Guest guest Posted August 1, 2007 Report Share Posted August 1, 2007 Today for you 35 new articles about earth's trees! (217th edition) Subscribe / send blank email to: earthtreenews- Weblog: http://olyecology.livejournal.com . --British Columbia: 1) Lasqueti Island Nature Conservancy, 2) 700 companies sign Caribou letter, 3) Beetle Action Coalition, 4) TimberWest not yet affected by strike, --PNW: 5) speak out to save Spotted Owl habitat --Washington: 6) New rural culture takes shape around Colville NF --Oregon: 7) Day of reckoning came early? 8) Money for Murrelet forests, 9) Bush Cuts Survey and manage species program, 10) Comment on BLM old growth liquidation plan, --Arizona: 11) Forests to be looked at in a new, much bigger way --Wisconsin: 12) Wild Rivers Legacy Forest --New Hampshire: 13) Songbird population faces challenges --Georgia: 14) New theater made of the last Makoré trees --Florida: 15) Loss of big tree is difficult but worth it --USA: 16) Forest Service global warming plan, 17) Eastern US transformation research, 18) Illegal logging legislation, 19) Lynx habitat to be re-reviewed, --Canada: 20) Ontario drags feet in First Nation land rights negotiations --Brazil: 21) environmental technocrats, 22) Drought symposium, 23) Slva shows newfound flexibility, 24) Where corrupt official log it all for themselves, 25) Cerrado, a vast plateau threatened by Ethanol producers, 26) Castelo dos Sonhos is where peasants and enviros are murdered, --Afghanistan: 27) 70% of forest lost in 20 years --Madagascar: 28) Atsinana voted to world heritage status --India: 29) Students defend forests with batons, 30) Court takes up valuation of forests, --Sri Lanka: 31) Ratnavira, renowned nature artist --Vietnam: 32) Salt-marsh forests threatened by digging for impotence-curing worms --Australia: 33) Turnbull's conference on illegal logging is despicable, 34) Phoney Forest War, 35) six protesters shut down logging in Arve Valley, British Columbia: 1) Lasquetians and their supporters working to raise money for the expansion of Squitty Bay Provincial Marine Park received some good news from the Islands Trust this week. The Trust board announced they will provide a $5,000 matching grant from its Opportunity Fund to boost fundraising for the expansion. The Lasqueti Island Nature Conservancy and the Island Trust Fund are working together to protect the 38.5 hectare property adjacent to the current park. To do that, they need to raise $250,000 by the end of October. If they succeed, BC Parks will pony up the remainder of the $1.34 million price tag and add it to the existing park. The land in question contains over a kilometre of rugged coastline, with sheltered bays and beaches, older forests, as heritage orchard, salmon bearing creek and coastal bluffs. Lasqueti Island Nature Conservancy director Melinda Auerbach said she welcomes the opportunity to protect what she calls one of the Gulf Islands' most special places, noting the owners are willing to sell the property at well below market value because they want to see it added to the park. " I hope this matching grant encourages people to get out their cheque books, " she said. news 2) Nearly 700 U.S. and Canadian companies have signed a letter to Premier Gordon Campbell urging the government to save British Columbia's dwindling population of mountain caribou. British Columbia, which has the world's last remaining mountain caribou, with about 1,900 animals in 18 separate herds, is formulating a plan to save the endangered species by setting aside old-growth forest habitat and culling predators. The final plan is expected to be released by September and the letter is part of a continuing effort by environmentalists to lobby the government. ForestEthics, one of several environmental groups pushing to have more habitat set aside, released a copy of the letter yesterday to Mr. Campbell that was endorsed by a wide array of businesses, ranging from a plastic surgery clinic in Seattle to an off-Broadway ticket sales office in New York. " When we put out a call, we thought there might be 100 out there that would voice support, " Candace Batycki of ForestEthics said. " But we were overwhelmed by the response. Very quickly we had many, many hundreds signing on, and they came from all over the place, which illustrates that it's not just a B.C. issue. People are watching from all over North America. " Ms. Batycki said about 80 per cent of the businesses are located in the United States, while the rest are from Canada. Mountain caribou used to range widely along the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains, from north of Prince George in B.C., to central Idaho and northern Montana. But they have declined by 50 per cent during the past decade. South of the border they have vanished from Montana, and now only a single herd, estimated at 37 animals, remains in the lower 48 states - in Idaho, making them the most endangered large mammal in North America. Ms. Batycki said Idaho's hopes of maintaining its last herd and Montana's plans to reintroduce mountain caribou will likely hinge on the success or failure of B.C.'s plan. A science panel established by the B.C. government last year identified six million hectares of mountain caribou habitat in the province, including about 2.5 million hectares of " core habitat " that is seen as being crucial to the animals. " Some of the core habitat is already found in parks, but I would expect the government is going to have to set aside something in the order of one million hectares more, " Ms. Batycki said. 3) The Southern Interior Beetle Action Coalition has received $800,000 from Victoria and Ottawa to help it assess the impact of the mountain pine beetle in the region and plan its response. " This funding will help communities, regional districts and First Nations across the southern Interior to deal with the social and economic impacts of the beetle epidemic, " said Premier Gordon Campbell. " With this funding, the Southern Interior Beetle Action Coalition will work to quantify the impact of the beetle on the region's timber supply, consult local stakeholders and plan ways to sustain and strengthen the communities most affected. " The Southern Interior Beetle Action Coalition will use the funding in various ways, including: 1) Build organizational capacity. 2) Conduct a forest-sector trend analysis study for the region. 3) Conduct a pine beetle socio-economic impact assessment for the region. 4) Host pine beetle discussion and planning forums for residents and stakeholders. 5) Develop a 2008 work plan for dealing with regional pine beetle priorities. http://stuckinfijimud.blogspot.com/2007/07/mahogany-in-fiji-growing-weary.html 4) While most of the coast is on strike, TimberWest's Campbell River sawmill keeps on cutting. " The mill is running, " said Steve Lorimer, TimberWest's Vancouver Island spokesperson, explaining the sawmill's workers are in a different union than the Steelworkers who represent about 7,000 coastal forestry workers on the picket lines this week. TimberWest's contractors, represented by the Steelworkers, are on strike but sawmill workers are represented by the Communication, Energy and Paperworkers union, whose members are still working on the pile of logs delivered by contractors before they went on strike Saturday. " They do have some wood supply for the immediate term, " he said. However, if the strike starts to take its toll on the forestry industry and log markets, the sawmill might also suffer. " Markets will be the question as to how long they continue to operate, " he said. Meanwhile, TimberWest is still before the Labour Relations Board, arguing for the right to hold a secret ballot vote for its employees. Last week, just after the Steelworkers union served TimberWest with 72-hour strike notice, the company responded with its final contract offer. The offer proposed an 11 per cent wage increase and also offered a $100,000 signing bonus for each of the company's 29 engineers and foresters eligible to vote on the contract. The offer was condemned by the union as unfair to hundreds of other TimberWest-contracted employees, ineligible for the signing bonus. Talks broke down between the union and Forest Industrial Relations, which represents 31 forestry companies, several weeks ago. Last week talks broke down with Interfor and by Saturday all coastal operations with Steelworkers union employees were on strike. So far neither the union nor forestry companies have made any move to settle their differences, which seem to be over contracting out and how shifts should be scheduled for employees. http://www.campbellrivermirror.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=6 & cat=23 & id=10335\ 34 & more=0 PNW: From global warming to energy extraction, the Bush administration has a long record of putting politics above science. Just last month, an internal plan to fundamentally re-write the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was leaked to salon.com laying out ways to weaken protection for endangered species to better serve developer's interests. Now the Administration is at it again. Bush administration officials have distorted critical recommendations for protecting the threatened Northern Spotted Owl. Last year, the US Fish and Wildlife Service assembled a recovery team to develop a plan to recover the Northern Spotted Owl. A crucial component of the owl's recovery is the protection of old growth forests the owl needs for its survival. The Bush administration's actions are aimed at dismantling a landmark agreement made in the mid-90s that protected some of America's last, remaining old growth forests. Act Now: Your comments are essential! Tell the Fish and Wildlife Service that the Recovery Plan MUST be based on sound science, not political pandering to the timber industry. Click below to send a prepared letter to the Fish and Wildlife Service. Deadline for Comments has been extended to August 24, 2007. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/americanlandsalliance/camp\ aign.jsp?campai gn_KEY=11246 Washington: 6) In the early 1990s, major timber interests imported a Beverly Hills, Calif., agency to shape a TV campaign. Its theme: Rural Washington would turn into a new Appalachia if national forest logging was curtailed. It didn't happen. It wasn't so long ago, in 2002, when Vaagen Bros. closed its mill in Republic and Coleman was fielding death threats over the phone. A local restaurant put a sign in its window that he was not welcome on the premises. A little more than five years later, a Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition -- composed of historic foes -- has come up with a blueprint for the 1.1 million-acre Colville National Forest. It would set aside more than 300,000 acres as designated wilderness, protecting dry, old-growth forests of Ponderosa pine and interior rain forests of Western red cedar ... and the rich wildlife habitat of rounded 7,000-foot peaks dotted with small lakes. A slightly larger chunk of the national forest, closer to towns, would be " responsible management areas " producing a sustainable flow of timber with thinning that would reduce the risk of out-of-control wildfires. Mills and mines were economic cornerstones of northeast Washington for more than a century. In the air, one can look across the nearby border into British Columbia and see a big sawmill in Grand Forks, an enormous lead smelter in Trail and smoke from a pulp mill in Castlegar. South of the 49th parallel, however, timber harvests from three national forests crashed from 519 million board feet in 1987 to 86.8 million board feet seven years later. The Colville National Forest timber made up 44 percent of the 1989 timber cut in Ferry County. In 2002, it accounted for just 4 percent. Vaagen Bros. and other timber operators have kept going, but they have depended on private timber and logs harvested from the Colville Indian Reservation. " We need a baseline (of federal timber). It's kind of hard to plan future operations when they tell you the baseline is zero, " joked Vaagen. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/325392_joel27.html Oregon: 7) The battle played out in courtrooms, headlines on the streets and in the forests. Loggers convoyed to Portland in a huge protest. On the other side, demonstrators dressed in feathers, sat in timber stands and refused to budge. The debate grew so heated that, in 1993, President Clinton traveled to Portland for a long weekend of talks aimed at finding a middle ground. The result a year later was the Northwest Forest Plan, which put millions of acres of federal timber off-limits to logging. What was billed as a compromise did little to calm tensions between rural residents and environmentalists -- a bitterness that spread throughout the state and lingers today. " You can't buy a damn job because there ain't one, " says Denvil " D " Kimble, 87, of Canyonville. " If affects everybody. " Kimble, who logged for 28 years before retiring in the 1970s, still takes the downfall of the logging industry personally. His two sons tried to follow in his footsteps, but they lost their livelihoods after the spotted owl was listed as a threatened species in 1990. One son now " moves dirt " for a contractor, Kimble says. The other moved to Arkansas, where he logs hardwood. The owl is a metaphor for an intractable standoff in Oregon over the value and best use of the state's natural resources, Kerr says. The timber industry was on the cusp of transformation as the number of ancient fir and hemlock trees steadily dwindled. Mills adapted to the smaller trees coming in from private land. Astute politicians courted electronics firms, food processors and other manufacturers. Some loggers and millworkers retrained for those jobs. Others said goodbye to Oregon. " Yeah, it was a big change, " Kerr says, but it was on its way regardless. " We just brought the day of reckoning home a little earlier. " http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/stories/index.ssf?/base/news/118558594487500\ ..xml & coll=7 8) A federal oil spill fund has been tapped for $15.5 million to buy nesting habitat for marbled murrelets, a threatened sea bird harmed by the 1999 grounding of the New Carissa, officials said Tuesday. The 3,851 acres in the northern Coast Range, where logging was already restricted to protect nesting trees for the birds, was bought from Forest Capital Partners and Plum Creek Timber Co. and turned over to the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in a statement. A third of the land is currently used by marbled murrelets for nesting, a third will be managed to promote the large trees favored by murrelets for nesting, and a third will be managed for timber to pay for the project, the agency said. The 660-foot freighter New Carissa ran aground at the entrance to Coos Bay on Feb. 4, 1999, and spilled 25,000 to 140,000 gallons of fuel oil. The ship broke apart while being towed off the beach. The bow drifted north and ran aground near Waldport before being towed to sea and sunk. Authorities estimate that 2,465 sea birds were killed or injured, including 262 marbled murrelets, whose threatened species status has forced reductions in logging old-growth forests where they nest. http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-20/11859023831\ 95060.xml & story list=orlocal 9) Grants Pass -- Acting on an agreement with the timber industry, the Bush administration has decided to quit looking for little-known snails, lichens and other sensitive species before selling timber in Northwest national forests, setting up another round of litigation over a plan created to protect spotted owls and salmon. The U.S. Forest Service announced Friday that so-called survey and manage provisions have been eliminated from the Northwest Forest Plan by way of a final decision on an environmental impact statement signed by Assistant Interior Secretary Steve Allred and Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey. The decision makes it easier to log islands of old-growth timber on areas of national forests and U.S. Bureau of Land Management lands designated for timber production in Western Washington, Oregon and Northern California. Conservationists said they would go back to court to stop the Bush administration from weakening the Northwest Forest Plan. " This is another in a long line of administration attempts to rip out the last of our remaining old-growth forests, " said Pete Frost, a lawyer for the Western Environmental Law Center, which represented conservation groups in litigation over the issue. " And it is no more legal today than it was when the court declared it to be illegal two years ago. " http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/325520_logging28.html 10) The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is taking public comment on its plans to expand the harvest on 2.5 million BLM acres in Western Oregon. BLM spokesman Alan Hoffmeister said the agency could " double or triple " its annual sale of roughly 200 million board feet. The U.S. Forest Service also plans eventually to cut an additional 200 million board feet of timber annually - a 33 percent increase - in keeping with the expectations of the federal Northwest Forest Plan, which covers Northern California and the western portions of Oregon and Washington, spokesman Tom Knappenberger said. But the public also will zero in on how many trees might be cut under any new plans. Both the BLM and the forest service said the expanded harvests could include mature stands or old growth, and that could prompt legal battles with conservation groups such as Oregon Wild, formerly the Oregon Natural Resources Council. " Any attempt to increase logging of old growth forest will be strongly opposed by the conservation community and the public at large, " said Doug Heiken, of Oregon Wild. Heiken said it's wrong to return to the practice of logging older trees because the forests are tapped out after years of unacceptably heavy logging. A few years of increased revenue aren't worth the toll on quality of life and other values tied to the forests, he said. Since federal timber sales dropped in the early 1990s, Lane County has received $30 million to $40 million a year in timber aid from Congress. As the state's federal lawmakers push for multiyear renewal of that aid, they'll also consider sending the counties money from timber sales to replace a drop in the aid, said Stewart, the Lane County commissioner. Penny Dodge, a spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., couldn't confirm that DeFazio will try to include timber-sale revenue in any new aid package. DeFazio said he's working with U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., on a proposal to increase thinning work in federal forests. http://www.registerguard.com/news/2007/07/28/a1.logging.0728.p2.php?section=city\ region Arizona: 11) The plan calls for forests to be looked at in a new, much bigger way: Envision thousands and thousands of acres of forest that roll across the state, unhindered by federal, state or local boundaries. In unveiling the plan Wednesday, Gov. Janet Napolitano said Arizona becomes the first state to take such a comprehensive approach to forest health. The proposal is filled with recommendations ranging from those for the federal government (more money) to homeowners in forested areas (protect your property). And it lays to rest the argument that has long driven forest debates: whether to cut the big trees for timber or protect them for their value to the ecosystem. Sen. Tom O'Halleran, R-Sedona, who co-chaired one of the groups that produced the report, said there's more reason to act on the report than the obvious need to avert catastrophic wildfires: Healthy forests are vital for watersheds and for wildlife habitat. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0726foresthealth0726.html Wisconsin: 12) You may never cast for brook trout in the Pine or Popple rivers in northern Florence County. Or topple a tree bound for a lumber mill in nearby Goodman in Marinette County. Or drag a deer, hike aspen slashing in search of fall grouse, wander through an abundant display of autumn foliage or snowshoe through winter hardwoods in the 64,633-acre landscape known as the Wild Rivers Legacy Forest. But you could — now and forever, thanks to an enhanced relationship between The Nature Conservancy, the state of Wisconsin and a real estate consortium. The ownership and outlook of Wisconsin's big-block private forests are rapidly changing as the price of land escalates and development demands increase. Timber companies and paper mills have long held the reins as the state's largest private landowners, owning hundreds of thousands of acres primarily in northern counties. It had been a comfortable relationship with surrounding residents and tourists, while the property operated as a managed forest allowing public access, which was the situation throughout most of the past century. That bond began to unravel in the late 1990s. Timber companies found land often more valuable as real estate than tree production and began selling off large tracts, as well as smaller parcels. Forest land quickly became an attractive investment, drawing the attention of Wall Street and real estate investment trusts. When International Paper opted to sell its lands in Florence, Forest and Marinette counties, the Nature Conservancy partnered with the state and a timber firm a year ago to protect 64,617 acres. The total purchase price was $83,675,000, with Conservation Forestry LLC, a timber investment managing company, paying $44,600,000 and the Nature Conservancy and state of Wisconsin providing $39,075,000, which is expected to come from state, federal and private sources. The state agreed to purchase outright 5,629-acres for $14,025,000 million and join with the Nature Conservancy in furnishing $25,050,000 for a conservation easement that encumbers 59,023 acres. Within the boundaries flow more than 70 miles of streams, including 14 miles of the Pine and Popple rivers, notable for being among the first of Wisconsin's designated " Wild Rivers. " The tract also includes more than 48 small lakes and ponds. The easement allows public access for hunting, hiking, fishing, snowmobiling and other recreation while also allowing the harvest of timber, thereby supplying local logging jobs as well as lumber for local mills. http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070729/APC0204/70729062\ 2/1892/APCsports New Hampshire: 13) According to studies by the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation, New Hampshire's songbird population faces a number of challenges that threaten or adversely affect the birds and their local habitats. Songbirds that frequent the state include the winter wren, the scarlet tanager, the white-breasted nuthatch, the rose-breasted grosbeak, and 28 species of warblers, some of which weigh less than three pennies. Scientists say there is hope for the birds, however, if landowners practice good wildlife management. " Management can give the birds lakes and forests. The land that's going to make the difference is going to be made by private landholders. Undisturbed is best, " said Nick Rodenhouse, an ornithologist for the study, speaking at a recent talk at the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center in Holderness. The foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 1993 to support the work of the 50 scientists conducting ecological research for the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study, a long-term study of forest and aquatic ecosystems in a 7,600-acre reserve in the White Mountain National Forest near Thornton. Rodenhouse said 80 percent of N.H.'s songbirds are migratory; few of the species are year-round residents. Any negative effects to the birds' habitat, such as a decrease in the number of insects and caterpillars available for food and the condition of the bird's nesting and feeding sites, can cause birds to change their migration patterns and go elsewhere. One of the largest environmental threats against the birds is climate change, he said. According to 2001 data, the Northeast is the seventh-highest emissions producing region in the world. Scientists have predicted that with the current rate of emissions, by 2050 and Massachusetts could have the same climate as Georgia. Under a lower emissions model, Massachusetts could have a similar climate to the Washington, D.C. area by that year, he said. Computer models were created showing the distribution of 150 bird species around the region. One model showed numbers of blue-throated blue warblers declining around the region if the climate warms significantly. Under a high-emissions climate model of migratory birds, 49 species would decline and 33 would increase. Under a low emissions model, 35 would decline and 27 would increase. http://stuckinfijimud.blogspot.com/2007/07/mahogany-in-fiji-growing-weary.html Georgia: 14) Onyx, alabaster and handmade Italian chandeliers in the lobby. Commissioned art on the walls. And in the center's John A. Williams Theatre, decorative wood panels cut from rare makoré trees. But is the new theater's glamour tarnished if the term " rare " is replaced with " endangered " ? The Cobb center's makoré wood comes from a dwindling number of trees unique to West African rain forests. Several international conservation organizations include the tree on threatened species lists and issue warnings of possible extinction. Makoré is not, however, on watch lists influenced by the U.S. timber lobby. Growing to a height of about 120 feet, with trunks as wide as nine feet, Tieghemella heckelii has appealed to craftsmen for centuries. Often called African cherry, the wood has long been used in musical instruments, from harpsichords to early fortepianos to high-end electric guitars. In recent years, makoré has been used extensively as a building material. It panels law offices and board rooms across the country. It was used to spruce up the Woodruff Arts Center's lobby for its 1990s renovation, and it's all over the Philadelphia Orchestra's Verizon Hall, which opened in 2002. Bill Reynolds, the Cobb center's principal architect and partner with the Atlanta firm Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates, said the firm's interior design team picked makoré " primarily for its color and graining. When we specify a material, we check with the supplier to make sure it's not endangered, " he said. " But we know it's a moving target. In two years, its [viability] could change. " Asked to comment on the center's use of makoré, Cobb center managing director Michael Taormina waved away concerns. " I don't think it'll affect fund-raising, " he said. " It's already done. " http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/living/stories/2007/07/29/wood_0730.html Florida: 14) For years, sometimes for decades, they cleared their holdings of virgin forest; depending on forest type and age, a man could clear from one to two or three acres a year…No colonial or early national husbandman expected to live long enough to make one perfectly cleared farm. In the Northeast, the land simply wants to be forest, and any neglected field becomes forest in short order, so it's still the farmer versus the woods. Even in city yards, most of us have to choose sides. Lately, I have been getting into a lot of trouble with tree-lovers, because not even the most magnificent shade tree is, in my opinion, as beautiful as a homemade peach pie. My idea of a gorgeous landscape is one that you can eat out of and cut flowers for your table out of--and in my fair city, Saratoga Springs, there are entirely too many Victorian-era shade trees interfering with my farming compulsion. Oh sure, I love them in the winter, in the snow. Then the giant sugar maples and giant Norwegian spruces make my pretty town seem like a particularly magical settlement in center of an enchanted wood. But I have no patience for them in the growing season. I'm of the Henry Mitchell school--trees belong in forests, not in gardens. So when the ancient sugar maple on my property line had to come down--it was growing into the neighbor's house both top and tail, interrupting the plumbing and damaging a second-floor porch--I cried crocodile tears. Admittedly, the felling itself was a sickeningly violent event that made me question my loyalties. The thud when the body when it hit the ground was horrible, and the stump bled a flesh-colored sap for a full year. But now I'm over the trauma and like the tree much better as a three-foot high plinth for a giant pot of cannas than I did as a round-crowned, thick-trunked beauty. http://www.gardenrant.com/my_weblog/2007/07/the-farmer-vers.html USA: 16) Later this year, the Forest Service is expected to unveil a global warming-related forest management plan. It could involve planting additional acres, thinning existing stands and burning the leftover debris, or slash, to produce electricity. In Montana, some school districts are using forest debris to fuel their boilers. Kimbell said the new boilers run cleaner on the scrap wood than oil- or gas-fired boilers. About 13 million of the Forest Service's 193 million acres have been cleared and thinned out. Rather than cutting mature trees, environmentalists say the Forest Service should concentrate on the 1 million acres that were logged but never replanted. The replanting price tag is $660 million. They want to engage in more chainsaw health, " said Bill Arthur, a deputy national field director for the Sierra Club. While he wasn't opposed to some selective thinning of forest stands, Arthur said, the Forest Service has included healthy, mature trees in its logging sales. Kimbell said that sometimes the only way to attract bidders on the sales was by offering millable timber. " But this is not about diameter (of trees), it's about having healthy forests, " Kimbell said. The timber industry, meanwhile, is trying to soften its image and emerge as a leading player in trying to rein in greenhouse gases. Environmentalists scoff. " It's baloney, " said Mike Francis of The Wilderness Society. " The timber industry's answer to everything is cut more trees. " On Capitol Hill, the House of Representatives approved a $2.5 million increase in the Forest Service's roughly $20 million climate change research budget. The agency has told Congress it could use an additional $30 million. Peterson said global warming has changed everything when it comes to forest management. " This is a whole new ballgame, " he said. " I call it management by experiment. " http://www.theolympian.com/news/story/175543-p3.html 17) This study is the most in-depth analysis ever completed on the transformation of the landscape of the eastern half of the United States, and is a truly seminal paper on this subject. The study also presents the landscape variables in a form that can be directly used within climate models. We are in the process of completing a paper which uses this information; " Over the past 350 years, the eastern half of the United States experienced extensive land cover changes. These began with land clearing in the 1600s, continued with wide-spread deforestation, wetland drainage, and intensive land use by 1920, and then evolved to the present-day landscape of forest regrowth, intensive agriculture, urban expansion, and landscape fragmentation. Such changes alter biophysical properties that are key determinants of land-atmosphere interactions (water, energy, and carbon exchanges). To understand the potential implications of these land use transformations, we developed and analyzed 20-km land cover and biophysical parameter datasets for the eastern United States at 1650, 1850, 1920, and 1992 time-slices. Our approach combined potential vegetation, county-level census data, soils data, resource statistics, a Landsat-derived land cover classification, and published historical information on land cover and land use. We reconstructed land use intensity maps for each time-slice and characterized the land cover condition. We combined these land use data with a mutually-consistent set of biophysical parameter classes, to characterize the historical diversity and distribution of land surface properties. Time-series maps of land surface albedo, leaf area index, a deciduousness index, canopy height, surface roughness, and potential saturated soils in 1650, 1850, 1920, and 1992 illustrate the profound effects of land use change on biophysical properties of the land surface. Although much of the eastern forest has returned, the average biophysical parameters for recent landscapes remain markedly different from those of earlier periods. Understanding the consequences of these historical changes will require land-atmosphere interactions modeling experiments. " http://climatesci.colorado.edu/2007/07/30/new-research-paper-on-landscape-histor\ y-in-the-eastern -half-of-the-united-states/ 18) Like most illegal businesses, the global market in stolen timber also hurts honest producers. Legitimate forest products producers in the U.S. lose about $1 billion a year due to depressed prices and loss of export markets. This reality has produced a ray of hope in an otherwise fairly gloomy situation. An unprecedented coalition that includes the Sierra Club, the Rainforest Action Network, the United Steelworkers, the Teamsters Union, the American Forests and Paper Association, and the Nature Conservancy has joined together to support legislation that would extend the protections of the Lacey Act, which prohibits the importation, exporting, transporting, sale and purchase of illegally captured and endangered species. The Lacey Act has been one of the most effective global environmental treaties, and extending its protections to flora could be the first step towards producing a global timber business that is honest, instead of an armed racket, which is what most of it is today. This proposal builds on an earlier initiative by the Sierra Club and the Steelworkers to ask the International Trade Commission to investigate illegal Chinese logging; the Commission has agreed to do so. The bill was introduced in the Senate by Senator Ron Wyden (OR), while on the House side a bi-partisan trio of Representatives Blumenauer (D-OR), Weller (R-IL) and Wexler (D-FL) have taken the lead. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carl-pope/odd-bedfellows-against-il_b_58436.html 19) Julie MacDonald, a former deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks, ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to drop all national forest lands from the critical habitat designation four days before a court-ordered deadline, according to FWS records released this week. MacDonald also influenced the agency's decision to drop thousands of acres of private timberlands following meetings with representatives of Plum Creek Timber Co. and members of Maine's congressional delegation. As a result, the critical habitat designation dropped from the 18,000 acres proposed by federal biologists to 1,841 acres when it was finalized last November. The bulk of the acreage eventually designated as critical habitat was in Glacier National Park. " It's definitely not the way it would have gone if we were being scientific about the whole thing, " said Mike Stempel, Mountain Prairie regional director of fisheries and ecological services for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Denver. Last week, FWS director Dale Hall ordered a review of Endangered Species Act decisions influenced by MacDonald on eight different species, including the Canada lynx. Stempel expects there will be changes in the designation of critical lynx habitat following the review. The reviews will be completed as funding becomes available. In the Mountain Prairie Region, reviews on the white-tailed prairie dog and Preble's Meadow jumping mouse will likely take precedent over the Canada lynx critical habitat decision, Stempel said. MacDonald proposed delisting the jumping mouse based on preliminary genetic reports later overturned by an expert panel and changed a recommendation to further review the status of the prairie dog, according to FWS records. MacDonald's influence on critical lynx habitat doesn't stop ongoing efforts to preserve the species, Stempel said. Derek Goldman, a field representative for the Endangered Species Coalition, called the FWS decision a " good start " on reviewing actions taken by the Bush administration and the Department of the Interior on endangered species preservation. " If they make an honest effort to perform the reviews honestly, it will be a great start, " Goldman said. " We are surprised to not see bull trout and arctic grayling on the list of decisions to be reviewed. There are certainly other decisions that need to be reviewed. " http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/07/27/news/mtregional/news09.txt Canada: 20) Right now, Ontario's government is delaying court-mandated negotiations with First Nation communities and selling destructive leases for resource extraction (including oil, gas and lumber) on First Nation territory. On June 25, Rainforest Action Network organizers, in coalition with the Grassy Narrows and Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nations, erected a 30-foot tepee on the front lawn of the Canadian legislature demanding rights for Indigenous communities. RAN and First Nation communities across Canada need your help to increase the pressure on Ontario's provincial government to support the right of First Nations to manage their traditional territories as they see fit. You can help by signing the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty's petition calling for an end to resource extraction licenses granted on lands still under negotiation. Please take a moment and sign the petition. The government of Ontario needs to get the message that people all over the world are demanding respect for the rights of Indigenous people to manage their own traditional territory. Thank you, David, Annie, Brant and Jocelyn The Old Growth Campaign Team Rainforest Action Network http://www.ran.org Brazil: 21) Tasso belongs to a young Brazilian generation of environmental technocrats who have a fervent belief in the power of technology. Under the leadership of Marina Silva, the charismatic environment minister, who herself comes from the Amazon, they have developed an ambitious strategy for ending deforestation, now running at 1.3 million hectares a year, making Brazil the fifth largest global contributor to greenhouse gases. At the centre of this strategy lies a vast mosaic of conservation units, stretching across the heart of the Amazon Basin from north to south and already covering some twenty million hectares (an area the size of England and Scotland together), with more units planned. The idea is that these reserves will act as a buffer and stop the human predators - the land-grabbers, illegal loggers, cattle ranchers and soya farmers - moving into the western Amazon, which is still largely untouched. Some of these are old-fashioned nature parks, where no human activity is permitted. Others are so-called " extractive reserves " for the Amazon's long-term inhabitants such as the ribeir inhos (riverside dwellers, mainly descended from 19th-century rubber tappers or from runaway slaves). Yet others, created under Brazil's Project for Sustainable Development (PDS), are for the Amazon's shifting population of former gold prospectors, dam workers and landless families that have invaded indigenous reserves. Key to the success of all these conservation units are Tasso's satellite images, which will allow the government to ensure that only permitted, sustainable economic activity is undertaken. http://billtotten.blogspot.com/2007/07/death-of-amazon.html 22) Standing on an island in a quiet channel of the giant river, he points out what is happening. A month ago, the island was under water. Now, it juts 5m above it. It is a sign that severe drought is returning to the Amazon for a second successive year. And that would be ominous. New research suggests that one further dry year beyond that could tip the whole vast forest into a cycle of destruction. The day before, top scientists delivered much the same message at a remarkable floating symposium on the Rio Negro, on the strange black waters beside which Manaus, the capital city of the Amazon, stands. They told the meeting - convened on a flotilla of boats by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of the Greek Orthodox Church, dubbed the " green Pope " for his environmental activism - that global warming and deforestation were pushing the entire enormous area towards a " tipping point " , where it would start to die. The consequences would be awesome. The wet Amazon Basin would turn to dry savannah at best, desert at worst. This would cause much of the world to become hotter and drier. In the long term, it could send global warming out of control, eventually making the world uninhabitable. Rare pink river dolphin play in the tranquil waters around the cottages, kingfishers dive into them, giant, bright butterflies zig-zag across them and squirrel monkeys romp in the trees on their banks.There is little to suggest that it may be witnessing the first scenes of an apocalypse. The rivers of the Amazon Basin usually routinely fall 9m to 12m - greater than most of the tides of the world's seas - between the wet and dry seasons. But last year they just went on falling in the worst drought in recorded history. At one point in the western Brazilian state of Acre, the world's biggest river shrank so far that it was possible to walk across it. Millions of fish died, and thousands of communities whose only transport was by water were stranded. And the drying forest caught fire; in September, satellite camera images showed 73,000 blazes in the basin. This year, says Otavio Luz Castello, the water is draining away even faster than last year - and there are still more than three months of the dry season to go. About a fifth of the Amazonian rainforest has been razed completely. Another 22 per cent has been harmed by logging, allowing the sun to penetrate to the forest floor, drying it out. Add these two figures together and the total is perilously close to 50 per cent, predicted as the " tipping point " that marks the death of the Amazon. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2 & objectid=10392615 & pnum=0 23) Alarmed at recent indications of climate change here in the Amazon and in other regions of Brazil, the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has begun showing signs of new flexibility in the tangled, politically volatile international negotiations to limit human-caused global warming. The factors behind the re-evaluation range from a drought here in the Amazon rain forest, the world's largest, and the impact that it could have on agriculture if it recurs, to new phenomena like a hurricane in the south of Brazil. As a result, environmental advocates, scientists and some politicians say, Brazilian policy makers and the public they serve are increasingly seeing climate change not as a distant problem, but as one that could affect them too. Brazil remains suspicious of foreign involvement in its management of the Amazon, which it views as a domestic matter. But negotiators and others who monitor international climate talks say Brazil is now willing to discuss issues that until recently it considered off the table, including market-based programs to curb the carbon emissions that result from massive deforestation in the Amazon, in which areas the size of New Jersey or larger are razed each year. " I think things have advanced, certainly, compared to three years ago, when the government simply refused to discuss deforestation in international forums, " said Márcio Santilli, a former government official who helped start the Socio-Environmental Institute, an environmental group in Brasília. " There has been a change of posture which reflects the worries of Brazilian public opinion on this issue, which in turn puts pressure on politicians. " For years, Brazil's position in international climate change talks has been that Northern Hemisphere industrial countries must shoulder the burden of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Fearing a loss of sovereignty, it has resisted plans to create market mechanisms to provide payments for reductions in deforestation and carbon emissions, accompanied by international monitoring. Brazil's stance on such issues is vitally important because by most calculations it is the fourth-largest producer of the greenhouse gases that most scientists believe are the principal cause of global warming. Three-quarters of those emissions result from deforestation, the overwhelming bulk of which occurs here. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/31/world/americas/31amazon.html?_r=1 & oref=slogin 24) São Félix do Xingu has had a chequered history. It sits at the junction of the Fresco River with the Xingu, close to the geographical centre of Brazil. Ferries cross both rivers, giving access to areas of land which are nominally protected under Brazilian law, but are some of the most intense areas of deforestation in the world.These are no small-scale backwoods operations. The richest landowner keeps a helicopter at the airport and buzzes above the town just for pleasure during his occasional visits. It is said that one of the most dangerous men in the area recently arranged for his criminal record, complete with outstanding charges, to be 'cleansed'; this can only be achieved by someone with connections at the very highest level of the Federal government. The names of senior members of the government are frequently cited as having large holdings of land in the area, albeit often in the names of third party nominees. Flying over the area reveals the extent of deforestation. There is a law in Brazil that the owners of land in Amazonia may not deforest more than a fifth of their land; yet our overflight let us see that the converse is true; in many areas outside of the indigenous reserves, barely a fifth of the land retains its forest cover. A further paradox; the density of cattle on the land we flew over seems to be very low. In the past, we would see huge herds of cattle; nowadays there are just a few head spread out over a large area. Admittedly this is merely a casual observation, but it seemed very obvious to us that something has changed in the forces driving land ownership and use. Perhaps buying and selling the land through whatever corrupt channels lead to large funds of government money has taken over from husbanding cattle for meat or dairy produce as a more profitable activity? http://ipcst.wordpress.com/2007/07/29/frontier-towns-4th-july-2007/ 25) Jaguars, blue macaws and giant armadillos roam the fickle landscape of Brazil's Cerrado, a vast plateau where temperatures range from freezing to steaming hot and bushes and grasslands alternate with forests and the richest variety of flora of all the world's savannas. That could soon come to an end. In the past four decades, more than half of the Cerrado has been transformed by the encroachment of cattle ranchers and soybean farmers. And now another demand is quickly eating into the landscape: sugarcane, the raw material for Brazilian ethanol. " Deforestation in the Cerrado is actually happening at a higher rate than it has in the Amazon, " said John Buchanan, senior director of business practices for Conservation International in Arlington. " If the actual deforestation rates continue, all the remaining vegetation in the Cerrado could be lost by the year 2030. That would be a huge loss of biodiversity. " The roots of this transformation lie in the worldwide demand for ethanol, recently boosted by a U.S. Senate bill that would mandate the use of 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2022, more than six times the capacity of the United States' 115 ethanol refineries. President Bush, who proposed a similar increase in his State of the Union address, visited Brazil and negotiated a deal in March to promote ethanol production in Latin America and the Caribbean. U.S. companies and investors -- including George Soros and agribusiness giants Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill -- are staking out territory in Brazil, expecting even greater growth in biofuels. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/30/AR2007073001484.\ html 26) An unusual greeting awaits visitors to Castelo dos Sonhos, a former gold mining boomtown deep in the Brazilian Amazon. On the right, as you approach the dust-clogged settlement, a wooden crucifix sprouts from the undergrowth marking the spot where, in 2002, gunmen dumped the bullet-riddled body of a local human rights defender. Just beyond the cross, at the town's entrance, a white sign looms ominously over the roadside. " Welcome to the Castle of Dreams. Love it or leave it. " The Castle of Dreams must rank as one of the most inappropriately named places in the world. Located in the Amazonian state of Para - a region at the centre of illegal deforestation and which is also the Brazilian champion of rural violence - it was baptised by fortune-hunting goldminers who flocked from all over Brazil during the 1970s and '80s. These days, however, the wealth has dried up leaving an impoverished, violent frontier town about which there is little to love or dream about. Locals claim that the small town's cemetery is home to at least 100 bodies containing some kind of bullet wound. The town's main avenue, a dirt track built around what was once a goldmine airstrip, is now home to half a dozen squalid brothels where girls, some as young as 12, can be negotiated for as little as £5. This is the Brazilian Wild West, a state where land conflicts rage and rural leaders who oppose those trying to tear down the world's largest rainforest are often executed. According to Brazilian human rights group Justica Global, 772 activists and rural workers were killed here in Para between 1971 and 2004, while only three of these cases were ever brought to trial. Brasilia's execution was part of a 30-year wave of politically motivated murders in the Brazilian Amazon. Similar assassinations continue to take place across this notoriously lawless region, where the advance of illegal loggers and cattle ranchers has triggered an explosive dispute for land. Human-rights activists and environmentalists are routinely eliminated by those they oppose; threats against them are commonplace. In the nearby town of Sao Felix do Xingu, the mayor recently banned motorcycle helmets after locals complained that gunmen were using them to hide their identities while carrying out their duties. Meanwhile, environmental group Greenpeace has started using bulletproof vehicles in the region because of constant threats against its activists. http://www.sundayherald.com/international/shinternational/display.var.1580531.0.\ 0.php Afghanistan: 27) Afghanistan will face a serious environmental crisis, which will have grave consequences for millions of its estimated 27 million population, if the government and international aid organisations continue ignoring the country's degrading environment, experts warn. " More than 80 percent of [Afghanistan's] land could be subject to soil erosion… soil fertility is declining, salinisation is on the increase, water tables have dramatically fallen, de-vegetation is extensive and soil erosion by water and wind is widespread, " said a recent report - called Sustainable Land Management 2007 - by Afghanistan's Ministry of Agriculture and Food (MoAF). Abdul Rahman Hotaky, chairman of the Afghan Organisation for Human Rights and Environmental Protection (AOHREP), said there were many reasons why the future of the country's environment was grim: more than 26 years of armed conflict, population displacement and extended drought; the misuse of natural resources; the lack of a law enforcement authority; and the lack of appropriate policies for the environment. " In the last two decades, we have lost over 70 percent of our forests throughout the country, " Hotaky told IRIN on 29 July in the capital, Kabul. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73481 Madagascar: 28) Recently UNESCO voted the rainforest area Atsinana on Madagascar to their World Heritage List. Atsinana, the eastern part of Madagascar, have six national parks well worth a visit: Marojejy, Zahamena, Masoala, d'Andringitra, Ranomafana, Ihorombe and d'Andohahela. Masoala is the largest national park in Madagascar and have been recreated in Masoala Rainforest at Zürich's Zoo in Switzerland. http://blissfultravel.wordpress.com/2007/07/30/madagascar-atsinana-rainforest-ar\ ea-new-unesc o-site/ India: 22) Pangulu Pahada owes a lot to Ramakanta Pradhan and his 60 students for its existence. The hill would have become a neglected barren mount if the headmaster and his flock from an upper primary school in remote Orissa had not decided to protect it, helping a 121-hectare forest on the hill spring back to life. The master and students from the Swastik school in Godbhanga village of Deogarh district in Orissa have been on a battle against fellers and encroachers for 15 years. They have dealt with all kindsfellers, poachers and encroachers. Armed with batons, the children monitor the forest daily to prevent logging. If they find fellers, they bring them to their teacher. The forest guards also help them. We are always alert. When we hear an axe hitting a log, we go in a group to fetch them, Pradhan says. The efforts have yielded results; now the wells in the rea bear more water and even the officials confirm the change in atmosphere. The initiative has prompted other schools in the region to get involved in similar efforts. The school has an eco-club and the students engage in many environmental activities in the area. The district collector has assured us support which we hope will soon be forthcoming, says Pradhan. http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20070731 & filename=news & sec_id\ =50 & sid=24 30) This discussion on valuation of forests has been taken up in the Supreme Court of India as part of the Interlocutory Application (I.A.) No.566 of 2000 in the T N Godavarman Thirumulpad vs. Union of India (Writ Petition (civil) 202 of 1995). This is a matter related to the utilisation of funds for compensatory afforestation, and determining a net present value for the diversion of forest land for non-forest use. Five years after the issue was taken up in the Supreme Court, the bench comprising of Y K Sabharwal, Arijit Pasayat and S H Kapadia passed a detailed order on 29 September 2005 on the valuation of forests. While recognising the importance of forests in sustaining life, the order attempted to address several questions, some of which are: should the user agency not be required to compensate for the diversion of the forest land in the light of the consequential loss and benefits accruing from the forests? If yes, should the user agency be required to make a payment of Net Present Value (NPV) of such diverted forest land? What should be the guidelines for NPV and how can the NPV be calculated and determined? Should some projects be exempted from this? (See: www.forestcaseindia .org for full order. Also see this earlier article). The court order defines NPV as, " the present value (PV) of net cash flow from a project, discounted by the cost of capital " . The 29 September 2005 order traces the evolution of the case from the year 2000 onwards. The genesis of the matter was in the discussions in the court around the lack of compliance of the compensatory afforestation efforts in return for forest lands being lost due to diversion for non-forest use. http://pankaj-atcrossroads.blogspot.com/2007/07/diverting-forest-lands.html Sri Lanka: 31) " Most of my work is not just about the art but, more so to highlight why animals, birds or even fauna are vital in the conservation of nature, " he said. For instance if one were to observe a herd of elephants say at the Yala National Park (as depicted in his work " Friends in High Places " ), you'd see how there would always be a group of monkeys and Bee-eaters travelling along with them overhead. This is for the simple and quite obvious reason that when the monkeys eat leaves, they always drop a few, thereby, the baby elephants that can't reach the high branches can get some food. In turn, the Bee-eaters feed on the insects that are attracted to the elephant droppings (dung) and horseflies which are incidentally quite harmful to the elephants. So, it shows the symbiotic relationship all creatures share with one another, irrespective of species or size. I realised what a complex system nature was, " says Gamini Ratnavira, renowned nature artist, passionate conservationist, devoted husband, loving father and national treasure. The first thing you realise when talking to this man is, just how fascinating he is. His memorable childhood, his countless adventures and travels…in short, his life's experiences can be termed as nothing short of intriguing. What else can you say of a man who's had a baby elephant living in his bedroom? It was apparently orphaned and rescued from the wilds by his aunt but, had stayed on with Gamini as it had grown quite fond of him. " It was easier living with an elephant, than most humans I've met in my life, " he says laughing. Drawing, from the time he was only five (even though they didn't resemble anything in particular, at the time), was his way of bringing back and capturing memories of what he'd seen. An old boy of De Mazenod College - Kandana, he hadn't even been allowed into art classes since the fifth grade after falling out with the art master, he says with a smile. Currently slotted in as the number one rainforest artist in the world, by the 'Rainforest Museum Tour', Gamini was honoured by the Sri Lankan community in Los Angeles (LA) by being given an 'Award of Excellence' - for his contribution to the art world. http://www.sundaytimes.lk/070729/Plus/pls1.html Vietnam: 32) Salt-marsh forests threatened by illegal digging for impotence-curing worms: Dia Sam is a type of worm which plays an important role in enriching the ground and helping forest trees grow better. " Recently, Dia Sam has become a special dish in HCM City and it is also exported to China. That's why digging for worms in the forest has become so popular, " said resident Sau Xe. Dia Sam often hide on wet land under bushes. People can dig it up easily and only need to use a hoe. A regular digger named Hai can collect 3kg of Dia Sam per day. As a kilo of the worms fetches VND12,000, a digger can earn a generous income which pays much more than other jobs. Rach Moc, a protected forest is considered the best place to dig for Dia Sam. More and more people are visiting the area to dig for the worm illegally. " It is difficult to arrest people because they go further and further inside the forest and use sophisticated camouflage to hide in the bushes and trees, " said Nguyen Phan Thuan, leader of Thanh Nien Guard. Once they see the guards, the diggers immediately hide deep in the forest and there are not enough guards to properly protect large areas of land. Due to a lack of knowledge about forest protection, most diggers just think of their own immediate benefits. They don't realise that digging Dia Sam damages forest land and tree development or that their activities have a destructive effect on the whole ecological system. " Once the Dia Sam are caught, many old mature forests are destroyed. The forestry situation is getting worse without the Dia Sam to help improve the quality of the soil, " explained Thai Dac Giang. http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01ENV280707 Australia: 33) Malcolm Turnbull's conference on illegal logging in " developing " nations in Sydney this week is a despicable diversionary tactic. Here in Australia we log our own native forests and massive old growth trees unsustainably and illegally. We know what happens in Tasmania when we find they are doing the dodgy ... they fast-track new laws and it's business as usual for companies like Gunns. Is this what they are going to workshop at the conference? " How to change illegal logging into legal logging by changing your laws, 101 " ? Collectively, non-Kyoto nations, which include Australia, account for about 50 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, gross domestic product and population. Our Government and the Opposition are both happy to let the chainsaws rip on our old growth and native forests while they shake their hypocritical fingers at other countries. We can lead by example; stop logging old growth and all native forests. We can save our tourism industry and boost our economy without wood chips. We should help other countries take action on deforestation but no one is going to take Howard and Turnbull seriously till they stop the chop here. Whether it's legalised forest destruction in Australia or illegal forest destruction in Asia, the end result is the same; our greatest biodiversity arks, water producers and carbon stores are cut down daily at similar rates. http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=your+say & subclass=general & stor\ y_id=1025921 & cat egory=letters+to+the+editor 34) A program called " The Phoney Forest War " went to air on ABC Radio National's National Interest program on Sunday 15 July. The two guests on the program were environmentalist and author of " The Forest Wars, *Judith Ajani, *and forest industry lobbyist *Robert Eastment.* Judith Ajani presents the case that the plantation sector has expanded so much over the last 10-15 years that it could easily replace logging in native forests immediately. She also claims that there are more workers employed in the plantation part of the industry than the native forest part of the industry, but she says that within the CFMEU's forestry division , there are more members from the native forest industry than the plantation industry. This is especially relevant given Kevin Rudd's decision to betray (again) the ALP national conference's decision and decide not to protect any more native forests. The Liberal Party is portraying this as caving into the union. The reality is that both the Labor Party and the Forestry Division of the CFMEU have caved in to the capitalists that log the native forests. The link to a transcript of the program is here. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/nationalinterest/stories/2007/1978122.htm http://leftclickblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/no-need-for-native-forest-logging.html 35) Six protesters from the Huon Environment Centre entered a coupe in the Arve Valley west of Geeveston this morning, forcing the timber cutters to stop work. Jenny Weber from the Environment Centre is calling for the area to be protected by adding it to the Hartz National Park. " The current logging area is 80 hectares, its a massive area, its old growth forest, and it's just another wilderness area in southern Tasmania which is consigned to destruction for the current Tasmania forestry industry, and we're calling for urging protection. " But Forestry Tasmania's acting district manager, Donald Riddill says the area is not classified as old growth forest. " This particular bit of forest is mainly mature forest or regrowth forest, " he said. He says Forestry Tasmania is moving to establish an exclusion zone in the area to prevent further protests. http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/30/1992163.htm?section=business Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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