Guest guest Posted November 6, 2007 Report Share Posted November 6, 2007 Today for you 35 new articles about earth's trees! (250th edition) Subscribe / send blank email to: earthtreenews- Weblog: http://olyecology.livejournal.com . --British Columbia: 1) Big Timber ending mushroom harvests, 2) Caribou plan fails, 3) Tribes not consulted on real estate scam, --Washington: 4) UW Forestry school only now a century old --California: 5) SPI action, 6) Tahoe Basin Fire Commission want lots of logging, --Montana: 7) Mortality of fire scarred trees, 8) Mineral county real estate, --Ohio: 9) Trees to textbooks program --Pennsylvania: 10) Corrupt bills aim for drilling as highest priority for all state lands --New York: 11) Horse logging --Maine: 12) Punishing Plum Creek watchdogs --Canada: 13) Public Lands Coalition demand cutting moratorium --UK: 14) 50 trees lost to developer, 15) How much of Sherwood forest is left? --EU: 16) 13 million new hectares in 15 years? 17)Heatwaves makes plants exhaust CO2, --Germany: 18) 122 trees cut for homeowner's view --Turkey: 19) Reforested land taken over by golf courses --Uganda: 20) Outcomes of decentralization policies --Kenya: 21) De Brazza's monkey out of the woods, 22) Loggers want Maathai's trees, --Brazil: 23) How illegal roads work --India: 24) Fire issues in India --China: 25) Hydropower's ecologic disaster --Vietnam: 26) New preserves for rare Ox and other species --Indonesia: 27) Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, 28) Illegal loggers, 29) Difficulties identifying native species in danger of extinction, --New Zealand: 30) Protest over sale of Kwila furniture --Australia: 31) First election results show pulp advocates losing, 32) Activist berates Prime Minister, 33) Protesting ANZ Bank's in pulp mill funds, 34) Fencing in to save it, --World-wide: 35) Old forests store more carbon than young forests, British Columbia: 1) A few years ago, I used to go searching for matsutake, also known as pine mushrooms, which only grow in primeval forests. Perhaps because of its purported aphrodisiacal qualities, the matsutake is much sought after by Japanese, who will pay up to $150 for three prime specimens. These mushrooms are picked during the day, trucked to Vancouver at night, and then flown straight to Japan the next morning. The matsutake business is a completely underground multi-million dollar industry in British Columbia, and in the past, the picking was often so profitable that people would employ helicopters to get the crop out. But everything in the BC woods defers to the logging industry and now, on Vancouver Island, the primeval forests where matsutakes grow have been virtually exterminated. These days, I've taken to going after chanterelles instead, which occur en masse in second-growth forests. But here on south island, even these immature forests have now been levelled again by voracious logging corporations such as TimberWest, Western Forest Products (WFP) and the untrackable flipping corporate spawn of the American logging giant, Weyerhaeuser, which cut and ran from the island several years ago. The other day, when I arrived at my reliable old chanterelle patch -after climbing over the gate- I was disgusted, although not surprised, to see WFP's latest example of sustainable, " World Class " logging. Instead of our once public forest, I was met with a 100 hectare steaming stumpfield, which featured a solitary clump of 5 teetering trees left behind in the middle of the clearcut. This was an example of the farcical greenwashing scam of " variable retention " logging. By leaving five pathetic trees which will all blow over in the next wind, Western expects to maintain the PR chimera that it logs in a sustainable, ethical manner. From the air, the outright scandal of variable retention can be seen at a glance, with single solitary trees left every hundred metres, or with timber left standing in a road bight so that when it blows down, it can be easily removed by obtaining the easily available 'salvage permit,' or with the very worst, worthless timber in the cutblock left behind for ``structural representation.`` As far as the eye can see, massive clearcuts stretch out from horizon to horizon. Having totally exhausted the timber resource, these massive forest-destroying corporations, with a little help from their government lackey, can now provide their unit-holders with far more enormous returns by getting out of forestry altogether and selling off the stumpfields. http://www.cathedralgrove.se 2) Now the public thinks that Mountain Caribou and their habitats have been " Protected " . They will not know what happens on-the-ground through implementation of the management plan through the years because only self-promoting BS will be published from MCProject groups. They/the public will not understand why some ENGO's are still advocating for " Protection " ...why do that? It is already Protected. And those people/Sectors that oppose (at all costs) any sort of environmental values...they will say, we have " given up " a great deal for this Caribou Protection Plan....what do we get in return? Thus Mike's question about compensation for " lost " revenues to the Logging Industry. Mike's posting about....Why do we call ourselves 'environmentalists'? We do that because we do not necessarily concern ourselves first with human needs (or perceived needs)....we speak for those that have no voice. Socio-Economic assessments are a part of the larger conversation....but we must always first defend the defenseless. Many people think that if they address Quality of Life issues, then they are " environmentalists " . I would remind them that ecosystems are NOT 'human-centered'. It is a matter of priority and I do recognize the interdependence of us all to the natural world. I have been speaking at Mining Conferences when a CEO-Teck Cominco stated that " we are all environmentalists " ....I had something to say about that. I know that 'the bad ones' may win this one, for now....there is a limit where discussion means nothing. There is also a condition I will call ethical exhaustion, where folks have stated their arguments to the stone wall so many times that they just give up. Here in BC there has been no accountability and no consequences for the liars....they will continue until the money runs out. later, Glenda glendaferris 3) First Naions have serious concerns about lack of consultation over the removal of private lands from tree-farm licences on Vancouver Island and some are considering launching a legal challenge. Dominique Nouvet, legal counsel for the Sooke-based T'sou-ke First Nation, said at a packed community meeting Thursday that land now being sold by Western Forest Products is within the band's traditional territory. The province allowed the forest company to remove 28,283 hectares of private land from three Vancouver Island tree-farm licences. The southern Vancouver Island parcels include the Jordan River townsite and an area adjacent to Sooke Potholes park. " We did have some consultation with government, but it was limited and unsatisfactory, " Nouvet said, adding nearby Beecher Bay First Nation was not consulted. T'sou-ke has been in the treaty process for several years, Nouvet said, but in the meantime, lands are being removed from provincial control. " We want to see the provincial government be held accountable for all these land-use decisions. " Tree-farm licences allow forest companies sole access to timber on Crown land in return for following more stringent forest practices on private lands covered by the same licence. Dorothy Hunt of the Pacheedaht First Nation on the west coast of the Island said during the 11 years the band has been in treaty negotiations, resources have been exploited on thousands of acres of traditional land, and the Crown has then sold the land to private developers with little or no consultation. " The opportunity to complete a serious and viable treaty has been compromised by government's decision to allow these lands to be sold, " Hunt said. http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/capital_van_isl/story.html?id=2\ 6762fa7-8c21-4 10f-b913-afd930415d6a & k=50793 Washington: 4) The University of Washington College of Forest Resources is turning 100. Established in 1907, the program grew from eight undergraduate students and two graduate students to an enrollment of more than 700. The college was known as the School of Forestry until 1967. College staff, faculty and students focus on education and research on emerging natural-resource issues and an ever-changing economic climate for the future. The college earned a world-class reputation with research and teaching that embrace a spectrum of evolving issues on forest health and biodiversity, renewable energy, population and social pressures, and globalization. Sustainable is a word that reflects today's world challenge. Sustainable forests, urban environments and forest enterprises need to be explored and monitored through the college's resources. Forest Resources staff, students and faculty use their skills and tools to observe, measure, evaluate and provide direction for industry, community leaders and stakeholders. The college and Dean Bruce Bare are to be congratulated for the substantial achievement this anniversary represents: sustained leadership, innovation and education responsive to changing environmental, political and social climates. Cheers as well to the Washington Department of Natural Resources as it reaches the half-century mark. Established in 1957, the department was created by the Legislature with a goal to preserve the state's public lands. The department shifted from a timber-focused management to include tidelands, shorelines, streams, aquatic reserves and wildlife. Proceeds from timber sales support county governments, local schools and other public institutions, such as universities, prisons and the state capital campus. Commissioner of Public Lands Doug Sutherland is responsible for 5.3 million acres of state-owned forests, and commercial, agricultural, range and aquatic lands. Each fire season, the department is responsible for coordinating protection of private and state forestland. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2003990618_annied03.html\ ?syndication=rss California: 5) About 40 people from counties between Monterey and the Oregon border converged on the Lumber Association of California and Nevada conference at the Monterey Conference Center on Friday hoping to persuade lumber industry executives not to do business with logging industry giant Sierra Pacific, which the protesters said profits at the expense of California's woodlands. " We want to show (the lumber executives) there's controversy around (Sierra Pacific), " said Josh Buswell-Charkow, a spokesman for Forest Ethics, a San Francisco-based nonprofit and the protest's organizer. " If the customers weigh on (Sierra Pacific), they will have to change to follow the market or lose customers. " Forest Ethics wants Sierra Pacific to abandon the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, an industry-sponsored certification standard, and adopt in its place practices championed by the Forest Stewardship Council, favored by environmentalists. Protesters said Sierra Pacific is clear-cutting thousands of acres of forest, leaving much of Northern California bare and causing habitat destruction and water pollution. Protester David Rink, who was born in Carmel but splits his time between Berkeley and Twain Harte, is a forestry technician and a general contractor. " I guess that puts me on both sides of the lumber equation, " he Rink said Sierra Pacific should adopt more sustainable practices because the company's approach has an adverse effect on wildlife habitat in the Sierra Nevada. Among the companies represented at the conference, which wraps up today, is Hayward Lumber of Pacific Grove. Hayward, one of California's largest building supply companies, is routinely recognized for supporting green building and sustainability practices. Its president, Bill Hayward, is chairman of the Forest Stewardship Council-United States. " Sustainable forestry is about the most complex issue I have ever faced, " Hayward said. " What's right on one side of the hill is not right on the other side of the hill. " http://www.montereyherald.com/local/ci_7360491# 6) When the new California-Nevada Tahoe Basin Fire Commission recently heard from seven Tahoe area fire chiefs, the message was clear: Forests in the basin are tinderboxes and need immediate thinning to help prevent a repeat of the catastrophic Angora Fire. We know the problem, now the question is how do we fix it - and quickly. The answer requires cooperation and participation of government agencies, foresters and other resource professionals, loggers, biofuel facilities and sawmills, the general public and residents whose lives and homes are in harm's way. In the aftermath of the Angora Fire, we've seen these groups work together to clean up devastated areas and set the stage for recovery. Each plays a critical role in the long-term goals of keeping the Tahoe Basin green and Lake Tahoe blue. Unfortunately, California's capacity to harvest and process wood continues to decline. The pressure to protect all resources from any impacts has ignored the unintended consequences of today's devastating wildfires. This protection resulted in reduced harvest, creating mill closures and the loss of experienced wood workers. In some parts of the state, there are no facilities to process wood. Four years ago in San Bernadino County, a fire in an overcrowded unmanaged forest devastated Lake Arrowhead - even worse than South Lake Tahoe. With no mills or biomass plants within 250 miles, the community couldn't feasibly manage forests to protect it from wildfire. Additionally, after the fire, with no mills or loggers, there was no viable economic system to harvest the millions of dead trees. And U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, the leader of Democrats in the U.S. Senate, remarked on a tour of the basin in August: " The number one issue facing the basin is fire. We have to do something to speed things up. " Working together, the public, regulatory agencies and forest industry can carefully manage our forests, reduce the chance of catastrophic wildfire and avoid a repeat of this unnecessary devastation. http://www.sierrasun.com/article/20071104/OPINION/71104006 Montana: 7) The battlefields are marked in orange pitch turned hard with time along the pine's blackened bark. The tree tried to repel the invaders - pushing them backward with a dose of tar-like pitch. But in the end, the fire-weakened tree was overwhelmed. Two years later, it died. In 2005, the dead tree snapped five feet above the ground and landed with a heavy thud onto the forest's floor. Brian Long saw the struggle unfold. On this sunny October afternoon, the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation technical services section supervisor replaced the shiny aluminum tag on No. 52's stump. A bright yellow " M " is painted on its blackened bark. " The beetles were probably drawn to this tree due to the large amount of damage it sustained in the fire, " Long said. " This tree's ability to survive a beetle attack was significantly reduced by the fire damage. " No. 52 is one of 131 trees that Long and other state researchers have been tracking since 2000 in an effort to learn about how ponderosa pine and Douglas fir survive the impacts of wildfire. In August 2000, about 377,000 acres of state, federal and private forest lands burned in the Bitterroot Valley. The fires scorched about 8,000 acres of the Sula State Forest. At the time, there was considerable debate among foresters and specialists over which trees were likely to survive and which would die. Because of that uncertainty - and strong public opinion - the state chose not to harvest any trees with green needles. Instead, researchers established the mortality study. They sought out areas where the fire had burned at different intensities. And then they carefully recorded the physical damage that occurred to each tree within the 11 study plots. Each tree was marked with a yellow " M " and tagged with numbers. They learned that the fate of most of trees in the study was determined in the first four years. By the end of 2004, 62 percent of all the trees in the study were dead. Another 3 percent died by 2007. Not surprisingly, Douglas fir fared much worse than the more fire-resistant ponderosa pine. Less than a quarter of Douglas fir trees survived the impacts of the 2000 fires. Nearly half of the ponderosa pine lived. " We knew that ponderosa pine were going to do better, going into this study, " Long said. " The pine were more resistant to fire than fir. That's a fact that all textbooks will tell you. " http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/11/04/news/local/news03.txt 8) SUPERIOR - There's no question the caterpillar we know as Mineral County, forever inching up the lee side of the Bitterroot Range, is metamorphosing. But tell folks theirs is the " No. 1 hottest county for land in the United States, " as a new property search dot-com did recently, and you'll likely elicit a scoff, a shudder, a stare - or all three. " Really? " said County Commissioner Clark Conrow. " That's scary. " Plum Creek Timber Co. is selling off more than 7,000 acres in the county and has launched what amounts to a trial subdivision. Missoula and Ravalli counties are filling up to the east, and Sanders County to the north is building at a furious rate. Now Mineral County, bisected by Interstate 90, is handling major subdivision proposals at an unprecedented rate. The nine or 10 full-time building contractors in the county are as busy as they want to be. There are those who project the population of Mineral County, which climbed above 4,000 just last year, to be 8,000 to 10,000 by the year 2025. Whoa, says Tim Read. The county planner and sanitarian for the past 3 1/2 years, Read points to page 17 of a preliminary draft of the county's growth policy. Based on past growth, Mineral County will be approaching just 5,000 people two decades hence. " We don't know if it's factual or not, but if you're looking at history, I'm sorry folks, the trend for the county would be more along that line, " Read said. " I don't think by the year 2025 there's going to be 8,000 people in Mineral County. There might be 8,000 new houses that somebody comes up and spends a month out of the year in and takes off. But the permanent residencies, that's a real, real iffy one for us right now. " Rob Harding left the Bitterroot Valley eight years ago. You can't say the owner of Freedom Construction in Superior never looked back. " The first year or two, all our work was in Missoula or clear down in Hamilton, " Harding said, while putting the final touches on a foundation at Cedar Creek Terrace southeast of Superior. This year, he's poured concrete for some 20 new homes, all but one in Mineral County. http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/11/04/news/local/news02.txt Ohio: 9) Timber sales from Ohio forests generated nearly $1.9 million for 18 school districts and their corresponding counties and townships - including several in the Scioto Valley. Ohio Department of Natural Resources' " Trees to Textbooks " program annually give a portion of revenue back to the community while creating a diverse landscape for wildlife, providing university research opportunities and promoting healthier forests, said David Lytle, chief of the ODNR Division of Forestry. Ross County in all will collect $415,777, Pike County $305,511, and Vinton County $322,045. The Division of Forestry is responsible for managing more than 185,000 acres of state forests. State forestry experts manage these woodlands for overall health and diversity, soil and water conservation, improved wildlife habitat and expanded recreational opportunities. Selected trees or areas of woodland are harvested through a competitive bid process that includes requirements for sound management practices. All work is conducted by certified master loggers under strict monitoring. http://www.chillicothegazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071103/NEWS01/711\ 030313/1002 Pennsylvania: 10) The bills would mandate that drilling would be a priority over all other uses of state forests and parks. The idea is at best a bad idea, and DCNR agrees. " The proposed plan is an extreme proposal that would require DCNR to conduct a lease sale for oil/gas drilling on almost every acre of the state's 2.1 million acres of state forest lands, " according to a DCNR press release. " Such a proposal would severely challenge DCNR's ability to manage our forests in a way that allows for timber extraction, oil/gas drilling and public recreation while keeping ecosystems intact and supporting diversity of wildlife and plants. Pennsylvania's state forests are one of only three state-forest systems in the country that have the independent sustainable certification. " Hunters would be required to stay back a minimum of 150 yards in all directions (circumference) from a well structure, and access roads would disrupt large amounts of habitat and wildlife. Large numbers of trees and other habitat would need to be removed to site the wells. " There is already a process in place to evaluate state forest land for oil/gas leasing. Since the last lease sale about 21â„2 years ago, we have been accepting nominations for leasing from oil/gas companies and have begun an environmental review to determine how much additional acreage to consider for a competitive bid while retaining our sustainable certification. " http://www.ldnews.com/sports/ci_7364631 New York: 11) Randall, who is logging 87 acres of the state-owned, 993-acre forest in Greenfield, has been a logger for nine years. It's backbreaking work, but he said he loves it for the peace it gives him, and for the way he believes it allows him to reap the benefits of the land without disfiguring the forest. " Prior to this, I worked at Quad Graphics. I didn't cope well with the stress of it, " Randall said, as he backed B.J. and Sam out of their silver trailer. " I needed another way to make a living. I went and watched a friend of mine log with horses, and I said, 'Gee, I could do that.' " After realizing horse logging suited him for several reasons, he made his career change. " Since I was a little kid, I wanted horses, " Randall said. " And I'm not really too jazzed on the modern way of logging. " The modern way, which uses big machines to harvest trees, is too rough on the environment for Randall's liking, though he said he knows machine-based loggers who do an excellent job. " There's so many limitations to how good a job you can do since the machinery is so big, " Randall said. " Most of the equipment in use today is 10 or 12 feet wide. I'm half that width. Those machines compact the ground a lot more than I do, and I prepare my paths (into the forest). I don't just drive over everything. " I don't compete with most mechanized operations, " he said, pulling himself up on the simple trailer equipped with tractor tires that B.J. and Sam pull. " The horse logging is negligible, " said Sloane Crawford, NYSDEC forest utilization specialist. " About 160 to 180 million cubic feet of wood per year gets harvested on all ownerships, and almost all -- 99.5 percent -- is either by traditional hand-felling with skidders or, more and more, they're getting into fully automated equipment. Horse logging only has that niche for the small landowner. It just can't work anywhere else for large production. " There's a whole new generation of logging equipment, and the pressure on the ground is really minimized, " Long said. " There have been tremendous advances. What really matters is the person who is logging and the care they put into it. Some of the worst work I've ever seen was done by a guy with a team of horses. The idea that you can do a better job just with a team of horses is kind of romantic. http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/11/03/news/local/13051747.txt Maine: 12) On Friday, November 2nd a small group of volunteers from Native Forest Network?Gulf of Maine (NFN) were stopped, harassed and issued citations for criminal trespassing after taking video and still photographs for a documentary project at Plum Creek's Greenville office. NFN is an all volunteer organization that advocates for the protection and restoration of forests and wild places including organizing against Plum Creek's development proposal in the Moosehead Lake Region. Initially, the group was stopped in the parking lot of Plum Creek's Greenville office at approximately 4 pm while videotaping the exterior of the building. An employee of Merrill's Investigation and Security confronted the group, accused them of trespassing, and cornered them in the parking lot with his vehicle. According to Alex Lundberg, one of the volunteers detained, the guard did not identify himself, asked the group for identification and informed them they were trespassing and, 'In big trouble.' The group, under the impression that the office had public business hours, and unaware that they were doing anything wrong, then informed the guard that they would like to leave the property. Leaving the property, the group proceeded as planned, climbing Moose Mountain to obtain more video footage of the region and proposed development area for the documentary project. Returning to their vehicle after their hike, the group was confronted by Officer Hartwood of the Greenville Police Department, as well as at least three Piscataquis County Sheriff's Deputies, and two Game Wardens. Members of Native Forest Network also have been under surveillance at recent meetings of the state's Land Use Regulatory Commission, the body responsible for approving Plum Creek's Plan. http://www.defendingwaterinmaine.org Canada: 13) The Public Lands Coalition, a collection of affected community groups, conservation groups, woodlot owners, and mill workers calls on the government to place a moratorium on the cutting of timber allocated from Crown land to closed mills until a wiser plan is put in place. The Public Lands Coalition calls for an end to the current practice of allowing raw timber exports and timber transfers among mills as it is detrimental to the forest and forest-dependent communities in our province. A record breaking volume of timber is being cut from our public forest in New Brunswick. During 2006-2007, timber harvested from public land reached a record high at 5.4 million cubic metres - an increase of over 500,000 cubic metres from the 2005-2006 period. This is occurring despite a staggering number of mill closures, leaving scores of people unemployed and communities devastated by the loss of their primary industry. In the midst of a wave of mill closures across the province, the government of New Brunswick is catering to the large forestry industry and ignoring the fate of the affected communities by allowing timber allocated to their local mills to continue to be cut and shipped away to provide cheap fibre to mills elsewhere in the province or to foreign markets. For example, the government made an exemption to Section 68 of the Crown Lands and Forest Act to allow the export of raw logs from the province for Weyerhaueser. In June 2007, Weyerhaueser announced that they would not be reopening their mill in Miramichi, throwing 140 people out of work. Since then, trucks of raw timber have been allowed to leave Weyerhaeuser's licence area for destinations outside the province where the jobs have also moved to process the timber. http://www.conservationcouncil.ca/archives/2007/archive2007_moratorium.html UK: 14) Furious residents have hit out at a developer after 50 trees were felled just hours before a preservation order would have saved them. Families living around The Drive at Greengates, Bradford, were horrified when men brandishing chainsaws arrived unexpectedly and began chopping away at the " oasis " around their homes which they say was a wildlife haven. Michelle Williams, who lives next door to the grounds of Walmer Villa, where the trees were rooted, said neighbours who had been lobbying Bradford Council for a tree preservation order since 2005 were " devastated " . " Once the old house and its land were bought by a developer we knew what could happen, " she said. " So we started writing, phoning and e-mailing the Council to get protection for the trees, but it was just hours too late. " We all rang as soon as we saw the chainsaws, and cannot fathom out why it took the Council so long to get here. There were only two left when they arrived with the preservation order. It seems very odd to us that they could not have acted quicker. " It was our oasis. No one knew we existed. We were shielded from Harrogate Road by those beautiful trees that have been so brutally taken from us. We are devastated. " http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/newsindex/display.var.1807384.0.resid\ ents_distraught _as_trees_felled.php 15) The forest once covered about 100,000 acres, a big chunk of present-day Nottinghamshire County. Today its core is about 450 acres, with patches spread out through the rest of the county. Experts say urgent action is needed to regenerate the forest and save the rare and endangered ancient oaks at its heart. Some 15 organizations have joined forces to draw up a rescue plan, hoping to win a $100 million grant through a TV competition in December. " If you ask someone to think of something typically English or British, they think of the Sherwood Forest and Robin Hood, " said Austin Brady, the regional director of the East Midlands Conservancy Forestry Commission. " They are part of our national identity ... but the Sherwood forest is a real place and the real forest needs help too. " The forest is beloved for its connection to Robin Hood, the legendary 13th century bandit who supposedly hid there from his nemesis, the Sheriff of Nottingham, in between stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. One of Sherwood's oldest and most celebrated trees is Major Oak near Edwinstowe, the town where legend has Robin marrying Maid Marion. Historians believe it and other Sherwood oaks could have been saplings back in Robin's time. Park rangers say the collection of ancient oaks is one of the greatest in Europe. But they see an increase in the trees' rate of decline. Over the centuries, the forest was carved up for farms, mines, towns and logging. Sherwood timber built medieval ships and even part of London's St. Paul's Cathedral. Now, the ravages of age — and, some fear, climate change — are taking their toll. On average one veteran oak per year would fall; this year seven have come down and the rate seems to be accelerating, said Izi Banton, the forest's chief ranger. Currently 997 ancient oaks stand on the 450 acres known as the " beating heart of the forest, " Banton said. About 450 are still living, and of those, 250 are good shape, while the other 200 are particularly vulnerable. The remainder are standing deadwood, still valuable to the forest because of the life they support. Each oak has its own management plan and some even have names, like Medusa, Stumpy and Twister. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i2qxvqZXplIXhW64O64F0hMp9MDQD8SN1UNO1 EU: 16) The report was released during a two-day international conference in Warsaw which was due to highlight the danger by adopting a declaration of solidarity with Greece, where forest fires in August killed 67 people and ravaged 150,000 hectares. Conference participants hailed the report's findings that Europe's total forested area has grown by 13 million hectares over the past 15 years to reach more than a billion hectares. Some 80 percent of the total is located in the European part of Russia. Forestland now covers 44 percent of Europe, and accounts for a quarter of the global total, the report said. The volume of wood in Europe has reached a record 112 billion cubic metres, and is growing by 350 million cubic metres a year, the study added. At the conference, the European Union's agriculture commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel, said the continent's lumber industry is currently exploiting 60 percent of available renewable forest resources, and that there was room for development. The study was prepared by the UN's Economic Commission for Europe and its Food and Agriculture Organisation, as well as the secterariat of the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe. http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Europes_forests_flourishing_but_fire_remain_a_\ threat_study_9 99.html 17) A new study shows that during the 2003 heatwave, European plants produced more carbon dioxide than they absorbed from the atmosphere. They produced nearly a tenth as much as fossil fuel burning globally. The study shows that ecosystems which currently absorb CO2 from the atmosphere may in future produce it, adding to the greenhouse effect. The 2003 European summer was abnormally hot; but other studies show that these temperatures could become commonplace. In some parts of Europe, 2003 saw temperatures soaring six degrees Celsius above normal; hot enough that estimates of the deaths which it caused run into the tens of thousands. It was also significantly drier than usual; and these two factors appear to have had a major impact on plant growth. " The data we used mainly comes from a set of 18 flux towers which are set up across Europe, " said Andrew Friend from the Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (LSCE) in Gif-sur-Yvette near Paris, whose team published their study in the scientific journal Nature. The towers, managed through a project called CarboEurope, measure the flow of carbon dioxide, water and energy between the atmosphere and the ground; most are set up n forests. " About half of the mass of a plant is carbon; so by measuring the flow of CO2 into the plants, we can see how well they're doing, " Dr Friend told the BBC News website. The result coming from the 18 sites was that during 2003, plants took up less CO2 from the air and grew more slowly - a finding corroborated by satellite measurements of the area under leaf. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/4269066.stm Germany: 18) Police reported on Thursday that the 80-year-old man admitted to having illegally cut down 122 trees because they obstructed his view of the coast at his vacation home in an expensive part of the town of Scharbeutz near Lübeck in northern Germany. The police investigating the crime said the tops had been cut off of 66 beech, ash, oak and wild cherry trees and that an additional 55 had been sawed to the ground completely. All of the trees were over 30 years old. The local forestry office is estimating damages at €15,000 ($22,000). Meanwhile, prosecutors are exploring their options for charging the man for property damage and violating both state and federal nature conservation laws. However, some local neighbors have come to the defense of the would-be Baltic Paul Bunyan, telling the local newspaper Lübecker Nachrichten that trees had been completely removed from certain properties before some new houses in the area were built. " Maybe he got a bit carried away with 120 trees, " said one neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous. " But what's all the fuss about? " http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,514983,00.html Turkey: 19) The Belek region, which was declared a tourism zone in 1990 and promoted as the place with the best and most dense forests in the Antalya region, has been subject to deforestation as a result of the golf boom in the region. Two photographs revealed by the Turkish Nature Preservation Association (TTKD), taken in 2005 and 2007, illustrate just how severely the development of the golf courses have eradicated the forests in the past two years. Turkey's Sabah newspaper reported that the trees were planted in the region in the 1960s. " The Belek Muhafaza Forest, which was developed over 30 years, was opened to tourism in the 1990s. Since then, 45 hotels and six golf courses have already been built, while plans for more golf courses are next, " Sabah's report said. The report also added that the Belek forest started to disappear after the allocations made to the tourism industry by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture. Environmental NGO exposes the massacre A Turkish Daily News report with wires from Dogan News Agency covered statements by the regional director of the Turkish Nature Preservation Association (TTKD), Hediye Gunduz on the issue. Pointing out that the region once possessed the best forests in the Antalya region as a result of the intense reforestation efforts in the 1990s, Gunduz reportedly said that once the Tourism Ministry started to focus on the region's tourism potential after 1984, when the building boom started. People involved in the destruction of the forests found a legal umbrella to hide under once the region became a tourism zone, she was quoted as saying. " There used to be between 600,000 and 700,000 trees there. They have cut down 500,000 of them. " In statements to the Turkish Daily News, Gunduz also said: " The coastal regions of the forests are breeding grounds for Caretta caretta sea turtles and the vegetation is important for migrating birds that come to the region. " She also said that 109 different kinds of endangered bird species lived in the Belek forests. " Gunduz blamed the policies adopted by the Tourism Ministry over the years for the destruction of the forests in Belek and also accused the local Kadriye and Belek municipalities of failing to protest the interests of the people. http://www.observercyprus.com/observer/NewsDetails.aspx?id=2450 Uganda: 20) The outcomes of decentralization policies on the delivery of forestry sector services and ecological health remain ambiguous. Several scholars warn that there is insufficient empirical data to support the assumption that decentralization of forest resources results in better or worse forest governance. In this paper, we investigate the effectiveness of local institutions crafted during the implementation of decentralization reforms of the mid-1990s in Mpigi District of Uganda to moderate forest degradation. We observed cases of both institutional success and failure in forestry management within the district following the decentralization reforms suggesting that decentralization of authority over forests to local user groups, traditional leaders, or officials of local governments may not always produce incentives to prevent a decline in forest extent or condition in the entire landscape. The outcomes of decentralization reforms in the forest sector may be more a function of factors such as 1) the nature of the forests, location, patchiness, and production of external environmental goods and services; 2) the level and strength of market signals for both forest products and crops grown on forest soils; and 3) the diversity of stakeholders and their values and dependence on specific extents and condition of the forest patch. Corresponding author. E-mail: banana. Kenya: 21) While large populations of De Brazza's monkey, known for their white beards and shyness, exist in central Africa, the population in Kenya is low and under immense anthropogenic pressure. " This latest discovery really underlines our ignorance of changes in the landscape over a relatively short period of time, " said world-renowned Kenyan conservationist Richard Leakey. " The De Brazza's must have had a wet forest corridor from western Kenya across the Rift Valley to this new locality, " which is dry, Leakey added in a the statement issued by Wildlife Direct, a conservation panel he chairs. " It is a critical issue for study as it puts climate change again as the most critical consideration as we plan for the future, " warned Leakey, also famous for discoveries on human evolution and protecting rare mountain gorillas in central Africa. Before the latest discovery, De Brazza's monkeys were not known to exist east of the Great Rift Valley, which is dry. Although De Brazza monkeys live in riverine and swamp forests in the Congo Basin from southeast Cameroon to Equatorial Guinea and Angola, some are found in wet parts of western Kenya. Researchers from Kenya's Samburu Primates Research and Conservation Project made the discovery after counting 162 monkeys in an arid range in the north in eight months. The discovery boosts the species' population by 16 percent, up from the current 1,000 across Kenya. " I was not expecting to find more than two to three groups. When I realized that there were such healthy populations existing in an unknown habitat, I was overwhelmed, " said Iregi Mwenja, who has been studying the species in Kenya for four years. The new discovery puts the species out of threat in Kenya, where it was facing extinction owing to human-wildlife conflict -- rampant deforestation and competition from other species, Wildlife Direct said in the statement. http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Kenyas_new_monkey_population_puts_climate_chan\ ge_in_perspec tive_999.html 22) Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai's legacy is under threat. Ironically, the challenge to arguably Kenya's most famous woman is coming from her own country. Environment minister David Mwiraria's lifting of the ban on the so-called shamba system, which allows farmers to cultivate in forests, is an erosion of the conservation efforts for which Prof Maathai has become an icon. Mr Mwiraria also reversed the Government's ban on logging. Both moves are seen as closely linked to the forthcoming elections. The Government, it appears, will go to any lengths to curry favour with voters, as these two unfortunate decisions amply demonstrate. When she won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, it was a confirmation that the world was aware of her efforts to help the country recover its forest cover. Today, Kenya has less than 10 per cent of its land under forest cover. This is way below the minimum recommended 30 per cent for any country. We have no choice but to keep our forests intact, and the sooner the two decisions are reversed, the better for this country. http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=24 & newsid\ =109892 Brazil: 23) In Phillips' article, " Invisible but too real: the illegal roads speeding destruction of the rainforest: Despite a crackdown, illicit logging is on the rise in lawless areas of the Amazon " , he is explaining how excessive illegal logging is in some areas of the Amazon. First he says that some people from there have tried to create some path secretly for transporting trees cut illegally by loggers in the Amazon rainforest, called the Trans Iriri highway. But in fact, he states that that highway has no real existence, because the illegal loggers cooperate with some people, unofficially armed, to secure and help them make the traffic easier. Therefore, the practice became opened and is not secret for the local population. Next, he underlines the fact that in spite of all strategies undertaken by the government through the satellite control and detection and deployment of security force for patrol in these areas, the traffic of illegal logging still has a lower rate of decreasing and the loggers are always continuing to do their practices. For this reason, some local in habitants from the areas are saying that there are no rules to obey in the region. In the end, some environmentalist has suggested, in order to decrease this practice, a daily systematic control by the government's force security is needed. This problem of illegal logging in every big forest will not cease or stop automatically. but if all the international community can try to solve the problem by involving themselves in creating an international commission for the environment conservation with some new rules, that would be really interesting, and the illegal practices of logging may decrease, the forest may get secure and the rules may be respected. http://rve-mkn.blogspot.com/2007/11/despite-crackdown-illicit-logging-is-on.html India: 24) With no celebrities residing around the fire-prone forests areas in India, like the one in California, which was in news recently for the devastating fire, most of the forest fires find no mention in the national media, even when the country loses around Rs 500 crores annually due to this fire. This is not just the only bad news. Despite annual loss of bio-diversity and wildlife and official figures putting 50 per cent of country's forest area as fire-prone, the Union environment ministry has no helicopter, which plays an important role in dousing forest fires. Also, it might come as a surprise to many that helping officials in fighting forest fire is one of the fundamental duties of the countrymen. Estimates say that about 3.73 million hectare of forest area is annually affected by forest fires, with Uttranchal, Himachal Pradesh, Northeast and Madhya Pradesh dry deciduous forests worst effected by these fires. A senior official in the Union ministry of environment and forests said that while one of the two helicopters that the ministry had, was damaged when it met an accident, the other is waiting for " condemnation " . While " canopy fire " is the one which is the worst of all fires, helicopters play an important role in containing such fires. Though effective control of such fires and modern devices for fire management a lot can be done in controlling the area of impact, most of the fire prone areas of our country still have to depend on " bush beating " and creation of the " strip " , which acts as a barrier. http://www.asianage.com/presentation/leftnavigation/news/india/india-loses-rs-50\ 0cr-annually-to -forest-fires.aspx China: 25) They deem current hydropower exploitation as the second worst ecological disaster in China following the destructive deforestation that took place from the 1950s to the 1990s. The ecological systems of these elevated riverside areas are extremely fragile. And it still remains questionable whether or not a too heavily exploited river can produce the energy as much as predicted. Miyaluo is a town by the Zagunao River, a subsidiary of upper Minjiang River. It used to be renowned for its gorgeous maple landscape. Covering an area stretching for about 130 km, it was the largest in China. Now the maples are gone forever: concrete dams have taken their place. Additionally, 58 local households in Miyaluo have been forced to leave their hometown and relocated into a strange place. Although they are now living in new houses and receiving governmental subsidies, people are still worried about their futures because they have been deprived of their old way of life. Miyaluo will be transformed to a power plant soon and is expected to begin operation by the end of this year. It is just one of the seven power plants along the Zagunao River. Now this river is scattered with busy construction sites where debris flows and landslides are common occurrences during rainy days. Zhang Qiujin, of the Ecology Institute under the Sichuan Provincial Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, says that the construction of hydropower plants will deal a deadly blow not only to aquatic and dry land ecological systems. When a river is heavily exploited, its natural channels gradually dry up. Consequently, not only the aquatic life in the river but also the whole riverside area's natural environment is greatly endangered and very likely to be completely ruined. The relocated population will also exploit their newly found natural resources, thus posing another threat to the fragile balance of the ecological system in their new living places. The Zagunao River is not the only subsidiary of the upper Minjiang River being exploited. Countless concrete dams and steel tubes will transform most of the upper Minjiang River's subsidiaries into separate artificial reservoirs. Those natural river landscapes are about to disappear from the earth. http://www.china.org.cn/english/environment/230676.htm Vietnam: 26) Twenty years after its discovery in the forested mountains of Vietnam, local authorities here have agreed to establish new nature reserves to protect a critically endangered wild ox. As part of a plan to protect the saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis), the central Vietnamese provinces of Thua Thien Hue and Quang Nam will create two 121km2 reserves. The reserves will link up with the Bach Ma National Park to cover a continuous protected landscape covering approximately 2,920km2 — stretching from the Vietnamese coast to the Xe Sap National Biodiversity Conservation Area in neighbouring Laos. " The saola population in Thue Thien Hue and Quang Nam provinces offers the best, if not the only, chance for this unique flagship species to survive. " Found only in the Annamite Mountains of Vietnam and Laos, the saola was discovered in 1992 by a team of scientists from the Vietnamese Ministry of Forestry and WWF; the first large mammal to be discovered anywhere in the world since 1936. The saola is a primitive member of the Bovidae family, which includes antelopes, buffalo, bison, cattle, goats and sheep. Although very little is known about the species, its global population is thought to be no more than 250 individuals, and its distribution highly restricted to only six provinces in Vietnam and four in Laos. Other species that will be protected by this enhanced green corridor include the Truongson muntjac, red-shanked douc and white-cheeked crested gibbon, as well as many other newly and yet to be described species. Recently WWF announced the discovery of 11 new species of animals and plants in this remote area of Vietnam, including butterflies, orchids and a snake. " The saola acts as an emblem of conservation efforts in Vietnam, yet it remains on the brink of extinction, " added Tran Minh Hien, WWF Vietnam's Programme. " We are committed to supporting local agencies to develop locally appropriate interventions to ensure its survival. " http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/ Indonesia: 27) The deforestation in East Kalimantan is gradually taking its toll on the local flora and fauna in the region. During a trip to the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS) in Samboja recently, The Brunei Times witnessed firsthand the extent of forest destruction and how it has affected the local plant and animal species. An hour's bus ride and 35km north from Balikpapan, the BOS centre is located in Samboja, a small district with some 10,000 residents. The landscape has become a patchwork of regenerating secondary forests and barren fields after years of illegal logging activities. BOS bought the barren grassland in 2001 and has since been committed to bringing the forest back to the area. While reforestation is the core project of BOS, other activities such as rehabilitation for wildlife plays an integral role in the sanctuary. The BOS rehabilitation centre provides animals such as orangutans and sun bears a safe place with abundant natural food from rainforest trees. Almost all the orangutans in the sanctuary have either been confiscated or handed over voluntarily to the BOS by people who kept them as pets. The animals must undergo several procedures such as quarantine and socialisation before they can be released into their natural habitat i.e. the tropical rainforest, where there are no wild orangutans. The vision of the foundation is " to save orangutan Borneo and their habitat together with people " , according to a BOS staff. Mitikauji Yuniar, or Ika, said that the foundation is currently negotiating with the Heart of Borneo initiative to find a release site. " It's our biggest homework, " said the BOS worker, adding that the foundation's main goal is to eventually release the orangutan into the wild, not keeping them at the rehabilitation centre indefinitely. http://www.brudirect.com/DailyInfo/News/Archive/Nov07/051107/nite29.htm 28) Riau's police chief said Thursday a number of companies supplying raw timber for pulp and paper production in the province had obtained the timber illegally. " So far, the investigation into 142 of a total of 189 cases of alleged illegal logging (has been completed) and (information) has been handed to the local prosecutors' office ... prior to it being submitted to court, " Riau's police chief Brig. Gen. Sutjiptadi said. The police chief was speaking at a meeting with team members from the House of Representatives' forest, plantation and agriculture commission Thursday night. " The remaining cases are being examined, then we'll go ahead with the next target of netting illegal logging financiers. " Sutjiptadi's team said it had used the 1999 and 2004 environment and forestry laws to step-up various investigations into illegal logging cases in Riau and that illegal timber suppliers had committed up to three serious violations. He said these suppliers had manipulated forest concessions, looted timber from protected forests and had failed to reforest their industrial forests. " Many companies have obtained licenses from local authorities to slash trees in protected rainforests ... so we have detained the local officials and named them suspects, " Sutjiptadi said. " Other cases involve license owners who abused their licenses and slashed trees in forests which, according to the environment and forestry laws, are no longer allowed to be harvested, " he said. Sutjiptadi said those excluded companies which had supplied logs stolen from protected forests and national parks. He said illegal timber was believed to be smuggled to China, Japan, India and Europe through Malaysia and Singapore. " I'm seeking approval from the National Police chief to carry out a thorough investigation into illegal logging (so the) public (can see we are) serious (about) enforcing the law and salvaging the shrinking forests, " he said. http://www.thejakartapost.com/misc/PrinterFriendly.asp 29) The government has said it is having difficulties identifying the number of native species in danger of extinction. Director for biological diversity affairs at the Forestry Ministry, Toni Suhartono, said much of the existing information on the number of endangered species was based on predictions made before 2000. " The inventory data on endangered species is a classic problem. Even we don't have exact data on the animal species kept in the country's zoos, " Toni told a dialog on orangutan population here Thursday. He said the conservation of endangered species had yet to become an important issue for government officials and the public. " The nation's awareness, including among government officials, of the conservation of endangered species is very low. It is, therefore, not easy for us to propose budgets for conservation programs, " Toni said. He said conservation activists should set up groups to investigate endangered species. " We get updated data on the number of elephants from the community who set up a forum known as the Elephant Forum, " he said. Toni said the Elephant Forum said there were between 2,400 and 2,800 elephants across the country. " It is much lower than the previous prediction of 8,000 animals. " http://naturealert.blogspot.com/2007/11/number-of-ri-endangered-species-unknown.\ html New Zealand: 30) The Green Party is holding a 'bloody bad taste' fancy-dress barbeque this morning outside Bigsave Furniture, Tory Street, Wellington, to draw attention to the sale of suspect kwila furniture at the giant furniture store. " It's bloody bad taste to sell furniture made from 'blood timber' extracted from the rainforests of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, and that's why we're having a 'bloody bad taste barbeque' outside stores that sell this furniture, " says Dr Russel Norman, Green Party Co-leader. " Nearly all of New Zealand's kwila imports come from the dwindling rainforests of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. The New Zealand Government and the World Bank have both produced reports showing that most of the logging in these two countries is illegal. " Despite repeated enquires, management at Bigsave Furniture have refused to confirm that their kwila furniture either comes from plantations or is certified recycled timber. Green Co-leader Russel Norman will be giving away vegetarian sausages, setting up picnic tables and encouraging the public to support New Zealand manufacturers using sustainable sources such as macrocarpa. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0711/S00039.htm Australia: 31) Local-government elections in Tasmania have delivered a massive thumbs-down for the proposed Tamar valley pulp mill in a result that has major implications for the federal election, according to the Wilderness Society. " This emphatic vote for the environment shows that voters will punish pro-mill candidates at the federal election, " said Wilderness Society campaigner Geoff Law. " Voters in the federal marginal seat of Bass have dumped a mayor who was an outspoken and prominent supporter of the Tamar Valley pulp mill. Voters in Hobart have overwhelmingly rejected the mill's location, chemical process and fast-track assessment. This backs up a series of recent opinion polls showing that a majority of voters in Bass and Braddon oppose the mill. " The pro-mill mayor of Launceston, Ivan Dean, has been replaced as mayor by anti-mill alderman Albert Van Zetten. In July, the Hobart Mercury reported that Gunns board member Robin Gray had threatened to cut back funding to the Launceston City Mission, where Mr Van Zetten works as chief executive due to his anti-mill stance in the Council. In Hobart, an elector poll with three questions on the pulp mill delivered the following results: 76% of voters opposed the process used to assess the pulp mill (ie fast track instead of independent state planning body); 67% opposed the type of pulp manufacture proposed (ie chlorine-bleaching instead of chlorine-free or closed loop); 76% opposed the proposed site of the pulp mill – in other words, they don't want the pulp mill to be built in the Tamar Valley. --- " Ivan Dean was an out-spoken supporter of the pulp mill who accused the 11,000 who protested against the mill in June of being misinformed. Clearly, the person who was misinformed was Mr Dean. " http://www.wilderness.org.au/campaigns/forests/tasmania/gunns_proposed_pulp_mill\ /local/ 32) An environmental activist has berated Prime Minister John Howard about deforestation during his morning walk in Darwin. Charles Roche, coordinator of Environment Centre Northern Territory, barged into Howard's entourage to speak to the Prime Minister as he walked along the Nightcliff foreshore. Mr Roche asked why the Federal Government's initiative against deforestation in the Asia-Pacific region did not also apply to Australian territory. " Why won't you stop land clearing on the Tiwi Islands and in the Daly River catchment? " Mr Roche said. He said 28,000 hectares had been cleared on the islands off Australia's north coast. " It's one of the largest sources of land clearing in the whole of Australia. " Your Government has actively supported it and has done absolutely nothing to combat it. " Mr Howard replied: " I think you've got to have a balance in these things between the environment and jobs. " The Prime Minister then cut short the conversation despite Mr Roche's protestations. The Federal Government in 2001 approved the clearing of native and old plantation forest on Melville Island to grow acacia woodchip plantations. http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22695591-5005961,00.html 33) Events were held today to inform the public of the ANZ Bank's involvement in the destruction of Tasmania's native forests and its potential role in funding Gunns' proposed pulp mill. Public information sessions were held outside ANZ branches in Melbourne, Sydney, Hobart, Launceston, and Newcastle. The ANZ has been banker for Gunns Limited since 1995. It recently released a line of credit to the company of $1.5 billion. In addition, the ANZ is currently considering financing Gunns' controversial pulp mill in the Tamar Valley, despite inadequate assessment including no studies on the impact of logging on forests or climate change. " ANZ customers were today informed of how their money is being used in the destruction of Tasmania's native forests and in contributing to climate change, " said Paul Oosting, pulp mill campaigner for The Wilderness Society. " This is the beginning of a campaign to encourage the ANZ to use their involvement with Gunns to insist the logging company stop its environmentally, socially and economically destructive logging practices of clearfelling and burning of high conservation value forest, poisoning native wildlife and emitting massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. The ANZ has a choice. It can either fund a pulp mill that will be environmentally damaging or it can encourage Gunns to develop a pulp mill that is totally chlorine-free and 100% plantation-based, in an appropriate location and accepted by the community, " said Mr Oosting. " We are calling on customers of the ANZ bank to get involved in the move to protect Tasmania's forest and combat climate change by urging their bank not to invest their money in a company with a track record of destructive environmental practice and litigating against people who work to see that environment protected. " http://www.wilderness.org.au/campaigns/forests/tasmania/gunns_proposed_pulp_mill\ /ANZ1/ 34) Protecting an endangered box gum and dry grassy woodland area in the southern area of the Bega Valley Shire has taken on an international flavour. A fencing project has been recently completed on Nungatta Station to protect five hectares of trees, some of which are more than 300 years old. Bega Valley Shire Council's vegetation recovery officer Jock Waugh has worked closely with Nungatta's owners, the Osborne family, in developing a relationship with Conservation Volunteers Australia who provided the services of international visitors to work on the property. Through Conservation Volunteers Australia, international volunteers have all meals, accommodation and travel to and from the project provided and in return provide their manpower in supporting a range of conservation projects. " The opportunity to visit Nungatta really opened the eyes and minds of the volunteers, " Mr Waugh said. Bega Valley Shire Council provided assistance to the project through its environmental levy and vegetation recovery project with external funding from Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority and has been instrumental in attracting interest from Conservation Volunteers Australia. " By fencing off the woodlands, it will allow regrowth to take place and provide an outstanding habitat for a range of native animals including bats and gliders, " Mr Waugh said. http://bega.yourguide.com.au/news/local/general/visitors-help-protect-woodland/1\ 081342.html World-wide: 35) The timber industry has promoted the idea that young, growing forests do a better job of taking carbon out of the atmosphere than an intact old-growth forest, but scientists are finding that is not true. After an old-growth forest is logged, the site continues to release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for many years as the remaining organic material decomposes. It may take many decades, even centuries, for new trees to reach their full size and carbon-storing potential. Even in forests that have been only selectively logged rather than clear-cut, it can take decades before a newly planted forest attains the same carbon-absorbing ability as the forest it replaced. As Brendan Mackey, a professor of environmental science at the Australian National University, has assessed it: " One hectare of mature, tall, wet forest can store the equivalent of 5500 tonnes of carbon dioxide, about the same as the annual carbon dioxide emissions from 1300 cars. " Mackey says, " Forests that are commercially logged store about 30 to 40 percent less carbon than unlogged forests. " The World Resources Institute reports under 20 percent of the world's original, unlogged forests remain. Scientists also can tell us that tropical forests are especially important to maintaining climate stability, and that the most important forest on the planet is the Amazon. The Amazon basin is about the size of the continental United States. It is home to one-fifth of the world's plant and animal species and more than 200 indigenous cultures. According to the Woods Hole Research Center, trees in the Amazon store the carbon equivalent of more than a decade's worth of global fossil fuel emissions in their bodies. http://www.himalayaninstitute.org/yogaplus/Article.aspx?id=2290 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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