155 - Earth Tree News

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Today for you 38 news items about Mama Earth's trees. Location, number and subject listed below. Condensed / abbreviated article is listed further below.Can be viewed on the web at http://www.livejournal.com/users/olyecology or by sending a blank email message to earthtreenews---British Columbia: 1) Great Bear History, 2) Elaho case back in court, 3) Great Bear according to Valhalla, 3) Great Bear according to non-sell-out activists, --Washington: 5) The west: to recreate, appreciate and preserve,--Oregon: 6) Clatsop State Forest, 7) Delusional enviros for 'saving' Mt. Hood,--California: 8) Saving Aspen in Stanislaus NF, 9) Pine trees pre-date power lines, 10) Anti-enviros view of Quincy Library Group, --Montana: 11) Mink Creek Road closed for logging, --Colorado: 12) Salvage is opposite of what a forest needs, 13) Pike and San Isabel NF, --Louisiana: 14) Trees are No. 1 agriculture crop--Arkansas: 15) Half of Cumberland County is forest land--Delaware: 16) Only 375,000 acres of forest remain--Tennessee: 17) State purchase of more than 12,500 acres of forest--Maine: 18) Selective harvest of about 117 acres at Mt. Blue State Park--USA: 19) America The Beautiful public lands pass free for 500 hours labor--Canada: 20) Initial victory with Victoria's Secret, 21) Finland gets forestry advice,--Columbia: 22) What is herbicide spraying like?--India: 23) Worshipping trees brings peace on earth, 24) The Sabarimala temple, 25) Net increase in forest cover in Assam, \--China: 26) Bamboo paper production a growing harm--Thailand: 27) Saving the Rhinoceros hornbill--Vietnam: 28) PeaceTrees Vietnam--Philippines: 29) Logging corruption highlighted, 30) Policy on Biological Diversity,--Malaysia: 30) Culprit behind the illegal felling near Baling has been identified,--Borneo: 31) Orangutans facing local extinction, 32) 200 illegal logs in Sarawak,--Indonesia: 33)Operation to weed out the illegal immigrants hurts native forest people--Australia: 34) Blown up trees may have been illegal--Tropical Forests: 35) Potential value of avoided deforestation--World-wide: 36) More on Carbon creditsBritish Columbia:1) It was members of the Nuxalk Nation who first invited non-native environmentalists to their traditional territory to witness large-scale clearcut logging in 1994. The following year, Greenpeace teamed up with the Nuxalk and other environmental groups to launch the campaign to save the place they named " the Great Bear Rainforest. " By 1997, Nuxalk members and their allies – Greenpeace, Forest Action Network, Bear Watch and People's Action for Threatened Habitat – were blocking logging operations on Roderick Island, King Island and Ista, which is sacred to the Nuxalk as the place where the first woman came to earth. At dawn on June 6th, 1997, workers for International Forest Products (Interfor) arrived at Ista as usual to cut trees. In total, fifty-five people took over the road and shut down Interfor's logging operation for nineteen days. Twenty-four people, including six members of the Nuxalk Nation, were arrested when police arrived to enforce a court injunction. Qwatsinas was one of those arrested and convicted for blocking the road. " I am charged with contempt of court, " Qwatsinas – a large, handsome man in his prime – told Justice Vickers at his sentencing in 1999. " Yet there is continuous contempt of our culture, our heritage, our lands and our rights. Logging companies coming to our land without our consent show contempt of our laws, our land, our people. " In the 1990's, massive industrial clearcutting was already taking place – without the permission of First Nations – under the auspices of the province, which also hosted a process called the Central Coast Land and Resource Management Plan (CCLRMP). The process was widely condemned as a " talk and log " exercise, until Sierra Club and Greenpeace set their sights on the planning committee. The groups won a moratorium in 1998 to suspend logging in intact rainforest valleys in the Central Coast while they participated in the CCLRMP process. Meanwhile, environmentalists organized an international markets campaign to lobby buyers of B.C. wood products around the world. As the boycott campaign picked up steam, companies like Home Depot and Ikea dropped their B.C. wood contracts, and the pressure was on to find a compromise. " Customers don't want to buy their two-by-fours or their pulp with a protester attached to it. If we don't end it, they will buy their products elsewhere, " Bill Dumont, chief forester at Western Forest Products, told the Vancouver Sun in May 2000. http://gnn.tv/A027822) Dennis Zarelli laid a private charge against Chief Supt. Bud Mercer in the fall of 2000, claiming Mercer endangered the life of four protesters while enforcing a court order against the illegal protest earlier that year. Charges were approved against Mercer after Zarelli testified before a Justice of the Peace in Squamish, but the charges were stayed after a video account of the protest surfaced. Zarelli was then charged with obstruction of justice " by giving evidence at a hearing which he knew to be false. " A perjury charge was added to the indictment six weeks ago. Mercer put together the RCMP's aerial extraction team in the early 1990s to deal with a growing number of protesters perched on bridges and in trees. Mercer's team was called to the wilderness area north of Squamish in August 2000 to deal with an illegal protest by a group called the Friends of the Elaho Valley. Zarelli, 29, of Victoria, was one of four protesters suspended more than 50 metres in the air to prevent a logging company from conducting operations in the area. He declined to say more since he is expected to take the stand later this week in a trial scheduled for 10 days. Crown prosecutor Ralph Keefer said " the charges arise from a private information laid against a senior RCMP member responsible for executing a court order during an illegal anti-logging protest six years ago. At the time, Zarelli told reporters he watched as somebody used pruning shears to cut a safety line that anchored a platform holding the protesters. " They did it without really communicating to us or giving us any warning, " he claimed after laying the charge against Mercer. " I was just totally shocked after it happened ... just seeing my friend hanging there from the tree with no harness on, with just the strength of his arms off the branches. It was pretty traumatizing. " During the high-profile protest, the Friends of the Elaho Valley said it opposed International Forests Products logging in an area environmentalists said was a key bear habitat and the site of centuries-old trees. When the protest ended, Zarelli was arrested with an Ottawa man and two Americans who were also suspended between the trees for more than a week. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=50ce9189-cb54-4ac0-bfc5-4a7e14a

c27793) The Valhalla Wilderness Society has campaigned tirelessly for the Great Bear Rainforest, but it never participated in the negotiations. " We think decisions on public lands should be made by open public process, and certainly in conjunction with First Nations and in full accord with their rights, " Sherrod says. The Society did work with the planning table, contributing its scientific surveys of potential protected areas, for example, but eventually there was a split between the environmental groups. " I think the real problem is that negotiations with industry bring about a fundamental incompatibility in working methods, " Sherrod continues. " How can colleague environmental groups have solidarity when some of them are having meetings with the logging companies behind the backs of the others, making decisions that will affect everyone, and keeping them secret until there's nothing that can be done about it? " http://gnn.tv/A027824) Dani Rubin, secretary of B.C. Pathways, says the exclusionary process inflicted " collateral damage " on the entire B.C. environmental movement. " I remember Don McMillan of Interfor telling me that the industry had a plan for us [environmentalists], " he says. " It's pretty clear now that the corporate strategy was to divide the environmental movement by electing to negotiate only with the 'pragmatists,' leaving the rest of us out in the cold. " Rubin says in the rush to get to the table and make a deal with industry and government, Greenpeace, ForestEthics, and Sierra Club swept aside pre-existing agreements with several environmental groups. Not only that, but an " umbrella of silence " has stifled open discussion about the deal and how it's being implemented. Many observers report that one of the conditions imposed on those who joined in negotiations was a ban on any public complaints or criticisms aimed at the process or any of the participants. $120 million has been raised or pledged by foundations and the government, and it's earmarked for First Nations sustainable economic development and conservation projects. (Not to mention the cost of the planning process itself.) And the Big Greens' high-profile campaign, with the spirit bear as its mascot, has served them well by raising their public relations profiles and expanding their donor bases. Lee says a cost-benefit analysis of the money spent on the Great Bear Agreement comes up short. " We've found organized, institutional environmentalism [in B.C.] has failed over the last four years to accomplish anything, " he complains. " The successes have come from individual grassroots efforts that have basically bypassed the entrenched, bureaucratic, environmental institutions that have been sucking up the enviro-buck and just not getting the kind of accomplishments we need. " http://gnn.tv/A02782Washington:5) SEATTLE -- Nearly a decade ago, historian Patricia Nelson Limerick set the modern American West to verse: The West has been lucky, it's true. It did not grow old -- it grew new. As it grew older, it got fresher and bolder. Don't you wish it could happen to you? Limerick and others said in the 1990s that the New West was shedding its slavish reliance on mining, logging, ranching and dams. They prophesied that it would become a region where the economy, politics and popular culture were dominated by urban people who went outdoors not to chop down trees, punch cows or pour concrete but to recreate, appreciate and preserve. http://www.nnseek.com/e/alt.politics/conservatives_in_western_us_put_the_emphasis_on_conserve_26401

632t.htmlOregon:6) At a Clatsop State Forest timber sale site east of Jewell, 25-foot-long logs lay stacked in piles 6 feet high. As part of a Hampton Affiliates modified clearcut timber sale, trees at the site had been felled by J.M. Browning logging crews at a pace of thousands of board-feet per day - a million board-feet in a month. As the stands were cut and sold to mills, the Oregon Department of Forestry chalked up revenue for itself and Clatsop County. Then, as the weather and the lumber market took a turn for the worse, everything slowed down. Lumber mills didn't need as many logs, and the market for cut timber soured. The piles of logs - and the revenue they promise for local taxing districts - remained at the site for a month, waiting to be collected. And across the region, fewer trees were cut. On the North Coast, market trends can have a serious trickle-down effect on the local economy. Clatsop and Tillamook counties have deeded their forest land, 150,000 acres and 300,000 acres respectively, to the state and receive 64 percent of timber sale revenues on that land. Many public entities - county government, school districts, colleges, law enforcement and emergency services - use those dollars to operate. The state forest offices are run off the remaining 36 percent. http://www.dailyastorian.info/main.asp?SectionID=2 & SubSectionID=398 & ArticleID=38532 & TM=67941.09

7) It's disappointing that environmental groups are urging hasty passage of the Mount Hood legislation, when it is known that the land trade in the bill is lopsided in the ski resort's favor ( " Departing Congress may ditch Hood bill, " Nov. 29). Does this mean that discounting the value of national forest land is OK as long as these groups get something they want? The sad fact is that any time a piece of public land is undervalued, it jeopardizes all public land. Groups pushing the Mount Hood bill might want to take a nice, deep breath and remember that there are larger issues at stake in this controversy than whether they score a win by the end of the year. JANINE BLAELOCH, Director, Western Lands Project, Seattle http://www.westernlands.orgCalifornia:8) Stanislaus National Forest biologists and tree experts are working to save hundreds of acres of trembling aspen from being overrun by other trees and eaten by wildlife. About 50 percent of the aspen stand in Bell Meadow is dying, and smaller stands near Spicer Reservoir in Calaveras County are also suffering, said John Schmechel, forest silviculturist. Trembling aspen, which turn brilliant colors in the fall, are native to higher elevations, between 6,500 and 9,100 feet. They have deep interlacing roots and reproduce from the root network as sprouts. " The problems we are having are with conifer encroachment — mainly white fir and red fir, " Schmechel said. Deciduous trees, aspen grow to 20 or 30 feet, but shade on their trunks from neighboring trees impairs the sun-loving aspens' growth. There are 105 aspen stands in the Stanislaus National Forest. They range in size from one to 170 acres and total of 2,428 acres. Conifer encroachment is not the only thing killing off aspen. Deer and cattle eat the sprouts, preventing reforestation. The trees also have very thin bark, Schmechel said, so they are easily damaged by animals. http://www.uniondemocrat.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=221119) Truckee resident Anne Alderson stood in front of a group of pine trees outside her front yard Monday morning as a tree removal crew approached the trees with chainsaws in hand. The Prosser Dam Road resident is disputing the clearing of six or seven trees, which are part of a large-scale removal plan by Sierra Pacific Power. Sierra Pacific owns a 90-foot easement for a 120 kV power line that runs through Alderson's lot, as well as a 60 kV power line with a 40-foot easement. She is one of 18 homeowners affected by the utility company's tree-removal project. In all, hundreds of trees will be removed when the project is complete. About 80 trees on the property are marked with bright pink Xs to be cut down, Alderson said. The group of trees she wants to save are underneath the 120 kV power line that dates back to 1949. b"The trees under the power line pre-date the easement," said Cristina Wooley, Alderson's attorney. At 8 a.m. Monday, as the tree removal crew prepared to cut down the grouping of trees, Wooley and Alderson called Truckee police and positioned her body in front of the trees to prevent workers from cutting them down, Alderson said. Truckee police Sgt. Ted Bier said the situation was an "issue of access." Police could not shut down the tree removal company's work, Bier said. If the two refused to back down, Wooley and Alderson were told by police they could have been arrested for obstructing the crew from its work, Wooley said. Truckee police were contacted again later in the afternoon in an attempt to stop the crew's work. On the second call out to the property, Truckee police were able to contact Sierra Pacific personnel and an agreement was made to flag the trees Alderson doesn't want cut down until a final decision is made. Wooley said she wasn't able to get a restraining order on Monday because the court was too busy. The next step is to file an injunction to let a court decide the outcome, Wooley said. http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/SS/20061205/NEWS/61204010/-1/REGION10) The sue-happy environmental movement was stymied (but not stopped) a few years ago by an organization established by Congress called the Quincy Library Group, or QLG. It was established by Congressman Wally Herger (the one environmentalists love to hate) and Sen. Diane Feinstein. They drew up a plan that allowed selective logging to continue in our national forests. QLG was set up to find ways of reviving the logging industry in our mountain counties including Butte. The Department of the Interior stopped awarding contracts to logging companies in the 90s. In addition to putting out lumber, many mill operators set up small power plants using the wood not needed for commercial purposes to burn, producing heat to generate steam that turned power producing turbines turning waste into a useful by-product. Before Herger-Feinstein, those plants sat dormant. The forester for four rural Northern California Counties (including Butte), Frank Stewart, was also selected to be part of the QLG because of his expertise in forest management. He says the environmental movement uses the courts some say, abuse the courts in their quest to shut down logging. By doing so they cut off revenue to mountain school districts and our county government. Since most of our politicians are lawyers, it doesn t make any difference if the lawyer is a liberal or conservative, they end up raking in the money while the rest of us pay through increased prices for the products we buy. You have to give a lot of credit to Herger and Feinstein for creating a law that brought common sense back to forest management. It was particularly difficult for Feinstein, who had to stand up against the well-financed environmental lobby, a group that provides a huge amount of cash to her party. The environmental movement needs to get out of politics, and return to the time when they had the noble purpose of preserving our natural resources, not destroying them.With friends like activist environmentalists none of us, including our trees, need enemies.http://www.paradisepost.com/columns/ci_4779354Montana:11) The Mink Creek Road has been closed, as well as the area in which the Forest Service anticipates logging operations will take place over the next eight to 10 weeks. The logging operation is part of the Spring Mink Stewardship Project, the first sale awarded under the controversial Middle East Fork Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project, which is still under litigation. A UH1B helicopter shuttled back and forth over the logging area with swift grace and a sense of purpose, piloted by ex-Vietnam combat pilot Milt Harshbarger Monday. The chopper glided to a stop above a densely forested ridge and hovered there, while a 150-foot longline hung from its bowels. In seconds, the chopper was on its way to the drop-off site, a load of logs weighing up to 3,500 pounds. in its grasp. Once the logs are dropped off at the landing site, two landing men take the chokers off the logs and reload them onto the longline hanging from the helicopter. The logs that have been dropped off are then loaded into the de-limber, which cuts limbs and branches from the logs. Then the logs are dropped onto locally subcontracted trucks and taken to Rocky Mountain Log Homes, located nine miles south of Hamilton. " Nowadays, logging and forestry is so mechanized, " Connell said. " There are guys in cabs, operating very expensive equipment that does all the work for you. This is more like the old days. The foresters are out in the raw environment, in the harsh cold and snow. It's very skilled work. " Logging from above: Helicopter logging begins on Middle East Fork. http://www.ravallirepublic.com/Colorado:12) Among the definitions of "salvage" in the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language are these: "the act of saving imperiled property from loss" and "something saved from destruction or waste and put to further use." It couldn't be clearer: salvage is salvation. But definitions, like history, are written by the winners. In this case, the winners are those who decide on the meaning of the words property, loss, destruction, waste, and use. For boosters of salvage logging, the property in question is timber damaged or killed by fire, insects or other "catastrophes." Loss, destruction and waste? They mean by that the decay of snags and fallen trees. "Use" refers to the harvested logs and the money to be made from them. Under this definition, what is saved by the act of salvage is timber for the mill. From the perspective of the forest, the terms "waste" and "loss" apply to the logged trees that are taken out of the system: their removal is a dead loss to the forest. What good are dead trees? They are essential for forest recovery, from the very first days after a fire to the very end of the process. In the days and weeks after a fire, both standing snags and downed logs help to stabilize the newly exposed soil and prevent erosion. Snags provide shade and wind protection, creating buffered microhabitats favorable to the germination and survival of colonizing herbaceous plants and tree seedlings. Dead trees are essential habitat for many species of wildlife, from woodpeckers to cavity-roosting birds and bats, to salamanders that live beneath decaying logs. http://www.vailtrail.com/article/20061206/OPINION/6120600213) How the Pike and San Isabel national forests are used and managed during the next 15 years is at stake in the first reappraisal of its kind in two decades. The Forest Service wants the public to weigh in on issues ranging from recreation to conservation and has scheduled seven public meetings in January and February to get feedback. National forest plan revisions in Colorado have spawned controversy in the past. A revision for the White River National Forest in the area including Vail resulted in many delays and lawsuits before being finalized in 2002. At issue on the Pike and San Isabel national forests will be ranching, recreation, oil and gas development, logging, forest thinning and off-road vehicle use. "Not everyone has the same vision for desired conditions," Cairns said. "Those visions are much diversified and the upcoming workshops will give everyone an opportunity to make known what their vision is and have it considered in the development of the revised plan." Forest Service officials will complete the plan by October 2008. http://www.gazette.com/display.php?id=1327331 & secid=1Louisiana:14) " Trees are Louisiana's No. 1 agriculture crop, " he said. " Trees account for 59 percent of the total value of all plant commodities (including cotton, soybeans and sugarcane). " He added emphasis. " Let me repeat this again because we don't get enough credit. Timber is the No. 1 agricultural crop in the state. In 2003, the latest figures we have, timber crop was valued at over $956 million, accounting for 22 percent of the gross farm income and nearly matched the combined value of cotton, rice, soybean and sugarcane. " O'Rielly said the forest products industry in total pays approximately $300 million in taxes at the state and local level and $15 million to $20 million from severance taxes from timber sales in Louisiana. In 2003, 1.2 billion board feet and 6.3 million cords of pulpwood timber were harvested, resulting in severance taxes of $17.5 million - of which 25 percent goes to the state and 75 percent to local parishes. " Forestry represents 48 percent of the land mass in Louisiana. There are 148,000 private forest landowners in Louisiana with 62 percent being private, 29 percent industrial or company lands and 9 percent public, " he said, adding that there are 1,200 logging businesses in Louisiana, which are generally small businesses or sole proprietors. Contractors were paid over $442 million in 2004 and loggers employed over 8,000 people. Each log truck pays an equivalent of $835 per load in local, state and federal taxes annually. http://www.edailynews.info/articles/2006/12/06/news/news06.txtArkansas:15) Did you know that half of Cumberland County is forest land, and more than one-fifth of the county is farm land? That means solving our most pressing environmental issues — such as guaranteeing clean air and drinking water, conserving wildlife and producing renewable energy — depends on what farmers and forest owners do on their land. North Carolinians have been working for years to protect the beautiful forest land that covers our state. Now we're getting a helping hand from a new and unprecedented federal program. As of Dec. 1, farmers can apply to participate in a new initiative to restore a quarter-million acres of native longleaf pine forest in nine Southern states, including more than 32,000 acres here in North Carolina. Residents of Cumberland County are familiar with the beauty and importance of longleaf pine forests. The habitat once covered as much as 90 million acres across nine states, from Virginia to Texas, and played a vital role in the economy and environment of the South. Today only about 3 million acres remain in the South and only 12,000 acres in Cumberland County. The forests are disappearing, along with many of the species that live in them, including the bobwhite quail. The new initiative will provide economic incentives and technical assistance to farmers, so they can restore longleaf pine forests on the marginal farmland where these trees once grew. It will help farmers and other landowners reduce soil erosion, improve water quality and establish wildlife habitat. This initiative isn't the only program that wisely reaches out to farmers who want to help protect the environment. Nationwide, the U.S. Department of Agriculture spends about $3 billion annually to help farmers and forest owners become better stewards of their land. While that may seem like a lot, the demand from these landowners far outstrips available funding. In fact, two out of three North Carolina farmers (67 percent) who are eligible to participate in conservation programs are turned away because of a shortage of funding. http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=248403Delaware:16) This sort of forest used to be common in Delaware. But after losing thousands of acres to development, only 375,000 acres of forest remain. Now, timber companies -- which kept their land forested and provided economic incentives for other landowners to do the same -- are selling off land. And there is growing concern about the state of the state's forests The issues go beyond loss of land to development and beyond loss of habitat. In many ways, an entire industry may be at stake. In Delaware, forestry fuels a $100 million-a-year industry. With no industrial forestry presence, the smaller woodlot owners -- who own small forests, typically 9.5 acres -- may have an increasingly difficult time marketing their timber, finding crews to cut it and getting it to the lumber mills where it is processed for boards or pulp. The rush to save big forests comes as the two large timber companies that own land in Delaware sell their holdings. Glatfelter Pulpwood Co., the Pennsylvania company that for years managed pine and hardwood forests, has sold all but 9,000 acres in Delaware. In Delaware, Virginia and Pennsylvania, the company manages 88,000 acres of forestland. Company officials were not available for comment. Delaware conservation groups commended Glatfelter officials for working with them and state officials to help preserve the forests. And International Paper, which also owns land in Delaware, is selling off holdings in the United States. In all, said Bill Ginn, director of The Nature Conservancy's Global Forest Program, there have been $30 billion in forestland sales in the United States in the past 10 years. " The global market for paper says the growth isn't happening in the United States, " Ginn said. In short, the land is worth more to sell than to timber, he said. The 2006 Delaware Forest Service study shows that between 2002 and 2005, more than 9,400 acres of forest were in areas approved for development. Of the remaining forests in the state, 28,000 acres are owned by private conservation organizations, and 94,000 acres are owned or protected from development by state agencies. About one-third of the state is still forested. However, conservationists can point to successes, such as the headwaters of the Ingram Branch, where The Nature Conservancy purchased 908 acres. http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061206/NEWS/612060366/-1/NEWS01

Tennessee:17) The state purchase of more than 12,500 acres of forest on the Cumberland Plateau and a donation of 300 acres are excellent steps for conservation in Tennessee. The General Assembly this year provided $20 million in bonds for land acquisition. Gov. Phil Bredesen, who has made conservation part of his agenda as governor, has eyed surplus money from the budget to help pay for bonds. The state bought the thousands of acres from the Bowater paper company for $17.3 million, about $1,385 per acre. Bowater, based in Greenville, S.C., owns a lot of land in Tennessee. It announced plans last year to sell 250,000 acres on the Cumberland Plateau and 100,000 acres in the Tennessee Valley. Plateau Properties, a Crossville land company, has offered the estimated 300 acres. The State Building Commission must approve the donation. The moves are significant because conservationists are concerned about how the region will be handled. Concerns have grown about possible development in the area, as well as clear-cutting. Conservationists are rightfully worried about fragmentation of forest properties. The purchase of the 12,500 acres from Bowater will help protect those lands from development. http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061204/OPINION01/612040325/1008

Maine:18) WELD - Officials will hold a public meeting Thursday to discuss a selective harvest of about 117 acres at Mt. Blue State Park during the coming winter. The Legislature approved what it calls forest demonstrations by the Bureau of Parks and Lands, a division of the Maine Department of Conservation, as a way to augment the bureau's budget without compromising the integrity of the park, Jim Crocker, director of public information for the department, said on Friday. State law allows timber harvesting in state parks for use within parks, for wildlife habitat improvement, for fire, insect or disease control, for recreation or aesthetic improvements, and for forest management demonstration areas, Crocker said. The harvest will also provide financial support to the bureau's 2006-07 budget, Crocker said. The Legislature decided instead of closing parks because of having fewer workers, forest management demonstration projects could increase revenue and help offset the shortfall, Crocker said. The demonstration forest management projects include three parks across Maine encompassing 1,400 acres at Mt. Blue, Range Pond State Park in Androscoggin County and Lily Bay State Park at Moosehead Lake in Piscataquis County. Selective harvesting of about 480 acres or 65 percent of Range Pond park in Poland was completed this spring, Crocker said. Loggers will be invited to examine what's to be cut at Mt. Blue State Park and submit a bid of what they're willing to pay for the timber, Crocker said. In the Mt. Blue park, which spans Weld and Avon and had 60,400 visitors this year through October, the state plans to harvest red pine, white spruce and white pine trees along with a stand of Norway spruce, a European exotic species and non-native to the park, Crocker Timberlands had cut wood in the park from 1967 to 1972 and then took a 20-year hiatus. In 1992, the company was given the go-ahead by state officials to cut 10,800 more cords of wood over four winters beginning in 1993. The harvest immediately inspired high-profile protest by forest activists from around the state, with protester camped out in the woods and blocked access roads. Several protesters were arrested and jailed during the second year of harvest and logging operations were briefly shut down by protesters.said.http://www.sunjournal.com/story/188545-3/Franklin/Timber_harvest_planned_at_park/

USA: 19) About the America The Beautiful public lands pass: There is an option to earn a pass by volunteering 500 hours for one or more of the land management agencies. Assuming the $100 price-tag, I pointed out that for purposes of this recreation pass, the government was valuing citizen's labor at 20 cents per hour. I was wrong. Today the Department of Interior and the US Forest Service formally announced the introduction of this pass. While it will, as I suggested, still be available at absolutely no cost to anyone who volunteers 500 hours, the cash purchase price will be just $80 per year. The value of volunteer labor has thus been devalued by 20%. I'd ask you to consider how much personal time 500 hours represents. If you worked 8 hour days, five days a week, you could earn an America The Beautiful in 12.5 weeks. If you worked 2 hours a day, each and every day after returning home from your normal place of employment, after one year you would have volunteered enough to receive an $80 pass. If you worked 24/7 from this moment (December 5) until Christmas --never stopping for breaks, never stopping to eat or sleep -- late on Christmas Day federal land managers would be ready to reward you with a one of their friendly stocking stuffers. InterActiveCorps controls virtually all reservation services on PUBLIC lands where an America The Beautiful Pass will be accepted. In 2006, InterActiveCorps' CEO, Barry Diller, received $470 million in personal compensation.... http://adage.com/article?article_id=113555http://www.wildwilderness.org/blog/slave-wages.html

Canada:20) Environmentalists claimed victory on Wednesday after the publisher of the Victoria's Secret catalog agreed not to use paper from an area of Western Canada that is home to threatened caribou herd. U.S. retailer Limited Brands (LTD.N: Quote, Profile , Research) also agreed to use at least 10 percent recycled paper in all of its catalogs, and to increase the environmental standards it requires in buying paper produced from logging in the boreal forests that stretch across northern Canada. Environmentalists had targeted Victoria's Secret in a two-year public relations campaign, saying its heavy demand for paper using virgin wood fiber was destroying an ecosystem that is needed to slow global warming. Victoria's Secret sends out more than 360 million catalogs each year marketing its intimate apparel products. The environmental groups, which nicknamed their campaign " Victoria's Dirty Secret " , were particularly upset about logging in the Rocky Mountain foothills of Alberta that is the habitat of the woodland caribou. " With this agreement, Victoria's Secret is saying that Alberta's just too dirty, and that Canada needs to clean up its act, " Tzeporah Berman, program director for ForestEthics, said in a statement. Canada's woodland caribou -- similar to Eurasian reindeer -- number about 184,000 and are designated as " threatened " by the federal government. Individual herds require 9,000 square kilometres (35,000 square miles) on average to thrive. Limited Brands also agreed not to buy any products from Canadian lumber, pulp and paper producer West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. (WFT.TO: Quote, Profile , Research), which has significant logging operations in Alberta's foothills. Environmentalists say the northern, or boreal, forest plays a critical role in the planet's health as one the world's largest storehouses of carbon, which can be released back into the atmosphere by logging, mining and energy development. http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN & storyID=2006-12-06T164515Z_01_N06438630_

RTRIDST_0_VICTORIASSECRET-ENVIRONMENT.XML & rpc=66 & type=qcna21) MONTREAL - With dead trees helter-skelter on the ground and scrub bush hither and yon, many Canadian forests look as ''messy'' as they are. This was once described with disdain by the Finns whose tidy, high-yield forests created wealth and set the standard for forestry-dependent jurisdictions. But now, with thousands of species on the endangered list in Scandinavia, the Finns and others are rejigging their practices and looking to our messy woodlands and Canadian research for better forestry practices. ''We still have natural forests in Quebec. We don't want to get rid of it because we know now that that has consequences,'' researcher Christian Messier said. In the international spotlight is one of Messier's research projects underway in a million-hectare tract of forest in Quebec's Mauricie region. The ''Triad Project'' is one reason why Messier is receiving the inaugural Networks for Centres of Excellence Chairs' Award today in Ottawa. Triad essentially divides a forest into three zones: intensely commercial, protected and subject to sustainable development practices. As it stands, the chunk of forest under study has been divided into three zones. Between 10 to 20 per cent is subject to intense harvesting. It will yield about 50 to 60 per cent of the wood that would be pulled out of the entire forest under the old regime, Messier said. Strategies employed in countries like Finland - such as the elimination of brush and other competition to favour certain fast-growing trees - will be employed in this zone. (Meanwhile, in Finland, foresters are now intentionally cutting healthy trees and leaving them on the forest floor, in a bid to create competition and new habitats for wildlife, Messier said.) Between 60 to 70 per cent of the test forest is subject to ''new forestry practices'' that emulate nature. That zone yields wood for commercial purposes but to a much less degree than before. Key issues in the ''ecosystem management'' areas are biodiversity and biological heritage. And about 10 per cent of the forest will be off limits to human intervention. It's the protected zones that have encouraged environmentalists, Messier noted. Two years ago, only one per cent of that million hectares was protected territory, said Messier, adding that he pushed for 12 per cent while the government argued for eight per cent. http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=c760a2f3-7b9a-484c-9c1a-a09e459d7e2c & k=4643

Colombia:22) New Mexico - The other afternoon I was outside, enjoying the sunshine and working in the winter garden with my two-year-old son. A small yellow plane was circling around the canyon. Aside from the annoying drone of the engine breaking the silence of the peaceful afternoon, I figured the plane was harmless. Then it circled around, headed over Elephant Mountain, and released a spray of something on the top of the mountain, right next to my house. What could it be? Fire retardant? Insecticide? Herbicide? I scooped up my son and ran inside. I decided to call the U.S. Forest Service to find out what was going on. I spoke with a man who informed me that I witnessed a DEA plane practicing for spraying herbicide in South America. Luckily for me, my son, my pets, my garden, my neighbors, the wildlife, and the forest, this plane was just filled with water. Whew, thank goodness! But, somewhere in South America a mother with a small child is witnessing a DEA plane spraying poison on her environment. I decided to look online for information on aerial herbicide application carried out by the DEA. I found many sites that are trying to get the word out, including an informative article by Rachel Massey, www.thirdworldtraveler.com/South_America/Echoes_Vietnam.html I was disturbed and upset to read about what is going on. The DEA is using a toxic cocktail of glyphosate (aka Round Up, manufactured by who else – Monsanto. Does anyone remember Agent Orange?) and other chemicals, none of which have been approved for aerial application. Residue of the herbicide has been measured thousands of feet away from the target, due to drift. The aerial fumigation campaign is having little or no effect on reducing the amount of coca grown, but the poison is drifting all over the place and ruining subsistence farmers' gardens, and causing many health problems. We are spraying the Rainforest, the very lungs of the planet, with herbicide. What are we thinking? http://www.stpns.net/view_article.html?articleId=21345433222152532India:

23) " Worshipping the trees will bring peace on earth, " said Bharati Jha, a 65-year-old woman who lives in English Bazaar, about 340km north of the state capital, Kolkata. " The trees only can save us, " added Lakshmi Das, a 30-year-old housewife, who presented the trees with two saris and other wedding gifts. Alarmed by a string of accidental deaths, murders and burglaries, local people decided it was time the trees, one a banyan tree which had wrapped itself around the trunk of the other, tied the knot. More than 250 people gathered yesterday in English Bazaar, in West Bengal state, for the ceremony as priests chanted hymns and decorated the conjoined trunks of two 25-year-old trees with colourful cloth, streaks of vermilion and garlands. " There was an evil eye casting a spell and a few senior government employees had planted two trees here to bring peace but could not organise the marriage ceremony as they died from illness, " Gouranga Mandal, a local official, said. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20881692-1702,00.html24) The Sabarimala temple in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala has long been revered as a sacred location and has been drawing increasing numbers of pilgrims year after year. The temple is dedicated to Lord Ayyappa, a deity closely associated with forest lore. Riding a handsome tiger, the youthful Ayyappa is revered as a protector of the forest. What could be more appropriate for a shrine located in one of India's 27 Project Tiger reserves? The temple is situated in dense, evergreen and moist-deciduous forests in the south-western corner of the 777-square-kilometre Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR). For generations of devotees a pilgrimage to the Sabarimala temple is a sacred journey into the heart of an untarnished area. Human wants are forsaken and pilgrims are treated equally irrespective of caste or creed. In days past, the temple was indeed very isolated and such a pilgrimage was no minor undertaking. Today much has changed, with new roads and increased communication. The temple has become immensely popular in south India and the number of pilgrims during the short three-month season is estimated to be about five million. Sabarimala lies in the heart of some of the most expansive rainforests in the Western Ghats and it was for this reason that I set out to walk the path of an Ayyappa pilgrim. http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/stories/20061215000806500.htm25) There is net increase in forest cover of more than 3000 sq. km. in the state of Assam. The Forest Cover of Assam has not shown a decrease of 12,833 sq. km. of very dense forests in the last five years. However, there has been a slight decrease in the dense forest area between 1999 and 2003 assessments (State of Forest Report) while at the same time, open forests has increased by 4,613 sq. km. No State Government or Union Territory will permit the opening of any saw-mills, veneer or plywood industry without prior permission of the Central Empowered Committee. As per Supreme Court Order 29-10-2002 in WPC 202/1995. The Chief Secretary of each State will ensure strict compliance of this direction. This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Shri Namo Narain Meena in a written reply to a question by Smt. Syeda Anwara Taimur and Shri Vijay J. Darda in the Rajya Sabha today. http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=22779China:26) China must tighten controls on its bamboo-pulp papermaking industry to limit environmental damage, an official from the country's environment watchdog has said. Mu Guangfeng, an inspector from China's State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), warned against the unfettered development of bamboo-pulp papermaking, saying local forest and water conditions had to be taken into account. He said some local governments and bamboo-pulp papermaking enterprises throw environmental considerations to the wind in their pursuit of profit. The waste water discharged during the bamboo-pulp papermaking process is not recyclable, so the industry should not be allowed to develop in areas where water supplies are inadequate and the water cannot purify itself, he said. Mu said the country should learn from previous experiences of papermaking in some parts of the country that have led to severe water pollution. China consumed 52 million tons of paper pulp in 2005. The country plans to expand its production of paper pulp over the next five years by 5.55 million tons, including 1.2 million tons of bamboo paper pulp. Paper made from bamboo pulp is cheaper than paper made from wood pulp and less polluting than paper made from straw pulp. http://english.eastday.com/eastday/englishedition/nation/userobject1ai2491068.html

Thailand:27) The jungle hides many secrets. The Budo-Sungai Padi National Park, near the Malaysian-Thai border, is no exception. High up in the canopy and above the embattled forest dwells the Rhinoceros hornbill, a majestic-looking forest bird once thought to have been wiped out in Thailand. Hornbills are omnivorous, but fruits are their main food. Their diet comprises no less than 80 plant species, many of which hornbills have co-evolved as principal dispersal agents. To date, some 350 fledglings have been sighted in the area. The return of this species and many other endangered hornbills is thanks to the tireless efforts of one person — Dr Pilai Poonswad. When in 1994, she heard rumors of a small flock of Rhinoceros hornbills in the southern forest, she could hardly believe her ears. Surprise quickly turned to horror however when she discovered that the local community living on the fringes of the forest had been poaching the birds to sell as exotic pets for food, inadvertently contributing to the dwindling population in the area. A chick of the rarer species, such as the White-crowned hornbill, can easily fetch 30,000 baht (RM2,985) on the black market, equivalent to a whole year's pay for the impoverished people. Incensed, Poonswad confronted the poachers, without fear for her own safety. But anger turned to compassion as she learnt of their plight. Mired in poverty, the villagers failed to see the forest for the trees. "They are so very poor. They had always lived off the forest. Nobody ever pointed out to them how important hornbills are in regenerating forests," she revealed during a recent interview in Singapore where she was honored as a Rolex Laureate for Enterprise. It was out of pity for the forest folk and the necessity to put a stop to their ignorant destruction that she hatched the Hornbill Family Adoption Project. Pilai appealed to the generosity of wealthy urban Thai families to "adopt" a family of hornbills for US$120 (RM435) a year. She would use the money to employ the forest folk as guardians of the birds, watching over them in their natural habitat and collecting data for research purposes. http://mylifemypets.info/the-great-mother-of-hornbills/Vietnam:28) I contacted PeaceTrees Vietnam PeaceTrees Vietnam, a non-profit organization of Bainbridge, Washington. This organization is dedicated to citizen diplomacy and has planted thousands of trees in areas of Vietnam deforested during the war. It has also been in the forefront of efforts to clear the land of 5.3 million land mines and unexploded ordnance left over from the war. The Clermont County Veteran's Service Commission agreed to co-sponsor the project by paying for the trees. The site chosen for the planting was the PeaceTrees Landmines Education Center in the town of Dong Ha. I was pleasantly surprised to find that all the 41 holes had been dug in the sun-baked soil. The folks at PeaceTrees also had placed the trees into their holes. My only job was to put the dirt into the holes and stake the trees. They had even provided several helpers. It was fortunate that they did. The morning was a scorcher with high humidity. After just two trees I became a human waterfall. By contrast, the Vietnamese had barely spouted a leak. Le Quang, PeaceTrees Vietnam director, e-mailed me recently to let me know the trees are growing nicely. The trees I planted in Dong Ha may be seen as symbolic of the growing relationship between Vietnam and the United States. For 20 years following the war, the relationship was locked in a deep freeze. With normalization came recognition of mutual interests, most significantly the rising dragon to the north - China. The Vietnamese have been fighting the Chinese for 2,000 years, most recently in 1979. A strategic relationship with the U.S. would counter balance the growing threat. The U.S. also could use a new ally in Asia. http://news.communitypress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061201/EDIT/612010323/1061/Local

Philippines:29) In his brief message, Juego said it is high time that that the Committee be reorganized to help rally the support of the different sectors of society for the protection and sustainable management of the fast-dwindling forest cover. The Committee, he said, can focus on issues such as the entry of kaingeros in areas deforested by illegal loggers and the abuse of permits granted for the recovery of trees felled by typhoons, with the permittees cutting even standing trees. He cited one particular applicant who recently applied for a permit to recover trees in Gigmoto allegedly downed by typhoon " Milenyo " , which felled only banana plantations in the province. " Masyadong masalimuot ang implementasyon ng forestry laws, " PENRO Juego stressed, but he said he is willing to stake his job to show seriousness in the campaign against forest law violations. According to Forester Marianito Donato, the country has only 5.4 million hectares of forests as of 2003 which may be gone in 38 years if kaingin and illegal logging are not checked. In Catanduanes, only 32,874.52 hectares of forests consisting of old growth and residual forests remain as of 2000. This represents just 21.75 percent of the total land area, far below the required 45% that a given area must have if it has to maintain natural processes that will ensure the existence of basic requirements for human survival. Forester Cyril Magdaraog, on the other hand, oriented participants on various forestry laws and cited the difficulty of prosecuting violators in the light of a court ruling that allegedly claimed that wood is not a forest product. http://www.catanduanestribune.com/Nov-29-2006/News/Detail.aspx?newsID=2176

30) President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's recent executive order outlining the National Policy on Biological Diversity -- signed Nov. 8 on Isla Verde in Batangas province -- is not without its contradictions and amusing presumptions. Her professed "support" for terrestrial and marine biodiversity is contradicted by the reality that many of her pet economic policies pose threats to the stability of our natural ecosystems. For instance the government's inability to curb legal -- and illegal -- commercial logging also contributes to large-scale biodiversity loss. Rapid denudation of our existing forest covers due to logging has been an exacerbating factor in environmental tragedies such as the 2003 Southern Leyte landslide and the 2004 Aurora-Quezon flashflood. But since January 2001 through June 2004, the Arroyo administration has granted 23 new Integrated Forest Management Agreements (IFMAs), which allow logging in nearly 200,000 hectares of forest areas. http://opinion.inq7.net/inquireropinion/letterstotheeditor/view_article.php?article_id=36372

Malaysia:32) The culprit behind the illegal felling of timber trees, worth about RM30,000, in a forest reserve near Baling has been identified. It is learnt that the State Forestry Department will be interviewing the owner of the Kedah-based company to find out who had hired it to log in the Gunung Inas forest reserve. Sources said preliminary investigations by the department showed the company was a licensed logger but not a timber concessionaire. " We will interview the company owner to get the details. We also want to know the identities of the person or persons who hired the company, " the sources said. Also on the list of those to be interviewed by the department are the people in the nearby villages. A number of villagers had tipped off the Press which highlighted the matter. This drew the ire of department director, Kasim Osman, who suspected there was possibly something hanky-panky going on by his officers. During a visit to the area on Nov 21, Kasim confirmed that some 22 low-quality timber trees had been illegally felled over the past few months. He ordered the area's ranger and his four foresters to submit a report on the theft. Among the trees felled were 'medang', 'kelat', 'tulang daing', 'kekatong' 'kasai', 'menglembu', 'mengkulang' and 'gerutu'. Those found guilty of encroaching and illegally felling trees in a forest reserve are liable to a RM500,000 fine and jail of between one and 20 years. Kedah has 190,000 hectares of forest, and about 2,300 hectares are allowed for logging annually. http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Friday/NewsBreak/20061201171020/Article/index_html

Borneo:31) Drastic habitat reduction, poaching and the illegal pet trade have left the world's largest population of western Bornean orang-utans facing local extinction unless immediate protection measures are taken, a WWF survey finds. The survey reveals that about 1,030 western Bornean orang-utan (Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus) — out of an estimated population of 4,800 throughout Borneo — are found in and around Indonesia's Betung Kerihun National Park. " The western Bornean orang-utan is the most threatened of the three Bornean orang-utan subspecies to start with, " said Albertus Tjiu, WWF-Indonesia's Species Officer in West Kalimantan. " This orang-utan population at Betung needs protection now to make sure it doesn't go extinct." In addition, the survey reveals that a significant number of these western Bornean orang-utans are found outside the park, particularly in forests used by the local population for various purposes, making those individuals especially vulnerable to exploitation and habitat loss. Specific actions to boost protection of this population includes the enforcement of a zero-hunting policy inside the park, increasing the size of protected forests in the Embaloh River watershed area and the creation of a transborder protected area. In particular, WWF and its partners are calling for the establishment of a forest corridor linking the two protected populations within Betung Kerihun and the neighboring park, Danau Sentarum, as a crucial action to secure the long-term survival of this subspecies in Borneo. http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/index.cfm?uNewsID=8870032) Sarawak Forestry Department recently seized some 200 felled logs from an illegal forest clearing activity at Lower Ikang in Sibu. The raid was made following a police report that two bulldozers were missing from a nearby company. Residents also noticed make-shift tents being put up by foreigners near to the area. The perpetrators managed to escape during the raid. Photo shows the felled logs at the forest clearing. http://www.brunei-online.com/bb/wed/dec6b4.htmIndonesia:33) Sook Assemblyman and former Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Joseph Kurup said the Federal Government had announced recently that a major operation to weed out the illegal immigrants would be held beginning next year. As a native I am really sad for my grandchildren's future. Their (illegal immigrants) number can proliferate in a blink of the eye. I dreamt one day that natives will be wiped out from their homeland, " he said. Based on the House's past resolution as well as by proposal of the same nature by other people, Kurup said he proposed that the State Government set up a Cabinet Committee or Task Force to find ways to tackle the problem comprehensively. On another note, he asked the Government to explain the rationale behind the move to burn down the dwellings of locals by the Forestry Department to enforce Section 21 of the 1968 Forestry Enactment in the protection of the State forest reserves in Kampung Paitan. " I am all for the department to carry out their duty in line with the existing law. But, what I am disputing here is the way the department enforce the law. Enforcing Section 21 by burning down houses is brutal and there is no mention in the section stating that the law can be enforced by burning, what more burning houses, " he said. Kurup said migrating from one place to another in Sabah was normal among the KDM travelling a treacherous journey carrying with them their belongings to find greener pasture and in this case 20 families who had settled in the Forest Reserve in Paitan since 1984. Kurup also proposed that the police consider enforcing the Internal Security Act (ISA) on illegal loggers in Sabah. http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=45810Australia:34) The Wilderness Society released photos on Monday of eucalypt and myrtle trees that had been blown up. Forestry Tasmania said the use of explosives was a safety precaution and necessary before some harvesting operations. Greens Senator Bob Brown said the dynamiting of trees was outrageous. " These ancient trees were living habitat for a host of wildlife. There is no doubt the Upper Florentine would be included in the Wilderness World Heritage Area if referred to the World Heritage Bureau by the Howard Government, " Senator Brown said. Forestry Tasmania is believed to be using ammonium nitrate to blow up huge trees. Ammonium nitrate has been banned nationally because it was used in the Bali bombings and is favored by terrorists. Forestry companies have long used ammonium nitrate mixed with fuel oil, known as ANFO, to fell trees. Forestry Tasmania would not say whether the chemical was used in the tree explosions in the Upper Florentine Valley caught on camera and publicized last week. It used contractors to do the work, who said they used different explosives depending on conditions. Workplace Standards Tasmania, which regulates ammonium nitrate and issues permits, would not answer questions on forestry use. Two years ago FT confirmed it used ANFO. http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,20879841-5007221,00.htmlTropical Forests35) In his paper, Ebeling calculates the potential value of avoided deforestation under various scenarios for ten tropical forest countries -- Bolivia, Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Indonesia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Sudan, and Thailand -- that hold, and are responsible for the deforestation of, roughly sixty percent of the world's remaining tropical forests. Assuming a 10 percent reduction of deforestation, avoided deforestation compensation could be $2-12.1 billion (1.5-9.1 billion Euros) depending on the market rate of carbon (5-30 euro per ton of carbon dioxide). Under more ambitious cuts, under which deforestation rates would be halved, the sample of ten tropical countries could see their fortunes rise from $10.1-60.7 billion (7.6-45.5 billion euros) per year. Globally, the dollar value of halving tropical deforestation could top $103 billion per year in compensation for qualifying countries. The plan would offer further ancillary benefits from forest conservation says Ebeling, who attended the November 2006 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Nairobi. " Considering the enormous co-benefits of reducing tropical deforestation – protecting global biodiversity, conserving soil and water resources, and improving rural livelihoods – providing carbon finance for avoided deforestation seems like an excellent investment for the international community, " he said. http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1204-avoided_deforestation.htmlWorld-wide:

 

36) Imagine a poor farmer cutting down a hectare of rainforest, rich in biodiversity, to create a pasture worth US$300. The trees, cleared and burned, release 500 tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming, Meanwhile, firms in industrialized countries are paying many times the value of the cleared land—about US$7,500—to meet their commitments to limit the same amount of carbon dioxide emissions. "The trees are worth more alive, storing carbon, than they would be worth if burned and transformed to unproductive fields," says Kenneth Chomitz, lead author of a new World Bank report on tropical forests. "Right now, people living at the forest's edge can't tap that value." The report "At Loggerheads? Agricultural Expansion, Poverty Reduction and Environment in the Tropical Forests " says a system of international payments – "forest carbon finance" could change that situation. "Global forest carbon financing could be a powerful incentive to stop deforestation" says François Bourguignon, Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President, Development Economics at the Bank. The report argues that with stronger financial incentives for avoiding cutting down trees, poor farmers in Madagascar and other forest countries could invest in sustainable agriculture in already-cleared fields, rather than cutting down more forest for paltry and often temporary gains. But approaches differ in three forest zones described in the report: 1) In the mosaiclands, patchworks of farms and forest where most people live, it says environmental services markets could help. In Costa Rica and Mexico, these markets let water users compensate upstream forest owners for reducing sediments in rivers. 2) In forest frontiers, where loggers, plantation owners, and households are competing for trees and land, provision of more secure tenure can fight resource grabs by the elites and deter wasteful deforestation. For example, in Cameroon, forest concessions are now allocated through a public auction, independently observed so it's conducted in accordance with the law. Part of the forest royalties are distributed to local communities and nongovernmental organizations monitor how concessionaires care for the forests assigned to them using satellite photos and on-site visits. 3) In areas currently beyond the agricultural pressures, the report says challenge is to head off future conflicts. Regularization of protected areas and recognition of indigenous lands are approaches which have been successfully used in this zone. http://www.huliq.com/444/saving-the-forests