349 - Earth's Tree News

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--Today for you 31 new articles about earth's trees! (349th edition)

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In this Edition:

 

USA

EU-Africa

 

Summaries:

 

--In Oregon, east of the Cascades on Malheur NF, enviros and loggers

compromise on the the kind of logging they want and the " extremists "

on both sides are eliminated from the deliberation process (1). In BLM

WOPR-land the 'pitchfork rebellion' lists its seven demands to end big

timber, as well as make way for community-backed forest protection(2).

The new farm bill provides funds for " healthy forests " and this

article helps to explains how these funds are coordinated with other

agencies like the Oregon Dept. of Forestry (3).

 

--In California scientists are researching the site-specifics of

climate caused vegetation changes occurring in the Sierra-Nevadas (4).

Sierra Pacific hired some scientists to produce a report that claims

their intensive clearcutting of younger and younger trees over time is

the most carbon / climate friendly of all logging methods (5).

 

--In Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter signed a half-dozen 'forest-health'

bills because we all know that logging really is the only real

economically viable solution(6). --In Montana Greenpeace trains a new

generation of direct action forest defenders (7). --In Michigan Police

have seized two loaded log trucks after a timber theft complaint (8).

This article gives a snapshot of modern day industrial forest

management under the " The Commercial Forest Act. " Plum Creek owns most

of the private land and the author sings their praises (9). --In

Minnesota the native eastern larch beetle is munching lots of Tamarck

because they haven't been killed off by 40below winters in several

years (10). --In Illinois there's a battle between people who want to

protect the city's trees versus people who want to " restore " open

meadows for wildflowers (11).

 

--In New Hampshire a group called Society for Protection of New

Hampshire's Forests is lobbying senators to make sure cap and trade

emissions funds are spent on " management " of forests.(12) --In Maine

another sawmill shut down is " devastating " an isolated community (13).

--In Northeast forests Acid rain is still a problem despite a 50%

decrease in the peak level of 1973. The levels of calcium ions in the

soil had halved throughout the region while aluminum ions have

doubled. (14) --USA: Narcolepsy and the American eco-movement is piece

that speaks of a great deal of truth that we must learn to overcome

(15).

 

--In the UK Researchers are studying the potential of growing forests

on top of toxic waste sites. They say it will work! (16). Neighbors

are upset at a O-Gen UK wood burning plant that gets 15 lories of wood

a day. The plant is expanding and the screen trees between them and

the neighborhood are getting cut down. (17) Being a woodland owner who

doesn't build on thier land is a new popular hobby in the UK (18).

Economic analysis of the wood industries says pulp demand is rising

and the future will be a " very different complexion " (19). More street

tree double-speak (20). A new report requests a greening of

globalization, especially because the world's poorest 1.5 billion

people have half of their needs met directly by ecosystem services

(21).

 

--In Austria 2 dozen Greenpeace protesters shut down an Austrian oil

and gas station to raise awareness about how biofuels cause

deforestation. (22) --In Estonia upcoming trade talks with Russia will

be an opportunity for governments to talk about illegal logging, as

well as Russia's new log tariffs (23). --In Germany it's crunch time

for the more than 6,000 representatives from 191 nationsl. Will they

agree to a road map that acutally protects biodiversity (24)? Also at

the convention they have backed down on a proposed ban on GE trees

(25)

 

--Africa: A group called: Common Market for Eastern and Southern

Africa explains itself in terms of forestry development. If anyone

know more about thisgroup let me know. (26) --In Namibia there were

two articles: The first is about declaring 10 more community forests

so local people instead of big business will be allowed to log the

land to earn a living (27). The next article is about a community

forestry in Northeastern Namibia project, how its growing (28). --In

Ghana the The Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining

(WACAM) is speaking out, calling for a paradigm shift (29). This

article keeps focus on the congo as rapid destruction of forests, as

unprecedented droughts, as well as brutal oppression of indigenous

people (30). --In South Africa the World Rainforest Movement and FSC

visit Komatiland's vast non-native pine plantation (31).

 

Articles:

 

Oregon:

 

1) A Malheur National Forest project in Grant County, wrapped up

earlier this month, producing unprecedented concessions by parties on

both sides. Who would have expected the environmentalists - staunch

opponents of fire salvage - to agree to stand aside and let not one,

but two post-fire sales proceed? Who would have predicted that timber

industry representatives would agree to stay out of an unroaded area

that has long been prized by the conservation groups, in effect

letting it stand as an undesignated wilderness? Those were just two

parts of a much more complex agreement that was reached last May 16,

culminating a process that began almost a year ago and ending the

appeals on the Thorn fire salvage sale. Now the real work begins. Not

that the past two weeks of talks weren't grueling enough for the

parties, but the fact remains that this agreement is something of a

test. The parties emerged not with a solid foundation of trust, but a

tenuous new hope for one. Now they will be watching each other to see

that everyone involved abides by the letter and spirit of the

agreement. Well beyond the Malheur, conservation groups and industry

leaders elsewhere also will be watching to see how this deal plays

out. In the meantime, it's clear that the participants made huge

strides in communication with each other. All sides caution that the

Thorn deal could end up being just one unique solution for one

specific area. However, there's been a strong sense that it could

signal much more. In the realm of forest management, where

brinkmanship has been the rule, there is new hope for negotiation and

cooperation. Sen. Ted Ferrioli, speaking as executive director of

Malheur Timber Operators, suggested last week that an agreement could

" signal an opportunity to end the timber wars in Eastern Oregon. " Don

Bodewig, eastside operations manager for D.R. Johnson Lumber, noted

the critical need for all the parties to find " common ground " - not

just for the sake of the industry, but for the communities of rural

Oregon. Both sides found a tract of common ground last week on the

Thorn and Egley sales. No question, they still have strong differences

in philosophy, particularly over post-fire forest operations. Those

differences can be expected to emerge in future sale proposals. And,

as we've heard frequently from the conservation side, there's no

federal mandate to produce timber volume from the national forests.

http://www.wallowacountychieftain.info/main.asp?SectionID=6 & SubSectionID=6 & Artic\

leID=16038 & TM=7

2108.36

 

2) Our Seven Demands: 1) Scrap and Replace the W.O.P.R. with a Plan

that would Manage Public Forests as Old Growth Tree Reserves for

Carbon Sequestration to Fight Global Warming while providing real

protection for watersheds and endangered species. 2) Reinstate harvest

tax on private logging on industry clearcuts, exempting small woodland

owners. 3) We demand the immediate establishment of a legal buffer

zone that prevents the aerial spraying of pesticides within one mile

of property with a home or school on it, and an increase in existing

buffer zones for waterways. 4) Remove members from the Board of

Forestry with financial conflict of interest by adopting federal

ethics standards. 5) We demand that the clause " maintaining the

availability of pesticides " be removed from the official Mission

Statement of the Oregon Department of Agriculture and its Pesticide

Division including PARC (Pesticide Analytical Response Center). 6)

Stop the erosion of our civil liberties. 7) Revoke corporate

personhood. Corporations currently have the legal rights of persons

without the legal accountabilities. - Contacts: Day Owen, Pitchfork

Rebellion, (541) 927-3017 esseneinfo Josh Schlossberg, (541)

688-2600 info

 

3) The Food Conservation and Energy Act of 2008, commonly referred to

as the Farm Bill, includes $39 million in new funding to be

distributed over 10 years under the Healthy Forest Reserve Fund, which

helps private forestland owners protect endangered species and

provides funding to restore forestland damaged by natural disasters

through the Emergency Forestry Conservation Program. The Farm Bill

also reauthorizes the Rural Revitalization Technologies program. It's

intended to address use of forest biomass in energy production, but

Defrees said while those efforts may be useful in the future, what's

needed today is more money to help landowners thin sickly, overstocked

forests before they go up in flames. …My personal opinion on biomass

is we don't have the technology to develop those types of plants right

now. " Defrees said he has participated in forest thinning projects

with 75 percent funding distributed by the Oregon Department of

Forestry through the federal National Fire Plan. That federal program

helps landowners thin overstocked, fuel-loaded forests in urban

interface areas where the risk of catastrophic fire threatens homes

and entire communities located in or near forests. Defrees said the

program is making dramatic improvements on private forestland in the

urban interface zones. But he contends that what's really needed — and

is not included in the Farm Bill — is a federally funded program to

carry out that type of thinning on a broad scale to restore healthy

forests on private and public lands across the country. The National

Fire Plan pays 75 percent of thinning costs — usually $200 to $600 per

acre. Hessel said federal funding for forest health programs on

private woodlands available through ODF and the Natural Resource

Conservation Service, which oversees the Environmental Quality

Incentives Program, falls far short of the need in Baker County and

other areas of Northeastern Oregon. " Program authorizations like this

are well and good though, on the whole, I would have a hard time

calling this Farm Bill a major win for forest landowners. For programs

to be effective, they must be adequately funded, and that isn't

something lawmakers were able to make happen in this Farm Bill, "

Schweitzer said.

http://www.bakercityherald.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=6668

 

California:

 

 

4) Looking into the future it isn't hard for researchers to picture

the many different Sierra ecosystems — wrapped like bands around

different elevations — retreating rapidly upward, squeezing each other

and eventually running out of elevation to climb.

As future temperatures rise, predictions are for snow to melt faster

and streams to swell earlier, out of sync with the breading cycles of

aquatic species like fish and frogs.

Dry summers would leave entire forests more susceptible to fire and

pests than ever before. And, many experts agree, the changes become

amplified as they move up the food chain, throwing the Sierra Nevada's

entire ecosystem, meticulously established over millennia, out of

balance in a matter of decades. The bottom line, some scientists

conclude, is the extinction of vulnerable mountain species and

increased fire risk for the Sierra's human inhabitants. " Our concern

is with the rapidity of change — most species can evolve over time and

the planet has always been in flux — but it's the rate of change,

which is really unlike anything we've been able to study, " said Josh

Viers, assistant research ecologist at UC Davis. The Sierra Nevada has

been characterized as the " canary in the coal mine, " according to the

U.S. Forest Service, an early alarm for the deleterious effects of

rising temperatures. But all parts of the Sierra won't be treated

equal. Despite Truckee-Tahoe's more northern latitude, the area will

likely be hit harder than the taller mountains to the south. " The area

around Tahoe and Donner Summit, for example, would be more affected

then Kings Canyon, " Viers said. And so Tahoe National Forest has been

picked as an open-air laboratory for climate change — a focal point in

a global issue — with researchers from academic bodies, conservation

groups and the U.S. Forest Service gleaning whatever they can learn

from the surrounding woods.

http://www.sierrasun.com/article/20080531/NEWS/220386951/-1/rss02

 

5) " By following intensive management practices to harvest and replant

most of our lands over the course of 80 to 100 years, we found we can

actually increase the ability of our forests to store carbon by about

150 percent, " said Cajun James, the company's research and monitoring

managers. That's the gist of a four-year study produced on behalf of

Sierra Pacific Industries, which owns 1.6 million acres of forests in

California. The study examined four scenarios, and found that the

intensive model of harvesting and replanting about 1.25 percent of

forest lands each year most successfully sequestered carbon.

Environmental groups think the science justifying these conclusions

is, at best, sloppy. Chris Wright, executive director of the Foothills

Conservancy, said the study only concentrates on carbon in trees, and

overlooks how much carbon is emitted into the atmosphere while

transporting workers, harvesting the wood, and hauling the felled

trees. A group called ForestWatch, which produced its own study, asks

builders to steer clear of Sierra Pacific Industry products until the

company reforms its forest management polices. The company last year

paid a fine of $13 million for falsifying emission reports and

tempering with monitoring equipment.

http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20080530/NEWS/441117499

 

Colorado:

 

6) Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter signed a half-dozen forest-health bills

into law at Keystone Wednesday to help communities on the Western

Slope remove beetle-killed trees that pose a fire threat to

neighborhoods, water supplies and critical infrastructure. The suite

of bills is a sign that policymakers in Denver understand the need to

protect environmental, economic and social values associated with

forests around mountain communities, Ritter said. " We have 22.6

million acres of forest lands that are critical for wildlife,

watersheds and landscapes. These bill bring us a little closer to a

statewide forest health vision, " Ritter said. Among the measures

passed was Senate Bill 71, sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Dan

Gibbs of Silverthorne, which authorizes $1 million annually for the

next four years for forest-restoration work. The measure is a

four-year extension of a pilot project that helped pay for a fire

break in a West Vail neighborhood and for clearing dead trees around a

community water tank in the Vail area. Gibbs, who co-sponsored the

bill with state Rep. Christine Scanlan, a Silverthorne Democrat, said

the money will go for similar projects in other mountain communities.

To illustrate the need for the bill, Scanlan recounted a close call

last summer, when she saw lightning ignite a tree near the Keystone

Center before a cloudburst extinguished the small fire. The Keystone

Center later used a state grant to remove more than 100 dead and dying

trees from the grounds. At a cost of about $85 to $100 per tree, the

non-profit wouldn't have been able to afford that project without

state-authorized funding, she explained. State Rep. Al White, a Grand

County Republican, said the beetle battle is nonpartisan. " We need to

take a hand in managing forests in a rational way, " White said. The

alternative — leaving the landscape to succumb to inevitable fires —

is not acceptable, he added.

http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20080528/NEWS/146226762

 

Montana:

 

7) David Muller hunkered down and watched as an instructor tied a

timber hitch around three 20-foot logs. Soon Muller would be

practicing knot tying himself, and compass reading and tree climbing.

The 56-year-old bookseller from Alaska was in training, not as an

outdoorsman but as a political activist. Muller and 70 others were

here amid the ponderosa pines of western Montana under the tutelage of

veterans from Greenpeace and the National Forest Protection Alliance.

In response to the Bush administration's forest management policy,

allowing the timber industry new access to the nation's forests, some

of the environmental movement's most ardent activists are preparing

for civil disobedience. " This is an excellent opportunity to learn

nonviolent direct action to save wilderness and roadless areas, " said

Muller, 56, who hopes to prevent cutting in southeastern Alaska's

Tongass National Forest. Muller said he is ready to put his body

between the bulldozers and the trees. At the camp, he has learned to

climb a 100-foot-tall tree and set up a platform where he can live for

an indefinite period of time. He has learned to build a tall tripod,

also with a platform for him to live on, which can be used as a

blockade against logging trucks. President Bush's plan, which has been

supported by many politicians of both parties in the West, is meant to

thin underbrush -- the flashpoint for many forest fires -- near

populated areas and give logging companies access to new timber. Even

as Western states begin the forest fire season, no consensus on Bush's

proposal has emerged. Some environmental groups have grudgingly

supported the plan, but others -- including those here -- vow to

oppose it. The activists said no demonstrations were planned during

the training session, but, they said, they were getting ready. " No one

is opposed to bona fide restoration projects, " said Matthew Koehler of

the Native Forest Network, " but President Bush and Department of

Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey are proposing some egregious

projects. If public participation doesn't work, then there is no other

recourse. People will take to nonviolent civil disobedience. "

http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=24339 & keybold=native%20fore\

st%20logging%20

end

 

Michigan:

 

8) VICKSBURG - Police in Vicksburg are investigating a possible case

of tree theft. On Wednesday, police found a huge semi-trailer filled

with freshly cut wood, after someone cleared out dozens of towering

trees from a private property on East V Ave. Near Mud Lake. Tom Scott,

the he owner of the land says he arrived at his weekend home

Wednesday, and found what he suspects to be a questionable tree

company chopping down and loading up his walnut and cherry trees. One

truck was already fully loaded, and Scott says the loggers were

actually preparing to load a second truck. One of Scott's neighbors

says he contracted with a company to remove trees from his property,

but the man he signed up with, someone named Denny Dryer, couldn't be

reached for comment. Only two trees were taken from the neighbor's

land, while Scott lost at least 35 trees. " I am a big person on

private property rights and I was very surprised, " said Scott. " You

can't stand them up again, can you? " Scott says he has recently read

about tree thefts, but certainly didn't expect it would happen to him.

" It's just sort of the sign of the times right now in Michigan of

everyone trying too hard, " he said. " Was there intent? I can't say

that, we'd like to think good about everybody. " Scott says the drivers

of the logging trucks eventually admitted to taking the trees, and

said their plan was to go with them to Bay City, MI, to a Maple Ridge

Logging operation. And while he admits it could all be a

misunderstanding, Scott says he isn't willing to discount the

possibility of theft. The semi trucks carrying the wood have been

impounded, but no arrests have been made. The Kalamazoo County

Sheriff's Department is currently investigating the situation.

http://www.wwmt.com/news/scott_1349861___article.html/trees_says.html

 

9) " The science behind the replanting process and the forestry

industry as a whole is amazing and changing everyday, " said Wilson.

" We have 17 foresters in Michigan that use state-of-the-art technology

to manage and track our forests. " The seedlings planted this spring

will grow for 20-25 years before they begin to be thinned so that the

remaining trees can continue to grow for 45-60 years. Becker said the

vast majority of land in Michigan owned by Plum Creek falls under the

Commercial Forest Act, which means the public can hunt and fish on it,

much like state land. " The Commercial Forest Act " is a program that

basically helps to keep property taxes lower for landowners but the

land is then open to the public for hunting and fishing, " said Becker.

Plum Creek is the largest and most geographically diverse private

landowner in the nation. In Michigan, Plum Creek practices sustainable

forestry. http://www.dailypress.net/page/content.detail/id/503932.html?nav=5003

 

Minnesota:

 

10) Thousands of acres of tamarack trees are dying off in northern

Minnesota. The trees are under attack from a small, native insect

called the eastern larch beetle. Forestry experts say they're not sure

why the larch beetle population is exploding, and they say there isn't

much they can do about it. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

forester John Cofort is crossing a railroad bed that runs along

Highway 2 east of Bemidji. There's a swamp just below the rail line

and it's the perfect habitat for tamarack tree, but many of the trees

here are dead. " We've got a tamarack stand here, " said Cofort. " There

are lots of standing dead trees that you can see. We've got one that

was killed last summer right in front of us. We've got some live

tamaracks to the side, and they're probably infested right now. " An

insect called the larch beetle is killing these trees. The bugs favor

tamarack and other tree species within the larch family. The

dark-colored insect is about the size of a grain of rice. They burrow

holes in the trees. The females lay their eggs beneath the bark. When

the larvae hatch, they feed on the inner bark. That cuts off the

tree's ability to transport water and nutrients. " They come out about

this time of year and they start colonizing in the tops of the trees, "

said Cofort. " They'll eventually work all the way down. It can take up

to three to five years to completely kill a tree. " The larch beetle

outbreak has already killed thousands of tamarack trees in northern

Minnesota. About 65,000 acres are infested. The bugs are nothing new.

Larch beetles have been around for thousands of years. Experts aren't

sure why the population has exploded, but they believe it's partly

because of several years of drought. Dry conditions weaken trees and

make them more vulnerable to attack. Cofort says warming trends in the

climate may also help the beetles thrive. " It takes about 40 below to

kill them off completely and right now we haven't had those cold

temperatures for quite a few years, " he said. Cofort says there's no

good way to fight the bugs. He says the best approach is to log

affected stands so that at least some of the wood can be salvaged.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/05/23/larchbeetle/

 

Illinois:

 

11) Inside LaBagh Woods on Chicago's Northwest Side, it seems like the

distance to a big-city neighborhood would have to be measured not in

blocks but centuries. Oak trees' wrinkled bark gives them the look of

craggy sentinels. Thick stands of buckthorn screen off the outside

world. Deer foraging along the Chicago River casually look up at the

sound of human footsteps. Certainly this isn't the primeval landscape

that greeted the first European settlers to arrive here. Or is it?

That question is being hotly debated in Sauganash, a neighborhood of

stately homes and manicured lawns adjoining the woods. It's an

argument that divides environmentalists into warring camps—each armed

with mental maps of what they are convinced this 150-acre section of

the Forest Preserve District of Cook County looked like before there

was a Cook County. Those who worry that Illinois' Prairie State

heritage is endangered argue that growing room must be provided for

the wildflowers that dotted the prairies before being plowed into

cornfields and subdivisions—even if it means clear-cutting bushes and

trees, a process known as restoration. Forester John McCabe scoffs at

the hands-off-the-woods faction. " That's not what they're doing with

their own lawns, " he said. " All we're doing is managing our lawns, so

to speak. " McCabe, who works for the Forest Preserve District, is in

charge of a woodland-management program that uses chain saws and fire

to clear underbrush and what it dubs undesirable plant species from

forest preserve lands. " The vast body of science favors restoration, "

said Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley, whose 10th District

includes Sauganash. " It didn't take me long to find out that

restoration is not good science, " countered Mary Lee Paoletti, who

lives next to LaBagh Woods. A retired science teacher, she used to

volunteer for forest preserve cleanup projects but said the experience

caused her to switch sides. Some people with similar tales to tell

bill themselves as " recovering restorationists. " In the battle of

endorsements, those on the side of restoration have the green-movement

biggies. The Sierra Club and Audubon Society support controlled burns

as a forest management method. But the naysayers have support too:

Trees for Life, Urban Wildlife Coalition, Natural Forest Advocates.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-woods-29-may29,0,4835786.story

 

New Hampshire:

 

12) As two former chairmen of the Society for the Protection of New

Hampshire's Forests, we have a keen understanding of both the

vulnerability of our state's forest lands and the economic opportunity

they offer. From the hardwood timber prized in world markets to the

warbling of songbirds now returning, our forests define the landscape

while providing work and play for New Hampshire citizens and tourists

alike. The annual contribution of forest-based manufacturing and

forest-related recreation and tourism in New Hampshire is more than $2

billion. This is one of our top three industries, yet an irrefutable

body of science now confirms that significant global warming is under

way and threatening our forests as well as the functioning of our

forestry activities. From projected changes in tree species to fewer

days with frozen ground needed for effective logging, if left

unchecked global warming will undoubtedly have an adverse effect on

this critical sector of our state's economy. In New Hampshire, and the

northeast generally, our forests can store as much as 100 to 150 tons

of carbon per acre and annually accumulate another one to two tons per

acre per year in trees, plants, soil and underground roots. Each year

New Hampshire's forests take up the equivalent of 25 percent of the

carbon dioxide emitted from man-made sources of CO2 in the state.

Sustainably managed, the temperate forests of the Northeast offer one

of the nation's largest natural carbon storehouses. Sens. Gregg and

Sununu have an opportunity to ensure that the money generated by a

national global warming cap and trade program is used to effectively

and affordably transition the U.S. into a cleaner, more efficient

energy future. Our forests have a major role to play in that

transition, and there is a lot of money to be made -- right here in

New Hampshire -- by using our properly managed forest lands to store

carbon and produce clean energy.

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=French+%26+Smith%3A+Protecting+\

NH's+forests+w

ith+a+national+plan+to+cut+carbon+emissions & articleId=8a70cd46-afc5-4b94-942d-dc\

fdc270ddc9

 

Maine:

 

13) Small isolated communities like the Jackman-Moose River area would

be devastated without a sawmill and the related jobs in logging and

trucking. Sawmills struggle to survive with a depressed housing market

and a shortage of affordable spruce-fir sawlogs that we use in our

sawmill. Many Maine manufacturing facilities are operating at reduced

hours or have taken down time due to a raw material shortage. Our mill

is currently running 40 hours per week down from 45 because of a log

supply shortage. Perhaps this issue should get more attention than

recreation and conservation, which brings very little revenue into

small forestry-dependent communities. I have never been able to

understand why our state continues to export raw material (sawlogs) at

such a high rate. The 2006 data supplied by the Maine Forest Service

shows that 52 percent of our spruce-fir sawlogs were exported

unprocessed as raw logs. Exporting raw material for manufacturing

elsewhere is what Third World countries do. Northern Maine (north of

Augusta) would be much better off, and the entire state of Maine would

benefit, if we processed all available raw material in the state. On

behalf of my family and our 75 full-time employees, thank-you for

giving consideration to the people who are actually working and living

in the Maine woods.

http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/view/letters/5108228.html

 

 

Northeast Forests:

 

14) Acid rain may seem, like, so 1980s, but the problem has not gone

away. Researchers reported this week that soils throughout the

Northeast are continuing to acidify, despite a 50 percent decrease in

acid rain since the peak in 1973. This may be contributing to declines

in sugar maples and red spruce in the region, the researchers said.

" The quality of water is improving, but the soils are continuing to

get worse, " said study lead author Richard Warby, now at Environ

International Corporation in Princeton, N.J. Warby, who conducted the

study while at Syracuse University in N.Y., presented the findings

this week at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Fort

Lauderdale, Fla. Acid rain in the United States is caused primarily by

emissions from coal power plants, especially sulfur dioxide. Acid rain

has decreased since restrictions on sulfur dioxide emissions were

enacted under the Clean Air Act in 1970 and 1990 In 2001, Warby

repeated surveys done in 1984 by the Environmental Protection Agency

of 145 watersheds throughout the Northeast region. He gathered soil

and water samples and compared the change over 17 years " What we found

is rather alarming, " Warby said. The levels of calcium ions in the

soil had halved throughout the region while aluminum ions had doubled.

Calcium ions are basic, and provide the soil with a way to neutralize

acid it is exposed to. They also provide essential nutrition to trees

like red spruce and sugar maple. Aluminum ions, on the other hand, are

acidic, and soil aluminum shifts from an inert form into an available

form under acidic conditions. The available form is toxic to plants at

high concentrations. " You're replacing a nutrient by a toxic

substance, " said Charles Driscoll of Syracuse University, who was a

part of the study.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/05/30/acid-rain-northeast.html

 

USA:

 

15) A kind of political narcolepsy has settled over the American

environmental movement. Call it eco-ennui. You may know the feeling:

restlessness, lack of direction, evaporating budgets, diminished

expectations, a simmering discontent. The affliction appears acute,

possibly systemic. Unfortunately, the antidote isn't as simple as

merely filing a new lawsuit in the morning or skipping that PowerPoint

presentation to join a road blockade for the day. No, something much

deeper may be called for: a rebellion of the heart. Just like in the

good old days, not that long ago. What is it, precisely, that's going

on? Was the environmental movement bewitched by eight years of Bruce

Babbitt and Al Gore? Did it suffer an allergic reaction to the New

Order of Things? Are we simply adrift in a brief lacuna in the

evolution of the conservation movement, one of those Gouldian (Stephen

Jay) pauses before a new creative eruption? Perhaps, the movement,

such as it was, experienced an institutional uneasiness with the rules

of engagement during the long cold war in Clintontime. A war (War? Did

someone say war?) where hostilities, such as they were, remained

buried beneath graceful gestures at meaningful discourse--where the

raw passions for rare places are, at the insistence of lawyers and

lobbyists, politically sublimated or suppressed altogether.

Environmentalism has never thrived on an adherence to etiquette or

quiet entreaties. Yet, that became the organizational posture during

Clintontime and it has continued through the rougher years of Bush and

Cheney. Direct confrontation of governmental authority and corporate

villainy was once our operational metier. No longer.

http://socialistworker.org/2008/05/29/once-and-future-movement

 

UK:

 

16) A ten-year study has found that it is possible to grow mature and

sturdy trees on land once used to dispose of liquid, clinical and

hazardous waste without any threat of leakage in the local

environment. The results will delight supporters of the Campaign to

Protect Rural England and Friends of the Earth, which have been

monitoring the impact on nearby households of landfill sites and the

daily convoy of waste lorries. Five former dumping grounds near

Bristol, Swindon, Hatfield, Ely and Skelmersdale have been monitored

to find out how various tree varieties fared when planted above a

compacted clay cap. The fastest-growing trees were poplar, alder,

cherry, whitebeam, ash and Corsican pine, but oaks also thrived with

sufficient rainfall. These trees were able to grow in a soil bed of

only 1.5 metres (5ft) on top of the clay cap. There were fears that

the roots of the trees would penetrate the cap or that the cap would

crack and weather. But the study shows that the roots of 98 per cent

of all trees planted were contained within the 1.5m layer of soil. In

areas of southern England that suffer drought it is envisaged that a

deeper soil cover would be required to ensure enough moisture to keep

mature trees healthy. Guidance is now to be issued to local

authorities by the Environment Agency on how to transform these blots

on the landscape to create neighbourhood parks, woods and nature

reserves. The move is also seen as an important new tool in the

Government's commitment to tackle climate change - planting one

hectare of trees can lead to the absorbtion of six tonnes of carbon

dioxide emissions a year - and to regenerate brownfield land.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4029350.ece

 

17) Energy company O-Gen UK wants to create a wood-burning plant on

part of the disused former QDF Castings foundry, in Sinfin. But work

at the Victory Road site has already upset nearby residents, who are

furious at the potential environmental impact of the development and

the work so far. O-Gen UK , which recovers used timber, has applied to

Derby City Council to extend the height of Unit One on the site by

four metres and build a 20-metre chimney for the fumes produced by its

furnaces. If the plans are passed, the O-Gen plant will take used

timber - which would otherwise be sent to landfills - and burn it to

create electricity to help power the National Grid. The planning

application states that O-Gen UK expects to receive between eight and

15 lorry deliveries of timber daily. The application does not state

how many days a week this would be for. The timber would come from

recovery companies within five miles of the site. Jo Broughton, 44,

whose garden backs directly on to the site, said she was horrified

when she saw trees around the unit being chopped down earlier this

week. She said: " It's never been a pretty sight but the trees and

hedges have hidden it from view for the last few years. There were

birds, foxes and all sorts of wildlife around there. They've butchered

it without thinking. " Gary Woolley, a road worker who lives in Victory

Road, said he was worried about potential fumes from the chimney. Mr

Woolley said: " When the site was last in use, we had a lot of trouble

with fumes. We used to get black clouds of dust that settled on

windows and cars. "

http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=124378 & command=displayC\

ontent & sourceN

ode=231734 & home=yes & more_nodeId1=124522 & contentPK=20756231

 

18) At Woodlands.co.uk we encourage people to buy, own and enjoy their

own woodland. We've been selling our woodlands through Woodlands.co.uk

for 20 years, but we want to make more woodlands more widely

available. For buyers it can be difficult and time-consuming to find

out what is available, so we have developed a website where people can

buy and sell woodlands <http://www.forests.co.uk>. For sellers of

larger woodlands, www.forests.co.uk is intended to help market these

more widely. Bob Liles will be managing www.forests.co.uk for us

principally. Some of you will know Bob already; he is an old hand in

selling and assessing woodlands. If you know anyone with a larger

woodland who would like to sell, please do get them to send him an

email at bob.

http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/practical-guides/forestscouk/

 

19) Demand for wood chips and pulp from processors operating at full

capacity is driving demand for small roundwood, according to the

latest UPM Tilhill Timber bulletin. A shift in demand from sawlogs to

small roundwood has been particularly from pulp and board

manufacturers in the north and also for exports and the rapid growth

in demand for energy wood. " Looking ahead, the UK market displays a

very different complexion from last year and is influenced by many

factors outside the control of the UK timber industry, " said UPM

Tilhill managing director Steve Lavery. " Global economic conditions,

evidence of a slowdown in the US economy and of the strong euro

dampening European economic growth, rising input costs largely driven

by high oil costs – all will invevitably reflect in the price that is

paid to the grower. " Despite this, Mr Lavery said the processing

sector was " strong " , with investments in new capacity in the

sawmilling and board industries, plus rapidly growing demand for

energy wood. " Underpinning all of this is the real and evident

increase in forest production. So despite the likely impacts of the

current economic conditions, we have good reason to remain positive

and look forward to another exciting and demanding year. "

http://wood.lesprom.com/news/34139/

 

20) Trimming in St James's Lane and neighbouring streets has taken

place over the last couple of months and one resident says he's has

had enough. Edward Hancock, 78, of Hillfield Park, claimed trees have

been cut down in St James Lane. He said: " Muswell Hill is the most

beautiful area in London and everyone comes here because of that. It's

being lost bit by bit. " Haringey Council said it has had two

applications to prune trees in St James Lane, with the latest taking

place on Monday of last week. In March, Haringey conservation officer

Ian Holt inspected damaged trees in Parkland Walk after residents

raised the alarm. Peter Thompson, of the Muswell Hill and Fortis Green

Association, said people were distressed to see poplars being cut

down. He added: " They weren't being felled but were being brought down

to size. We have to be vigilant about this type of thing. " A council

spokesman said: " If any additional trees have been removed they would

have been done illegally. "

http://www.muswellhilljournal24.co.uk/content/haringey/muswellhilljournal/news/s\

tory.aspx?bran

d=MHJOnline & category=news & tBrand=northlondon24 & tCategory=newsmhj & itemid=WeED28%2\

0May%202008%2

012%3A49%3A51%3A327

 

21) Two-thirds of our ecosystem services are already in decline, some

dramatically. We need a greening of globalisation. " The document to be

released at the CBD is an interim report into what the team

acknowledges are complex, difficult and under-researched issues. The

7% figure is largely based on loss of forests. The report will

acknowledge that the costs of losing some ecosystems have barely been

quantified. The trends are understood well enough - a 50% shrinkage of

wetlands over the past 100 years, a rate of species loss between 100

and 1,000 times the rate that would occur without 6.5 billion humans

on the planet, a sharp decline in ocean fish stocks and one third of

coral reefs damaged. However, putting a monetary value on them is

probably much more difficult, the team acknowledges, than putting a

cost on climate change. " [but] two-thirds of these ecosystem services

are already in decline, some dramatically. We need a greening of

globalisation. " The document to be released at the CBD is an interim

report into what the team acknowledges are complex, difficult and

under-researched issues. The 7% figure is largely based on loss of

forests. The report will acknowledge that the costs of losing some

ecosystems have barely been quantified. The trends are understood well

enough - a 50% shrinkage of wetlands over the past 100 years, a rate

of species loss between 100 and 1,000 times the rate that would occur

without 6.5 billion humans on the planet, a sharp decline in ocean

fish stocks and one third of coral reefs damaged. However, putting a

monetary value on them is probably much more difficult, the team

acknowledges, than putting a cost on climate change. At the CBD on

Wednesday, 60 countries signed pledges to halt net deforestation by

2020. But the main CBD target agreed by all signatories at the Rio de

Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992 - to " halt and begin to reverse "

biodiversity loss by 2010 - is very unlikely to be met.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7424535.stm

 

Austria:

 

22) About 25 Greenpeace activists, some dressed as orangutans, blocked

an OMV petrol station in Vienna Thursday, accusing the Austrian oil

and gas giant of destroying the rainforest to make agrofuel. A few of

them brandished placards that read " OMV: no rainforest in the fuel

tank. " " Whoever fills up at OMV is destroying up to ten square metres

of rainforest, " Jurrien Westerhof, an energy expert with Greenpeace

Austria, said in a statement. Greenpeace said fuel samples taken from

OMV petrol stations had been found to contain soya and palm oil from

Latin America and South East Asia. " That shows a direct link between

OMV agrofuel and the clearing of rainforests to set up plantations for

palm or soya oil, " said Westerhof. However OMV denied the charge and

said it had invited Greenpeace to a meeting next week to discuss the

" misunderstanding. "

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jbe8tiEdbjvlKslRyQACDENlrxFA

Estonia:

 

23) Estonia's minister of foreign affairs has urged the European

community to focus on trade, energy and customs affairs in forthcoming

discussions with Russia. Urmas Paet, speaking after European foreign

minsters met to discuss the terms of reference for EU-Russia treaty

negotiations, said the issue of trade was important. For Estonia, he

explained in reports in the Baltic Course, border policy and the issue

of tariffs on timber were significant, with free trade a key point. Mr

Paet said customs and energy were the priorities for Estonia – with

the relaxation of timber levies one of the chief goals. Russia has

adopted prohibitive tariffs for timber trade coming through its

borders, despite opposition from the industry, which has seen imports

from a range of countries banned. This news item is brought to you by

KMS Baltics in conjunction with Fest-Forest and EST KINNISVARA. Baltic

forestry and property specialists.

http://www.kms.ee/index.php?Estonia_keen_on_EU_timber_talks_with_Russia & page=12 & \

article_id=186

15555 & action=article

 

Germany:

 

24) A major UN conference on how to slow species loss and the

destruction of the world's ecosystems has entered its final hours with

a half-dozen proposals on the table but virtually nothing decided.

" This is crunch time, " said James Leape, the head of World Wildlife

Fund International (WWF), an influential environmental group

monitoring the negotiations. " Everything depends on what comes out at

the end of the day, " he said. More than 6,000 representatives from 191

countries gathered in Germany since May 19, have struggled to hammer

out a road map for saving Earth's vanishing flora and fauna, much of

it in tropical rain forests and the sea. Biodiversity advocates,

inside and outside government, say the rapid disappearance of species

- some 150 every day - and environmental damage pose no less a threat

to human welfare than climate change. The first major economic

assessment of ecosystem degradation, released Thursday, calculated the

cost to the world economy at between ($US2.1 to 4.8 trillion) every

year. But the call to action has only recently gathered momentum, and

concrete measures remain the exception rather than the rule. The

conference will vet a slew of proposals before adjourning Friday. One

calls on industrialised countries to boost funding for biodiversity

conservation, by 50 per cent for national programmes and by 100 per

cent for international initiatives. German Chancellor Andrea Merkel

pledged this week to stump up 500 million euros ($A821.73 million)

before 2013, and another half-billion euros annually thereafter, but

so far few other advanced economies have indicated they will follow

suit. The adoption of binding standards for biofuel development, and a

certification regime for applying those standards, are also under

review. Carbon-fuel substitutes made from grain and non-food crops

were widely hailed until recently as a silver bullet in the fight

against global warming. But critics say some biofuels use nearly as

much energy to produce as they save, and have helped drive up world

food prices for corn and soy. Large swathes of CO2-absorbing tropical

forests - especially in Brazil, which is hostile to the proposal -

have been converted to biofuel production.

http://news.smh.com.au/world/little-decided-in-un-biodiversity-talks-20080530-2j\

t5.html

 

25) The 150 countries that are members of the Convention on Biological

Diversity - the leading international agreement for ecological

governance - refused to ban the controversial trees during their

conference in Bonn, Germany. The decision means that trees whose

genetic traits have been manipulated to make them more suitable for

the paper making and biofuel industries, can be grown in field trials

with a view to being grown on a commercial scale. Under the decision,

members are allowed to ban the controversial trees in their own

countries but with no international agreement, they would not be

protected by contaminated pollen blown across national borders from

neighboring countries. The conference comes amid growing commercial

pressure from the biotechnology industry which wants to grow GM trees

in large-scale monocultures. The amount of cellulose in trees can be

increased to make them more suitable for paper and ethanol, which can

be used as a biofuel. Simultaneously, the level of lignin - the

substance that gives trees their rigidity - can be reduced.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/05/30/eagm130.xml

 

Africa:

 

26) The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is

working on a forestry development and management strategy that will

help sustain management of forestry products, services and climate

change in the COMESA region. Trade in a range of forest products from

the COMESA region is already globally significant, according to the

latest newsletter of the trading block, which said that COMESA member

States were among the leading exporters of timber and non-timber

forest products. The Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, is the

fifth largest exporter of tropical logs. The newsletter quoted of Investment Promotion and Private Sector Development

(IPPSD) at the COMESA secretariat, Chungu Mwila, as revealing that

Sudan provides 50 percent of global supplies of gum Arabic, while

Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and Kenya are leading exporters in a number

of valuable flavours and fragrances. Other COMESA member countries

that are leading in the exporter of forestry products are Madagascar,

Burundi, Kenya and DRC, which export the medicinal bark from the tree

known as Prunus Africana. COMESA is a global leader in the production

of vanilla (dominated by Madagascar) and ylang-ylang for perfumes

(dominated by Comoros). Coffee and tea are major agroforestry crops,

and several COMESA member countries (Kenya and to a lesser extent

Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe) are significant producers of

woodcarvings).

http://www.afriquenligne.fr/news/africa-news/zambia:-comesa-plans-viable-strateg\

y-on-forestry-p

roducts-200805305429.html

 

Namibia:

 

27) The number of rural Namibians deriving income from forestry

products is set to increase if the newly appointed Minister of

Agriculture, Water and Forestry has his way. Minister John Mutorwa

told the National Assembly recently that his Ministry would declare

ten more community forests in the future and intensify the

implementation of community-based forest management. Currently, there

are 134 gazetted community forests in Namibia, says the Director of

Forestry, Joseph Hailwa. However, Hailwa said it was difficult to say

how many people were benefiting from community forests. " It is not

like in the rural conservancies, where members of the conservancy are

registered, " said Hailwa. Mutorwa said his Ministry was monitoring the

current benefit-sharing mechanism and would continue to advise

communities how to make the most of their local forests. He said

equipment for clearing firebreaks in the Oshana and Kavango regions

had been bought and fire management activities carried out in most

fire-prone areas. Hailwa said the limited number of trees with

commercial value in Namibia's community forests was one of the

challenges facing the management of these forests. " Forests provide

more of a subsistence living. We do not have many trees of commercial

value, unlike in countries such as DRC, where you have huge forests

with a lot of timber. http://allafrica.com/stories/200805290808.html

 

28) A PROCLAIMED community forest and three emerging community forests

were recently joined to the Na-Jaqna Conservancy near Tsumkwe in

northeastern Namibia. Jana Arnold of the German Development Service

(DED), which supports the Community Forestry in Northeastern Namibia

project, said in the past conservancies and community forests were

developed separately. " It was therefore difficult to co-operate and

especially the benefit distribution system was restricted to certain

people, " said Arnold. The decision to join the projects was taken at

the annual general meeting of the Na-Jaqna Conservancy on April 24 at

Mangetti Dune in the Otjozondjupa Region. The forests that were joined

with the conservancy are the M'kata, Pespeka, Mangetti-South and

Omatako-South community forests. A working group consisting of support

organisations and members of the existing management committees will

now draft a joint constitution that will unite the formerly separated

projects and lay the foundations for co-management. Joining community

forests with conservancies for the benefit of integrated natural

resource management became possible with the latest extension of the

Community Forestry programme of the Directorate of Forestry in the

Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200805290797.html

 

Ghana:

 

29) A civil society group in Ghana has accused gold mining companies

of killing agriculture, displacing local populations and damaging the

environment, saying that life for mining communities is " hell " . " For

the mining communities, life with mining is hell, " WACAM said in a

report issued as the Ghana Chamber of Mines celebrates 80 years of

mining with the slogan " Life without mining is impossible " . The Wassa

Association of Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM) said Ghana is

sacrificing its enormous agricultural potential to mining in a time of

soaring global food prices. " Multinational mining companies are mining

in Western Region, Eastern (Region), Ashanti and in the Brong Ahafo

region and these are the areas that constitute the food basket of the

country, " the report, sent to AFP Wednesday, said. It said

multinationals such as AngloGold Ashanti, Golden Star Resources,

Newmont Ghana Gold Limited, Goldfields Ghana Limited and Chirano Gold

Mines " hold large tracts of agricultural lands as mining concessions " .

WACAM said that mining has caused many areas that used to be major

food production areas to become areas of net food deficit. The group

also said gold mining has displaced tens of thousands of landlords,

along with their labourers and dependents. The group blamed what it

said was the determination of successive Ghanaian administrations to

attract foreign direct investment into the extractive sector at all

costs. " In the past two decades, there has been a paradigm shift ..

from dependence on agriculture to mining and we have exhibited a

strong desire and committment to promote the mining sector above all

sectors through the provision of generous incentives to attract

foreign direct investment (FDI) .., " WACAM said. The group said the

extractive sector accounts for around 70 percent of all FDI inflows to

Ghana.

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Life_with_mining_is_hell_Ghanaian_NGO_999.html

 

Congo:

 

30) In the forests of Central Africa, the BaKa and Bambendzele

indigenous peoples practice a traditional subsistence lifeway based on

hunting and gathering. Often referred to as " pygmies " because they

rarely grow taller than five feet, they live mostly in southern and

northeastern Gabon, southern Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of

Congo, the Congo River basin of Zaire, Equatorial Guinea, and in small

numbers in Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda. Numbering over 25,000, these

guardians of the forest have maintained their traditional lifeway

patterns in the face of rapid change. Harboring an intimate knowledge

of every square inch of their homeland and its wildlife, the BaKa and

Bambendzele indigenous people continue to rely heavily on forest

resources for their livelihoods. However, current developmental

activities have threatened their traditional lifeway as deforestation,

bushmeat hunting, and human migration have caused numerous impacts.

Furthermore, persistent discrimination and limited political voice

have also created obstacles for the BaKa and Bambendzele indigenous

people in maintaining their customary rights and resource use. For

example, in the forests surrounding the village of Mambele in

southeast Cameroon and Bomassa in north Congo, the Baka and

Bambendzele indigenous people have had to adapt their lifeway to

development programs, especially industrial logging. Compounding this

is the fact that recent changes in their environment have caused

shortages in many traditional resources. Rainfall has become less

regular and harder to predict. Women who normally catch fish in

barriers built in small streams in the dry season are often unable to

achieve traditional fish catches as flood patterns of the rivers are

changing. Fire has occurred in forest areas where it has not been

observed in the past. The El Niño years of 1983, 1987, and 1997 all

coincided with droughts in the forest zone, and fires occurred in

forests that had not previously burned in the living memory of these

peoples.

http://indigenouspeoplesissues.com/index.php?Itemid=77 & catid=55 & id=89:the-baka-a\

nd-bambendzel

e-indigenous-people-of-central-africa & option=com_content & view=article

 

South Africa:

 

31) In November 2007, several representatives from World Rainforest

Movement visited Komatiland Forests' operations at Brooklands in

Mpumalanga province in South Africa. Under a photograph of J. Brooke

Shires, who planted the first eucalyptus and acacia trees at

Brooklands in 1876, we listened to a company presentation. Komatiland

is a parastatal company managing a total of about 128,000 hectares of

mainly pine plantations. The trees are grown on a 28 to 30 year

rotation for saw logs. Komatiland employs 2,400 people with a further

1,200 people employed on a contract basis, we were told. The

Komatiland plantations at Brooklands cover an area of just over 12,000

hectares. The company uses a horse harvesting system on about

one-third of its land at Brooklands. The company has been certified by

SGS Qualifor under the Forest Stewardship Council certification system

since 1997.[1] A Komatiland official told us that there are four

stages of certification: unknowingly non-compliant; knowingly

non-compliant; knowingly compliant; and unknowingly compliant. In

these days of corporate greenwash, this part of the presentation was

refreshingly honest. " I'm buggered if I know where we are, " he said,

laughing. " Somewhere between two and three. " This was a staff member

of an FSC-certified company admitting publicly that Komatiland was not

fully compliant with FSC standards. " There are problems with all

operations. We are not perfect. You will be able to find problems in

every one of our plantation units. " He said this to an audience that

he knew was critical of both industrial tree plantations and FSC

certification. Winnie Overbeek asked about land rights and conflicts

over land. " That sounds like a very European question, " came the

reply. Overbeek explained that he has worked for more than a decade in

Brazil supporting the Tupinikim and Guarani Indigenous Peoples in

their struggle for land in the area occupied by Aracruz Cellulose's

plantations and that his question was based on this experience.

Undaunted, the company representative continued. " South Africa is a

very unique country " , he explained. " There are no indigenous people in

South Africa according to FSC standards. Apartheid happened and there

are lots of land claims. All plantations and farms have land claims.

That doesn't mean that they are valid land claims. "

http://chrislang.org/2008/05/30/south-africa-a-visit-to-komatiland-forests-indus\

trial-tree-mono

cultures/