Guest guest Posted July 25, 2007 Report Share Posted July 25, 2007 Today for you 40 new articles about earth's trees! (215th edition) Subscribe / send blank email to: earthtreenews- Weblog: http://olyecology.livejournal.com . --British Columbia: 1) CA and BC do feel-good climate change PR --Oregon: 2) Privatization of firefighting --California: 3) SLO County's Ancient oaks seeding again 'cuz of less cattle --Southeast US: 4) " Anthropogenic greenhouse forcing " is killing forests --Texas: 5) Texas Forestry Association --Wisconsin: 6) Loggers are immoral --West Virginia: 7) Kanawha State Forest Coalition --Canada: 8) 3 million trees in Alberta are infected --EU: 9) Contract to provide satellite imagery of 38 countries --UK: 10) 160 year old street trees, 11) banning palm oil, 12) UK loves illegal wood, 13) UK's first large scale biomass power station, --Scotland: 14) Listen To What The Trees Are Saying, then cut 'em down! --Czechoslovakia: 15) U.S. radar station to be built in rare forest --Israel: 16) Tree with less water absorb more CO2 --Ivory Coast: 17) between 200,000 and 300,000 hectares of forest disappear every year --Congo: 18) Gorilla defenders --Sierra Leone: 19) 20 years of leaders against deforestation does little --Ghana: 20) Standing wood harvesting from man-made lake --Nigeria: 21) Oil producing country survives mostly on firewood --Cameroon: 22) Timber must be locally processed --Kenya: 23) Mwache creek and saving Mangroves --Uganda: 24) warning residents of Kalangala against cutting down forests --Malawi: 25) Deforestation history --Brazil: 26) Natural Gas Pipeline, 27) Biofuels is all about slavery and deforestation, --Chile: 28) Save the Mapuche's forest --China: 29) China launders most all the world's illegal wood --Malaysia: 30) Forest director says allegations " are totally baseless and untrue " --New Zealand: 31) Restoration plan for Hamurana Springs --Australia: 32) City Councilers arrested at Kangaroo Valley protest, 33) More on Kangaroo Valley, 34) Dr Judith Ajani speaks for the trees, --World wide: 35) stamping out illegal logging, 36) financial incentives talk from IUCN, British Columbia: 1) California's Governator and British Columbia's premier wish to offer you an opportunity to fight global warming. They'd like to you invest in B.C.'s forest industry. But one expert who's read the fine print is warning us not to get played for chumps. At issue is the hot idea of carbon credits. To counter global warming, governments would set caps on allowable greenhouse emissions, and punish companies that exceed those levels unless they " offset " their pollution by buying carbon credits -- investments in other industries and practices that reduce greenhouse gases. Who would benefit? Among others, B.C. timber firms, who " may be able to generate significant revenues out of proper management of the forest, " enthused Premier Campbell. The logic in this is that trees are our friends because they pull carbon out of the air and store it. Forest companies plant and grow trees. Invest in B.C. forests ... climate guilt absolved! Well, keep your hand on your wallet. Ben Parfitt, a veteran journalist and researcher on forestry, has been studying B.C. timber industry practices for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. He finds the province is encouraging timber firms to cut corners in their rush to harvest pine beetle infested wood. " Industry at government's urging is trying to log as many dead trees as possible, and a lot of living ones too. With record logging activity comes escalating levels of wood waste, " he told me. Last year, according to analysis of government data, logging firms left about 4.2 million cubic metres of usable wood on the ground (one cubic metre equals one telephone pole). " Most of that gets pushed into giant piles and burned. The rest is left to rot, " Parfitt says. What's the problem with that? " If those logs had been turned into solid wood products, like framing, all that carbon -- up to 3.8 million tons -- would have been locked up for up to a century. " But whenever a tree burns or decays, the carbon it stored is released back into the atmosphere. http://thetyee.ca/Views/2007/07/24/DoomsdayDebits/ Oregon: 2) WARM SPRINGS -- The men move in unison, 30-strong, muscling freshly cut trees, branches and brush from the uphill side of the road to the downhill side. The air is filled with wood chips and the high-pitched whine and snap of a dozen chain saws. The men -- wearing fireproof green pants and yellow shirts -- clear a swath at least 20 feet wide, cutting and hauling so a planned burnout will be less intense, less likely to run out of control. They work fast along the freshly bulldozed mountain road on the southern flank of Mount Jefferson. Smoke from a wildland fire curls lazily into the air 800 feet above them. " They can do this all day, " said Nick Mickel, a fire information officer. " This will make this road a natural firebreak and safer escape route. " The crew from R & R Contracting Co. of Turner has worked the Biddle Pass fire at the far southern boundary of Warm Springs Indian Reservation for more than a week. The men come from Medford, Roseburg, Salem, North Bend and Florence, and spend 12 to 16 hours a day digging fire lines, clearing brush and timber, and firing burnouts. Oregon's fire season is off to a quick start, as dry weather coupled with lightning sparked 900 fires in eastern and central Oregon. Nearly 200,000 acres of brush and timber are involved. Although rain and cooler weather helped firefighters last week, fires are expected to burn steadily until at least October. Now when Oregon and the West erupt in flames, government agencies coordinating firefighting more often turn to private contractors for everything from digging trails to setting up camps. The reason? Contract workers don't have to be paid when the fires aren't burning. Still, the cost of fighting those fires -- for everything from cooks to bulldozers to hand crews -- is enormous. The Warm Springs complex of fires has 575 people fighting it, at a cost through Friday of an estimated $1.9 million. The fire is just 15 percent contained. http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/stories/index.ssf?/base/metro_east_news/1184\ 991916281680.xml & coll=7 California: 3) At the heart of San Luis Obispo County, ancient oak trees tower over the grasslands and cling to the foothills. The native giants provide both a picturesque viewscape and a number of practical benefits for the environment. Shade from the trees protects the soil from afternoon heat, improving the growing potential for native grasses and shrubs. The tree canopy collects morning dew and distributes it within the drip line, watering the plants that lie beneath. At the same time, the network of branches is home to hundreds of species of insects and other wildlife. Since 2000, the land at Santa Margarita Ranch has come under the stewardship of ranch manager Aaron Lazanoff. From the top of his horse Roany, Lazanoff describes its history: " The 14,000-acre Santa Margarita Ranch extends from the top of Cuesta Grade nearly five miles along Highway 101 toward Atascadero. In 1841, it was considered one of the best land grants in California. In the early days, many grand fiestas, lasting weeks at a time, were held here. " Under his care, the cattle are grouped into smaller pastures and moved more frequently, allowing approximately 90 percent of the ranch to be rested from grazing at any given time. Building on a pre-existing infrastructure of fences and water systems, Lazanoff has segmented the original four large fields into multiple pastures to facilitate rotational grazing in hopes of " resting " a great amount of the ranch. In the last four years, Lazanoff and his crew have built approximately seven miles of barbed-wire and electric fences. The 16 new smaller fields range from 2 acres to 1,200 acres. Future plans call for additional infrastructure for greater control of his herd and more manageable field rotation. In the past three years, oak tree regeneration of valley oak (Quercus lobata), blue oak (Quercus douglasii) and coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia) has visibly improved. In the quarter-mile drive to the headquarters from town, Lazanoff counts 10 baby blue oaks just along the roadside. Those oak trees were either nonexistent or undetectable four years ago. Lazanoff recognizes that by moving the cattle more frequently, the cows are more selective about what they eat and stay away from the young trees. http://www.santamariatimes.com/articles/2007/07/22/business/biz21.txt Southwest US: 4) Two recent papers, when put side by side, point to an extreme scenario for forests even if no natural variable arrives to combine wih anthropogenic greenhouse forcing. One paper points to evidence that rising temperatures alone have already begun to kill trees across age-size classes. The other sets out evidence pointing to greater frequency, lenght, and intensity of heat waves. Breshears et al cite evidence that recent drought in the Southwest was not as severe as droughts in the 1930s and 1950s, that those earlier droughts mostly killed trees older than 100 years, but that the recent drought combined with higher temperatures than earlier droughts, qualifying it as a " global change-type " drought , and that the higher temps of this kind of drought killed trees across the age size classes. It sure seems plausible to me that deaths across age-size classes would effectively squelch prospects for sustainable forestry, and that we're already into the early stages of that scenario. Meehl and Tebaldi cite evidence pointing toward increased extremes of heat, longer lasting extremes, more intense ones. So, when I contemplate the Breshears and Meehl papers as a logical pair, I come up with a scenario of repeated death for old and young forests, on a repeat basis for centuries down the road. What this scenario suggests to me that is logging exec's claims that forests can recover from logging, and environmentalistis' claims that forests can recover from fire are mooted, relegated to yesterday. With the Pinus group already on a heat-driven decline (whether by beetle, drought, fire or outright death from heat stress) at every latitude in Western North America, from the desert Southwest to British Columbia, we are seeing the opening rounds of forest dieoff at a continental scale. I have the Breshears and Meehl papers as pd files. Please feel free to ask. --Lance Olsen lancolsn Texas: 5) Susan Stutts, program director for the Texas Forestry Association, said the meeting is important to East Texas as a whole because of the logging industry's tremendous impact on the area. " There are 11.9 million acres of commercial forests in East Texas, " she said. These forests range from southeast to northeast Texas, and west to Grimes County. " The Texas forest sector employs 76,000 jobs with an annual payroll of $3.7 billion, " Stutts said. According to the Texas Forestry Association Web site, the Texas Logging Council is " an affiliation of private business men and women who make their living from the harvesting and delivery of wood fiber to forest product mills all over East Texas. " Stutts said the council has 400 members who " work hard to provide logs to the mills while taking into consideration the safety and environmental aspects that are necessary for providing sustainable forests. " Hale said he expects 125 to 175 loggers at the meeting. " This meeting is for members and non-members of the logging council, " Hale said. " Anybody and everybody can come. " http://www.news-journal.com/news/content/news/stories/07232007LoggingCouncil.htm\ l Wisconsin: 6) " I have some loggers in my woods and I don't like what they are doing. They are taking trees that I don't want them to take. " For Department of Natural Resources Foresters, this type of call from a panicked landowner is often the first sign of a timber sale gone wrong. The caller is disturbed by what is happening on his or her property and after a bit of questioning, the forester usually finds that the property owner has signed a contract with the logger allowing them to do exactly what they are doing. " Once a contract is signed, there is usually no cheap or easy way to stop the timber harvest. Often, cooperation and goodwill are the only way to change the outcome, " said Randy Stampfl, DNR Forester at Horicon. Stampfl emphasizes that landowners should contact their local DNR forester or a private consulting forester to gather information and advice before signing on the dotted line Many loggers are good stewards of our natural resources, emphasizes Stampfl, but there are also " some loggers who exploit the woods. It is the latter that cause problems. " Stampfl says in all cases you or your agent should check a logger's references and look at some examples of previous logging jobs. This allows you to get an idea what your woods could look like after harvest. Wisconsin law requires that a cutting notice be filed with the county clerk at least 14 days prior to the harvest. For lands entered into the Managed Forest Law it is required that a separate cutting notice be filed with the Department of Natural Resources Forester at least 30 days prior to the harvest. There are several types of harvests and getting bids from several loggers is the best way to ensure that you get a fair price for your timber. It is important to note that loggers usually specialize their harvest operation for certain forest products. http://www.wiscnews.com/bdc/business/202457 West Virginia: 7) Oil and gas drilling operations in West Virginia's state forests would have to reduce erosion and protect wildlife and recreational activities under rules proposed by the Division of Natural Resources. The Kanawha State Forest Coalition says the proposed rules will increase protection of state forests. The rules would require drillers to meet with state forest personnel before applying for drilling permits from the Department of Environmental Protection. Drillers also would have to change the locations of well sites and access roads if rare or endangered species are found there, or to accommodate recreational activities. Drillers would be required to build roads on grades gentle enough to prevent erosion. More culverts and water bars, which divert water flow, also would be required. State forest personnel would be allowed to order the suspension of drilling operations during inclement weather. A public comment period on the rules ends Friday. http://www.whsv.com/westvirginiaap/headlines/8685282.html Canada: 8) Currently, about 3 million trees in Alberta are infected. Up until last year, there were only 20,000 trees affected by the beetle in the province. " There were so many beetles in B.C. that when they emerged, they just got into the wind current and it actually blew over the mountains and rained down over Alberta, " said Erica Lee, a pine beetle prevention specialist in Alberta. " That was a holy cow, " she told CTV News Edmonton reporter Deborah Shiry. " We didn't anticipate that at all. ... That hadn't ever happened before. " Before coming to Alberta, the pine beetles ravaged through 9 million hectares of B.C. pine forest. The Chief Forester of B.C. is expected to release a report later this summer on the impact infested trees have on the province's timber supply, The Globe and Mail reported. Experts have predicted about 80 per cent of the province's mature pine trees will be killed off by 2013. So far, the amount of trees infested with the pine beetle has affected an area about three times the size of Vancouver Island. But now the beetles have descended in Alberta, ready to ravage once again. About 2.5 of Alberta's three million infested trees are located near Grande Prairie. Though Alberta plans to spend $55 million this year, Ottawa has yet to pledge any money. With an abundance of pine trees in Canada, the problem is expected to escalate. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070721/beetles_Alberta_tre\ es_072107/200707 21?hub=TopStories EU: 9) The European Space Agency (ESA) awarded a contract to British company DMC International Imaging (DMCii) this week to provide satellite imagery of 38 countries in Europe. This will be used to monitor Europe's environment and land use including natural resources such as agriculture and forestry. The high resolution DMC satellite images will provide a valuable resource for the European Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) services and to European scientists. It is difficult to achieve cloud free coverage of Europe in a single year, but DMCii coordinates a constellation (DMC) of 4 satellites carrying the same sensors, which can dramatically speed up the process, and help to avoid problems with cloud. Images are acquired within dates specified by each of the 38 countries, and delivered as precisely positioned data in each national map projection. DMCii started to acquire high resolution imagery in April '07 and will complete the campaign in October. http://www.spacemart.com/reports/DMCii_Wins_ESA_Satellite_Imaging_Contract_999.h\ tml UK: 10) Work began yesterday to fell 26 trees on the Frosses Road outside Ballymena - marking the end of an era for motorists making the journey north. The Scots pines were planted 160 years ago by Sir Charles Lanyon - architect of Queen's University, Crumlin Road Courthouse and Belfast Castle. Up to 1,500 trees were put in so that their roots would grow under the road and stop it sinking into peat bog. They have formed a guard of honour since 1839 and have grown into one of north Antrim's best known landmarks. So now less than 100 of the original trees survive. Under health and safety regulations almost 50 trees were felled in November 1999 and those remaining had branches pruned and dead wood cut off. The following year 400 replacement Scots pines were planted to preserve the landmark. The Frosses Road is one of the main arterial routes to Co Antrim's seaside resorts and traffic will be disrupted while the road is closed for up to a week. http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/article2795737.ece 11) Two of the country's biggest retail names are to ban the sale of palm oil from unsustainable sources because of fears that it is leading to the destruction of rainforests. Palm oil has become one of the world's biggest traded commodities and is now the unidentified 'vegetable oil' in an estimated one in 10 of all products sold in Britain, from chocolate to cosmetics to animal feed. The booming demand in Europe and Asia has led to growing concern that huge swaths of rainforest are being cut down to make way for plantations - damaging important eco-systems on which animals and local people depend - and threatening the survival of one of the world's last great apes, the orang-utan, the poster boy for a gathering global campaign. Rainforest destruction also accounts for about a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, blamed for climate change. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2132140,00.html 12) The UK is Europe's largest importer of illegal wood and the third largest in the world, with an estimated 3.2 million cubic metres of stolen timber worth around £700 million imported into the country each year. Now the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) which works to investigate and expose environmental crime is demanding new laws to stop demand in consumer countries driving illegal logging. The EIA says voluntary schemes are not working and importers and stores throughout Europe cannot currently be prosecuted for trading illegal timber. More than 360 MPs have already signed a Commons Early Day Motion calling for European legislation and now the EIA is asking them to support new UK laws which would make it an offence to trade illegally sourced timber in Britain. Many consumers have no idea their home improvements may be made from illegally-sourced trees and that by buying wood they may be unknowingly contributing to deforestation, climate change, corruption in developing countries, and even supporting criminal gangs. Trees that are stolen from the rainforest by criminals are converted into flooring, fitted kitchens, patio chairs, conservatories and garden furniture, exported, and legally sold in UK stores. In Indonesia, where up to 2.8 m hectares of forest is destroyed annually, up to 80 per cent of tree felling is illegal. Faith Doherty, EIA senior forests campaigner, said: " The Conservatives want this trade outlawed, the Liberal Democrats want it outlawed, and the timber industry wants it outlawed. Consumers assume it is already banned, but are still unwittingly buying illegal wood every day. " Hopefully these MPs can change all that. There is a recognised link between deforestation and carbon emissions and closing this enormous market in illegal stolen timber could make such a difference. " http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/07/23/ealogg123.xml 13) Wilton 10 Power Station will be the UK's first large scale biomass power station to use wood as its renewable fuel source. The £60 million plant will generate 30 MW of 'green' electricity – the equivalent needed to power around 30,000 homes. The wood for the station will come from four separate sources. Around 40% of the 300 000 tonne a year total will be recycled wood from UK Wood Recycling. This will be received, stored and chipped on a nearby, separately owned site at Wilton. A further 20% will come to the site already chipped as offcuts from sawmills. SembCorp is working with the Forestry Commission to bring another 20% from north east forests in the form of small roundwood logs – items sometimes left on the forest floor after routine tree felling operations. Finally, 20% will comprise specially grown energy crops in the form of short rotation coppice willow. The company Greenergy will supply the wood, to be grown by farmers and other landowners within a 50-mile radius of the site. The new plant will require the growth of around 7500 acres of coppice in the area, an activity that will create wildlife havens throughout the region. All the wood needs to be chipped and mixed in careful proportions before being fed into the boiler, which will encompass technology already in use in Scandinavia and other areas. http://www.power-technology.com/projects/Wood-Burning/ Scotland: 14) An exhibition called Listen To What The Trees Are Saying, by Napier University scientists, has proven that sound waves can be used to measure wood at different stages in the supply chain, including standing trees. Representatives from Napier's Centre for Timber Engineering demonstrated the benefits at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition in London. Research associate Andrew Lyon, from Napier, said: " By measuring the speed at which sound travels through wood, we can estimate its mechanical properties and in turn determine its best end use. " The ability to allocate timber to its most appropriate end use without first having to process it will help improve business efficiency. It is hoped that there will be a greater use of sustainably-produced timber in construction. " http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=1148832007 Czechoslovakia: 15) On Sunday, we decided to make a trip to the place where the U.S. radar may be built which is near the Míšov village in the Brdy Hills, less than 30 miles Southeast from Pilsen. There are nice, untouched forests around: dozens or hundreds of squared miles were (or are) used as a military training area. However, we completely ignored all the access restrictions. There was no one there who would care. A fancy golf course is nearby, too. The people who live in these villages are ordinary Czechs, the kind of people whom we are used to meet every day. Most of them don't want the radar. However, what I found even more striking was that the locals had essentially no idea about the radar. They didn't know where it should be located: not even the guy who sold us the sausages and the beer and who works one mile from the key spot had any clue about the location. They didn't seem to care. Eventually I found the right person who explained me that the radar should be built on a peak that is 718 meters above the sea level and how we can get there. When you walk (or bike like my friend or drive your small motorcycle like your humble correspondent) through the deep forests, you see that one radar facility - one percent of a squared kilometer? - doesn't change much about the landscape. It's negligible. http://motls.blogspot.com/2007/07/forests-around-radar.html Israel: 16) The station at Yatir was set up six years ago, as part of the FluxNet worldwide network established by scientists to investigate carbon dioxide absorption by plants. Professor Dan Yakir, who operates the station, says that the Yatir forest station is unique because it alone is situated in a semi-arid climate. And indeed, the data that he and his students have collected seems to be quite unusual: Apparently, the trees at Yatir forest grow just as fast as other trees growing in regions with twice the precipitation. A closer inspection revealed that the trees were compensating for the lack of water by making use of carbon dioxide. These findings may create a new perspective on planting forests in arid regions, Yakir explains. Such forests could be planted to help curb desertification and reduce carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, which could help to prevent global warming. However, Yakir adds that the practical conclusions stemming from the findings are inconclusive. Other FluxNet stations around the globe are also dedicated to understanding the role that forests have in the emission and absorption of carbon dioxide. That is because forests as a whole consume 25 percent of all carbon dioxide, a gas which has a profound effect on global warming. As in other FluxNet stations, the facility at Yatir examines all relevant climatic and geologic factors, such as salinity, wind and temperature. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/885342.html Ivory Coast: 17) Ivory Coast's president, Laurent Gbagbo, has condemned the exploitation of the west African nation's tropical forests, which are disappearing at a rate of about 300,000 hectares (741,000 acres) annually, media reported Saturday. Speaking in his home village of Mama to mark the annual " day of the tree " on Friday, Gbagbo warned: " Between 200,000 and 300,000 hectares of forest disappear every year because of human activities. " According to press reports, the president also accused government ministers of failing to abide by laws designed to protect the country's forests. " A minister was even seen hunting (in the biggest park in the country) in the full knowledge that it was banned by the government, " he said. Ivorian Environment Minister Daniel Aka Ahizi urged Ivorians to help fight deforestation by planting trees themselves. " Through this tree-planting project, the national day of the tree aims to increase the forest by at least 100,000 hectares with trees that would belong to individuals, village communities and morally-minded people, " he said. However, two environmental groups are boycotting this year's event, arguing that it should be held in an area where the effects of deforestation were more stark than in Mama, a western village situated in the forest. " We would have preferred that the event take place in a more barren area than Mama, preferably in the north where the desert is fast advancing, " Jacob N'Zi, head of the Ecological Group of Ivory Coast (Geci), told AFP. http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/administration/afp-news.html?id=070721\ 185717.oabkz9ms & cat=null Congo: 18) Like everyone else in this troubled country, the rangers here are struggling day by day to establish some sort of order following one of the worst wars in modern history, a conflict that left an estimated 4 million people dead and already weak state institutions near total collapse. Like thousands of government workers across Congo, they are doing so despite having not been paid in more than a decade. And like most living in this eastern region bordering Rwanda and Uganda, the rangers are carrying on amid a sordid mess of militias and other groups whose interest in Congo's minerals, timber and other natural resources are best served by perpetuating chaos. For years, the park rangers themselves have been targeted. More than 150 have been killed in the line of duty during a decade of fighting among armed groups that want to use the park as their base, or by poachers who sell baby gorillas and hippo meat. The rangers also suspect people associated with the country's $30 million charcoal industry who depend on the park's trees and would rather Virunga be unprotected. One ranger was recently found wandering in the forest, close to death, after escaping from a militia group known as the Mai Mai that had held him hostage as a guide and interpreter for two years. Another ranger bears a scar around his neck from a near-beheading. Earlier this year, one of the park's chief wardens, Paulin Ngobobo, was abducted and beaten with a whip of the sort once used by Belgian colonial rulers to subdue Congolese slaves. Still, because of the gorillas, and because having a job in Congo, even a dangerous unpaid one, is better than not having one at all, the rangers continue their work. " Congolese people live on hope, " said Ngobobo, who has received more death threats than he can count. " They always think tomorrow will be better, and the day after tomorrow will be better, and soon, years and years have passed. " Virunga National Park was established in 1925 by the Belgians. It had intermittent heydays: There were royal visits in the 1950s, and during the 1970s, the zoologist Dian Fossey and others brought world attention to Virunga's mountain gorillas before leaving to work in Rwanda. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/21/AR2007072101358.\ html Sierra Leone: 19) The government of Sierra Leone that is fully aware of the dangers that are lurking in land degradation have admonished all Sierra Leoneans during the past twenty years to desist from erecting houses or cutting down trees on our hills in order to safeguard the ecology that God has put in place to protect Freetown and its environs from all forms of unimaginable and unsuspected hazards. In 1990, President Joseph Saidu Momoh spearheaded a tough campaign that included his Cabinet Ministers to prohibit the cutting down of trees on our hill tops and other slopes of Freetown the purpose of erecting homes on those treacherous slopes. That his call for the exercise of restraint in cutting down trees and erecting houses on hilltops and hillsides is evidenced today by the number of houses that have sprung up on those same hillsides inspite of the efforts to stop the cutting down of trees and buildings from go up. Ten years later in the year 2000, the Chairman of the Rural Area Council, Mr. Sam Leigh, who is also a professional Engineer and Managing Director of Edward Davies and Sons, through his rural area councilors, worked hard to discourage the rampant deforestation of the peninsula area. His efforts too went in vain and his call for restraint vehemently rejected as indicated today by the amount of deforestation taking place in the peninsula and the number of buildings going up on our hillsides, thereby threatening the delicate balance of the ecology of the affected areas which includes both the destruction of the forest and the wild life, flora and fauna resident in those forests. As late as two years ago, the Minister of Lands, Housing and Country Planning, Dr. Alfred Bobson Sesay, warned Sierra Leoneans of the serious consequences of land degradation along the slopes of our hills with all those big boulders turning lose through the loss of their supporting elements of trees and bushes. When his call was not heeded, the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Country Planning embarked on a rational and systematic demolition of houses that were considered dangerous not only to the occupants, but also to other residents of Freetown. The efforts of the head of that Minister too were ridiculed and his name associated with all that was considered inhuman. http://www.christiantrede.com/webdesign/clients/newcitizen/commentary.php?subact\ ion=showfull & id =1184934409 & archive= & start_from= & ucat=3 Ghana: 20) From shore, what's most striking about Volta Lake is not its size, though it is one of the world's largest man-made reservoirs. Nor the wooden canoes, long as tractor-trailers, that ply its waters carrying passengers and cargo.What's most striking about Volta Lake is that it is full of trees. In the shallows, the treetops emerge from the water like the bristles of a brush, the dead remnants of huge tropical forests submerged when Ghana dammed the White and Black Volta rivers more than 40 years ago to generate electric power for the newly independent nation. The trees are a constant danger. Nearly 300 people have died in boat-tree collisions on Volta Lake. " Sometimes, they cut the boat open, " says ferryman Enos Agada, his eyes bloodshot after a 36-hour crossing. But where Mr. Agada sees a threat to life and livelihood, Wayne Dunn sees sunken treasure. A 51-year-old Canadian who dropped out of high school to become a logger, Mr. Dunn has won approval from the Ghanaian government for an audacious plan to harvest the forests of mahogany, ebony and other hardwoods that are still rooted to the lake bottom, 200 feet below in some places. He's betting that the timber is worth tens of millions of dollars, if not more. He's also discovering that cutting down dead trees underwater can be just as controversial as cutting down live ones on dry land. " We believe it's the largest and most valuable underwater timber concession in the world, " says Mr. Dunn, who has a midcareer master's degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, though he didn't finish high school or attend college. Such investors as former Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark, Goldman Sachs and British Columbia's Salman Partners Inc. have gambled $14 million that he can both assuage environmental concerns and come up with the technology to pull the big hardwoods out of the water. That's something that has never been done on a commercial scale, according to Mr. Dunn. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118494908216973171.html Nigeria: 21) It is a paradox of note: the fact that while Nigerians live in the world's sixth-largest oil producer, most of them still rely on wood for their fuel. Of the country's population of over 140 million, about 70 percent live in rural areas and are directly or indirectly dependent on forest resources -- especially wood -- to meet their domestic energy needs, says Musa Amiebinomo of the national Department of Forestry. This is leading to destruction of forest cover, a situation aggravated by illegal commercial logging. Figures from the 2005 ' State of the World's Forests' report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) indicate that between 1990 and 2005, Nigeria lost 35.7 percent of its forest cover. Boniface Egboka, an environmentalist and dean of the School of Postgraduate Studies at Anambra State University in south-eastern Nigeria, blames the continued use of firewood on corruption. " Nigeria is still dependent of firewood when we have abundant oil and gas because our so-called leaders are fraudulent and corrupt. They care less about the welfare of the citizens and so they allow the forests to be mowed down, " he told IPS. " We have no reason to be using firewood. We have the financial and human resources to pipe gas into homes for domestic use We are deforesting the whole of the north through harvesting of wood for fire, and now we are shifting the savannah southwards into the rain forest through logging. " http://allafrica.com/stories/200707231729.html Cameroon: 22) The Italian Ambassador to Cameroon, H.E. Antonio Bellavia, has said for Cameroon to make the best of its sustainable forest exploitation efforts, timber must be locally processed. The Ambassador was speaking during an audience granted him by Cameroon's Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, Prof. Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, in Yaounde recently.Their discussion, Bellavia explained, paves the avenue for the establishment of a centre for timber processing in Cameroon and experience sharing between his country and Cameroon. He said his government is envisaging a Cameroonian mission to Italy. The Cameroonian delegation, the Ambassador went on, is expected to benefit from the Italian experience and expertise considering that Italy is a leading country in local timber processing. According to terms of the negotiation, Italy would contribute in building the capacities of Cameroonians in the sector, establish a framework for the encouragement of local processing of timber and, above all, mastermind technology transfer. Cameroon is expected to reap these benefits from its cordial cooperation with Italy immediately as the creation of a timber centre is completed.The centre, which is expected to benefit all stakeholders in forestry, is the brainchild of the Italian diplomatic mission to Cameroon. Cameroonians who would be deployed in Italy under this initiative would work with timber enterprises to build or augment their skills and are expected to use them in developments back home. http://www.postnewsline.com/2007/07/italy-to-boost-.html Kenya: 23) The Mwache creek to the west of Mombasa shows the devastation of the mangroves by floods that have deposited sediments in their habitat and curtailed their growth. The institute has started a reforestation project at the creek, raising more than 80,000 mangroves seedlings to be planted elsewhere. However, most of the seedlings have been wiped out by the soil deposited by flood waters. " Soil erosion upcountry and poor tilling of the land has led to massive sedimentation downstream, affecting mangrove forests. Silt was also deposited in the port area. The region had to be dredged to maintain the depth of the channel for the safe passage of ships, " Dr Bosire said. " Mangroves are among the most productive ecosystems, offering a wide range of resources and services that include habitat stabilisation and a breeding ground for many fish species. " The scientist said a new danger has emerged: Areas like Mwache creek that have been left bare after the destruction of mangroves is being colonised by bushes and salt tolerant grasses that are likely to displace the multiple-use mangroves. Dr Bosire's team has made recommendations for improved management of mangrove plantations. As in the case of Gazi in the South Coast, the local community has been assisted to set up an eco-tourism project that is generating income. The Gazi Women's Mangrove Boardwalk is a community-based conservation effort whose funds go to the bursary kitty and healthcare and physical facilities of the local primary school. " Increased acreage of mangrove forests will create employment and enhance fish production. Active community involvement through the formation of community-based conservation groups has also been provided for in the Forest Act, 2005, " Dr Bosire said in his report. http://allafrica.com/stories/200707240066.html Uganda: 24) Kabaka Ronald Mutebi has warned residents of Kalangala district against cutting down forests. He noted that development projects had been set up at the expense of protecting the environment. He warned that such behaviours should be stopped because they are anti-development. " A country without trained and educated people has no future, " Mutebi asserted. " Tourists come here to rest, learn and see our treasured environment which includes forests, birds, plants, water and sand that we must protect, " the Kabaka told his subjects at Kibanga Primary School while touring Ssese Islands on Sunday. Kalangala district has one of the biggest natural forests in the country, which attracts several tourists. " I urge you to set up tourist-oriented projects which will attract more visitors instead of destroying what is in place, " Mutebi urged. The acting Katikkiro, Emmanuel Ssendaula, noted that the rate at which forests were being cut down was alarming. He warned that in future, the country might face environmental problems because of deforestation. http://allafrica.com/stories/200707190068.html Malawi: 25) To begin with policies have been put in place to reduce deforestation in Malawi, and we have strategies, programmes, projects and academic courses to reduce deforestation. While most of these have been blamed for not including the communities in administration and utilisation of forest products, decentralisation introduced in early 90s was (is) regarded as the best option to reduce the problem. But data from the Malawi Environmental Profile reveal that between 1990 and 2005 we lost 13% of total forest cover through fuel wood and agriculture with 35% vanished between 2000 and 2005.The forests which covers 12% of our land, are faced with an annual deforestation rate of -3%. The unfortunate part is that as a country we depend on primary forests with plantation covering only 204, 000 ha (6% of total forest area). Where are we missing the link as development experts? First and foremost, the prescription to reduce deforestation lies in the hands of people who are on the front line destroying the forests. The decentralisation frame has not provided the right tools and equipment to these people to halt deforestation. What is happening is that effective programmes targeting a local person on the ground are intentionally blocked at institutional level through funds diversions, meetings, workshops and in some cases private reasons. In the northern and southern region or district where deforestation is high such as Mwanza, the problem is not improper implementation of decentralisation, but lack of alternative livelihoods for poor communities coupled with climatic factors. Reaching the people with decentralisation messages, through radio synopsises, or extension officers on yellow bicycles can not prevent the communities to cut trees. This means that programmes that aim to conserve the environment can not achieve their objectives if economic policies are weak to empower communities with cash generating livelihoods. http://nyasatimes.com/Columns/David-Mkwambisi/1109.html Brazil: 26) Deep in the middle of the Amazonian rain forest, buses whisk men in orange work suits off to help lay down a pipeline that is today one of the region's most remote energy infrastructure projects. It's enough to make even the most moderate environmentalist blanch. But after years of opposition, a plan to transport gas 400 miles from its source at a clearing called Urucu, passing 80 species of rare orchids on its way to the Amazonas state capital of Manaus, has been met with reserved praise, even from hard-core activists. The project by the Brazilian state-controlled company Petrobras is emerging as a model for reducing environmental and social impact, say many observers. And it comes as dozens of other oil companies are looking to explore an expanse that, while among the world's most biologically diverse, also happens to be the largest unexplored region with hydrocarbon potential after Antarctica. " Prior to the discovery at Urucu, all petroleum produced in South America came from oil fields close to the Andes. But Urucu is situated more than 1,000 miles to the east … and everything in between must now be considered to have hydrocarbon production potential, " says Tim Killeen a senior researcher at Conservation International. " If this is not done right, we are going to lose the most important part of the most important forest on the planet. " The Urucu pipeline project is especially key since it comes at a time when Latin American leaders are looking toward energy integration projects – such as Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's " Pipeline of the South, " the 5,000-mile, $20 billion pipeline that would transport gas across the entire continent – plans that some have compared to the cutting up of the American West to lay down railways. http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=80668 27) Behind the " politically correct " jargon lurks a reality poised to destroy the Amazon, a reality that destroys millions of young bodies and promises lucrative business to investors. The very name biofuels seems to be destined to foment the confusion. João Pedro Stédile, head of the Brazilian Landless Workers' Movement (M.S.T.), points out that the defenders of ethanol " use the prefix bio3 to make it seem like it's a good thing, " and that because of this its opponents prefer to call it like it is and use the term " agrofuels " because the term refers to agriculturally produced energy. According to the ex-governor of São Paulo state, Claudio Lembo, agrofuels will spread monoculture farming across the whole country. Although he is a conservative politician and member of the Liberal Front Party (now the Democratic Party), he thinks that Brazil " backtracked 500 years to the same place " as it was as a Portuguese colony. In his opinion, agricultural land will be lost when used for sugarcane and the history of those four centuries will be repeated, when " thousands were expelled from their communities by the leviathan of monoculture, which creates concentrated wealth. " Looking closer at the cane cutters' working conditions, a terrifying world appears—a world that should give people who are enthused by the idea of substituting fossil fuels with agrofuels something to think about. According to various reports, around a million people work in the industry, of which 500,000 are in the agricultural sector. Close to 80 percent of cane harvesting is manual. The workers only get paid if they reach the output set by the bosses, which in the Ribeirao Preto region is some 12 tons a day, double the 1980 target. If they don't reach it, they aren't paid at all. To reach this output target they must work some 10 or 12 hours a day, but sometimes 14, many of these under the burning sun. Many parents bring their small children to help them reach the production goal. http://www.worldpress.org/Americas/2872.cfm Chile: 28) Recently logging companies have become more aggressive as they have continued to push their way into Mapuche traditional territory. As a result, a bitter clash has arisen, whereby some Mapuche have been labeled " terrorists " by the Chilean government for defending their homeland. As Hector Llaitul, a Mapuche member, noted in a recent Center for International Policy Report " The Mininco Company along with one of our main adversaries, the hydroelectric company ENDESA, have changed their policy. It's no longer just the use of violence. They are diversifying the repression: they study the areas where they operate and develop plans (for publicity, courses, etc.) tailored to each one, often financed by the Inter-American Development Bank, in order to create a security rim around their properties. They arm small farmers and hunting and fishing clubs, so they can form vigilance committees, which are legal in Chile, to defend themselves against 'bad neighbors.' This is how they try to isolate the people who struggle. " Wait, what did I just read, the logging and hydroelectric companies are manipulating the media and others in the area to gain support and further repress the Mapuche? Sounds like standard business to me. There are two major issues with globalization that this little snippet highlights. 1) The world is getting smaller, companies that only worked in one country are now working all over the globe. People in southern Chile are feeling the pressure of companies whose products are shipped to Europe or America. Furthermore, many of these same companies are owned (wholly or partially) by Americans, Europeans, and other well-to-do individuals. 2) These multinational companies are resourceful in a multitude of ways. They hire local people to set up dummy organizations so that it appears the company is locally based. They conduct media campaigns to convince consumers that they are environmentally friendly, sustainably extracting resources, working with local populations, and in general conducting all around good business. Well, for the Mapuche indigenous peoples this is causing great destruction. Sure, for those city dwellers in Santiago, the logging companies and hydroelectric companies may seem fairly benign. Likewise, us Americans - who love our large cars built out of Chilean steel, our Chilean strawberries in the winter, and the beautiful shots of Patagonian wilderness - can only really guess at the destructive forces our habits have. http://indigenousissuestoday.blogspot.com/2007/07/mapuche-people-struggle-to-kee\ p-their.html China: 29) " Predominantly, the Burmese timber winds up as patio furniture for Americans. Without their demand, there wouldn't be a timber trade. " About 2,500 miles to the northeast, Chinese and Russian crews hacked into the virgin forests of the Russian Far East and Siberia, hauling away 250-year-old Korean pines in often-illegal deals, according to trading companies and environmentalists. In the highlands of Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Africa and in the forests of the Amazon, loggers working beyond the bounds of the law have sent a ceaseless flow of timber to China. Mountains of logs, many of them harvested in excess of legal limits aimed at preserving forests, are streaming toward Chinese factories where workers churn out such products as furniture and floorboards. These wares are shipped from China to major retailers such as Ikea, Home Depot, Lowe's and many others. They land in homes and offices in the United States and Europe, bought by shoppers with little inkling of the wood's origins or the environmental costs of chopping it down. The buzzing sawmills and clattering furniture plants in China explain why the pace of logging in Papua New Guinea is four times faster than legally permitted, according to Forest Trends. It explains why ships ferry logs to China from the African nation of Gabon, where 70 percent of logging is illegal, according to the World Bank. It explains why Chinese traders armed with cash line the Russian border, overwhelming the regulators charged with preserving trees. It appears that China has become the world's illicit lumber launderer. What does it mean for these forests and these countries? At the current pace of cutting, natural forests in Indonesia and Burma -- which send more than half their exported logs to China -- will be exhausted within a decade, according to research by Forest Trends, a consortium of industry and conservation groups. Forests in Papua New Guinea will be consumed in as little as 13 years, and those in the Russian Far East within two decades. http://fatknowledge.blogspot.com/2007/07/corruption-stains-timber-trade.html Malaysia: 30) Forestry Department Director Datuk Sam Mannan assured that illegal logging is not being carried out in forest reserves, as alleged by Parti Keadilan Rakyat. In a statement Saturday, he said the allegations " are totally baseless and untrue " . " On log shipments via Silam Port, they are royalty-paid logs and approved for sales with export declaration documents endorsed by the Forestry Department. " The logs are, therefore, legal logs from a licensed area with valid coupes, " he said and stressed that the department would not tolerate any forest offence. " Actions have been taken and will continue to be taken. The department is also responsive to public complaints and reports on any allegation. " However, it is a matter of priority and good sense for the department to decipher and sieve various allegations to ascertain their authenticity or otherwise. He explained that this is to avoid allocating scarce manpower on a wild goose chase and in the process neglecting complaints that deserve attention. " Since its inception in 1914, the Forestry Department, as a matter of principle, has maintained its sanity and therefore has always refused to entertain anything that will drag and tempt it to insanity, " he said. http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=51507 New Zealand: 31) Recently, as part of a restoration plan for Hamurana Springs, DOC removed about 15 trees from the roadside and carpark, citing safety reasons. Plans were subsequently revealed that 50 trees from a grove of about 650 redwoods at the park would be removed, a plan that outraged many. Bronwyn Campbell, project manager from DOC, said the department had consulted with the groups involved with the springs from the outset of the operation, which was part of a 10-year plan for the area. She gave the Daily Post an assurance the felling operation had ceased. " We have been in talks and there are no plans to cut down any further trees, " she said. Yesterday about 30 concerned residents held a meeting in the springs' carpark where the department undertook to halt all logging at the springs. The department said it did this after taking the residents' concerns into account. Resident Don Hammond, who was married three years ago in the park, said the tree felling was " environmental vandalism " . " Our country decries what is happening in other parts of the world where this sort of thing is happening and yet this is happening to our own taonga [treasures]. " DOC's claim that it had felled the trees because of concerns about the community's safety did not wash with Mr Hammond. " It's a smokescreen. If safety is the reason then all the trees at Hongi's Track need to come down, including the sacred tree. There was some very valuable wood cut down at Hamurana Springs, " he said. Hariata Vercoe, DOC's acting manager for Rotorua Lakes Area, had earlier responded to complaints about the tree felling by explaining safety had been an issue. http://www.dailypost.co.nz/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3742447 & thesection\ =localnews & thes ubsection= & thesecondsubsection= Australia: 32) TWO Shoalhaven City councillors were among several people arrested in a protest south of Kangaroo Valley yesterday as they tried to save almost 100 trees near the roadway. Two people were placed in a police wagon at the height of confrontations between protesters and RTA contractors employed to remove trees for road safety. Between 150 and 200 protesters gathered in the mist beside Moss Vale Rd determined to stop the RTA. For a while they seemed to have an ally in the weather which delayed plans to move in the tree-fellers. But as the trucks rolled in police moved protesters out of the way. Anyone who refused was arrested. http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/articles/2007/07/23/1185043035884.html 33) The Roads and Traffic Authority has started cutting down trees on Moss Vale Road at Kangaroo Valley in NSW, after a group of protesters failed to stop their removal. About 150 protesters marched along the stretch of road between Kangaroo Valley Road and Walkers Lane, planting white crosses beside 97 trees which are to be removed for a road upgrade. Rexeen Garry travelled from Bowral to join them. " The trees here are older than just about everyone in the RTA. They're very, very magnificent 70 and 80 year old trees reaching really high, " she said. The group also heard speeches from politicians including the member for Gilmore, Joanna Gash, and Greens MP Lee Rhiannon. " Let's enjoy this beauty, these trees are an absolute bonzer, and we know that they're also the home for thousands of animals and birds, " Ms Rhiannon told the crowds. The protesters then tried to block the RTA's crews from entering the area. Two people were temporarily detained by police after standing in front of one of the trucks, but after a short time the protesters parted and the trucks went through. The RTA's Adam Berry says the trees pose a danger to drivers and need to go. " We have independent safety advice that nominated this 800 metres section of Moss Vale Road as that most in need of attention, " he said. http://www.abc.net.au/illawarra/stories/s1986554.htm?backyard 34) Dr Judith Ajani monitored the news with an air of I-told-you-so resignation. Ajani cut her teeth researching and advising the Cain Labor government on forestry in Victoria in the 1980s and has also been a paid consultant to environmentalists. - - In her newly released book, The Forest Wars, she writes: " The union-dominated factional preselection system means that if, or when, Labor returns to office, its approach to forests is unlikely to be driven by an interest in building a healthy wood-processing industry generating jobs and caring for the environment. Raw power will prevent it. The book, completed late last year but released only last week, does not name Kevin Rudd, who was elected leader last December. Seven months on, Ajani tells The Age that while Rudd is holding back on detail of the Labor forest package, she believes he is being positioned by his party to stick with a " fairly archaic " policy and doubts he will be able to bring together the two strands of Labor in constant tension: workers and environmentalists. Ajani believes Labor has sacrificed conservation for the sake of propping up a woodchipping industry that Australia no longer needs. She argues in The Forest Wars that Australia's existing tree plantations can meet the nation's wood needs for paper and timber without having to log native forests or call on imports. Essentially, native logging could end today, Ajani says, and the issue is not native hardwood sawmilling, which is on a rapid decline, but the native forest woodchipping that accounts for up to 90 per cent of the wood taken from Australia's native forests. The Australian Conservation Foundation, however, quickly declared yesterday it hated the new Rudd policy. The foundation's executive director, Don Henry, says tens of thousands of hectares of high conservation value on Tasmanian public land would remain unprotected. " Spectacular " parts of Tasmania - the Florentine, the Weld and the Blue Tiers - will be open to logging, Henry says, adding the Rudd announcement will entrench division and uncertainty between unions and industry on one hand and conservationists on the other. Ajani is highly critical in her book of the Howard Government for 11 years of unequivocally supporting native logging; for " platitudes and weasel words " and remaining silent on the plantation industry; for removing wood export controls and for attempting to undermine Queensland Premier Peter Beattie's policy of keeping native logging out of his state. http://www.theage.com.au/news/in-depth/out-of-the-box/2007/07/23/1185043039431.h\ tml World-wide: 35) TECHNOLOGY, goodwill and co-operation are key to stamping out illegal logging in the Asia-Pacific region, Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull says. Australia is expected to announce today it will participate in a system of satellite tracking stations to help monitor forest cover in the region. The surveillance is aimed at helping countries track illegal logging. Reports today said the scheme is to be part of a global carbon tracking scheme for which the federal government has promised $200 million. Mr Turnbull said the use of technology in the fight against deforestation would be on the agenda at a meeting of about 70 countries in Sydney this week. " We're going to need technology, we're going to need money, we're going to need goodwill and a lot of cooperation,'' Mr Turnbull said. " Some of the largest deforesters will be there in the sense that countries like Indonesia and Brazil, the countries of big tropical forests where most of the deforestation is occurring, are going to be present. " There's no point funding the protection of a forest in one valley if the forest in the adjoining valley is all clear-felled.'' The report said countries would be asked to join the scheme so the results could be fed into an international database. But Greenpeace spokesman Steven Campbell said a similar program was already up and running and funds should be directed elsewhere. " One of the biggest problems with deforestation in our region in places such as Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, is the level of corruption and poor governance in the forest,'' he said. " The best thing that the government can do is to stop the importation of illegal timber in Australia, because we import about $400 million worth of illegal timber every year.'' http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22118126-29277,00.html 36) The fight against deforestation should be rewarded with financial incentives. That was the message from a meeting organised by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Convention on Biological Diversity on July 11 in Paris. Encouraging countries to preserve existing forests with financial incentives would not only ensure more trees to soak up greenhouse gases, it would also be a big bonus for biodiversity conservation, according to IUCN. Now it is hoped that the idea will be taken up seriously by the United Nations climate change conference in Bali later this year. The idea of rewarding avoided deforestation was discussed as part of a joint initiative by IUCN and UNEP to make beneficiaries of ecosystem services (such as the absorption of carbon by forests) pay for their sustained provision. Under the proposal, known as Reduced Emissions from Deforestation Degradation (REDD), a cutback in forest loss would become a new option for complying with international climate change regulations. It would also mean that countries reducing deforestation could receive carbon credits, which are currently emerging as a significant global market. In this way, it is hoped that financial rewards for emissions reductions will motivate states to keep their forests, rather than clearing them for other land uses such as agriculture. The idea is not without its problems, however, which include the risk that the scheme might simply move the problem of deforestation elsewhere in the world to places where it would still be more financially viable to clear forests or where states are not capable of enforcing compliance with REDD policy. There is also concern over how the money paid to governments would trickle down to the local level and influence the livelihood decisions of people who live in and depend directly on forests for their well-being. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/07/23/ealogg123.xml Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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