Guest guest Posted April 24, 2008 Report Share Posted April 24, 2008 Today for you 34 new articles about earth's trees! (332nd edition) Subscribe / send blank email to: earthtreenews- Weblog: http://olyecology.livejournal.com --British Columbia: 1) Mt. Robson Provincial Park falls to oil pipeline, 2) 11 new provincial parks and 66 conservancy areas? 3) Pine Beetle belches carbon bubble, --Tennessee: 4) Stop the I-3 --Canada: 5) Bioenergy set to destroy big timber, 6) 11,400 square kilometres for oil? --North America: 7) Grim destructive pressures on forests --UK: 8) Save Old Pool Bank near Otley, 9) Woodland burials jepordised by Newt? 10) Recylcling waste wood, --Scotland: 11) People are very passionate about their local forests: meeting planned --Ghana: 12) To deal with perennial and pervasive problem of illegal logging --Nicaragua: 13) Now he's in it for the trees (conservation) --Columbia: 14) Help us find forest defender José Abelardo Salgado --Bolivia: 15) Evo Morales condems capitalism! --Ecuador: 16) Bush's Columbia killing the people of Ecuador's forest --Brazil: 17) 40,000 human murders a year, how many trees? 18) Amazon makes S. Brazil's rain, 19) More on Cops chasing loggers, --India: 20) Mines in Keonjhar don't replant trees --Philippines: 21) Investigate economic zone, 13,000 trees at stake --Indonesia: 22) Police discovered 200,000 cubic meters of illegal logs, 23) Biodiversity of birds and butterflies in primary forests, 24) Calls for a moratorium, --Solomon Islands: 25) We lost $40 million to logging industry, 26) Greenpeace report, --Papua New Guinea: 27) First government admission of corruption in forestry --Australia: 28) 14 year rotations is a profitable victory? 29) Tasmanian greens rant, --World-wide: 30) Avoided-deforestation relies on stable governments, 31) With an eventual 9 billion of people we must accept complete ecological destruction and start to grow lots of food, 32) FSC is the " Enron of Forestry, " 33) Next five years a paradigm shift in how we look at trees, 34) FSC certifies bad environmental practices, British Columbia: 1) Construction crews will soon be digging trenches and laying a major oil pipeline along the scenic route through Mount Robson Provincial Park, which covers 224,866 hectares through the B.C. portion of the Rocky Mountains. Once the project is complete, it will allow Kinder Morgan Canada, the company building the pipeline, to ship an extra 40,000 barrels of oil each day from Alberta to markets in the Lower Mainland, the U.S., and Asia. That will increase the capacity of the existing pipeline from 260,000 to 300,000 barrels per day. The expansion was pre-approved more than 50 years ago, according to Wayne Van Velzen, the parks supervisor at Mount Robson. " A park that is associated with wilderness … to have an industrial project of this magnitude going through both parks … if it wasn't something ordered in 1952, there would probably be some pretty serious opposition, " said Van Velzen. Kinder Morgan is spending $443 million dollars on the Anchor Loop project, running 159 km over the rugged terrain through the Rockies, is one phase of its expansion of the existing Trans Mountain pipeline system. The development expands an existing historic pipeline that already runs through the parks. Ninety-six percent of the pipeline expansion is adjacent to the highway, the rail line, or the existing pipeline. Pipeline construction through Jasper National Park is almost complete, while trenching and brush clearing in Mount Robson Provincial Park has just begun. Intensive construction will begin in Mount Robson Provincial Park in May, 2008, and is expected to be completed by November. Both Robson and Jasper Parks are part of the Rocky Mountain World Heritage Site. Tourist season will be affected as the area is turned into a temporary construction zone. The project will bring hundreds of temporary workers into the Robson Valley into towns like Valemount, B.C., for the summer. Construction may slow traffic on the scenic Yellowhead Highway through the Rockies, and will affect the Lucerne campground. http://www.cbc.ca/news/credit.html 2) Premier Gordon Campbell said yesterday the province will introduce legislation this spring to create 11 new provincial parks and 66 conservancy areas. They include the so-called Great Bear Rainforest. " These new parks and conservancies will build on the work we've already done to safeguard B.C.'s wilderness, including preserving the largest intact rainforest on Earth -- the Central and North coasts, " he said. The new Class A parks include six new parks in the Morice River area of northern B.C., one on the Central Coast from privately-donated land and four new parks in the Okanagan-Shuswap. The 66 new conservancies are mostly on the Central and North coasts, along with nine in the Sea-to-Sky land plan, two on the Queen Charlottes and in the Morice River region. B.C. will have 604 Class A parks and 131 conservancies if the bill passes. But NDP environment critic Shane Simpson pointed out that the announcement is old news. " We're always happy to see new parks and protected and conservancy areas, " said Simpson. " But all of these are re-announcements. None of them are new. They've all been announced, some time between 2001 and last week. " Meanwhile, Gwen Barlee of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, said more money should be spent on running the existing park network of 14-million hectares, which have been " absolutely starved for cash over the past five years. " The park system only has 10 full-time rangers in B.C., she said, and suffers from chronic short-staffing. Vicky Husband of the Coalition of B.C. Parks called it an important step that should protect land from development. " The expectation of the B.C. public is that these [parks] would remain inviolate, that these are protected in their pristine nature forever. " http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=04f1fbc9-dd67-45b3-83fa-99f\ 5b981445d 3) British Columbia's pine-beetle devastated forest is belching out enough carbon to equal Canada's average annual forest fire emissions, says a new report from scientists at the Ministry of Natural Resources Canada. Instead of manufacturing oxygen as it should, the damaged forest is becoming a source for global warming, putting more pressure on the need to reduce greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. The study, released Wednesday, calculates it will be much harder for Canada to meet global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions when a huge section of B.C. forests is putting out carbon dioxide. " What we're saying is what has historically helped us attain moderate growth rates of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere is, at least temporarily, in this region interrupted by the beetle, " said Werner Kurz, the study's co-author. Kurz, a senior research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service of Natural Resources Canada, has been working on the equation of carbon input and output of Canada's forests since 1989. The model works so well he's training academics in Russia, Mexico and North America, on how to calculate the carbon balance of forests. The study, which will be featured in the science journal Nature this week, adds a new dimension to the world-wide debate on global warming. " For the first time we are able to isolate the impact of the beetle by creating the model infrastructure that allows us to represent the landscape with and without the beetle, " Kurz said. Last month, the B.C. government announced that the voracious pest has destroyed nearly half of British Columbia's marketable pine forest. Approximately 13.5 million hectares of lodgepole pine in the province have been infested - an area more than four times the size of Vancouver Island. The beetle is now push east past the Rocky Mountains and into B.C.'s southern interior region. Researchers estimated that from 2000 to 2020, a 374,000-square kilometre area of B.C. forest (an area larger than Labrador) would produce 270,000 megatonnes of carbon. http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gxxqtnTiAeofTtkegYFDdL6MHeKA Tennessee: 4) Will Skelton writes: " We were absolutely astounded that anyone would think a road should (or even could) be build up the mountain from the east. It would have to ascend a very steep and high mountain wall, then descend and cross numerous valleys as the mountains and ridges are generally running north and south, while the road would run east to west. I understand a big proponent of the road, always takes people in from the western end at Greasy Creek (TN 30), where the climb is more gradual. And that the steepness of this eastern side of the mountains is why TDOT rejected the route four years ago. " Photos are available at the website below. They show the precipitous nature of the Kimsey Highway, and how high up it goes (one of the photos has a red circle; the next photo shows, via telephoto, what's within that circle way down in the valley below). " As well as keeping up public momentum to stop I-3, we are monitoring " Corridor K, " which could destroy the beautiful Ocoee Gorge in Tennessee, as well as the recently resurrected Northern Arc in north metro Atlanta. We believe that the transportation needs of our communities can be met without destroying our environment and the unique qualities of our region. http://www.stopi3.org/ Canada: 5) The growth of the bioenergy industry may be a cause of concern for some large forestry companies, which will have to contend with rising demand and prices for fibre. Some firms, however, see an opportunity to transform themselves from pulp companies into diversified forestry companies, producing a range of specialized products, including energy. " Our commitment to increase our environmental performance has two big drivers behind it, " said Shawn Wasel, the director of environmental resources, for Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc. " Environmental performance is closely tied to economic performance. The company, which operates a pulp mill in northern Alberta, was the first Canadian forestry firm to go carbon neutral, doing so last year. To achieve that, Alberta-Pacific produces its own power by burning wood waste, selling the excess power to the Alberta electricity grid and expanding its poplar tree plantation, which acts as a carbon sink, sequestering carbon dioxide. Wasel says the company will continue to integrate environmental performance into its business plan by exploring bioenergy projects and by seeking environmental certification for its wood products. " The sector as a whole is looking at innovative ways to get more value out of the logs we bring out of the forest. " Or, in the case of British Columbia, out of trees that are too damaged to make it to the mills. In February, B.C. Hydro issued a call for proposals for small-scale bioenergy projects to create electricity using pine beetle-ravaged trees. David Godkin understands the value of wood waste. As general manager of P.E.I. Energy Systems, Godkin oversees a district heating system that provides heat to some of Prince Edward Island's largest buildings. http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=a3789711-767c-4cbe-9065\ -9465b87f0b8c 6) The Alberta government has postponed acting on an early call to preserve 11,400 square kilometres of forest in the Fort McMurray oilsands region. But the green idea is still alive and poised to grow up into a formal plan supported by industry and conservationists alike, the scheme's sponsoring coalition said Monday. In a letter dated March 7 and released by the Pembina Institute on Monday, Alberta Sustainable Resource Development promised only to review a recommendation to suspend sales of new bitumen production leases in three proposed green areas. The delay amounted to refusal, said institute oilsands director Simon Dyer. Pembina is one of 48 conservation, industry, aboriginal and local government members in the Cumulative Environmental Effects Association (CEMA) that made the request in January. " We haven't finished our process yet, " CEMA spokesman Corey Hobbs said. The Fort McMurray-based environmental coalition will vote in June on a land management program that includes proposed green zones, he added. " We're not saying hold off on oilsands development, " Hobbs said. " We're calling for areas of protection. " About $1.5 million has been spent putting together an oilsands region land-management strategy over the past 30 months, he said. The province helped create CEMA and officially encourages the group to settle oilsands environmental conflicts as a " multi-stakeholder organization " advising regulatory agencies. In eight years, the province has adopted six policies devised by the group, including 2007 recommendations on controlling water use. Reports that CEMA sought a development moratorium whipped up a brief political storm in late February, when a preliminary recommendation was leaked in the closing days of the March 3 provincial election campaign. The initial forest protection plan divided CEMA's industry members. But a majority recommended a three-year halt to oilsands lease sales in the proposed protected areas during further work on an overall land management strategy. A detailed conservation blueprint was scheduled for completion in 2011. http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/business/story.html?id=be3ddbba-b346-\ 4e75-b86c-d1d f700bec2e North America: 7) Healthy forests are like clean air and water; we take them for granted until a crisis or disaster occurs. A forestry crisis decades in the making is looming, and a widespread lack of public awareness has the potential to bring about a true catastrophe. We should pay attention. The 2008 presidential election gives us an opportunity to help combat threats to our forests -- by extension, to our air and water. Even as a perfect storm is brewing, of grim, destructive pressures on forests, bipartisan cooperation needed to counter these elements may be possible, simply because it's necessary. Consider this: " The biggest environmental issue of our day, for all of the eastern United States and Canada, is a tragedy in progress. Exploitive timber harvesting practices, which began in earnest in the 1970s and expanded during the 1980s and 1990s, have become so pervasive today that they threaten the very existence of responsible forestry. " This is not a squeamish tree hugger talking; it's Ralph Nyland, distinguished service professor of silviculture at the State University College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse. " This exploitation threatens the eastern forests themselves and the well-being of the people who live in this part of the world, " he says. " And I don't understand why there is not a widespread expression of outrage among members of environmental groups. " Three acres of forest per minute are being harvested in New York alone -- exploitation harvests in the great majority of the cases, with no regard for the future of the forest. Real estate parcelization is swallowing up open space and forestland in eastern North America like a voracious Pac-Man. Almost 100 acres a day in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, 40 acres in Massachusetts. Finally, other major threats to the forest like high taxes, white-tailed deer, and invasive plants and insects illuminate an even more dire picture. So why is most of the general public still in the dark? After all, we read global headlines about the slashing and burning of the world's tropical rain forests. We see dramatic photos featuring millions of forested acres going up in smoke, taking sequestered carbon with it. In contrast, news about the degradation of forests occurring in eastern North America is almost completely under the public radar. http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=682076 & category=OPINION & n\ ewsdate=4/21/20 08 UK: 8) Residents are celebrating a decision which will stop any more trees being felled in a " wildlife corridor " at Old Pool Bank near Otley. Householders were stunned last November when workmen arrived in Cabin Road and started felling part of the neighbouring ancient woodland. They immediately notified Pool Parish and Leeds City Councils, and a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) was placed on the site. Now Leeds Plans Panel (West), however, has confirmed the order - to the delight of residents in Groves Terrace and Cabin Road. John Riley of Groves Terrace, said: " This is absolutely fantastic, great news and we do hope the protection will be permanent for that piece of land, so we can do something about putting some deciduous trees back in there. " http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/newsindex/display.var.2211933.0.delig\ ht_as_trees_sav ed.php 9) A woodland burial site is being planned as an extension to Penwortham Cemetery because of a lack of room to bury the dead. But the £30,000 bid by Penwortham Town Council has been held up once again by the Great Crested Newt. The newt – already the scourge of many new developments in and around Preston – is protected under EU and British law, making it illegal to capture or disturb its habitat. Lancashire County Coun Howard Gore, who represents Penwortham South, hopes to be buried at the new site, which has received £10,000 in lottery funding. He said: " I'd like to think that by the time you are dead and buried, newts are the last of your worries. I think the major concern would be worms! " I have had it written into my will that I have a 'lot' ordered at Penwortham Cemetery. " I'm a big supporter of the new form of burial – I think it's just more natural. " Penwortham town manager Steve Caswell said: " We have had to develop a management plan to protect the species. http://www.lep.co.uk/news/Newts-could-halt-woodland-burials.4002615.jp 10) Waste wood, which would previously have been sent to be buried in landfill sites, is being looked at in a new light. Rather than just being thrown away to decompose, it is being chipped or ground into pellets and burned in water boilers of a variety of sizes to heat factories, schools, swimming pools and even homes. A remarkable 10 million tonnes of waste wood - about the same weight as a forest of 10,000 giant redwood trees - is produced in the UK every year. Government estimates suggest two million tonnes could produce 2.6 terawatt hours of electricity, around two thirds of the 4.19 terawatt hours produced by the nuclear power station in Hinkley Point in 2006. Not all waste wood is suitable and it requires energy to convert even the 'good' waste wood into a usable form. But as anyone who has seen a log fire burn will know, with a carbon content of 50 per cent, the potential energy release of wood is huge. And because the burning of it involves the combustion of carbon already in the atmosphere then it is considered a sustainable form of energy - as long as the trees used to produce the wood are replaced. Waste wood is one form of a larger family of biomass resources and Bristol is leading the way in using it as an energy fuel. The Government has announced that by 2010 petrol from our pumps will contain five per cent biofuel. http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144913 & command=displayCont\ ent & source Node=231190 & home=yes & more_nodeId1=144922 & contentPK=20458352 Scotland: 11) Environment Minister Michael Russell said: " I know people across the country are very passionate about their local forests and woodlands and all have their own ideas about what they want from the national forest estate. " We want to hear as many of those views as possible and I would urge anyone with an interest in Scotland's forests to take part in this important consultation. " The meetings will also look at issues like felling and replanting. Brent Meakin of the Forestry Commission Scotland added: " We are taking the opportunity to highlight our plans. " They set out how the local managers plan to get the most out of their woodlands by balancing operational needs with those of recreational use and biodiversity. " http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/display.var.2214405.0.talkin_on_future_of_loc\ al_forests.php Ghana: 12) The Forestry Commission has called for a united effort to deal with the perennial and pervasive problem of illegal logging which is causing great damage to the country's forest cover. The Corporate Customer Services Manager of the Commission, Agyeman Prempeh Koranteng made the call on a Radio discussion Programme in Sekondi. He said illegal logging accounts for about 85% of decrease in the forest cover which stood at about 8.2 hectares at the turn of the century. Mr. Agyeman Prempeh Koranteng said, illegal logging has caused the virtual collapse of the timber industry and loss of revenue to both the state and landowners in the form of taxes and royalties. In addition it is directly responsible for the destruction of wild life and ecosystem which serve as a priceless national resource support base. Mr. Koranteng said since 2000, a series of global efforts have been initiated both at regional and international levels to combat illegal logging and this led to the European Commission hosting an international workshop to discuss how it could contribute to measures to combat the problem. This, he said has led to the formation the Voluntary Partnership Agreement by the EU of which Ghana is a member. http://gbcghana.com/news/19791detail.html Nicaragua: 13) Donn Wilson went to Nicaragua for the surfing. He bought land there for the business opportunity. Now he's in it for the trees. The San Diego native is one of eight landowners who have volunteered a chunk of their property in a Nicaraguan conservation corridor for reforestation. The program, launched by a group of nonprofit organizations, aims to restore native species to more than 850 acres of forest land — an area about the size of New York's Central Park — while offsetting about 150,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. " The vision is primal forests, " said Wilson, who operated a chain of surf shops before moving to Nicaragua and who has taken an active personal role in the $500,000 project. " My kids hate me when it's 5 o'clock in the morning and it's dark and it's raining and they have to put their boots on and plant trees. I tell them, 'You're going to bring your grandchildren here one day,' " Wilson said. Because the continuing destruction of forests accounts for nearly 20 percent of the globe's carbon emissions, planting trees has become a key element in combating climate change because trees help to stabilize atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. But accounting for just how much CO2 trees can sequester over time remains a tricky business, and experts said the Nicaragua project stands apart as one of only a handful that meet a new rigorous international standard for carbon offset eligibility. The nonprofit group leading the effort, Paso Pacifico, plans to unveil the project tonight at the Nicaraguan Embassy. Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs holds a hearing today to examine the effects of global deforestation on climate change. Paso Pacifico's director, ecologist Sarah Otterstrom, said that the project began in 2006 with a single homeowner interested in restoring abandoned cattle pastures to forest land. Otterstrom said she quickly realized the effort could extend far beyond a few hundred trees on a single property. In order to qualify for carbon offsets, the group had to conform to a set of standards, set out by a group called the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance, which required a stack of studies on carbon biomass, local biodiversity and ways in which the surrounding local community would benefit. The idea behind the standards, Otterstrom and others said, is to ensure that projects go beyond just planting trees. http://www.earthportal.org/news/?p=1058 Colombia: 14) CENSAT Agua Viva (Friends of the Earth Colombia) need your help to secure the return of José Abelardo Salgado, an environmentalist who disappeared on 31 March 2008. At the time of his disappearance Mr Salgado was on his way to provide environmental consultancy services in Cerro Azul in the Valle del Cauca region in Colombia. A committed environmentalist, Mr Salgado is a member of a local Colombian environmental group FEDENA (Fundación Ecológica Fenicia Defensa Natural). He has worked on many environmental projects and issues in his community and the region for the last 15 years and has earned a high degree of respect in these areas. Please take 2 minutes to visit our website and send an email calling on the Vice President of Colombia, Dr. Francisco Santos Calderón, to do everything in his power to ensure the swift return of Mr Salgado. Please don't forget to send this message on to your contacts and ask them to join the call for the safe return of José Abelardo Salgado. If you have a website please link to these actions. http://www.foei.org/en/get-involved/take-action/jose-salgado Bolivia: 15) Bolivian President Evo Morales has told a UN forum that capitalism should be scrapped if the planet is to be saved from the effects of climate change. " If we want to save our planet earth, we have a duty to put an end to the capitalist system, " he said. Opening an UN meeting in New York on the rights of indigenous people, he also said the development of biofuels harmed the world's poorest people. The forum's theme is the global impact of climate change on native people. Mr Morales gave the keynote address at the opening of the seventh session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. As a descendent of the Aymara people, he is Bolivia's first indigenous president. Bolivia's left-wing president said unbridled industrial development was responsible for the pillaging of natural resources. Speaking through an interpreter at the UN headquarters in New York, he had this uncompromising message: " If we want to save our planet earth, to save life, to save mankind, we have a duty to put an end to the capitalist system. " Mr Morales also argued against biofuels, crops which are used to produce alternative energy rather than food. Biofuels resulted in poverty and hunger he said, and were very harmful to the poorest people in the world. In a side swipe at Brazil, major manufacturers of the biofuel ethanol, he said some presidents were putting cars ahead of people. The forum is scheduled to run until 2 May. Ecuador: 16) Wisps of evaporating water rise from the dark green Amazon rainforest as an Ecuadorian military helicopter swerves along the San Miguel River. Each day, slim boats with outboard motors ferry dozens of people between the hamlets of Puerto Nuevo, Ecuador, and Teteye, Colombia, across the brown and winding border waterway. Most are doing business or visiting relatives. But this year boatmen are increasingly carrying Ecuadorian mourners to retrieve the bodies of loved ones. Most, they say, were killed by Colombian troops because they were suspected of aiding the Marxist guerrillas known as the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces, or FARC. One was Antonio Jimenez, shot a month ago. Insists one Puerto Nuevo woman who knew him well, " He just went over to buy banana seedlings. " Border life inside the dark green Amazon rainforest is murky and dangerous enough without guerrilla politics mingled in. But along the San Miguel River, communities are feeling squeezed as never before by the FARC, which makes a habit of encamping inside Ecuador, and the Colombian military, which for the first time ever has the FARC on the run. Now, in its pursuit, the Colombians feel emboldened enough to ignore the frontier. Last month Colombian special forces made a raid into Ecuador and killed the FARC's No. 2 comandante, Raul Reyes. That incursion spurred an Andean diplomatic crisis: an angry Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa severed relations with Colombia, and the Organization of American States called the attack a violation of sovereignty. But conservative Colombian President Alvaro Uribe accused Ecuador and its left-wing government of harboring the FARC, which has fought the Colombian government in a bloody civil war for 44 years. Uribe claims that data on Reyes' laptop computer reveals ties between the FARC and Ecuadorian Security Minister Gustavo Larrea. Correa vehemently denies it, insisting his military has removed FARC camps inside Ecuador and that Colombia — whose own military is often accused by human rights groups of killing innocent civilians in its hunt for FARC rebels — is being too lax about policing its own side of the border and preventing the rebels from seeping into his country. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1732271,00.html Brazil: 17) In general, Brazil is a violent country. Over 40,000 murders a year has earned Brazil the not-so-distinct United Nation's status of being a country at war. But in the middle lands of Pará we're not talking about massive crime filled cities where drug lords dance with the police and government over power, control and money. We're talking about areas with populations less than that of a small stadium crowd. Millions too are at stake, but the contraband here is what the locals call ouro verde, or green gold: mahogany for example. On board with us during this protest were three men, all with price tags on their heads and all equally committed to not necessarily preserving the Amazon forest by putting a bubble over it, but the prevention of its foreseeable destruction. They search for solutions that will allow the forest, in a sustainable way, to benefit all and improve the quality of life for millions who call the Amazon home. 29-year-old Tarcísio Feitosa da Silva works with CIMI (Conselho Indigenista Missionário—Indianist Missionary Council) and is the coordinator of MDTX (Movimento pelo Desenvolvimento da Transamazônica e Xingu—Transamazonic and Xingu Development Movement). Tarcísio is also currently filling the shoes of a coworker who was gunned down at home in front of his wife and kids in August of 2001. Ademir Alfeu Federicci was the leader of MDTX that is based out of Altamira. Prior to his death, loggers would jest that he himself should invest in the logging trade, because he would need wood to build his own coffin. Sadly the police treated the threat lightly, but those behind the threats did not. On a typically humid and hot Amazonian night Federicci and his wife slept leaving the front door open to catch what little air moves in the unforgiving tropics. Two men entered their house and shot him dead. http://www.brazzil.com/p112jan03.htm 18) It can be summed up in three words: carbon, rain and biodiversity. Two Brazilian scientists have also shown convincingly that the Amazon provides the rain for southern Brazil and northern Argentina, destined to be one of the world's breadbaskets, and argued that deforestation in Amazonia is causing a reduction in that rainfall. Also, Brazil gets 80 per cent of its energy from hydroelectric dams on rivers flowing north into the Amazon. That's the same rainwater. So the country could be jeopardising its wealth and its future by destroying its rainforests. We have no moral right to destroy and burn the ecosystem that has the greatest number of species on the planet — and which absorbs so much carbon. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/artsandculture/1586214/John-Hemming-the-rainfo\ rest-man.html 19) A convoy of six black sport utility vehicles pulled into a lumberyard unannounced here one recent morning. Out popped about two dozen members of Brazil's security and police forces, packing sidearms and rifles. But the weapon the foreman feared most was carried by a separate group of agents of Brazil's national environmental agency: bright yellow tape measures. This is Operation Arc of Fire, the Brazilian government's tough campaign to deter illegal destruction of the Amazon forest. It is intended to send a message that the government is serious about protecting the world's largest remaining rain forest, but so far it has stirred controversy for its militaristic approach to saving trees, and the initial results have been less than promising. Already, the authorities have issued $25.9 million in fines, made 19 arrests and seized more than 51,140 cubic yards of wood, which has been transferred to local governments, said Kézia Macedo, an analyst with the federal environmental agency, known as Ibama, in Brasília. But the challenges are daunting. The Amazon is vast, with some 1.3 million square miles still forested. The 48 police officers and two dozen environmental agents involved in Arc of Fire here seem minuscule for the territory in northern Mato Grosso. That is one reason the agents are mostly concentrating on bottlenecks where the wood must be transported, catching loggers coming in and out of Alta Floresta, a city of about 50,000 people in northern Mato Grosso. Illegal loggers prefer to travel deep in the night, he said. With moonlight forcing its way through the clouds, the agents gathered in a circle and smoked cigarettes and traded stories about their hometowns. " Rodrigo, are we are doing the right thing? " asked Paulo Iribarrem, a burly 17-year Ibama veteran, breaking a momentary silence. " Don't worry, pal, this is just the first stage " of the operation, Mr. Almeida replied. " There is more to come. " The agents stopped one passenger car, and a motorcycle or two passed by. But after nearly two hours, with no trucks hauling wood, they called it quits and headed home. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/19/world/americas/19brazil.html?_r=1 & hp & oref=slog\ in India: 20) While the mineral resources are excavated after cutting vast number of trees, the compensatory plantation hardly takes place, they alleged and added that with no trees on the top soil and only iron and manganese ores lying in the open, results in this high rise in temperature. A Keonjhar-based historian and environmentalist Dr Bimbadhara Behera echoes with them. Apart from deforestation, rapid mining activities, transportation and construction also contribute in temperature rise, he pointed out. " While earlier Titilagarh was the hottest place in the state, now four other regions including Keonjhar have earned the dubious distinction of the Heat Islands " , he said. If the situation prevails for long, the district would be the 'Deserted Hot Island', not just the 'Hot Island', he cautioned. And the consequential effects of this soaring temperature are also very destructive, he noted. He said, while once the district's cold climate was conducive for tea and coffee plantation, now with changed climate, certain medicinal plants available only in Gandhmaradan Mountain are feared to disappear for ever. The environmental change may also have its bad impacts on fauna. Some animals and birds known to survive in cold climate would die, if such temperature rising continues for some more time, he warned. And the worst problem is the scarcity of water, which is slowly felt here. It is learnt that ground water level have gone down to such a level that bore wells of about 200 feet depth draw no water this summer. It is also feared that the tributary rivers would also become dry. The working capacity has also been badly affected, some opined. Sources said, in Keonjhar, it is almost a curfew-like situation during the day time. From 11am the roads are devoid of any commuters. People choose to remain inside than venturing out. However, the vendors dealing with ice creams, sugar cane juice, water melon and sarbat have reasons to thank the Sun God, even as their business and profit go up with temperature rise. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=9 & theme= & usrsess=1 & id=200854 Philippines: 21) The Senate should investigate the planned setting up of an economic zone in Baguio City that will reportedly lead to the cutting of 13,000 trees, Senator Ma. Ana Consuelo " Jamby " Madrigal said Tuesday. In Senate Resolution 361, Madrigal asked the Senate committees on environment and national resources and on tourism to investigate, in aid of legislation, the " pending massacre " of the trees, mostly pine trees, within Baguio's Camp John Hay, which is to be developed into an export processing zone (EPZ). The Camp John Hay Development Corporation has entered an agreement with the Philippine Export Processing Zone Authority (PEZA) to develop the export zone inside the former American military facility. The EPZ will host the expansion of businesses, including an aircraft parts manufacturer. But Madrigal said Camp John Hay is " still classified as a forest land " and therefore " cannot be leased for development without an act of Congress. " " There is a need to prevent [the] indiscriminate cutting of trees and destruction of forests in Baguio City to preserve its main tourist attraction, " she said. The northern Philippine city is touted as the country's summer capital because of its cool temperature. Madrigal said the trees help maintain Baguio's climate. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20080422-132028/Madrigal-\ Probe-imminen t-tree-cutting-in-planned-Baguio-EPZ Indonesia: 22) Riau Police have discovered nearly 200,000 cubic meters of logs believed to have been illegally harvested in Pelalawan regency, Riau, the largest such finding in two months. Pelalawan Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. I Gusti Gunawa said Monday the logs were found in at least 3,872 stashes next to five canals at a timber estate project in Sungai Ara village. The findings started two days ago when police officers spotted a number of trucks transporting logs in the area. " This aroused suspicion as there are no longer permits to harvest logs here, " Gusti said. In March the police also discovered hundreds of logs, allegedly illegally harvested, that had been buried and then exposed by major flooding. No suspects have been named yet, but the police said they were questioning executives of two wood companies. Gusti said that along the first canal, officers found 311 stashes of logs, each approximately 50 cubic meters in size, and another 626 stashes along the second canal, 819 along the third, 754 along the fourth and 1,217 along the fifth. " The discovery site is located adjacent to natural peat forests, " Gusti said, adding that he thought the logs were stolen from nearby protected forests. He further said his officers had summoned several witnesses from a number of forest concession holders near the finding site. In order to cover the thefts, he said, their owners had tried to grow Acacia mangium plants at the harvested sites. " The Acacia mangium trees are between three months and one-and-a-half years old. We're investigating the case with the assistance of a number of experts, " he said. http://old.thejakartapost.com/misc/PrinterFriendly.asp 23) Dr Wilcove and his colleague Dr Lian Pin Koh have been studying the bio-diversity of birds and butterflies in primary forests, logged forests, rubber and palm oil plantations. " We found a 77 per cent decline in forest bird species upon the conversion of old-growth forest to oil palm plantations. For butterflies, the decline was 83 per cent, " he explained. " By comparison, 30 years after logging secondary forest retained roughly 80 per cent of the original forest species, " Dr Wilcove said. " The focus of new oil palm establishment should be on degraded and cultivated lands like grasslands and rubber plantations, " he said. " Both primary and secondary forests are important for the persistence of biodiversity. " Indonesia already has a huge availability of suitably cleared land but new palm oil plants do not produce a crop for 4 years. This leads companies to subsidise these non-productive years by clearing forested land and selling the timber. However there is an argument that preserving virgin rain forest and bio-diversity could actually benefit the palm oil industry by reducing the need for pest management. " Doing so may not only lower production costs but could also reduce the damaging effects of pesticides to both plantation workers and the environment, as well as satisfy a growing consumer preference for oil palm products produced through environmentally-friendly practices, " said Dr Wilcove. http://redapes.org/news-updates/palm-oil-boycott-alone-will-not-protect-rainfore\ sts/ 24) Greepeace called for a moratorium Monday on the expansion of oil palm plantations in Indonesia's rainforests and peatlands, warning that soaring world demand is creating an environmental crisis. It said a two-year investigation into the health of the country's rainforests and peatlands showed " wholesale " destruction driven by demand from food, cosmetic and biofuel companies. " Given the urgent nature of the crisis the only solution for the global climate, the regional environment, the wildlife and the forest-dependent communities ... is a moratorium on oil palm expansion into rainforest and peatland areas, " the environment watchdog said in a statement. It accused Anglo-Dutch food group Unilever, one of the largest palm oil corporate consumers in the world, of being behind the destruction of forest and peatland in Central Kalimantan province on Borneo island. It said Unilever annually consumed 1.3 million tonnes of palm oil or palm oil derivatives with over half coming from Indonesia. " Unilever has failed to use its power to lead the palm oil sector toward sustainability, either through its own palm oil purchasing or through its role as leader of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, " Greenpeace said. Satellite data shows Unilever suppliers are behind the rapid expansion of oil palm plantations in Central Kalimantan, where orang-utans are on the brink of extinction, it said. http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/Greenpeace_wants_moratorium_on_oil_palm_expa\ nsion_in_Indone sia_999.html Solomon Islands: 25) Logging has been an on-going issue that has been widely documented by a few Solomon Islanders like Dr. Tarsicisus Tara and other scholars like Dr. Ian Frazer, Peter Dauvergne and Dr. Judith Bennett. Some well respected scholars who have carried research on the logging industry in Solomon Islands, unearthed that transfer pricing, under reporting of log prices, and tax exemptions were common practices used to reduce tax payments and in country profits.Further, in 1993, Solomon Islands lost about US $40 million from the logging industry. This was mainly attributed to the fact that there were under-reporting of log prices and underpayment of duties. The question(s) are: " Who are the ones responsible for this? Does this involve our 'big boys'? " I do not know the answer. But there is a saying which goes like this: " Things done in the dark will be shown in the light. " One of the recurring themes that characterize Solomon Islands politics is the logging industry. This industry in its short history after Solomon Islands gained independence in 1978 has a tremendous impact on the political scene. The involvement of our politicians in various stages of the entire logging process since independence is to some extent questionable. It is a long story but let us keep it short. Large-scale commercial logging in the Solomon Islands started prior to independence in 1978. It started in the 1920s. Ian Frazer identified two periods. The first period was from 1963 to the 1980s. The main characteristic of this period was that logging operations were mainly done on government land or customary land leased by the government. The second period is from the 1980s to this day. There are two significant features of this period. First, commercial logging shifted to customary land from government land or customary land leased by the government. Second, in the economic context, Solomon Islands had come to depend heavily on the logging industry. In Solomon Islands the main players in the logging industry are the logging companies, the state apparatus and the land owners. All of them play significant roles in that their decisions and actions have one way or the other affect the socio-economic and political environment in Solomon Islands. The logging companies are noteworthy because of the impacts they caused on the natural environment. Similarly, they are significant because some of their common corrupt practices: transfer pricing, under reporting of log prices and tax exemption, undervalue the amount that should be gained by Solomon Islands. http://solomonstarnews.com/index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id=1064 & change\ =103 & changeown= 89 & Itemid=45 26) Greenpeace launched a report yesterday detailing the impact of logging in the country. The report entitled 'Securing the future: An alternative plan for Solomon Island Forests and Economy' provides a proposal for the Solomon Islands government to follow in the event that log exports decline. The report compared the value of industrial logging for round wood export to small-scale sawmilling for timber export and local use. The report found that overall community ecoforestry for sawn timber was 58 percent more profitable to landowners and government than round logs are for export. The report identified the following spin-offs from sawn timber processing. 1) Additional 'spin off' benefits towards economic activity. 2) Considerable village employment, particularly for young men, 3) Allow local communities to retain control over their forest resources, 4) Provide permanent house building materials, and 5) Maintain the forest for existing customary uses. 6) The report also found that if the stored carbon of the estimated 250,000 ha of unlogged commercial forest remain, that is if it were 'carbon financed' (instead of logging the forest) then it could provide an immediate minimum value of US$159 million to the Government and landowners. The report recommended that: 1) The Solomon Islands Government places an immediate moratorium on all new logging licenses and cancels any licences that breach their conditions or are not in compliance with the law. 2) By the end of 2008 the Solomon Islands Government should phases out log exports in favour of maximizing local processing and value capture by the nation. 3) The Solomon Islands Government should set a goal of Zero deforestation by 2015. This would include opposing all conversion of forests for plantation and seeking forest carbon finance incentive payments. http://www.solomontimes.com/news.aspx?nwID=1674 Papua New Guinea: 27) In the first admission of its kind by a PNG Government, the country's new Forest Minister, Belden Namah, has told the PNG parliament in Port Moresby that logging companies routinely flout laws with the help of corrupt officials. Mr Namah said " most " of his departmental officers responsible for monitoring forestry operations had ignored the laws and that many were " in the pockets " of logging companies. " I have noticed a lot of corruption going on within the Forest Department, " he said. He said he had suspended two forestry licences and that no permits would be issued for log exports after 2010. " Now that we are facing climate change, we must move to sustainable management of our forests, " he said. The Madang summit follows a series of high-level talks about how the PNG-Australia Forest Carbon Partnership - announced by Kevin Rudd during his visit to Port Moresby last month - will operate. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said protection of rainforests and a reduction in forestry were the main objectives of the partnership. " The partnership aims to help PNG reduce its emissions from deforestation, " Senator Wong told The Australian. " An important part of this is helping PNG prepare to enter future international carbon markets. These are intended to create financial incentives to retain forests rather than deplete them. " Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs Duncan Kerr indicated that agreements under the partnership would be closely monitored. " The robustness of a monitoring mechanism will be obviously crucial to the credibility of what is put in place, " he said. An agreement to protect the Kokoda Track, where more than 600 Australians died fighting the Japanese, would confirm Australia's support for the World Heritage listing of the trail and the surrounding Owen Stanley Range. " We have constantly stressed to PNG how important Kokoda is to Australia because of the sacrifices of our soldiers, especially leading up to Anzac Day, " Mr Kerr said. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23584521-30417,00.html Australia: 28) " When these trees were planted just over 14 years ago, it was estimated in the offer document that the harvest would yield 375 cubic metres of wood per hectare. In fact, we now estimate that the total yield will exceed this amount, " said Mr White. " In addition to the increased volume, grower investors will also receive financial returns as a direct result of FEA's recent investment into value adding, with an estimated 60% of the clearfall logs being of sawlog quality. These sawlogs will attract a price premium over pulp logs. " Mr White also noted that the grower investors in these plantations also received returns from a partial harvest when the plantations were thinned in 2003. In 2005, FEA developed EcoAsh, Australia's first plantation grown hardwood suitable for sawn timber production. FEA has also invested in a $72 million purpose-built sawmill, which has recently commenced production of sawn timber as part of the commissioning process. This sawmill will further process and add value to FEA's plantation grown sawlogs, which is creating value for both growers and shareholders. " Fifteen years ago it was anticipated that all the trees harvested would be sold for lower value pulpwood, " said Mr White. " But now with our unique ability to convert many of these young eucalypt trees into higher value sawn timber, the returns to grower investors will be higher than originally anticipated. This is because a considerable proportion of their timber is sold as sawlogs and not pulplogs. When coupled with the better than expected growth rates, this is an outstanding outcome for our grower investors in this 1993 project. " " I believe that the returns from our first project will further strengthen our track record as a forest manager and processor " , said Mr White. http://newsstore.smh.com.au/apps/previewDocument.ac?docID=GCA00834930FEA 29) The Tasmanian Greens today raised concerns about proposed logging of trees along the Tarkine Road (Western Explorer) following the major fire in the area, saying that they fear that along with clearing trees posing a danger to travellers salvage logging could target forest areas not normally accessible for logging. Greens Opposition Leader Peg Putt MP said that the following questions must be urgently answered: 1) Who is doing the logging? 2) Will any of the wood be milled or sold commercially? 3) Are any trees to be logged from conservation reserves? 4) Is there a Forest Practices Plan for the logging operation? 5) What independent oversight of operations is planned? 6) Will logging equipment make new snig tracks and otherwise affect the environment? " We are worried that a concern for safety of travellers on the Tarkine Road will transmute into a salvage logging operation that targets areas normally off limits for logging and may involve removing trees from reserves, " Ms Putt said. " Forestry Tasmania or the Department of Infrastructure and Resources should answer the questions that arise from their stated intention to log along the road, in particular whether it is planned to use the wood commercially, whether reserves are targeted, whether Forest Practices Plans are in place, and what independent monitoring will occur. Following wild fires in Victoria some years ago a scandal erupted over salvage logging conducted subsequently on the pretext of safety but going much further and affecting areas not normally allowed to be logged whilst evading usual planning processes, and we don't want anything like that happening in the Tarkine. Windfall profits are believed to have been made from that operation. There must be no commercial imperative attached to the logging plans or the profit motive may lead to more logging and environmental impact than strictly necessary. If trees are to be logged out of reserves it must be restricted to the bare minimum, no commercial sale of the timber should occur, and a thorough assessment against the conservation management plans for the reserve must occur with appropriate community input. The environmental damage inflicted on the area by this ill-conceived road continues to snowball, first the road, then inevitably a major wild fire was started by a road user, and now forest areas adjacent to the road are to be cut allegedly to ensure traveller safety, " Ms Putt said. http://tas.greens.org.au/News/view_MR.php?ActionID=2955 World-wide: 30) An avoided-deforestation market relies on stable governments for its functioning — like carbon markets generally, only more so. A government cannot promise to preserve a forest unless it controls that forest. That, to some, is the idea's great weakness. " I'm bearish toward that particular section of the market, " says Cindy Dawes, who trades carbon credits in the European market. " The main obstacle is governance, because most of these activities are in markets that are politically difficult. " Indeed, the biggest recent news in avoided deforestation is the certification by conservation groups of a plan to preserve, and generate carbon credits for, Indonesia's vast Ulu Masen forest, an extreme example of " politically difficult " — it is in Aceh province, which has seen decades of insurgency. But it is in just such places that the battle against climate change may be won or lost. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20wwln-essay-t.html?_r=1 & oref=slogin 31) French hydrologist Emeritus Professor Ghislain de Marsily has told an international water conference in Adelaide that the world population is likely to increase to nine billion by 2050, but the current rate of food production will not be enough. He says if production were to stop, the world would only have two months of food supply available. " The population is growing on the one hand, climate change is changing the distribution of rainfall over the continents, so we have to do things to produce food on a larger amount and distribute or get that food to the people wherever they are, " he said. " We are going to destroy the planet, we're going to destroy all the ecosystems and have very little biodiversity left on earth. " But what's the alternative? We have to feed the people who are coming. " Professor de Marsily predicts soil and ecosystems will become more of a worldwide concern than access to water. He says Asia and Africa will move toward having no land left for conservation because it will be needed for food production and other continents will also have to help meet booming Asian demand. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/17/2219832.htm?section=justin 32) Simon Counsell, director of the Rainforest Foundation UK, requested a chance to respond to the FSC's interview in-depth. In his response, he states that the FSC has created a " 'race to the bottom' of certification standards " , alleging that the " FSC really has become the 'Enron of forestry' " . Counsell, a Founder Member of the FSC, has been monitoring the organization since its creation in 1993. The problems with the FSC are not new says Counsell: " Not long into the FSC's existence, we started to hear worrying reports... In some cases, certificates were being issued to companies that had a very poor environmental and social record. In 2000, we commissioned a series of local and international experts to investigate and write up a series of case studies about such problems from a number of countries. The results were alarming, and we realized that these were not just isolated cases of 'bad' certificates, but the result of systemic problems within the FSC. " Counsell believes that many of the FSC's drawbacks are due to its tendency to look at each individual logging operation as a separate entity while ignoring the big picture of what industrial logging is doing to rainforest ecology. " Whilst a logging concession might appear to be 'sustainable' at this small-scale level, the whole development model that accompanies industrial logging concessions might be highly non-sustainable and destructive, " Counsell says. He continues with examples from the Amazon and Indonesia: " Research in the Amazon has shown that, over a period of years, commercial logging greatly increases the overall propensity of the forest to dry out, burn, and disappear. This happens regardless of whether the logged areas are certified or not. In Indonesia, local environmentalists and indigenous rights experts have long said that it is no use just certifying the odd 'exemplar' logging company here and there, because the whole system of industrial logging concessions needs dismantling, and that most of the forest should be returned to its rightful owners, the indigenous communities. " Another problem that Counsell sees as detrimental to the credibility of the FSC is there certification of products from 'mixed sources', which " allows up to 90% of the wood fibre in some FSC-labeled products to come from forests or plantations that are not actually FSC-certified, but are supposedly 'controlled sources'. The truth is that these sources are not 'controlled' at all - and hence many FSC products are likely to include material that is from illegal operations, or felling in High Conservation Value forests, or areas that are claimed by indigenous people. The Mixed Sources policy is allowing the laundering of unacceptable wood into the FSC system. " http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0417-hance_interview_counsell.html 33) " I think the next five years are going to be a real paradigm shift in how we look at trees, " Mr. Christensen says, launching into an enthusiastic account of how business opportunities in carbon sequestration and biofuels could raise the value of timberland for investors. Make no mistake about it. The president of Hancock Timber Resource Group, a Boston-based subsidiary of Toronto insurer Manulife Financial Corp., is no tree-hugger, although he does call himself a conservationist. He is also a savvy deal maker. Mr. Christensen took the reins at Hancock Timber in 2004, the same year Manulife purchased John Hancock Financial Services Inc. Since then, Hancock Timber has more than tripled its assets under management to $9.1-billion (U.S.). It is now the largest timber management investor in the world, overseeing 4.6 million acres in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Brazil. And that makes Manulife a big player in timber. Betting on trees seems to pay off. Hancock Timber pegs its historical returns, on an after-fee basis, at around 13.9 per cent a year. The U.S. economic slowdown has accelerated a rush toward alternative hard-asset investments like timberland. In a bid to diversify their portfolios, pension plans, university endowments and other financial investors are snapping up acres of woods. Timberland is an attractive option for long-term investors because it's a relatively low-risk, renewable asset that acts as an inflation hedge. Sustainably harvested woods can provide cash flows forever, and when timber prices are low, owners can choose not to cut and let the inventory keep growing. Over time, timberland generally becomes more valuable and small chunks can be sold to developers. And because it tends not to move in lockstep with other investments, such as stocks or bonds, it can reduce a portfolio's volatility. Hancock Timber's most recent acquisition, which closed on April 1, was flagged for them by Goldman Sachs, iStar's investment banker. Eventually, they struck a deal to pay $1.71-billion for timberland in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas, which iStar had picked up in 2006 from International Paper Co. for $1.19-billion. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080419.RDECISION19/TPStory/Bu\ siness 34) World Rainforest Movement, for example, reports that the FSC has certified bad environmental practices like large-scale monoculture tree plantations. Other seals can similarly mask other bad practices, which puts into question the science and accountability behind certification. The variety of seals with their own set of standards and ambiguous labeling techniques completely obscures the notion of sustainability. Furthermore, when Rainforest Alliance claims certification can increase plantation productivity by as much as 20 percent, but gives no evidence that certification standards improve environmental or social sustainability, its credibility is diminished. Considering whether or not the private sector could ensure that sustainable products become mainstream, Horrell explained that for the private sector, sustainable production would depend on how companies evaluate demand for certified products. In the context of increasing food prices and decreasing purchasing power, cheaper prices will be preferred to commodity quality. Unless a miracle occurs and certified products become as cheap as regular ones, responsible consumption will remain marginal and so will its respective slice of sustainable environment. As long as consumers and producers avoid their responsibilities, public regulation will inevitably be necessary for companies to fully internalise the costs of environmental destruction. If sustainable development is to become a priority, public authorities will have to get into to the driver's seat. There are currently more questions than answers about certification, but the concept allows certified products to gain a market share now. The 45 million out of 450 million hectares of world forest Rainforest Alliance has certified FSC, in addition to the 430,000 farm families it claims are enjoying the benefits of its worker protection programmes as a result of PPPs are both illustrations of areas in which public intervention has been lacking. These private initiatives should, therefore, help steer government policy on sustainable development. http://www.neurope.eu/articles/85748.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.