Guest guest Posted December 28, 2007 Report Share Posted December 28, 2007 Today for you 34 new articles about earth's trees! (272nd edition) Subscribe / send blank email to: earthtreenews- Weblog: http://olyecology.livejournal.com --British Columbia: 1) Treesit blockade tricks cop car into a newly dug ditch --Washington: 2) State to salvage log blowdown with expedited review process --Oregon: 3) Storm blowdown estimates --California: 4) Update on salvage logging of Moonlight and Antelope fires --Montana: 5) Ameya Development, 6) $39M to close / repair roads, 7) Swan Grizzlies, --Colorado: 8) Bush to eliminate roadless protections --Wyoming: 9) Grazing challenged on Bighorn NF --Minnesota: 10) Wander thinning church's forest --Pennsylvania: 11) ATVs get more forest to trash --West Virginia: 12) Fighting mountain top removal --USA: 13) Petition to stop Bush destruction plans, 14) Fire Suppression debated, --Greece: 15) Summer arson fires are along the path of a new planned highway --Israel: 16) Cutting trees to stop 'em from cutting, 17) Ethnic cleansing-based forestry, --Iran: 18) Desertification can only be reversed through profound changes --Uganda: 19) Queen Elizabeth National Park developed by 55,000 settlers --Kenya: 20) Mesquite first planted to save forests is now seen as a huge mistake --Tanzania: 21) Your chicken will not be safe if your neighbor is hungry --Malawi: 22) Protecting standing forests and replanting barren areas --Cuba: 23) Accidents of geography, history means plentiful resources still unplundered --Colombia: 24) 22 projects means genocide of indigenous peoples in 30 territories --Brazil: 25) Banning the sale of farm products from illegally cleared areas --Argentina: 26) First forestry law finally put on the books --India: 27) Western Ghats green projects are not green at all, 28) FRA implementation --China: 29) Bird species decline in secondary forests near Hong Kong --Thailand: 30) Elephants that once were loggers --Vietnam: 31) Illegal loggers forced to replant --Australia: 32) Remnant trees at Presbyterian Ladies' College, 33) Tarkiner people, 34) Mistletoe is an essential ingredient to forest restoration, British Columbia: 1) The barricade had gone up yesterday after a peaceful confrontation between treesit volunteers and a pair of private surveyors contracted by the City of Langford. Local media and supporters came out to witness the treesitters refusing to allow the surveyors to carry out work, resulting in the surveyors packing up and going home. In the past two nights RCMP (and Langford by-law enforcement) have been going out to the treesit to remove whatever 'chattel' the treesitters have placed at the end of Leigh Ave. Apparently tonight police drove their cruiser into a culvert dug in what used to be the parking area, and in their agitated state announced that everyone was about to be arrested. When asked what the charge was, the police responded 'obstruction', to which the campers asked " obstruction of what? " The police then reminded the campers that it was illegal to have a fire without a permit and that they needed to move their chattel into the forest. Several of the protesters quickly scrambled up trees while the police grabbed one of the ground crew and detained him in their cruiser. Calls went out to supporters in the city and we prepared to activate the phone-tree and mobilize mass support. The crew member was eventually released, and the RCMP were able to remove their cruiser from the trench without the use of a tow-truck. The treesitters are now waiting to see when and how officers will attempt to remove the barricade. Ground crew are now needed to camp out at the treesit in anticipation of RCMP returning at any moment. The City of Langford does not have an injunction against the treesitters, and the treesitters have been doing nothing illegal. It is not expected that RCMP will attempt to extract people from trees without this injunction. However, the harassment will continue, as the City of Langford attempts to move people out of the woods without having to go through the trouble of such difficult and sensational extractions. kalanubuffalo Washington: 2) The state's commissioner of public lands hopes to get all of the state-owned timber that blew down during the Dec. 2-3 storm ready for a salvage sale in six months. If the timber stays on the ground any longer than that the wood could start going bad, Doug Sutherland told The Daily World's Editorial Board. Can it be done that quickly? The Tripod Fire at the Okanogan National Forest in 2006 covered more than 175,000 acres, leaving a massive salvage operation in its wake. Sutherland said the Department of Natural Resources worked with " our sister agencies " and in what would " normally take us 12 to 15 months to put together a reasonable timber sale, we did in six months, with all of the environmental reviews done and public comment done. " The Department of Natural Resources reports a rough estimate of 2,000 acres of blowdown damage on state lands throughout Grays Harbor, Pacific and Lewis counties. But that number could sharply increase by the time the state is done assessing damage. Sutherland said he had two concerns for making sure a salvage sale goes quickly: 1) If there are no roads to get to some of the timber, new roads may have to be installed, and some environmental groups may have their own concerns about that process; 2) Some of the timber fell in marbled murrelet territory. The murrelet is a small bird, classified as an endangered species. But Sutherland said standing timber is considered murrelet habitat. Fallen timber is not. " There are rules based on certain circumstances and this storm event didn't really follow the rules, " Sutherland said. " Getting access to the blowdown timber is going to be really interesting — especially figuring out the details behind the marbled murrelet habitat. That's going to be one of the things we have to work our way through as far as the forest practices process. What are the federal agencies going to say? What does our habitat restoration plan say? " http://www.thedailyworld.com/articles/2007/12/26/local_news/02news.txt Oregon: 3) More than 340 million board feet of lumber were knocked down in Clatsop County by the Dec. 2-3 storm. Of that, 100 million board feet is considered unmarketable because of damage. And estimates have reached 25 to 30 million board feet of lumber down in the Clatsop State Forest alone. The December 2006 storm knocked down 20 million board feet. At least those were the rough assessments presented to the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners by Astoria District Forester Tom Savage, from the Oregon Department of Forestry. County Manager Scott Derickson said he had heard no fewer than six different estimates of the blowdown for the Clatsop State Forest. Savage was at a specially scheduled regular session of the board Friday to present a draft of preliminary damage assessments in the state's forests, prepared by the state's Forest and Debris Recovery Team, brought together by Gov. Ted Kulongoski. There are wide degrees of property damage in the forests. ODF assembled the Forest and Debris Recovery Incident Management Team to help counties assess damage to forest lands. Foresters are still assessing what is emergency or catastrophic, and which properties the ODF can allow some time to come up with the best solutions for issues, Savage said. They are checking to see if it is threatening homes or other structures, or to what degree it is affecting agricultural ground. And the assessors are determining what percentage of cracking and breakage occurred in the timber. Savage said after ODF assesses the timber, the agency will put it out for bids, and harvesters can decide whether they agree with the assessments. He said the young stands were most affected. The material in those stands might not bring enough revenue to make harvesting it cost effective. But that material might bring more revenue in the wood chip market. Savage said Weyerhaeuser - the private forest land owner who was most affected by the storm - had more blowdown than the company's annual harvest. He said the company would increase its harvest to try to salvage the blown-down timber. Savage said that if landowners had trees with commercial value, ODF could help them find answers to their questions, but if people come in with issues not related to forestry measures they could direct them to the right agencies. http://www.dailyastorian.com/main.asp?SectionID=2 & SubSectionID=398 & ArticleID=478\ 38 & TM=69023.29 California: 4) The Forest Supervisor Alice Carlton was before the Plumas County Board of Supervisors Dec. 18 to update them on salvage and restoration on the Moonlight and Antelope fires, Secure Rural Schools legislation and the off-highway vehicle route-designation status. While county supervisors were interested in all three issues, it was the timber salvage information they were particularly keen to discuss. Although forest representatives are still crafting their approach to get approval to log the majority of timber involved in this year's two major wildfires, approval has been gained for four roadside timber sales for hazard trees through a streamlined approach. These initial projects are the simplest to get through the federal approval process. By following the National Environmental Protection Act process, the sales are planned requiring less documentation and with fewer regulations to follow than traditional sales. Under the NEPA process with categorical exclusions - in this case public safety is a big factor - the four sales have made it through the appeals process. These sales are on the Antelope Fire from earlier in the summer. Bids will be awarded for 8.6 million board feet, said Nancy Francine, ecosystems staff officer on the Plumas. Work on those sales is expected to begin sometime early in 2008. Another project the PNF is working on is on the Moonlight Fire. This would put 15 mbf out to bid. And there's another Moonlight project for between 55-70 mbf. Francine said she didn't anticipate that contract being awarded until some time in late 2008. Two other projects are also planned on the Beckwourth Ranger District for another 3.2 mbf, Francine added. http://www.plumasnews.com/news_story.edi?sid=5802 Montana: 5) State Sections 18 and 20 in Township 03 South, Range 09 East comprise 1,270 acres, and future phases of development at Ameya hinge on the acquisition of these sections. Land eligible for the land banking program must first go through an environmental review before going to the Montana Land Board for a vote. The lands are open to a public auction, although property owners with land surrounding sections for sale have the first bid and a chance to match any leading bid. Dokken is pledging to protect about 900 acres in the two sections while developing about 300 acres. If he is not able to purchase the sections, Dokken says it is the environment that will suffer. " We will have to find a different, and frankly, less environmentally friendly location for some of our home sites [if unable to purchase the sections], " the developers say. But if we decide not to purchase the state land, it will not stop our plans for Ameya Preserve, only change them, although not necessarily for the better environmentally. " In August 2006 the DNRC released an environmental assessment (EA) on the potential sale of Sections 18 and 20. The EA was widely criticized as inadequate for lacking significant public input and for not taking into account the public value of the elk winter range traversing the two parcels and other natural resource values. This prompted DNRC to go back to the drawing board to create a new alternative that included deed restrictions limiting development on the two sections. Mike Inman said his planning department had serious concerns over the sale – concerns which were not addressed in the EA. " We see potential conflicts with what the state is proposing as a sale, " Inman told the commissioners. " …The development seems to contradict the vision and goals of Ameya itself. " Inman cited geologic fault lines running directly through the state sections, steep, forested chutes that can become " fire ladders " in the event of a wildfire and the potential for flooding from the 25 acres of ponds the developers plan to create. Knowing all this, Inman said he had difficulty understanding how the DNRC wrote under " Human Health and Safety " in the EA, " No impacts to human health and safety would occur as a result of the proposal. " This is the third installment of a series about the proposed Ameya Preserve development near Livingston, Montana. Read Part I, and Part II: http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/conservation_development_and_class_conflict\ _the_case_of_ ameya_preserve/C61/L36/ 6) Lawmakers approved $39 million to clean up or shut down old roads in the forests as part of the budget bill. Environmental and Resource Economist Joe Kirkvliet with The Wilderness Society says there are close to 16,000 miles of roads in Montana forests that are left over from old logging projects, or were cut into the forest illegally. " We're talking about removing those roads that are no longer an important part of the road system and can no longer be maintained. We will have some jobs created by this. It's cheaper in the long run to decommission these roads because the maintenance costs are ended. " Kirkvliet says the U.S. Forest Service helped craft the plan because it saves money, and the projects will mean work for heavy equipment operators and contractors. He adds a key benefit to removing unneeded roads is to improve wildlife and livestock habitat, especially along streams and rivers. The idea is controversial to some who think removing old roads will limit forest access. Kirkvliet says decisions have not yet been made about which roads will be closed, but access will be considered in that process. http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/19509/3957_1 7) It's not the bruin superhighway, but the Swan Valley's grizzly bears often use four corridors to travel back and forth between the surrounding Swan and Mission mountains, an ongoing study shows. Twelve of the valley's estimated 30 bears were tracked over the past five years, providing a glimpse into how they live and die in the Swan. A collaboration between federal and state agencies and Plum Creek Timber Co., the study has been limited by a lack of funding, but the bears' high death rate has already prompted a number of management changes. Among them are a $10,000 reward for turning in grizzly poachers, more bear-awareness public education efforts and a decision by Plum Creek to only sell its lands in grizzly linkage zones to buyers who won't develop them. Chris Servheen, grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the bears' 33 percent mortality rate in the Swan was unsustainable and directly linked to humans' presence in habitat where the grizzly was once king of the forest. The causes of death couldn't be determined, but poaching, poison, traffic injuries and other human causes were suspected. " It's the road to ruin unless we can find a way for these bears and people to live together, " Servheen said. The study highlights the need to preserve areas where grizzlies can safely travel between valleys and mountain forests and to find new ways for people and bears to live together, Servheen said. " We need to preserve these safe passageways, " said Henning Stabins, a wildlife biologist for Plum Creek, which owns more than one million acres in western Montana. The Swan Valley study, which started in 2000, is part of the Swan Valley grizzly bear conservation agreement signed by major landowners and government agencies in 1995. The study had no dedicated funding or personnel, but was carried out by researchers who tackled the work as part of their regular job duties. Using global positioning system collars, researchers followed 12 grizzlies that live in the checkerboard of public and private land in the Swan Valley. The valley's population of about 600 residents is expected to grow as timberland gives way to residential development. Researchers were surprised to learn some bears spent most of their time in the valley bottom rather than moving to higher elevations, while other bears covered unexpectedly large territories of hundreds of miles before returning to the Swan. http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/12/24/news/local/news02.txt Colorado: 8) " The Bush administration today announced its intention to remove current protections for roadless areas in Colorado's national forests. Colorado's roadless areas are the wild heart of the southern Rockies. Under the administration's proposal, many of these natural landscapes could be lost to logging, mining and oil and gas exploration. " The Bush administration is continuing its state-by-state campaign to unravel critical protections for our nation's last pristine forests. First it was Alaska. Last week it was Idaho. Today, it's Colorado. " It's dejà vu all over again. Just one week ago, the Bush administration made almost the same exact announcement for roadless areas in Idaho. The administration wants to open the doors to big, corporate special interests - one state at a time. If this proposal goes through, the administration will have made the next step in its plans to completely undo the federal rule that protects these natural treasures. " If the administration gets its way, fabled places like Grizzly Creek Gulch and Barr Trail could soon be spoiled by logging, mining and other development. Coloradans and the American public can't afford to let that happen, because once they're gone, they're gone forever. " Roadless areas in Colorado make up 30% of the state's national forests and serve as habitats for fish and wildlife, sources for clean drinking water, and as a source of recreation, to Coloradans and visitors from throughout the country. The Bush administration's proposal for roadless areas in Colorado would: 1) Open some roadless areas to be leased for ski area expansion, coal mining, and in specific areas where the state already owns mineral rights in order to mine these areas; 2) Allow oil and gas drilling companies to build roads, pipelines and other industrial projects in roadless areas; 3) Allow new roads to be built for ranchers to access their grazing livestock, and 4) Loosen restrictions on logging in roadless areas. http://www.denverpost.com/coloradocorporatestatements/ci_7812661 Wyoming: 9) CASPER - A conservation group claims the U.S. Forest Service failed to consider all of the effects of livestock grazing in its adoption of a management plan for the 1.1 million-acre Bighorn National Forest, according to a petition filed last week in federal court in Cheyenne. The Boise, Idaho-based Western Watersheds Project also wants the Wyoming U.S. District Court to review the Forest Service's implementation of the management plans for 32,000 acres of grazing allotments in Piney Creek, Little Piney and Willow Park, according to the petition for review of the agency's action. Both plans, the group said, " are arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and/or not in accordance with law. " http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/12/27/news/wyoming/20-grazing.txt Minnesota: 10) Collaboration can be more than just a " buzz word. " The idea sent chainsaws buzzing in Hubbard this month. Gary Korsgaden, a graduate of the University of Minnesota Forest Stewardship Program and member of Hubbard United Methodist Church, determined a tree stand east of the church needed thinning. The red pines were crowded, some were diseased and the stand contained some forked trees caused from harvesting Christmas trees. Like many landowners with good intentions, it is difficult to find a logger interested in thinning small parcels. The cost of moving equipment to the site can take a big bite of any profit from selling the wood. So the logical next step, Korsgaden decided, would be to talk to the neighboring landowners, Robert and Bonnie Johannessen. Hubbard Township also gave approval to thin trees along an 80-foot road right-of-way. Working with Brad Witkin, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources forester, and Ross Manners and Manners Logging, all parties signed agreements on how the project would proceed. Korsgaden, Robert Johannessen and Manners walked the plantation and determined the trees to be cut would be chosen as the cutter wanders through the stand. The faller would choose those that were forked, damaged or diseased with bark beetle. Row cutting was not recommended as too many good trees (in these rows) that should be saved would be cut. " Wander thinning, " Korsgaden explains, " would be aesthetically more appealing to the eye and in the end, look more like a natural forest setting. " The work could be done with spacing in the 12- to 16-foot range unless groups of diseased or forked tees happen to be together. http://www.parkrapidsenterprise.com/articles/index.cfm?id=10538 & section=news & fre\ ebie_check & CFID =77417897 & CFTOKEN=69096592 & jsessionid=8830d7d7859279f661e6 Pennsylvania: 11) A state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources plan to expand the use of all-terrain vehicles in state forests by using township roads to connect ATV trails is a bad and dangerous idea, a land conservation group said. The Pennsylvania Forest Coalition contends using local roads as " connectors " to existing forest trails could cause more accidents and fatalities. " Allowing unlicensed, uninspected ATVs (on roads) with vehicular traffic is a recipe for disaster, " said Richard Martin, coordinator of the Pennsylvania Forest Coalition. " The DCNR is confusing transportation with recreation. The ATV is not a second car. " DNCR spokesman Terry Brady said Wednesday that such criticism is a " bum rap. " " Most of the connector roads through the forests are in townships that open their roads to ATVs, " Brady said. " There was never the intent to promote the illegal operation of ATVs on roads. The intent was to allow Bill or John or May or Sue to get from one point to another. " By using township roads to connect ATV trails, ATV riders can stay on the vehicles and travel from one trail to another, instead of having to put the ATVs on a trailer to make those leaps, Brady said. Nearly 40 townships in 15 counties have approved ATV riding on about 650 miles of roads. The DCNR announced in July that it plans to add 29 miles of new forest trails to its existing 247 miles of trails, and use 170 miles of township roads in and near the Sproul, Bald Eagle and Susquehannock state forests to connect various trails. The $2.25 million project is funded by DCNR's snowmobile/ATV fund, which gets revenue from vehicle registration fees. There are more than 237,000 registered ATV owners in Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Forest Coalition said the vehicles are dangerous when driven on roads and especially by young people. Pennsylvania led the nation in ATV-related deaths from 1982 to 2004. From 2000 through 2006 there were 111 ATV fatalities on Pennsylvania roads, according to the state Department of Transportation. http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/pennsylvania/20071226_ap_groups\ aysexpandingst ateforestatvnetworkisdangerous.html West Virginia: 12) Twilight - Even the name of this place speaks of an end ahead. Surrounded by the rubble of mountaintops obliterated to mine coal, several of tiny Twilight's homes have been demolished. King Coal bought and removed them. Mountaintop removal involves stripping trees and topsoil and blasting away layers of rock to get at coal seams underneath. The blasting and the removal of tons of debris often have literally buried streams; or sent a torrent of water tainted with heavy metals downhill, flooding areas; or coated towns with layers of coal dust. In Appalachia, activists say, coal companies have leveled more than 470 mountains in the region since the late 1970s. That pace stepped up considerably after 2002, when the Bush administration changed just one word in federal environmental regulations; it reclassified mining debris " waste " - rock blasted from the mountain, then pushed into a valley - as " fill, " allowing companies to dump debris into mountain streams. Now, the town is on the same path as scores of other West Virginia communities that gradually lost their residents and died in the shadow of a vast mining operation When Maria Gunnoe drove through last week, she didn't think of stopping. Gunnoe, 39, a descendant of Cherokees and Scots in Appalachia, has received death threats lately for her fight against filling valleys with the coal trash from the mountaintop excavations. And for her, any place, even this rapidly shrinking one, doesn't feel safe anymore. She travels now with a bullet-proof vest and a can of Mace. " If I stop, I could be a dead woman, " she said. Her battle in the Appalachian Mountains is set against a backdrop of a great global fight over coal. But almost no one in Washington - and none of the Democratic or Republican presidential candidates - has mentioned what increased dependence on inexpensive, plentiful coal means for the people living amid the excavations. In Twilight, 350 miles southwest of the nation's capital, residents say decisions made in Congress and at the White House shake their world like the powerful explosions on Montcoal Mountain that rattle the foundations of their homes. Some say these uncertain times for coal miners - whose jobs hang in the balance - eliminate tolerance for dissent. http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/12/26/5998/ USA: 13) Imagine a country where national parks are no longer, and all we have to experience natural beauty is a 300 square-foot neighborhood park covered in tan bark. At the rate this administration is planning to bulldoze, this is not so far from reality. Plans to cut down trees also completely ignore the lives or well-being of the wildlife that call these forests home. Many threatened and endangered species are on the brink of being wiped out due to reckless deforestation plans. And if that wasn't enough, these plans also disregard the health and everyday needs of local communities. Despite its National Geographic Traveler's ranking as one of the " 50 Places of a Lifetime, " wildlife areas next to Superior National Forest's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness have been targeted for clear-cut logging. The Forest Service also proposed to fill up to 5,500 logging trucks with trees from the Daniel Boone National Forest — even though it will damage the water supply for more than 80,000 Kentuckians. These are just a couple of the latest in a series of gifts coming from the Bush Administration and its allies in Congress to oil, mining, timber and real estate speculators of increased access to pristine natural areas. It has to stop. America's public lands are the nation's endowment, and they ought to be managed with long-term stewardship, not carelessly cast off to make a quick buck. SIGN THIS PETITION! http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/919431571?z00m=12306938 14) In the northern Rockies six of the eleven largest fire years this century (where more than 100,000 acres burned in the region) occurred before 1934 when almost everyone agrees was prior to effective fire suppression, thus fire suppression could not have affected fuel loadings. Yet we had huge blazes in those six years that ran up huge acres of burned forests (like 1910 burn that burned 3.5 million acres)--all correlated with severe drought and high winds and before fire suppression could have contributed to " high fuel loadings. " By contrast the years 1934-1987 were considered moist years, and there were no significant fire years during that period. This recent past may have skewed our view of forest and fires. This is also the period when fire suppression was considered to have been most effective, but one can ask whether the effectiveness was more a result of favorable climatic conditions as opposed to effective fire suppression? Since 1987, despite aggressive fire suppression, and even better equipment and understanding of fire behavior, acreages burned have jumped--and not surprisingly there is a correlation with severe climatic/weather conditions associated with all these large blazes. The implications are huge--since if fire suppression has had a relatively small influence on total fire acreage than our forests may not be " unhealthy " and the effects of large blazes and insects may be completely normal. In North America, the belief that fire suppression has substantially reduced the average annual area burned is widely held by resource managers and is often thought to be self-evident. Direct empirical evidence however is essentially limited to just two studies by Stocks (1991) and Ward and Tithecott (1993), that use Ontario http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario government fire records to make comparisons of average annual area burned between areas with and without aggressive fire suppression policies. Numerous subsequent studies have presented the same information, often in a different format (Martell 1994, Martell 1996, Weber & Stocks 1998, Li 2000, Ward & Mawdsley 2000). The proponents of these studies argue that areas without aggressive fire suppression policies have larger average fire sizes and greater average annual area burned and a longer interval between fires and that this is evidence of the effect of fire suppression. However, the idea that fire suppression can effectively reduce the average annual area burned is the focus of a vocal debate in the scientific literature. In particular, several recent papers have argued against this idea (Miyanishi & Johnson 2001, Miyanishi /et al./ 2002, Bridge et al 2005). wuerthner Greece: 15) Compounding the tragedy of the fires that burned something like half-a-million acres of forest and farmland, there's a tradition of political corruption that prepared the ground for the inferno. The August 2007 photographs of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of burning Greece brought to light not merely the monstrous size of the destruction, but the equally monstrous planning of those striving to convert the country into a playground for rich Greeks and foreigners. Filling the dots between the hundreds of fires in Peloponnese puts many of them within reasonable distance and direction of the Ionian Road, a multibillion-dollar highway scheduled to open within four years and connecting the cities Corinth, Patras, Pyrgos and Kalamata. The arsonists did the dirty job for private and corporate criminals who plan to invest in the now burned land. The Ionian Road meanders along unspoiled coastline and Olympia, easily the most beautiful region of the heartland of Hellas. The highway then moves from Olympia in the west to the southern region of Peloponnese. When in the early fifteenth century the Turks were threatening Greece and the remnants of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Platonic philosopher George Gemistos Plethon pleaded with the emperor in Constantinople to make his stand against the Turks in Peloponnese. The emperor did not listen to Plethon and the Turks conquered Greece in 1453. Now the new conquerors of Peloponnese are likely to be those who burned it: coming to Greece with pockets full of money and heads full of expensive hotels, golf courses, exclusive gated summer homes, and all the rest of tourist infrastructure. The Germans, for example, want to convert Mountain Taygetos into a ski resort. American and British tourist moguls are after hotels and golf courses and Greek businessmen dream of hotels and restaurants. Both the governing and opposition parties tried to emasculate or eliminate article 24 of the Greek constitution that provides some protection to forests. Second, Greek governments have misused earmarked European Union money for land registry, Greece being the only EU country that has no idea who owns what. The same is true of forests. No one knows the forests' exact measurements and precise borders. Third, Greece has been so cavalier about environmental protection that its ministry of the environment is a subsidiary of the ministry of public works. And fourth, the country is ecologically illiterate. http://www.hellenicnews.com/readnews.html?newsid=7786〈=US Israel: 16) Every time Yossi Karni hears that oil prices are rising on the New York Stock Exchange, he gets nervous. " In recent years, we've had a plague of people cutting down trees, " says Karni, a forester in Biriya, a forest in the Galilee. " The thieves even took some of our most precious trees, the ancient oaks, arbutuses and even cedars, which cast their shade on everything, " he says. It's become routine. At this time of the year, the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael) workers in the North have become used to chasing down tree thieves in the forests. Just before winter begins are the days when at least some of the residents of the Galilee store wood to burn for heat. Many do so by illegally cutting down trees in forests and nature reserves, which is theft. To nip the problem in the bud, three years ago the JNF started handing out wood in the forests. For instance, early last week area residents were summoned to a pine grove near Safed, and were directed to a pile of logs that had been prepared that very day. " About 600 families registered for allocations. I think we'll be able to distribute about 1,000 tons of wood to about 350 families, " says Aviram Zuk, manager of the JNF in the Galilee region. The JNF periodically cuts down trees to thin the forests, and used to sell the wood to developers. Avraham Weiss, wood productivity counselor at the JNF, is the one who picks the trees, walking through the groves with a pail of orange paint and marking the ones doomed to be felled. After him come the axes. " Instead of the trees growing for a hundred years, thinning shortens their growth time to 30 or 40 years, " Weiss says. " I mark the weak, sick trees for felling, leaving the strong ones to develop. " Each family registering for wood receives three to four tons for heating, and pays a symbolic sum of NIS 70 per ton. The price in the market is NIS 450 per ton. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/938752.html 17) This is posted to help those who may not be aware of the use of propaganda and racism used in so-called environmentalism in Israel. Forests planted by the Jewish National Fund were and still are used to destroy the history of Palestinian villages and expand Israel beyond its 1967 borders, expropriate Bedouin lands, etc. We see similar legacies in our own country's environmentalism, as well as a legacy of ethnic cleansing of indigenous peoples. Here is one example of how the JNF works from: ammurano There is something worrying about a prime minister of a liberal, democratic country who imposes values on his country's citizens and those who wish to become citizens, yet does not adhere to those values when he regards it politically expedient to ignore them. This is precisely what Prime Minister John Howard has done in accepting the " honour " of having a forest named after him in Israel's Negev Desert and also the Jerusalem Prize for his support of Israel and its " values " . And John Howard is in good company: Sir Robert Menzies and Bob Hawke -- both former Australian prime ministers -- also have forests in Israel named after them, as well as a former governor-general, Sir Zelman Cowen. The naming of the John Howard forest was arranged by a quasi-private land agency, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) which deliberately discriminates against non-Jews in its allocation of long-lease agreements. This arrangement services Israel's apartheid policies aimed at bringing about the Judaisation of all of the land originally known as historic Palestine. The Israeli government relies on the JNF and international Zionist organizations to bring in Jews from abroad to settle on land forcibly taken from the non-Jewish inhabitants -- a practice which is discriminatory and illegal. Already the JNF holds 13 per cent of the land and now is currently advertising its " Blueprint Negev " as " A Miracle in the Desert " . The Negev Desert was and is the home of the indigenous Bedouin Arabs who are now citizens of present-day Israel. Some 80,000 have been living in 45 unrecognised villages in the southern Negev Desert and although they have a right to vote in Israel's national elections and have a duty to pay taxes if they work, they have been calculatingly ignored when the Israeli government approves of planning projects for new Jewish communities. Their lands have been systematically confiscated and thousands of them have been forced to live in poor and densely populated shanty towns that is anathema to their traditional life on the land. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6927.shtml Iran: 18) Desertification can only be reversed through profound changes in local and international behavior, these changes will ultimately lead to sustainable land use and food security for a growing world population. Due to Iran's geographical situation and topographical features, about 80% of Iran's total area have arid or semiarid climate. Land degradation and desertification in Iran have accelerated during recent decades due to the following factors: 1) Population has doubled during last 25 years (since 1979). 2) More agricultural and pastoral products have forced people to use land extensively or convert forest and rangelands to cultivated land. 3) Over use of wood and plants as fuel for household cooking and heating And use of natural regulation tends to denude the soil and intensify desertification. 4) Irregular and uncoordinated exploitation of water resources. --- The policies and programs to rehabilitate and develop renewable natural resources, with consideration for desertification control are as follows: 1) Public awareness about the importance of renewable natural resources (using the mess media). 2) Socio-economic development in rural areas (to prevent the migration of farmers to major cities (Tehran, Shiraz, Esfahan, Tabriz). 3) Conservation of water resources including Ghanats system and water supply installations. 4) Protection of roads and communications networks. 5) Protection of the environment and restoration of ecological stability. 6) Reclamation and Rehabilitation of degraded land. 7) Sand dune stabilization to minimize negative effects on farmland.And other valuable economic infrastructure. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0712/S00308.htm Uganda: 19) Under the snow-capped peaks of the Mountains of the Moon, Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda might appear an untouched wilderness of forest and savannah. Yet the human population of this supposed haven for wildlife outnumbers the elephants by about 50 to one. Eleven growing villages, with about 55,000 people in total, are dotted across the park. Their inhabitants, whose presence is technically illegal, live by fishing and herding cattle. They have nowhere else to go because almost every inch of fertile land in the surrounding area has been taken and cultivated. Uganda's population, already exceeding 30 million, will triple in the next four decades. A United Nations forecast suggests that by 2050, the country will have 93 million people. If so, the park, which has carried the Queen's name after she opened its gates in 1954, risks being swamped. Some 165,000 people will live inside by 2050 - and millions more nearby. Far from being a pristine wilderness, the reserve will have a human population density of 200 per square mile. The consequences for the wildlife could be disastrous. " The people will be forced by nature to grow food and cultivate here, " said Ivan Masereka, 39, who lives inside the park in Katunguru village. Katunguru's inhabitants co-exist uneasily with the wildlife. Earlier this year, a lion killed one man on the edge of the village. In theory, the park's rangers should have been summoned to shoot the animal. But the villagers were so enraged that they killed the lion themselves. " It would be best if the park was not here, " said Mr Masereka. " They should put all the animals in the zoo and leave this land to us. " http://forests.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=90729 Kenya: 20) Several decades ago, the Kenyan government introduced a non-native plant aimed at stopping the spread of deforestation. Alas, like many stories of well-intentioned introductions, this one also ends ignobly - so far. Baringo, in north-central Kenya, is home to a large freshwater lake that serves as an important water source for livestock. Local residents keep large numbers of cattle, which has led to overgrazing and soil erosion. In addition, increased agriculture and removal of trees has caused concern about degradation of the lake and loss of biodiversity. One remediation technique involves introducing plants to restore ground cover and reduce erosion. In this case, the hopeful alien is Mathenge weed (Prosopis julifora). Native to the Americas, it is more commonly called mesquite and develops into a shrub or small tree. This species grows quickly and is very tolerant to arid and saline conditions. In Baringo, it has spread rapidly, which was part of the intention. But when left unmanaged, Mathenge weed can form dense impassable thickets, particularly where the land has been degraded and over-grazed. Then it spreads to more desirable regions, such as pastures and river banks. Mathenge weed has various uses, including for shade, wood, animal forage, and as a honey source. However, its thorns are poisonous and have caused paralysis in both humans and cattle. The dense growth prevents access to overgrown areas. Cattle fed solely with pods may suffer serious digestive complaints. Since the first introduction in 1973, aimed at recovering quarried areas near Mombasa, this plant - along with related Prosopis species - has been used to control soil erosion. Now debate turns from helping the worn-out land to eradicating the new problem posed by this so-called solution. http://www.aboutmyplanet.com/environment/something-worse/ Tanzania: 21) The old adage that says ``your chicken will not be safe if your neighbour is hungry`` also applies to forests surrounded by hungry communities with no alternative sources of income. In many parts of Africa, the influence of human activities on forests has grown at an unprecedented rate and sometimes the situation is worse in forests adjacent to communities that rely on forests as the only source of income. Although some forest species sprout especially during rain seasons, large part of the resource would completely disappear from the world map due to continuing encroachment and harsh conditions resulting from climate change risks. Hundreds and thousands of hectors are sent to the grave yard every year under the pretext of alternative source of income by the rural communities where as other scores of the community citing human development as a major cause. In fact, many rural communities are ignorant of the resource despite its enormous short and long term fruits one is expected to harvest from it. For example, being a key to development, forests support other important sectors such as economy and culture. It also provides construction materials such as timber, poles and logs. It also protects soil, maintain hydrological balance, provide catchments and recycle atmospheric gases among other benefits. Despite such benefits yet most forest species are under big threat of disappearing on the world map due to human activities. It is against this reason that the Malawi government in collaboration with the European Union early this year embarked on the programme known as The improved Forest Management for Sustainable livelihood , which will cost about 14.9 million Euros. Like Tanzania, Malawi also experiences massive depletion of forests. At least twelve districts have so far been affected especially in rural areas where forest is the sole resource to most residents, they are Nsanje, Chikwawa, Zomba, Machinga and Ntcheu. Also in the list are Dedza, Ntchisi, Kasungu, Mzimba, Rumphi, Karonga and Chitipa. http://www.ippmedia.com/ipp/guardian/2007/12/24/104897.html Malawi: 22) The government also ensures that such rural community secures equitable access to forest resources through increasing the area under the sustainable forest management arrangement. In this plan, the government is strengthening the capacity of community institutions in planning as well as co-managing state forests in partnership with the department of forestry. However, the government supports forest based and forest related income generating strategies and individuals or communal afforestation programmes to eas the pressure on indigenous forests. Strengthened communication and advocacy within and among stakeholder groups is another strategy by the Malawi government which devises ways of generating interest and providing essential information for decision making towards feasible options among the existing and potential forest based ``income generating activities`` The focus of the programme is to address and emphasize both protecting standing forests and replanting barren areas to re-green them. Besides the benefits that the government and the communities are expected to derive from the programme, tackling issues of environmental degradation and climate change risks is one of the program`s agenda. It is must therefore that sustainable forest management would need communities with environmental knowledge and alternative source of income to rescue forest cover in Africa which is estimated at 650 million hectors accounting for 21.8 percent of the land area and 16.8 percent of global forest cover. http://www.ippmedia.com/ipp/guardian/2007/12/24/104897.html Cuba: 23) Through accidents of geography and history, Cuba is a priceless ecological resource. Cuba, by far the region's largest island, sits at the confluence of the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. About 700 miles long and about 100 miles wide at its widest, Cuba runs from Haiti west almost to the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. It offers crucial habitat for birds, like Bicknell's thrush, whose summer home is in the mountains of New England and Canada, and the North American warblers that stop in Cuba on their way south for the winter. Its mountains, forests, swamps, coasts and marine areas are rich in plants and animals, some seen nowhere else. And since the imposition of the embargo in 1962, and especially with the collapse in 1991 of the Soviet Union, its major economic patron, Cuba's economy has stagnated. Cuba has not been free of development, including Soviet-style top-down agricultural and mining operations and, in recent years, an expansion of tourism. But it also has an abundance of landscapes that elsewhere in the region have been ripped up, paved over, poisoned or otherwise destroyed in the decades since the Cuban revolution, when development has been most intense. Once the embargo ends, the island could face a flood of investors from the United States and elsewhere, eager to exploit those landscapes. Conservationists, environmental lawyers and other experts, from Cuba and elsewhere, met last month in Cancún, Mexico, to discuss the island's resources and how to continue to protect them. In the late 1990s, Mr. Houck was involved in an effort, financed in part by the MacArthur Foundation, to advise Cuban officials writing new environmental laws. But, he said in an interview, " an invasion of U.S. consumerism, a U.S.-dominated future, could roll over it like a bulldozer " when the embargo ends. By some estimates, tourism in Cuba is increasing 10 percent annually. As Mr. Rey and Daniel Whittle, a lawyer for Environmental Defense, put it in the book " Cuban Studies 37 " (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2006), " policymaking in Cuba is still centralized and top down. " But, they wrote, " Cubans must be encouraged to use their environmental laws. By " some kind of cultural habit, " he said, people in Cuba rarely turn to the courts to challenge decisions they dislike. " There's no litigation, just a few cases here and there, " Mr. Rey said. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/25/science/25cuba.html?_r=1 & oref=slogin Colombia: 24) " During the last few weeks, military tanks have been sent to the communities; indigenous leaders have been detained in their homes without legal representation and commoners (men, women and children) have been attacked with tear gas sprayed directly in their faces. Helicopters have been flying over schools and indigenous cultural centres have been destroyed. " The treatment of the Indigenous people of Colombia by successive governments has been complex and unfair. Recently announcements from the Organization of Antioquia (OIA) indicate that government's future projects threaten the survival and livelihood of a significant proportion of the local indigenous people. 22 projects in South America using an Integrative Infrastructure are going to be developed in indigenous territories. More than 80 oil exploitations are on 30 indigenous territories. The canalization of Meta and Putumayo Rivers will adversely affect 37 Indigenous Nations. Oil palm plantations will affect five millions hectares of claimed land and 5 dams will inundate ancestral lands. With the New Law of Rural Development (Law 1152 of 2007), the Colombian Government and the Congress have abolished the holding of legal title by the indigenous people of the Pacific region and other municipalities. Yet the Government have not intervened on the four million hectares that drug traffickers and big landowners (supported by paramilitaries) have illegally taken by violent means from the indigenous peoples, the Afro-Colombian and the peasant people. With other newly created Laws in Mines and Forestry, the Colombian Government is about to abolish indigenous rights to their lands that were recognized in national and international treaties (the 1991 Constitutional Reform and the169 Agreement of the ILO (International Labour Organisation). http://www.nasaacin.net/desafio_no_da_espera.htm Brazil: 25) Reacting to increasing Amazonian deforestation in recent months, Brazil has banned the sale of farm products from illegally deforested ares in the Amazon [ark | more\ark]. It should be noted deforestation rates [search] do not include rainforest diminishment caused by industrial first time logging and other activities that may leave some trees, but effectively destroy ancient rainforest ecosystems and release much of their carbon. Policies announced included imposing fines for buying or trading illegally produced beef and soy, sending in seven hundred more troops, and establishing a land registry. The Brazilian government has recently been trumpeting 50% reductions in deforestation over the past two years. However, these decreases appear to have been more a result of declines in agricultural markets than any fundamental reduction in deforestation, and as markets recover deforestation and climate change soars. http://www.rainforestportal.org/issues/2007/12/amazon_deforestation_set_to_so.as\ p Argentina: 26) Argentina put in force its first forestry law on Wednesday, establishing creation of the National Fund for Enrichment and Conservation of Native Forests. This institution will compensate national territories that have been preserving this patrimony with minimal environmental protection budgets. According to Act 26.331 adopted on November 29, these funds will be a minimum of 3 percent of the national budget, almost 319,500 dollars, something more than 2 percent of the total agriculture, ranching and forestry exports; to be supplemented with subsidies, loans and donations. The law was rigorously debated by some representatives of the northern provinces where woodland is routinely destroyed to plant soy and other products gleaning a high price on the international market. All deforestation is suspended for one year (except if approved before the bill's passage) with exceptions made to small-scale producers with less than 10 hectares of woodland and to indigenous communities. After one year, all deforestation will require legal authorization, which will be dependent on its impact on the environment. http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7B0428EB8F-2D79-4270-A6BA-A88DDDA0D8E5%\ 7D & language=EN India: 27) A new developmental threat is looming large on the forests of Western Ghats in Karnataka. The irony is that, these projects are termed as 'green projects'. These are mini-hydel projects (up to 20 mega watts) entering pristine forests and wildlife habitat. As the name suggests, these are small scale electricity generating projects and do not submerge vast forest lands as mega-hydel projects. However, the impact of these projects are different and are largely unknown. These mini-hydel projects pose lesser risk than thermal or nuclear energy and to an extent supplement the growing demand of our energy needs. But, the location of some of these projects currently planned and implemented are ill-sited. No one would object to these 'green projects' if sited outside ecologically fragile areas. Currently, 73 mini-hydel projects have been permitted in the fragile Western Ghats by the Government subsidiary Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL). Once these projects are implemented, the natural forests of our Western Ghats in Karnataka would be further fragmented. Notably, Kempholey, Kaadumane, Bisale, Someshwara, Kabbinaale, Charmadi, Neriya, Dharmasthala and other reserved forests would be largely impacted. Fragmentation due to these projects will affect the habitat of tiger, elephant, lion-tailed macaque, Nilgiri marten, Travancore tortoise, Cochin cane turtle, hornbill and other habitat specialist species, most of which are endangered. Extensive network of roads will be formed within these otherwise remote forest areas. These road networks will lead to increased timber theft, wildlife poaching and other illegal activities. The effect of roads on forest and wildlife has been well proved by several scientific studies. Construction of new roads in forest areas will also encourage invasive exotic plant species such as Parthenium and Euputorium. Roads in this high rainfall area will lead to heavy soil erosion, ending up in dams built for mini-hydel projects and in rivers and streams. http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Dec252007/snt2007122442950.asp 28) The Forest Rights Act needs to be implemented so that " it casts rights and authority on the forest dwelling tribal communities to protect forests. " This was because " the total indigenous forest communities are the most experienced in terms of what kind of human activities can sustain regeneration and biodiversity. " They have lived in the forests for centuries and sustained the valuable ecosystems. The Act can crucially help implement the U.N. commitments and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) recommendations on conservation, which are not duly implemented by India's earlier forest and biodiversity laws. The government's report of the Task Force on Social and Economic Aspects of Conservation for the Environment and Forests Sector noted this when it said: " Ecosystem services that Indian forests provide are essentially due to conservation efforts by the traditional communities, but still how prevailing laws and administration have treated indigenous forest communities life and practices, causes 'unfortunately, near-total delegitimisation and non-recognition of the wealth of local biodiversity knowledge which has been adapted to local ecosystem. " Some of the signatories to the appeal are the Forest and Biodiversity Programme, Friends of the Earth International, World Rainforest Movement, New Wind, Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, and Ecoforestry Union. http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/27/stories/2007122757122000.htm China: 29) The changes in the bird community structure of the largest natural secondary forest of Hong Kong over 10 years were investigated. Densities of the 10 most abundant species in 1993–1995 and 2003–2005 were compared using t-test. All resident habitat generalists showed significant decline in densities. Two forest specialists showed significant increase in densities: one is native and the other is exotic species. The trend of changes in the forest bird community of Hong Kong is mainly related to the absence of nearby forests that could act as " source " of forest dependent species to colonize the local secondary forests, and the invasion of exotic species. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL & _udi=B82YR-4RDXJ1X-3 & _user=1\ 0 & _rdoc=1 & _fmt= & _orig=search & _sort=d & view=c & _acct=C000050221 & _version=1 & _urlVersion=0 & _userid=1\ 0 & md5=7df868e18 a4efb1245089f928907f4be Thailand: 30) SURIN - Sucking up sugarcane with their trunks and circling busy traffic roundabouts, the elephants that roam Thai towns at festival time seem as much at home in the city as in the forest. Shows that feature elephants painting pictures, playing polo and whirling hoola hoops on their trunks have become an economic lifeline for more than a thousand domesticated elephants, who lost their incomes when Thailand banned logging in 1989. But entertaining locals and tourists has become a life or death business for elephants and their keepers, explained Sam Fang, author of Thai Elephants: Tourism Ambassadors of Thailand. " They had to cope with the ban on logging, and deforestation, " Fang said. " First jobless, second no food. Wham! " Tourism filled the gaps, he said. " The better elephants got themselves a job as taxis. The intelligent elephants got themselves jobs as show elephants. The smarter ones became artists, " he said jokingly. Unlike larger African elephants, which have never been domesticated in large numbers, Asian elephants have worked closely with humans for millennia. But this proximity has not helped protect Asia's pachyderms, who are endangered throughout their 13 range states, and ten times less numerous than their African cousins. http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKSP31907020071224 Vietnam: 31) Two individuals charged with illegal logging will be forced to replant the section of forest they chopped down in Phu Ninh District, Quang Nam Province. The penalty, the first of its kind, was announced Tuesday by the local administration. The two loggers, Nguyen Thanh Hung and Tran Ly, will have to replant one hectare and five hectares of white thingan (hopea odorata) trees respectively and pay fines of VND800,000 (US$50) and VND6.5 million ($406) respectively. The forest at Phu Ninh, despite being under governmental protection, has been severely ravaged by illegal logging recently. The local administration has now closed all public accesses to the forest for two months. http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/?catid=3 & newsid=34496 Australia: 32) Presbyterian Ladies' College staff and students have been getting in touch with nature recently after the discovery of remnant woodlands on the school campus. Curious koalas prompted staff and students to explore the campus grounds, where an area known to be home to a family of koalas, possums and parrots was found. Scientists from both the University of New England and Southern New England Landcare have given advice on how to best protect and integrate this area into the school curriculum. The grasses growing under the snow gums are a significant source of seed for small woodland birds, such as Diamond Firetails, which has also prompted the creation of a teaching garden which comprises 40 indigenous species, many of which are either threatened or endangered in the region. The Armidale Tree group generously supported the project, providing trees and information about the plants, which has been followed by a $500 grant from Mitre 10 and Landcare Australia. The garden was opened earlier this month with the burial of a time capsule to preserve the memories of 2007, which has been the school's 120th anniversary. Teacher David Moffatt has been the driving force behind the project, which has incorporated nearly 20 students volunteering their time to plant, plan, mulch and water the new garden. They planted 350 trees, shrubs and wildflowers to provide habitat and establish an excellent resource for future students to study Australian flora. http://armidale.yourguide.com.au/news/local/general/environment-a-natural-concer\ n/1152088.html 33) Tasmania, Tarkine – named after the Tarkiner people who lived there between 175,000 and 30,000 years ago – is spread over 1700 square miles and contains the largest myrtle rainforest in Australia. It was recently included within an extended protection zone of the state, which now protects over 40% of its landmass. On the banks of the 20 m deep Pieman river and accessible by self-drive in 2WD cars via the 'Fatman' barge, the Tarkine area contains many rare and threatened species of flora and fauna including native orchids, the Tasmanian devil, eastern pygmy possum, wedge tailed eagle, white breasted sea eagle and the orange-bellied parrot. Corinna is one of two places on Tasmania 's 'wild west' coast that offers accommodation – the popular fishing village of Strahan being the other. The coastline, rich in Aboriginal significance, is regularly pounded by the Roaring Forties winds, which can whip waves up to 18 metres in height. The next landmass, heading west, is Argentina, over 11,000 miles away. Corinna, once known by the aboriginal name for a young Tasmanian Tiger, Royenrine, (now extinct), was settled in 1881 following the discovery of gold in the Pieman River , and is one of the only historic mining settlements left in Australia. http://www.intheknowtraveler.com/2070 34) " Even though mistletoe represents a minor component of the habitats it inhabits, in terms of species richness, abundance, and biomass, it has a disproportionately strong and pervasive influence on diversity patterns, " National Geographic quoted David Watson, an associate professor of ecology at the Institute for Land, Water, and Society at Charles Sturt University in Albury, Australia, as saying. In 2001, Watson reported that mistletoe acted as a " keystone resource " that could help raise the diversity and abundance of wildlife in forests. He had revealed that the plant served as a nesting ground food source for many animals, and often raised the number of species in its vicinity. Since then, more projects have been undertaken to study the importance of mistletoe the overall health of plants and animals. Watson has now revealed that there are approximately 1,500 varieties of mistletoe, which live on the branches of trees or shrubs around the world. The researcher says that unlike other plant parasites, especially those that live underground, mistletoe makes its own energy through photosynthesis. He says that mistletoe relies on its hosts mostly for water and minerals. He admits that mistletoe leads to the death of its hosts sometimes, but insists that it usually does little more than stunting their growth. Watson points out that mistletoe produces flowers, berries, and leaves even during the winter, when trees and shrubs have gone bare in order to conserve energy and resources. Thus, it acts like a food source for foraging animals, he adds. The researcher also highlights that fallen mistletoe leaves also serve as a key element of overall forest health " Weve discovered that leaf litter may be one of the key mechanisms through which mistletoe influences overall forest dynamics and diversity patterns, " Watson said. " (Leaf litter) is the main source of carbon and a whole lot of other 'raw materials' that are used by microbial communities to form soil, the engine that drives aboveground productivity and growth, " he added. Watson says that new findings also suggest that mistletoe may help cure certain kinds of ailing forests. He believes that for many struggling forests, managing and reintroducing mistletoe is " most definitely " a potential solution. " I have advocated this for restoring certain habitats, " he said. http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/health/mistletoe-leaf-litter-may-hold-key-to\ -curing-ailing -forests_10010097.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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