Guest guest Posted May 1, 2008 Report Share Posted May 1, 2008 Today for you 36 new articles about earth's trees! (335th edition) Subscribe / send blank email to: earthtreenews- Weblog: http://olyecology.livejournal.com --British Columbia: 1) Qualicum Beach demands moratorium on forest land sales, 2) Even young pine plantations destroyed by beetles, 3) Only 200 canoe trees remain? 4) Forest minister rejects calls for resignation, 5) Last giant western red cedar slaughter, 6) Loggers back off in Blackwater, --Canada: 7) New add campaign against oil sands, 8) Logging parks for public safety? 9) Please God, make this industry something we can be proud of, 10) Nipissing and Tembec's 10-year plan for logging in Ontario area, 11) RIP: Martha Kostuch, --UK: 12) Protest at Unilever House, 13) Contaminated woodland problems when trees fall, 14) Restoring the forests of Avon, 15) Tree felling in Newton Aycliffe, 16) Do yourself a favor: Look up! 17) Trees in Finchley nature reserve cut down, --EU: 18) Maybe a new law against illegal timber? --Russia: 19) Finland responds to tariffs by moving industry investments into Russia --Turkey: 20) See the blooms of the Judas tree before it's too late --Palestine: 21) 1,400 olive trees pulled up --Congo: 22) Stakeholders of Congo Basin Forests meet in Yaounde --Liberia: 23) Twelve logging companies might be barred --Cameroon: 24) 17 million hectares still forested --Ghana: 25) Forest plantation development --Costa Rica: 26) Reforestation: Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Sciences (BTI) --Columbia: 27) Speak out for the Nukak Indians --Brazil: 28) Do we rebuild the trans-amazon highways? 29) Judge stalls dam that will flood 204 sq. miles of forest, --Asia: 30) The ruin of the land where 2/3 of the planet's people live --India: 31) Tigers everywhere you look? 32) Pine trees threatening apple trees, 33) Male Mahadeshwara Hills, British Columbia: 1) When the Town of Qualicum Beach presented a motion calling for a moratorium on the sale of land in the E & N land grant, they received overwhelming support at the AVICC. Delegates at the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities convention on the weekend gave the motion 100 per cent support. The motion called on both senior levels of government to declare a moratorium on the sale and land transfer of all land currently zoned as forest or resource land. Further, it called for a moratorium on development approvals within the lands within the E & N land grant area. The idea of the moratorium was to give governments time to create legislation that would ensure land management decisions are made in an orderly, sustainable and biologically defensible manner. " There was unanimous support, " said Qualicum Beach Mayor Teuni Westbroek. " Nobody spoke against it. The province has to protect the public interest. " Westbroek said the E & N land grant, which constitutes 23 per cent of Vancouver Island, were not given carte blanche. " There was as commitment that came along with that, and it wasn't just to speculate, " he said. The motion noted forestry licensees paid reduced taxes on their private lands as a result of entering into tree farm licences and entered into a social contract with citizens whereby in exchange for sole access to public timber, with the objective of stable employment in resource-dependent communities. For the land to be sold off for development, the motion said, is a breach of that social contract/ http://www.google.com/search?q=Land+protection+motion+on+the+mark%3A+WCWC & ie=utf\ -8 & oe=utf-8 & aq= t & rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official & client=firefox-a 2) According to Ministry of Forests and Range data from a 2007 aerial survey, 157, 360 hectares of young pine stands across the province have been affected by mountain pine beetle. These young stands represent just a fraction of the total affected area, which equals more than 10 million hectares, but they are an indication of what may become of any future forest stands -- and it's not a pretty picture for long-term investment. Licenses holders fund reforestation through their stumpage payments. Stumpage is a complicated formula that basically determines how much a company must pay to the Crown (or First Nations, or another entity) for harvesting on their land. A portion of this stumpage fee remains in the licensee's possession in order to fund silviculture activities, but in the current market slump these have been curtailed along with logging and mill operations. " Right now silviculture is being driven by the lumber markets, " says Wilson. " It shows up on the cost side . . . it's being practiced aggressively when markets are good, when they're not it's not being practiced very aggressively.' " In my opinion, that's not the way to manage a system for future growth. " If license holders don't log, they aren't obligated to reforest. Now there are concerns that major tenures will simply become inactive as forest companies pull out of British Columbia and invest in mills elsewhere. http://thetyee.ca/News/2008/04/28/ReviveForest/ 3) A shocking statistic quoted in our office, is that there are only 200 canoe grade cedar trees (>1.6 meter diameter) on the 1 million hectares of Haida Gwaii forest lands, and although the CHN surveyed these and licensees are required to leave them, windthrow from inadequate buffers takes many down. We have also come to realize through growth and yeield modelling we are doing that it will take 1,000 years to grow a monumental cedar (>1 meter diameter, straight wood for totem poles, etc). Three factors which will ensure cedar extinction, if strong actions are not taken: (1) Highgrading: In recent years about 50% of trees logged on the BC Coast are cedar - whilst the profile in the forest may be roughly 20% cedar (locally much higher on the west coast) So with an Allowable Annual Cut (AAC) based on forest growth where 80% of trees are hemlock and 20% Cedar, on the Coast 50% of the trees logged are cedar. The AAC should be partitioned by species to force companies to log a sustainable profile. Rather they are encouraged to high grade by stumpage policies. Futher because past logging removed readily accessible timber so the old growth left is too expensive to access and of lower average value. (2) Irresponsible Regeneration (minimal cedar): Licensees are allowed to plant any one species that occurs in an ecosystem - and they mostly plant the one species that will reach the free to grow height the fastest, without any concern for biodiversity or security. Nearly all interior sites are planted with lodgepole pine and in Haida Gwaii we have hemlock and spruce monoculture plantations - almost no cedar planted. Browse impacts on cedar occur throughout the coast, but most severe on Haida Gwaii, due to the epidemic of introduced deer eat every cedar seedling, unless it is planted in a plastic tube, and the companies are loathed to pay $2 for those. MOF data for Haida Gwaii show that although 37% of old growth was cedar, only 2% of second growth is cedar. (3) Climate Change: UVic professor Richard Hebda and UBC Forest genetics prof Sally Aitken's research shows cedar is threatened in its current range by climate change. Dr Hebda believes that cedar on vancouver island is already dying back, though I don't believe that his observations are widely recognised yet. Climate change is however recognised to be a factor in the deceline decimating yellow cedar in South East Alaska and perhaps in some areas on the BC coast. The reduction in snow has allowed a fungus to thrive that is involved in the decline. Conclusion: Without intervention by ENGOS and First Nations, old growth cedar is slated to go the way of the atlantic cod. geza 4) B.C. Forests Minister Rich Coleman is rejecting calls for his resignation. The United Steelworkers Union, representing most forest workers in the province, says Coleman should quit for failing to help the forest industry, which is struggling under the weight of a high dollar and depressed lumber markets. The union accused the B.C. government of being part of the problem with policies that have given forest companies a free hand and allowed the export of too many raw logs. But Coleman is refusing to step down, saying the government is working with stakeholders, including unions, to find ways to make the industry work better in the future. " We're going to take this time to actually look at the future of forestry and work really hard to see what will make it tick in the next generation, " he said. NDP leader Carole James said she's appalled by Coleman's stance. " For a Liberal government to throw in the towel on a major industry that supports jobs, that supports communities, that support tax base and small businesses, it's just unbelievable to me that they would do that, " she said. " They seem to think that the forest industry is part of our past and not part of our future " . Coleman said he's also considering the steelworker union's 10-point plan to help the industry. That plan calls for changes in the softwood lumber deal with the U.S., halting raw log exports, and more incentives to encourage domestic timber processing. http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hPlyN3U_OxGJr9_pUl0kKt_CTzDA 5) Almost half the wood that comes in is western red cedar. It's one of the few products that is still in demand in a global wood-products market reeling under the collapse of the U.S. housing industry. But the rush this spring to get cedar out of the Coast's mountainsides and into luxury homes in the U.S. has created worries that a short-term, supply-side glut could hit this one bright spot in an otherwise depressed coastal forest industry. " Cedar is all that's keeping the Coast afloat, " said falling contractor Mike Hennigan, co-chair of the Western Fallers Association. " That means all the companies are pushing. They are saying, 'Get all the men you can out there to knock it down so we can yard it. Give us the wood because if we can get our cedar to market first, we are going to be okay.' " Fallers say they are working steep hillsides in deep snow in some cases so companies can get as much cedar as they can to market while prices remain strong. There's no question that the cedar market is healthy, said Dave Lewis, executive director of the Truck Loggers Association. Two-thirds of North America's supply of cedar comes from B.C., so producers here typically set the price, rather than being price-takers as is the case with lower-valued commodity lumber. Last year's strike, coupled with a late spring this year -- there is still up to five metres of snow on some mountains -- has led to a supply-side shortage that has pushed prices for premium-grade deck planks to record highs. Madison's Canadian Lumber Reporter quotes this week's price for premium two-by-four decking at $975 US per thousand board feet. Commodity lumber two-by-fours are selling for $210 US a thousand board feet. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=29597c92-4ff3-4ca\ e-82ca-8fd5094c 06b9 6) Lizzie Bay Logging has given up its rights to log in a controversial area of Blackwater Creek. A Ministry of Forests and Range spokesperson this week confirmed the company had decided not to harvest timber in tree licence area BL002. While there are no plans to re-sell the licence at this time, said the spokesperson, it can be re-sold in the future. That's good news for the community and the Blackwater Stewardship Group. The group grabbed headlines close to a year ago when it set up a protest camp near the proposed logging area. Protesters wanted to save a 17-heactare area where traditional medicinal plants and valuable pine mushrooms were regularly harvested. They claimed that there had not been proper consultation between the residents in the area, the N'Quatqua First Nations band, and B.C. Timber Sales. " We have started to dialogue with B.C. Timber sales and they have been really open to communicate and hear our concerns and they have expressed their intent to continue to meet with us periodically, " said Blackwater Stewardship Group member Mariko Kage. " We were able to confirm last Friday that, yes, indeed Lizzie Bay has returned its licence and they do not plan to have any harvesting this spring or summer. " Kage, while pleased with the development, said it is most likely the result of trouble in the timber industry as a whole, which has seen a steady decline in lumber prices, the downturn in the U.S. housing market and the appreciation of the Canadian dollar. " We are happy that we were part of delaying the process a little bit to the point where market concerns took over, " said Kage. http://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/pique/index.php?cat=C_News & content=Blackwater+r\ eprieve+1517 Canada: 7) Conservationists will be rolling out an advertising campaign and dispatching polar-bear-suit-clad protesters this week in an attempt to derail Alberta's mission to Washington that is aimed at propping up the province's environmental image south of the border. Ron Stevens, Alberta's deputy premier and Minister of International and Intergovernmental Relations, said he will stress his province's commitment to " environmentally sustainable development of the oil sands " when he meets with U.S. government officials, industry representatives and policy analysts this week. But he will also be trailed by protesters and a full-page newspaper ad featuring an oil-soaked maple leaf that describes Canada's oil sands as a major contributor to global warming and a supplier to the United States of the " world's dirtiest oil. " The $12,000 (U.S.) ad that will run Tuesday in Roll Call, Washington's congressional newspaper, is backed by a coalition of environmental groups, which also criticize Alberta's soon to be launched $25-million advertising campaign aimed at improving the province's " brand " and " perception. " " We can't compete with a $25-million PR budget that the Alberta government's allocated to try and convince lawmakers in Washington that everything's okay, " said Aaron Freeman, policy director of the Environmental Defence, a Toronto-based advocacy group that is backing the U.S. advertising. " But at the end of the day, we don't need that kind of budget because you can't paint a black hole green and the tar sands is a very big, black hole. " Industry plans to spend $100-billion over the next decade in northern Alberta's oil sands with an eye to tripling oil production. Meanwhile, a fraction of that has been spent on developing clean and renewable energy. Still, Mr. Stevens plans to tell U.S. officials about Alberta's commitment to clean energy, its greenhouse-gas reduction policy and its $148-million investment in developing technology that could capture and store emissions. http://forestethics.org/article.php?id=2132 8) The City of Westmount has assured residents that a recent tree-cutting operation in Summit Park was undertaken in the interest of public safety. As the last of the snow was melting on the summit towards the end of last month, some visitors to Summit Park may have noticed that a considerable amount of tree cutting — reducing a few tall trunks to stumps in some cases, and leaving behind piles of logs — had taken place around the entrances to Summit Park's main paths. The matter was also raised by resident John Johnston at this Monday's city council meeting. " I've noticed in the last few days a number of trees that have been cut down in that area, " Johnston said during question period. " I'm not sure why they've been cut up. They're not rotten. I looked at them myself. Certainly, there are bundles of trees around. But why? Has the path been widened? " City Councillor George Bowser, who chairs the Community Safety Committee, said he was told the trees were taken down in places where they were deemed to be a danger because of their proximity to where people walk. " When they're taken down, the resulting logs are left to decompose in situ, " Bowser said. " I'm sure that in every case they were deemed to be unsafe. It would be beyond my comprehension that someone would take a tree down for no reason at all. http://www.westmountexaminer.com/article-208154-Summit-Park-trees-cut-down-for-s\ afety-reasons. html 9) LITTLE RAPIDS — The federal government is helping ensure that forestry stays alive and well in this province. Senator Ethel Cochrane, on behalf of Gary Lunn, minister of Natural Resources, announced the next five-year phase of the Model Forest of Newfoundland and Labrador (MFNL) Thursday. Cochrane said Canada's Forest Communities Program is spending $1.475 million through MFNL over the next five years. She said the program will bring people, industries and knowledge together. She said that will help develop ideas and innovations and to better use our forests. " The model forest has been going on for 15 years and now what we're doing is extending it, " Cochrane said. " We're extending it beyond Newfoundland and we're going to be able to get ideas and share ideas with other provinces and international partners. By the sharing of knowledge, we're going to really progress. " She said five years ago the province had three pulp and paper mills going strong, but the modern picture is a bit different. " Today we have one in Stephenville that is gone. We had an announcement made yesterday (Wednesday) in Grand Falls-Windsor that they laid off 13 people. " We have to find innovation. In the next five years, please God, we'll find this industry — the forest industry — hopefully, become an industry we can be very proud of. " Dr. Muhammad Nazir, president of the Model Forest, said the program will help forge better partnerships within the communities that use the forests and have a traditional stake in the industrial sector. " Rural communities in Newfoundland and Labrador depend a lot on the resources, " Nazir said. " In the past they worked individually with the forest industry. " With the increasing mechanization they have a sense of loss in those communities. They've lost jobs, they've lost control of the resources, so there is a feeling the communities are not being sustained — the ones who used to depend on the forest. This program is an attempt to ensure ways and means are found to make those communities who depend on the forest resources more sustainable. " Dr. John Richards, director general of the Atlantic Forest Centre of the Canadian Forest Service, said the new program is supported by the Canadian Forest Service. http://www.thewesternstar.com/index.cfm?sid=129190 & sc=23 10) Representatives from the Province, Nipissing Forest Resources Management and Tembec Lumber presented a ten year plan for logging in the area. The meeting was well attended by interested residents. One of the major concerns presented by the residents dealt with safety along Hawthorne Dr. As well, some people were concerned with the damage the logging trucks would do to the road and single lane bridge. Representatives of the Province indicated one of the values of such logging plans and public meetings was the opportunity it presents to ensure the local concerns are covered within the restrictions of the plan. They feel these concerns can be ameliorated with appropriate controls to be added to the management plan. Residents were encouraged to send their concerns in writing by June 23, 2008 to: Ministry of Natural Resources North Bay District 3301 Trout Lake Rd. North Bay, ON P1A 4L7 Fax 705-475-5500 Attention Guylaine Thauvette, Nipissing Area Forester 705-475-5539 Email: Guylaine.thauvette http://computerfella.wordpress.com/2008/04/24/nipissing-forest-resources-managem\ ent-mtg-2/ 11) EDMONTON — Longtime Alberta environmental activist Martha Kostuch has died at the age of 58. Kostuch had fought for decades to preserve Alberta's pristine wilderness from development and had recently urged the government to take time to figure out the social impacts of oilsands projects before pushing forward. She had said that one of her greatest achievements had been helping to fight the Oldman River dam in southern Alberta. The dam was completed, but the Supreme Court issued a ruling saying large projects in Canada could not go ahead without environmental impact assessments. Kostuch, who worked as a veterinarian, came to Alberta from Minnesota more than three decades ago. Kostuch was also known as a habitual tree hugger. Her son Mark remembers her hugging trees throughout his youth. " When your mom goes out and hugs a tree when you have your friends over, it's embarrassing, " he said. He's long past that now. " Everyone in my family is hugging a tree right now. " Kostuch asked that people not give money to charity on her behalf, but instead do what they can to help the environment -- change a light bulb, recycle more or just hug a tree. http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2008/04/23/5367381.html http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=6935ae6e-f9c1-438f-b44c-8\ 69887596f4f+ & p=2 UK: 12) Demonstrators have staged a protest at Unilever House in London to highlight the destruction of the rainforest. A Greenpeace group scaled ladders on to a balcony at the Victoria Embankment site, while a second demonstration took place at a factory in the Wirral, on Merseyside. A spokesman said the protests coincided with a report released by Greenpeace called Burning Up Borneo. http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5i6MoflTz4-DgpmzlXmi-R9TD2I_g 13) The woodland had been attracting over 21,000 visitors a year. Now, its future is uncertain as the council's contamination unit awaits the outcome of new tests on the unwelcome legacy left by the dump. The concern about how the pollution may be coming to the surface was aired in a private briefing to local councillors by the consultants who did the initial investigation. Councillor Bill Fernie, Wick, was among the majority who supported the move to close off public access. He said yesterday: " We were told that there were potentially dangerous chemicals within the site. We didn't get any details about the extent of the pollution. " We were, however, told that it could be coming to the surface when the boles and roots of trees become exposed or when tyres float to the surface. The site is prone to quite a lot of underground movement, which is a concern. " Mr Fernie said that at the ward business meeting, the majority of local councillors were in favour of closing the woodland to err on the side of safety. He said: " I certainly wasn't prepared to take the risk of leaving it open if there was the slightest chance that somebody could be endangered. " The consultants are carrying out further work to find out more about the presence and spread of the pollution. Mr Fernie said it could be that the woodland reopens but with parts of it fenced off. Twenty-five neighbouring householders have been assured that they are not at risk from methane and other gases associated with the tip. But the year-long initial probe, which involved 26 boreholes and 25 trial pits, did find raised levels of heavy metals and arsenic as well as the presence of asbestos within the soil and surface waters. http://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/4457/Uncertain_future\ _for_woodland. html 14) The Forest of Avon covers 410 square miles in and around Bristol. The long-term goal is to increase woodland to cover 30 per cent of Avon within 40 years - that would mean 15 million trees being planted. More than a million trees have been planted since 1992 and the Manor Road site is part of that long-term goal. Mr Bonner said: " Of course the more trees we have, the better it is for climate change and the environment. But trees also do a lot more than that. They give a sense of well-being. " We work with developers to advise them on how they can incorporate green space and woodland into their designs, because that's what people want. " People want places on their doorstep where they can see trees and feel a sense of being close to nature and the environment. " If you take anyone who is feeling stressed and put them in a woodland or glade, it changes the way you feel and think straight away. " The Forest of Avon is funded by the Countryside Agency and the Forestry Commission and works in partnership with all four local councils. When the Evening Post ran a promotion alongside Forest of Avon to invite people to sponsor trees at £5 each, readers applied in their thousands for the chance to create the woodland, and 4,000 volunteers donned their Wellington boots to plant more than 2,000 trees. Mr Bonner said: " The reason they are so popular is because people feel they are actually doing something. " A lot of people are worried about the environment and you can give money to charity but if you can go out and plant a tree and look at it later on and see a woodland created out of it, it gives you a great sense of achievement. " Now there are people there all the time walking through beautiful woodland. " In 2000, more than 6,000 people turned out to plant 3,000 trees in the Millennium Woodland - another Forest of Avon site near Siston Common, and the 2001 project was instigated because of its success. In 2001, the project received an award from council officials. The Change 21 Award, given by Bath and North East Somerset Council, acknowledged the commitment to a sustainable future to improve the quality of life in local areas. The Forest of Avon is building community forests to improve the environment, assist economic growth and enhance people's health, well-being and quality of life. http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144913 & command=displayCont\ ent & sourceNode =231190 & home=yes & more_nodeId1=144922 & contentPK=20480223 15) I would like to thank Newton News for mentioning the alarm over tree felling in Newton Aycliffe. They are being felled and lopped all over the area and it's distressing to see good young healthy trees being destroyed. They are alive and beautiful. Like us they were created for a purpose, to provide homes for birds, insects and animals, and help prevent flooding. When trees are felled or lopped their wounds should be treated, I have never seen that done here and that is extreme cruelty, it's the same as having a finger taken off and being sent home without any treatment. Thanks for letter and photographs sent to Newton News. Those trees were behind the Bluebell Garage on the " Aycliffe Way " , and were planted many years ago as a symbol to what " Aycliffe Way " is all about, something to enjoy. One fine evening last summer I decided to go out on my " Buggy " . and made my way through Bluebell Wood turning left to join the " Aycliffe Way " behind the Bluebell Garage. It's lovely countryside with birds, rabbits and trees in abundance. To my horror I had to pull up because my way was blocked with dozens of sawn down trees. It resembled an earthquake, no warning, no sign to say tree felling was in operation, the workmen had gone home, and this is a popular, well used public footpath. The Avenue of trees had been there for many years, so now they have gone and we are left with a hundred yard long damaged footpath and no trees. I ask myself, WHY?, For me it was organised vandalism, and someone should answer for it. People like the Woodland Trust and the RSPB, work their socks off to keep our countryside beautiful and actions like this must make them feel they are wasting their time. I was round there again last week and more trees have been cut down and piled up at the side of the path. I get the feeling no trees are safe in this area. The Council say the trees and doves are not native to this country, but these trees were a few years old, and native or not they were healthy and thriving. So what was the problem? There are gardens in this country filled with trees and shrubs from abroad, so I am afraid that excuse is hollow. http://www.newtonnews.co.uk/modules.php?name=News & file=article & sid=436 & mode=thre\ ad & order=0 & thol d=0 16) It's fanciful, of course it is, especially now most of us only have the street, the house, or the block of flats; and we can never know. But we do know that when the trees that grace our street, our road, our courtyard, are threatened with toppling, we do not like it one bit. At least now there is a system, thanks to the London Tree Officers' Association – that gives tree-lovers a chance to fight back when the insurance company or the council sends someone with a chainsaw. In the car at the red traffic light, feeling your blood pressure start to mount as you see that, on the other side of the junction, the traffic still isn't moving, do yourself a massive favour: look up. What may swim into your line of sight is greenery. We've been without it for five months, do you realise? And now it's back. Those things called trees, those tall roadside posts that for the whole winter long you haven't glanced at, that have seemed no more than dark straggly alternative streetlamps without the lighting, have suddenly in the past 10 days sprouted life, and now, this week, are at their most intense. For example, look at the horse chestnuts, the conker trees beloved of schoolboys, if you live in an area lucky enough to have them. Go on, look. Once you do, you'd have to have a soul made of concrete not be stirred, for right now, at least in southern Britain, the buds have just burst and the leaves have poured forth and they are of a quite spectacular colour. It's green, of course, but it's a special green, it is more than emerald, it is iridescent, as if the leaves were fresh-painted, as if they were glowing from the inside; and in the next few days they will be joined by giant upright white blossoms, big as a bunch of bananas, commonly known as Roman candles. The whole thing then looks like a living firework display, and it's free, and no streetlamp ever looked like this. It's not just the horse chestnuts; cherry blossom and apple blossom is out now in gardens, as are the lilacs, and in hawthorn hedges there is a green mist of leaf wrapped around the branches. Is there perhaps something in us that goes far, far back, to account for our love of trees, something more than beauty or utility? Some deeper attachment formed during the aeons when we lived in the forest? Is there perhaps something in us that goes far, far back, to account for our love of trees, something more than beauty or utility? Some deeper attachment formed during the aeons when we lived in the forest? http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/green-giants-our-love-affair-wit\ h-trees-815329. html 17) Hundreds of trees in a Finchley nature reserve were cut down last summer in what has been branded an " environmental crime " . Around 500 trees on the Glebeland Nature Reserve, in Finchley, were cut down and shredded into chippings by tree surgeons, according to volunteer conservationst Dr Oliver Natelson, who spends his weekends maintaining the reserve. Dr Natelson discovered the damage in October last year. He immediately began a survey and has submitted a report to the council based on its findings. " Everybody who helped me with the survey is shocked at the devastation, " he said. " It's generations of trees that are 50, 60 years old and it's absolutely catastrophic. " " There were also some smaller trees that were cut to about chest height and had all of their branches removed. They're just stumps now.The large canopy trees were cut down to the ground. " I've surveyed the site completely and there was a massive area stripped of vegetation. What was in seed is now coming up but there are very, very few trees. " The trees stood along the border of the North Circular, where the reserve begins, and Dr Natelson says they formed a natural barrier to noise, pollution and rubbish that now drifts in off the busy A-road and threaten to damage the ecosystem. " There are huge numbers of plastic bags blowing in to the area now, " he said. " Some marked 'biohazard' that could have needles or blood or anything in them. " http://www.hendontimes.co.uk/mostpopular.var.2217864.mostviewed.hundreds_of_tree\ s_cut_down_in_ environmental_crime.php EU: 18) The European Union has no region-wide law preventing the import of illegally logged wood products, and there can be a wide gap in price between products made from well-managed forests and products from poorly managed forests. That soon could change. Stavros Dimas, the EU environment commissioner, plans to propose a regulation at the end of May that would require importers and many retailers of wood products to show how the wood was obtained and where it is being sent next in the supply and production chain. The regulation would put the onus on EU governments to stop importers and retailers buying or selling wood from illegal sources, said Barbara Helfferich, a spokeswoman for Dimas. To stay in compliance, companies would probably be able to rely on some existing methods, like certification by the Forest Stewardship Council, or FSC, an international nonprofit organization that sets standards for responsible forest management, she said. To become law, the proposal would need the approval of EU governments and the European Parliament. But the effort already has important supporters, including Jean-Louis Borloo, the French environment minister. Borloo has vowed to use the French presidency of the EU, which begins this summer and runs for six months, to support moves to push through a law to help fight illegal and unsustainable logging. Environmentalists say stricter regulation is urgent because deforestation is responsible for about one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions - more than from the world's transportation sector. Environmentalists also say that Europeans who fuel demand for hardwoods have a responsibility to do more to help stop illegal logging if they are serious about tackling climate change and biodiversity loss. http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/29/business/greencol30.php Russia: 19) Finnish forest industry group UPM and Russian Sveza Group have today signed an agreement to form a joint venture company. The target is to build a state-of-the-art forest industry facility in the Vologda region of Northwest Russia. The letter of intent on the project was signed on December 19, 2007. Each party will hold 50 percent of the share capital of the new company, OOO Borea. Mr Andrey Kashubski, Managing Director of Sveza Group will act as the first Chairman of the Board in the new company. The chairmanship will rotate between the companies. The start-up of the company operations is still subject to approvals by the relevant competition authorities, including the EU Commission. The planned industrial complex would include a modern pulp mill, a sawmill and an OSB building panels mill in the community of Sheksna, in the southern part of Vologda. The planned capacity of the pulp mill would be 800,000 metric tonnes, the sawmill 300,000 cubic meters and the OSB mill 450,000 cubic meters. The joint venture will continue with the feasibility study and permitting process of the project. Ensuring sufficient logging rights on financially sound conditions is the essential precondition for future investment decisions. In addition, the Russian Federation should confirm financing of the infrastructure projects in the region. http://www.fordaq.com/fordaq/news/UPM_Sveza_joint_venture_16879.html Turkey: 20) The Judas tree goes through an amazing transformation. In the spring, out of a seemingly bone-dry body and branches, flowers blossom as if to assert the vividness of life. But these rare flowers have a life of only 20 days. Their time has come and will go in an instant. Their purple flowers have blossomed everywhere. This year, the Judas trees came into bloom on April 10 due to the early arrival of warm weather, and their flowers will be blown away by the wind in three to five days. A rainfall of Judas tree flowers will sweep through Atiyan, Hisar and Fenerbahçe parks. If you get a chance to see these trees on a windy day, you will be amazed by the purple rain sure to follow. The days we are in now are some of the last days of this year to see the carnival of Judas tree blossoms, so let us go walk down a path lined with Judas trees as a reminder. For İstanbulites living on the European side, the western side of Yıldız Park, Rumelihisarı, and the Emirgan Woods are ideal places for such a walk. On the Anatolian coast, you will find many Judas trees in the Fenerbahçe foreland, the Fethipata Woods, the Vaniköy Woods and Kanlıca's Mihrabat Woods. Set off at once for the place closest to you and if you still have time as the evening approaches, try to visit the Judas tree exhibition in the passenger hall of the ferry dock in Karaköy. Of course, this feast is not specific to İstanbulites. Many people from several Anatolian cities come to see Judas trees in İstanbul. In Rumelihisarı, a grandmother says that she and her 25-year-old grandson came from Ankara to see the Judas trees. An academic working in Bolu consulted Erguvanistanbul Association Chairman Hüseyin Emiroğlu prior to his arrival to get an idea of an ideal tour. http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay & link=140381 Palestine: 21) It was difficult for 87-year-old Jamil Khader to discover that nearly all of the 1,400 olive trees his extended family planted in February had suddenly gone missing, having been uprooted and stolen. " He became very ill when I told him. He was hospitalised and was in bed for a week, " his son Khalil, from the small town of Jeet in the northern West Bank, told IRIN. The family reckon that the trees were uprooted in March but they did not find out about it until 16 April, when they got to the land, which they do not do regularly because of itsproximity to the nearby Israeli settlement of Kedumim. " We only go to work the land in coordination with the [israeli] military. I am afraid to goalone, as the settlers have pulled guns on me in the past, " Khalil said. The family and aid workers blamed settlers from Kedumim for the missing trees. " There have been many violent incidents against Palestinians in that area of the West Bank, " said Emily Schaefer, a lawyer from the Israeli rights group Yesh Din, which specialises in such cases. " In the three years we have been operating, not a single [israeli] was convicted for uprooting or damaging Palestinian olive trees, " she said, noting that from her research she was doubtful anyone had ever been brought to justice by the Israeli authorities for such crimes. Jamil was born in Nazereth, in what is now Israel, in 1922. During the spring of 1948, as the first Arab-Israeli war waged, his family became refugees. " We left Nazereth with nothing at all, " he said, retelling his life as a policeman with the British during World War II, a soldier with the Arab armies in 1948 and later as a police officer with the Jordanians when they ruled the West Bank. The last job gave him enough money to purchase the plot of land near Nablus, which has become the family's most important possession. They, like others, have become increasingly dependent on agriculture for their livelihood as harsh restrictions on movement have cut them off from their former jobs as labourers inside Israel. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/a3f698dd0bd7571862c2a8d5508de050.h\ tm Congo: 22) Stakeholders of the Congo Basin Forests met in Yaounde on April 24 to celebrate Forest Day. Initiated by the Central Africa Regional office of the Centre for International Forestry Research, CIFOR, the Forest Day aims to bring together regional stakeholders to chart ways of stemming the tides of a phenomenon that remains a bane of progress to humanity. Observers hold that it was incumbent on the stakeholders to hold such discussions given that deforestation and degradation of tree-based systems contribute about 20 to 25 percent of green house gas emissions. Speaking at the occasion at the Yaounde Conference Centre, the Regional Coordinator of CIFOR, Cyrie Sendashonga, said the meeting offered an opportunity for stakeholders to discuss the concept of Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, REDD. To her, the meeting was charting stakes and plight of a region that has the second largest rainforest in the world. Given that this region, whose populations depend largely on natural forest resources, is likely to be hard hit by climate change, the over 100 forestry stakeholders focused their debate on forest and climate change in Central Africa. During discussions, participants highlighted the adverse effects of climate change on human health and food security, especially. It was noted that 1.7 billion tons of carbon is released annually due to land use of which the major part is tropical deforestation. According to the intergovernmental panel on climate change, this represents 20 to 25 percent current emissions and more than the amount produced by the World fossil-fuel intensive transport sector. However, the REDD strategy can only work if local communities are given alternative ways of sustaining their livelihood and made to turn away from the forests. Given the role they play, people of the Congo Basin should have compensation from the rest of the world. It is a way of encouraging them to look away from the forests. http://allafrica.com/stories/200804281848.html Liberia: 23) Barely a few months to the official resumption of logging activities in the country, there are reports that the Management of the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) concession Reviewed Committee has recommended that twelve logging companies be barred for their alleged involvement in the Liberian civil war. Our reporter visited the head office of the FDA in Congo Town yesterday to ascertain the status of the twelve companies but, management could not lay hands on the documents on grounds that a committee member took the report to do some work on it. However, the Managing Director, Mr. John Woods instructed his Administrative Assistance, Madam Getrue Koryan to assist our reporter by furnishing him with the list of affected companies but to no avail. Moment's later, madam Koryan pleaded with our reporter to make the documents available today for perusal. It can be recalled that during one of the series of discussions on the new forest review and concession contract in Liberia with emphasis on Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS), the Managing Director of FDA, Mr. Woods made a startling revelation at the Monrovia City Hall when he disclosed that twelve logging companies have been barred. Although, he did not name the companies at the time but sources said that most of the logging companies barred were operating in the South Eastern region of Liberia prior to the decision. http://allafrica.com/stories/200804290984.html Cameroon: 24) The lives of the people in forest areas are deeply linked with the forests that surround their villages. They gather fruits, food, bush meat and honey there, and their local medicine comes from the forest. Some tree species have very high local value. For example, the Moabi (Baïllonela toxisperma) bears fruit that is eaten by humans as well as by gorillas, elephants and monkeys. Oil is extracted from the seed of the fruit and used for cooking and for making cosmetics. The bark is used for medical purposes, for example to treat backache. Pygmies use this tree's powder to make a camouflage potion that they cover themselves with in order to become invisible when they are hunting. They also use the bark of some tree species in the same way that we use onions, to flavour their food. Another example of an important tree is the Bubinga. There are no other trees in the area surrounding a Bubinga due to its mystical powers. Villagers regard their local Bubingas as sacred places, and believe that the trees contain the spirits of their ancestors. The Bantu people gather under the Bubinga to judge someone suspected of witchcraft, and they also sit under the tree to solve problems. They believe that those who cut down the Bubinga will face troubles. For example, the tree might fall upon you and kill you, or your chainsaw will fail to start up. The species is extremely slow growing, and some trees are more than 100 years old. Bubinga is highly appreciated by forest exploiters because of its hard, red-coloured wood, which is used to make furniture in Europe and Asia. These are only a few examples to give you an idea of the major social and cultural impacts that forest exploitation in Cameroon has upon the local population. The total area of Cameroon is an estimated 475,000 square kilometers, and some 17 million hectares of this is forested. The deforestation rate in Cameroon is more than 100,000 hectares per year, and the major cause is logging operations by both local and foreign companies. Logging activities are focused on few species such as Sapelli, Ayous, Iroko, Azobe, Tali, Moabi, Movingui and Ngollon. These species are being exported overseas to Europe, Asia and the rest of the world at a rapid rate. There will be no primary forest left in Cameroon in ten years if major changes are not made. Illegal logging is an enormous problem, and the government does not enforce its own regulations. Of the 100,000 hectares logged each year, at least 40 percent of them are illegally deforested. Logging companies regularly exceed their concessions and export as much as they can with no oversight from the authorities. http://achirricishmael.wordpress.com/2008/04/26/klept-au-crats-and-the-forests-b\ eyond-the-glas s-palace/ Ghana: 25) Government has embarked on forest plantation development, including development of the bamboo and rattan industry, to reduce the pressure on natural forest and slow the process of deforestation. The bamboo and rattan development programme (BARADEP), has been adopted as a national policy to complement the President's Initiative on Forest Plantation with a secretariat to co-ordinate issues on bamboo and rattan development, processing and marketing. Mr Andrew Adjei Yeboah, Deputy Minister for Lands, Forestry and Mines, announced this at a two-day workshop on bamboo for 15 furniture manufacturers and woodworkers from the Greater Accra Region. The workshop organised by the Ministry with support from the Accra TechnicalTraining Centre and the Pioneer Bamboo Processing Company Limited, is expected to expose manufacturers to the general uses of bamboo through production of various furniture and other office and household equipment. Mr Adjei Yeboah noted that deforestation had been identified as a major global problem, saying, its impact on environment, sustainable development and poverty alleviation was immense. He said government had taken prudent steps to promote bamboo and rattan plantation and industry development to help reduce the pressure on timber and also create employment for rural and urban poor. Mr Anderson A. Mensah, Director of Pioneer Bamboo Company, noted that bamboo had the potential to create jobs for the youth and encouraged them to venture into the sector. He said bamboo products were of higher quality and more durable than normal wood and could be used for many household and office equipment. Mr Theophilus Opare Anoh, Principal of Accra Technical College (ATTC), said experiences showed that the industry was a lucrative one and urged participants to give of their best to ensure productive sessions. http://www.modernghana.com/news/163584/1/Government-taking-action-to-reduce-pres\ sure-on-forest s---mini Costa Rica: 26) Half a century after most of Costa Rica's rain forests were cut down, researchers from the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Sciences (BTI) on the Cornell campus are attempting what many thought was impossible -- restoring a tropical rain forest ecosystem. When the researchers planted worn-out cattle pastures in Costa Rica with a sampling of local trees in the early 1990s, native species of plants began to move in and flourish, raising the hope that destroyed rain forests could one day be replaced. Ten years after the tree plantings, Cornell graduate student Jackeline Salazar counted the species of plants that took up residence in the shade of the new planted areas. She found remarkably high numbers of species -- more than 100 in each plot. And many of the new arrivals were also to be found in nearby remnants of the original forests. " By restoring forests we hope not only to be improving the native forests, but we are helping to control erosion and helping the quality of life of the local people, " said Carl Leopold, the William H. Crocker Scientist Emeritus at BTI. He pointed out that drinking water becomes more readily available when forests thrive because tree roots act as a sort of sponge, favoring rainwater seepage and preventing water running off hills and draining away. Fully rescuing a rain forest may take hundreds of years, but Leopold, whose findings are published with Salazar in the March 2008 issue of Ecological Restoration, said the study's results are promising. " I'm surprised, " he said. " We're getting impressive growth rates in the new forest trees. " http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428133928.htm Columbia: 27) One hundred and thirty Nukak Indians, some of the last nomadic Indians in the Amazon, have fled their rainforest homes after becoming caught up in Colombia's civil war. The group make up around a third of the surviving Nukak population, and are now camping on the outskirts of the town of San José. After fighting two years ago between the army, paramilitaries and left-wing FARC rebels in their remote territory, the Indians had hoped that their rainforest home was now safe. Those hopes have been dashed. Many of the Indians fleeing the current fighting have never left the rainforest before. In the latest incidents, FARC rebels shot at Nukak Indians and forcibly displaced seven families from their homes after a Nukak man was used by the Colombian army to locate a rebel settlement. All sides are fighting for control of the lucrative coca crop, the raw material for cocaine. The remoteness of the Nukak territory makes it an ideal location for growing coca. The latest Nukak exodus comes after the recent death of the oldest surviving Nukak woman, Ewapa. Her husband, Kerayi, the oldest Nukak man, described the future for his people as 'bleak'. Most Nukak of middle age and above had already died from the devastating illnesses that swept the tribe after they were first contacted in 1988. More than half the population have now died. Ewapa died from malaria and malnutrition after fleeing the jungle because of the civil war. She spent the last years of her life in San José, where she was desperately unhappy. She found it difficult to eat and by the time of her death had grown extremely thin. Survival's director, Stephen Corry, said today, 'The Nukak simply want to live in peace, in their own territory. They have nothing to do with Colombia's civil war, yet the army and guerrillas seem incapable of leaving them alone. Contact with the outside world has brought the Nukak tribe twenty years of misery, death and exile.' http://www.survival-international.org/news/3268 Brazil: 28) Nearly four decades after they were first planned, three highways through the jungles and swamps of Brazil's Amazon region are being rebuilt. Neglected in the past when they became economically obsolete, they are once again a focus of environmental criticism. The original road, completed in 1973, faced the problems of hostile natural surroundings and high costs, but there were no environmental objections. Indeed, quite the reverse. At that time, deforestation was synonymous with development, and there were plenty of incentives, since peopling the Amazon was a national security priority during the 1964-1985 dictatorship. Today, however, active environmentalist and social movements are keen to prevent mega-projects, especially highways which have the effect of spreading environmental destruction. The perils of climate change also fuel strong international pressure for the conservation of the Amazon rainforest. The BR-319 passes through 885 kilometres of tropical jungle, between Porto Velho, the capital of Rondonia state, which is on the frontier of clearcut deforestation in the centre-south of the Amazon, and Manaus, the capital of Amazonas, the largest Brazilian state, where only two percent of the territory is deforested. The rebuilding of the highway is still an uncertain prospect, as it requires authorisation from the environmental authorities after the submission of an environmental impact study. But Braga said the study should be ready in May. Opposition by the environmentalist lobby is based on fears of deforestation in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. Such disasters have happened before, in the wake of highways built since the 1950s in the southern and eastern Amazon region. In recent years the Environment Ministry, under pressure from environmentalists, has designed a mosaic of conservation areas all along the highway to reduce deforestation. The Brazilian government's Growth Acceleration Programme (PAC) also provides for the recovery of stretches of highway BR-230, known as the Trans-Amazon highway, a 5,000-kilometre project of pharaonic proportions, which the military regime in the 1970s intended to unite the country's northeastern Atlantic coast to the western border of the Brazilian Amazon. The road was abandoned before it was half-built, and has not withstood the fragile soil and invasion by the forest in the eastern Amazon region, where the population itself, which has been numerous for decades, is calling for its paving. A large part of its area of influence has already been deforested, so resistance from environmentalists is more muted. (END/2008) http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42158 29) A Brazilian judge has issued a restraining order on a controversial dam in the Amazon basin, reports International Rivers, a conservation group. In the decision, issued April 16 in response to a suit brought by the federal attorney's office, Judge Antonio Carlos Almeida Campelo ruled that the government illegally awarded technical and economic feasibility and environmental studies for Belo Monte Dam to Brazil's three largest civil construction companies. There was no competitive bidding process for the contract. At 11,181 megawatts, the Belo Monte Dam on the Xingu River would be the world's third largest dam in terms of generating capacity. But the project has faced opposition from a coalition of indigenous groups, scientists, and environmentalists who say the dam will cause environmental harm by flooding large tracts of rainforest and blocking key migration routes for fish. To voice their concern over Belo Monte and other hydroelectric projects in the Amazon, more than 1,000 indigenous representatives are expected to gather in the city of Altamira from May 19-23. A protest last June saw the Enawenê Nawê, a tribe of around 450 members, block a major highway in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso to protest the planned dams on the Xingu river. The planned dam for the Madeira river has also seen widespread opposition. The 6,450-megawatt project, expected to be operational in 2012, will flood 204 square miles of rainforest. http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0430-xingu.html Asia: 30) Growth of Asia's factories are turning forests into grasslands and both booming China and India are to blame for this mass erosion of green cover. Forest experts have warned the soaring demand for timber, food, energy and commodities are all great contributors to the depletion of rainforests in Asia. More recent reports show that the loss of forest continues to grow in Indonesia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Australia and Papua New Guinea amongst others. Although new forests in China, India and Vietnam have been planted to reduce the loss of forest, ecologists say this will not aid the problem. New forests are being noted as man-made and therefore are said to lack the natural varieties of plants found in forests as well as species which are extremely endangered due to the heightened demand for logging. " Many plantations, in terms of biodiversity, are green concrete, " said Peter Walpole, head of the non-profit Asia Forest Network. There is a fear that the solution to the problem of rainforests being lost throughout Asia will not easily be found as both China and India imports of wood form furniture to paper have grown in the past 10 years. Asia's boom economies have seen billions of dollars enter their economies through imports. Imports to China increased from 53 billion dollars in 1990 to 561 billion dollars in 2004. China is now recognized as the worlds leading furniture exporter. On the other hand India too follows in China's footsteps whereby imports of wood products which include paper rose from 750 million dollars in 1990 to US$3.1 billion in 2005, said the FAO. In order to preserve rainforests and decrease the illegal logging and timber trade, solutions to the ongoing problem are being looked into at present. One suggestion to monitor the timber trade has been a universal timber certification system as well as rewarding countries for offsetting pollution through a carbon credit rewards scheme, the FAO continue to wait for some action to be taken before all of forests in Asia are lost to the demands of manufacturers. http://www.2point6billion.com/2008/04/30/asia%E2%80%99s-rainforests-face-depleti\ on-from-over-lo gging/ India: 31) Just two years ago, Thapar had declared that " the tiger had been placed in its coffin. " But today Ranthambhore, in his view, is a prime example of what can be done, if someone puts their minds to it. " Tigers everywhere you look, " he says estatically. He says the credit for this goes entirely to chief minister Vasundhara Raje. She hired 200 ex-army men to increase protection, she put in place good rangers and took a personal interest in the problems facing the park. But Ranthambhore has a tiny population of 30 tigers. For the bigger and wilder majority, there's little hope. Thapar estimates the current tiger population in India at somewhere between 1,200 and 1,400. In 1973, he says, there were 1,800. Painstakingly, this was doubled to around 3,600 five years ago. But in the last four years, rampant poaching and poor protection have brought the number down by 2,300. Thapar is at his wits' end with the approach of the government which, he's convinced, is absolutely wrong. He says he's worked on at least 150 committees and sub-committees (since 1992, when Kamal Nath created the Tiger Crisis cell) of the government relating to tigers which have " all been a waste of time " . He says all the money in the world can't save the tiger unless there's a change in tack. He also squarely blames the state governments. " The Centre can only provide money and guidance. But the state has to do the day-to-day running of the park, " he explains. Forest guards are treated " like dirt " in an era of " brainless governance and absolute ignorance " . I know I risk Thapar's wrath, yet I mention the task force on tigers set up in 2005. The task force was a " mess " consisting of a " strange bunch of people " who, in his view, had " no understanding of the tiger. If they want to deal with people's problems, they should set up a people's task force or a tribal task force, not a tiger task force. " Thapar dissented with the final report of the task force which suggested people and tigers can co-exist. Hogwash, he says. " Between 1850 and 1950, 30,000 tribals and villagers were killed by tigers and 100,000 tigers were killed by man and you're trying to tell me the two can co-exist! There's no harmony here, " he adds. Today, he stands vindicated. " Now, they are struggling to relocate villages as they realise tigers and man do not co-exist! " http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?leftnm=lmnu4 & subLeft=3 & \ autono=321386 & ta b=r 32) Apple growers in the Himachal's Kullu valley are a worried lot due to the increased acreage of pine forests in the region that has led to rise in temperature and ultimately affected the apple cultivation. While pine vegetation is commercially important, as it is valued for timber and wood pulp across the world, it also has its demerits that affect horticultural activity in the valley. Apple cultivation is a major business in Himachal's Kullu valley and is done on both sides of the River Beas in Himalayas. Pines were introduced in Kullu valley in the seventies. Apple growers, however, blame the forest department for the increased pine tree acreage in the Kullu valley. " The vegetation in this area is mainly of broad leaved tress. Unfortunately, these have been cut off and replaced with pine trees. The ratio should ideally have been 23 per cent pine trees with the remaining being broad leaved trees. The department, however, erred and most of the freshly planted trees are pines and due to this the environmental temperature has increased, " said Ami Chand Bhandari, an apple grower. Orchard owners also lament the fact that the chilling hours that are crucial for apple cultivation have been seriously hampered, as pine forests have destroyed the naturally conducive temperature levels. http://www.dailyindia.com/show/233154.php/Pine-forests-eating-into-apple-belt-in\ -Kullu-valley 33) The hazy blue of distant mountains crystallise into sharply rising, steep sided slopes as one enters the area of Male Mahadeshwara Hills. Contiguous with the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary to the east and bridging over to the Bandipur and Nagarhole National Parks, the forests that cloak these hills offer a verdant sight for the eye that hungers for green. As one proceeds from the Kollegal side, the scrub vegetation gives way to dry deciduous forest. The ascent up the curving ghat road to Devarahalli town provides an interesting and eclectic spectacle of habitat types. The deciduous forest changes from dry to a more mixed type with some good tracts of bamboo and riparian vegetation in Madeshwara Malai and Kaudalli reserve forests. The Gopinattam and Hogenekal areas are again dry deciduous landscapes with the east flowing Palar River demarcating the state boundary. Home to charismatic carnivores like the tiger, leopard, hyena and dhole, these forests are a repository of wildlife wealth. Walks along the many game trails that criss-cross the forest yield reveal the presence of a variety of herbivores and carnivores. Sambhar and muntjac are seen quite frequently. Muntjacs are more often heard than seen and Chital is seen more around the drier and flatter landscapes of the Kollegal and Gopinattam areas. These forests form an important ecological entity; in contiguity with the forests of B R Hills, they comprise a bridge between the eastern and western ghats and therefore represent an immense diversity of habitat types and biodiversity. It is also a vital elephant corridor and herds numbering up to 20 to 25 animals have been reportedly sighted during the drier months on the banks of the Palar river. Common palm civet, slender loris, the endangered Grizzled Giant Squirrel and Mahaseer are some of the rare species found here. These forests also boast of an impressive collection of avian fauna with around 200 species found. Rare and wonderful species like the Rufous Bellied Hawk Eagle, Great Horned Owl, Osprey, Lesser fishing eagle, Oriental honey buzzard, fairy bluebird, Rufous tailed lark and Paradise flycatcher are seen here. However, like so many other wild areas of this country, these forests too have to cope with an immense degree of anthropogenic biotic pressures that threaten the integrity of this landscape. The burgeoning population of the villages around is a huge drain on forest resources. Rampant harvesting of vast quantities of minor forest produce such as firewood, bamboo, gooseberry, tamarind, honey, etc. deplete the woods of valuable biomass. Grazing of village livestock imposes a huge drain on the food resources of wild herbivores, besides increasing the possibility of disease transmission to the wild ungulates. http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Apr292008/environmet2008042965316.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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