186 - Earth's Tree News

March 30, 2007

Today for you 38 news items about 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---Alaska: 1) Logging Gravina Island--British

Columbia: 2) 13 new lichen species discovered, 3) 60 acres saved, 4) 1

out 3 trees go to waste, 5) Highway expansions, 6) weakening of weak

laws, 7) Plantskyyd,--Oregon: 8) great gray owls surveys helps loggers decide to log--California: 9) Save the Mattole, 10) How mill owner spend money, 11) Save the Oaks,--Idaho: 12) Resistance to logging in Panhandle NF

--Arizona: 13) Demise of high mountain forests--West Virginia: 14) Big legal victory that stop removal of mountain tops--Kentucky: 15) Comment on Daniel Boone Logging and Herbicide plan--Appalachia: 16) Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project

--USA: 17) Get a free copy of "Lasting Landscapes"--Canada: 18) Save the Boreal, 19) Ontario getting cutting fast, 20) Tribes get $$s, land,--Morocco: 21) Losing 30,000 hectares of forest per year--Gambia: 22) Ballabu Conservation Project

--Congo:23) UK gives 50 million pounds the save Congo--Uganda: 24) Forest Day, 25) Save Mabira, 26) Sign the petition,--Haiti: 27) Tiburon Peninsula--Brazil: 28) Cargill port shut down--China: 29) Asian Pulp and Paper destroying rare forests --Malaysia: 30) Certification, 31) Save Kamula Dosa, 32) 5 of 22 companies are legit, 33) New Botanical park threatens natives, --Mynamar: 34) Satelite mapping shows need to save more forest--Borneo: 35) Logging impacts on small rodents

--Australia: 36) Weld Valley action, 37) NAFI is confusing, 38) Howard's plan--World-wide: 39) Why deforestation is goodAlaska:1)

" K41: In this parcel DNR appears to be following the same model of

management used by the USFS: Grand scale roading, clear cutting,

catering to large corporate interests---an over-optimistic management

scheme that depends upon unsustainable liquidation of old growth and

wilderness habitat along with overcapitalization to pay for the high

production tools and associated job skills necessary to carry out that

management scheme. The philosophy is: We have these high production

tools. Therefore let's tailor sales to accommodate the tools. The

downside: People grow dependent upon an unsustainable source of income

and as a result, wildlife, aesthetics, water quality, soil health,

forest diversity, and non-targeted species all decline. I crossed this

parcel on foot over thirty years ago during one of several hikes across

Gravina. I was surprised to see a flying squirrel in some higher volume

woods near Crater Lake at the extreme north corner of this parcel. TCS

recommends selective helicopter logging only, if any logging is done.

No roads. Trails and undeveloped recreation should be encouraged.

Continuous monitoring of any helicopter logging is essential to ensure

slash, tops and other waste is properly disposed of, not left scattered

along the lands under or near the route of overflight as it was when LP

helicoptered its timber from Granite Creek on the Cleveland Peninsula. "

For those who think that roads will improve subsistence opportunities

I'd suggest going to www.subsistence.adfg.state.ak.us/ and perusing

some of the Subsistence Technical Papers under the Publications tab.

You might also check out what the Forest Service wrote about

Environmental Consequences under the Environment and Effects section of

the Gravina Island Timber Sale FEIS v.1 http://www.sitnews.us/0307Viewpoints/032407_mike_sallee.htmlBritish Columbia:2)

It took one scientist from the U.S. and another from Germany, but

between them, they have discovered 13 new species of lichens in the

B.C. rainforest that humankind never knew existed. And within the next

two years, they say, the number could rise to 50 or more. In fact, says

Toby Spribille, a lichenologist from the University of Gottingen in

Germany, when it comes to discovering new forms of lichen, British

Columbia, thanks to its largely unstudied rainforests, is revealing

more previously undiscovered species than any other region on Earth.

The problem, says Spribille, is that with so many of these forests

slated for logging, these 13 species -- and who knows how many more --

could disappear before scientists have had a chance to study and

understand them properly. Spribille and his colleague, Curtis Bjork, a

botanist with the University of Idaho, spent the last five years

searching the old-growth rainforests near Glacier National Park in the

Kootenays and in the Robson Valley near McBride for new forms of

lichen, a creature that is neither a plant nor an animal. Instead, like

its fungal cousin, the mushroom, it straddles both kingdoms and

therefore becomes one of its own. The largest lichen known to humankind

is like a three-metre-long strand of hair, says Bjork, but the 13 new

species he and Spribille discovered range in size from a pinhead to one

slightly bigger than a penny, and are solid and round like pies. " They

also have a scalloped edge like you'd see in a pie, " Bjork said. They

were all found growing on various kinds of coniferous trees in the

rainforest, and range in colour from onyx to white to pink to russet

brown to orange to grey. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=1c0b0dde-2842-410f-8001-0a2c3bfe4fc3 & k=58

943)

When Dale and Anita Lehman decided to "sell the farm", they wanted to

be sure a prime piece of land with great sentimental value would stay

intact in perpetuity. The property, valued at $790,000 ($60,000 in land

and $730,000 in timber) is located just off Wagon Wheel Road in

Bridesville, about 16 miles east of Osoyoos. The Lehmans moved from

their ranch in 2003 to settle in Osoyoos. They decided the only way to

guarantee the new owners would leave as-is their 60 acres of old-growth

forest land â€“ complete with 10 artesian springs â€“ was to contact a land

conservancy organization. They contacted the Nature Trust, who referred

the Lehmans to the Land Conservancy of British Columbia (TLC),

beginning a two-year push in the summer of 2001 to get the property out

of the Agricultural Land Reserve and keep it as a nature reserve. The

couple believes their gift was the single largest private donation in

B.C. They received a tax receipt for the property under TLC's

Ecological Gifts Program. TLC has named the property 'Lehman Springs'

and is responsible for the land's future care and maintenance. "The

land has never been logged and we didn't want anything to happen to

it," Dale explains. "We knew once we sold it, we couldn't guarantee

somebody wouldn't come and log it. Or maybe the next family who bought

it after that might do it." The land, a total of 2,200 acres, belonged

to Dale's father, who rented in the 1930s and bought it in the 1940s.

He ranched before Dale took over the operation â€“ which in the last few

years supported 800-1,000 head of cattle. The ranch land was sold,

leaving just the 60 acres of adjacent forest to deal with. With their

four grown children moved away to the Coast, Alberta and Australia to

pursue lives other than ranching, the Lehmans made the decision to

donate the land rather than will it to their children. http://www.osoyoostimes.com/pMOT/more.php?id=647_0_1_0_M144)

One out of every three logs cut from B.C.'s coastal forestlands are

either exported as raw logs or left to rot on the forest floor, says a

forestry researcher. And resource policy analyst Ben Parfitt, who is

preparing a report on the issue for the left-leaning Canadian Centre

for Policy Alternatives, says the province's economy and forestry

workers and communities are paying a high price for the practice. " The

cost of not turning these logs into lumber and other wood products here

in B.C. was the loss of 5,872 jobs in 2005 and 5,756 jobs in 2006, " he

said. " We could be running two world class sawmills flat out on the

volume of wood we are leaving behind. " In 2005, a total of 3.63 million

cubic metres of wood was left on the ground, Parfitt says. He blames

the high number on a 2003 government policy change that allows forestry

companies to pay nominal stumpage (the fee companies pay to cut timber

on Crown land) on usable wood left on the forest floor. Previously it

was more economical for companies to use damaged or lower-grade wood in

their own pulp and paper mills or sell it to value-added businesses.

" Now there's a 'take the best and leave the rest' mindset, " he says.

The report will be released later this year. While Forests Minister

Rich Coleman said the figures do not match information he has received

from staff, he says the ministry is already taking a hard look at both

log exports and waste. " The amount of waste in the forest is not

acceptable to me, " he said. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=d5a923e1-a61e-40fb-88b8-b63

80f7f3eae5)

The BC Ministry of Transportation is currently undertaking Phase 2 in

its proposals to potentially expand highways and bridges along the

Malahat Corridor north of Victoria. The new highways/expansions would

go through the ancient forests and rare ecosystems of Goldstream

Provincial Park, the Sooke Hills Wilderness Regional Park (which the

WCWC fought hard to establish in the 1990's), or Gowlland Tod

Provincial Park, as well as possibly through the Highlands and North

Saanich municipalities; in addition, a bridge could possibly span

across the currently tranquil Saanich Inlet, while bigger ferries could

be built to cross the Inlet. Besides destroying our parks, highway

expansion would also supercharge suburban sprawl along the Malahat

highway and in adjacent communities (gobbling-up forest and farmlands),

lead to more cars on the road and therefore traffic congestion in

Victoria and Duncan, and result in greatly ramped-up greenhouse gas

emissions - which flies in the face of the BC Liberals' recent plan to

reduce greenhouse gas emissions in BC by 33% by 2020. The WCWC

therefore opposes all highway and bridge expansion proposals and

instead supports a greatly enhanced commuter rail line option along the

existing E & N railway and a major expansion in public transit along

the Malahat. www.wildernesscommittee.org6) Since 2001 we

have seen a dramatic weakening of already inadequate provincial laws

governing logging. However, the full negative ecological, cultural and

social impacts of the Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA) were

delayed during a lengthy transition period. They will be hitting our

forests in full force after this week. March 31, 2007 is the target

date for the Ministry of Forest and Range to approve the first round of

operational plans under FRPA. Forest Stewardship Plans that allow

logging in endangered species habitat, threaten our drinking water,

undermine land use planning agreements, and infringe on Aboriginal

Title and Rights are about to be approved all around the province. Plan

approvals have already occurred in some areas. Please take 5 minutes

BEFORE MARCH 31 to personally send a fax urging the provincial

government to delay Forest Stewardship Plan approvals in order to

reform forest practices laws to protect the environment, deal

honourably with First Nations, and provide for meaningful public

engagement. You can do so directly from the Forest Solutions Action

Centre at: http://www.forestsolutions.ca/fax.asp7)

Plantskyyd, which is now produced in the USA, is usually drizzled into

boxes of seedlings at the nursery after the trees have been lifted and

wrapped. Then, ostensibly the blood is allowed to " dry out on the

foliage " prior to being sent out to the field. Plantskyyd is also often

applied directly out in the field immediately after planting (ie:

before the ungulates get to them) by spray-pump applicators.

Treeplanters have even been required to dip their bundles into garbage

cans of freshly rehydrated pigs blood while 'bagging up,' -generally

along with 20lbs of chemical fertilizer for each run of trees.

Plantskyyd is so utterly repulsive that deer, caribou, moose and elk

and even Pika's, Marmots and other rodents all run screaming out of the

stumpfields whenever they get the slightest whiff of it. From the

Plantskyyd website: " ... Plantskydd stimulates a fear-based response

which will have them looking for somewhere else to dine... " But

Plantskyyd is also hideously repulsive to treeplanters, especially to

Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Vegetarian treeplanters who are also required

to handle it at work. Every treeplanter, bar none, despises this

product. I've seen whole crews retching in nausea and horror during the

first morning bag-up as they face the bloody gore that is inevitably

involved with the use of Plantskyyd. Occasionally, the pigs blood may

be be dried on the seedling foliage when it leaves the nursery, but

more often than not, it arrives on the cutblocks still liquid and

glistening on the trees. As soon as the boxes are opened an

overwhelming rotten stench wafts out, and a gruesome miasma spreads

over the cutblock which lingers all day. When it rains, one's bags,

clothes and equipment are soon slathered in dripping, industrial

feed-lot porcine slaughterhouse gore. No amount of rain stops a

treeplanting show, and on rainy days, no amount of rain gear prevents

the pigs blood from soaking right through ones clothing and into one's

skin. On hot days it smears and stinks and attracts a lot of flies.

ingmarzOregon:8) Scott Bodle, 31, and

Fred Craig, 61, a veteran owl surveyor in the forest's wildlife

program, were making their first survey of the year for the great gray

owls. The 10 calling sites they visit are in the river corridor between

the old Applegate district ranger station and the Applegate Dam. The

survey begins in mid-March with three visits to each site by mid-May

and another three by mid-June, a period that covers the owl's breeding

season. One of the world's largest with an average wingspan of around

60 inches, the owl is neither threatened nor endangered. But under the

agency's survey and manage regulations, any planned habitat disturbance

requires a survey of indicator species like the great gray. An

indicator species is one whose presence is an indicator of habitat

health. In the district's upper Applegate Road area, a project is being

planned to reduce the threat of catastrophic fires in the wildlands

urban interface by thinning vegetation built up after a century of fire

suppression. " Where Forest Service meets private we are going in to try

to reduce the risk of wildfire running down into private property, "

Bodle explained. " As a result, there might be some commercial harvest.

There might be some cutting and piling of brush and burning those

piles. We might do some broadcast burning. But to do any of that we

have to see what kind of effect it might have on certain species.

" We're looking to find and document the great gray owls if they are in

the area, " he added. " If they are not, that gives us greater

flexibility with the prescriptions we will be doing as far as fuels

treatment. " At the first site visited this past week, Bodle had found a

male and female along with a freshly fledged juvenile last year. It's a

likely location because the owls often inhabit forested areas near

openings such as a mountain meadow or logged-off area, he said. The

soft, low-pitched " whooo! whooo! " could barely be heard by humans

standing in the windy darkness a few yards away. The owls can hear far

better than humans, the surveyors explain. http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2007/0325/local/stories/owls.htmCalifornia:

9)

I just created an online petition to Governor Arnold. Schwartzenegger,

asking him to take measures to protect what remains of the old growth

forests in the Mattole watershed. About 2000 acres of old growth is

left. This unique ecosystem provides habitat for endangered species. A

tiny pecentage of the original old growth forest in California is left.

Pacific Lumber has been known for its unsustainable logging practices

since it was taken over by Texas based Maxxam Corporation. These

practices have harmed water quality and downsteam residents. Steps

could be taken to purchase the land or to ban old growth logging. To

sign this petition go here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/193425069?ltl=117480598110)

Responding to Pacific Lumber Company's claims of financial crisis, the

State Water Resources Control Board has released what is quite likely

the most thorough and authoritative analysis of the PL's finances ever

made public, finding that the company's dire predicatment "is the

result of the risky business model that (parent company)MAXXAM has

chosen to follow." This study was commissioned by the State Water Board

to determine whether increased regulation by the North Coast Regional

Water Quality Control Board (NCRWQCB) may be responsible for PL's

proclaimed economic crisis. The study specifically responds to various

claims made by Pacific Lumber in a March 15, 2005 Economic White Paper,

and analyzes Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings by

Pacific Lumber, Scotia Pacific, and MAXXAM going back to 1993. The

report concludes that "MAXXAM has taken money out of PALCO in subtle

and complex ways and has directed PALCO to harvest trees at rates that

greatly exceeds sustainable forest practices. MAXXAM has put PALCO at

risk by borrowing large sums of money, not paying down its long-term

debt, and thereby keeping PALCO a highly leveraged company." http://watchpaul-articles.blogspot.com/2007/03/this-is-text-off-ourhumboldtorg-site.html

11)

It makes sense that the California Oak Foundation is headquartered in

downtown Oakland. What makes no sense to Executive Director Janet Cobb

is that from her eighth-floor office, she cannot see any oaks in

Oakland. On growing up among the oaks I grew up in the East Bay, and

when I was about 6 or 7, we were jumping out of oak trees, pretending

we were in the Wild West. I helped gather cattle out of those hills

that were covered with oaks. On becoming involved I married a vet

student who became Dr. Frank Santos. He went to Davis. We ended up in

Portola Valley. Oaks are the mainstay of the landscape there. So the

oaks were always in the back of my mind, even though I'm driving kids

in carpools. We have a list of about 20,000 people across the state who

care about oaks. The local people are the salvation. They have to be

vigilant all the time. One of my first projects was " Oaks of

California, " a full-color book. We've gone on to publish other things,

like " Compatible Plants Under Ground Oaks, " which tells people not to

water the oak trees in their yard. Even Barbra Streisand, when I got

down to her place in Southern California, she had sprinklers going on

the oak trunks. A year ago, we settled a lawsuit that we partnered with

Sierra Club and Audubon Society with Bickford Ranch up in Placer

County. We have $6 million in the California Wildlife Foundation to

replace oaks they removed. We helped sponsor SB 1334. Gov. Arnold

Schwarzenegger signed that bill in 2004. It puts the oak woodlands into

the California Environmental Quality Act. Now we are defending that law

because cities and counties are trying to get around it. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/25/CMGRJN7RCS1.DTL

Idaho:12)

The U.S. Forest Service could face a battle from a conservation group

over plans to thin parts of the Idaho Panhandle National Forests in the

Myrtle Creek Valley, where only a dramatic change in weather stopped a

2003 fire from sweeping through this north Idaho town. The valley has

supplied the town's drinking water for 80 years. The Forest Service has

announced plans to log about 2,100 acres of the 27,000-acre watershed

to thin portions of the forest and make the next fire easier to stop

and less damaging. But The Lands Council, a conservation group based in

Spokane, Wash., considers the project illegal and plans to fight it in

court. Roughly half the proposed logging would take place in

inventoried roadless areas and grizzly bear habitat, said Mike

Petersen, the council's director. Much of the work will be selective

thinning, but about 750 acres is slated for " regeneration harvest " in

which only a few larger, old trees are left standing on each acre.

" It's really a shame because a small portion of the sale is

legitimately for fuel reduction. Most of it's not. It's miles from town

and it's going to damage the town's water supply, " he said. " Most

cities don't clearcut and log their water supply. " http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_ID_Logging_Plan.htmlArizona:

13)

High above the desert floor, this little alpine town has long served as

a natural air-conditioned retreat for people in Tucson, one of the

so-called sky islands of southern Arizona. When it is 105 degrees in

the city, it is at least 20 degrees cooler up here near the 9,157-foot

summit of Mount Lemmon. But for the past 10 years or so, things have

been unraveling. Winter snows melt away earlier, longtime residents

say, making for an erratic season at the nearby ski resort, the most

southern in the nation. Legions of predatory insects have taken to the

forest that mantles the upper mountain, killing trees weakened by

record heat. And in 2003, a fire burned for a month, destroying much of

the town and scarring more than 87,000 acres. The next year, another

fire swept over 32,000 acres. "Nature is confused," said Debbie Fagan,

who moved here 25 years ago after crossing the country in pursuit of

the perfect place to live. "We used to have four seasons. Now we have

two. I love this place dearly, and this is very hard for me to watch."

The American Southwest has been warming for nearly 30 years, according

to records that date to the late 19th century. And the region is in the

midst of an eight-year drought. Both developments could be within the

range of natural events. But what has convinced many scientists that

the current spate of higher temperatures is not just another swing in

the weather has been the near collapse of the sky islands and other

high, formerly green havens that poke above the desert. A trip up to

any one of the 27 sky islands shows the ravages of heat on the land.

The forests are splotched with a rusty tinge, as trees die from beetle

infestation. Frogs with a 10,000-year-old pedigree have all but

disappeared. One of the sky islands is the world's only habitat for the

Mount Graham red squirrel, an endangered species down to its last 100

or so animals. For the squirrel, the frog and other species that have

retreated ever higher, there may be no place left to go. "As the

climate warms, these species on top of the sky islands are literally

getting pushed off into space," Dr. Overpeck said. The Coronado

National Forest, which includes Mount Lemmon and Mount Graham, lists 28

threatened or endangered species. Heat has greatly diminished the web

of life that these creatures depend on, and they "have not evolved to

tolerate these new conditions," Forest Service officials wrote in a

report on the declining health of the sky islands. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/27/us/27warming.html?_r=1 & oref=sloginWest Virginia:

14)

Environmentalists on Monday hailed a federal court victory over the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as the possible death knell of mountaintop

removal coal mining in Appalachia A federal judge ruled Friday that the

corps violated federal law by issuing valley fill permits for

mountaintop removal mines without conducting extensive environmental

reviews. Though the decision involves just four mines, the Ohio Valley

Environmental Coalition and two other environmental groups believe it

will affect more than 30 pending permits for surface mines in West

Virginia, the nation's second-largest coal producing state. And they're

hoping the decision thwarts mountaintop removal mining across

Appalachia. The ruling has broad implications for other mountaintop

removal permits, Joe Lovett, an attorney with the Appalachian Center

for the Economy and the Environment, said during a conference call with

reporters. " Mining methods are going to have to change here. " And,

Lovett added, other parts of the country. Lovett and others contend the

decision affects similar permits for mountaintop removal mines

elsewhere, particularly in Kentucky. " I think the corps will be found

lacking all over the country, " he said. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/K/KY_MOUNTAINTOP_REMOVAL_KYOL-?SITE=KYLOU & SECTION=HOME & TE

MPLATE=DEFAULTKentucky:15)

Please take this opportunity to comment on a US Forest Service proposal

that would spray toxic herbicides on 47 acres and log 1,473 acres of

beautiful and intact forest in the Daniel Boone National Forest in Clay

and Leslie Counties. Some of this forest, according to the US Forest

Service, may be old growth. That's right. They plan to cut over 10.1

miles of roads through this noble ecosystem and drive their loaders,

skidders and trucks through a forest that has managed to remain in tact

since Daniel Boone walked these lands. Much of the forest, currently

not considered old growth by local Forest Service officials, is well on

its way to becoming just that. It need only to be left alone. It

becomes old growth when you let it grow old. Why log potential old

growth? They argue that a cleared forest is good roughed grouse

habitat. But there is no better habitat for the roughed grouse than

that of an old growth forest. In a recent study sponsored by the Ruffed

Grouse Society, and several state and federal resource agencies across

Appalachia, researchers demonstrated that ruffed grouse actually need

older forest for nesting. High basal area, more canopy cover, and

greater amounts of course woody debris all improved grouse breeding.

Not only did ruffed grouse use forests with theses characteristics more

often, more chicks were successfully fledged in them so that overall

nesting success in them was higher. It turns out that hen grouse liked

to have a large tree or log as a backstop to the nest so that they

don't "get surprised" by a predator sneaking up from behind. With huge

standing and downed trees, as well as snags for nesting and cover and

plenty of fern and berries to eat, the roughed grouse flourishes in

these endangered and ever diminishing forests. http://www.heartwood.org/alerts.php?id=112Appalachia:16)

The southeastern United States is still blessed with incredibly diverse

forest and river systems, but they are under intense pressures from

development and logging. The small staff of the Southern Appalachian

Biodiversity Project (SABP) aims to hold the line against ecosystem

losses through organizing, advocacy, and litigation. Tracy Davids, the

group's director since 1998, is an ambitious and unapologetic defender

of all things wild. The first person in her family to attend college,

she went on to get a law degree, which she puts to good use at SABP.

The group is based in Asheville, North Carolina. Q: How is biodiversity

faring in the Southeast? A: The number one reason we're losing species

diversity is habitat loss. People are moving here for the quality of

life and the cheaper land, so development is just exploding. Also, air

pollution from coal-fired power plants in the Ohio and Tennessee

valleys is affecting our high-elevation spruce-fir forests. The trees

are bathed in this acidic mist that's killing them rapidly. Q: Some say

that greens overuse litigation. What's your view? A: When you need a

screwdriver, you use a screwdriver, and when you need a hammer, you use

a hammer. Litigation is one of those tools. When it's appropriate and

strategic, it's fantastic. In our case, because we focus heavily on

public lands, we are working with a lot of government agencies. I can

tell you, if agencies did their jobs, and did them right according to

current law, there would be no need for litigation. And SABP would

never have come to life. Fifteen years ago our founders learned about a

timber sale in a roadless area in western North Carolina. They found

some deficiencies with the Forest Service's environmental assessment

and called the agency to task on it. When they started to look around

at other forests in the Southeast, they noticed that such violations

were prevalent. They saw that the agency needed citizens to step in to

provide comment, guidance, and direction toward better management plans

for the national forests. So that's what we do. When we find a legal

violation, we pursue it to the letter of the law. We expect our

government to prosecute criminals for breaking the law, so why

shouldn't we hold our federal agencies to that standard? http://www.orionmagazine.org/pages/om/07-2om/ogn.htmlUSA: 17)

Lasting Landscapes: Reflections on the Role of Conservation Science in

Land Use Planning, a collection of essays authored by leaders in the

fields of conservation biology and land-use planning. Reed Noss, Ph.D.,

provides an Overview and Commentary. The collection is a milestone in

identifying opportunities to foster collaboration between the fields of

conservation biology and land use planning. It offers concrete

recommendations for how to advance the development of biologically

defensible plans that support lasting landscapes and nature-friendly

communities. The authors of the eight essays are David Theobald, Ph.D.;

Adina Merenlender, Ph.D.; Dan Perlman, Ph.D.; Bruce Stein, Ph.D.;

Philip Berke, Ph.D.; Arlan Colton, FAICP and Sherry Ruther; and Timothy

Duane, J.D., Ph.D. They include a biodiversity support expert,

professors of biology and of land-use planning, and practicing

planners. Despite their wide ranging experience and expertise, some

consensus emerges among the authors as to how best to encourage the use

of conservation science to guide the location and pattern of growth in

a biologically meaningful manner. The authors suggest: 1) Developing

tools for planners to communicate the value of conservation to their

constituents 2) Enacting requirements and incentives for proactive

conservation planning 3) Developing tools to measure the effectiveness

of conservation planning 4) Synchronizing the actions of governments at

local, regional, and state levels 5) Encouraging planners to adapt

conservation principles to individual situations 6) Creating a

technical support system to help land-use planners and conservation

scientists use each others' expertise to advance their goalsâ€¦. This

collection of essays will be valuable to those in the vanguard of

progressive land-use planning or who are interested in emerging

strategies to promote biodiversity conservation. Lasting Landscapes is

available to download free of cost on the ELI website: http://www.elistore.org/reports_detail.asp?ID=11212Canada: 18)

I think we forget, sometimes, what a treasure the boreal forest is. And

now that spring has arrived and birds are returning, it's a good time

to celebrate it once again. In Canada, it covers 520 million hectares

and has more intact forest than anywhere else on Earth. Every year, up

to 3 billion birds breed there. Roughly 26 million are waterfowl, 7

million are shorebirds, and the remainder are landbirds. Most of the

landbirds are songbirds, and most of them â€“ as many as 2 billion â€“ are

warblers. These are awesome numbers, even more so when you realize that

60 per cent of all the landbirds in Canada, and 96 per cent of all the

waterfowl in North America, breed in the boreal. As Peter Blancher and

Jeffrey Wells say in two landmark studies (found in the Bird Studies

Canada library at www.bsc-eoc.org): " The vastness of the boreal forest

region makes it one of the few remaining places on Earth where entire

ecosystems function. ... (I)t is vital to the abundance of bird life. "

I see the boreal as inextricably linked to a Canadian sense of

identity. But, because the forest is so big, I think Canadians take it

for granted, as if the wilderness could never end no matter what we do

to it. However, development is spreading relentlessly into the northern

boreal, which so far has remained largely intact. With it comes the

threat of fragmentation, loss of habitat and consequences as yet

uncharted. http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/article/19558419)

Logging, roads and other human disturbances are cutting into Northern

Ontario's tree cover at a rapid rate, says a scientist who analyzed

dozens of satellite images of the area. The changes reduce the ability

of the boreal forest to combat climate change by storing carbon. They

also threaten the survival of woodland caribou and other species, said

Peter Lee, executive-director of Global Forest Watch Canada, a research

group based in Edmonton. Lee looked at 65 Landsat images acquired from

the Canadian and U.S. governments, each of an area 180 kilometres

square. Taken together, they cover nearly half the province, from about

as far south as Sault Ste. Marie to as far north as Moosonee, on James

Bay. " I was surprised at the extent of the logging that's occurring, "

Lee said in an interview. Loss of the original forest cover is

important for climate change, because even when logging companies

replant trees, the resulting " managed " forest can store only half as

much carbon. A report released this month states that each year,

logging in Ontario's boreal forest releases the equivalent of 15

million tonnes of carbon dioxide, about 7 per cent of the province's

total greenhouse gas emissions. http://www.thestar.com/News/article/19632820)

A five year 2.5 million dollar transfer agreement between the Manitoba

government and the Wabanong Nakaygum Okimawin (WNO) Council of Chiefs

has been signed.. The group has received 500-thousand dollars, the

first of five payments it will get up until 2011. Conservation minister

Stan Struthers calls it one of the most comprehensive traditional area

land-use plans in the province's history. Struthers adds the deal

ensures the culture and history of Aboriginal Peoples on the east side

of Lake Winnipeg is protected. The goal of the WNO council is

developing a broad-area plan for the region to make the protection of

the environment and Boreal forest a priority while plans for resource

development are considered. http://www.cjob.com/news/index.aspx?src=loc & mc=local & rem=61473 Morocco:21)

According to Hammou Jader, Secretary-General of the High Commission for

Water, Forests and Desertification Control, the country currently loses

30,000 hectares of forest per year, due to a number of problems

including human activity, climate change and fires. Jader said that in

most cases, the risk from fires is " caused mainly and directly by

humans " . Although fires are a problem throughout the year 80% of them

occur between June and October. The cause of half of the fires is never

discovered, although 40% of fires are known to result from negligence

such as field burning, forest clearing, campfires, discarded cigarettes

and smoking beehives for honey collection. Morocco's January and

February frosts frequently blight large numbers of trees and make it

easier for forest fires to spread. According to the High Commission for

Water, Forests and Desertification Control, deforestation can

contribute to flooding and topsoil loss as plant cover is less able to

play its role in regulating water flows and protecting against soil

erosion. The commission is therefore trying to address the situation by

restoring forest density and the balance of the ecosystem.

Reforestation will be necessary to satisfy the growing demand for wood

products brought about by the country's social and economic

development. The government has implemented laws, regulations and

prevention and control measures in high-risk forest districts. An

inter-ministerial committee has drafted a national forest fire

prevention strategy which outlines the regions threatened by fires and

their main causes. Morocco currently plants nearly 37,000 hectares of

new forest per year and efforts are being made to increase this rate.

Morocco's forests cover an area of around 9 million hectares, or 12% of

the country's surface area. Its natural forests cover a total of 5.8

million hectares, while it has 3.2 million hectares of esparto grass

steppes. The country has 530,000 hectares of planted forest. http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2007/03/25/feature-02

Gambia: 22)

The concept of the Ballabu Conservation Project is to create an 85sq

kilometre conservation area, incorporating 14 Gambian villages. Each

village will have a community forest park established, as well as some

form of industry such as eco lodges, recycling plants, skill training

centres, agriculture or live stock. The forest parks will also

deliberately link up to create a wildlife corridor to allow the safe

passage of animals through the villages. The aim of the project is to

alleviate poverty for the local people by making each village

self-sustaining. These projects will be 100 percent community owned

with the profits going into community development projects in the form

of water resources, education, healthcare and renewable energy. Still

at an early stage, the focus is currently on funding, but it is hoped

that community tours through the area will be offered from November 07

to highlight the plight of rural Gambia to visitors to the country. The

two UK founders of Makasutu, Lawrence Williams and James English, are

the brains behind the project and are strengthening support and

partnerships for the scheme both in The Gambia and overseas. The Eden

Project is an educational charity in Cornwall and is home to the

world's largest rainforest in captivity. Recently Don Murray, curator

of the Rainforest Biome, visited Makasutu and attended the inaugural

meeting of the Ballabu Conservation Area. Don Murray said: " Visiting

the surrounding villages and seeing for myself the support Makasutu has

from the village Elders and District Chief has been fantastic. It

really brings home that the 21st century demands the very best from us

all as we try and tackle climate change, drought, poverty and many

other issues. There is nothing more positive than seeing the Ballabu

initiative coming together and visualising the positive effects it

could have on the villages -- it gives me real hope. " http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/03/prweb513583.htmCongo:23)

Britain is to give Â£50m towards helping to save the second-largest

rainforest in the world, the Congo Basin in central Africa. In one of

the Budget's most eye-catching and unusual items, Mr Brown announced an

Â£800m Environmental Transformation Fund, to help developing countries

cope with environmental changes such as global warming - and the Congo

forest will be the recipient of its first major grant. The money will

form the basis of a new Congo Basin rainforest conservation fund, to be

set up under the aegis of the 10 African countries surrounding the

great wilderness, which at 700,000 square miles in extent is twice the

size of France, but is increasingly threatened with development in the

way the Amazon has been affected in Brazil. Britain has persuaded

Professor Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan environmental campaigner and 2004

Nobel Peace Price winner, and Canada's former Prime Minister, Paul

Martin, a long-standing advocate for debt relief and for African

leadership in development, to oversee the fund's establishment and

advise on its governance and financial management, ensuring that it has

strong African ownership and supports the needs of the Congo Basin

countries. " Fifty million local people rely on the tropical rainforest

of the Congo Basin for food, shelter and their livelihoods, while the

world relies on it, and other rainforests, as an ecological handbrake

on our rapidly changing climate, " said the International Development

Secretary, Hilary Benn. http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2381081.eceUganda:24)

As the world marks the Forest Day today, there is little to celebrate

in Uganda. The country's forests are disappearing at an alarming rate

of 2% per year, the highest in the world. Six thousand hectares of

trees are being cut down every month, 72,000 hectares in 2006. At this

pace, Uganda's forests will have gone in 50 years. In comparison,

forest loss in the whole of Africa stands at 0.6%, while forest loss in

the world stands at 0.18%. At this pace, Uganda's forests will have

gone in 50 years time. Population pressure and poverty are the

underlying causes. With 7.1 births per woman, Uganda has the second

highest fertility rate in the world. Only Niger, with 7.9 births per

woman, scores higher. By 2050, according to the UN, Uganda's population

will have soared to 130 million, almost five times the current number.

Feeding, housing, creating jobs and income for so many people will

inevitably eat into the forests. Presently, 97% of the population uses

charcoal and firewood for cooking. Illegal timber logging and trade has

resumed in several parts of the country, at times with the support of

local politicians. Encroachment in the central forest reserves is on

the rise. The number of people building houses, farming and grazing

their livestock in the protected forests went up from 180,000 to

220,000 between 2005 and 2006, an increase of 23%. The encroachers, who

are increasingly better organised, fiercely resist any attempts by the

National Forestry Authority (NFA) to evict them. "Lawlessness and

community hostility have inflamed to a level where any decisive action

now leads to mob action, resulting into grievous bodily harm to NFA's

staff," says the organisation's annual report, to be released today. http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/55543225)

BirdLife International, a conservation group, says the Mabira Forest

Reserve is home to more than 300 species of birds. The 32,000 hectare

forest also supports nine species of primate and serves as a reservoir

for many of the region's rivers, providing fresh water to an estimated

1 million people. The forest has been protected since 1932. Uganda's

cabinet this week approved a proposal by President Yoweri Museveni to

allocate more than 7,000 hectares of the forest to Sugar Corporation of

Uganda Limited, owned by the Mehta Group. The company plans to clear

cut the area for sugar plantations. Presidential spokesman John Nagenda

tells VOA that, according to Mr. Museveni, low-income Ugandans will

benefit from a decrease in the price of sugar, the project will create

many new jobs, and Uganda will be able to export sugar in large

quantities, thus bringing in badly needed revenue. " The rationale is

very simple, " he said. " He [Museveni] says we must develop, we must

industrialize. Lots and lots of people in the world haven't got

forests. There are no forests inside London, there are no forests in

New York, and people cleared these things to industrialize and

therefore to develop. " At the end of November, more than 2,000

protesters from Uganda, the United States, Israel and other places

signed a petition urging President Museveni not to parcel out land from

the Mabira Forest Reserve. Environmentalists are concerned about the

plan's impact on Uganda's environment. In a previous interview with

VOA, Arthur Bainomugisha, research director with the Advocates

Coalition for Development and the Environment, said that forest covered

20 percent of Uganda 40 years ago, and now covers just seven percent. http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-03-23-voa31.cfm26)

We, the undersigned, ... do not believe that Mabira Forest should be

degazetted by the Government of Uganda in order to plant sugar cane.

Mabira Forest is part of our heritage and our children's future. Mabira

Forest is a tropical hardwood forest which is proposed to be cut down

for the production of sugar in Uganda. The forest is one of the most

biodiverse forests remaining in Africa. It also has added value for the

communities that inhabit it and surround it. The value of the forest to

Uganda and her people is beyond the values of the trees, but it is also

a frequented tourism site for birdwatching, forest walks, and other

activities; it has cultural and historical values; it significantly

impacts the environment as a natural water filteration system and a

natural regulator of global climate. We are asking the private investor

to withdraw their request and take others up on their offers of land in

Uganda to develop their sugar cane fields in other arable land. http://www.petitiontime.com/ViewPetition.aspx?key=savemabiraHaiti:

27)

The Tiburon Peninsula (named after the Spanish word for shark)

stretches out from southern Haiti westward towards Cuba. The word

'Haiti' means 'mountain' in Taino, the language spoken by the

pre-Columbian inhabitants of Hispaniola and the neighbouring Greater

Antilles (hence the name of the mountainous Los Haitises National Park

in the neighbouring Dominican Republic), and the western part of the

peninsula is dominated by the Massif de la Hotte, one of the most

remote and biologically significant areas of Hispaniola. The American

entomologist P. J. Darlington wrote in 1935 that 'it is in the La Hotte

region, of all Haiti, that there is to-day the best chance of finding

novel forms of life, and it is undoubtedly there that natural

conditions will persist longest.' Early explorers were confronted with

impenetrable vegetation and almost constant rainfall, and discovered

many endemic species â€“ the peninsula constituted a separate island

until around nine million years ago, and is home to a large number of

animals and plants found nowhere else on Hispaniola. This massive-scale

human impact has had a huge effect on the region's native land mammals,

the solenodon and the Hispaniolan hutia (Plagiodontia aedium). These

species are threatened not only by the accelerating destruction of

their remaining forest habitat, but also from heavy predation by

abundant introduced feral dogs and cats, mongooses and rats. They are

also opportunistically exploited for food by local farmers, who hunt

them with dogs, smoke them out of their burrows, and kill them with

sticks and roots whenever they are seen. Neither species is protected

by any conservation legislation in Haiti. However, no-one is sure what

the main threats to these species are: they may be able to survive in

areas converted to agriculture and pastoralism, but further research is

urgently required before useful conservation recommendations can be

developed. http://www.edgeofexistence.org/blog/?p=46Brazil:28)

Authorities shut down an important deep-water Amazon River port owned

by Cargill Inc. on Saturday, saying the huge U.S. agribusiness firm

failed to provide an environmental impact statement required by law.

The move by federal police and environmental agents to close Cargill's

controversial soy export terminal was a major victory for

environmentalists in Santarem, a sleepy jungle city about 1,250 miles

northwest of Sao Paulo. It came after a late Friday ruling by Judge

Souza Prudente, police and the Agencia Estado news service said. " It

was peaceful, " federal police agent Cesar Dessimoni said of the

shutdown. " They can appeal the ruling, but no one resisted." Dessimoni

said Minnetonka, Minn.-based Cargill had prepared an environmental

assessment that did not meet federal standards. " They'll have to do it

correctly, as the law demands, " he said by telephone from Santarem.

Environmentalists who point to soy farming, logging and cattle ranching

as the primary threats facing the Amazon praised the closure, calling

it a milestone in attempts to push the government to more effectively

police a region where lawlessness often prevails. " A big step forward

has been taken in enforcing the responsible use of natural resources

and bringing greater governance in the Amazon, " Paulo Adario,

Greenpeace Amazon Campaign Coordinator in Brazil, said in a statement.

Cargill, which has operated in Brazil since 1965, said Saturday that it

plans to appeal the ruling and that it had submitted an environmental

impact statement that was accepted by the Amazon state of Para, where

Santarem is located. " We find ourselves caught in a jurisdictional

dispute between the state and federal government about which

regulations have precedence, " Cargill spokeswoman Lori Johnson said.

" When we built the facility, the permits were issued by the state. http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/business/16968607.htmChina:29)

International environmental group Greenpeace on Wednesday accused Asia

Pulp and Paper (APP) of illegal logging in protected forests in

southern China. Greenpeace's China office said APP had illegally

cleared indigenous forest to build roads and plant a " large area of

eucalyptus pulp and paper forest " in a protected nature reserve in

Yinggeling, a remote mountainous region in China's southern island

province of Hainan. " APP crudely opened roads in the protected area by

destroying natural forest, " Liu Bing, Greenpeace forestry project

director, told a news conference. " This not only harmed a large area of

the natural forest, but also caused significant water loss and soil

erosion, and could lead to reduced biodiversity and the destruction of

an ecosystem, " Liu said. " We call on the State Forestry Administration,

the State Environmental Protection Agency and the Hainan provincial

government and relevant departments to immediately take action to halt

APP's illegal activities in Yinggeling. " APP's China office in Shanghai

was not immediately able to provide comment. A spokesman for Indonesian

parent Sinar Mas Group could not be reached. Environmentalists have

previously accused APP of illegal logging in Indonesia and at its pulp

and paper operations in Hainan and the southwestern Chinese province of

Yunnan. The firm has denied wrongdoing. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK163125.htmMalaysia:30)

Malaysia will ask its timber suppliers in other countries to provide

certification on the origin of wood according to a report from the

International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO). The move will help

Malaysia fight allegations that its timber processors are complicit in

the illegal logging industry. The ITTO says the decision will boost

sales of Malaysian secondary processed wood products to markets where

timber accountability is important, like Europe and increasingly, the

United States. http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0327-timber.html31)

A CONTROVERSIAL plan to bulldoze a million hectares of virgin

rainforest in Papua New Guinea is emerging as a test case for the

Howard Government's $200million initiative to fight illegal logging.

Logging is expected to begin soon in Kamula Dosa, an extension of the

Wawoi Guavi forestry concession held by Malaysian company Rimbunan

Hijau. The Papua New Guinea Ombudsman Commission has deemed the

extension to be illegal because, although it was approved by Port

Moresby, it had been allowed to bypass the forestry approval process.

Ms Kajir said she hoped that, as part of the initiative, John Howard

would urge his Papua New Guinea counterpart, Michael Somare, to stop

logging in Kamula Dosa. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21472327-30417,00.html32)

Only five of 22 companies logging in northern Malaysia's Kelantan state

have official approval to do so, endangering its virgin forest

reserves, officials said, according to a report Wednesday. Mokhtar

Abdul Majid, the state's environment department director, told The Star

newspaper that an initial investigation found 17 companies operating in

Kelantan's Lojing highland area did not have a license. Annuar Musa, an

official from the governing United Malays National Organization, or

UMNO party, said they would ask state authorities to put a temporary

freeze on all logging in the area until an independent committee can

investigate the situation. " We are worried about the state's future

natural resources, which may be compromised by excessive logging, "

Annuar told the paper. Kelantan is Malaysia's only state ruled by the

opposition Pan Malaysian Islamic Party. Annuar and state forest

officials were not immediately available for comment on the report. The

Star quoted Annuar as saying that logging is a major source of income

for private companies but has not created many jobs for residents, who

would not be adversely affected by a temporary ban. State Financial

Planning Committee chairman Husam Musa said a freeze on logging in the

area had been in place for some time. It was not clear from the report

why the companies had still been operating. http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=418326âŒ©=eng_news & cate_img=83.jpg & cate_r

ss=news_Politics33)

An indigenous community is slowing the government's plans to create a

botanical park in an ancient rain forest in northern Malaysia, voicing

fears the project threatens their traditional livelihoods and seeks to

make them a tourist attraction, a spokeswoman said Monday. Authorities

sent bulldozers last month to clear land 1.2 miles from Chang Sungai

Gepai Village in northern Perak state, occupied by 600 members of the

Semai tribe, but the destruction was halted a few days later when the

community launched an official protest, resident Tijah Yok Chopil said

by mobile phone from her settlement Monday. Although the Semai tribe

has no legal right to the state-owned territory, it considers part of

the 484-acre area earmarked for the 50 million ringgit $14 million

National Botanical Garden to be ancestral land that it has inhabited

for many generations. With the creation of the botanical garden, the

Semai community worries it will no longer be able to enter the forest

to cultivate crops, hunt and perform customary rites, Tijah said,

adding the project would turn their homes and traditions into tourist

attractions. " The authorities say this project will benefit us. But if

it only means that visitors will come here to view the forest and look

at the villagers as though we are animals in a zoo, then that's not a

benefit at all, " she said. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8O3U7100.htmMyanmar: 34)

We classified land cover in the Northern Forest Complex in Myanmar

using satellite imagery (MODIS/NDVI) and field surveys carried out in

2001, 2004 and 2005. Using Landsat TM/ETM+ images from 1991 and 1999 we

determined deforestation rates. The c. 22,000 km2 Northern Forest

Complex, including the Hkakabo Razi National Park in northern Kachin

State, is characterized by tropical to subtropical pristine forests

with low human impact. The area studied, which includes land beyond the

boundaries of Hkakabo Razi National Park, is of special conservation

importance because it provides a refuge for many rare plant and animal

species. Less than 1.4% of the area is affected by humans (excluding

hunting) and deforestation rates are low at <0.01% annually. We

observed several bird and mammal species that are considered threatened

elsewhere. Based on our data, those of previous surveys, and the fact

that >10 new vertebrate species have been described in the region

since 1999, it is likely there are still undescribed vertebrate species

to be discovered. We recommend extending the boundaries of Hkakabo Razi

National Park to the south and west, connecting it to Hpongkan Razi

Wildlife Sanctuary, and/or adding an additional sanctuary in the Naung

Mung area, to protect the vast yet still pristine rainforest habitats

that are home to many of the most important aspects of the region's

biodiversity. http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online & aid=851284Borneo:35)

Trapping hundreds of small mammals using locally made wire-mesh live

traps equipped with a plastic roof for rain protection, biologists led

by Dr. Konstans Wells of the University of Ulm in Germany found that

logging had a variable effect on forest species. Common species seemed

relatively unaffected by timber harvesting, with relatively consistent

" patterns of dominance, evenness and fluctuations in abundance. " Rare

species, however, were found to be " more vulnerable to forest

degradation than commonly caught species, resulting in the complete

loss, or a decrease in numbers, of certain groups, such as arboreal

small mammals and Viverridae " , carnivores in the mongoose family.

" Logging causes many times the disturbance one would expect in natural

tropical rainforests and inevitably changes the composition and

functional role of cryptic small mammal assemblages, of which we know

very little, " Dr. Wells told mongbay.com via email. http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0327-borneo.htmlAustralia:

36)

" Today the old growth forests of the Weld Valley are safe from logging,

the whole area has been closed by forest defenders with two road

blockades and an innovative bridge-sit action, " said Adam Burling,

convenor of the Huon Valley Environment Centre. " The conflict in

Tasmania's forests will continue while both state and federal

governments ignore the calls by experts, such as the World Heritage

Bureau and our own Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife service to protect the

lower Weld Valley. Labor leader, Kevin Rudd's backing of the logging of

wilderness forests spells the potential end to places like the lower

Weld Valley. We call on the Federal ALP not to sell out to the woodchip

lobby and sanction the carve-up of these pristine forests They must not

sacrifice these forests for short term political gain, " said Mr Burling

" The Federal Labor conference next month has got a decision to make,

either join John Howard with the bulldozers or stand with the world

heritage quality forests of places like the Weld Valley, " said Mr

Burling. For further information, including photos and video footage

contact: Adam Burling 0429966171 www.temperaterainforests.orgMany

interested parties initially hoped that FSC would deliver on what it

promised and we would see a marked improvement in Hancock's forest

management practices. Of the 250,000 hectares about 20,000 hectares was

hardwood 'plantation', 130,000 hectares being radiata pine and the rest

being native forest or custodial land. In the 2004 FSC audit, Smartwood

wrote that 40 metre buffers might be inadequate and that these issues

are of " importance and urgency " . Hancock were requested by Smartwood to

get this issue sorted out, via a Corrective Action Request (CAR), by

completing a Rainforest Best Management Practice (BMP) plan by 1 March

2005. By the time the 2005 audit occurred, Hancock had not completed

their Rainforest BMP. In the meantime however, they continued to log

large amounts of eucalypt buffers in the Morwell River East Branch, a

regional site of rainforest significance, leaving only 20 metre

'buffers'. This infuriated conservationists who feared that Hancock

were deliberatey stalling the process. In the following months Hancock

continued leaving 20 metres or less rainforest buffers on Morwell River

East Branch and Rytons Junction in the Albert River. They also logged

pine plantations leaving no buffers on the extremely rare Strzelecki

Warm Temperate Rainforest at Macks Creek. Local campaigners also found

Hancock logging inside the Cores and Links Reserve which under that

time was supposed to be under a logging moratorium. All of this was

done with FSC certification. In November 2006, Hancock started logging

inside the Cores and Links reserve, starting with coupes in the Morwell

River region before a proper process had been formalised. Local

conservationists were astounded to see logging within 5 metres of

rainforest species, despite being in breach of the recently signed

Heads of Agreement. During the 2007 audit in February by Smartwood, it

was made clear to the local community that Smartwood were starting to

get rather agitated by the demands of the community in regards to

rainforest. During the audit, community members felt that they were

being audited and that their position, rasther than Hancock's required

to be defended and substantiated. http://www.fsc-watch.org/archives/2007/03/26/FSC_Certified_operations_fast_losing_credibility_i

n_Australia37)

The National Association of Forest Industries (NAFI), which campaigned

against former Labor leader Mark Latham's plan to lock up large

sections of native forest from the chainsaws, today welcomed the new

approach. The policy must still go through the ALP's national

conference process, where it is expected to meet heated opposition from

the party's left. NAFI chief executive Catherine Murphy said the forest

industry campaigned vigorously against Labor's failed forest policy

last election. " Labor's 2004 forest policy was seriously damaging to

the party's reputation amongst the forest industry and the thousands of

workers it employs, " she said. " Mark Latham's forest policy would have

seen the jobs of 1800 Tasmanians slashed and over $320 million of

Tasmania's annual economic activity eliminated. " It would have also

eliminated business confidence for investment in further processing,

costing future employment opportunities in Tasmania. " NAFI welcomes Mr

Rudd and Labor's new approach to forest policy. " But the Greens, whose

stronghold is Tasmania, are again lamenting expanded logging of native

forests in the island state. " Eighty per cent-plus of people in

Australia want the destruction of Tasmania's old growth forests to

end, " Senator Bob Brown said in Canberra. " Kevin Rudd's on a loser, by

taking this policy, with the public. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21458289-1702,00.html38)

Prime Minister John Howard has announced a 220 million dollar plan to

form a global fund to fight illegal logging and forest destruction

across the world. In an attempt to take a political initiative on

climate change, the move aims to halve the rate of deforestation, to

reduce greenhouse gas emission by amounts ten times greater than under

the Kyoto Protocol. The plan is also designed to help developing

countries start sustainable forest industries, plant new forests and

stop illegal destruction of rainforests. Forestry Minister, Peter

McGauran, says the main change will enable the new body to engage in

promotion and marketing, as well as research and development. The

Australian newspaper reports, Germany, Britain and the US are expected

to contribute to the fund, which will target Indonesia - who the UN has

identified as having the world's highest rate of forest clearing. http://www.skynews.com.au/story.asp?id=161432World-wide:39) People don't seem to realize that there are actually quite a few benefits of deforestation. One

of the easiest benefits of deforestation to spot are the economic ones.

Lumber products are one of the most staple constructive materials in

human society. Whether it's raw lumber used for making tables and

houses, or paper and other wood by-products, we simply cannot live

without the use of lumber. Another benefit of deforestation is that it

opens more job opportunities for people who would otherwise be

unemployed. These job opportunities are more than simply a humanitarian

concept; society at large would suffer if all of the people working in

the wood industry were to suddenly find themselves jobless. This

benefit of deforestation not only covers the people who cut down trees

and process them, but also extends to the people who " clean up " after

them. For every patch of forest cut down, arable land becomes available