Guest guest Posted March 11, 2008 Report Share Posted March 11, 2008 PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR ORIGINAL TREE NEWS ARTICLES TO: deane Today for you 33 new articles about earth's trees! (309th edition) Subscribe / send blank email to: earthtreenews- Weblog: http://olyecology.livejournal.com To Donate: Click Paypal link in the upper left corner of: http://www.peacefromtrees.org --British Columbia: 1) Forest Liars campaign, 2) Betty Krawczyk honored by museum, 3) Native rights / sacred sites trampled at Langford, 4) Planning for wildfire in the Chilcotin, 5) Western Forest Products surviving by high grading the last giants, --Washington: 6) 142-acre Allen Estate saved, 7) GP Task Force Collaborates with FS, --Oregon: 8) Pulp mills will to pay next to nothing for blowdown, 9) Althouse-Sucker Landscape Management Project to destroy 600 acres of old trees, --California: 10) Judge rules in favor of UCSC treesit supporters, 11) Wolverine found, --Montana: 12) Canada lynx depend on dense unmanaged forests, 13) $4 Million for development of more uses of low-value trees, 14) Studying the Fisher, --Rocky Mountains: 15) FS to cut 2,700 jobs --Minnesota: 16) More restrictions on ATVs --Kansas: 17) Kniters makes outfits for trees --New Jersey: 18) Urbanization, reforestation, localized areas of deforestation --New Hampshire: 19) Cathedral of the Pines damaged by storms and now a forester --Tennessee: 20) Mining Reforestation experiment on Zeb Mountain --Hawaii: 21) Monkeypods destroyed for shopping center, 22) Forest Recovery Projects, --USA: 23) Not protecting roadless areas is greatest cause of exctinction, --Canada: 24) Indigenous chief gets 6 months for defending hereditary land form miners, 25) Deforestation-induced Mercury contamination harming indigenous people, --UK: 26) Barn owl recovery --Scotland: 27) Expansion of largest ancient woodland in Abernethy and Loch Garten, --Wales: 28) Forests a haven for crime, including illegal logging, --Germany: 29) More on the ruining of Dresden with new bridge --Kyrgyzstan: 30) Alarm sounded regarding deforestation rates --Ecuador: 31) Make the planet a better place is to boycott Texaco --World-wide: 32) A new method to measure biodiversity, 33) Forest responses to global climate change, British Columbia: 1) Greenpeace, WWF, Rainforest Action Network, NRDC, Forest Ethics, Friends of the Earth and Rainforest Alliance were called upon to immediately end their support for the Forest Stewardship Council's (FSC) greenwashing of first time logging of primary and old-growth forests -- or face continuing protest. The protest contained detailed ecological analysis debunking claims that logging ancient rainforests has environmental merit. FSC issues " certifications " that allegedly show ancient forest logging is " well-managed " , legitimizing the destruction forever, by themselves and others, of hundreds of millions of hectares of primary rainforest. At least sixty percent of FSC timbers come from first time industrial logging of ancient forests, and their current market demand and planned growth depends upon it. Claims that FSC certified old-growth logging protects biodiversity and ecosystems have increasingly been called into question by new ecological science, lax certifying organizations' conflicts of interest and a litany of questionable certifications. Outrageously now the " Forests Liars " -- FSC with the endorsement of member NGOs -- claim certified logging of primary forests has carbon benefits and deserves to be compensated in the carbon market. Despite no mention of carbon balances in FSC rules, logging companies and carbon offset projects are claiming FSC certification makes them " carbon positive " . http://endangeredspaces.blogspot.com/2008/03/end-logging-of-ancients-forests.htm\ l 2) While one arm of the BC government jails her, another honours Betty Krawczyk as " one of the 150 people who have shaped BC's story " . On March 12th Betty will be among those honoured at the Gala Première of Free Sprit, a major new exhibition at the the Royal BC Museum in celebration of British Columbia's 150th anniversary about the 150 people who have shaped BC's story. Mrs Krawczyk will be also be attending the opening day of the exhibit on March 13th, 2008. The exhibit runs until January 11th 2009. landwatch 3) Developers and public officials completely failed to protect First Nations heritage sites in the area of Skirt (Spaet) Mountain. One sacred cave was destroyed by blasting and excavation in 2006, and a second may face the same fate in the coming weeks. City of Langford workers welded a steel grate over the entrance to Langford Lake Cave in February 2008 and then dumped several tons of boulders onto the grate. Dozens of culturally modified trees were cut down around the cave, which a Songhees Nation elder has named as a place of cultural significance. The interchange route will apparently intersect the 80-meter-long cavern, and blasting could begin at any time. Garry oak ecosystems - the rarest forests in BC - have been mowed down and bulldozed, destroying the oaks, camas flower meadows, and related plant life on the rocky bluffs and plateaus of Skirt Mountain. The City of Langford maintains that protection plans and studies on rare mammals, amphibians, and reptiles in the area are not needed. Ponds and wetlands on and around the mountain are home to pacific tree frogs, red-legged frogs, great horned owls, screech owls, pileated woodpeckers, and dozens of other species that deserve protection. Meanwhile, Langford city council has maneuvered to shut voters out of the approval process on a $25 million loan to finance the interchange. This comes after the city refused to dialogue or consult with concerned citizens and groups who requested meetings, sent letters, and made submissions to council for over two years. The province has likewise turned a deaf ear to voters while kicking in $5 million and leaving taxpayers on the hook for the whole bill should the developers default. A small peace camp set up in the path of the interchange was evicted in February by dozens of heavily armed RCMP officers pointing assault rifles. Over a hundred officers patrolled a kilometer-wide exclusion zone near the Trans-Canada highway for three days while feller-bunchers clearcut the forest. Please call B.C.'s Inspector of Municipalities (250-356-6575) also e-mail the following statement: " I am concerned about the precedent set by Langford Bylaws 1148 and 1156. The process is flawed and appears to violate the spirit of the Community Charter. If your Ministry approves these bylaws, I fear the impact in my municipality and wonder if my elected Councillors will exclude me from the democratic approval process for major capital projects. " E-mail: Gary.Paget, (Acting Inspector of Municipalities) CC: Dale.Wall, CS.minister, steven.hurdle 4) The bark on the old fir is thick, gnarled and fissured, evidence of long patient centuries spent observing the universe. The reds and grays on the massive trunk are blended with the browns and black where fires of yesterday left their mark. These fires are part of this ecosystem, more so than on the wet side over the mountain from here. We've only been in the Precipice a little over 20 years, but we have had one fire within half a mile, one just over a mile away and three large ones in the vicinity. These fires usually occur in June, ignited by lightning strikes during the spectacular thunderstorms we get at that time of year. The global warming predictions are that the number and intensity of fires in the interior will increase. In response to this there is a current hue and cry to log the forest and 'fireproof' it by removing trees, especially beetle killed ones, woody debris and underbrush. This is a complicated issue, but the point that strikes home to me this morning as I watch the gentle flakes lazily falling through the blue, is that, no matter what we do, no matter how much we try to remove the forest, we cannot predict WHERE the next fire will ignite. This is the critical issue. All the logging and forest removal in the world, beetle killed or not, unless you take it all, will not reduce the incidence and severity of wildfire in the Chilcotin. The Chilcotin plateau and the interior dry forest that stretches from north eastern B.C down to northern California is a huge, continental-scale ecosystem which is beyond manipulation, especially fire-proofing by forest removal. No matter how much you log, there will always be plenty of forest left over for fire to feed on. It would be nice if we could say " Yep, the next 5,000 hectare fire is going to occur in the headwaters of the Clisbako, so we'd better get in there and put in several 1000 hectare clear cuts, get that forest fireproofed ! " Such utter nonsense. So don't be fooled by the self-serving arguments that say logging big chunks of Chilcotin or any interior dry forest will fireproof it. http://chilcotin.wordpress.com/2008/03/09/firs-wildfires-and-logging/ 5) The West Coast's largest forest company said Friday it is surviving the meltdown of the U.S. housing market by switching its production from American-bound construction lumber to higher-valued export markets. Western Forest Products president Reynold Hert said Friday that demand for cedar and other specialty products made from the old-growth timber is keeping the company going despite the U.S. slowdown. As a result, the company is continuing to log and keep its Vancouver Island sawmills operating. " We expect the U.S. structural dimension [lumber] market to remain weak throughout 2008 and into 2009 and we are reducing our exposure to that market, " Hert said in conference call with investment analysts. Western has changed the type of tree it is harvesting, focusing on old-growth. " We have reduced production of the type of logs from which we produce dimension lumber, as well as reduced the number of shifts focused on dimension lumber. " The U.S. market is generally supplied by second-growth logs that are more accessible. He said the higher-valued logs come from areas that are difficult to get to and generally are harvested through higher-cost helicopter logging. Further, demand for the old-growth logs is pushing up the stumpage rate the company pays the provincial government for the wood. And markets have not absorbed the fast upward swings of the Canadian dollar, he said. Western's higher-valued wood is heading to Japan and Europe, Hert said. The Japanese market, which had experienced a downturn caused by the introduction of a new building code, is recovering as builders adapt to the new standards, he said. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=c51d6640-936a-4df\ 2-aeca-7090cf31 d76b Washington: 6) Phil Freeman was feeling good Sunday knowing that the forest that protects both the Mount Rainier experience and his Copper Creek Restaurant in Ashford will be preserved. " It's just hugely important, " he said, referring to the half-mile section of highway that runs past his restaurant on the way to the Nisqually entrance to Mount Rainier National Park. " It's one of the best known park entrances in the world. " He was reacting to news that the Nisqually Land Trust has bought the 142-acre Allen Estate near the park entrance from the estate's California owners for $780,000. The estate was home to Grenville Allen, the park's superintendent from 1903-1910. The purchase ends the threat that the estate's 80- to 125-year-old trees would be logged. The trees create a forested hallway alongside Highway 706 east from Kiernahan Road to just past Copper Creek. Freeman is among the many residents who joined with the Nisqually Headwater Coalition to oppose the logging plan when it surfaced in 2005. The coalition formed to preserve timbered lands in the Upper Nisqually River Valley along the highway leading to the park. The entryway outside the park is considered vital to the tourist industry. " It enhances the visitor's experience, " Freeman said. " Logging the trees would have been disastrous to our community. " I couldn't be happier. " The old-growth trees, he said, also protect his business. They serve as a natural barrier from the southwest winds that can roar through the area and topple smaller trees. Park Superintendent Dave Uberuaga was equally pleased with the purchase. " I think we took for granted what we had up there, " he said of the estate and its timberland. " It helped preserve the rural atmosphere and transfer to the park. " The purchase is part of the Land Trust's Mount Rainier Gateway Initiative, which calls for preserving 4,500 acres of timberlands between the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and the Elbe Hills and Tahoma state forests. The estate was bought with a federal land-acquisition grant through the Washington Department of Natural Resources. http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/305027.html 7) Litigation isn't the only tool for activists, said Emily Platt, executive director of The Gifford Pinchot Task Force and one of three panelists discussing collaboration at the Friday morning session. Her organization for years used lawsuits to block old growth logging on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington, which extends from the Columbia Gorge north to Mount Rainier and includes Mount St. Helens. But the lawsuits occupied all their time and they weren't able to get to the restoration projects they really wanted to achieve, she said. " We weren't able to reach our larger goals until we worked with nontraditional allies, " such as people living in rural communities, county commissioners and representatives of the logging industry, she said. Sitting down with opponents takes time and is frustrating, but breakthroughs occur, often on field trips when people actually get out in the woods together, Platt said. She described standing in an oldgrowth grove with a representative from the industry group the American Forest Resources Council, who said, " I can see why society would want to protect places like these, " she said. http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.cms.support.viewStory.cls?cid=7482\ 3 & sid=4 & fid=1 Oregon: 8) Thousands if not millions of trees blown over and snapped off in the intense December storm that battered the coast are going unrecovered amid the timber market's doldrums, some forest leaders have told the Oregon Board of Forestry. The trees are lying on the ground even though some mills, such as the Boise Inc. paper mill in St. Helens, are desperate for such wood as a source of wood chips now in short supply. December's high winds, which gusted to 129 mph in Bay City, snapped many trees like twigs. Mike Barnes, a forester with the city of Astoria and president of the Oregon Small Woodlands Association, told the forestry board last week that owners of small timberlands need relief from state rules that require replanting and reforestation of timber stands. Many small timber landowners can't afford to replant because they earn little money from salvaging the trees that blew over, Barnes said. Because much of the wood is broken and splintered, it wouldn't be worth much even in a good market. But the timber market is particularly depressed because of the nationwide housing slump, and sawmills across the Northwest are shutting down or cutting back. " The net value may be less than the logging cost, " agreed Ted Lorenson, assistant state forester at the Department of Forestry. Many landowners may still not realize the extent of the damage to their timber, or their obligations under the state Forest Practices Act to replant forests that no longer meet certain density standards, Barnes said. " It's a catastrophic event that many of them haven't confronted, " he said at the Board of Forestry meeting in Salem. State rules require landowners who salvage the timber to replant, although officials can suspend the rule temporarily, Lorenson said. Landowners can apply for money to help with replanting, but federal cutbacks have made such funds scarce. " The dilemma with this type of scenario is, the landowners need to put money upfront, and sometimes that's the barrier, " he said. Department of Forestry officials said they would look into how best to assist landowners, possibly with extra staff to provide advice and by encouraging landowners to work together to reduce costs. Forestry officials estimate that 17,320 acres of forest -- including 390 million board feet of timber -- were significantly damaged by the December storms. http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1204959312271390.x\ ml & coll=7 9) As part of the Althouse-Sucker Landscape Management Project the Bureau of Land Management is proposing heavy logging of large trees on 600 acres east of Cave Junction. These " regeneration harvests " are essentially clear-cuts and would remove the overstory canopy that provides habitat for spotted owls, red tree voles, flying squirrels and a myriad of other species dependent on older forests. A pristine 500 acre un-roaded area would be fragmented by a 102 acre " regeneration " cut that would remove most of the bigger trees. Please tell BLM Field Manager Abbie Jossie that alternatives 2 and 4 are unacceptable because they destroy too much habitat for old growth dependent species. The 102 acre logging unit must be dropped from the proposal. The BLM is clearly out of step with the wishes of the American people who want these mature forests protected. Please contact BLM Field Manager Abbie Jossie and ask her to direct the agency to focus on restorative thinning of small trees and reducing stream sedimention from roads, rather than cutting our mature forests. The Environmental Assessment is available at the Grants Pass Interagency Office or at the BLM's website. http://www.blm.gov/or/districts/medford/plans/index.php View photos of the area taken by Joseph Vaile of KS Wild - http://picasaweb.google.com/josephvaile838/AlthouseSucker21808947AM http://www.siskiyou.org California: 10) Judge Paul Burdick ruled Monday that the University's lawsuit was an attack on the first amendment rights of at least two tree sit supporters. A motion to strike tree sit Media Support person Jennifer Charles and tree sit supporter Oliver Schmid from the lawsuit was granted. " I am glad that the court protected my first amendment right to speak out against the University's plan to sacrifice a precious forest habitat, " said Charles. " It is a shame that the University had to waste so much taxpayer money trying to smother my free speech. " Because the case involved the first amendment, the University will be asked to pay Charles' and Schmid's lawyers fees, on top of the money spent serving the injunction and on the University's own lawyers. The judge also granted a much more narrow and specific preliminary injunction than the university had requested against the remaining seven defendants. Instead of the vague language of " aiding and abetting " the tree sitters and an order to stay away from all trees on campus, the seven people on the lawsuit are forbidden to be in the trees, to place any objects in the trees or in the parking lot, or from providing food and supplies to the people in the trees. The ruling by no means ends the tree sit, as only the people named on the injunction, and others served, are not allowed to give humanitarian aid to the tree sitters. Three clusters of redwoods have been inhabited since November 7, 2007, when over 500 students, alumni, and community members rallied in opposition to the University's plans to destroy 120 acres of forest. Other tree sits have been added, using the same technique of carefully securing pre-built platforms to several redwoods without harming the trees. Tree sitters have continued their vigil through police attacks, winter storms and ninety-mile an hour winds. The tree sit is necessary at this time because of the University's failure to meaningfully address the concerns of Santa Cruz city and county officials, community members, environmentalists and UCSC faculty and students. Instead of acting upon the concerns of the thousands of people who have voiced opposition to increased University construction, the university has pursued a lawsuit against tree sit supporters since December. http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/03/10/18484864.php 11) The Associated Press reported last week that a wolverine was caught on film in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Lake Tahoe. A graduate student from Oregon State University set up motion-detecting cameras for a study of martens, but instead caught the first glimpse of the rare wolverine in California since the 1930s. Scientists have feared that this elusive animal may have been driven out of the Sierra Nevada long ago by human activity. Meanwhile, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today released a court ordered decision denying protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for the wolverine. In 2006, KS Wild and other groups won a lawsuit that forced the Bush administration to assess the wolverine's status. Despite important new evidence that the wolverine is in desperate straits - including the fact that global warming is removing its high alpine habitats - the agency declared for the second time that it will do nothing to assist the rare creature. The wolverine, the largest member of the weasel family, once roamed across the northern tier of the U.S. and as far south as New Mexico in the Rockies and southern California in the Sierra Nevada. After centuries of trapping, habitat loss, and disturbance, wolverines have been reduced to small, fragmented populations in Idaho, Wyoming, Washington state and Montana. There are recent, reliable sightings scattered in very remote areas of the south Cascades and the Klamath-Siskiyous. Populations of this species occur in low densities and need huge tracts of wilderness to meet survival requirements. KS Wild and our conservation partners are assessing what steps we can take next to secure protections for the wolverine. http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/03/10/sierra.wolverine.ap/ Montana: 12) In the largest study of Canada lynx in the Lower 48 states, researchers in western Montana have found that the rare cat prefers to make its dens under downed logs deep within mature, dense forests. Earlier research in Canada focused on the structure of lynx dens, but the new study explored the landscape surrounding dens in the contiguous United States, where scientists are in the early stages of understanding the elusive feline. The study's results suggest that mechanically thinning old forests and clearing away deadfall - rather than maintaining a mosaic of natural conditions - creates poor habitat for lynx, a threatened species, and their primary prey, snowshoe hares. The results come at a time when federal wildlife managers have proposed to dramatically expand the amount of critical habitat for lynx, which were listed under the Endangered Species Act in 2000 in the Lower 48 states. The proposed critical habitat is in Montana, Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, Washington state and Wyoming. Lynx, carnivores distinguished by their tufted ears, luxurious fur and ability to travel atop deep snow, are common in Canada's and Alaska's high-elevation boreal forests where wintry backcountry and snowshoe hares are plentiful. In the contiguous United States, two dozen northern states have historical records of lynx, but the cat's shy nature has prevented biologists from making historic and current population estimates. Researchers attribute the scarcity of lynx in the Lower 48 states, in part, to overt-rapping and the scarcity of good snowshoe hare habitat - and thus fewer hares - in the cat's natural niche in snowy, mountainous backcountry. Lynx also are naturally sparse even with plenty of prey, staking out large territories and defending them with vigor. Lynx have been studied extensively in Canada and Alaska, but comprehensive research in the contiguous U.S., where habitat can differ markedly, started only a decade ago with the creation of the National Lynx Survey. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed designating 42,753 square miles in six states as critical lynx habitat, up from 1,841 square miles in three states that the agency designated in 2006. http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/03/09/news/mtregional/news08.txt 13) The federal government is disbursing $4 million in grants to encourage innovative uses of low-value trees and woody debris removed from national forests. Nearly one-fourth of the money is going to Montana recipients. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer on Friday announced the grants would go to 17 small businesses and community groups. Montana recipients are Big Sky Shavings in Hall; Marks Ranch and Lumber in Clancy; Osler Logging in Bozeman; and the Kootenai Business Park Industrial District in Libby. Marks will get $211,500 and the others $250,000 each. The grants are intended to encourage use of woody debris and low-value trees in the national forests, both for benefits such as energy production and to foster forest health, federal officials said. At a Helena wildfire conference in 2006, engineering consultant Denise DeLuca said Montana forests had so much debris that if it was made into chips and spread on a football field, the pile would be two miles high. Osler Logging transports a grinder to woodlands and uses it to make debris into fuel that helps power Smurfit-Stone Container Corp., the Frenchtown packaging manufacturer, co-owner Jeremy Osler said. The ground material, called hog fuel, also is an energy source for a potato-drying operation in Idaho, Osler said. Grant dollars will help the company more efficiently transport the ground fuel out of forests, he said. Montana has a track record in the use of woody debris, also known as biomass. http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/03/08/news/state/51-biomass.txt 14) It is Martes pennanti, the fisher. Montana and Idaho may hold several hundred in scattered mountain settings. Then again, they may not. As part of his graduate studies, Vinkey collected records from Montana sites where fishers were reported and was unable to find evidence of a major population stronghold. Only a single enclave—in the northern end of the Bitterroot Range, whose crest defines the Idaho/Montana border—seemed to harbor enough individuals to have a good chance of sustaining itself over time. Elsewhere in the region, Oregon has an estimated 100 fishers and California has fewer than 500. That's about it, making the fisher not only perhaps the rarest forest carnivore in the Rockies south of Canada but also one of the rarest and most vulnerable creatures in the entire western half of the nation. More information about the species and its habitat is sorely needed. But fishers don't rank very high on the priority lists of either western wildlife managers or the public. These lithe animals lack the star billing given wolves, big cats and bears roaming the same wildlands. It isn't because fishers aren't spectacular in their own right. It just means that it's time to take a closer look at their lives. The fisher is found only in North America, where its nearest relative is the smaller, lighter-colored American marten, another deep-forest denizen. Both belong to the mustelidae, or weasel family, the diverse group that also includes badgers, ferrets, minks, wolverines, river otters and sea otters. Female fishers weigh 5 to 8 pounds and males at least twice as much. Some approach 20 pounds and stretch more than three feet from their nose to the tip of their bushy tail. More active at night than during the day, they hunt among the tangles and crannies on the forest floor and up among the branches. As Vinkey puts it, " This is an animal that makes its living poking its nose in holes. " For her den, a female will generally choose a cavity fairly high in a tree. There, she will give birth to between one and four kits and nurse them for about three months while their soft, gray fur changes to the rich, dark-chocolate coat worn by their parents. As the young begin exploring, they take full advantage of the species' special ability to swivel its hind feet 180 degrees and descend tree trunks head-first, anchored by their backward-pointing claws. The food fishers discover in their prowlings is a smorgasbord of eggs, nestlings and the occasional adult bird; mice, voles and shrews; rabbits and snowshoe hares; squirrels; salamanders and frogs; and berries in season. They are also famed for their ability to take on porcupines. But fishers don't flip their quilled prey over, as lore has it—they attack the unarmored face in lightning strikes. http://thisthingcalledcourage.blogspot.com/2008/03/quest-for-forest-phantom-trut\ h-about.html Rocky Mountains: 15) Out our way, the land is not an abstraction. The numbers in the Forest Service budget aren't abstractions, either. They mean something real to our land and to our lives, and a cut of up to 2,700 people in an already beleaguered and understaffed agency is genuine cause for alarm. For those of us fortunate enough to live anywhere within the eight states of the Rocky Mountain West, the valleys, high plains, deserts and mountains aren't the stuff of movies. We work, live and play on these lands; we depend on them. From maintaining trails in the backcountry to fighting ferocious wildfires, the agency oversees multiple tasks on more than 96 million acres in the eight-state Rocky Mountain region. Now, the president's proposed budget for 2009 asks this overworked agency to do even more with far less. It would allocate $4.1 billion to the agency - $373 million less than this year's budget and an 8 percent cut. This is senseless. Bush's notion of slashing 17 percent from trail maintenance and $13 million from fuels reduction is both foolish and dangerous. New homes by the hundreds of thousands are being built right at the edge of the public's forested land, and this alone has enormous implications for the Forest Service, most particularly its firefighting capabilities. Yet it is astounding to note that the president's budget proposal requests 22 percent fewer firefighting dollars than were spent by the Forest Service last year. Though the president calls for spending $982 million on firefighting, the agency spent $1.4 billion fighting fires last year. Ironically, shortfalls in firefighting budgets force the agency to shift money away from preventing fires, so that now, firefighting consumes nearly half the agency's budget, leaving everything else starved of support. Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have publicly criticized the Bush proposal. " This budget is very frustrating to me, " Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., told reporters. " If I budgeted on my farm the way this is bugeted, I'd never get crops in the ground. " Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., succinctly calls the Forest Service budget " an unmitigated disaster. " http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_8503525 Minnesota: 16) Several weeks ago, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) took steps to impose additional restrictions on all-terrain vehicle use within the Mississippi Headwaters State Forest in northern Minnesota. There are new restrictions on ATV traffic at the Coffee Pot and Stumphages landings, and other limitations on ATV use within the Mississippi Headwaters State Forest. The measures are more restrictive than earlier proposals we've seen, and came after a process that drew nearly 1,700 comments from the public during a 60-day period.This is a contentious issue, and one that underscores the difficulty of balancing recreational use of public land against our desire to protect this wilderness setting. While I do not believe we've reached a complete solution to the problem, I do believe we're moving in the right direction. If after a reasonable time period to assess the impact of the new rules, it's determined they are not sufficient to protect these sensitive areas, then clearly it will be necessary to take additional regulatory steps. I met with Beltrami County Parks and DNR trails staff last week to discuss the new restrictions and see maps of the trail changes. At the conclusion of the meeting, I told them that if this new trail designation did not work and problems continue to persist, that I am prepared to carry legislation to close the Mississippi Headwaters State Forest to all-terrain vehicles and/or increase penalties for ATV offenses. I've already authored a bill that resulted in additional conservation enforcement on the ground, and will not hesitate to pursue additional measures, including changes to state law, to protect this valuable public asset. Rep. Brita Sailer (DFL-Park Rapids) http://www.parkrapidsenterprise.com/articles/index.cfm?id=11295 & section=Opinion & \ freebie_check & CF ID=12921509 & CFTOKEN=46362434 & jsessionid=883075d1ed1fa2660452 Kansas: 17) Wrapped around the trunk is a colorful, crazy-quilt skin made up of panels of yarn knitted individually by residents and visitors alike. Good-luck charms cling to the yarn. Family photos, poems and jokes peek out of knitted pockets. The art project in this southwest Ohio village, already known for its offbeat art, has become a conversation piece and even a photo op. " What takes this to a different level is it is a community thing, " said Corrine Bayraktaroglu, an artist who helped start the " knitknot tree " project. " People are really, really enjoying it. They're coming from towns to have their photograph taken with the tree. They're adding stuff to the pockets. " Knitters around the U.S. are dressing trees, street signs, benches, door handles and other objects. Last month, residents of Columbus, Ind., knitted cozies for 33 ornamental pear trees that line the city's main street. One tree, called the People Hugger, has knitted arms. Knitted coverings are showing up on trees and doorknobs in Charleston, W.Va. In Houston, knitters have dressed up park benches, car antennas, telephone poles and beer bottles. " It's fascinating what's going on in the knitting world, " Bayraktaroglu said. " Graffiti street art is going to a whole different realm. It's gone beyond just painting on sides of buildings. " Artist Carol Hummel is among the pioneers. She crocheted a cozy for a tree in front of City Hall in Cleveland Heights several years ago. It took her 500 hours and the use of a hydraulic lift to dress the upper branches. The cozy has survived several winters and even a swarm of cicadas, which left their molted skins clinging to the material. " There are a lot of copycats now, " Hummel said. " A lot of people are getting into putting things on the trees. That's cool. " In Yellow Springs, the first knitted panel _ a gold piece with the words " Knitknot Tree " and a smiley face _ went up in October. It wasn't until early February that more panels began to be added. " Then it just took off like crazy, " Bayraktaroglu said. " People were coming from out of town and adding their own knitting. " Artist Nancy Mellon said people love to come up and touch the tree, and children like to check out what's in the pockets. " There was a man _ while I was working on the tree _ who walked by, and all he said was 'Thank you,' " Mellon said. http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/16451011.html New Jersey: 18) " The 19th-century agrarian landscape of New Jersey (NJ) and the surrounding region has been extensively transformed to the present-day land cover by urbanization, reforestation, and localized areas of deforestation. This study used a mesoscale atmospheric numerical model to investigate the sensitivity of the warm season climate of NJ to these land cover changes. Reconstructed 1880s-era and present-day land cover datasets were used as surface boundary conditions for a set of simulations performed with the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS). Three-member ensembles with historical and present-day land cover were compared to examine the sensitivity of surface air and dewpoint temperatures, rainfall, and the individual components of the surface energy budget to these land cover changes. Mean temperatures for the present-day landscape were 0.3-0.6°C warmer than for the historical landscape over a considerable portion of NJ and the surrounding region, with daily maximum temperatures at least 1.0°C warmer over some of the highly urbanized locations. Reforested regions, however, were slightly cooler. Dewpoint temperatures decreased by 0.3-0.6°C, suggesting drier, less-humid near-surface air for the present-day landscape. Surface warming was generally associated with repartitioning of net radiation from latent to sensible heat flux, and conversely for cooling. While urbanization was accompanied by strong surface albedo decreases and increases in net shortwave radiation, reforestation and potential changes in forest composition have generally increased albedos and also enhanced landscape heterogeneity. The increased deciduousness of forests may have further reduced net downward longwave radiation. " The conclusions state: " The landscape change that we have observed over historical time is expected to continue and even accelerate into the future, driven primarily by the effects of a rapidly growing world population and the anthropogenic pressures exerted on natural environmental and ecological systems. http://climatesci.org/2008/03/07/evaluating-the-effects-of-historical-land-cover\ -change-by-wic hansky-et-al-2008/ New Hampshire: 19) RINDGE -- Dozens of trees at the Cathedral of the Pines in Rindge have been destroyed by heavy snow and ice this winter. A tree service took down the 37th tree at the natural sanctuary on Monday, and officials said there more that will have to come down. " In the last 65 years, this is the worst I've seen, " said Jed Brummer, chairman of the board of trustees. Brummer said it was clear a week and a half ago that many of the trees had been damaged by the harsh winter. " We saw trees down, broken benches -- kind of a debris field, " he said. " And we said, 'Oh no, we have a problem we're going to have to fix ASAP. " A forester was brought in to mark the trees that needed to be taken down. Not all the trees are being removed because of weather damage. Some of them have other structural problems. " There was a significant amount of ice damage here, " said Andrew Robblee of Robblee Tree Service. " That's part of the issue with poor crowns, and some weren't strong to begin with. " Robblee said damage like that at the cathedral has been showing up in residential back yards, as well. Heavy snow and ice, along with strong winds, have weakened trees, especially in higher terrain. " Call an expert to do it, " Robblee said. " You do see a lot of people trying to climb trees. They do crazy things with ladders. It's an easy way to get hurt. " Brummer said the Cathedral of the Pines will rebuild, and officials are also undertaking a plan to keep the rest of their trees strong. Trees that are crowding out healthier trees will be cut down, and ground packed down by visitors will be fertilized. http://www.wmur.com/news/15556997/detail.html Tennessee: 20) A new day could be dawning across Appalachia in the mine land reclamation front if an experiment on the top of Zeb Mountain in Campbell County and other coal mine sites proves successful. Vic Davis, a forester with the U.S. Office of Surface Mining in Knoxville, and environmentalist and conservation groups are pushing a new OSM reclamation directive. That ruling, handed down March 2, requires certain reclamation sites to be planted with trees instead of grasses in hopes that this will return destroyed mountaintops and abandoned mine lands to successional hardwood forests. On Friday, groups led by the Coal Creek Watershed Foundation of Knoxville, OSM, the American Chestnut Foundation and concerned environmentalists will gather on the apex of Zeb Mountain to plant nuts from the American chestnut in what Davis and OSM are calling Operation Springboard. This is just the first step in the process of trying to turn ruined mountaintops into lush, hardwood forests once again, says Davis. Planting trees, he said, is far better than planting grass, which has been past mine land reclamation practice since 1977, with the creation of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/mar/10/restoring-forests-at-mines-takes-root/ Hawaii: 21) For the past year, anyone driving through Old Koloa Town on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, would come across something short of a mob standing in the center of the town. Koloa, known as a historic town for its standing in Hawaii's history as the home of one of Hawaii's first sugar cane plantations, houses numerous old buildings. But it's not just the buildings that are historic: Next to the Koloa Post Office stand a grove of old monkeypod trees that have been threatened by a developer's plan to turn that same area into a shopping mall. Yesterday, the fate of those trees was partially decided as a giant bulldozer crashed its way through the property, knocking four of the monkey pod trees down with eight more, according to environmental activists I spoke to. " Save the trees! " proclaims one sign left at the scene as numerous bystanders stood, watching helplessly as the trees were cut down. " I've always wondered what all these people were here for, " said one tourist I spoke to as she watched the bulldozer amble through the future sight of the shopping center. For the past month, the number of protesters have swelled, with some days seeing more than a dozen people showing up to protest the developer's decision to knock down a dozen trees that have stood on the property for years. But it's more than just about old trees. I counted more than 30 trees standing on the property, which adds a nice touch to the buildings that surround it. That is one of the problems that people bring up when contesting the idea of bulldozing the land. " The trees keep this place nice, it is part of this town, " said one protester. " If you cut it down, there goes the greenery, there goes the shade and the beauty and we become just like any other town with its buildings and its parking lots and its shopping malls. " http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/642941/hawaiian_trees_bulldozed_on_kaua\ i_despite.html 22) HONOLULU - The Nature Conservancy has announced that it is in the final stages of work on its Forest Recovery Project on Maui and is beginning its planned projects on Moloka'i and Kaua'i over the next few weeks. The Forest Recovery Project is designed to research and test new methods and technologies to protect Hawaii's endangered native forests, the organization said in a news release. This short-term project is being conducted primarily on Nature Conservancy preserves and private lands with the help of the New Zealand firm, Prohunt, after a year of statewide community outreach. On Maui, threats from destructive non-native feral animals have now been further reduced on more than 7,500 acres of remote private conservation lands, including the Conservancy's Waikamoi Preserve on East Maui and Kapunakea Preserve on West Maui, according to the release. On Moloka'i, projects will protect 4,600 acres of steep, remote terrain in the Conservancy's Kamakou and Pelekunu preserves, as well as adjoining private conservation land in the higher elevations of the island's eroding south slope. " The community has asked us to limit the project to the steep, upper elevations of the south slope, and only the mauka portion of Pelekunu Valley, " said Ed Misaki, director of the Conservancy's Moloka'i program. " As a result, this project is mainly focused on the 2,500-foot back cliffs of Pelekunu and the remote upper parts of the Kamakou watershed, where cliff heights range from 3,000-4,000 feet. We're excited to get started testing these new strategies to protect our native forests in some of the most inaccessible areas of Moloka'i. " " We've held more than 30 meetings with the community on Moloka'i over the last year and spoken with hundreds of people who support this project, " Misaki added. " We all want the same thing for Moloka'i - to sustain our lifestyle, protect our water supply, and to have healthy forests and reefs. " http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080308/BREAKING01\ /80308012/1001/B REAKING01 USA: 23) Roads and other disruptions to core wild areas are among the greatest causes of species extinctions because they impair migration, reduce species reproductive rates and diminish the availability of forage, prey, and water sources. While the consequences of global climate change are grim and undeniable, the Wilderness Act gives us an option that, if used prudently, can help mitigate the worst effects of it on many species of wild organisms. The Wilderness Act allows our species to leave a positive legacy for the myriad species with which we share the planet. By preserving tracts of at least 5,000 acres, wilderness designation encourages maintenance of critical ecosystem processes that will help species survive under the duress of global climate change, including the warming of the planet that likely will prove lethal to our own species. Designated wilderness prevents the intrusion of humans with motorized toys and therefore prevents unnecessary roads; thus, wilderness designation preserves a strong natural barrier against non-native species while also offering wildlife a sanctuary from biological pressures such as disease, habitat loss and inbreeding. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/0308satlets2-084.html Canada: 24) " It started on private land when a cottager saw trees being cut and started protesting the development, " said Kneen. A few months later it became clear that some of the land being staked was disputed territory. " Uranium mining has no record other than environmental destruction and negative health issues, " Doreen Davis, chief of the Shabot Lake First Nation told IPS. Algonquin community leader Robert Lovelace had never been charged with an offence, but when the uranium company began prospecting for radioactive ore on unceded native land without engaging in consultation, he decided to take action, organising a non-violent blockade. On Feb. 15, Judge Cunningham of Ontario's Superior Court sentenced Lovelace to six months in jail for contempt of court and fined him 50,000 dollars for his involvement in the peaceful protest. Chief Paula Sherman, elected leader of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation, a small community about 110 kilometres southwest of Ottawa, where the controversial uranium prospecting is taking place, calls Robert Lovelace " a political prisoner " . " It seems like a very heavy sentence, " said Jamie Kneen of Mining Watch Canada, a non-governmental watchdog. " If the court had issued a trespassing charge, there could have been an argument about who was really trespassing, " Kneen told IPS. The territory in question involves mainly Crown land -- owned by the government of Canada -- that is subject to ongoing land claims negotiations between First Nations and governments at both the federal and provincial level. In September 2007, an Ontario provincial court issued Frontenac Ventures, the mining company, an interlocutory injunction ordering protestors from two First Nations, Ardoch and Sharbot Lake, along with their non-native allies, to vacate the Robertsville camp, the only feasible entry point to a 30,000-acre wilderness tract in Frontenac County where the company has its prospecting license. Lovelace and other activists violated that order. " The source of this conflict is the Ontario Mining Act, which allows companies to stake land and prospect without consultation with private land owners or other users including First Nations, " said Kneen. Lovelace and other activists argue their constitutional rights were violated by the lack of consultation. http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14960 25) A coalition of environmental groups, First Nations and academics are demanding that the province investigate the threat of mercury contamination from industrial activities in the Boreal Forest. The groups highlight research that suggests dramatic changes in water levels associated with mining operations will release vast amounts of mercury into the local environment, contaminating fish and wildlife and ultimately poisoning humans. It's a claim that has its skeptics, including the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines. David Lean, professor of ecotoxicology at the University of Ottawa, states in a press release that " industrial activities such as mines, hydroelectric dams and logging in the Boreal Forest will fundamentally change the landscape and will cause mercury to be released. " What is most troubling is that this increased risk of mercury contamination was not accounted for in the environmental assessment of the region's first approved large diamond mining operation – De Beers Victor Diamond Mine, near Attawapiskat, " he said. Mercury accumulates in soil and plants and is transformed into methylmercury, which is bio-accumulated in fish such as pike, walleye, bass and trout at levels thousands of times higher than in surrounding water. In humans, mercury exposure has significant neurological and developmental effects, such as learning disabilities, birth defects, tremors and cerebral palsy. Grassy Narrows First Nation band Coun. Steve Fobister suggested that his community is still suffering the ill-health effects of mercury pollution, released in the late 1960s from a pulp and paper mill into the English-Wabigoon River system. " Our people are still struggling with mercury poisoning from more than 30 years ago. . . . Enough is enough. The groups' complaints are documented in an Application for Review filed under Ontario's Environmental Bill of Rights, recently submitted on behalf of CPAWS Wildlands League by Ecojustice. http://www.chroniclejournal.com/stories_local.php?id=96787 UK: 26) Steve said that Dutch elm disease resulted in a loss of hollow trees, the preferred nesting place of the barn owl. This was compounded by barn conversions - a further loss of habitat. He said: " About 70 per cent of barn owls in Suffolk nest in trees, 30pc in buildings. As livestock farming declined a lot of meadows were ploughed up for arable farming and hedgerows were removed. " Steve said the barn owl's main prey - the short tailed vole - went into steep decline as grasslands disappeared. He added: " They didn't have anywhere to nest and didn't have enough food. Today the barn owl is recovering with the evidence to show the decline has halted. Steve said: " This may be due to environmental schemes taken up by farmers, which include leaving grassy margins around arable fields which encourage voles and other prey. " With enough food the barn owl is coming back and we need to aid their recovery by providing places for them to nest. " And that's where nest boxes come in. Steve said: " It is very, very encouraging. Last year was a very good year for barn owls and we have been putting up a number of nest boxes. If we didn't they won't breed. " http://www.eveningstar.co.uk/content/eveningstar/features/story.aspx?brand=ESTOn\ line & category= Features & tBrand=ESTOnline & tCategory=Features & itemid=IPED05%20Mar%202008%2008%3A4\ 5%3A21%3A953 Scotland: 27) The conservation of the world's woodland, forest and rainforest habitats matters enormously to the RSPB. At Abernethy and Loch Garten in Scotland, the organisation is restoring and expanding the largest remnant of ancient Caledonian pine woods in the Highlands, ensuring its long-term survival as a habitat for all sorts of wildlife, such as ospreys, crested tits, Scottish crossbills, red squirrels, capercaillies and dragonflies. And the charity plans to double the size of the famous Wood of Cree — the largest ancient wood in southern Scotland, and home to more than 20 varieties of butterflies and six species of bats. England's rich wildlife is also benefiting enormously from the RSPB's intervention. The charity is reintroducing corncrakes in Cambridgeshire and cirl buntings in Cornwall. Further north, at Geltsdale, on the borders of Northumberland and Cumbria, it has been working with farmers and landowners for more than 30 years to save a very special place, full of threatened wildlife, including golden plovers, merlins and short-eared owls. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/related_features/love_nature/art\ icle3497721.ece Wales: 28) Much is made of Wales' forests as a destination for hiking and mountain biking, but they are also proving a hotspot for crimes including illegal logging, drug running, poaching and sexual offences. The UK Forest Products Association (UKFPA) which is concerned at illegal logging and thefts of contractors' vehicles is now calling for " more intelligence " to combat woodland crime. Although the Home Office does not list forestry crimes specifically, both the Forestry Commission and UKFPA say that from reports across the country, South Wales' forests are Britain's number one crime hot spot. A Forestry Commission Wales spokesman said yesterday that the size of the South Wales forestry, which is Europe's largest urban forest, was behind the crime statistics. It comprises 120 square miles of Forestry Commission land (32,000 hectares) and spans from Pembrey in Carmarthenshire to Torfaen in Gwent. Three police forces cover the area, Dyfed-Powys in the West, South Wales, and Gwent in the East. Visit Wales, which strongly markets Wales' beautiful forests and hills to tourists, says Wales makes £500m a year from " walking tourists " alone, many of whom choose to hike through the woodland. And Port Talbot's Afan Argoed Forest Park has become one of Britain's top mountain biking centres with visitors from cities like London and Birmingham now pumping large amounts of money into the local economy. The police forces in the forestry area have seconded South Wales Police Constable Andrew Scourfield to the Forestry Commission to act as Wales' forest crime officer. He lists the main types of crime occurring on Forestry Commission land as off-road vehicle trespassing, criminal damage, arson, auto-crime, theft, fly-tipping, sexual offences, concealment of drugs and deer poaching. http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/03/06/crime-wave-in-welsh-wo\ ods-91466-205647 87/ Germany: 29) The city, located in the eastern state of Saxony, has wanted to build a bridge by the Waldschlösschen (forest palace) to ease traffic congestion. But the plans have provoked controversy from many, including those who feel it will have unnecessary ecological costs and those who feel a tunnel should be built instead. A spokesman for the Paris-based organization told the Sächsische Zeitung that the United Nations body had rejected the revised bridge design and that any bridge in that spot would destroy the landscape and ruin the views of Dresden's famous landmarks. He added that the only acceptable solution was for Dresden to build a tunnel under the river and that UNESCO would make a final decision on the city's status in July. Work on the €125 million ($172 million) bridge got underway last November after months of wrangling within the courts. For example, delays arose last August when one court ruled construction would strip away the habitat of the endangered lesser horseshoe bat. And, in January, police arrested an activist who lived for over a month in a 200-year-old tree to protest the bridge's construction. More recently, opponents of the 635-meter (2,100-foot) structure have collected 40,000 signatures in Dresden, calling for a tunnel to be built instead. http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,539751,00.html Kyrgyzstan: 30) Environmentalists in Kyrgyzstan are raising the alarm over the speed with which this Central Asian country is losing its forests. In the last 50 years, the former Soviet republic has lost more than half its forests, and experts are warning that if logging continues at the current rate, the whole Central Asian region will suffer from a scarcity of water, health problems and more frequent natural disasters. The stark warnings come from the Kyrgyz government's own Agency for Environmental Protection and Forestry, in data published in early February. Ecologists say forests in Kyrgyzstan play a key role in the ecosystem of Central Asia. With international help, the agency is conducting an inventory of all plantations in the country, including natural forests, city parks and the like. The agency director said poor legislation and corruption had hindered the agency in its battle to save what remained. In recent years, the agency has brought more than 200 lawsuits against illegal loggers but only one case has actually reached the courts. " It's difficult to wean people off stealing, " complained Davletkeldiev. " Everyone is involved, from local government officials to our own specialists, the police, the traffic cops who escort lorries carrying illicit timber, and sometimes other law-enforcement officers. " Moreover, with only 800 foresters, the agency is short of staff, and does not have nearly enough vehicles to patrol in what are often remote locations. According to official figures, 50,000 to 55,000 cubic metres of timber were felled annually prior to 2006, and illegal deforestation was estimated to account for roughly the same volume. Since 2006, when a three-year moratorium was imposed on cutting down valuable tree species in virgin forest, legal logging has been reduced to 15,000 cu m a year. Encouragingly, illegal deforestation has also declined since then, Davletkeldiev said, raising hopes for the survival of the country's remaining woods. His agency is investing more in nurseries, which means more saplings can be planted out to replace the lost trees. But in spite of these rays of hope, green groups say the deforestation problem remains acute. http://www.iwpr.net/?p=rca & s=f & o=343227 & apc_state=henh Ecuador: 31) Today's small step to make the planet a better place is to boycott Texaco. In 1992, after extracting 1 billion barrels of crude from the Ecuadorian Rainforest Texaco pulled out; leaving behind a truly colossal and hideous mess. It is estimated: 1) that the amount of crude they spilled is 50% more than in the Exxon Valdez disaster. 2) That 2.5 million acre of rainforest was destroyed in order to open access roads 3) That they discharged 20 billions gallons of highly toxic waste water into the environment 4) that the native people who use the river and rain water for bathing and drinking are suffering from a wide range of serious, and often life-threatening, health issues. -- Texaco has refused to either clean up their own mess or compensate the people whose environment they have ruined. If that wasn't enough - Texaco collaborates with Burmese dictatorship in an offshore natural gas project. Supporting a dictatorship which has directly suppressed democracy and actively kills those who try to protest. If that wasn't enough - Chevron -Texaco along (with Esso) are supporters of the war against Iraq. Why? They want access to the world's 2nd largest reserve of oil. If that wasn't enough - In 1966 Texaco paid $176 million to settle the largest race discrimination law suit in US history. If that wasn't enough - Texaco blatently violated the UN oil embargo in Haiti. An internationally agreed embargo designed to bring pressure on the Haitian dictatorship. http://ajustlife.com/blog/?p=93 World wide: 32) Scientists from Sri Lanka and Germany have developed a new method to measure biodiversity, and say it could help identify key tree species. Biologists traditionally measure biodiversity by calculating the number of a species in a given area, but the new method uses statistical analysis to see how one species affects others in an area. The researchers reported the new method — 'individual species-area relationship' (ISAR) — in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Botanists from the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Germany looked at how individual tree species suppress or encourage the growth of other species nearby. They used the method in tropical forests of Barro Colorado Island in Panama and Sinharaja in Sri Lanka to see whether individual species increased or decreased local biodiversity, or had no impact. They found that more than two-thirds of species did not have much impact on large forest areas. The remaining third impacted only on a small scale, up to a radius of 20 metres. The scientists say this supports the theory that the diversity of forests and similar complex natural biological systems does not depend on the characteristics of a few dominant species but on the overall interactions among all species. " It is a step towards understanding why and how the tropical moist forests maintain such a high species richness, " Nimal Gunatilleke, professor of botany at the University of Peradeniya and an author of the paper, told SciDev.Net. Gunatilleke says the ISAR method should be tried in other tropical forests and temperate forests, to verify and improve it if necessary. The method has potential for use in scientific conservation management of forests and predicting forest health, he says. http://www.scidev.net/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=readnews & itemid=4278 & language=1 33) Field studies have reported several patterns consistent with responses to global climate change, which include increases in aboveground biomass stocks, in tree turnover, and in the dominance of fast-growing species. Given the profound implications of these studies' findings on the future of one of Earth's most critical ecosystems, a team of international scientists decided to analyse the carbon capture capacity of tropical forests and measure the effects of climate change on how they function. Bringing together 38 scientists from 15 countries, for the first time, the study made use of forestry records initiated in the early 1980s, which inventoried more than two million trees belonging to nearly 5,000 species. The scientists developed novel statistical methods which, for a given species, made it possible to estimate the biomass of the trees. They were also able to define two groups of species: rapid-growing and slow-growing. For each studied plot, carbon assessments were performed at the scale of the ecosystem and for both of these groups of species. Based on these calculations, the scientists found that carbon storage capacity had significantly increased during the last two decades, confirming the role of tropical forests as major carbon sinks. No clear evidence was available to confirm the role of climate change on the forests. Instead, the scientists believe that many of the plots of forests are rebuilding themselves in response to unqualified human and natural disturbances that happened in the past. Research is therefore needed to understand what these past disturbances might be. The study finishes with a word of caution. Although there was no clear evidence of the impact of climate change on the forests was found, the scientists suggest that it is probable that climatic changes such as drought will come to play an increasingly important role in the future. For further information, please visit: http://biology.plosjournals.org - http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=EN_NEWS & ACTION=D & SESSION= & RCN=29219 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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