161 - Earth's Tree News

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161 - Earth's Tree News

Today for you 39 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) Cathedral grove. 2) tie the tops of the trees together, 3)

Youbou timberless society on log exports, 4) More on log exports, 5)

burning logs reaches new extreme, 6) Stanley Park will grow back--Washington: 7) Climate zones move North, 8) REIT path for Weyco, 9) Recycled trees, --Oregon: 10) OWEB is funding the ongoing log salvage for streams, 11) Measure 37, --California:

12) Time for mistletoe to go, 13) Pacific Lumber sues over laws again,

14) Pacific Forest Trust, 15) Redwoods threaten old Church, 16)

TerraPass for CO2 emissions--Idaho: 17) Roadless plan accepted, --Montana:

18) Christmas streambank protection, 19) Firefighting wastes money, 20)

Fuel reduction, 21) Molloy rejects claims against Bitteroot logging,

22) Logger certainty?--Wyoming: 23) Oil and gas taking over--Minnesota: 24) Governor's Task Force on Industry competitiveness--New York: 25) Pataki protects 51,000 acres--Delaware: 26) Nature Conservancy protects 908 acres

--Florida: 27) Pine forest for mountain bikers is destroyed--USA: 28) Challenging SFI certification for the first time?--Canada: 29) Logging Prince Edward Island National Park--Czechoslovakia: 30) FSC certification fraud

--Russia: 31) 49-year license for 3 million cubic feet per year, 32) More FSC fraud,--Kuwait: 33) Older palm trees need more water--Iraq: 34) Another kind of green zone--Congo: 35) No less than 155 fees and taxes payable in the forest sector

--Kenya: 36) Tree cutting going on in Mombasa--Gambia: 37) Desertification control project--Malawi: 38) 6,000 hectares of forests were lost last year--Chile: 39) FSC fraud is rampant across the globe!

British Columbia:1)

The core of the Cathedral, where the tourist trails are located, has

been spared for the most part during the past few wind storms. A few

trees were blown down along the highway corridor but Ministry

Transportation have removed them from the road. The location where BC

parks had planned to build a 2.5 hectare parking lot is where most of

the trees have been blown down during the recent series of wind storms.

The access road and proposed parking lot site is criss-crossed with

fallen giant Douglas Fir trees, purchased for $1.9 million by BC parks

in 1999. Resent and past storm events prove that this site is extremely

susceptible to falling trees due to high winds, exacerbated by the

corridor logged by Weyerhaeuser in 1997. The edges of the logged areas

are littered with fallen trees blown over by recent winds and storms

that have taken place since logging commenced. In March 2005 the BC

government, with the co-operation of The Nature Trust, purchased 140

hectares of recently logged land from Weyerhaeuser at a cost of $5.5

million to tax payer. The border along this logged area and the

original park is where most of the significant blow down has occurred

in recent wind storms. I also noted that a large tree had fallen across

the highway, destroying the sign welcoming visitors on the Port Alberni

side of the park. This boundary has been effectively expanded by 2 km

by Barry Penner and the Ministry of Environment, but no acknowledgment

of this change has been made by the BC Parks. Nature has obviously

forced the issue. Richard Boyce oldforest2) I have

been reading about the more than 1,000 trees blown down in Stanley Park

and the countless thousands down elsewhere in B.C. When I was involved

in the protection of Cathedral Grove I learned from our most

accomplished forester, Merv Wilkinson, that the Japanese have a program

that sees workers tie the tops of their remaining big trees together

during the monsoon season. http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/letters/story.html?id=bcc9f66d-26dd-441e-9752-d

b841ecfa6083)

Youbou Timberless Society head Ken James emphatically disagrees. "There

is absolutely no connection to the land base, which results in

companies shutting mills and shipping logs across the border," James

said. "If whoever was harvesting wasn't able to export, they'd be

forced to look at value-added options and the mills across B.C. would

remain open." James points to the recent announcement by Western Forest

Products to extend the holiday shutdown at the Chemainus sawmill by a

week due to a shortage of logs, while truckloads of logs continue to be

exported on a daily basis. "When you have mills shutting down because

of log shortages, yet companies are claiming they have a surplus and

shipping them south, there's something wrong with that equation," he

said. http://www.cowichannewsleader.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=9 & cat=23 & id=799535 & more=

4)

If Victoria adopts recommendations tabled last week in a report on raw

exports, the number of raw logs leaving B.C. will undoubtedly increase.

The report, "Generating more wealth from British Columbia's timber,"

has nine recommendations geared to facilitate raw log exports from this

province. If adopted, the recommendations would directly link the fees

paid by log exporters to the lumber export tax that recently came into

effect under the softwood lumber agreement. Under current

circumstances, it would mean significantly higher fees for the export

of Crown logs to the United States. However, that would change when the

price of lumber changes. The report does recognize the heated and

divisive debate surrounding raw log exports in B.C., but make no bones

about it – the report is about removing restrictions on raw log

exports, not imposing them. Should we be worried? Should we believe the

report authors – former chief forester of Western Forest Products Bill

Dumont and former Deputy Minister of Forests Don Wright – when they

assure us a viable processing industry in B.C. will remain even with

more raw logs being exported? We have already seen a concentration of

mills, which resulted in the squeezing out of many smaller operations.

The smaller operations that are left, along with the value-added

producers, are finding it more and more difficult to access fibre.

Shouldn't we be processing this wood here in British Columbia and

adding value to it here in British Columbia? Or, do we have so much

wood we can't process it all in B.C.? http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/16317912.htm5)

If global warming is such an important issue and if Canada is committed

to halting the warming trend, then why are Island forest companies

burning huge piles of logs and logging debris every year? I work for a

logging company and have never seen such waste in my 28 years on the

job. The new forest code allows companies to leave marketable timber on

the ground and only take the best to market, so these companies then

pile it up and burn it. The fires are immense and last for days.

William C. Rogers, Campbell River. http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/letters/story.html?id=f74e1eb2-cfff-4097-88c9-4

5bbd8f4e5376)

The forest will grow back. And, if left to its own devices, it will be

more biologically diverse and create a superior environment for

wildlife, Mitchell says. In the meantime, the easily accessible high

canopy Douglas fir and cedar forest that characterizes much of the park

will disappear in the damaged areas, replaced by a dense thicket of

deciduous saplings, salmonberry bushes and other low brush. The forest

will also be more vulnerable to fire. ''You need to balance between the

fuel load and regeneration,'' said Vancouver arborist Paul Montpellier.

''In the past our practice has been to leave the logs in the park; they

turn into nurse logs and the next generation begins.'' Montpellier says

that storm openings - areas in which mature trees fall exposing the

forest floor to light and replenishing the organic carpet on the forest

floor - are nothing new to the park. ''Storm openings are a normal way

of regenerating the park, but we have never had to deal with anything

of this magnitude,'' he said. ''This is a whole new ball game.'' Park

board staff will map the park in concert with the Stanley Park

Ecological Society to identify areas where natural regeneration should

occur and others where the fallen trees will have to be removed, said

park board chairman Ian Robertson. Public access would likely be

restricted in those areas of natural regeneration to reduce the fire

hazard. Trees in dense forest such as Stanley Park that are ordinarily

sheltered from the wind are more prone to falling in great bunches when

the stronger trees that form a hard curtain around a stand are knocked

down. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=090a47d8-d9ea-4a18-bafb-c6b2b2806b1e & k=32

266Washington;7)

There's a change in the Washington area's climate that's making some

trees happy and others uncomfortable. The National Arbor Day Foundation

has released findings saying the warming climate in the area is making

life difficult for cold-loving tree species. Trees transplanted here

from the south, however, are thriving. The foundation has also revised

its map of climate zones. The map now classifies the Washington area in

the same zone as parts of North Carolina and Texas. http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/1206/382709.html8)

There is a $4 billion reason why the REIT path is not clear cut for the

Federal Way, Wash., timber giant. Which path Weyerhaeuser investors

prefer depends on whether they are in it for the short or long term,

analysts say. Unlike the other forest products companies that have

separated their timber holdings from their manufacturing operations,

Weyerhaeuser's timber position is unique. German immigrant Frederick

Weyerhaeuser founded the company in 1900, when he and a group of 11

investors paid $6 million for 900,000 acres of timber in the Pacific

Northwest sold by James J. Hill and the Great Northern Railroad. These

and other early acres, acquired a century ago for what would now be

considered pennies on the dollar, are still on company's books at the

original purchase price. Reorganizing the company into a REIT would

trigger a tax penalty of an estimated $4 billion on top of REIT

conversion costs, the company estimates - something that has stopped

Weyerhaeuser from following in the path of companies such as Plum Creek

Timber Co. (PCL), Potlatch Corp. (PCH) and Longview Fibre (LFB). " Other

companies don't have that problem, " said Stephen Atkinson, an analyst

for BMO Capital Markets-Canada. Pressure to reorganize as a REIT was

renewed last week, when Franklin Mutual Advisers LLC, which now holds

about 18 million shares, asked the company again to consider that

alternative to make its timberland business more tax-efficient.

Weyerhaeuser Chairman and Chief Executive Steve Rogel replied in a

letter last week that the company still considers equitable tax

treatment the best alternative, but that " in light of the uncertainties

surrounding a legislative remedy we are now revising alternatives. "

Weyerhaeuser has been pushing for federal legislation that would make

operating its 5.7 million acres of North American timberland more tax

efficient. But Congress has adjourned for the year without addressing

the issue, although it can be brought up again, analysts said. http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/weyerhaeuser-sees-4-bln-obstacle/story.aspx?guid=%7B69B8F

EEB-BD2C-4B1C-85F2-9B1F14AAA299%7D9)

There's a pile of redwood staves from 75-year-old wine tanks Royer

salvaged from California vineyards. There are well-preserved Douglas

fir and cedar logs from Lake Cushman in Mason County. They'd been

underwater for 75 years since the lake was created by Cushman Dam. In

one corner are the heavy Douglas fir timbers used to hold up a

Tacoma-area bridge. Beside them are Douglas fir trusses from recently

demolished 1940s-era Fort Lewis barracks. They display the

tight-grained characteristics of old-growth trees — the kind of wood

that doesn't exist any more in harvestable forests. By being one of the

few companies to mill and sell salvaged wood, Windfall is

differentiating itself in an otherwise very competitive industry, says

Ian Hanna, director of Northwest Certified Forestry. " It represents a

new breed of forest-products companies that's capitalizing on this

environmental niche, " Hanna said. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003494781_windfall26.html

Oregon:10)

A $28,720 grant from OWEB is funding the ongoing log salvage project

taking place on Oregon mid coast forest lands. Working with the US

Forest Service and Oregon State Parks, Oregon Department of Fish and

Wildlife biologists are collecting the trees for stream restoration

projects next summer. The downed trees will be placed in several

streams to add roughness and complexity, provide scour pools, capture

gravels and create off channel habitat for juvenile and adult

salmonids. Four log truck loads of conifer logs have been collected so

far and as many as 10 more loads of trees could be added that were

blown over by high winds during December's storms. "This has been a

great opportunity to get material for the streams," said fish habitat

biologist Jason Kirchner. "We are very grateful to OWEB for providing

the funding for this project. The Douglas Fir, Hemlock, and Spruce

trees that we have collected will last for decades in streams and

greatly benefit salmon habitat." Kirchner has 7-10 projects scheduled

for next summer that will improve 12-15 miles of streams and will use

anywhere from 10 to 200 logs per project. According to Kirchner, logs

that are 20 inches in diameter and at least 40-50 feet long are

preferred. http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2006/12/22/sports/venture/3ven01_streamrestore.txt11)

About 1 million acres of private forests are being developed every

year, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. An

additional 44 million acres are expected to see housing by 2030. As

timber companies across the country transform their most desirable

forestland into subdivisions and resorts, Oregon has been the national

exception. Until now. Forest owners have emerged as major players in

Measure 37, applying to open land along the coast and across the

Willamette Valley to development. That stands to reason. Logging is no

longer the Northwest's economic engine, and demand for second homes and

rural lifestyles appears limitless. Plum Creek Timber Co. and Stimson

Lumber Co. joined dozens of smaller forest owners in asking governments

to waive development restrictions or pay for lost opportunities under

the state's property rights law. Many claimants say they won't develop

immediately -- if ever -- except for a few subdivisions where suburbia

is closing in. But residential and resort growth on private forests is

now a possibility. Plum Creek, which filed one of the biggest Measure

37 requests, helped pioneer a new model of forest ownership. As the

nation's largest private landowner, Plum Creek plans to continue

harvesting timber on four-fifths of its land while using the rest for

development or conservation. People can't have it both ways --

preserving forests and living in them, too -- says Ted Lorensen,

Oregon's assistant state forester. " We need to look in the mirror, " he

says. " We're the ones who are driving this. The public views forestland

as, 'It's our water, it's our forest.' Yet we want to own a piece of

it. " http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1167105322159690.xml & coll=7California:

12)

In the trees of Mt. Baldy Village, it was time for mistletoe to go. The

problem isn't one of toxicity, though the plant can sicken pets and

children who eat it. Its removal was predicated neither on opposition

to seasonal romance, nor to the Boy Scouts peddling it in grocery store

parking lots. The objection, said Marta Escanuelas, a grant writer for

the Mt. Baldy Village Fire Safe Council, is that the plant increased

the small community's chances of being struck by catastrophic wildfire.

" It's not that we're opposed to mistletoe, " Escanuelas said. " It's that

we don't want our trees going up like Roman candles. " Mistletoe sucks a

tree's water and nutrients through roots dug deep into a host tree's

bark. Though it takes years to fruit and far longer to threaten the

health of a tree, its slow-moving infestations sometimes draw the ire

of authorities. " It can overtake a tree and grow right up, " said Tracy

Martinez, spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Fire Department,

which has run its own mistletoe eradication projects in the Forest

Falls area in the past. " It suffocates. " Last year, Escanuelas wrote a

successful $128,000 grant application for county funding to remove dead

trees and eradicate mistletoe. Through the efforts of both volunteer

and professional tree-trimmers, dozens of trees have been stripped of

the leafy parasite. As both a tree-killer and an aid to romance, the

plant has a storied past, at which the U.S. Forest Service's Rocky

Mountain Mistletoe Center offers a glance. Along with some of the

basics of the plant, the center maintains a 13,878-item annotated,

online bibliography of works on the plant's medical, folkloric and

botanical history. http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_489430213)

The Pacific Lumber Co. has filed a suit against the state for allegedly

breaching the Headwaters Forest agreement, asking for damages caused by

what the company claims are overly burdensome restrictions on logging.

The complaint was filed by Palco and its subsidiary Scotia Pacific in

Fresno Superior Court Wednesday, but a copy of the suit was not

available by deadline. In a press release, Palco President George

O'Brien said the state's restrictions have kept the company from

staying economically viable, while the company has spent $60 million on

science and environmental programs. The press release isn't specific as

to what agency or agencies were sued, or which ones were responsible

for the alleged damages Palco is trying to recoup. A source at one

state agency said the complaint is against the state of California, the

state Water Resources Control Board, and the North Coast Regional Water

Quality Control Board. The board was not one of the agencies that

signed onto the 1999 Headwaters Forest agreement among the state, the

federal government and Palco. The deal paid Palco $480 million for

7,400 acres of the Headwaters Forest and two smaller groves. It also

put in place Palco's habitat conservation plan, which allows the

company to harm threatened or endangered species incidentally and

imposes restrictions on where, when and how it can log. Paul Mason with

the Sierra Club said he hadn't seen the complaint, but said he wasn't

surprised it was filed. "Pushing every boundary is part of their

corporate strategy," Mason said. http://times-standard.com/local/ci_487875714)

Last month's U.N. conference on climate change ended without firm

promises of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, and critics were quick

to suggest that the 5,000 attendees -- by jetting to Nairobi and

pumping 10,000 tons of carbon dioxide high in the atmosphere -- had

done more harm to the planet's climate than good. California's small

delegation waved those criticisms aside but set out to, as one state

official put it, " lead by example " : The state's top two environmental

regulators plunked down $140 of their own money for California's first,

state-certified " carbon emissions-reductions credits, " supplied by a

redwood forest. There, according to the Pacific Forest Trust, an acre

of middle-aged redwoods in Humboldt County has pulled roughly 15 tons

of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere in each of the past five years,

compensating for the 14 tons of airline emissions produced when

California environment Secretary Linda Adams and Assistant Secretary

for Climate Change Tutt flew to Nairobi -- before they even

decided to go. Such deals are becoming fashionable in this strange, new

carbon-aware world, where people and corporations face growing pressure

to be mindful of their greenhouse-gas " footprint. " Failing an actual

reduction in their emissions, they can pay others for compensatory

measures called offsets, hawked by such firms as CarbonTrust.org,

CarbonNeutral.com and soon Pacific Gas & Electric, which this

spring is making forest offsets into a centerpiece of its ClimateSmart

program. Customers who volunteer will be assessed a few extra percent

on their bills, an average of $4.31 more, to fund forest conservation

and restoration projects. But in this burgeoning marketplace of carbon

atonement, trees are more than tres chic. They're hot. And that's part

of the problem. Seen from space, forests on Earth are dark green

absorbers of sunlight, scientists say. Trees draw more solar energy to

the planet's surface to be trapped as heat than grasslands or bare

ground, especially if covered in snow. Those land coverings are as much

as three times more reflective than trees and bounce solar energy back

into space. http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/state/16311842.htm15)

MONTEREY - Four redwood trees are threatening one of California's

oldest churches, but the city's urban forester is against cutting them

all down. The tree roots have made their way through the chapel

foundation of San Carlos Borromeo de Monterey, believed to be the

oldest continuously functioning church in California, completed in

1794. Church officials have asked the city for a permit to cut them

down to preserve the landmark of California's Spanish colonial era, but

the city's urban forester recommends that at least two of the four

redwoods remain. " You have the classic conflict, " said Robert G. Reid,

the forester. It's a historic building versus " rightfully magnificent

native redwood trees that also have some serious standing in the

community, " said Reid. The petite stone structure is variously heralded

as California's first cathedral, the smallest cathedral in the

continental United States and the first structure in California

designed by a known architect. It is home to one of the state's first

non-indigenous sculptures, a stone carving of Our Lady of Guadalupe,

patroness of the Americas. The redwoods were planted in the 1950s along

the east side of the structure. Today their roots snake out through the

foundation and to the west side of the building. Ruben Mendoza,

director of Cal State Monterey Bay's Institute for Archaeological

Science, Technology and Visualization, says a choice must be made. " You

save the building or you save the trees, " he said. " You can't save

both. " The application for a permit to cut them down was presented to

Reid, the forester, shortly after Thanksgiving. Reid recommended that

only the two redwoods closest to the building be cut down. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/163

11514.htm16)

The fight against global warming has created its own odd market, one in

which companies sell their ability to remove greenhouse gases from the

air. Some of these companies plant trees to absorb carbon dioxide.

Others create systems to capture methane produced by dairy cows. Some

build windmills to generate electricity that otherwise would come from

power plants burning coal or natural gas. While similar markets exist

overseas, it's a relatively new phenomenon in the United States. That

market got one of its biggest boosts last week when Pacific Gas and

Electric Co. jumped in. The utility, California's largest, announced a

program that will let its customers calculate and offset the amount of

carbon dioxide their power supply produces. The average residential

customer who volunteers for the program will spend an estimated $4.31

each month, with the exact figure based on how much electricity and

natural gas the person uses. Businesses that buy power from PG & E

also can participate. Executives at San Francisco's PG & E expect

about 4 percent of their customers to sign up in the next three years,

generating about $20 million. That money will be spent restoring or

conserving California forests. " The average consumer wants to be part

of the solution. They want it to be easy, and they want it to be

clear, " said Tom Arnold. His Menlo Park company, TerraPass, gives

people a way to calculate how much carbon dioxide they pump into the

environment. They can then pay money, through TerraPass, to fund

projects that will offset those greenhouse gases. In the two years

since it formed, TerraPass has signed up 26,000 customers and funded 11

projects involving wind power, energy efficiency and the capture of

methane from cows. The small company, privately held, has not yet

turned a profit, although it hopes to do so in the first quarter of

2007. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/19/BUG32N1UT436.DTLIdaho:17)

The Roadless Area Conservation National Advisory Committee on Thursday

recommended that U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns

accept the plan submitted by Idaho Gov. Jim Risch. The plan Risch put

forward last month limits development of 3.1 million acres even more

than protections in a 2001 Clinton administration rule. The plan would

allow temporary road-building on another 5.5 million acres, only to the

extent that it had already been allowed by Clinton officials to boost

forest health. Another 500,000 acres would be opened to logging and

road building Environmentalists had been concerned about Risch's plan

fearing that national forests would be opened up to logging and mining.

But a letter put out by the national committee spelled out the Idaho

plan in detail and put them more at ease, said Jonathan Oppenheimer of

the Idaho Conservation League. " I think this letter from the Roadless

Area Conservation National Advisory Committee provides that level of

clarification in black and white that this is what they heard the

governor say and this is the way they recommend the secretary of

agriculture move forward, " he said. The committee made some

recommendations about clarifying parts of the plan. Jim Caswell,

director of the Idaho Office of Species Conservation, said the state

can work with that. " There is nothing in there that is a huge concern, "

he told The Lewiston Tribune. http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2006/12/24/news/regional/33940b1f183f8f518725724d002

6987d.txtMontana:18)

That's the aim of a tree-gathering campaign that will get under way

next week led by Friends of Bigfork Schools and a professor at the

University of Montana's Yellow Bay Biological Station. "We need to get

about 1,000 trees or more," said Mark Lorang, an assistant research

professor who designed an erosion-control project for the north shore

of Flathead Lake. "The more trees I can get, the better." So how do

Christmas trees fit into a shoreline? Lorang's design puts them to use

as "brush bundles" that are tied into vertical posts along a 300-foot

erosion-prone bank of the Flathead River just north of the lake. Brush

bundles effectively catch sediments so that the river rebuilds the

shoreline, Lorang explained. "It's really simple. You're just get the

river to bring some mud in and deposit it." The shoreline then can be

further restored with revegetation work. While it will be an

"experimental approach" on Flathead Lake, brush bundles have proven

effective in other locations, such as the Sacramento River Delta in

California. Lorang said he is excited about the tree collection

campaign because it's a way to engage and involve the public in solving

a shoreline erosion problem that has been viewed passively for far too

long. "I see this as a huge swing from folks just watching it all wash

away to getting people involved in protecting this habitat," he said.

The tree collection campaign will be funded with $3,000 from Kerr Dam

operator PPL Montana. While Lorang's shoreline protection design has

yet to be reviewed, approved and permitted by multiple agencies, 'tis

the season to collect trees. http://www.dailyinterlake.com/articles/2006/12/23/news/news03.txt19)

An audit completed late last month by the U.S. Department of

Agriculture Office of Inspector General hammers the Forest Service for

burning money in the way it fights forest fires. Although auditors

conclude the agency wastes money through poor cost containment and

by fighting fires that might actually do more good than harm by

thinning overgrown forests, much of the high cost of firefighting comes

from protecting private property, not the national forests. Indeed,

depending on the degree of development, between 50 percent and 95

percent of the cost of firefighting may be attributable to protecting

homes and other structures on private property, the auditors found.

That's not altogether surprising to anyone here in Montana or elsewhere

in the West, where every summer we see the Forest Service pulling out

all the stops to protect lives and structures - small armies of men and

women on the ground, helicopters and bombers aloft, huge fleets of

vehicles and a massive organization providing logistical support. When

smoke's rising, virtually no one questions expenditures aimed at

protecting private property - unless it's to complain they're

insufficient. Recall last summer when Montana's Sen. Conrad Burns

publicly blasted firefighters for not doing enough to save the grass in

pastures on which rancher's cows could graze. After the massive fires

of 2000, firefighters sheepishly conceded they'd spent more money

protecting some buildings than the structures were worth. But if the

point made in the audit isn't new, perhaps it's time to take a new look

at the problem. http://www.missoulian.com/20)

ENNIS — The U.S. Forest Service is moving forward with a 960-acre

fuel-reduction project aimed at protecting homes from wildfire north of

here. The project will include thinning, cutting and burning mostly

small-diameter Douglas-fir trees in the South Meadow Creek drainage

west of McAllister. It also will include the sale and harvest of about

1 million board feet of commercial sawlogs, said Marc Petroni, district

ranger in Ennis for the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. A

contractor will take out the logs. Forest Service fire crews will slash

and burn smaller trees. The goal of the project is to reduce the

intensity of potential wildfires in the area, thereby making it easier

to protect homes in nearby rural subdivisions. Working under a federal

grant, Madison County officials have helped some residents in the area

remove fuels from private property. The Forest Service project is meant

to "companion" the private and county efforts, Petroni said. "It is a

good thing," County Commissioner Ted Coffman said. "It's been too many

years without enough done." The county's 2003 fire plan identified

South Meadow Creek as a high-risk area for wildfires. "We still might

have a fire, but a lower-intensity fire would be much easier for homes

with proper defensible space to survive, and it would be much safer for

firefighters," Petroni said. http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061222/NEWS01/61222010/1002

21)

U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy rejected all claims of the

WildWest Institute and Friends of the Bitterroot lawsuit that

challenged the Middle East Fork Hazardous Fuel Reduction Project on the

Bitterroot National Forest. Thomas Woodbury, the environmental groups'

attorney, said the groups will probably appeal the decision. "It's an

important case and we'll likely appeal," Woodbury said late Friday

afternoon. The ruling followed nearly eight months of contentious

debate over the future of a project that proposed to treat about 5,000

acres in a 25,800-acre area about two miles east of Sula. The project

was designed to reduce wildland fire threats to the Middle East Fork

community and treat areas affected by a Douglas fir bark beetle

epidemic. The groups claimed the agency violated federal law while

putting together the project by committing resources before a decision

was made, censoring contrary science, selectively excluding the public,

and not taking a hard look at soils. Molloy summarily rejected all of

the group's claims. He also took the groups to task for their apparent

predetermination to appeal the case to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

following his earlier decisions on the case. http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2006/12/23/news/mtregional/news05.txt22)

Wilderness bills have changed since the Democrats last gained control

of the U.S. Congress two decades ago. Where once statewide bills were

all about locking up lands, there are now local, bipartisan bills that

also include economic benefits for the local rural communities. " What

we're looking for, " said Gordy Sanders of Pyramid Mountain Lumber in

Seeley Lake, " is the same level of certainty that the proponents of

wilderness are looking for. " Just as wilderness proponents seek the

certainty of Congressional protection, local community members are

looking for guaranteed access to the timber supply, through such tools

as 10-year stewardship contracts. Gordy confirmed what Rep. Denny

Rehberg told the Chronicle earlier this month-that community members in

the Seeley Ranger District have been quietly laying the groundwork for

a community-wide discussion of a wilderness bill involving the upper

Blackfoot. The overall package would also include restoration, as well

as a long-term guaranteed source of timber for the local mill. " A

number of conservation community folks have been involved in the

discussion, " he said. 'We've spent a couple of years visiting about how

to make things work " There's a lot of fear about bad things that are

going to happen out there on the landscape, and the tendency is,

nothing happens. " With no action, the resulting gridlock in the public

agencies is not responsive to the public and not good for the forest,

fisheries, or the wildlife, he said. " I think everybody that is in the

mainstream recognizes that we have the same interests and we want to

work together to see the right things done on the ground, " he said. http://www.clarkforkchronicle.comWyoming:23)

DANIEL -- In a state graced with mountain ranges such as the Tetons and

Wind Rivers, the Wyoming Range isn't well known, even in its namesake

state. But to people living within its late afternoon shadows, the

Wyoming Range is no less awe-inspiring. " The experience of the Wyomings

transcends all talk about them, " resident Pete Doenges said. " They are

a treasure and a sacred place, and getting people out to feel the

healing power of this place can leave deep impressions. " With oil and

gas activity already at a fever pitch in the expansive flatlands of

Wyoming, the idea of leasing forested areas within the scenic range has

created a groundswell of opposition and alliances between

environmentalists and outfitters -- groups normally at opposite ends of

the political spectrum. " They can't keep up with what they're doing

now, " said Gary Amerine, an outfitter who charges a fee to guide people

to hunt, fish or just enjoy the scenery in the Wyoming Range. " We

aren't against what's going on in the other areas, so why don't they

keep going there and leave the forest alone? " Federal land managers say

oil and gas development is just one of the many activities allowed in

the range, and energy industry representatives maintain that some parts

of the Wyoming Range can be drilled without permanently damaging the

environment or shutting down other recreational activities. " There are

certainly areas that need to be protected, I'll agree wholeheartedly

with that, " said Bruce Hinchey, president of the Petroleum Association

of Wyoming. " But there are some outlying areas that possibly can be

looked at. " The Wyoming Range is about 400,000 acres -- 70 miles long

and 25 to 30 miles wide, running north to south in far western Wyoming,

with its north end about 20 miles south of Jackson. It's teeming with

elk, moose, deer, antelope, grizzly bears, black bears, mountain lions

and lynx. Wyoming Peak is the highest among its mountains at 11,363

feet. The east side of the range is mostly sloping mountainsides, while

much of the west side falls off steeply into the Greys River, which

separates the range from the parallel Salt River Range. http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2006/12/23/news/wyoming/eb0661cf5594bf9a8725724c00669d

6b.txtMinnesota:24)

The report by the Governor's Task Force on the Competitiveness of

Minnesota's Primary Forest Products Industry doesn't lay out a

long-range blueprint to rescue the industry, which has experienced job

losses and a drop in sawmill production. But it has lots of short-term

measures. Mark Holsten, deputy commissioner of the Minnesota Department

of Natural Resources, said the 2007 Legislature will take up many of

them. " What you have are well-thought-out, mutually agreed-upon issues

that they believe will help their industry,'' Holsten said.The

21-member group, which first met in 2003, consists of state agency,

industry and academic members. It recommended: 1)Counties, state and

federal agencies offer more wood for sale, including re-offering timber

sales at lower prices. 2) Road and bridge improvements, and

weight-limit changes to allow more transportation flexibility. 3)

Changes in tax laws, including broadened sales-tax exemptions for

logging equipment. 4) More money for research, to fill existing

forester vacancies, and to help private landowners. 5) The state's

forest-products industry, which produces paper and pulp, wood products

and lumber, has been hurt by high timber prices and a slumping housing

market. -- Several months ago, Ainsworth Lumber suspended oriented

strand board production at Minnesota plants in Grand Rapids and Cook

until market conditions improve, putting 300 people out of work

indefinitely. Another 110 workers lost their jobs when the company

closed a production line in Bemidji in August. Matt Norton, forest and

wildlife advocate for the St. Paul-based Minnesota Center for

Environmental Advocacy, said his agency could support some proposals,

but has concerns. " We want to see the decisions made in a way that

protects the environmental values of the forest,'' Norton said. http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/16294552.htmNew York:

25)

Gov. George Pataki announced a deal Thursday to protect 51,000 acres of

woodland in upstate St. Lawrence County from development, bringing the

amount of land preserved statewide during his 12 years in office to 1

million acres. Under the agreement, the state will pay $6.5 million to

the land owner, forestry company Rayonier, for a conservation easement

which will expand fishing, hiking and other recreational opportunities

while still permitting logging, Pataki said. " The owner has agreed that

they will continue forestry using the best environmental techniques to

use sustainable forestry, " he said at a news conference. Pataki, who

has less than two weeks left in office, has endeavored to make land

preservation a hallmark of his legacy in office. He spoke at the

American Museum of Natural History in front of a lengthy inscribed

quotation from Theodore Roosevelt, a predecessor as New York governor

and a pioneer conservationist, who implored the country to think of its

natural resources as an asset to leave future generations improved,

" not impaired. " " I vowed whether I was governor for four years or

longer that I was going to try to live up to that quote from Teddy

Roosevelt behind me, and that we were going to try to do what we could

to try to pass on to the next generation a state that was cleaner,

healthier, and an ecosystem that was stronger and more vibrant than

what we had inherited, " Pataki said. The latest agreement will open 26

miles along the Grasse River for canoeing, kayaking and hiking and 16

miles for fishing, Pataki said. All told, Pataki has secured deals to

protect 1,020,000 acres statewide from development at a total cost of

$658.4 million. http://www.pressrepublican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061222/NEWS/612220310/1001 & ts=ts2

Delaware: 26)

In late 2003, when 2,800 acres of former commercial timberland was

offered for sale by the Glatfelter Pulp Wood Co., the Nature

Conservancy quickly seized upon the extraordinary opportunity to

acquire and preserve 908 acres of undeveloped land in eastern Sussex

County. What was known as the Ponders tract is the largest private

forest restoration project ever in our state's history. The property,

now renamed the Pemberton Forest Preserve, is located near the

Redden/Ellendale forest, one of the largest wooded areas remaining on

the Delmarva Peninsula and home to headwaters for the Broadkill and

Nanticoke rivers.Years of commercial timber production on the property

reduced the numbers and kinds of birds and animals there, and left

large areas of stumps and clear cuts. In Delaware, more than 80 percent

of the original forests have been lost and much of the remaining forest

is fragmented. But the Conservancy sees a parcel this size as a chance

to restore a native forest that will benefit plants and animals as well

as humans. Over the last year, Conservancy staff and local volunteers

have been planting oak, hickory, ash and other hardwood seedlings to

accelerate natural regeneration under a management plan crafted with

the assistance of forestry experts. It's a labor of love that requires

a very long-term vision, as it will take 100 years or more for a mature

mixed hardwood forest to become re-established. Already, signs of an

emerging forest are evident, as cut-over areas have tree seedlings

shooting to the sky and birds foraging insects among the new growth. http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061224/OPINION09/612240317/1110/OPIN

IONFlorida:27)

On a bright Sunday afternoon in early December at the St. Marks Trail

head, Christine and Hoyet Frier were dismayed after a mountain bike

ride on the nearby Munson Hills Trail system, a maze of sandy single

tracks through pine-dotted ancient dunes west of the paved trail.

" They've cut down all the trees, " said Christine. " It looked like a

battle was fought there, " said Hoyet. What the Friers had witnessed and

what many other cyclists have reported was the permitted logging in the

Apalachicola National Forest by a timber contractor. The timber company

was unaware that a 20-year-old bicycling/hiking trail and a featured

eco-tourist destination co-managed by the Florida Department of

Environmental Protection's Office of Greenways and Trails partly

overlapped the targeted logging area. Scot Benton, president of Fat of

the Land, a coalition of local and national experts in the science of

trail building and maintenance, explained that the Munson Hills Trail

will be rebuilt, expanded and improved. " A lot is going on right now

for trails in Tallahassee, and Munson is just one of many projects. The

Munson Hills trails will be redesigned and rebuilt with the latest

expert knowledge. We'll be adding miles and connectivity and

stabilizing surfaces. We've had the trail-building professionals from

the International Mountain Bike Association in to look at the Munson

Trail along with input from Jim Schmid, Trails Manager for Florida

National Forests, representatives from the Audubon Society, Friends of

the Apalachicola National Forest and the Office of Greenways and

Trails. The logging company has even offered to help, " said Benton. http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061226/SPORTS/612260312

USA:28)

Two of the nation's largest timber companies, Weyerhaeuser and Plum

Creek Timber, have polished their public images for years by

participating in a program that certifies that their logging is

environmentally friendly. But in separate challenges this month from

the far corners of the United States, environmental groups in

Washington state and in Maine are accusing Weyerhaeuser Co. and Plum

Creek Timber Co. of using the forest industry's green-labeling program

as a cover while they log in ways that harm endangered spotted owls in

Washington and violate forestry laws in Maine. The Seattle Audubon

Society and the Natural Resources Council of Maine have demanded in

documents sent to the Sustainable Forestry Board that it revoke

certification for the companies until they comply with standards they

have pledged to uphold. Both companies say the demands are unjustified

and show ignorance of relevant facts. The requests mark the first time

that mainstream environmental groups have publicly attempted to turn

the forest industry's green certification process against big timber

companies by insisting that they be suspended from the program, the

Sustainable Forestry Initiative, said William H. Banzhaf, president of

the forestry board, which oversees certification. Green labeling is a

major marketing tool in the timber industry. It allows companies to

reach a bigger marketplace while assuring increasingly sophisticated

consumers that their purchases are not harming the environment. http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2006/1225/biz/stories/timber.htm

Canada:29)

The people in charge of preservation at Prince Edward Island National

Park are getting rid of some trees in order to save the forest from

fire. All winter, Parks Canada fire crews will be working among the

evergreens of the north shore park, thinning out trees, removing lower

limbs and clearing some of the undergrowth that can turn a stray

campfire spark into a disaster threatening health and home. Park warden

Ed Robert has seen some substantial forest fires in his 27-year career

with Parks Canada. He said the agency can make it easier for natural

areas and human neighbours to co-exist by reducing the opportunity for

fire to grow out of control. "What we see with most fires is they start

at the ground level, often from somebody's campground and then they

move up," he said. "You can see in the area that hasn't been

cleared there's lots of fuel at the bottoms of trees and there are low

branches. The fire can get in and just ladder up the branches into the

canopy. The trees at the canopy are all interwoven and a fire that gets

there just races through." The park workers have begun thinning an area

near John Archie's Pond where stands of spruce have been allowed to

grow unmolested since the park was founded in 1936. http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/index.cfm?sid=5135 & sc=2Czechoslovakia: 30)

When Soil Association WoodMark re-certified the 10,000 hectares of

Masarykův les Křtiny (ŠLP), a State-owned forest in the Czech Republic

in 2004 (which had first been certified in 1997), one of the notable

features of the Public Summary report was the number of times in which

the phrase "to be implemented immediately on certification" was used in

relation to the numerous Corrective Action Requests issued. In other

words, SLP had not actually achieved whatever standards WoodMark used

to assess them (there was no national FSC Standard in the Czech

Republic at the time of the assessment), but would hopefully achieve

them afterwards. WoodMark is by no means alone in issuing certificates

on this basis, though it undermines the purpose of a supposedly

performance-based certification scheme such as FSC. This practice opens

up the possibility that companies granted a certificate never actually

improve whatever problematic areas were identified at the time of

assessment – and of course, once they have already been awarded a

certificate, they have less incentive to do so. So it has proven to be

with SLP Krtny. The Masaryk forest area was recognised as 'potential

High Conservation Value Forest' containing important "gene pools for

species like beech, oak, and fir". The need for proper biodiversity

protection was also evident in that, as WoodMark noted in the Public

Summary report, "forest management is rather intensive". Part of the

forest was also under assessment for designation as a European 'Natura

2000' protected area site. One of the Corrective Actions identified by

WoodMark in 2004 was that "Managers shall develop a system of

registering and mapping biodiversity information for the 'economic'

forest, involving local experts and gathering existing data e.g. from

university". In fact, such ecological information is abundant, because

the main objective of Å LP is "support education, research and training

activities" and the Křtiny forest is managed by the Mendel University

of Agriculture and Forestry, based in the town of Brno. A year and a

half later, in November 2005 the first surveillance visit revealed that

this Corrective Action Request, along with others, had still not been

complied with. http://www.fsc-watch.org/archives/2006/12/16/On_the_road_to_nowhere__The_dangers_of_certifying__

hoped_for__improvements_in_the_Czech_RepublicRussia:31)

Finland's multi-trade holding Ruukki Group will inject 500 million

euros into Russia's woodworking industry, the company said in a

statement on Friday. Ruukki Group sealed an agreement with Russia's

Kostroma region on the use of its forest resources. The first acquired

a 49-year licence for logging from 2.5 million cubic meters of timber

to 3.1 billion cubic meters in the Russian region. At the initial stage

Ruukki Group plans to build in 2008 a sawmill that will process

coniferous timber. Its annual design capacity will make up 300,000

cubic meters. Later the holding will build a pulp-and-paper mill to be

launched in 2009-2010 and export its produce to the world market. The

agreement will be finalized in early 2007 to be ratified by the

Kostroma region's legislature. http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11110500 & PageNum=032)

Last month, FSC-Watch reported on the 'race to the bottom' of FSC

standards for certification of the Presov Forest District in Slovakia.

The race has now been run, and the certificate – which was withdrawn

only a few weeks ago by Soil Association WoodMark - has now been

're-awarded' by SGS. One representative of the Slovak environmental

movement has said that they are 'sickened' by this development, and

have dismissed the certificate as "nothing but greenwashing". Forests

managed by the Presov Forest District are, they say, amongst the worst

managed state forests in Slovakia, and the certificate will help no-one

but the businesses involved in the FSC. FSC-Watch shares the

frustration of environmentalists in Slovakia. Clearly, there is

something seriously wrong with the FSC system when a certificate can be

withdrawn for non-compliances one month, only to be reissued the next

by a different certifier. http://www.fsc-watch.org/archives/2006/12/10/Slovak_environmental_NGOs__sickened__by_re_certifi

cation_of_Presov_Forest_District__the_FSC_s_failings_laid_bareKuwait:33)

Dr. Mohammad Abdulsalam, Kuwait University, said in a seminar organized

by the Public Authority for Agriculture and Fish Resources Affairs

(PAAFRA) said that a one year old palm tree requires 1 liter of water

per day in December but needs 12 liters a day in July. A 10 year old

palm tree needs 25 liters a day in December, whereas it needs 212

liters a day in June. The palm tree's roots go as far as 70 meters

underground. There are few natural water resources in Kuwait and rain

is scarce, and this makes the sea the main source for water, therefore

it's a duty to save water from overuse and protect it from pollution,

he added. Knowing the quantity of water that plants need is necessary

to prevent overuse of water, he said. Agriculture in Kuwait is having

an annual average growth and palm trees are increasingly planted. The

average date production of a palm tree is 300 kilograms per year. http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Language=en & DSNO=937442

Iraq:34)

BAGHDAD — The flowers appear overnight, and in the unlikeliest of

places: carnations near a checkpoint, roses behind razor wire, and

gardenias in a square known for suicide bombings. Sometimes, U.S.

armored vehicles hop a median and mow down the myrtle, leaving Baghdad

parks workers to fume and reach for their trowels. When insurgents

poured kerosene over freshly planted seedlings, landscapers swore a

revenge of ficus trees and olive groves. It's all part of a stealthy

campaign to turn the entire capital into a green zone. Jaafar Hamid al

Ali, the Baghdad parks supervisor, leads the offensive. He's got a

multi-million-dollar budget, along with 1,500 intrepid employees and a

host of formidable enemies. There's the fussy climate, salty soil, and

nonstop violence that killed 30 of his workers in 2006. Every fallen

gardener, Ali said, is a martyr in the struggle to beautify Baghdad.

" My principle is, for every drop of Iraqi blood, we must plant

something green, " he said. " One gives disappointment, the other gives

hope. " http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/16321872.htmCongo:35)

One particularly problematic area is in the payment of forestry

royalties and taxes. According to one estimate, there are presently no

less than 155 fees and taxes payable in the forest sector in DRC. Many

of these are 'para-fiscal' fees payable at the local level to various

interests that may or may not actually be authorised by the central

authorities in Kinshasa. At least part of Danzer's operations are

located in territories that were formerly held by the rebel group MLC,

which controlled (and may still control) some of these para-fiscal

systems. There is much evidence to suggest that many of FSC's

certifiers have little capacity or experience in assessing 'legality'

of forestry operations in relatively stable and well-governed

countries, let alone those where the challenges are as monumental as

they are in DRC. A third issue is that there are, as yet, no national

FSC standards for forestry in either Congo-Brazzaville or DRC, and no

immediate initiatives to develop such standards. As WWF should be well

aware, the clear expressed intention of the members of the FSC has been

that the issuing of certifictes in countries without national standards

should cease. FSC-Watch invites WWF to explain how resolution of these

very complicated issues will feature in the 'schedule' to get Danzer

certified? http://www.fsc-watch.org/archives/2006/12/11/WWF_and_certification_of_Danzer__all_a_foregone_co

nclusion_Kenya:36)

I've just found out from two sets of friends that there's been a lot of

tree cutting going on in Mombasa where 'khungu' trees have been cut.

All this tree cutting, especially in Coast Province is very

disheartening and ironic considering that our Nobel Laureate, Prof.

Wangari Maathai, has urged us, her countrymen and women to PLANT trees

NOT cut them down. And why aren't NEMA and our Provincial Forest

Officers doing something about this? These days wherever I happen to

go, including in my own neighbourhood, trees are being cut for selfish

reasons, and the much needed shade and greenery is gone. In the place

of trees, IF, anything is planted, it's small decorative bushes and

shrubs! Will somebody 'official' please take up this matter and stop

the wanton destruction of our heritage? Razia Mohamedali, Mombasa.

mohamedali http://www.coastweek.com/2951-27.htmGambia:37)

At least twenty (20) people including the staff and volunteers of the

West Africa Bird Study Association (WABSA) recently concluded a two-day

training on forest management. The seminar was part of the

desertification control project sponsored by the Netherland Community,

International Union for Conservation, Dry Area Region (NC-IUC DAS),

held at the department of Forestry, in Banjul. In his presentation on

forest management and structures, Kebba Sonko of participatory forest

management (PFM) on behalf of the director highlighted the importance

of people management and structures of forest, adding that if the

communities know the value of trees and forests, they will develop a

vested interest in their protection as permanent sources of income to

livelihoods. The Gambia's total land area, or 460, 000 hectares

classified as forest and 78% of the area falls into the degraded tree

and sub-savannah category. On the issue of market analysis and

development (MAD), Mr Sonko elaborated that the methodology was

developed and promoted by the Food and Agriculture Organization for

planning tree and forest product enterprises. "This methodology enables

local communities to identify potential products and develop markets

that will provide income and benefits to the community without

degrading their resource base. The main strength of the process is its

systematic inclusion of social and environmental concerns as well as

the consideration of the technological, commercial and financial

aspects of a product", he said. "Our one year desertification project

has spelt out in term of achievement. This shows our commitment to

transplant 30, 000 seedlings in seven villages on the wet and dry land

in worth and the Central Bank of The Gambia showing 90% of the young

seedlings growing very well" he said. Mr Jobateh then calls on the

participants to make good use and spread the information gathered to

the general public. http://www.observer.gm/enews/index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id=6772 & Itemid=33

Malawi:38)

Although the Bingu administration has scored straight pluses in the way

it has managed the economy so far, the same cannot be said to be the

case on other issues of national importance. One such area is

afforestation. Statistics in this area are alarming. Last year,

government estimated that 6,000 hectares of forests were lost in the

country's forests, Viphya Plantation in Mzimba, Chongoni in Dedza,

Zomba Forest Reserve, etc. Ninety percent of these was from Viphya. In

monetary terms, government lost K2.58 billion. There is nothing to make

me think the situation changed for the better this year. Talking about

Viphya Plantation—that green canopy of pine trees in Mzimba covering

over 53,000 hectares—it was once upon a time the biggest man-made

forest in southern Africa. But in its present sorry state, after

getting a good scorching from fires by former employees, Viphya has

lost that status to a forest plantation in Swaziland. From last year's

afforestation efforts, over 45 million trees were planted nation-wide.

Individuals planted 37 million, the private sector 5.5 million, income

generating programmes support to forest reserves such as the public

works programme 2 million and government 1.5 million trees. This was

undoubtedly one of the best years in as far as tree planting is

concerned. One special feature of the exercise was the involvement of

Cabinet ministers who presided over regional and district launches.

Simultaneously deploying Cabinet ministers and other leaders to each

district as the afforestation exercise was being launched at national

level in Rumphi would surely have given the exercise the nation-wide

push it got last year. http://www.nationmalawi.com/articles.asp?articleID=20027 Chile:For

only the second time in its 13-year history, the FSC has suspended the

accreditation of one of its certifiers. However, as with most of FSC's

dealings with the certifiers, the reasons for the suspension of the

Swiss based Institut für Marktökologie (IMO), on 22nd September, are

not entirely clear. All that the FSC Secretariat has said is that the

decision was taken against IMO " for performing new evaluations and

issuing new FSC forest management certificates in Chile " - and even

this information was buried in an unassuming document on FSC's website.

The news will no doubt be welcomed by campaigners concerned about FSC's

certification of large monoculture industrial tree crops, as it means

that 440,000 hectares of mostly eucalyptus plantations in Chile (as

well as a number of certifcates in other countries) will also have

IMO's FSC certificates suspended. It is encouraging that FSC has shown

that it is able to sanction one of the certifiers. However, FSC-Watch

believes that the reasons for this decision should be made more clear

by the Secretariat. Every month, FSC members and the public are treated

to an account of how and why the total area under FSC certification has

grown inexorably. We believe we are also entitled to know how and why

that area shrinks. FSC-Watch also invites the Secretarat to explain

exactly what it is that the relatively small IMO has done to deserve

its suspension that any of the other larger certifiers have not also

been guilty of? http://www.fsc-watch.org/archives/2006/12/16/Accredited_certifier_suspended