swingle of Oregon State University. NEST is sharing its data with the biologists in an ongoing effort to further study the elusive mammal. We'll keep you informed as to what the BLM does with the data and let you about ways you can get involved with NEST in the future. http://www.cascwild.orgCalifornia:7) He has spent decades working to protect Los Angeles' endangered Ballona Wetlands. But did environmentalist Roy van de Hoek go too far when he took his pruning shears to a nonnative tree and plants in the Westside nature preserve? Los Angeles prosecutors say yes. They have filed six vandalism counts against Van de Hoek, alleging that he entered the wetlands without permission and destroyed city parks property when he cut down the invasive plants. If convicted, he could face six years in prison and fines of up to $15,000. Conservationists who support the veteran ecologist disagree. Van de Hoek has not denied cutting the plants. Characterizing the eradication work as a continuation of his years of plant removal in the wetlands, he said he intends to plead not guilty to the charges Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court. But for now, he has been banned from leading tours and doing rehabilitation work at the wetlands, where Ballona Creek meets the ocean south of Marina del Rey. As his arraignment approaches, the current case remains murkier than the brackish freshwater-saltwater mix that all hope will someday rejuvenate the Ballona Wetlands. Van de Hoek's supporters insist that the city's parks department has no jurisdiction over the land where the myoporums were allegedly cut because it is owned by the state's Department of Fish and Game. That agency has issued permits to two environmental groups to weed out invasive vegetation from wetland areas — something that would have covered Van de Hoek if he did remove any shrubs. Some suggest that the prosecution is political in nature, a reward to Playa Vista developers who have contributed to Delgadillo and whose project has been a target of Van de Hoek's activism over the years. http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-me-wetlands11oct11,1,1856037.story

8) Millions of Californians spent the summer relaxing on public beaches, hiking in redwood parks and boating on lakes. Those activities were made possible by the investments of past generations. That is the message that environmentalists and other supporters of Proposition 84 -- a $5.4 billion bond measure on the Nov. 7 statewide ballot to fund parks and water projects -- want to get out. Why? They hope voters in seven weeks will make new investments for future generations. But with 12 other measures on the ballot -- including $37 billion in four other bond proposals for highways, schools, affordable housing and flood control -- persuading voters to check " yes " could be a challenge, experts say. " It's a tough election for initiatives this year. It's hard to get noticed, " said pollster Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy Institute of California, a nonpartisan research firm in San Francisco. Prop. 84 is the largest parks and water bond measure in state history. If approved by a majority of voters, the measure would raise $5.4 billion through the sale of general obligation bonds to shore up aging levees in San Francisco Bay's delta, build drinking water treatment plants, fund flood control, restore salmon runs and purchase new parklands from Lake Tahoe to Monterey Bay to Los Angeles. Roughly half the money would fund parks and half would fund water projects. The measure qualified for the ballot after a coalition of 11 environmental groups turned in 632,000 signatures in April. The group includes the Nature Conservancy, California Audubon Society, Save-the-Redwoods League, Peninsula Open Space Trust and Big Sur Land Trust. The supporters' argument is simple: Because California's population, driven largely by immigration, is growing by more than 500,000 people every year, the state must do all it can to preserve beaches, forests, rivers and streams before they are lost to sprawl. Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans reinforced the need for new spending to improve levees and flood control, they add. http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/15702784.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

9) GIANT FOREST — In the late 1990s, the National Park Service removed an old sewage-treatment plant that ecologists considered an ugly bunion at the foot of ancient giant sequoias. But the sewage plant was more than an ecological nuisance in Giant Forest, where four of the world's five largest trees reside. The leaky, 1920s-vintage plant symbolized a long-ago development era that only this year passed into oblivion. Besides the sewage plant, crews have hauled out 282 buildings and 24 acres of asphalt over the past decade. Gone are lodge units, employee quarters, a market and the lodge dining hall. The park service and volunteers a few weeks ago finished planting vegetation to restore nature in the bare spots that were left behind. A small city amid the sequoias has become a natural place where a steady stream of people visit and picnic during the day. The revival in Sequoia National Park's premier attraction parallels other projects that have moved urban development farther from nature in high-profile western national parks, such as Yosemite, Yellowstone and Grand Canyon. Sequoia's sweeping effort is the most radical among them, said historian and retired park naturalist Bill Tweed, who worked 28 years at Sequoia. Yet Sequoia faced little of the controversy that follows change in Yosemite Valley or Yellowstone. " Sequoia is where the conflict [between people and nature] was more about living things than scenery, " Tweed said. " We're talking about a living forest in Giant Forest. People understood we had to change. " Giant Forest's buildings now consist of a museum, an education center, restrooms and one house for a ranger. Visitors can follow trails throughout the area, making access to the big trees easier than it was decades ago. http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/12855485p-13538763c.htmlIdaho:10) The Aurora, Ore., heavy-lift helicopter company had one of its twin-rotor Boeing Vertol 107-II helicopters in Benson, just over the Fulton County line from Northville in Hamilton County, hauling cut trees out of a patch of private property landlocked by state forest. " If we could have logged up there with traditional methods, we would have done it, " said George Nigriny, a Scotia resident and secretary of Hatchbrook Sportsman's Club, which owns about 800 acres in the foothills of the Adirondacks. " But this was the only way. " The club has wanted for years to sell off timber to raise money, thin the forest and improve the wildlife habitat on its hunting grounds. But a rutted old dirt road that leads into the site crosses over state forest land for about half a mile, and the club said it has been stymied in efforts to get the necessary permit to take heavy equipment over it. Enter Bailey Forest Products, a Johnstown lumber broker. The company offered to selectively harvest some of the more profitable trees -- hard maple, cherry, red oak and yellow birch -- leaving behind most of the forest with little disruption. To get the logs out -- about 385,000 board feet of wood -- Bailey brought in Columbia. The heavy-lift business had its own crews in the forest last week cutting trees; the helicopter followed later in the week. Crews hooked the logs to a 200-foot-long cable, slung from the bottom of the helicopter, for the nearly mile-long flight to a clearing. There, the logs were cut, sorted and loaded onto trucks. http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=524170 & category=BUSINESS & BCCode=HOME & newsdate=10

/10/200611) BOISE, - More than 800,000 acres burned in the state, but only destroyed a few homes. The Boise National Forest let some naturally caused fires burn if they weren't threatening homes. ''There is a willingness in today's environment to basically back off, let the fire increase in size if there isn't a firefighter safety issue,'' David Olson, Boise National Forest spokesman, told the Idaho Statesman. John McCarthy of the Wilderness Society, a conservation group, said the policy is good for forests. ''For the forest in general, it was positive and really what you'd hope to see,'' he said. Fire ecologists said many forest fires burned at varying temperatures leaving a ''mosaic'' effect. The result left forest patches of different ages - from old growth to young trees. Kathleen Gaier-Hayes, a fire ecologist, said that will help protect the forest from disease and insects. Without that variety of trees, she said, mountain pine beetles would be able to attack entire forests of old-growth, leaving behind their trademark of red-tinged dying trees. She said forest fires, before they started being suppressed, regularly changed forests and helped balance the ecosystems, leading to a wide variety of wildlife. Terry Hardy, a fire rehabilitation team leader with the Boise National Forest, said high-intensity burns can lead to slides on hillsides, but that the mosaic burn patterns generally leave hillsides protected. ''Overall, we didn't see entire watersheds moonscaped like we have in the past,'' Hardy said of the summer's fires. Wayne Stephens, owner of Silver Creek Plunge resort in Boise County, said the Rattlesnake Fire that burned more than 50 square miles hurt business over the summer but that in the end it made the area safer and improved habitat for wildlife. ''It's going to make Silver Creek a safer place for many years to come,'' he said. http://www.sltrib.com/contentlist/ci_4468802Montana:12) In the past few years, a number of forest conservation groups have been taking part in collaborative processes on several National Forests. Some have defined collaboration as making deals with the enemy, while others see it as a way to open communications and find common ground. At the very least it is important to explore this controversial topic and discuss when it makes sense to collaborate, pitfalls to avoid, how collaboration interfaces with NEPA (the National Environmental Policy Act), and how the tool of collaboration might fit in with a long-term vision for public lands. I believe that the time is ripe on SOME forests to try something new because while the timber sale program has dropped by about 80% in the last fifteen years, new threats to public lands have increased, and the red politics of rural communities have polarized conservationists and rural residents. We have also not protected Wilderness in many of the areas we all work in for over 20 years and the threats to these wildest of areas by development, ski area expansions, snowmobiles and ATV's are getting worse every year. Other dynamics, such as the decreased Forest Service budget, are creating a leadership vacuum and a need to help with oversight of national forest management. Here is one example of collaboration. Four years ago The Lands Council helped start the Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition (NEWFC), which initially brought together timber companies, rural leaders and conservationists to protect rural communities from wildfire. This has progressed to looking for common ground for management of the 1.1 million acre Colville National Forest. A similarly diverse group has now started meeting to look for common ground on the Kootenai National Forest. Other forests are trying collaboration, some of these processes seem open and transparent, while others involve closed door meetings between conservationists and the timber industry that create " deals " that make others very suspicious. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/NFPA/content.jsp?content_KEY=1673

13) A federal judge overturned the Bush Administration's refusal to consider protections for the wolverine. The late September decision enables an Endangered Species Act review of the elusive and wild wolverine. The wolverine is a bear cub-sized forest predator that persists in small numbers in the last remaining big wilderness areas of the lower-48 states. A powerful species known to even scare off large bears, the wolverine once ranged across much of the North America as far south as Arizona and was known to inhabit Oregon's Cascade and Siskiyou Mountains into northern California. Although sporadic, unconfirmed wolverine reports continue in Oregon and California. Today the wolverine is known to exist only in the northern Cascades of Washington and the Rocky Mountains. The decision by the U.S. District Court for Montana requires the Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct a full status review of the wolverine and determine if the species should be listed as threatened or endangered. Listing would trigger new legal protections for the wolverine. In its ruling, the court found that the Service wrongly rejected science showing that the wolverine, " shows a dramatic loss in range, the tangible decrease in population with the commensurate threat of genetic isolation of subpopulations, and the threat posed by human encroachment on wolverines. " Threats such as trapping, increasing off road vehicle use and chipping away of the wolverine's wilderness habitat by logging, mining and associated road-building continues today. http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_4472217New Hampshire:14) CONCORD — The state and environmental groups hope to buy a conservation easement on nearly 24,000 acres of timberland in the North Country to ensure it isn't subdivided, clear-cut or closed to hikers, hunters and snowmobilers. The state is applying for $3.5 million in federal Forest Legacy program funding to buy the conservation easement on the Phillips Brook property from privately-held GMO Renewable Resources, a Boston-based timber investment management organization. " We want to ensure that sustainable forestry continues on the property, " state Forester Philip Bryce said Tuesday. " We're very fortunate that we have a landowner who is willing to work with us to protect this parcel. " The property, formerly part of International Paper's vast timber holdings in Maine and New Hampshire, encompasses the Phillips Brook watershed from Stark almost to Dixville Notch, including parts of Odell, Dummer, Millsfield and Ervings Location. GMO bought the land from IP two years ago. The property is remote and entirely undeveloped except for a lodge built on Phillips Pond by IP in the 1930s, said Paul Doscher, head of land conservation for the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, which is working with the state and GMO to win the federal grant. Two major snowmobile trails cross the Phillips Brook parcel from east to west, connecting the two biggest north-south corridors in Coos County. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4249486.htmlNew York:15) At a hearing Thursday, the committee told logger Jim Ellis of Hillview Logging, County Forester Brian Grassia and County Parks Commissioner Angelo Sedita they were terminating Hillview's contract for the logging. Loughran faxed the notice of that intent to Sedita's office Friday. Ellis defended his actions Monday morning before using two horses to drag sections of one of the felled trees, which measured about 4 feet in diameter at its stump, across a stream on county forest land off South Protection Road in Holland. " Those trees were notched, " said Ellis, referring to cuts made into trees to allow them to fall in a desired direction. Ellis said Grassia gave him permission to cut the trees because leaving them notched presented a safety hazard. The move infuriated members of the Legislature's Energy and Environment Committee, which - after hearing environmentalists complain about the ongoing logging operations - decided Thursday to terminate the logger's contract. " Didn't I make it clear? " committee chairman Thomas A. Loughran, D-Amherst, said. " I said, " Do not cut down any more trees.' " Loughran and Legislator Kathy Konst, whose district includes the land where the logging has taken place, called the actions a clear violation of the committee's intent. " He's got no conscience, " Gasner said of Ellis. " All he's interested in is making money. Environmentalists, including the Sierra Club's Larry Beahan, have criticized the plan to manage the county's 3,153 acres of forest land, and that criticism intensified when they saw the way it was being implemented. Beahan said Monday's actions are " consistent with what they've been doing the last month or so, driving their way through those plantations and pulling out the most valuable trees. It has nothing to do with any kind of future plan for the forest. " " What's disappointing is you expect a level of trust and that level is being breached, " Konst, D-Lancaster, told a representative of Hillview Logging. " It makes it very difficult for us in the Legislature to have faith in what we're being told. " http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20061010/1047966.asp?PFVer=StoryPennsylvania:16) "In the 1960s, the University of Pittsburgh helped nurture the intellect and curiosity of a very bright young biologist," Nordenberg said. "Wangari Muta Maathai went on to make profound contributions to improving the natural environment, the economic status of women, and democratic ideals. Insofar as Pitt helped lay the foundation for those achievements, we have educated well and wisely." After receiving a B.S. degree in biology from Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kan., Maathai came to Pitt to continue her studies. Here she earned the Master of Science degree in 1965, intending to teach and conduct research when she returned home to the Nyeri district in Central Kenya. In 1971, she received her Ph.D. degree in anatomy from the University of Nairobi, the first woman to earn a doctorate in east or central Africa, and became chair of that university's Department of Veterinary Anatomy. Motivated by the economic plight of women in Kenya and by the deforestation of her once-lush homeland as a result of timber raiders and poor crop management, she interrupted her academic career to run for parliament. She lost that race and, because of her activism, lost her position at the university. Her response was to launch the now-legendary grassroots organization, called the Green Belt Movement, which mobilized the women whose lives were relegated to working the land to plant millions of trees throughout Kenya, restoring both the earth and the livelihoods of the women and their families. In 2004, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "her contribution to sustainable development, democracy, and peace." Among her numerous other awards are France's highest honor, the Legion d'Honneur, presented this year. She is listed in the United Nations Environment Programme Global 500 Hall of Fame and was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2002, Maathai was elected to Kenya's Parliament and appointed by Kenya's president as assistant minister for environment and natural resources. Last year, she was elected Presiding Officer of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the African Union. http://mac10.umc.pitt.edu/m/FMPro?-db=ma & -lay=a & -format=d.html & id=2661 & -Find

Massachusetts:17) AGAWAM -- Massachusetts is dramatically increasing the harvest of trees on public lands to levels not seen since the 1980s, a move state officials say is needed to enhance wildlife habitat and improve the health and diversity of trees. The state has thinned about 1,500 acres in each of the last two years and expects to thin almost 2,000 acres this year -- mostly in state forests and parks in the western part of the state, but also in Marlborough and Plymouth. ``We only found out when we saw blue and yellow spray paint on the trees, " said Carol Gilmour, who walks every day in Robinson State Park in Agawam and is upset at the state's plan to log 134 acres there. She and other opponents have placed protest signs in town and pressed the state, as well as local political leaders, to abandon the plan. The trees had been marked in preparation for cutting this fall, but the state has now agreed to hold off pending further study. ``Why are they logging at all? No one has touched these woods since 1934, " said Gilmour, of Agawam. If the trees are not cut, the officials said, native species will not thrive and some types of wildlife will not have a place to live. Trees in many of the forest stands are about 70 to 100 years old, and officials want to create a more diversified forest with trees of different species and ages. The cutting plans grew out of the state's designation as the first in the nation to have all its public lands certified as ``green " by the Forest Stewardship Council, an international nonprofit dedicated to sustainable forestry. State officials set aside 100,000 acres in perpetuity earlier this month as part of that certification, but they are also required to create plans to manage forests better. ``People call this a church, " said Matt Largess, a Rhode Island arborist who has been so taken by the diversity of wildlife and tree species in Robinson he is donating time to help residents document its special nature. As he strode down a trail with Gilmour and other residents, he stopped every 20 feet or so to point out a spray-painted tree and say why it should be saved. ``I call this the Yellowstone of the East, " Largess said. ``It is sacred. " http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/10/09/objections_grow_as_bay_state_steps_up_its_thin

ning_of_forests/North Carolina:18) Earth First! and Rising Tide North America took to the high seas today to protest monoculture industrial timber plantations and genetically engineered trees. This action launches a Southern solidarity campaign to end deforestation and expose the social impacts in Chile, Brazil and the US South caused by timber plantations. The campaign demands a global ban on the new threat of genetically engineered trees. During a yacht tour to Fort Sumter, which was the kick-off event for a conference on fast growing timber plantations and forest biotechnology, activists confronted conference participants by unfurling banners after the cruise disembarked. One banner read " ArborGen: No GE Trees or Plantations in US South or Brazil " and a second banner in Portuguese translated into " Eucalyptus Plantations Are Not Forests. " A third Spanish banner read " We demand protection for native forests and respect for the Mapuche people. " " This is our first shot over the bow of the timber industry and corporate researchers, " stated Johnny Lankenship. " We are uniting with our brothers and sisters in South America to stop the destruction of native forests by tree plantations and genetically engineered trees. " The industry conference was organized by the International Union of Forest Research Organizations and co-sponsored by Summerville, SC-based ArborGen. ArborGen leads the world in research into genetically engineered trees and the IUFRO will be organizing another similar conference next week in Chile. http://www.globaljusticeecology.org/index.php?name=news & ID=406USA:19) "One third to one half of all forest service workers in the country will be retiring in the next two to three years," Mark Twain National Forest Public Affairs Director Charlotte Wiggins said. "We know nationwide we need to be sponsoring programs to get people interested in the forest." Arrington, 27, and Alfred, 34, are already certified foresters with master's degrees in their field. They will spend the next two years working as paid interns with the forest service to gain the hands-on experience needed for careers in forest management - positions that will soon be in high demand. "My goal is to be well rounded in the areas we're being trained in," he said. "We have so much on our plate." By the time the pair complete their internships they will be trained in silviculture (forest ecology), timber management and contract administration for the sale of timber. Since arriving in Rolla, Arrington and Alfred have spent a lot of time in the field marking trees for sale, often returning to the office covered in paint from head to toe. "We're taking out mainly black oaks," Alfred said. "Those trees are pretty valuable." http://www.therolladailynews.com/articles/2006/10/09/news/news07.txtCanada:20) Quebec - Several forest products companies have announced significant closures and layoffs across the province this fall, with the latest announcement coming Tuesday from Abitibi-Consolidated, one of the largest operations in Quebec, which will shut down four mills and cut 700 jobs at the end of October. The fall announcements cap a dismal 18-month period for the sector, in which more than 10,000 Quebecers have lost forestry jobs because of 116 mills closing temporarily or permanently. Unless there's swift restructuring within the industry, coupled with immediate government support, the situation will get worse before it gets better, analysts predicted Wednesday. " The next 18 months are gonna be very hard. No matter how we look at it, it's gonna be hard, " said Denis Brière, dean of l'Université Laval's forestry and geomatics faculty. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2006/10/11/qc-forestrylayoffs.html

21) Newfoundland: It's so small you can barely see it, but the balsam woolly adelghid is one of the more serious threats to the forest on the Bonavista Peninsula. More than 70 per cent of the balsam fir stands in the Ocean Pond area have moderate to severe damage, thanks to the adelghid. The challenge for forestry managers is figuring out how to combat the insect. " There is no known effective treatment for adelghid infested stands, " explains Ed Stewart, ecosystem supervisor with the Department of Natural Resources, District 2. Pesticides have not been used in the district since 1980. In the proposed five-year plan for District 2, one solution is removal of the insect infested stands, replanting with insect-resistant species like black-spruce. The five-year plan was developed through a year of consultation with a variety of interest groups — including commercial loggers, cabin owners, local towns, and representatives from Crown Lands and the Mineral Lands Division of Natural Resources. 22) INCO LIMITED has pledged $200,000 a year for the next five years to the WORLD WILDLIFE FUND CANADA. The donation will support a three-pronged conservation program, namely, to conserve species at risk of national and global importance in Canada; to develop a conservation stewardship approach for Inco in Canada; and to scope and explore work of a similar nature in areas where Inco operates internationally. For the past two decades, Inco has supported WWF Canada on a number of environmental projects, including the Endangered Species Recovery Fund and the Manitoba Ecologically Sensitive Areas Project. In 2004, in an exercise sponsored by Corporate Knights magazine, the CEOs of Inco and WWF Canada traded jobs for a day to gain a better understanding of one another's organizations. http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/issues/ISArticle.asp?id=60899 & issue=10082006

23) It seems barely credible that WWF-Canada would sign its deal with Inco when the corporate villain of the piece was, at that very moment, being blockaded by thousands of inhabitants of Goro, New Caledonia. They were up in (nonviolent) arms, to halt the company's illegal construction of one of the world's biggest nickel-cobalt mines. The Indigenous Peoples' organisation, Rheebu Nuu, began campaigning against the project five years ago. It said it wasn't against the mine per se (New Caledonia is hugely dependent on nickel mining for its GNP); but the company had culpably failed to evaluate the mine's likely impacts: the vast open-pit would spew 10,000 tonnes of dissolved metals a year into the ocean; while manganese contamination was likely to reach 100mg/litre of water - a hundred times the level allowed in France. Backing the protesters' case, on June 14 this year the administrative tribunal of Noumea (the territory's capital) cancelled the lease. http://www.minesandcommunities.org/Action/press1112.htm Ignoring this, Inco continued its construction work. Late last month, Rheebu Nuu and several other groups demanded a court injunction against further work on the project until a new environmental impact assessment was carried out. Following this, residents took to the streets and imposed a blockade on Inco's offices, joined later in the week by some eighty local lorry drivers and their vehicles. According to researcher, Peter Cizek (writing in the July/August issue of " Canadian Dimension " magazine) ten years ago WWF and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) got a grant from the Pew Family Trusts based in Philadelphia. A 1999 grant of $1.8 million over two years from Pew to the WWF aand CPAWS was designed to "protect at least 20 million acres of boreal forest wilderness in the Yukon and Northwest Territories of Canada." Declares Peter Cizek: " Even though they never came even close to this lofty objective, the Pew kept cranking the dose of crackerjack cash higher and higher, from $2.1 million per year in 2000 to $4.5 million per year in 2002-03, topping out with a mind-blowing speedball injection of $12 million — the Pew's single biggest grant in 2004. " http://www.minesandcommunities.org/Action/press1244.htmLiberia:24) Yesterday, Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first democratically-elected female head of state, signed the landmark National Forestry Reform Law of 2006. Passage of the new law is a signal moment in Liberia's effort to turn the corner on a recent past when " blood timber " was used to fuel local and regional conflict under the Charles Taylor regime. " The new forestry law represents a giant step forward toward sustainable forestry, community empowerment, and economic recovery in Liberia, " said Environmental Law Institute Senior Attorney Bruce Myers. " ELI is proud to have been part of the team that made this happen. " Since 2004, ELI has provided legal analysis and drafting guidance to Liberians as a core member of the Liberia Forest Initiative (or " LFI " ), a collaborative effort by government agencies, NGOs, and other international organizations that promotes forestry reform in this West African nation of 3 million. " The immediate concern for many Liberians is to establish a viable legal framework for their forests that gives the United Nations Security Council confidence to lift the continuing sanctions barring export of Liberian timber, " Myers said. " But another critical long-term goal is to ensure both that Liberia's communities have a voice in - and benefit from - the sustainable management of the Republic's forests, and that conservation remains a top priority in the forest sector. " Although much work remains to be done before sustainable logging operations can resume, solid foundations are now in place to start rebuilding the Liberian forest sector. This new law will allow the sector to play a key role in poverty alleviation, social development, employment generation, transfer of technology, and sustainable forest management for Liberia. " http://www.enn.com/net.html?id=1680Botswana:25) Botswana became the first African country to sign a Tropical Forest Conservation Agreement (TFCA) with the United States last Thursday. The Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Baledzi Gaolathe and the United States Ambassador to Botswana, Katherine Canavan represented the two governments by signing a TFCA and Debt Reduction agreement. Botswana will reduce its debt payments by US$7 million (P42 million). Canavan said that the US government created the TFCA in 1998 because they realised that rapid deforestation and forest degradation are serious problems in many regions of the world. "At the same time, we recognised that external debt creates economic constraints for many countries' governments and those constraints can lead to neglect or over exploitation of natural resources," she said. She added that the debt Botswana incurred through development loans can now be converted into a fund to support conservation and sustainable use of woodlands and riverine forests over the next 10 years. These include the dry acacia forest found in the Okavango Delta and the Chobe National Park, which have unique wildlife and bird-life species. Botswana will commit the funds to strengthen civil society by disbursing small grants to Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and local communities who will conserve and protect the resources. http://www.mmegi.bw/2006/October/Monday9/8191588071393.htmlCentral America:26) When it comes to the management of an agro-forestry coffee plantation, farmer knowledge and practices concerning the forest species to associate with the coffee crop are generally good. However, their management of the different species is lacking: tree density is rarely adapted to the shading required for good vegetative development and coffee tree production. Therefore, the scientists developed models to help determine which tree species and densities to maintain in different systems as a function of the coffee trees' light requirements. CASCA also identified the impact of shade on the physiology and quality of coffee, particularly in terms of photosynthesis, the allocation of carbon between production and vegetative development and the effects on flowering and fruit load. Work showed that shade plays a similar role to altitude, by providing a micro-environment that favours good berry growth. It delays pulp maturity and, thus, produces a drink with considerable added value. Yields are lower but more stable from year to year and of better quality. Coffee plantations also have a large-scale environmental impact. They cover a million hectares of land in Central America. In addition, they are often located in very fragile mountain ecosystems in the Meso-American biological corridor, which is one of the hotspots for biodiversity. In order to quantify environmental impact, the following areas were studied: the effects of shade trees and their management on soil fertility and the amount of available nitrogen for the coffee trees (legume nitrogen fixing, mineralisation of soil nitrogen). The scientists identified the fertilisation practices that struck a balance between production and environmental protection. Results showed that by reducing fertiliser requirements, agro-forestry systems help to reduce nitrate loss through leaching and, therefore, ground water contamination. http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/agrar_forstwissenschaften/bericht-71615.html

Guatemala:27) SAN JORGE LA LAGUNA — The firewood is piled high, nearly touching the tin roof of the one-room home Anacleta Ramos built using discarded wood planks, branches, cinder blocks and tin. Standing on his property in the coastal community of Rio Bravo, where some of the concrete components of the stoves are made, Grinnell ticks off a list of the stoves' benefits. In addition to reducing injuries and sicknesses, the Onil stoves require 70 percent less firewood than an open pit. That in turn helps reduce deforestation, a major threat to Guatemala's forests, he said. Jewelry maker Ramos, 44, wants to improve her economic situation by spending less time collecting firewood in the mountains surrounding the idyllic Atitlan Lake. " We see that the stove is nice because it doesn't use up firewood, " Ramos said in a mix of Spanish and the indigenous dialect of Cakchiquel. She plans to spend more time making colorful beaded bracelets, earrings and belts after she buys the stove. " Instead of collecting firewood, we will make handicrafts. " She is saving the money she earns making handicrafts, such as a belt decorated with beads in the shapes of ducks, scorpions, deer and other animals. It took her a month to craft the belt, which she hopes to sell for nearly $10 in the nearby city of Solola. Meanwhile, Ramos is trying to save the equivalent of $26 in Guatemalan quetzales to pay for her new stove, which costs about $83 to produce. Some families, however, don't have to save for the stoves, thanks to a program run by Wendy de Berger, wife of Guatemalan President Oscar Berger. Wendy de Berger gives the stoves away to women who participate in community projects. Instead of saving money for stoves, for example, 75 women in the town of Santo Domingo Xenacoj, west of Guatemala City, put their money into their community group, Sociedad Civil Guatemaltecas de Corazon, and last year were able to open a small bakery. In addition to receiving a stove for their homes, the women gained a measure of notoriety for participating in Berger's program. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/4243597.htmlChile:28) The government of President Michelle Bachelet also signaled that it will push ahead with another controversial project, a proposed $4 billion hydroelectric complex south of Pumalin that would dam the Baker and Pasqua rivers, world-famous for fishing and whitewater kayaking. The double-barreled decision shocked environmentalists in Chile and abroad who had hoped that Bachelet, a socialist who took office in February, would continue the nation's gradual swing toward protection of its wilderness areas, which include almost one-third of the world's remaining virgin temperate rain forest. Instead, they say, Bachelet has dramatically reversed course. " It's crazy and illogical to do this, " said Adriana Hoffman, who was director of the government's National Environmental Commission during the administration of Bachelet's predecessor, Ricardo Lagos. " By building this highway, they are going to destroy such a marvelous area, using huge amounts of explosives that will cause huge damage to the forests and the marine life of the fjords, " said Hoffman, now the president of Defenders of the Chilean Forest, an environmental group based in Santiago, the Chilean capital. The Bachelet administration says the highway is needed for economic development and energy security. Chile lacks petroleum resources and suffers from chronic blackouts because of interruptions in imports of electricity and natural gas from neighboring Argentina. " We are going to expropriate this strip of land (through Pumalin) because we know that Chile needs hydroelectric resources ... multiple resources, potential rights of way, " said Minister of Public Works Eduardo Bitran when he announced the decision last week. " This is great news for those Chileans who want a more united country. " Government officials say the road project will cost $100 million, starting next year and finishing in 2010. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/08/MNG3VLL7E81.DTL & hw=patagonia & sn=002 & sc=5

00Nepal:29) Along the trail to the Mount Everest base camp in Nepal, deforestation is worsening as locals chop trees to heat meals and provide hot showers for foreign eco-trekkers.'' There are also fears that even ``eco-tourism'' is doing more harm than good. Prakash Sharma, director of Friends of the Earth Nepal, believes that many of the Western charity groups who trek to the foot of the mountain are not considering environmental consequences. ``The exponential increase in pollution and other negative environmental situations on Mount Everest is a direct result of the massive increase in visitors to the region,'' he said. ``The region can comfortably hold about 40,000 people. During peak tourist season, there will be as many as 700,000. Twenty to forty thousand of these people attempt, at some altitude, to ascend the mountains of the Himalayas, including thousands who will at least trek to the foot of Everest. There is no infrastructure in this region to cope with the pollution this many people generate.'' http://www.bruneitimes.com.bn/details.php?shape_ID=6951Indonesia:30) " The fact is that forests located in areas where the communities have no strong values in their cultures have been destroyed, " said Rendra, whose works are mainly based on social and cultural issues. The ministry has launched a regreening program involving the public, including artists and school-aged children, to promote tree planting. Noted musician Iwan Fals is the program's ambassador. At the program's launch in April, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono presided over the planting of 2,000 trees in Kemayoran in Central Jakarta. Data from the ministry show that Jakarta, the country's most populous city, has only 475 hectares of forest area, the lowest in the country. Environmentalists have repeatedly urged the city administration to increase the city's green areas to at least 30 percent of its 60,000 hectares. Currently, there are 5,911 hectares of green area, or 9 percent of the capital's land area. Under the city spatial plan, only 9,156 hectares, or 13.94 percent of the area, are set to be open green spaces by 2010. Regarding the water supply, Kosasih Wirahadikusumah, formed Jakarta Environmental Agency head, said Jakarta needed to formulate a regional water policy to solve its water problems. " Up to 80 percent of the supply of raw water to Jakarta is from West Java and Tangerang. That's why Jakarta has no control on raw water, " said Kosasih, speaking at a recent seminar at Trisakti University. All 13 rivers that flow through the metropolitan area have their origins in either Bogor, Depok or Tangerang and suffer from severe pollution, with household and industrial waste being dumped into the streams regularly. http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailcity.asp?fileid=20061009.C01 & irec=031) Papua New Guinea - FOREIGN exchange earnings from the country's forest industry alone reached US$173 million last year, accounting for 5% of the total merchandise exports. The industry ranked second after the mining and petroleum sectors as an export earner. The industry also generated an average of K150 million in log export taxes last year. Reviewing the performance of Papua New Guinea forest sector, Dike Kari, acting managing director of PNG Forest Authority (PNGFA), told a seminar at Holiday Inn yesterday the industry contributed to the national economy in the terms of foreign exchange earnings, generation of taxes and income and employment. He said the industry contributed about 7% to 9% of the gross domestic product. Forest product exports generated an average of U$156 million (K486 million) worth of foreign exchange per annum over the last six years. For the resource owners, the main direct economic benefits are in the form of timber royalty and premiums. In 2004, the forestry sector employed more than 9,000 people. Of the total, half was employed in the logging operations and the rest in value-adding industries such as sawmilling, veneer, plywood and furniture production. Mr Kari said PNG had been criticised by non-government organisations for illegal logging and the general perception portrayed in the criticisms is such that the forest products entering overseas markets come from illegal sources. He said the PNGFA ensured compliance of the conditions set out in the timber permits, timber authorities and licenses. "The criticisms are having a detrimental effect on the export of forest products from PNG," Mr Kari said. He said the seminar was an avenue where all stakeholders could deliberate on this problem and recommend constructive strategies to address it. "We are of the view that there is no illegal logging in PNG. We have one of the toughest legal framework and sound policies to sustainably manage the nation's forest resources." http://www.thenational.com.pg/101106/business1.htmNew Zealand:32) "If it was up to us, our forests would not have been sold off in the first place, but unfortunately, with 70% of our forests in foreign hands, the horse has well and truly bolted.The proposed sale of the 250,000 hectare estate to a single American buyer is anathema to New Zealand First, and to all New Zealanders who care about the protection of New Zealand jobs and land ownership," said Forestry spokesperson Doug Woolerton. "The ability of Carter Holt Harvey to circumvent the involvement of the OIC by selling its shareholdings in the 100 or more individual companies that own the leases is a clear example of the ineffectiveness of the commission to step in when it matters. "Challenges by Maori leaseholders look like being the only avenue remaining to keep at least some of the earmarked forests in New Zealand hands. "New Zealand First believes that foreign investment must be in the interests of New Zealand. The private interest of foreign shareholders is not our concern, the public interest of New Zealanders is. "We can only hope that the major players in the industry focus on growing the resource and not stripping it bare," said Mr Woolerton. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0610/S00152.htmAustralia:33) Western Australia's Minister for the Environment has endorsed a final design for the harvest area in the Arcadia Forest near Collie in the south-west. Conservationists were concerned that a proposed timber harvesting operation would create a barrier for fauna movement, particularly for a colony of mainland quokkas. Environment Minister Mark McGowan says the final plan includes a reconfigured fauna habitat zone which will give a continuous link from the southern to the northern end of the block. Mr McGowan says he knows some people do not want any logging in the forest, but he says that is not possible. " But what is possible is to create a fauna habitat corridor and I'm going to make sure that there's a corridor more than 400 metres wide so that any quokkas or other forms of native wildlife that wanted to move between the two rivers, can, " he said. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200610/s1758526.htm34) Conservationists are worried a landowner is using a loophole to clear environmentally sensitive land near Red Rock, north of Coffs Harbour on the NSW mid north coast. A council report from several years ago says there are dozens of threatened species on the land, including the endangered coastal emu. The North-East Forest Alliance (NEFA) says the tough laws that regulate the clearing of native vegetation are less effective when it comes to logging on private land. NEFA spokeswoman Carmel Flint says the Government needs to close the loophole to stop the kind of clearing that is occurring at Red Rock. " There are now some strict rules on clearing native vegetation in New South Wales and there's a process that a landholder has to go through to get approval and it's very hard to get approval to do that, " she said. " But logging is an exemption from those laws and therefore logging doesn't have to go through any process, so people can just go ahead and start up their chainsaws without notifying any authority or getting any approval. " http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200610/s1760254.htmWorld-wide:35) Due to topsoil runoff (an effect caused by the abundance of deforestation in the world), coral reefs everywhere, which Cousteau refers to it as his " playground, " are being destroyed, literally choked. While these coral reefs are tourist attractions for certain nations, 70 percent of which are developing countries, their destruction will cause the economy of these nations to " go down the drain, " Cousteau said. Cousteau asked, " How can we protect what we don't understand? " and stressed that we should " manage nature like you manage a business�and if you live off its interests [it can] keep us going forever...today we are heading toward bankruptcy. " " Young people have no right to not do something [we need to] sit down and have dialogue with decision makers. That is the only way to make a difference, " Cousteau said, stressing the fact that anyone can make a difference. " Our trees above water, are what the coral reefs are below, " Cousteau said. And, metaphors aside, the two are apparently desperate for help.

http://www.vermontcynic.com/media/storage/paper308/news/2006/10/09/ArtsAndEntertainment/Cousteau.Screens.Environmental.Films.Implores.Student.Action-2342069.shtml?norewrite200610111643 & sourcedomain=www.vermontcynic.com

36) I attended a conference on Saturday in San Francisco called " How to Build Sustainably with Wood " . The timber industry's strategy is clear: Greatly expand FSC operations- which of course have low standards anyway- via cover from the Rainforest Alliance. The Rainforest Alliance is mostly supported by corporations. I called them today to find out if timber companies are included among their donors, which is no doubt the case. They did not return my call. Their rep was at the San Francisco conference to tout wood usage and FSC. The numbers are scary: FSC plans to certify 160 million acres in the US by 2010 (up from 12 million in 2003, 60 million today), and 250 million acres globally. Some years back a biologist told me that maybe 5% of the wood harvested in the US is done so sustainably. FSC is now telling us that almost a third of our productive timberland is about to be changed to good practices because of their little rubber stamp. If anyone reads the book More Tree Talk, you will learn that investment in soil quality and long term productivity in the West is foolish for a timber company. The payoff is too far in the future to justify the investment. By persuading the public that FSC certification is legitimate, millions of well meaning people will mistakenly consume industrially produced wood. Our forests will disappear even faster. Posted by: " Scott Munson " scott37) The global movement against monoculture timber plantations is powerful. There are organizations, indigenous communities, peasants' movements and landless workers who are rising up against timber plantations and their destruction of communities and forests all over the world. Plantations of genetically engineered trees will inevitably spread their seeds and pollen into native forests. This irreversible contamination will unleash a cascade of ecological and social impacts such as destruction of biodiversity and wildlife--including songbirds; displacement of rural poor and indigenous communities; depletion and toxic contamination of soils and ground water; and damage to human health. This October we are teaming up with the Dogwood Alliance and ForestEthics for a series of events surrounding a major industry conference on fast growing timber plantations and genetically engineered trees. The opposition to the timber industry's destructive plans is growing across the globe. In March of this year, Global Justice Ecology Project and the STOP GE Trees Campaign joined organizations internationally to call on the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to pass a global moratorium on the release of genetically engineered trees into the environment. UN CBD Delegates from ten countries joined our call for a moratorium. This powerful coalition effort resulted in an historic decision by the UN CBD warning countries of the dangers of genetically engineered trees and calling on countries to use a precautionary approach with regard to the technology. The UN Convention on Biological Diversity is now accepting comments on genetically engineered trees. You can sign on to demand a global ban on GE trees: http://globaljusticeecology.org/index.php?name=getrees & ID=159#articletop

38) All across Africa, India and parts of Southeast Asia, from within and around whatever patches and corridors of their natural habitat remain, elephants have been striking out, destroying villages and crops, attacking and killing human beings. In fact, these attacks have become so commonplace that a new statistical category, known as Human-Elephant Conflict, or H.E.C., was created by elephant researchers in the mid-1990's to monitor the problem. But in ''Elephant Breakdown,'' a 2005 essay in the journal Nature, Bradshaw and several colleagues argued that today's elephant populations are suffering from a form of chronic stress, a kind of species-wide trauma. Decades of poaching and culling and habitat loss, they claim, have so disrupted the intricate web of familial and societal relations by which young elephants have traditionally been raised in the wild, and by which established elephant herds are governed, that what we are now witnessing is nothing less than a precipitous collapse of elephant culture. The elephants of decimated herds, especially orphans who've watched the death of their parents and elders from poaching and culling, exhibit behavior typically associated with post-traumatic stress disorder and other trauma-related disorders in humans: abnormal startle response, unpredictable asocial behavior, inattentive mothering and hyperaggression. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/magazine/08elephant.html?pagewanted=1 & _r=3 & ref=science