322 - Earth's Tree News

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--British Columbia: 1) Caribou extinction plan, 2) After 15 years

nothing has changed, 3) Western Forest Products doesn't have to pay

fine for illegal logging, 4) The message from the big rally, 5)

Industry wants growth instead of " cap & trade, " 6) Western Forest

products involved in insider trading, 7) Bear mountain boycott, 8) The

inspiration that helped saved Saltspring Island's forest,

--Pacific Northwest: 9) List of culturally significant Flora

--Oregon: 10) Letter to the editor logging debate deconstructed, 11)

Keeping the heat on the Forest Service, 12) Wise guy thinks he knows

how to stop the fires,

--California: 13) How will we log Lake Tahoe? 14) More logging of Mt.

Shasta's most popular recreation area, 15) Why we can no longer

overharvest Maxxam/PL's forests, 16) Old Forest that leads to Hyampom

will fall to new highway,

--Montana: 17) Enviro-suit for grizzlies rejected, 18) ATV rider turns

towards protection,

--Colorado: 19) Large scale climate induced Aspen die off

--New Mexico: 20) Forest Service Woody Biomass Utilization Grant is granted

--South Dakota: 21) What to do with 3,126 slash piles

--Minnesota: 22) Tree farmers get tax relief

--Illinois: 23) Logging for Wetland restoration as mitigation for

housing on wetlands

--Wisconsin: 24) Night Crawlers destroy the forest,

--Louisiana: 25) Save the Atchafalaya

--New Jersey: 26) Save the limestone forests

--Maine: 27) Sawdust scarcity

--USA: 28) Rising unemployment for forestry workers

--Canada: 29) First Nations' rights might be based on BC legal

decision, 30) Algonquin Park forest plan thinks logging is best,

--UK: 31) Pigs help restore forests

 

British Columbia:

 

1) A British Columbia government planner has identified twelve

thousand hectares of clearcuts and burns to be protected as habitat

for the endangered Central Selkirk Mountain Caribou. Meanwhile, large

areas of old-growth forest critical to the herd's survival would be

slated for logging. The mountain caribou is dependent upon old-growth

forest and is in danger of extinction chiefly because of too many

clearcuts and roads. The BC Government promised that 20,000 hectares

of high suitability habitat would be protected in the Central

Selkirks. " That's one-quarter of the total amount of Timber Harvesting

Land Base that the government promised to protect for mountain

caribou, " says Craig Pettitt, Plan Reviewer for Valhalla Wilderness

Watch. " Valhalla Wilderness Watch is calling for an immediate

moratorium on logging in this planning unit, and the resignation of

the current Herd Expert, Milt Hamilton. Mr. Hamilton was the mountain

caribou planner for Pope and Talbot Ltd., the logging company that

held some of the most valuable Mountain Caribou habitat in the Central

Selkirks. Although Pope & Talbot is bankrupt and its mill has been

sold to Interfor, it is still claiming an interest in the timber

supply in that area. The BC government hired Hamilton as a contractor

to make maps identifying the location of the 20,000 hectares of new

protected forest. Now preliminary analysis by the Government's own

Kootenay Local Habitat Team (draft report, March 2008) indicates that

the new maps have identified 12,000 hectares of young forest 0-60

years old amongst the protected areas. That means clearcuts and burns.

" Protecting 0-60 year-old-forest is a death plan for mountain

caribou, " says Pettitt. " And there are numerous other industry-biased

problems with the plan. Mr. Hamilton is advocating " a spatial " forest

protection, which means that no areas would be identified for

protection. Logging companies would just keep logging and leave behind

a certain percentage of forest; they would be able to choose the best

and leave the caribou the low-quality sites. The agreement said the

protection must not reduce the rate of logging for five years, must

not use more than 1% of the Timber Harvesting Land Base, and must not

stress any logging companies. Now the logging companies are screaming

that there are major impacts to their mills. What is the government

going to do? Cancel the protection? Where is that going to leave ten

environmental groups that approved this backroom deal? "

http://www.vws.org

 

 

2) Standing on the road at the blockades in Clayoquot Sound almost 15

years ago, I couldn't help but feel an expectation of real change on

the horizon, and that hope for a different future for the Island's

old-growth forests was pulsing and alive. But in 2008, looking back,

absolutely nothing has changed with regard to the management (or

rather mismanagement) of the Island's forests. Successive governments,

regardless of party affiliation, have continued to facilitate the

liquidation of the Island's remaining old growth, as their lack of

vision has translated into enormous swaths of denuded wilderness,

trashed salmon streams and degraded habitat for carnivores and their

prey. The Ministry of Environment has acknowledged that the Island's

cougar and wolf populations have been in decline as a result of a drop

in the deer population, which is linked to the clearcut logging of

old-growth forests and accompanying habitat loss and fragmentation.

Scientific studies published by the United States Forest Service in

the temperate rainforests of southeast Alaska have shown that

" short-rotation clearcut logging of old growth forests ... will reduce

habitat capability for Sitka black-tailed deer. This conclusion is

supported by an extensive body of research spanning thirty years on

forest succession following logging, silvicultural practices,

deer-habitat relations and nutritional ecology of deer. " If you want

to get a real perspective on how devastated this island's forests are,

fly up the spine of Vancouver Island in a small plane. The long parade

of clearcuts stand as a grim testament to the avarice of the corporate

logging industry and the venality of the Ministry of Forests. But the

entity that might be most responsible for this devastation is arguably

the Association of British Columbia Professional Foresters. The

association cannot escape complicity; their silence has been deafening

as the destruction continues to roll along. " Professional forester "

has to rival " sustainable development " as the definitive oxymoron of

the last two decades. The heart of the Island's rainshadow, the

Douglas fir and Garry oak ecosystems, already logged into museum-piece

status, are on the verge of becoming " ghost forests " as they are

further reduced by commercial and residential development to a minute

fraction of what they once were. Throughout the Island's coastal

rainforests western red cedar is being targeted, high-graded and mined

to meet international market demand, primarily in the United States

where close to 80 per cent of B.C.'s red cedar ends up.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/story.html?id=0bdc3f30-6053-45a4-9a2\

4-86f5e2a518c6

 

3) A $35,000 fine levied against TimberWest for contravening forestry

regulations in the Comox Valley watershed has been rescinded. The man

who filed the complaint, Will Koop, is not impressed with the results.

" I was stunned by what I saw there, " he said. " I'm still shocked, in

fact I'm deeply shocked. I'm shocked because it's such a clear

violation. What kind of message does this send out to other people? "

Koop said he felt the initial report done by PMFLC was accurate. It is

the reversal of the decision he finds hard to accept. " I think that

the reasons provided by the council in its reconsideration are

irrelevant, you can quote me on that, " he said. " These are things to

mask what happened. " Through some kind of sophistry, they're allowing

TimberWest to be let off. " The forestry company was fined after all of

the trees were removed along one bank of a 200-metre section of Beech

Creek, a creek that not only contains resident trout but also flows

into Comox Lake, the drinking water supply for more than 30,000 local

people. Nobody, including TimberWest, disputes that removal of the

trees contravened the Private Managed Forest Land Act, the regulation

that governs logging in that area. Under the act in force at the time,

20 trees should have been left standing along each 100 metres of creek

to maintain bank stability and protect the water from debris coming

from clearcut areas behind the trees. As every tree was removed along

the 200-metre stretch, it was determined that two contraventions had

occurred, each carrying a maximum penalty of $25,000. The Private

Managed Forest Land Council levied a $35,000 fine. But TimberWest

appealed, successfully arguing that, for their part, they had

exercised due diligence and the violation was beyond their control.

" It's clear that there obviously was an error on the part of the

contractor that was harvesting in that area, " said TimberWest manager

of public affairs Steve Lorimer. " What I can tell you is that in the

pre-work review that was done with our contract supervisor ... it was

clear that the buffer zone was there, " he said. " There may have been

some discussions that went on previous to that, but not with the

authorized contract supervisor. Other reasons put forward by PMFLC in

their reconsideration to rescind the fine included that " TimberWest

promptly cleaned up and planted the affected area, " and that " fish

habitat and water quality ... were not significantly impacted during

or since logging. " mtetrault

 

4) It was BC's largest environmental rally since the 1993 Clayoquot

Sound protests. The rally's huge size and diverse crowd sent a loud,

undeniable message to the BC government that, like it or not, they

will have to act on these issues in a positive way or face a hell of a

fight with a lot of citizens over the next year before the May, 2009

BC election. We'd like to thank Arnie Bercov and Lloyd Kelly of the

Pulp, Paper, and Woodworkers of Canada who brought out a contingent of

almost 100 millworkers to join environmentalists at the rally; the

NDP's Carole James, Scott Fraser, Maurine Karagianis, Doug Routley and

Denise Savoie for speaking and/or attending: the BC Green Party's Jane

Sterk for speaking; Valerie Langer of the Friends of Clayoquot Sound

and ForestEthics for speaking; Roger Wiles of the Youbou TimberLess

Society for speaking; and to the scores of WCWC volunteers who

relentlessly phoned supporters, put up posters, handed out leaflets,

and volunteered at the rally itself to make it all happen! See MEDIA

COVERAGE We'll have a photogallery ready of the rally next week on our

website. http://www.wcwcvictoria.org/

 

5) Although a cap-and-trade system has been widely expected, there are

plenty of questions about how the system will work and whether it

could dampen growth in the province, especially in the booming oil and

gas business. " We are a growing industry in British Columbia and we're

being encouraged by the province to take steps to grow, " said Dave

Price, vice-president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum

Producers. " So we need to see how this system builds in that fact and

builds in the competitiveness of the industry so that it does allow it

to grow. " Mr. Price said his members are concerned they will face

several regulatory systems as Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan

and the federal government set up their own rules. Doug Horswill,

vice-president of Vancouver-based mining and smelting company Teck

Cominco Ltd., spoke yesterday from a downtown hotel where company

executives and managers had gathered to discuss climate change and

regulatory issues. Teck supports the notion of a clear framework for

reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, Mr. Horswill said, but worried that

a cap-and-trade regime and B.C.'s recently introduced carbon tax -

which applies to most fossil fuels - could amount to a double whammy

for its operations.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080404.wrcarbon04/BNStory/N\

ational/home

 

6) After more than a year of speculation, the BC Securities Commission

(BCSC) is now investigating the possibility that large purchases of

Western Forest Products stock in January 2007 were in fact 'insider

trades', in which information leaked to one or more shareholders

allowed them to make huge profits. The 'insider information', in this

instance, was confirmation that Minister of Forests Rich Coleman would

indeed be granting the company their tree farm licence deletion. The

deletion decision is potentially worth billions to Western Forest

Products. It removed some ~28 000 Hectares of WFP's private land from

their tree farm licences on Vancouver Island, Haida Gwaii, and the

Central Coast – the same private land that had been used to secure

decades of access to Crown timber. Following Coleman's decision, WFP

will continue to log Crown land, but are now free to more intensively

log their private lands, export more logs, and sell the choicest bits

to real estate developers. The sale of ~ 2,000 Ha of deleted land

between Sooke and Port Renfrew on southern Vancouver Island to a

Vancouver-based developer was slated to be finalized by the end of

this March, and was rumored to be worth ~ $50 million alone. The

decision amounted to a gift, from the Minister of Forests to the

largest coastal forestry company in BC; and in the months following

the Jan 2007 decision WFP share value increased by 25%.. Anybody who

bought WFP shares before Coleman's gift and sold them shortly

thereafter made a lot of money. The fishy part is that it seemed like

there were a lot of people buying WFP shares before Coleman's giveaway

became public. In fact, the trade volume was nearly 6.5 times greater

the 2006 monthly average. Harbert Management Coporation, WFP's 2nd

largest shareholder and a corporate 'insider' by the fact that they

owned greater than 10% of the company, picked up an extra ~ 3 million

shares, increasing their ownership to ~ 20% [WFP's largest

shareholder, real estate mega-company Brookfield Asset Management,

owned ~ 70% of the company at the time of the decision]. Needless to

say, eyebrows were raised; the obvious question being: Was

confirmation of Coleman's decision leaked prior to it being made

public, and did this inform an insider trade (e.g. Harbert Management

Corporation's large January purchase(s), or any other trade)?

http://www.dogwoodinitiative.org/bulletins/2008-04-03-insider-trading

 

7) Investors and lenders have a right to full disclosure of the risks

and liabilities associated with building the Bear Mountain Interchange

and future development on the mountain. Possible risks include legal

action resulting from environmental damage, unresolved First Nations

concerns, widespread opposition from local residents, expensive

remediation of underground contamination, negative publicity, and

unstable geology, including sinkholes. " Don't invest in Bear Mountain

Resort – invest in Bare Mountain Bonanza Corp. instead! " Blunt

declares. " The public has a right to know, and we have an obligation

to tell them the whole story, " Blunt says. From the " Boycott Bare

Mountain " website: Would you support a corporation that destroys the

environment and tramples on people's rights -- in your own backyard?

Developers for Bear Mountain Resort and the Bear Mountain Interchange

have destroyed two First Nations caves near Victoria, BC. They

demolished irreplaceable karst formations hundreds of thousands of

years old for the sake of profit and highway access. Earlier this

year, the City of Langford promised residents that the Langford Lake

Cave would be protected. Instead, it has been closed off permanently

with a rebar grate and tons of broken rock. Construction is killing

vulnerable species and rare ecosystems. Bulldozers and excavators have

trashed the watercourses. Mud and silt are suffocating red-legged

frogs and pacific tree frogs in Spencer's Pond and Florence Lake.

Garry oak and arbutus ecosystems are reduced to rubble. Orange sludge

is polluting watercourses downstream from Bear Mountain Resort. The

Bear Mountain Interchange and its funding were not approved by voters

in Langford. The city has aggressively promoted the expensive and

short-sighted highway project and continues to pursue funding on

behalf of developers in spite of over 2200 petitioners demanding an

open vote and full disclosure of financial estimates and repayment

terms. What was once public forest is now bare rock. Crown forest land

ended up in the hands of Bear Mountain Resort and Len Barrie after it

was flipped twice in 2001 for just over a million dollars. Now, the

bottom line is trashed ecosystems and hundreds of millions in profit

pocketed by developers while the province looks the other way. Does

this sound like ethical business practices?

http://baremountain.blogspot.com

 

8) Saltspring Island's Creekside Rainforest is cool, moist, lush and

much greener than the surrounding area. The sound of island songbirds

and the gurgling of a creek that supports two kinds of wild salmon

greet the visitor. For species at risk – like the red-legged frog –

this is a rare haven – one of the very few rain forests on the Gulf

Islands. On March 31, a deal was officially sealed between a local

numbered company that had planned to develop and log the 19-hectare

rain forest and its new owners, a group of concerned citizens of

Saltspring working in partnership with the Land Conservancy of B.C.

The community coalition and the Land Conservancy of B.C. did not hold

protests or appeal to government to preserve the rain forest. They

engaged in a form of collective capitalism in which everyone from

local schoolchildren to senior citizens pooled their resources to buy

the land from the developer. " Because I knew immediately that the

development and logging could be done legally – it seemed like a waste

of energy to engage in protest, " said Maureen Moore, an island

grandmother and writer who spearheaded the community effort to save

the rain forest. Time was also a factor, because the development plans

were in process. " Buying the land seemed like the most pragmatic

option, so we went forward with a community appeal, " said Ms. Moore,

who had never before lead an environmental campaign and had moved to

Saltspring a few years earlier to enjoy a quiet, writing life. In a

matter of months, and with the assistance of the Land Conservancy, Ms.

Moore organized a campaign that raised the $1-million asking price for

the rain forest largely from individual donations from the island's

approximately 10,000 residents. " People said it was impossible when I

started, " Ms. Moore said. She persisted, however, organizing

fundraising activities including a play, art exhibit, and literary

reading. At a recent musical evening (called the gumboot gala for the

boots worn by local residents with their finery) in Fulford Hall, at

the south end of Saltspring Island, folk singer and island resident

Valdy sang about the power of community, as did former Chilliwack

frontman and long-time Saltspringer Bill Henderson, who also sent

appeals to friends in the music industry. When an announcement was

made that the rain forest now belonged to the community, a huge cheer

went up from the crowd of 200. But Ms. Moore said her initial

inspiration was from her six-year-old granddaughter, who came for a

visit from Holland with her parents in the summer of 2005.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080404.wbccoversaltspring05\

/BNStory/Nation

al/home

 

Pacific Northwest:

 

9) Here are some culturally important plants of the Pacific Northwest

Coast: Food, Berries +50 species - Fragaria spp. (wild strawberry),

Gaultheria shallon (Salal), Rubus spp., (Salmonberry, Thimbleberry),

Pyrus fusca (Pacific Crabapple), Shepherdia canadensis

(Soapberry),Vaccinium parvifolium (Red Huckleberry), Vaccinium

oxycoccos (Bog Cranberry), Viburnum edule (Highbush Cranberry) Food:

Root vegetables +25 species - Camassia spp (edible Blue Camas);

Conioselimum pacificum (wild carrot); Fritillaria camschatensis

(Rice-root); Lupinus nootkatensis (Nootka lupine); Potentilla anserina

spp. pacifica (Pacific Silverweed); Saggitaria latifolia (Wapato);

Trifolium wormskjoldii (Springbank Clover). Food: Green Vegetables +20

species - Epilobium angustifolium (Fireweed); Heracleum lanatum (Cow

Parsnip); Urtica diocia (Stinging Nettle); Rubus spp. (Thimbleberry,

Salmonberry shoots) All are herbaceous or woody perennials, all

harvested as shoots or leaves by season, age, life-cycle stage as part

of seasonal round of picking, some enhanced by picking. Medicines:

whole plants, bark tissues, pitch, latex, roots, leaves, flowers; many

species - Achillea millefolium, (Yarrow: leaves and roots for colds,

poultices); Abies grandis, Alnus rubra (grand fir, red alder: coughs,

many ailments); Populus balsamifera (cottonwood: bud resin as salve);

Rhamnus purshiana (Cascara: laxative); Rumex occidentalis (western

dock: roots, cuts); Lysichition americanum (skunk-cabbage: leaves for

burns); Holodiscus discolor (Ocean spray: fruits for diaharrea);

Shepherdia Canadensis (soapberries, indigestion, ulcers); and many,

many more. Materials: wood and fiber for matting, construction,

manufacture, baskets, dyes, adhesives, caulking and scents; many

species - Almost all of our trees and shrubs harvested as coppiced

branches, planks, house posts; Alnus rubra (Red alder, used for

smoking fish, medicine, dye) Prunus emarginata, Thuja plicata (Bitter

Cherry, Red Cedar and others: bark and inner bark used for binding

material, clothing, baskets and roofing, characteristic of original

peoples is that outer bark only used without killing tree; Carex

obnupta, Salix spp, Schoenoplectris acutus, Typha latifolia (Slough

Sedge, Willows, Tule and Cattail: leaves and stems used for baskets,

matting and rope.) http://www.fourthcornernurseries.com/Article8.asp

 

Oregon:

 

10) The debate over whether to log, how much to cut, who pays vs. who

benefits, and which side is most divorced from reality has divided

Oregonians for decades. It would be difficult for residents not to

have a hardened opinion. But if we are willing to suspend certainty,

it is possible to discover not only new meaning, but commonality as

well. It seemed to me that beneath the discussion on forest policy,

both men were arguing for something precious to them, something that

has all but disappeared from public consciousness and commercial

conduct: Honor. Hermach argued that logging companies, and the

agencies assigned to regulate them, had none; Montgomery argued that

he, and the people he knew, did. They were assessing different parts

of the proverbial elephant, each projecting what they knew to be true

to the entire beast, drawing conclusions that were faithful but

incomplete. As I interpret Hermach's perspective: Corporations are run

by humans, but they are not human. And when humans become a part of

them, they inherit power that often stretches beyond the horizon

delimited by their ethical compass. Environmentalists will argue that

the reason they so often win in court is that laws are being broken

and they are able to prove it. Hermach would argue further that where

laws are intransigent, exceptions can be purchased. When the

undersecretary of agriculture is a former timber lobbyist, threatened

with prison by a federal judge for sanctioning violations favorable to

the industry he regulates, Hermach is pretty certain the game is

rigged. Hermach contends that the public long has been misled by

people who have no honor and therefore cannot be trusted. He warns

that the forests that sustain us all have been degraded enormously. If

we value national forests for reasons beyond timber production, we

need to reassert public control over them. From Montgomery's

perspective: His family has a multigenerational relationship with the

land. For four decades, he has worked, studied and cared for the

forest that sustains him. His experience is not theoretical: The

survival of his family, his friends and his community is linked to the

felling of trees. He believes in rules and in following them, and that

includes abiding by best forest-management practices. Montgomery sees

that the people in his community toil harder than most of us ever care

to, doing the kind of work that pays modestly but exerts an immodest

physical toll.

http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.cms.support.viewStory.cls?cid=8829\

6 & sid=5 & fid=1

 

11) A watchdog group is keeping the heat on the U.S. Forest Service to

change the way it fights wildfires, particularly the use of fire

retardant that kills fish when it is dumped in streams. The Forest

Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, based in Eugene, Ore.,

filed a new lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Missoula,

Mont. It claims that environmental reviews that allow the Forest

Service to continue using toxic fire retardant violate the Endangered

Species Act and other laws. In an earlier lawsuit from the group, a

federal judge recently stopped short of finding Agriculture

Undersecretary Mark Rey, the Bush administration official in charge of

the Forest Service, in contempt for dragging his feet on an

environmental review of fire retardant. Andy Stahl, executive director

of the group, said the new suit is phase two of a campaign to force

the Forest Service to give up its war on wildfire, despite knowing

that forests are burning at a record pace primarily because of drought

and a buildup of dead wood from a century of putting fires out.

Specifically, the lawsuit challenges the Forest Service finding of no

significant environmental impact from using toxic fire retardant,

despite findings by scientists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

and NOAA Fisheries that the survival of dozens of threatened and

endangered species is jeopardized, particularly fish. It also

challenges the decisions by the Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA

Fisheries to allow fire retardant use to go on, as long as the Forest

Service takes steps to test and monitor its use, without any

explanation about how laboratory testing and monitoring will prevent

fish and wildlife deaths. Spokesmen for Fish and Wildlife, NOAA

Fisheries and the Forest Service said they had not seen the lawsuit

and could not comment on it.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/357537_retardant03.html

 

12) An Oregon environmental think tank has challenged the adoption of

a Wildland Fire Use program on the Rogue River–Siskiyou National

Forest. " 'Wildland Fire Use' is a glorified name for Let It Burn "

stated Mike Dubrasich, executive director of the Western Institute for

Study of the Environment headquartered in Lebanon, OR. " If the

Rogue-Siskiyou adopts the WFU program, another Biscuit Fire is surely

going to happen, possibly as soon as next summer. " Dubrasich's

organization filed a 170 page complaint with the RR-SNF earlier this

week. The Biscuit Fire burned 500,000 acres of the then Siskiyou NF in

2002. It was the largest fire in recorded Oregon history and destroyed

habitat for endangered species, including over 100,000 acres of prime

spotted owl habitat (50 known nesting sites were destroyed). The Rogue

River and Siskiyou NF's were merged in 2004. The RR-SNF is preparing

an Environmental Assessment to evaluate inclusion of WFU fires in

their Fire Plan. " We have suffered enough forest destruction from

mega-sized forest fires, " said Dubrasich. " Allowing wildfire to freely

roam the landscape is a terribly destructive idea. Too much is at

stake, including watersheds and wildlife habitat, as well as ranches,

farms, homes, and entire communities that may lie in the path of

Federal megafires. " I hereby request that Rogue River and Siskiyou NF

prepare an EIS preparatory to implementing AMR. I also request a CD

copy of either that requested EIS, or at least a CD of the proposed

EA; with PAPER copies of whatever maps would be included with paper

copies of the EIS/EA. My mailing address is listed below. I want to

especially point out the concession before Congress by professors Norm

Johnson and Jerry Franklin that unmanaged wildfire poses a great

threat of loss to the so-called " old growth " Late Seccessional

Reserves. To quote: " Prescribed fire is a useful tool in forest

restoration but is not sufficient alone—mechanical silvicultural

activities typically will be required. "

http://westinstenv.org/sosf/2008/04/03/some-brief-comments-on-the-rrsnfs-amr-pro\

posal/

 

California:

 

13) When people think of Lake Tahoe, they see crystal blue waters

surrounded by green forests – a vision that visitors from around the

world come to experience. Decisions being made in the next few weeks

could alter that vision, as the temporary California-Nevada Lake Tahoe

Fire Commission makes its recommendations on whether to open Tahoe's

forests to large-scale logging, build new roads and otherwise

" fireproof " the forests in the Tahoe basin. As owner of an all-season

resort just south of Tahoe, my family and our loyal customers have a

huge stake in the commission's recommendations. We know, after 26

years of living in the forest, that you can't fireproof the forest.

What we can do is reduce the risks on our own property. The commission

should be recommending programs to fund fire-safe improvements for

residents, not expensive infrastructure to facilitate heavy logging.

Everyone agrees that the forests in the Tahoe basin need to be

thinned. The issues are how to go about it and where it will do the

most good. Fuels reduction needs to be a priority around homes and

less so in forested areas far away from development. The focus needs

to be on the small trees and brush that ignite and spread wildfire.

The fact is logging projects far away from the urban boundary do

little to protect us. Rather than spend millions of state and federal

dollars to support the timber industry, we need to spend that money on

programs to help homeowners make their residences fire-safe.

http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/838454.html

 

14) On a landing in the midst of a 330 acre section of the Mountain

Thin project a few miles above the Mount Shasta city limits, three

high tech cranes and their operators measure, cut, delimb and stack

hundreds of logs in a matter of hours that would take several logging

crews weeks to do by hand. " We've made a lot of progress through the

winter, " said US Forest Service district ranger Mike Hupp. " Thinning

reduces the potential for a catastrophic fire by removing some of the

smaller and less healthy trees that are too close together. In taking

out the fuel and excess growth it makes the forest healthier and the

town safer. Hopefully this phase of the 3,200 acre project will be

finished in a few more weeks. " According to prevailing forestry

management theory and practice, thinning is the most effective way to

ensure the overall health of the forest. Instead of taking a chance on

a fire moving through an area to reduce the amount of fuel and take

out weak or diseased trees, thinning does the job by mimicking the

natural process in a controlled method.The Mountain Thin project is

intended to create a defensible fire zone when finished. Some take

exception to that theory, including local USFS retiree Charles

McDonald. " I'm concerned that the thinning process could have an

adverse effect, " McDonald said in a recent phone interview. " Opening

the forest up through thinning creates hotter and drier conditions,

which some studies have shown can lead to more fires. It's a tough

call as to what to do sometimes. Unfortunately we just don't have all

the answers for every set of conditions. Global warming is also

complicating the situation. " During the years it was being planned,

Mountain Thin was at times a subject of controversy in the community.

Some people said it is just another form of logging, and in 2004

concerns were expressed by the Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center

and the Klamath Forest Alliance appeal asking that the thinning

process consider more of the wildlife and scenic aspects into the

overall plan. The appeal also requested that 60 percent of the crown

canopy be left intact along with snag habitat, large logs and downed

woody debris. In a subsequent finding issued by the Forest Service it

was stated that although there may be an effect due to the thinning,

it will not be adverse to nesting or roosting habitat in the long run.

The finding also disclosed that the project would actually promote and

result in the development of successional forest growth and habitat.

http://www.mtshastanews.com/articles/2008/04/02/news/05thin_phase.txt

 

15) The noteholders invested in Maxxam's high-risk plans because they

wanted to extract high returns. By insisting on maximum possible

payoff, however, they are " out-Hurwitzing Hurwitz. " The net effect

will be to pile even more unsustainable debt on the land, ensuring

endless pressure to overcut the forest. Indeed, Wilson's lip-service

to the inadequate Habitat Conservation Plan negotiated on his watch

suggests that protection of clean water and functional habitat is not

a priority for Wilson's clients. These considerations make certain

that the noteholders' plan is extremely ill-suited to resolve these

long-standing controversies once and for all. Furthermore, contrary to

Wilson's claim that the noteholders' plan " will not dismember the

company, " the auction plan only identifies the Scotia Pacific debt,

leaving PL -- the company that runs the mill, hires the workers and

sells lumber and forest products -- twisting in the wind, still

subject to foreclosure. The timberlands and mill must be managed as a

single, sustainable operation, accountable in some measure to the

local community. One of the core principles of community forestry is

the idea that the whole human community has a long-term stake in the

operation. The MRC plan for PL's reorganization comes closer to

implementing that principle than any other proposed plan before the

court. MRC has pledged to keep Pacific Lumber's Scotia mill operating

and has an impressive lumber marketing plan, at a time when falling

redwood prices pose a challenge to any large-scale timber operation.

http://www.times-standard.com/opinion/ci_8821042

 

16) What to do when you have spent five years trying to stop a massive

federal road project to no avail? Take a walk and say good bye to the

gentle one lane curves, old growth forest, and northern spotted owl

(NSO) habitat. That's what members of my community did in semblance of

a Maori custom to remember and honor the passing of an important

place. As Hyampom, CA resident Marilyn Renaker described the event: We

are taking this opportunity to honor the beauty of the road, and also

to honor the people who first built it. These days, the past is often

bulldozed away without a second thought. We go on with what is newer,

bigger, supposedly better. This road was the work of many people over

many winters. With mules and horses laden with equipment, they made a

path into a road. They had to blast and clean debris and when they

finished in 1923, an era ended. Cars entered Hyampom for the first

time and the Land of Trails disappeared. Many of us will miss this old

road, just as we miss the hardiness of the people who built it. We

will miss it's beauty, it's familiar twists and turns. We will miss

how it made Hyampom seem special–a hard place to get to, but worth it

for the wise. The Hyampom Road is a 24-mile long, partially one lane

road connecting this remote community of about 230 residents to the

outside world. It is the only paved road into the valley that is

maintained throughout the year. Residents agree that there are places

on the road that need repair, but the federal government plans to turn

this lonely road into a " forest highway " , increasing lane widths,

blasting hillsides, logging old growth forests, creating fake wetlands

to mitigate construction, etc. all in an effort to " improve forest

access " . Meeting after meeting, the Federal Highway Administration

(FHWA) has stated that the road improvements are not for the citizens

of Hyampom, and with Arnold speaking about building new dams, we can't

help but feel paranoid our wild and scenic river will succumb to the

water needs of Southern California. At a projected cost of over $50

million (in 2007 dollars), the federal government will be spending

almost $220,000 per Hyampom resident on the road. With the current

rate of inflation and fuel costs, the total price will likely increase

by $10 million, as the project will not be completed until 2015. The

FHWA has produced a " Finding of No Significance " to the human or

natural environment, despite four hour road closures without an

official detour and logging of NSO, fisher, salmon, etc. old growth

habitat. http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/04/02/ode-to-a-road/

 

Montana:

 

17) KALISPELL - A federal judge has rejected claims made by

environmental groups that post-fire logging projects in the Columbia

Falls and Hungry Horse areas violated road-density standards for

grizzly bear habitat. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy issued a

ruling Monday striking down all claims made in the 2005 lawsuit filed

by the Swan View Coalition and Friends of the Wild Swan. He said the

Flathead National Forest's road-density rules shouldn't be interpreted

so strictly that they would stop projects that would improve grizzly

bear habitat. Prevailing were the national forest, the U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service and several western Montana loggers and lumber mills

that intervened in the case. " It's a big decision, " said Joe Krueger,

the Flathead Forest's environmental litigation coordinator. " It proves

that what the forest has been doing is lawful. It validates that we

have followed all the laws and regulations. " The two environmental

groups did not challenge timber harvesting involved with the West Side

Reservoir and Robert-Wedge post-fire projects, however they argued the

projects violated road density standards for grizzly bear habitat

security and the Endangered Species Act. The salvage projects included

" site-specific " amendments to the Flathead's long-term forest plan,

allowing for deviations from numeric road density standards that were

adopted in 1995. A 31,600-acre area was burned by fires west of Hungry

Horse Reservoir in 2003 while the Robert and Wedge fires burned 34,649

acres north of Columbia Falls. Forest officials said the deviations to

the road density rules were necessary for several reasons, including

the need to maintain access to popular recreation sites and private

lands.

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/04/02/news/state/34-salvagecase.txt

 

 

18) The thrill of whipping through trees, the challenge of climbing a

sandy cutbank, the hazards of crossing a silty-bottomed oxbow and

churning its delicately balanced micro-ecosystem into frothy, froggy

goo - it was exhilarating. The gratification was immediate and

powerful; we bent nature to the will of our machines, and it felt

good. We'd return home happy, caked in mud, and wash our machines -

sending countless invasive plant seeds down the street. There was

never a question about the consequences of our casual destruction.

Even my well-educated parents rarely questioned our forays; at least

we were outside, they said. But I left my all-terrain vehicles and all

my buddies behind when I went to college. There, between reading all

night and climbing Montana's mountains all day, my relationship with

the outdoors changed. Instead of dominating the natural world, I

wanted to immerse myself in its nuances. I enjoyed the physical work

it takes to travel overland on foot or skis. I liked how clearly I

could think in the quiet, distraction-free vacuum of wilderness. I

loved looking at the world, and actually seeing. But this realization

- and my growing awareness of my own environmental hate-crimes - left

me estranged from my hometown buddies. And my new friends, mostly

environmentally conscious outdoor types, found my confused ideals

difficult to understand and viewed me with suspicious tolerance. I was

left with clashing values, a tragic love of both the mechanized world

and the natural world - as well as a certain contempt from both sides

of a passionate issue. Now, I'm an editor for a magazine dedicated to

backcountry skiing, a sport dominated by the green ideals of

human-powered travel, quiet wilderness and a healthy environment. At a

fundamental level, global warming threatens the future of my sport and

my livelihood. Yet I still crave the sound of a throbbing V-8, still

find off-road vehicles fascinating, and still sometimes find myself

daydreaming about a new ATV or snowmobile. I'm stuck somewhere between

a progressive redneck and a cynical environmentalist. It's like

driving a Toyota Prius in a tractor-pull. I just can't win.

http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=17614 & utm_source=newsletter1 & \

utm_medium=email

 

Colorado:

 

19) More than 56,000 acres of aspens have recently died in the state,

according to a paper published by a group of Forest Service scientists

last year. Nearly 10 percent of the aspen stands in the San Juan

National Forest have been affected, with mortality increasing at a

rapid rate. The recent mortality in southwestern Colorado had " a

sudden onset and was very rapid, " in contrast to previous documented

episodes of " aspen decline, " according to the report. And the

mortality agents appear to be different, suggesting that climate

factors are involved. An intense drought in the early 2000s was the

likely trigger for the startling decline in the health and vigor of

one of Colorado's signature trees, said James Worrall, one of the

primary authors of the study. The tree's range could shrink

significantly, especially on south-facing slopes. It's conceivable,

but not likely, that aspens could spread to new areas in response to

climate change, Worrall said. Limiting factors would be soil

conditions, as well as the presence of existing aspen stands. The

trees rarely sprout from seeds. Almost all reproduction comes from new

chutes growing from health root clusters, so any spread would be very

slow. Another large-scale die-back was documented in the 1980s and

1990s in the prarie provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, associated

with the dual stresses of drought and insect defoliation, followed by

secondary wood-boring insects and diseases. And in the early 1970s, a

similar trend was observed in Utah and Wyoming, at the time linked to

fire suppression and overgrazing by deer and elk. But the rapid spread

of the current aspen decline in southern Colorado appears to be

unprecedented. Aspen mortality in one part of the San Juan National

Forest increased 58 percent from 2005 to 2006, with a five-fold

increase in the incidence of mortality over a three to four year

period. Worrall explained the physiology of the die-off: " The stress

we're seeing to the overstory is an energy drain that lead to poor

root conditions. They don't have the energy to re-grow suckers. " When

the trees are stressed by heat and dry conditions, the stomatae (small

openings in the leaves) close. That slows the loss of water in

response to drought but also slows photosynthesis, the process by

which plants create energy. " After years of drought, they're basically

starving to death, " Worrall said.

 

New Mexico:

 

20) SOCORRO -- Two local businessmen from Reserve have been awarded a

$250,000 federal grant to work in partnership with the Gila National

Forest in conducting forest restoration. Jim Kellar and George

Barreras with K & B Timberworks are to receive a USDA, Forest Service

Woody Biomass Utilization Grant. Funding is expecting to be received

in May and the necessary equipment that needs to be purchased should

be on site by September. Barreras, a 40 year logging veteran, and

Kellar, who has been in the logging business in Catron since 1989, are

excited at the prospect of bringing economic development to Reserve.

http://www.stpns.net/view_article.html?articleId=86547553206518736

 

South Dakota:

 

21) Currently there are 3,126 slash piles in the Black Hills National

Forest from saw timber harvest and thinning, which Cook says is

equivalent to 239,000 green tons. And there are slash piles totaling

more than a million tons (air dry) that are 1 to 4 years of age in the

forest. U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., notes that biomass was eligible

to be counted toward the 2005 RFS, but when the 2007 energy package

was crafted behind closed doors, it changed the way that waste

material from national forests could be used. " America's national

forests provide one of our greatest renewable resources, " Thune says.

" To exclude slash piles and other wastes from within our national

forests to be counted towards the renewable fuels standard simply

makes no sense. It is unfortunate that the harmful definition of

renewable biomass was inserted by the House Democratic leadership at

the last minute, and it is critical that Congress fix this definition

before the new RFS rules take effect on Jan. 1, 2009. "

http://www.biomassmagazine.com/article.jsp?article_id=1529

 

Minnesota:

 

22) I'm happy to report some good progress at the State Capitol

related to recommendations that emerged from last September's Family

Forest Conference in pursuit of our " Next Million Acre " goal. A unique

coalition has formed to speak with one voice on a variety of policy

proposals related to forest lands, including the MN Forestry

Association, the MN Deer Hunters Association, MN Forest Industries and

the MN Seasonal and Recreational Property Owners Coalition among

others. Their good efforts are paying off! A tax bill has been passed

and signed that will give many forest owners with stewardship plans

the chance to receive a marked reduction in their property taxes. To

qualify, forest owners must have at least 10 acres and no more than

1920 acres. The law allows these forest owners to apply to their

County Assessor to have their land assessed at 0.65% rather than 1%.

They must not be enrolled in the Sustainable Forest Incentive Act, but

have a forest management plan that meets SFIA standards. There is also

good news for those who ARE enrolled in the SFIA, as the minimum

annual payment has been raised to $7.00 per acre, an increase from the

previous floor of $1.50 per acre. These are positive steps forward and

evidence that the momentum built during last session was indeed a

harbinger of change to come. But wait, there's more! Bills have been

introduced in the House and Senate to make additional improvements on

the forest property tax laws. They seek to remove the requirement for

landowners to apply annually, to lower the class rate a step further

to 0.55 %, as well as a variety of other things. If you would like

more information about legislative developments, please contact Bruce

ZumBahlen of the MN Forestry Association at zoomerbruce.

http://vfvc.wordpress.com/2008/04/03/property-tax-reduced-for-some-forest-owners\

/

 

Illinois:

 

23) The $210,000 project at Tyler Creek, just north of the Harvest

Bible Chapel and west of the railroad overpass, began this year with

the clearing of numerous trees and shrubs. The trees, such as

buckthorn and box elders, were not native to the area. They choked out

smaller plants and absorbed too much of the area's moisture, said Dave

Ullberg, the Kane County Forest Preserve District's director of

natural resources. Volo-based Bey and Associates from now until June

will seed, weed and plant new wildflowers and some grasses as part of

a restoration effort. " It was a logging operation in some ways.

There's more cleared than meets the eye, " said Vince Mosca, Bey and

Associates vice president and senior ecologist. " It's hard to have a

bonfire and beer party and ATVs if somebody can see you. " The project

came about when Town and Country Homes erected the Providence

subdivision on the city's far west side. The development affected some

wetlands, so the builder was required to re-create some wetlands in

Providence and contribute $210,000 to the Army Corps of Engineers for

future projects. The corps gave money to the Fox Valley Land

Foundation, which worked with the forest preserve and the city of

Elgin. " It's private money helping to restore public land, " said

Mosca, noting cows used to graze that area in the 1970s. " There's no

tax dollars per se involved in this work. " The city owns the land and

is expected to turn it over to the forest preserve district once the

project is done. http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=167117 & src=5

 

Wisconsin:

 

24) While night crawlers are native throughout much of lower Canada,

their distribution throughout the tier of America's northwoods is

limited. Where they have been introduced by anglers, they have

consumed the unique layer of decaying vegetation that is essential to

the northwoods forest's ability to renew itself, replacing it with

their castings. Worm castings are wonderful for your home garden or

lawn but are not a good medium for the regeneration of the northwoods

forest. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has produced map

overlays showing areas experiencing degradation of the indigent

forests, and they mirror areas where fishing pressure is concentrated.

Vast areas of native forests are disappearing throughout the

northwoods - and well-meaning anglers are responsible.

http://www.redwormcomposting.com/news/nightcrawlers-ruining-northern-forests/

 

Louisiana:

 

25) Half of all migratory birds in North America — up to 2 million a

day — use the Atchafalaya to nest, mate or rest. The critter count

also includes bobcats, foxes, alligators, minks, armadillos, coyotes

and otters, as well as endangered peregrine falcons, Louisiana black

bears, and Florida panthers. Spending day after day in the swamp,

Wilson began to notice a sudden surge in cypress logging about eight

years ago. The practice devastates the Atchafalaya because cypress

trees are the godfathers of the swamp, providing a fertile, protective

sanctuary for wildlife. Without them, invasive plants quickly overrun

indigenous species and strangle the ecosystem. " I realized that nobody

was doing anything to protect the Atchafalaya, " he says. " I got fed up

with it and started to do swamp tours to raise awareness. " One group

that hired his Last Wilderness Tours told him about the Waterkeeper

Alliance, Robert Kennedy Jr.'s grassroots nonprofit aimed at

preserving waterways and wetlands. He sent in a proposal, and in 2004

became the organization's Atchafalaya Basinkeeper. " He is the eyes and

ears of the Atchafalaya, " says Kennedy. " He's also the voice and

fist. " Like a Great Wall rimming the coast, cypress forests in

Louisiana are the single best defense against hurricanes — magnitudes

stronger, more enduring and cheaper than any concrete or earthen

levee. Their extensive root system spreads several hundred feet,

weaving a tight lattice that serves as an anchor against high winds

and storm surges. Which makes it all the more staggering that in

recent years an entire industry intent on logging cypress has lawfully

sprung up. Some of the timber winds up as boards for home construction

or furniture, but many trees are ground into garden mulch. According

to the Louisiana Forestry Association, loggers are razing up to 20,000

acres of cypress every year. If the carnage continues apace,

Louisiana's strongest barrier between it and an angry sea will be gone

in fewer than two decades. Wetland scientists, the Sierra Club, and

the Audubon Society, as well as local representatives for the Army

Corps of Engineers and the EPA, all concur with Wilson that the

cypress don't stand a chance against logging.

http://www.theind.com/index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id=2279 & Itemid=1 & ed\

=1016

 

New Jersey:

 

26) Bob Canace looks at the " Limestone Forests " of northwestern New

Jersey and sees dwellings. Not housing subdivisions, but the waters,

trees and rocks that form habitats for rare, threatened or endangered

species and plants in pristine forest swaths between the Kittatinny

and Highlands ridges in Sussex and Warren counties. Making their home

here are long-tailed and blue-spotted salamanders, turtles, frogs,

red-shouldered hawks, ospreys, wild turkeys, swans, herons, bears and

bobcats. Plants include vibrant lady's slipper orchids, asters,

insect-eating pitcher plants and rare fungi. " When you compare the

number of rare plants, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, there aren't

that many habitats (elsewhere in the state) that have that much

biodiversity. This is kind of the last redoubt, the last stronghold

for some of these species to survive, " said Canace, president of the

nonprofit Ridge and Valley Conservancy that's working to preserve

these lands before they are lost to sprawl. Survival, however, may

become tougher in years ahead. With the Highlands preservation area

now created to the east, sprawl pressures are expected to shift

westward into the limestone-forest valleys of central Sussex and

Warren, Canace said. Though a stalled economy has cooled the

real-estate market, a boom cycle typically should follow, and the

conservancy has mounted a " Limestone Forest Campaign " to raise

preservation funds now. " We're in an economic slowdown now, but it

will turn up again, " Canace said. " We're going to see spillover from

the Highlands and we're very nervous about it. Some feel the Highlands

are out of play and they'll be looking west, to where they can

subdivide. We've already seen some of that. " Canace said developers

have already approached large property owners with letters of inquiry

and some signed options, paying taxes on land as they pursued

approvals. " The net effect, " he said, " is that many of the owners we

approached mentioned they had 'developer interest,' which raised their

level of expectation on return. " Eric Olsen, a project manager with

The Nature Conservancy, which has preserved 1,800 acres of limestone

forest and farms since 1988 in five major preserves, said a Highlands

spillover is a plausible theory. He said the bigger threat has been

the more-typical loss of farms to residential development.

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1207301653163030.xm\

l & coll=1

 

Maine:

 

27) As huge saws rip through logs at the Hancock Lumber sawmill,

sawdust flies through the air and coats equipment, floors and rafters.

Far from a nuisance, though, the sawdust is commanding premium prices

as housing construction slumps and energy costs grow. From Maine to

Oregon, the price of sawdust, along with other wood byproducts, has

soared. When they can find it, sawdust buyers - dairy farmers,

particleboard makers and others - are paying up to $50 a ton or more.

That's double what they paid a year ago, some say. There was once a

time when sawmill operators could barely give away their sawdust. They

dumped it in the woods, buried it or incinerated it just to get rid

the stuff. These days, they have ready markets for sawdust, as well as

bark, wood chips and board trimmings that can't be sold as lumber.

" Now the only things in a sawmill that aren't salable are the whine of

the saw blade and the steam from the kiln, " said Peter Lammert, a

forester for the Maine Department of Conservation who has tracked the

industry for decades. At the Hancock Lumber sawmill in this small town

west of Portland, logging trucks arrive daily loaded with eastern

white pine logs. As they go through the mill, the logs are debarked,

cut, sized, planed, graded and sorted as they are transformed into

lumber. Along the way, sawdust and wood chips fly through the air.

Much of it falls through grated metal walkways and onto a maze-like

system of conveyor belts that carry and separate all of the leftover

wood byproducts, all of which is sold for different purposes. The bark

becomes mulch for landscaping; the shavings are used for animal

bedding; larger scrap pieces are used in biomass power plants.

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iNOe4URsv4Ugf5nqZgi0mu3_Jtcw

 

USA:

 

28) Large furniture makers have abandoned the U.S., a growing number

of raw logs are being shipped overseas for processing and changing

consumer tastes and construction downturns have slashed demand for

hardwood flooring, trim and red oak, long the dominant species. The

result has been rising unemployment for forestry workers and a sharp

decline in hardwood production. Government statistics show production

has dropped from 12.6 billion board feet in 1999 to about 10.7 billion

last year. U.S. Forest Service economist Bill Luppold expects

production to dip further, to perhaps 10.5 billion board feet or less

this year. " I don't even think the numbers demonstrate how bad it is, "

Luppold said. " We haven't seen this amount of decline year in and year

out since the early part of the (20th) century. " The industry's

problems started more than a decade ago when U.S. furniture makers

started leaving the Carolinas in favor of foreign destinations with

cheaper labor and lower operating costs. " Manufacturing is moving

away, it's going to China or whatever, Vietnam, today, " says Virginia

Tech professor Urs Buehlmann. " You're looking at a depressed

industry. " Shutting down isn't an option for Tony Woodyard of Twin

River Hardwoods Inc. Woodyard says he has to keep running his mills to

pay the debt he took on to buy them in 2006. " The prices are, they're

where they were 20 years ago, " says Woodyard, who has more than two

decades in the business. " To be profitable you've got to watch all

your P's and Q's and eliminate all the fat in the payroll. " The number

of timber jobs nationwide fell almost 13 percent to 8,790 in 2006 from

9,910 in 2000. Likewise, the number of logging equipment operators has

declined more than 17 percent to 28,300 in 2006 from 34,180 in 2000.

Another problem lurking in the background is an unfortunate shift in

consumer tastes. Homeowners once wanted red oak, the most common

hardwood in much of Appalachia. Now, lighter-grained species,

especially maple and poplar, are in vogue. " My wife's 35, she doesn't

want red oak because her mother had it, " says mill operator Scott

England. " The biggest item that we make here, that we used to make

money on has dropped by 35 percent. "

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/5675399.html

 

Canada:

 

29) The McGuinty government has repeatedly slammed the door on First

Nations people trying to establish their rights to negotiate

development in their territories. This has created a confrontational

situation that now threatens to throw mining and logging in the

province into limbo. It didn't have to be this way, says Doreen

Davies, chief of the Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation in Eastern

Ontario. The Shabot and the neighbouring Ardoch First Nations have

always been ready to negotiate, she says, and with the province

refusing to sit down with them, the only option left lies in legal

action. An appeal is underway against the jailing of Robert Lovelace,

a Queen's University lecturer and an Ardoch nation member sentenced to

six months in jail and fined $25,000 for refusing to halt attempts to

block drilling for uranium on lands claimed by the two Indian nations.

The appeal lawyer, Michael Swindon, says he will argue that the

Ontario Appeal Court should follow a B.C. Supreme Court decision

delivered last summer that, if followed, would make Ontario's Forestry

and Mining Acts inoperable everywhere an Indian land claim exists. The

B.C. decision, if adopted, says it is no longer necessary for

aboriginal people to prove title to land in order to get control of

their territories. When the Constitution was patriated in 1982, a

section was added declaring that all aboriginal rights – not just

title – were to be recognized and honoured. This means, the B.C. court

said, that hunting and fishing rights are enough to give First Nations

control over their territories. They don't have to prove title. And if

they establish such rights, provincial legislation no longer applies

in their territories; only the federal government has jurisdiction to

deal with any issues raised within their lands. In effect, provincial

legislation goes out the window anywhere there is a land claim.

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/410479

 

30) The Algonquin Forest Authority is writing up the 2010-2020 Forest

Management Plan, and would like your help. Scheduled for completion in

three years, the Algonquin Forest Authority, in partnership with

Ontario Parks and the Algonquin Park Local Citizen's Committee are

currently in stage one of the plan-making process. " We are in the very

beginning stages of collecting information and determining what kind

of information we are using, " said Tom Ballantine, a cultural heritage

specialist and member of the Local Citizen's Committee. " We are

consulting various native communities and residents about what kind of

forest and benefits the plan should strive to provide. " The plan

outlines the long-term management strategy and provides details of

where harvest, planting and tending operations and access road

construction will take place for the first five-year 2010-2015 term.

The plan also identifies the proposed areas of operations for the

second term of 2015-2020. Ballantine says they want to make sure

everyone's concerns are looked after, so they can make fair, well

informed and balanced decisions as they work their way through the

process. The planning committee consists of 17 people, including

foresters, native community representatives, biologists and park

planners. " The foresters write the plan, the people help them do so.

We want to make sure it is done right. " Ballantine says Algonquin Park

belongs to everybody, and therefore everyone can have their comments

heard, including the people of Bancroft. To get the information,

Ballantine says they are putting ads in local newspapers and has plans

for various open house sessions in the near future. Ballantine says he

can also be reached at 705-447-3253. Once on his mailing list, he can

send regular updates of how the plan is progressing.

http://www.bancroftthisweek.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=968585 & auth=Craig+Sebert

 

UK:

 

31) They have just finished clearing a block of woodland of weeds and

brambles and, in a few weeks' time, they will be moved on to start

work on another overgrown area. The pigs are part of a woodland

management scheme that is attracting increasing interest from farmers

and gamekeepers. On the Dunlossit Estate on the Isle of Islay, a gang

of Tamworth pigs has made short work of an extensive area of bracken.

In other parts of Britain, pigs have been successfully tackling ivy

and rhododendrons. Dan Bull is farm manager of the 700-acre Croxton

Park estate near Cambridge and one of the pioneers of using pigs in

woodland. " We started using them 15 years ago as a way of regenerating

the woodland for shooting, " he explains. " The woods had become

neglected and the beaters were finding it difficult to battle

through. " After trying out several different native breeds, they

settled on the Oxford Sandy & Black, and the animals' impact on the

estate was instant. Not only were the woods opened up, the rewards in

conservation terms were amazing: new species of wild flowers and a

marked increase in bluebells and breeding birds. " It's a good balance

now between the species, " says Bull. " The woods are full of song. The

pigs make tunnels in the earth that the birds can use and the

half-digested wheat attracts a wide variety of wildlife. "

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/04/05/eapig105.xml