Guest guest Posted January 14, 2008 Report Share Posted January 14, 2008 Today for you 30 new articles about earth's trees! (280th edition) Subscribe / send blank email to: earthtreenews- Weblog: http://olyecology.livejournal.com --British Columbia: 1) Clearcutting not just food, but Trans-Canada trail too, 2) More interchange news, 3) History, 4) We're not cutting enough so Indonesia's taking over 5) 6) More interchange news, --Washington: 7) Weyco's selling real estate, 6) Legislators study ruins of Weyco land, --California: 8) Legal setback favors Maxxam/PL fraud, 9) Science Hill treesit, --Montana: 10) logging the state parks --Iowa: 11) Sibylla and Bill Brown donate 200 acres --Ohio: 12) Mohican Memorial State Forest finally being logged --Maryland: 13) Baltimore Gas and Electric Co to only clear, not prune trees. --Maine: 14) wood-pellet madness --West Virginia: 15) Forest Waterfalls of Monongahela --Appalachia: 16) A thousand dollars a log means lot of thieves --Florida: 17) Gather seeds of redbay trees because asian beetle is gonna take over --USA: 18) Why do we need zero-cut and zero-extraction? 19) Cranefly Orchid, --Canada: 19) Mill shut-downs makes Weyco free to export, 20) Misery at Wood Green Ravine, 21) Save Ogoki forest, --UK: 22) Tree culling turned to a tree carving event, 23) Save Psych hospital trees, --Scotland: 24) Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers wants to cut 1/2 their trees --Sweden: 25) Children's Eternal Rainforest --Congo: 26) World Bank address their failings, 27) Forest Defender René Ngongo, --Nepal: 28) 21,000 hectares of forest land encroached in Kailali --Thailand: 29) Golden Teaks trees poisoned to make way for dam, --Indonesia: 30) FSC's cover up after WSJ article seems a bit off British Columbia: 1) The Trans-Canada Trail runs adjacent to Bill's property and we took a walk with him yesterday morning. After a kilometer and a half we got to our destination—not a beautiful waterfall, in this case, or a magnificent stand of trees, but a massive clearcut, right down to the trail. More shocking even, the access road, where they haul out the timber, runs across the trail—we stood and watched for a few minutes as another truck was loaded up and belched pass us (paying no heed to the stop sign) taking with it another small piece of a possible, sustainable future. Bill pointed out a small gate off the trail, beyond which stretched a messy clearcut, but which, until a month previous, had opened onto a forest lane connecting a nearby farm (another hub of the food culture here) to the trail and from there to Bill's place. One of the annual events Bill had organized consisted of a food walk, from farm to table, through the woods and long this trail. The magic of the walk and of the experience has been written up by the San Francisco Chronicle, Gourmet Magazine, and many other publications. In a final note of disgust and resignation, Bill pointed out that this forest had also been prime mushrooming ground. Now it's a sorry industrial landscape. We're probably one of the few parties that will bother to make the trip to take in this blight. The magic of the place is gone along with the final truckloads of timber. On the way back to Bill's we stopped further along the trail, just up from his property, where a metal fabrication plant and excavating company is set to start up business. It reminded me of the recent conflict to the south of us, near Shawnigan Lake, where a developer was proposing a motocross facility adjacent to a Provincial Park, in the middle of a quiet rural-residential community. The notion of incompatible use comes to mind. I committed to writing a piece about the situation for the local paper. http://lichenology.blogspot.com/2008/01/small-steps-toward-big-walk.html 2) Environmentalists and surveyers for the Bear Mountain (Spencer Road) Interchange faced off in Langford again Thursday, Jan 10. A small crew of workers arrived at the highway to take measurements and place stakes just before noon, and they were met by the tree sit crew. There was a polite exchange of views, the work crew set up their equipment, and the tree sitters stood in front of the instruments and peacefully obstructed the surveying. After making a brief effort to survey the area, the crew packed up the instruments and left. An hour later, bylaw enforcement officers visited the camp and tried to enter some of the tents in the area and look into people's bags and backpacks. They were persuaded to leave off their searches, after which the officers left. No court orders or legal documents have been served on the camp yet. This is the first attempt to start work on the interchange since before Christmas. Starting Saturday January 12, volunteers will be circulating a petition to reject Langford's bylaw to borrow $25 million for the interchange and create a Local Area Service plan. City council took the unusual step of adopting two bylaws at a " special " meeting two days after Christmas, although the agenda only called for first reading. The creation of a Local Area Service plan exempts the decision from the counter-petition process, which normally gives citizens the opportunity to reject a city council decision. Nevertheless, Steven Hurdle of Langford is organizing a petition drive to gather 2000 signatures against the plan. " While Langford may have found a legal loophole in declaring the interchange a 'Local Service Area' to let them avoid the referendum, we can still win the political war, " he writes. Volunteers meet Saturday 9:30am at Redeemer Lutheran Church (911 Jenkins Ave in Langford). Contact: Steven Hurdle 885-0717 3) Logging was the mainstay of British Columbia for decades. Millionaires were made, and vast empires were formed from the labours of those who carry out one of the most dangerous jobs on the planet. The death and injury toll, even today, is hideous. Few would be the people on the west coast of BC who did not know at least one person who'd died in the bush. Loggers are a mighty tough breed. It's a bleak and lonely life, and they have to be tough to take it. They also have to accept a lot of bleak loneliness in their isolation in the camps. Yet, there was always a certain allure for young bucks. They disregarded the 'old guys' (sometimes in their 40s) who walked with limps and were missing assorted fingers, and who were destined to be invalided out because their backs wouldn't take the toil any longer, and their livers wouldn't take the trips to town any longer. http://ian-lidster.blogspot.com/2008/01/life-of-toil-in-tall-trees.html 4) An Indonesian paper company with a controversial history has placed a $105-million bid on three pulp mills -- two of them in B.C. -- for sale by insolvent U.S. forest company Pope & Talbot. Documents filed Wednesday in U.S. bankruptcy court show PT Pindo Deli Pulp & Paper Mills placed a $105.3-million US bid for Pope & Talbot's Mackenzie pulp mill, its Harmac mill near Nanaimo, and its Halsey mill in Oregon. PT Pindo Deli is a subsidiary of Asia Pulp & Paper, an Indonesian forest products giant that is best known in North America for defaulting on $14 billion US worth of debt in 2001 -- the largest default in Asian history. Portland-based Pope & Talbot agreed to the bid Jan. 8, according to the documents. The agreement is intended as a " stalking horse " bid in the expectation it could attract higher offers, leading to an auction of the pulp mills. The court has set Feb. 5 as the auction date if other bidders surface. Its U.S. creditors agreed to a debt-revamp plan. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=e5d9bb80-569f-4e1\ 6-b360-1f7831ca fa68 Forest industry analyst Mark Bishop said it was encouraging to see there was a bid for the pulp mills, although he was surprised the bid included the Harmac mill on Vancouver Island. He said he also didn't fully understand the Sinar Mas Group's motivation for the bid, noting that the northern bleached softwood kraft pulp produced by the three mills was more than the group needed internally. However, he said the company may be trying to secure pulp supplies as there has been a crack down on illegal logging in Indonesia. Bishop, an analyst with RBC Dominion Securities, said it wasn't clear to him either whether the company planned to operate all three mills. The sale of the three pulp mills is subject to approval by the Canadian and U.S. bankruptcy courts. As the stalking horse bidder, the Sinar Mas Group will receive a break-up fee of $3.8 million if they are not the successful bidder. That break-up fee is subject to change under the court proceedings. " What they have done is set the floor for bidding. Now it's off to the races. The games are on, " he said. If the APP subsidiary is outbid, it receives a $3.8-million US break-up fee. http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id=112\ 008 & Itemid=557 5) The barricade at the end of the road is decorated with freshly-planted poinsettias in a mound of earth. Yellow plastic sunflowers, two graffitied TV sets and an oversize truck tire line a meter-wide trench just past the pavement's end. They mark the boundary between the city and a protest camp occupied by a new generation of Canadian environmental protestors: the Raccoons. The Raccoons are a ragtag mob of irregulars holding back a major highway interchange project designed to service Bear Mountain, a sprawling golf resort in Langford, just west of Victoria, B.C. A few dozen dumpster-diving, trash-talking, anti-authoritarians with a passion for undisturbed natural places have built a camp in the path of the new highway. The proposed interchange cuts through a pocket of forest packed with natural and cultural rarities: a sacred First Nations cave, a seasonal pond, garry oak meadows, arbutus bluffs, red-legged frogs and chocolate lilies. Right now the Bear Mountain Tree Sit looks like a gloomy, swampy hobo camp, dotted with tents, tree forts at dizzying heights overhead, and a giant teepee covered with tarps. " A tarpee, " notes one of the campers. Some of the campers admit they eat deer, rabbits and even raccoons – but they insist they are not hunting . The meat is road kill collected from the TransCanada Highway, one tree sitter told A Channel News. Another pointed out the hypocrisy of building a highway that will mangle more animals, while simultaneously trying to cast the environmentalists as bunny killers. A third wondered aloud if Stewart Young was vegan. RCMP and bylaw enforcement officers tell us the Raccoons are " guests of the city of Langford, " and they even allow them to have a campfire without a permit. http://onlymagazine.ca/News/road-kill Washington: 6) Great views of Mount St. Helens. Some waterfront lots on lakes teeming with trout. Big elk herd. Only $3,750 per acre. Such could read an ad for the High Lakes near Spirit Lake Memorial Highway. What has been a popular place with hunters, anglers and campers went on the market late last year. Already, sales are pending on much of the 1,354 acres available. It's too early to say how the sale will affect public access to the area, which includes Elk, Hanaford, Forest and Fawn lakes, but some observers are pessimistic. " I can't imagine that we'll continue to have public access up there, " said John Weinheimer, a fish biologist for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. " I hate to see the public locked out, " said Mark Smith, who owns the Eco Park resort on Spirit Lake Highway and used to offer tours of the High Lakes area. Hodges, Gilliam & Dana, a real estate company in Olympia, is marketing the properties. Troy Dana, president of the firm, wouldn't disclose who has initiated purchases so far. Sales are pending on about half of the land available, including Elk, Hanaford and Forest lakes. " I would have thought it would have taken a little bit longer, " Dana said. No sales have been finalized, he said. Nor have any been recorded at the Cowlitz County Assessor's Office. " The new owners are really neat and nice people, " Dana said. " They're very open-minded. They're outdoors enthusiasts themselves. " The property deals are the latest twist in changing access to the region of steep slopes and cool lakes. Mount St. Helens' 1980 eruption blasted the trees away, but within a few years the public was allowed back over the steep and rocky Weyerhaeuser road system. On summer weekends, dozens of people could be found there fishing and camping. Visitations to the area have dropped in recent years, however. Weyerhaeuser has allowed only hikers, mountain bike riders and horse riders, only opening its gates to motorized vehicles during hunting seasons. Late last year, two men from the Olympia area bought about 4,100 acres of land from Weyerhaeuser, according to Smith. They divided 1,354 acres of it into 19 parcels, ranging from 38 to 107 acres each, with prices ranging from $191,818 to $613,028. Weyerhaeuser sold the land because it didn't fit with the company's " long-term strategic needs, " company spokeswoman Kate Tate said in an e-mail. She declined to provide further reasons for the company's decision to sell. Tate said the High Lakes sale won't change Weyerhaeuser's policies regarding public access to its adjacent lands to the west and north. http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/01/12/top_story/doc478725b6f0f00361832067.txt 7) Legislators and members of state environmental agencies toured washed-out areas of Lewis County on Wednesday, a day before the Senate Natural Resources, Ocean and Recreation Committee was scheduled to hear about how recent flooding affected local timberland. Much of the tour focused on Weyerhaeuser property near Pe Ell, where company officials talked about plans to conduct impact studies on the extent of damage caused by mud and trees that careened down steep hills on the vast acreage. http://www.chronline.com/story.php?subaction=showfull & id=1199994064 & archive= & sta\ rt_from= & ucat= " Without changes to the forest practices rules, clearcut-caused landslides will occur again and again, " Karl Forsgaard of the Washington Forest Law Center told members of the state Senate's Natural Resources, Ocean and Recreation Committee. He said a coalition of environmental groups will introduce a bill in the 2008 Legislature to create more stringent logging rules in flood-prone watersheds with steep slopes slated for timber harvest. Timber industry officials insisted the state's Forest and Fish rules adopted in 1999 forestry rules are adequate, but can be amended, if field studies this year in the upper Chehalis Valley bear out the claim that logging contributed to the severity of the storm damage and flooding in December 2007 in Lewis County. http://www.theolympian.com/breakingnews/story/323413.html California: 8) The First District Court of Appeal yesterday affirmed a Humboldt Superior Court judge's ruling throwing out a lawsuit in which the Humboldt County district attorney claimed The Pacific Lumber Company made misrepresentations and concealed crucial facts during an environmental review of its plan to harvest timber under the Headwaters Agreement. Under the agreement, brokered by Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Maxxam Incorporated, which acquired Pacific Lumber in 1986, agreed to sell the Headwaters Forest—7,500 acres of environmentally sensitive old-growth redwoods—to the government for more than $300 million. In turn, the state and federal governments agreed that Pacific Lumber could log its remaining acreage in the area, more than 200,000 acres, subject to environmental requirements reviewable under state law, including plans for preservation of habitat for the imperiled marbled murrelet and the northern spotted owl, prevention of excessive logging and protection of streams. Pursuant to that agreement, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection certified an environmental impact report in 1999 and approved the company's sustained yield and habitat conservation plans. Those approvals are the subject of separate litigation now pending before the state Supreme Court. Gallegos said the false data was submitted to conceal a finding by a consultant hired by Pacific Lumber that new timber harvesting could trigger increased landslide frequency in the Bear Creek and Elk River watersheds. Worried such a finding would result in issuance of permits for lower rates of harvesting, and thus would hinder its ability to meet certain of its financial obligations, Pacific Lumber devised a scheme to submit false data for a watershed adjacent to Bear Creek, which indicated, contrary to the Bear Creek and Elk River finding, that new harvesting would not likely trigger increased landslide frequency, the district attorney alleged. But Superior Court Judge Richard L. Freeborn sustained the company's demurrer, ruling that even if the allegations were true, the conduct was absolutely privileged under Civil Code Sec. 47(b) because it occurred in connection with administrative proceedings under the California Environmental Quality Act. http://www.metnews.com/articles/2008/gall011108.htm 9) A Santa Cruz judge granted demonstrators connected to the UC Santa Cruz tree-sit more time Wednesday to build a case against the university's efforts to shut down the protest. Judge Paul Burdick set a Jan. 23 hearing for the UC Regents' request for a preliminary injunction against the demonstrators, who UCSC officials say have created an unsafe and unsanitary protest site since climbing into three redwoods Nov. 7 and occupying a parking lot below. Mark Sullivan, a Capitola attorney representing four of the nine defendants, told the judge his clients had not been served documents connected to the case, and therefore were unprepared to respond. The Regents filed a civil complaint Dec. 14 against six defendants, two of whom are students, and up to 50 unidentified supporters in connection with the tree-sit, organized to oppose UCSC's expansion plans. Demonstrators climbed more than 70 feet into the trees, which would be cut down to make room for a proposed biomedical facility. This week, the Regents added UCSC physics professor Zach Schlesinger and Oliver Schmid of Berkeley to the list of defendants, saying they " aided and abetted " the demonstrators by bringing them food at separate times during the campus' recent holiday break. The ninth defendant, a student who reportedly dropped out of school Dec. 20, was arrested that day trying to climb a tree, and was later added to the complaint. Mitchell Page, a Santa Cruz lawyer representing Schlesinger, told the judge he believes the university would not prevail against the professor because Schlesinger also was expressing his First Amendment right. Schmid represented himself in court, but did not offer a defense for feeding the demonstrators and would not comment on the case afterward. No other defendants appeared in court. Rebecca Connolly, a Watsonville attorney retained by the university, said UCSC has an obligation to educate students without tolerating what it views as an illegal encampment, where officials have reported cleaning up feces, urine and trash. The university also claims the tree sitters are endangering themselves and pedestrians. " They aren't going to be able to state a legal right to be in the trees, " Connolly told the judge. After the hearing, Connolly defended the university's decision to arrest Schmid and the professor, saying anyone who supplies food to the demonstrators is enabling them to continue the protest. http://santacruzsentinel.com/story.php?storySection=Local & sid=64739 Montana: 10) Three popular state parks will be at least partially closed this winter to make room for logging operations. " What we're trying to do is reduce the tree densities, " said Jerry Sawyer, who helps manage the sites for Montana's Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. " We hope we can improve the forest conditions and reduce the susceptibility to bugs and disease and wildfires. " All three parks - West Shore, Finley Point and Lake Mary Ronan - are in Lake County, Sawyer said, and all have similar forest conditions. The sites were historically home to tall stands of ponderosa pine, he said, but have become tangled with Douglas fir. The fir shades out future generations of pines, and provides a " ladder " of fuel that fire can climb into the otherwise flame-resistant pine canopy. " When the thinning is done, we want to replant the areas with more ponderosa pine, " Sawyer said. The project will more than pay for itself, he said, generating about a half-million feet of timber. The value of those sawlogs and poles will depend, however, on market prices, which have slumped in recent months. Most of the sawlogs, he said, will come from Lake Mary Ronan State Park and Finley Point State Park, while West Shore State Park will supply primarily pole products. The Lake Mary Ronan work started Thursday, and work will begin at the other two parks by the end of this week. " Most of this activity will not affect our fishing accesses, " he said, " but there will be some closures. " http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/01/13/news/mtregional/news08.txt Iowa: 11) Sibylla and Bill Brown recently donated a conservation easement on their 200 acres of woodland in Decatur County to The Nature Conservancy. This tract, east of Leon, contains a high-quality, globally rare oak savanna that is the best remaining example of this type and one of seven known high quality occurrences within the region. These temperate deciduous woodlands are among the highest priorities for conservation of all habitat types in the world. " Fifteen years ago, we had no idea we would be restoring 200 acres of oak savanna when we moved to this farm in Decatur County, Iowa. The land we bought was mostly undeveloped woodland and degraded prairie openings. In the woodland area, the savanna oak trees were obscured by a tangle of multiflora rose, ironwood, elm and prickly ash. Pole timber further closed the wooded canopy, " said Sibylla Brown. After consulting the district forester, the Browns were told to thin the pole timber and eliminate the ironwood, which they accomplished over the next 10 years, working 10 to 15 acres at a time. But a chance visit from Pauline Drobney, biologist at Neil Smith National Wildlife Refuge, made them realize they needed to do more. Drobney told them they had a rare oak savanna and, with proper management, it could be restored. Oak savannas are open oak woodlands with a diverse ground layer of grasses and prairie wildflowers. Before the Brown land was settled by Europeans, periodic fires maintained the open-wooded character of this habitat. The white oak and burr oak trees with widely spreading crowns were called " wolf trees " . In pre-settlement times, there were few other trees other than these large spreading oaks. By the 1990s, in the few open spots that remained in the degraded savanna, the Browns found remnants of the plant community that had once flourished there, including leadplant, purple milkweed, New Jersey tea and scaly blazing star. The Browns then took the next important step to managing an oak savanna. They used fire. After several years of controlled burning, the wooded hillsides responded with a dense carpet of Pennsylvania sedge, acres of bluebells and wild hyacinth. In the prairie openings tall green milkweed, cream gentian and Great Plains ladies tresses appeared. Each year more plants long suppressed by lack of sunlight and fire continue to emerge. Currently, the Browns have 417 native plant species on their property. http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/iowa/press/press3292.html Ohio: 12) PERRYSVILE -- The first trees cut down in Mohican Memorial State Forest as part of a limited clearing agreement between Columbia Gas Transmission and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources will be auctioned later this month. Forest manager Tim Humphrey said Columbia has completed clearing around eight of its 56 gas storage wells in the forest. More than 650 pine and hardwood logs, along with low grade and firewood will be sold to the highest bidder. Sealed bids will be accepted until 11:59 a.m. Jan. 31 and opened at noon. Legal notices about the sale are expected to be published next week. The logs are those that were cleared around the wellheads beginning in December. Acknowledging that some people have been critical of ODNR in its dealings with Columbia and accused the agency of being in the logging business, Humphrey said, " Somebody will accuse us of that. It would just be irresponsible to just let the logs lay and rot. " The two sides had agreed in late February 2007 to limit most tree clearing to an area within 60 feet of selected storage wells and to hold further talks about clearing along Columbia's natural gas pipelines in the area. Weeks later, a maintenance crew intending to clear a pipeline right-of-way on private property crossed into state property and cut down more than 100 trees. A lengthy investigation concluded the clearing was not intentional and Columbia Gas did not willfully disregard the February agreement. Designed to prevent similar incidents, a June agreement included a $10,000 Columbia Gas donation to establish an American chestnut nursery at Mohican and a plan to expedite talks on clearing along the company's pipelines. Money earned from the Jan. 31 sale will be earmarked for Mohican by ODNR's Division of Forestry. It will be used for purchasing property or easements. Humphrey said a number of logs not taken out of the forest due to the weather would be removed later and be part of a smaller sale in the spring.http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080110/B\ USINESS/801100 302 Maryland: 13) From Kaye White's kitchen window, a row of crepe myrtles, redbuds, lilacs, and apple and pear trees block the view of the electric tower sitting a few yards from her Halethorpe home. " In the springtime, it's a mass of pink and lilac, " she said of the trees as she gazed out of her window yesterday. But Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. has told her that 18 trees sitting on her property will have to be cleared, White said, as well as the trees of some neighbors. The utility company is set to start cutting down trees in the neighborhood as soon as Tuesday, according to residents who are frustrated that the previous practice of trimming trees near wires has shifted toward complete removal. " For years, they trimmed and trimmed, " said Bruce Packal, a neighbor of White's on Gun Road. " Something has changed. " Trimming or removing trees near the wires helps prevent outages and gives workers access to them, BGE officials have said. " In general, we trim to protect reliability of the lines, " said Kelly Shanefelter, a BGE spokeswoman. From Packal's living room, his family enjoys a view of a stream and a hill covered with trees and foliage that hide an electric tower sitting 130 feet from his property. In December, crews hired by BGE came to Packal's house to tell him they would have to clear 21 trees on his property. " There was no explanation other than that they were going to cut them down, " Packal said. After he contacted BGE, he was told that the company was cutting trees down in " anticipation of stricter federal guidelines. " In an attempt to save his trees, Packal offered to pay for trimming, but BGE declined, he said. Crews are scheduled to remove the trees Tuesday and BGE has proposed a " goodwill offering " of $175 per tree, he said. " At what point does their right of way become my property? " Packal asked. " When is it enough? " http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_county/bal-md.co.tree13jan13,0,\ 1383486.story?c oll=bal_news_local_baltimore_city_util Maine: 14) " We need agitation. We need friction, " Baldacci said. McGowan said the state harvests about six million cords of wood a year, yet Maine has more wood fiber standing as trees now than in the past 60 years, due to the closure of mills in the state, so more wood for energy is available. With that surplus, more wood fiber can be used to provide a steady supply -- particularly to help public and nonprofit buildings such as hospitals save money. " If we had an efficient industry we could direct wood into pellet production to help at least those public entities if they had a long-term, low-cost, sustainable supply, " McGowan said. " It'd help the taxpayers and help the buildings get good energy at low cost. " A briefing paper prepared by the Conservation Department last week says heat provided by wood-pellet fuels today compares with that produced by home heating oil, if oil were priced at $1.75 per gallon. Instead, oil prices this winter are well over $3 per gallon. But the department's research also indicates wood-based fuels have a long way to go to match the convenience and necessary maintenance support that would make them competitive with more conventional fuels. The report says the state should subsidize training and support for wood-burner technicians, provide the same tax breaks for conversions that are currently available for solar-energy installations and the industry needs to work out delivery and storage options for bulk use of wood pellets currently available in individual 40-pound bags. The plan calls for using public buildings such as schools and state structures being planned for construction, or those whose heating systems could be converted to wood fuels, to be used as pilot sites. These buildings could demonstrate that new wood-fueled systems can be practical alternatives to traditional heating systems, both for businesses and homes. Three schools already are using wood chips for heat or plan to do so, state officials said. State officials are helping to plan 21 new schools, but only two are considering wood as a heating fuel. The Department of Conservation proposal also suggests the state may want to ask voters to borrow money to promote energy efficiency and replace heating systems in public buildings. The Maine Forest Service and the University of Maine have applied for a U.S. Department of Energy grant to help pay for a " wood supply analysis to determine the amount of biomass that can be sustainably harvested. " http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/4651656.html West Virginia: 15) The rugged forests and mountains of the Monongahela forest on the eastern borders of West Virginia are host to thousands of acres of protected lands. These lands have been virtually untouched and unexplored since the lumber boom in the 1800's. Since the repopulation of hardwood trees and stripped forests, in the time this land was harvested for the virgin timber, the amazing beauty and geography of the " Mountain State " has been forgotten. Various photographers have recently begun exploring the rustic country side of rural West Virginia, capturing old country farms and covered bridges hidden throughout the country roads. When you look beyond the friendly sleepy country towns and past the borders of the forest walls you will find that there is a splendor that is unparalleled on the eastern side of the United States. West Virginia is host to dozens if not hundreds of magnificent waterfalls that are not easily seen when simply driving through on one of the states only 3 major interstate highways. Thankfully these hidden gems are nestled deep in the remote areas of the Monongahela National Forest. Since these waterfalls are hidden most have neglected to destroy the natural beauty surrounding the clean, crisp mountain streams and rivers that feed these amazing displays of nature's beauty. Http://www.ForestWaterfalls.com also provides free screensavers of the forest waterfalls that are free to download from download.com which reviews all software before it is published. ForestWaterfalls.com is consistently searching and traveling the roads and scanning the maps in West Virginia to reveal the hidden waterfalls in West Virginia that otherwise would continue to be forgotten for another 100 years. http://www.pr.com/press-release/67388 Appalachia: 16) As demand for hardwood rises and prices increase, landowners are returning to their wooded property to find some of their most prized specimens cut down, hauled off and likely sold for $1,000 a log, a state forestry official said. Timber theft is so prevalent that Tennessee, Mississippi, Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama and Texas have beefed up their laws against the crime in recent years. In Mississippi and Virginia, tree poaching is a felony punishable by jail time, according to a recent story by The Associated Press. A bill having similar provisions was introduced in the Kentucky Legislature this year. A 2003 Virginia Tech study reported that growers lose $4 million a year to tree poaching. The number might be higher because so many thefts are not noticed. " It's really difficult to quantify, " said Tim Phelps, a Tennessee Division of Forestry spokesman. " We have a lot of absentee landowners in the state, so the trees are just sitting there, wide open. " It is not the wide tracts of trees thieves want the most, but the straightest, oldest trees that poachers go after, he said. Varieties such as white oak, walnut and cherry are highly desirable but in short supply. " They don't clear-cut; they pick a few really good trees and haul those off, " Mr. Phelps said. " In a rural, isolated area, it's pretty easy to do and not get caught. " This a new twist on a old problem, said Candace Dinwiddie, executive director of the Tennessee Forestry Association. She was not aware of many hardwood thefts, but she said the state battled clear-cutting encroachment several years ago. " The laws we got passed deterred it quite a bit, " Ms. Dinwiddie said. " We know it still goes on some, but that's usually because the boundaries aren't clearly marked. " The problem she described happens when loggers step across property lines, cutting trees on neighbor's land. Harvesters who fell the wrong trees by accident are fined double the market value of the trees. Those who do it on purpose are fined three times the market value, Ms. Dinwiddie said. http://www.timesfreepress.com/absolutenm/templates/local.aspx?articleid=28244 & zo\ neid=77 Florida: 17) An invasive Asian beetle is boring huge stands of redbay trees to death in Brevard County and several Southeastern states, making South Florida avocado growers worry their crops could be next. Federal agriculture officials are urging residents to gather seeds of the redbay tree to preserve its genes in case it gets wiped out. People also are being asked not to move firewood across county or state lines to stop the spread of the laurel wilt fungus that the redbay ambrosia beetle deposits under the bark. " I call them fungus farmers, " said Albert " Bud " Mayfield, forest entomologist for the Florida Division of Forestry in Gainesville. The beetle is assumed to have gotten here in a wood packaging crate at the Port of Savannah in 2002, and soon it began spreading from the Carolinas to Florida. It first reared its shiny, hairy head this past summer in South Brevard, attacking redbays, which cover 5 to 35 percent of Brevard's coastal conservation lands. Redbays, also called shorebays, also are favored in backyards because the tree is ornamental, aromatic, evergreen and filled with fruit. The female beetle carries the fungus spores at the base of its mouthparts, infecting trees with the fungus as it bores into sapwood. The fungus spreads and clogs the flow of water and nutrients through the tree, killing it within weeks or a few months. http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080112/NEWS01/801120346\ /1006 USA: 18) President Bush and Congress recently created the " Healthy Forest Initiative, " which targets the remaining 4% of intact forest for logging, under the guise of " forest-fire management. " I am calling for a fundamental shift of public policy that will protect both our future on this planet and our tax dollar: Zero Cut, Zero Extraction on Public Lands. The American people own 635 million acres of public land. These public lands are controlled by the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Park Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and are comprised of a variety of ecosystems. Public lands provide 80% of municipal water supplies and half of the remaining habitat left to endangered species. On the other hand, public forests comprise less than 4% of the timber supply derived from this country, and half of the trees cut in the U.S. are exported as minimally processed wood, pulp, and chips! We must end public lands logging and insist on export of only finished wood products, thus protecting both the environment and American jobs. Log exports alone cost 60,000 timber jobs per year, and rampant logging has contributed to a precipitous decline of the fishing industry from coast to coast. American public lands are currently managed for the short-term profits of corporations. The U.S. Forest Service routinely loses $1.2 billion per year for the taxpayers, since they spend more money building logging roads and administering timber sales for timber companies than they receive from the sale of public trees. The real cost is immeasurably more, since unlike a normal business, the U.S. Forest Service liquidates public assets without any evaluation of inventory worth or replacement cost. An honest, full cost accounting of the Forest Service would reveal that revenues from living public forests are worth over $117 billion per year, yet revenues from Forest Service lands are only $354 million per year. " Conservatives " squander both public money and the irreplaceable ecosystems that our life and economy depend upon. http://kucinichonline.com/pdfs/Kucinich_Forests_and_Logging_on_Public_Lands.pdf 19) The Cranefly Orchid (Tipularia discolor) has an extensive range of occurrence, from Michigan east to Massachusetts, south to Florida and West to Texas and everything in between, so it is not surprising that it is found here. Yet every time I see one I am intrigued. The cranefly orchid occurs in mature deciduous forests, so don't look for it in pastures or pines, or in cut-over timber. If you have a nice old wooded lot nearby, chances are it may be there. The leaves are about three inches long, sort of elongated ovals with the far end tapered. Each leaf represents one orchid bulb. At this time of year the orchid leaves hide among the fallen leaves of trees. Leaf color is variable, which is what I find intriguing. You are never sure just what you will see. To start with, the underside of the leaf is always a shade of purple, usually dark purple, which you can only see if you tip up an edge of the leaf. This may help you remember the scientific name " Tip " ularia. The topside of the leaf is usually green with a few purple spots, but it may be all green, all purple, or anything in between. This may help you remember the species name " discolor " . Usually the cranefly orchid occurs as solitary individuals scattered here and there amongst the leaves under the trees, but last year I saw a large and impressive colony of the purple-topped form. The property owner was putting a drive through the woods that would pass very close to the dense colony, so I pointed it out in the hopes that they would veer the drive a little to preserve it. The cranefly orchid loses its leaves in spring, then blooms between May and June. You may not be impressed by the flowers. They are rather drab, brownish affairs (reminiscent of craneflies) that adorn a thin spire arising to ten-inches above the ground. In view of the fact that many orchids are collected to near extinction because of their lovely blooms, it is probably a good thing than the cranefly orchid has beautiful leaves but understated flowers. By the way, the flowers are pollinated by noctuid moths, not craneflies. Unlike other orchids, this one transplants well if plenty of soil remains around the roots. Cranefly orchid flourishes in part shade under deciduous trees such as sweet gum and oak. Since the cranefly orchid goes dormant after flowering, drought doesn't bother it – not even this summer's record heat and drought. http://lee.ces.ncsu.edu/index.php?page=news & ci=LAWN+103 Canada: 20) The protracted closure of sawmills and a plywood plant in northeast Saskatchewan has resulted in valuable spruce saw logs being shipped out of the province for processing. A spokesperson for Weyerhaeuser Canada says most of those logs, originating in the company's Hudson Bay forest management area (FMA), are going to sawmills in The Pas, Man., but some loads have been shipped to a pulp mill in Minnesota. Wayne Roznowsky said Weyerhaeuser has worked with the provincial forestry branch to reduce the amount of spruce logs being co-harvested with stands of hardwood aspen needed to feed its oriented strand board mill in Hudson Bay. The OSB mill is the only remaining forestry value-added operation in the eastern part of the province. In the past, white spruce would have been the raw material for Weyerhaeuser's plywood plant in Hudson Bay and the nearby sawmill at Carrot River, with pulpwood-sized logs and chips being shipped to the company's pulp mill in Prince Albert, which has been closed for about 20 months. Today, about 10 per cent of the trees being cut in the Hudson Bay FMA are white spruce, but Roznowsky said this percentage is down significantly from the percentage of softwood trees that would have been harvested when all those other mills were in operation. " Since those mills shut down, we've logged about 700,000 cubic metres of wood and about 10 per cent, or about 70,000 cubic metres, has been softwood, " he said. " We're not targeting softwood stands, but they are part of the residual or taken when cleaning up patches to meet the forest management plan. " If the shuttered sawmill and plywood mill were still running, Roznowsky says the 70,000 cubic metres of spruce harvested last year would have kept those mills running for only seven weeks. Bob Wynes, executive director of the forest services branch with the Environment Ministry, said the province is told when logs leave the province unprocessed. Companies don't have to ask special permission and are free to sell the logs wherever they can after paying the stumpage and other government fees. http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/business/story.html?id=4a4b89a2-\ 11bc-4405-9e11 -4e535fa76e4d 21) Betty Smith is alone, a futile sentinel, when I pull off Manse Road deep in Scarborough. She walks back and forth, weeping gently in the grey morning chill. " Breaks your heart, " she tells me. She carries a sign, with words scrawled in black marker barely dry. " This cutting is a crime, " it says. " We need these trees!! " Too late, Betty. Behind us, a yellow monster out of War of the Worlds rips through Wood Green. You have not lived til you have seen a Timberjack feller-buncher at work. Forty fearsome tonnes, it has a rotating blade and jaws that devour forest like a teen does pretzels. They first hear Jaws growl around Manse and Lawrence Ave. E. at 9 a.m. yesterday. As other locals arrive to reinforce Betty Smith, the five doomed acres atop Wood Green Ravine are quickly becoming pick-up-sticks. " Won't take long, " crew boss John Salasny tells me. " Don't blame us. We don't make the rules. We just cut the trees. " So no one hassles Salasny, or Jaws' driver. David Miller and his council would not be so lucky were they here. They surrendered this cherished patch of green for an " affordable housing " project. This despite Mayor Miller's vaunted green plan, despite offers of other sites, despite universal local protest. " I guess you really can't fight City Hall, " community leader Don York says grimly. Nearby, Jaws spits out a 30-foot poplar. I first wrote about Wood Green Ravine last March and again in November when Jaws seemed just around the corner. Then winter howled early. The locals hoped for a reprieve til spring. But yesterday dawned crisp and clear and that spelled doom for Wood Green. A rabbit spooked by Jaws dashes past Ghada Aboulhosn in her yard on the east flank of the woods. Worse is to come. There's rats in them thar woods -- and I don't mean city council has shown up. And now they're house-hunting. Traps ring the five acres. Sure. God protect the nearest homes. What they need is the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Also, locals say an underground stream runs through the woods and floods every year. Good luck with that, too. But the loss is deeper than any stream. Last week, people on Bill Goodchild's street watched three white-tailed deer forage among the bare birch, poplar, maples and gnarly apple trees. The occupants' list also has included foxes, woodpeckers, warblers and owls. And children. Betty Smith's kids grew up building treehouses and prowling leafy paths. http://torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2008/01/11/4767245-sun.html 21) Ogoki forest is 14+ hours or 750 miles by car from Toronto to the put-in at Marshall Lake, which can only be accessed via logging roads that run north-west off Highway 11, deep into the bush within the Township of Greenstone. Sprawling across 2,780 square kilometers, this municipality is the largest incorporated town in Canada, larger than several countries yet host to less than 6,000 people. Although a hard-core mining and pulp and paper culture is still evident, with the Greenstone amalgamation in 2001 and a recently launched web portal in 2007, the north has clearly revitalized itself with a direct focus on tourism. In spite of the marketing and hype, canoeists seeking adventure in " shield country " are admittedly few and far between. But if the view of break-taking boreal landscape is what you yearn for, and solitude is your idea of a daily fix, the Marshall Lake Canoe route within the Ogoki forest is the drug that will take you to a place where magic begins. Now as I scan the shoreline for a log or branch to hold on to, shoulder deep in " adventure. " With sunglasses askew on my forehead, a torso soaked through to the bone, and hair gnarled with forest flotsam, it would seem the final stages of transmogrification were upon me. How ironic, that my wish for " magic " would be granted conditional to such comedic and grotesque distortions. Decorum gone, I refuse to be diminished by my situation, and in spite of my dogs' pleas to get back in the canoe where I belong, I continue my slog upstream against the current for another kilometer until finally, the water is calm and I can once again paddle safely to terra firma. Lichens are the primary food source of the Woodland Caribou, found only in old growth forests like Ogoki where the average tree is more than one hundred years old. In the harsh northern climate where vegetation is often scarce, lichens provide this prey animal with a much needed advantage for survival. Sadly, these majestic creatures and one of the most emblematic species of Canada's boreal wilderness are at risk of extinction in Ontario, where their range has dropped by about 50% in the last 100 years. There is no question their biggest adversary now is logging. Since 1998, the Buchanan Group acting through its subsidiary Long Lake Forest Products has bee harvesting timber in the Ogoki Forest. The 20 year license issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources is now up for renewal. The current plan proposes harvesting via clear cut approximately 70,000 ha of Boreal Forest over the next 10 year period commencing April 2008. http://savetheogokiforest.blogspot.com/2008/01/paddling-ogoki-forest.html UK: 22) A team of four skilled chainsaw artists from the Hearts of Oak group took to the park for three-and-a-half days this week to make interesting sculptures out of tree trunks which would otherwise have been felled. Ipswich Borough Council's rangers are aiming to make the woodland child-friendly and on Thursday students from Morland Road Primary in Ipswich were on hand to make sure that happened. Richard Sharp, Orwell Country Park ranger, said: " The woodland has been neglected for years. It's right next to the Gainsborough estate. " We wanted to get people into the woods because the more people go in there the better it will be looked after. " Soon the children from Morland Road Primary will help to plant broadleaf native trees in the woodland but the rangers had to fell some trees to let more light to the woodland floor first. Then they came up with the idea of using some of the stumps to create an unusual form of natural art. Mr Sharp said: " One of the reasons we've done it is to get the kids involved so they get out to use it in the future. " I want them to use it a lot more and bring their parents in. " The sculptures are great. The kids were reading things into them that I couldn't even see - it was sparking their imagination. " http://www.eveningstar.co.uk/content/eveningstar/news/story.aspx?brand=ESTOnline\ & category=News & tBrand=estonline & tCategory=News & itemid=IPED11%20Jan%202008%2013%3A38%3A56%3A930 23) TREE Preservation Orders (TPOs) have been placed on hundreds of specimens on a former psychiatric hospital site earmarked for a housing development. St Albans District Council have been battling for two years to safeguard them. The council first tried to protect the trees on the Harperbury Hospital site in Radlett with TPOs in January 2006 but the Secretary of State for Health objected to the move on the grounds of Crown immunity. Another objection was also voiced by the chief executive of the Herts Partnership NHS Trust which runs the psychiatric facilities on the site. However, later that year the Department of Health lost the privilege of refusal when the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 was implemented, which meant the council no longer needed consent from the Government to serve any TPOs on the site. The hospital was once designated purely for patients with mental illness but it is now largely derelict, although plans are currently in place to build a new psychiatric intensive care ward and a rehabilitation ward on the site, along with the refurbishment of the existing building. A large part of the site has reverted back to the Secretary of State for Health who plans to build an unknown number of homes and a planning application for new housing is expected shortly. To restrict the number of trees lost to the development, the council has served another set of orders on the site which was approved at last week's planning committee south meeting. There are now 218 trees, 19 groups of trees and six areas of woodland protected under the order. http://www.hertsad.co.uk/content/herts/news/story.aspx?brand=HADOnline & category=\ News & tBrand=her ts24 & tCategory=newshadnew & itemid=WEED10%20Jan%202008%2014%3A26%3A44%3A210 Scotland: 24) Community leaders in Gullane are anxious to save popular woodland Jamie's Neuk from the chop – as Muirfield golf club officials insist that diseased and ageing trees in the plantation pose a risk to public safety. The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers has applied to the Forestry Commission for a licence to fell more than half of the woodland, which covers 170,000 square metres and lies on the northern outskirts of Muirfield Golf Course. The pine plantation, a popular walking ground for nearby residents, contains three types of non-native conifer trees – Scots, Lodgepole and Corsican. An extensive investigation into the woodland by the Forestry Commission experts uncovered a damaging " pathogenic root fungus " in the 40-year-old Lodgepole plantation, which amounts to 75,000 square metres. Golf club officials maintain that there is a risk that the affected trees could collapse, causing a danger to members of the public who regularly use the area. A spokesman said: " The club recognises that the neuk is popular with the local community but public safety has to be paramount. " One of the main problems with the woodland area is that a lot of the trees have been falling down through old age and disease. Members are adamant that only " minimum felling " should take place, although they accept that the Lodgepole trees should be felled for safety reasons. The main concern is that club officials do not intend to replace the felled woodland. Instead, the land will return to its original state of dunes. GADDA vice-chairman Russell Dick said: " We want to see replacement planting carried out. " We accept the fact that the dead trees have to be removed. However, this area is an asset to the community and brings a nice green aspect to the surroundings. " It is also very attractive to visitors. " A Forestry Commission spokesman said: " We have consulted extensively with Scottish Natural Heritage, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, East Lothian Council and the local community council. " A final decision on the licence is expected in the near future, he added. http://www.eastlothiancourier.com/article.php?sec=1 & id=18544 Sweden: 25) 20 years ago a small classroom of kids in Sweden decided to raise money to protect rainforest by holding a bake sale. Today, over 54,000 acres have been sucessfully protected in what is now the largest private preserve in Central America. This land is known as the Children's Eternal Rainforest. Supporters of the cause are fighting to survive as the only remaining environmental organization that has a chance to win a $50,000 award. The contest is called the Causes Giving Challenge, and is sponsored by Facebook and the Case Foundation. It runs through February 1, 2008, and awards the non-profit group that gets the most individual donations with the grand prize. Supporters of the Children's Eternal Rainforest are excited for the opportunity to save endangered tree frogs living in their preserve. If they win the grand prize, the money will be used to help protect a species of frog that was thought extinct - Lithobates vibicarius. A new population of this frog was recently found by researchers in the preserve. This discovery has given activists new hope that the fight against global warming and loss of biodiversity can be won. http://www.prlog.org/10045236-only-environmental-group-with-chance-to-win-50-000\ -contest-fights -for-survival.html Congo: 26) The World Bank, accused of negligence in a forestry program in the Democratic Republic of Congo, pledged on Thursday to do more for the world's second-largest rainforest. As the World Bank studied on Thursday a complementary action plan, it also received an internal report on its role in the western African country that is still emerging from a five-year civil war. " The action plan was broadly supported, " said Marjory-Anne Bromhead, head of the Bank's environment and natural resource management for Africa. She said the plan, estimated at a cost of $64 million, is based on four main points: respect for social and environmental criteria, work with indigenous populations, the future of the forestry sector and communication. " We were asked to report back a year from now on what we were doing, " Bromhead said in a teleconference with reporters. The Bank's board of directors also received an internal report on Thursday on the institution's actions in the DRC but the document was not made public at the time of the teleconference. The new action plan came as the World Bank faces criticism of its actions in DRC by nongovernmental organizations, including Greenpeace, which accuse the Bank of failing to adequately take into account the well-being of the estimated 500,000 Pygmies living in the rainforest. They also allege the Washington-based development lender has been lax in its dealings with a DRC government incapable of enforcing its own moratorium on awarding new forestry concessions. In May 2002, the Bank convinced the transition government to suspend the allocation of new forestry rights and the renewal or extension of existing rights. The concessions already extended will be the subject of a reappraisal that should end in April or May, Bromhead said. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/International__Business/World_Bank_pled\ ges_to_do_more_f or_DR_Congo_rainforest_/articleshow/2691617.cms 27) René Ngongo, Biologist - Congo DRC is home to the world's second greatest stands of tropical forest after the Amazon, mainly because no timber company could work there during the decades of civil war and insurgency. Now that the war is over, European, Asian and US logging companies are piling in, with the help of the World Bank and international donors, to strip Congo of its most valuable wood. Potentially, it's an ecological and social disaster: more than 20 million people, not least the Pygmies, depend on the forest for their living. Ngongo, 36, is a biology academic from Goma, who has travelled the country investigating the corrupt timber industry and taken his findings to London, Washington and Brussels. He's the new face of environmentalism in the south and was nominated by the head of Greenpeace International, Gerd Leipold, as the kind of activist who will make waves in the next 20 years. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jan/05/activists.ethicalliving Nepal: 28) Forests in Kailali, Kanchanpur, Banke and Bardiya districts have been shrinking after the land-sharks have been encroaching the jungles since last year in the name of the freed bonded labourers, and landless squatters. Over 21,000 hectares of forest land has been encroached in Kailali alone since last year and it is continuing, Man Bahadur Khadka, district forest officer of Kailali said. Khadka said the once dense forest of Kailali was being encroached in the name of freed bonded labourers, landless, squatters, and the political parties have been inciting them to clear up the forest. Khadka said that 300,000 hectares land in Kailali were covered by forests 50 years ago but the gradual encroachment has shrunk the vast forest area to just 172,000 hectares. We are really shocked by the alarming rate of encroachment but only our attempt will not be enough to protect the forest, he said. The Kailali DFO office with cooperation of community forest users group was successful to retrieve some 1,200 hectares of encroached forestland in the past three months. We had promised the land grabbers to substitute the land before retrieving but political parties have been inciting the locals to capture the land again, Khadka said. Forest activists said a total of 80,000 hectares of forest was encroached in Kailali district. This encroachment has created a big challenge to conserve the bio-diversity of western Nepal, Dr. Keshav Kanel, director general of Forest Department, said. Besides losing the forest area, the encroachment has put other valuable forest entities in deep crisis. Forest encroachment has become common in Ghodaghodi Tal (lake) and Basanta corridor, Khadka said. Recently, seven families have started cultivating in the area near Ghodaghodi Tal and other locals are also trying to encroach the adjoining land in the area. The situation of encroachment and deforestation in other districts in western Nepal is not different from Kailali. Devesh Mani Tripathi, district forest officer of Kanchanpur, informed that 700 hectares of forest at Pilariphanta was encroached under the protection of political leaders while over 23,000 hectors of forest was encroached in the whole district. Similarly, over 663.56 hectares of forestland have been encroached in Bardiya district. According to Raj Bahadur Rawat, DFO of Bardiya, 191 families have been taking shelter in the forest areas after the encroachment of forestland. http://www.gorkhapatra.org.np/content.php?nid=34155 Thailand: 29) Phrae _ Hundreds of valuable golden teak trees have died in Mae Yom national park, and villagers believe they were poisoned to clear the way for a revival of the controversial Kaeng Sua Ten dam project. Forestry officials have retrieved empty cans of herbicide from under the dead trees. Villagers say at least 700 trees have been poisoned by people wanting to destroy the forest so that the long-shelved dam project could finally go ahead. A large number of teak tree stumps were also found in the area. Villagers said the trees had been cut and loggers were preparing to haul the logs away. The dead trees were discovered in tambon Sa Eiab, Song district, during a recent survey headed by a village leader. Seng Khwanyuen, village head of Sak Thong village, said he had told local officials several times about the tree poisoning, but no one believed him. He said his team found empty herbicide cans scattered on the forest floor. He and other villagers believe poachers poisoned the trees to get the logs while at the same time ruining the fertile forest to justify dusting off the dam project. Mr Seng said that in the areas his team surveyed more than 700 teak trees had died from herbicide poisoning. There could be more dead trees in other areas of the park. National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department chief Chalermsak Wanichsombat inspected the affected area in the national park on Saturday and said his initial survey confirmed the trees were poisoned. Dead trees were easier to transport as they float better in water than freshly-cut timber. He had instructed the head of the department's Phrae office, Prachakpong Thaiklang, to send him a report on the matter immediately. Permsak Makarabhirom, former director of the Regional Community Forestry Training Centre Asia and the Pacific, said some of the trees may not have died, but merely shed their leaves. The richness of the forest was no longer the momentum behind opposition to the planned dam. The weight of the argument now centred on the dam's inability to prevent flooding in the lower northern provinces, Mr Permsak said. http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/14Jan2008_news11.php Indonesia: 30) In December 2007, the FSC announced that it was " dissociating " itself from the giant Sinar Mas-owned Indonesian paper company Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) - see statement below. The news was mostly greeted by the environmental movement, though there is some suspicion that the FSC only took this unusual step because the possible certification of APP had been exposed in the pages of the Wall Street Journal. WWF in particular has issued stinging reports of the company's greewashing of its destruction of forests to feed its pulp mill in Riau province, Sumatra. (For WWF, this was yet another 'logger love-in' turned sour, having signed an agreement with APP and its parent company in 2003 to advise on sustainable forest management.) But there are several curious aspects to this story which have not been explained by the FSC. APP had not actually been certified by FSC, so strictly speaking there was no formal 'association' to break anyway. The company was, however, assessed by SGS Qualifor for 'legal verification' of its supplies during 2006. Commenting in the Wall Street Journal in October last year, a spokesman for SGS indicated that they could issue APP with a Chain of Custody certificate for products made of wood from FSC certified plantations elsewhere in the world, under FSC's 'mixed sources' rules. Another of FSC's accredited certifiers, Rainforest Alliance SmartWood, has also been associated with APP. In a gushing May 2006 document entitled " A Smarter Way to Make a Difference - Developing Successful Partnerships in the Global Paper & Print Marketplace " , SmartWood's Jeff Hayward explains how, in 2004, SmartWood had entered into an agreement with APP in order to monitor the company's treatment of High Conservation Value Forest (HCVF). http://www.fsc-watch.org/archives/2008/01/10/FSC_dumps_Asia_Pulp_ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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