Guest guest Posted June 4, 2008 Report Share Posted June 4, 2008 --Today for you 35 new articles about earth's trees! (351st edition) New Format! --You can now RSS tree news in a regional format at: http://forestpolicyresearch.org --To Subscribe / to the world-wide email format send a blank email to: earthtreenews- OR earthtreenews- ------------- PLEASE, PLEASE ANSWER THIS SURVEY WITH A QUICK REPLY: deane What " Earth's Tree News format " works best for you? a) Index and articles, b) Summary and articles, c) Index, Summary and articles ------------- In this issue: USA BC & Canada Index: --Alaska: 1) Threats to the Tongass --Washington: 2) Land trust's logging saves white oak, 3) Logging shuts down Skok trail, --Oregon: 4) Restoration collaboration, 5) Orville Camp question lack of ecologic basis to forest thinnings, 6) Hike the Pipe with Bark, 7) Summer long series of free outings, --California: 8) Hwy 101 widening to ax ancient redwoods, 9) San Jose Water's logging plan debated in light of recent fires, 10) UCSC treesit hits 200 days, 11) Issuing burning permits in fire prone areas? 12) April cold snap harms oaks, 13) City of Watsonville land burned by recent fire to be logged again, 14) Pacific lumber & egregious logging plans, 15) S. Cal FS rejects management plan appeal, 16) Sierra Pacific's clearcuts are wrong, 17) Mendo dope grower cuts trees on neighbors & public land, --Idaho: 18) Senator organizes Collaborative land management process --Colorado: 19) USFS 1,793 acre salvage logging of Beetle kill forests --New Mexico: 20) Worlds' Largest wood processing plant to be built? --Michigan: 21) Boy Scout camp to be logged --Wisconsin: 22) Beetle expert speaks --Ohio: 23) Super Crows return related to forest re-growth --Virginia: 24) Cypress swamp in Virginia? --North Carolina: 25) Info on state timber industry --New Hampshire: 26) Loggers show kids how to destroy forest to build a library --USA: 27) 1/3 of landfills are made of paper, 28) Deer overpopulation pushed by hunters, 29) REIT-oriented get-rich quick conference, 30) Mountain top removal, --British Columbia: 31) Beetle's are not climate caused but mono-crop forestry caused, 32) Rebutal to ignorant industry op-ed, --Canada: 32) Canada not doing enough to fulfill Biodiversity commitments, 33) Nova Scotia's Voluntary Planning is holding consultations, 35) Abiti claims they won't log Grassy Narrows anymore. Summary: ----In Alaska a Bush administration last minute attack on America's largest wilderness opens 2.3 million acres of pristine roadless areas for logging, roading and mining (1) ----In Washington state there is an article about loggers helping the Columbia Land trust cut down the forest around rare white oaks (2). Also in Washington a blogger's hiking trail in Olympic NF has been shut down for logging that will pay for questionable forest restoration (3). ----In Oregon Loggers, Lomakatsi and Siskiyou project are working together in the Siskiyous to restore forest in a way where " we get the product out as a by-product of the work " (4). Orville Camp speaks out against excessive thinning projects which treat the forest as " tree stands instead of ecosystems " (5). A hike thru the proposed Natural Gas pipeline route is being planned by a Portland's forest group BARK (6). Oregon Wild has planned a summer of hikes and outings. It's by far the best way to get people to support forest protection campaigns (7). ----In California the enviros win again and the state has agreed the write and EIS for widening highway 101 through Richardson Grove State Park (8). After the forest fire in the Santa Cruz mountains Big Creek lumber warns that that we need more logging, then an enviro address this falsity (9). At UC Santa Cruz the treesit that has halted the building of an animal testing facility has reached it 200th day (10). More discussion of the Summit fire in Santa Cruz as relates to the risks of issuing burning permits in dry areas (11). A mid-April cold snap hit new leaf growth cycle pretty hard in the oak forests of California. Many damaged trees are still bare, or have lots of dead leaves (12). A rare intact 2nd growth forest owned by the city of Watsonville was logged 10 years ago then it burned in a recent fire, now they want to log it again (13). Pacific Lumber is partially immune to legal challenges because of bankruptcy proceedings so they are using the opportunity to log rare last stands of ancient redwoods (14). Center for Biological Diversity's appeal of forest service's management in S. Cal's forests was rejected. Now they'll file a lawsuit (15). A great letter to editor decrying the destructiveness of SPI, the state's largest landowner's clearcutting practices (16). In Mendocino a dope grower got caught cutting down 100 year old fir trees and now the Sheriff is placing charges against him (17). ----In Idaho a Senator is trying to bring short-term oriented land managers together in a collaborative process to find " long-term solutions " for land management (18). ----In Colorado regardless of the lack of benefits that logging Beetle kill trees can offer, it will always be the best way to make money(19). ----In New Mexico there are plans to build the " world's largest wood-processing plant. " And just imagine how much wood must still available in New Mexico's forests (20). ----In Michigan Camp Teetonkah, a boy scout camp, is going to be logged for safety of campers as well as to expand campsites. (Scouts honor?) (21). ----In Wisconsin Kenneth Raffa of University at Madison is stressing the complexity of bark beetles (22). ----In Ohio after more than a century forest canopy levels have risen to 30% causing the return of the " super crow " (23). ----In Virginia of all places: did you know their's Bald Cypress swamp there? (24) ----In North Carolina there's 300,000 landowners who grow timber, 3,000 forest product facilities, and specific to this article info about McDowell Lumbers' mega-complexes (25). ----In New Hampshire loggers are teaching school kids to log and mill 100 foot tall white pines to make room for a library (26). ----In the USA 35% of material in landfills is paper (27). Deer population booms may lead to mass slaughter to protect the forest (28). A conference is being planned to help investors get their money's worth in latest boom of forestland buying (29). Website on Mountain top removal lists the US's most endangered mountains (30). ----In British Columbia even the most reputable environmentalist in David Suzuki doesn't give enough blame to the timber industry who over-planted a beetle vulnerable mono-crop (31). Logging industry always blames everyone but themselves for lack of a profitable industry (32). ----In Canada the Global Forest Coalition report makes it clear that the government is not keeping up with its biodiversity obligations (33). Nova Scotia is asking for comments about long term planning for resource extraction (34). Forester is so concerned about bad logging practices that he's planning a weekend long tour through Algoma Forest's devastation (35). Abiti is no longer going to log Grassy Narrows, but too often Abiti finds a more sneaky way to log the land they claim to not want to log (36). Articles: Alaska: 1) In a last-minute attack on one of America's wildest and most ecologically valuable national forests, the Bush administration recently adopted a new management plan for the Tongass that leaves 2.3 million acres of pristine roadless areas open to logging, road building, and other development. If implemented, this plan will jeopardize many of the species the Center -- and our e-activists -- have worked to protect. This plan is only the last in a long series of attempts by the current administration to remove protection for the undeveloped roadless lands of the Tongass and across the country. On May 15, the Center, along with our conservation allies, filed an administrative challenge to the Bush plan asking the Forest Service to protect the roadless areas of the Tongass. Now it's your turn. Please send a letter to Gail Kimbell, chief of the Forest Service, and urge the agency to protect the roadless areas on the Tongass and across the nation. http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2167/t/5243/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=24738 Washington: 2) UNDERWOOD — On a rocky bench high above the Columbia River, Scott Melcher lowers the boom of his big Timberjack harvester and makes a clean cut at the base of a healthy 90-year-old Douglas fir. As the fir begins to topple, the boom grasps the trunk and lifts it high above the Oregon white oaks around it. Skillfully maneuvering the controls, Melcher lays the tree down, strips it of its branches and bucks it into sections. When the sawdust settles, the forest canopy has opened a bit. Over the next two hours, a half-dozen more firs will fall, and light will flood into this mixed oak-fir-pine stand. The Vancouver-based Columbia Land Trust owns this site on Wind Rim, immediately north of Drano Lake. It's part of a 200-acre parcel the trust acquired in 2001 with the help of a $1.25 million Paul Allen Forest Protection grant. The trust's main goal in logging is to release the oaks from competition for the light, water and nutrients that the firs command once they grow tall and overtop them. As a secondary benefit, the logs and slash will provide fuel, timber and jobs to help boost the gorge economy. It will cost the trust about $50,000 to restore 12 acres of mixed oak, fir and pine. That cost will be partially offset by an $11,500 state grant and by the revenue the contractor will realize from selling the timber and the chipped slash. SDS Lumber Co. has agreed to buy the chips for the co-generation plant at its Bingen mill. In Washington, 90 percent of surviving Oregon white oaks are in Klickitat County. Pure oak stands also can be found on the Washington side of the gorge in a band from three miles east of Washougal to Cape Horn. Because only a tiny fraction of the surviving oak stands are on public land, federal and state land managers warn they could be lost forever if private owners don't thin aggressively in the next 10 to 20 years. " The oak woodlands are a very important habitat for many, many wildlife species, " said Forest Service ecologist Robin Dobson. Habitat loss has landed the western gray squirrel on the state's threatened species list. Wild turkeys, migratory deer, the Lewis' and acorn woodpecker, and the California king snake also depend on the oaks. " It's not just the larger animals, " Dobson said. " There's a butterfly that feeds on the oak leaves. And there's a whole understory that goes along with the oak, a habitat type that it would be a shame to lose. That's why these thinnings are so important. " http://columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/06/06022008_Conservation-group-breaks-o\ ut-the-chain-sa ws-to-create-ancient-landscape-anew.cfm 3) This is the logging operation on the road going up to Pine Lake they are cutting the trees to raise money to decommission just 1/2 mile of the road. I hope they use some of that money to fix the foot bride that went out this year but I'm not holding my breath. The trail just opened up for the season but the snow was too deep, now the snow it gone so they are closing it for logging. sigh.. Staircase is still closed too. With all the closed trails and the price of gas I may as well just walk laps around the jr. high track field. UPPER SOUTH FORK SKOKOMISH TRAILHEAD NOT ACCESSIBLE BEGINNING MONDAY By Dedrick Allan 01/06/2008 Olympic National Forest is scheduled to close Forest Service Road 2361 for contract work beginning June 2. The road will be closed from milepost 4.5 to milepost 5.9 and is scheduled to reopen June 13. Road 2361 is located on the south end of the Hood Canal Ranger District, 20 miles northwest of Shelton. Due to the closure, the trailhead for the Upper South Fork Skokomish Trail will not be accessible. For more information on roads, campgrounds and trails, visit the Olympic National Forest website at http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/olympic . http://mosswalks.blogspot.com/2008/06/logging-closes-upper-skokomish-trail.html Oregon: 4) When veteran logger Don Hamann talks about the future of a profession whittled down in recent years by a growing economy and environmental restrictions, he beams with optimism. " There is an incredible opportunity out there, " he said. " Not only an opportunity but an incredibly important task that needs to be done. " Part of it is educating people, particularly the next generation, to do the work and understand the need, " said the Butte Falls resident. " There is lots and lots of work out there. " No, the man who has been harvesting timber for more than a quarter of a century in southwestern Oregon hasn't had his hard hat rung by one too many logging chains. He is referring to a future in which former adversaries — loggers, environmentalists and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management — work together to improve forest health, reduce potential for catastrophic wildfires and create more jobs. His logging firm, Don Hamann Inc., has teamed up with the BLM, Lomakatsi Ecological Services Inc. and the Siskiyou Project, an environmental group based in Josephine County, to manage up to 2,000 acres in the Illinois Valley over the next seven years. Called the South Stew stewardship, it's in the BLM's Grants Pass Resource Area. Lomakatsi, a community-based ecological forestry group, is the lead contractor. " Restoration forestry is about trying to recover a site, " explained Marko Bey, president and co-founder. " We get the product out as a by-product of the work. The goal of stewardship is also to find new markets, to be innovative on how we deal with this material. " Thinning projects provide small logs for local mills, smaller-diameter wood products to niche markets and woody debris to bio-electricity generators. Not everyone within the environmental community is supportive of the effort, acknowledged Shane Jimerfield, executive director of the Siskiyou Project. " We are going to get some criticism for supporting people with chain saws, " he said. " But the reality of it is the work needs to be done. In order to get where we need to go, some work needs to happen in these forests. " I've seen the polarization, the demonizing of both sides, " he added. " It's time to move on. I'm hoping the war is over. " " The time has come for people to work together, " Bey said. " Everybody involved in this is putting their necks out. It's part of an evolution in the woods, a lot of which is being pioneered in Southern Oregon. But the mutual goal is to recover these lands. " http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080601/NEWS/806010315 5) Not everyone is applauding the reforestation work in the South Stew stewardship contract. " We are hugely concerned, " said Orville Camp, author of " Forest Farmer's Handbook, " among other books. He is also writing a book about a natural forestry selection process. " It (South Stew) is being promoted as restoring forest health and fuels reduction as a way to reduce wildfires but it's basically deforestation, " added his wife, Mary, president of the Deer Creek Valley Natural Resource Conservation Association. They are among local residents worried that the effort to create fuel for biomass will become the driver, not the byproduct. " The problem with the whole scenario is people don't realize that other species — thousands of them — create sustained forests, " Orville Camp said. " Nobody has restored a forest. All these species are interconnected and interdependent. " The Camps manage a forest on their property where they host tours for everyone from environmentalists to industry representatives focusing on the natural selection forestry process, which is supported by the association. " The fundamental flaw lies in the fact people treat these forests as tree stands instead of ecosystems, " he added. " When they biomass these forests, they take away the topsoil. " http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080601/NEWS/806010322 6) Hike the Pipe is a Bark event to raise awareness of the threats to old-growth forests and our most scenic rivers and hiking trails by the controversial liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals and pipelines proposed for Oregon. Joining the groundswell of resistance across western Oregon to using eminent domain for more than half of the pipeline's 210-mile route, Hike the Pipe, connects Mt. Hood to an integral local response to the future of global energy stability. We invite you, your family, and your friends, to join us along a segment of the proposed 40-mile pipeline route through Mt. Hood National Forest. Passing the popular recreation area, Timothy Lake, we will be hiking and documenting the section of the pipeline route that will cross the Pacific Crest Trail. We will camp at a nearby campgound and host a family-friendly evening of dinner, speakers and music. We hope to encourage dialogue about these important issues and hear stories and accounts from the route so far. We will reserve an area in a nearby campground for attendees to spend the night and continue hiking with us in the morning. For complete details including carpool times and locations, please visit the calendar. http://bark-out.org/calendar/listing.php#404 7) A summer-long series of free hikes and outings into your favorite wild places across Oregon. Come see spectacular waterfalls, awe-inspiring old-growth forests, fish-filled streams, blooming wildflowers and much more. Oregon Wild and our conservation allies will be leading over 30 hikes in all corners of the state. Sign up for your hike today. Kick-off week is June 21-29 with events scheduled throughout the summer, culminating with the Waldo Lake Camp Out the weekend of September 19-21. Our experts will be taking you to see such treasured wild places as: 1) Tamanawas Falls near Mount Hood; 2) Lookout Mountain in eastern Oregon's ponderosa forests; 3) Opal Creek's majestic old-growth; 4) Fall Creek outside of Eugene;5) Rogue River Trail along the famous Wild and Scenic stretch of the Rogue River see the full list of outings here: http://www.oregonwild.org/about/hikes_events/oregon-wild-summer-2008/oregon-wild\ -summer-2008-l ist-of-outings California: 8) Richardson Grove State Park, covering approximately 2,000 acres, stands at Humboldt County's southern gate, welcoming travelers to this side of " the Redwood Curtain. " A canopy of majestic old-growth redwoods welcomes northbound travelers as they wind along the Eel River. Because the ancient redwoods squeeze the highway at several points along this curvy section of state Highway 101, interstate-size trucks are currently prohibited from traveling along this route. Caltrans has designed a project that would realign the road—putting more curves in the road so that vehicles would come at the tight spots at less acute angles--thus opening up the County for more interstate truck traffic. Residents have fought for decades to hold onto what's left of the forests in this county, and Richardson Grove is particularly precious to many people, whether or not they call themselves " environmentalists " . People speak of coming through this Grove: " we know we're home... " or " we've entered a sacred place... " Visitors from all over the Bay Area and beyond deeply appreciate this beauty, and they will vigorously object to any changes that will endanger the Grove. See fact sheet for abbreviated story: http://www.wildcalifornia.org/cgi-files/0/pdfs/1205438036_Website_Fact_Sheet.pdf http://www.wildcalifornia.org/pages/page-271 9) San Jose Water Company planned a 1,000-acre timber sale in the Santa Cruz Mountains, but the plan was halted on a technicality. The trees that opponents managed to save from the chain saw nearly ended up as fuel for the Summit Fire. The timber sale area came precariously close to burning up. " Had the winds shifted in a different direction, it would have been (in the Summit Fire area), " said Matt Dias, registered professional forester for Big Creek Lumber. " It was very close. " The timber sale, had it been allowed to proceed, might have set an example of progressive forest management, Dias said. " They were going to take the revenue from the timber harvest and treat areas within the forested landscape to make it more resilient and also treat areas around the forest, " he said. Jodi Frediani, director of the Central Coast Forest Watch with the Sierra Club, said removal of large trees is the wrong approach to take. It makes forests more susceptible to fire, she said. The larger trees, Frediani said, withstand a fire more readily than the undergrowth, but when the large trees go, the sun is able to penetrate the forest canopy and dry out duff and brush on the forest floor. This means more fuel for a catastrophic fire. Selective harvesting or thinning don't serve a fire-suppression purpose, Frediani said. " They call it thinning because in the strictest sense, the forest will have trees left in it when they get done, " she said. But actual thinning for fire suppression would focus only on removing small trees and brush that are kindling for a fire, Frediani said. http://www.register-pajaronian.com/V2_news_articles.php?heading=0 & page= & story_id\ =4544 10) UC Santa Cruz –The Spring quarter is nearly concluded, and a gathering has been called at the site of the tree-sit this coming Monday, June 2nd, to fortify spirits and supply stores for the Summer. We will be coming together to discuss the past and future of the tree-sit and of resistance to the LRDP, and to festively celebrate over 200 days of tree-sitting at the site of the proposed Biomedical Sciences Facility. Planned activities include mobile- making, banner painting, a native plant workshop, a piñata, music, and facilitated discussions. We call out to friends of the forest, supporters of the tree-sit and curious individuals to join us at NOON this coming Monday. The tree-sit will remain in place over the Summer, and for as long as it takes for development plans in Upper Campus to be called off. Tree-sitters, ground supporters, and encouragement in any form will all be needed. Many thanks. Yours in resistance, Tree-sitters and ground squirrels PS - Non-perishable food, empty buckets with lids, and full 5 gallon water jugs are requested by the trees. lrdp 11) In the densely wooded Santa Cruz Mountains, where last week's wildfire torched 4,270 acres and 31 homes, the notion of deliberately burning brush to get rid of it strikes some as an invitation to disaster. But it happens every winter and spring, with local fire officials signing off on dozens of debris-burning permits and trusting property owners to control the flames. It may be weeks before fire officials say what sparked the Summit fire, Santa Cruz County's largest in a century. But the possibility that debris burning ignited the blaze - which fire investigators have not ruled out - has left some residents questioning oversight and regulation of the longstanding practice, which ironically aims to cut down on fire risk by clearing away excess fuel. " This is just insane, " said Rene Rylander, who has lived on Old Santa Cruz Highway near the summit in Los Gatos for 20 years. " I just find it really hard to believe the fire department, given the severity and potential impact burning can have, is still issuing permits. " The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection cut the open burning season in Santa Cruz County two weeks short in April after about 30 debris fires - at least a half dozen of them in the mountains - " escaped " and ignited surrounding brush dried by a rainless spring. One of those scorched three acres before it was extinguished. On the Santa Clara County side of Summit Road, a man who owns acreage in the area where fire officials believe last week's wildfire started acknowledged he was burning brush there seven weeks earlier. He said he had a permit. Cal Fire officials would not confirm that or open their records to inspection, saying they require a formal Public Records Act request through their Sacramento headquarters. They have yet to respond to such a request made by the Mercury News this week; the act requires a response within 10 days. Brush-burning regulations vary in the Santa Cruz Mountains because two counties and two air quality districts collide at Summit Road. On the Santa Cruz County side to the south, where the slopes are bathed in cool, foggy ocean breezes and thick with redwood groves over moist fern undergrowth, property owners can generally burn small brush piles from December through April. Firefighters have long considered the wildfire risk so low in the damp hillsides that they dubbed the Santa Cruz region " asbestos county. " http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_9437001?nclick_check=1 12) A mid-April cold snap has caused oak trees in the state and in some of the interior parts of San Luis Obispo County to lose their foliage and look dead. Oak experts with the UC Cooperative Extension report that some oak trees in the Sierra Nevada and coastal mountain ranges are almost completely bare when they would normally be fully leafed out. Other oaks have large numbers of dead leaves. Doug McCreary, an expert in oak woodland management with the UC Berkeley Cooperative Extension, said the trees are not dead and should bounce back next year. " Next year, it will probably be very difficult to tell which trees lost their leaves early and which remained foliated late into the season, " he said. Bill Tietje with the UC Cooperative Extension in San Luis Obispo said the county's oak woodlands were not hit as hard as those in northern parts of the state because the temperatures here did not get as low. However, temperatures on April 20 dipped below freezing in several inland locations in the county. Tietje got a call from a North County resident who was concerned about oak defoliation. He also noticed that a valley oak he had planted in San Luis Obispo has brown leaves. Blue oaks, valley oaks and interior live oaks were the species affected by the freeze, McCreary said. The damage appears to be worse in the mid-elevations of foothills and isolated frost pockets elsewhere. " The problem for the oaks was that, at the time the freeze occurred, many trees were just starting to leaf out, " he said. " The recently emerged leaves were very succulent and tender and, consequently, vulnerable to the low temperatures. " San Luis Obispo County is known for its oak woodlands. With 724,000 acres of them, the county is only second to Monterey County in the state which has nearly 1 million acres, according to the UC Extension's Integrated Hardwood Range Management Program. http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/375154.html 13) As the smoke clears, a timber sale on city land at Grizzly Flat in the Santa Cruz Mountains may turn partly into a fire salvage operation. The 4,270-acre Summit Fire burned part of the city's timber sale area, according to Marc Pimentel, administrative services director for the City of Watsonville. Long after the fire area has cooled down, the issue of logging in the city's watershed will remain a hot topic, however. " Logging, in my mind, is short-sighted for the City of Watsonville, " said Jodi Frediani, director of the Central Coast Forest Watch with the Sierra Club. " That Grizzly Flat property, while it's not within the City of Watsonville limits, it's within their watershed, where they get water from Corralitos Creek, " Frediani said. The Grizzly Flat property was previously logged and challenged, unsuccessfully, by Citizens for Responsible Forest Management, Frediani said. Citizens for Responsible Forest Management, a group focused on preserving the ecology of the Santa Cruz Mountains, documented its attempt to intervene in the city's timber-management plan at Grizzly Flat. " Working closely with a coalition of environmental groups, we spearheaded the attempt to stop the city's planned logging of Grizzly Flat, a late successional forest (recovering second-growth forest beginning to attain old-growth characteristics) that they hold in the public trust, " the group reported on its Web site (www.crfm.org/about.html). CDF approved the plan and the Board of Forestry subsequently denied the county's appeal; we filed a lawsuit but did not prevail. While the coalition was unsuccessful in stopping the logging project, we did succeed in raising the public's awareness of key problems in the existing forest practice rules, including the lack of protection for riparian areas and late successional forest habitats. " Pimentel said the Grizzly Flat timber harvest — setting aside from any forest management objectives — promises much-needed revenue to the city. Watsonville faces a $2.2 million deficit in fiscal year 2008-2009, he noted, and predictable revenue is in short supply. " There's always a price to pay when you get the income off the sale of the trees; you have a drier forest, you have a forest that's more likely to burn, " Frediani said. http://www.register-pajaronian.com/V2_news_articles.php?heading=0 & page=72 & story_\ id=4545 14) In the long list of destructive logging plans Pacific Lumber is trying to sneak past state review while shielded by bankruptcy proceedings, the Root 09 Timber Harvest Plan deserves special attention. Two hundred twenty-four acres of redwood forests are slated to be cut in the Root Creek watershed, above Grizzly Creek State Park, on Hwy 36 along the Van Duzen River. If logged, the timber giant will destroy Marbled Murrelet habitat and threaten the stability of sensitive slopes above the sediment-impaired Van Duzen River. Two of Root 09's six units, numbered two and three, lie within a " translational/rotational landslide " upslope from the Van Duzen river, and directly above a residential property. As well, unit one is within an active debris slide, further marking this plan as severe and careless forest management. " Its a total affront to our park system, " said Noel Soucy, THP monitor for the Environmental Protection Information Center. " We have set these beautiful areas aside for a forest sanctuary, but now when you go to the park, you will be bombarded by the sounds of screaming chainsaws and giant helicopters. " Since PL filed for bankruptcy some 18 months ago, the company is essentially insulated from litigation because any legal challenge would have to happen in Texas bankruptcy court. During that period, PL has proposed more logging plans than Soucy can count on both hands. " There simply isn't enough time to review all of these THP's, " Soucy said, " to catch the inconsistencies, we would need several people working full time sifting through proposed plans. " After years of successful lawsuits, popular movements and sustained, on-the-ground forest defense opposing clearcuts in the redwoods, Pacific Lumber is still liquidating forests, leaving little for future generations. He said: " Sometimes, I wonder if many Kiwis knew how many lives of families have been destroyed for them to have their kwila outdoor table or deck to enjoy their barbecues in the summer. " http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/06/02/18503921.php 15) In a move destined to harm dwindling southern California ecosystems, the U.S. Forest Service has rejected a formal administrative appeal by environmentalists of the agency's management blueprint for the four southern California National Forests – the Angeles, Cleveland, Los Padres, and San Bernardino. Such is the anti-nature legacy of the Bush administration. " The Center for Biological Diversity has worked for years to strengthen conservation measures in the overarching land management plans for the four southern California national forests. The Center filed a lawsuit in 1998 that resulted in a settlement requiring the Forest Service to update the plans and, in the meantime, provide important interim protections for the rarest species. Between 2001 and 2005 the Center watched over the national forest management plan revisions and pressed for stronger environmental protection. Two years before release of the draft plans in 2002, the Center led 14 other groups to prepare and submit A Conservation Alternative for the Management of the Four Southern California National Forests, a more-than-400-page document of recommendations for true conservation management of the four forests. The Center subsequently led extensive comments on the draft plans. But the Forest Service ultimately elected to favor traditional harmful practices – roadbuilding, off-road vehicle recreation, power lines, oil and gas development, logging, and grazing – over a new conservation path. In 2006 the Center and partners filed a major administrative appeal the new forest plans and the Forest Service's decision today is a response to that appeal. The four southern California national forests are ecological jewels in need of new and creative conservation attention. Encompassing over 3.5 million acres of coast, foothill, mountain, and high desert terrain, the forests shelter a remarkable total of 3,000 plant and animal species – many of which occur nowhere else on Earth – from metastasizing urban development. http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2008/southern-california-\ forests-06-02-2 008.html 16) I feel disappointed, that in this day and age, Sierra Pacific Industries still chooses to use clear-cutting as a logging practice. As an airline pilot, I have a unique perspective flying over mountainous areas. I am always in shock when I fly over an area that has been clear cut - it is simply dead and devastated, a blight, if you will, on the land. The landscape changes from forest to a checkerboard pattern of empty squares - no trees, no wildlife and terrible erosion scars. I consider clear-cutting an outdated, archaic logging practice. However, if harvesting is imminent, select cutting is a rational alternative (select cutting is when the forest is thinned, leaving many young, healthy trees and an intact eco-system). In that this proposed clear- cut harvest plan is in our backyard in Nevada County, bordering the South Yuba River, our local gem, I think it is especially important that due care and consideration is given to the devastating impact a clear-cut would have in this location. First, many of us would see the scarred landscape of this project from our homes. In addition, for those of us who hike around Malakoff and the Missouri Bar trail, the thought of a clear-cut is unconscionable. In closing, as a proud resident of Nevada County, I consider a clear-cut in this area a rape of Mother Earth in my own backyard. If timber harvesting in this area is deemed absolutely necessary, I strongly encourage the committee to consider a select cut harvest plan. I understand that saws will cut, but how deeply they cut into the soul of Nevada County is up to you. Make the right choice - for us and the Earth! --Myles Ericson, Nevada City http://www.theunion.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080603/OPINION_LETTERS/7143\ 27590/1056/TODA YSFEATURE & parentprofile=-1 & template=printart 17) A Mendocino County man likely faces criminal charges for allegedly destroying 37 fir trees to provide more sunlight for his marijuana garden. Sheriff's officials say 32-year-old Peter Godt cut down some trees that were more than 100 years old. Of the 37 downed trees, officials say 15 were on public property and 10 were on a neighbor's land. Godt holds a prescription for the medical marijuana he grows. Godt's property is part of the 2,600-acre forested Brooktrails subdivision. Brooktrails is classified as a park, and none of its 4,000 residents is allowed to cut any tree more than 6 inches in diameter without permission. Mendocino County District Attorney Meredith Lintott says she recommends charges be filed for the damage, pending further investigation. http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_9465103?nclick_check=1 Idaho: 18) Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, invited basin users to participate in the effort with the Forest Service, and those attending an initial meeting in Lewiston agreed to do so. Kathleen Rutherford, a professional facilitator, will oversee the group's discussions. Staff from Crapo's North Central office in Lewiston and from the U.S. Forest Service, Region 1 office, will also participate. " By utilizing the collaborative process, we can find the areas we can agree on and build on them to find long-term solutions to land management issues, " Crapo said. " Too often the current process ends in disagreement or litigation. We have seen collaboration work in Idaho during the recent Elk Collaborative process and the Owyhee Initiative legislation currently before Congress. " Views of all participants will be recognized and respected, he said. All involved are expected to help everyone concerned reach their goals and objectives. The Clearwater Basin collaborative builds on an effort Crapo started in 2002 to discuss how to increase elk numbers in the Clearwater Basin. Among issues to be discussed are forest management, lumber production and jobs, elk habitat, salmon recovery, recreational use, sportsmen's access and other issues. http://www.capitalpress.info/main.asp?SectionID=94 & SubSectionID=801 & ArticleID=42\ 003 & TM=81461.27 Colorado: 19) The U.S. Forest Service has approved a project in the Vail area to help stem the spread of bark beetles and make use of trees killed by the bugs. The plan is to salvage 1,763 acres of lodgepole pines near the Upper Eagle River. The Forest Service wants to cut beetle-infested trees quickly enough so they can be used as lumber and the wildfire risk is lowered. Experts say the trees are no good for commercial use within three to five years of dying. Getting rid of the trees after they've deteriorated is more expensive because the timber can't be used. Beetles have killed about 1.5 million of Colorado's lodgepole pines. Drought and the lack of frigid weather that would kill the insects are believed to be contributing to the epidemic. http://www.examiner.com/a-1422138~Project_approved_to_make_use_of_beetle_infeste\ d_trees.html New Mexico: 20) WINDOW ROCK — A Billings, Mont., firm is proposing to build the largest wood-processing plant in the Southwest at the site of the old Carbon Coal processing site in northwest Gallup, with Navajo, Zuni and the Jicarilla Apache tribes being the major providers of timber. Herman Hauck, president of the company, and Marlin Johnson of Canada, a forester with the company, in a presentation to the Navajo Nation Resources Committee, said their proposed $120 million project would process about 400,000 tons a year of timber, or 68 truckloads a day, primarily from Navajo and Jicarilla forests, Mount Taylor, Zuni Mountains and national forests. The major portion of Pioneer Forest Products' line produced at the mill — shelving, cabinet doors and components — would be put shipped by rail and delivered to ports in California for shipment overseas.The proposed project is being backed by unnamed venture capitalists from the East, and Pioneer is looking for a 10-year commitment from tribes. When the proposed mill hits peak operation in about its fifth year, it is projected to have a gross revenue of around $100 million and a payroll of $15 million for its estimated 350 employees. " That's rough right now, it's being fine-tuned a little bit, " Johnson said. Benefits for the Navajo Nation are sustained annual revenue from timber stumpage, according to Johnson. http://www.gallupindependent.com/2008/06June/060208pulp.html Michigan: 21) Neighbors to Camp Teetonkah - on Big Wolf Lake near Grass Lake - may soon add to their sounds of summer with the buzz of chainsaws from the proposed plan to log out 60 percent of the camp's forest. The Great Sauk Trail Boy Scout Council, based in Ann Arbor, fears that falling limbs and trees damaged from storms could injure the Boy Scout troops who camp there. The plan aims to enlarge existing campsites and to provide the openings needed for developing new campsites. Also, initial reports propose wetland development that could lead to the establishment of two ponds. The council's plan demonstrates an incomplete knowledge of land management techniques to protect biodiversity. It fails to consider the ecological importance of their forestland in the regional landscape. America's urban and rural forests have been damaged and continue to be threatened by human and natural forces, such as sprawling development, lack of care or maintenance, poor harvesting practices, wildfire and insects and disease. In many places, ecosystem integrity is at risk. When trees and forests are damaged, ecological services such as air and water quality and wildlife and fish habitat are degraded and nearby communities suffer. The Great Sauk Trail Boy Scout Council should work toward a vision of sustainable ecosystems and communities. They should focus their actions to restore and maintain trees and forests as critical components and indicators of healthy ecosystems. They can and should do a better job of managing to avoid damaging the land for future generations. http://blog.mlive.com/annarbornews_opinion/2008/06/nan_hawley_boy_scout_plan_to_\ c.html Wisconsin: 22) The article, by Kenneth F. Raffa of the University of Wisconsin at Madison and colleagues at Colorado State University, the University of Idaho, and the US and Canadian Forest Services, stresses the complexity of the biological processes that determine when a bark beetle eruption will occur. When beetles bore through a tree's bark, they release pheromones that summon other beetles to join the offensive. Trees counter attacks by exuding resin that can kill the invaders, but if too many beetles attack a weak tree, its defenses fail. The beetles then reproduce within its living tissues, with the help of colonizing fungi, and the tree is doomed. The condition and spacing of nearby trees and the local climate affect whether the beetle progeny released after a successful attack sustain an epidemic–which can kill a high proportion of the trees in an area and so alter the landscape for decades. http://www.ok4me2.net/?p=423 Ohio: 23) After more than 100 years the " super crow " has returned to live in Ohio, complete with its penchant for amazing aerial acrobatics that include barrel-rolls, somersaults, and even flying upside down. And to consider the common raven, as it is typically known, as just another big black bird would be an injustice. At least two ravens were seen in 2006 and 2007 near Fernwood State Forest in Jefferson County, not far from the Ohio River and northern West Virginia panhandle. Then in March, field researchers confirmed a nesting pair and later documented at least five young birds, according to the Ohio Division of Wildlife. The division announced the ravens' presence last week. " It was a surprise to us when we first heard about it, " said Nathan Stricker, project leader at the division's Olentangy Wildlife Research Station at Ashley. " But we're seeing a return of forest cover in the state, so it was just a matter of time before we started to see forest-associated species returning. " Forested land in Ohio has grown from 15 percent in 1940 to 30 percent today. The raven is the largest of all songbirds, standing 20 to 27 inches tall and weighing about 2 1/2 pounds with a 46-inch wingspan. That is sizably larger than its cousin, the American crow, which stands 16 to 21 inches tall, weighs about a pound, and has wings stretching just 33 to 39 inches. As for its " song, " better to call it a call or a sound - a deep croak or hoarse " rronk! " Ravens also can emit an array of sounds like knocks and bell-like notes. Like the crow, ravens have a reputation as very smart birds with some sources ranking them at the top of the list. http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080601/COLUMNIST22/806010338\ /-1/SPORTS09 Virginia: 24) It's a sight not widely beheld in Virginia. But at First Landing State Park, a footpath winds through bald cypress swamps, dark and mysterious and lovely. Bald cypresses grow throughout the coastal South and in small patches in such mid-Atlantic states as Maryland and Delaware. They can be seen to particularly good advantage here, in a 2,888-acre state park in the far southeastern part of Virginia. The tree is a natural oddity. It's both deciduous and a conifer; in the fall, its green needles turn golden and drop, leaving branches bare. Or bald--that's how it got the name. Though bald cypresses can grow on dry land, they thrive in the freshwater swamps here, created by rainwater amid forested inland sand dunes. The oaks, hickories and pines of the surrounding woods can't tolerate so much water. Unchallenged, the bald cypresses can grow tall and straight toward their own patches of sunlight. Only in swamps do bald cypresses grow knees--wooden knobs that pop out of the water a few feet from their trees of origin. They're thought to lend support to their trees, but some people believe they also help the water-bound trees breathe. It's not just the trees that make a bald cypress swamp so interesting. Their black-water pools are home to legions of frogs, turtles and cottonmouth snakes, and underneath that water is a layer of soft muck that can be several feet deep. Naturalist Vickie Shufer, a longtime resident of the area and author of " A Naturalist's Field Guide to Coastal Communities, " has waded into black-water pools on quests to identify or photograph plants that grow on miniature islands formed by bald cypress knees. The water in the cypress pools is generally shallow, Shufer said, but a person can sink waist deep into the muck, made up of decades' worth of slow-to-decompose plant matter. Shufer admires bald cypresses for their flared bases that taper gracefully above the water line, for their red-brown bark that squirrels and other animals strip off to make nests, and for their place in history. Eastern Woodland Indians used bald cypress for dugout canoes because the wood is soft and easy to work but also buoyant. http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/062008/06022008/384005 North Carolina: 25) The forest products industry is the state's largest manufacturing industry, surpassing even the textile industry, according to the North Carolina Forestry Association. The state has about 3,000 forest products facilities, and over 300,000 landowners grow timber for profit. McDowell Lumber is keenly aware of its responsibility to conserve forest resources and help ensure the sustainability of forest resources for generations to come, said Doug. " Our forestry division's mission is to maintain our compliance with national Environmental Protection Agency regulations and to develop forest management plans to replenish the timber utilized in our daily production, " he said. McDowell Lumber operates a mega-complex of facilities — nine buildings on 35 acres, a combined 112,000 square feet under roof. Two sawmill buildings occupy 46,000 square feet, a planer mill occupies 22,000 square feet, and the pallet facilities comprise two buildings and 34,000 square feet. The remaining space is divided among two offices, a garage and a warehouse. Asheboro is about 25 miles south of Greensboro, which puts it roughly mid-way between Charlotte and Raleigh. The region is rich in timber resources. " We buy trees from private landowners, " said Doug. " We run ads in the Yellow Pages, advertising that we buy logs, timber, and even land. So we have been fortunate in locating the raw materials we need in that people call us to let us know they have logs or timber to sell us. " http://www.palletenterprise.com/articledatabase/view.asp?articleID=2619 New Hampshire: 26) " This is just a cool venture for us, " he said, explaining that the wood from the towering eastern white pines – some are up to 100 feet high – that are being felled for the library will be heading in several different directions. After the students cut the trees, they then sort the lumber. Ten percent of the harvested logs go to the school, and forestry students process the logs using the school's own portable sawmill. That wood goes to building and woodworking students, who will use it to make fencing, repair buildings at the school's farm and create other specialty products. The rest of the good logs are sold to several area lumber companies and go into making things like window casings. Even the low-quality wood is sold as pulp for, among other things, a company that makes paper wrappers for individual sugar and sweetener packets. Profits from the sale of the wood goes into the forestry program's student fund and is used for forestry school scholarships and expense money when the teens compete in national forestry competitions. http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080602/COLUMNISTS14/\ 663942293/-1/ne ws USA: 27) 35% of material in landfills is paper, more than any other type of post-consumer waste, and it's also the easiest trash to recycle. And the amount of paper we use in the U.S. is only getting higher; in 2006 we threw away 85 million tons, a threefold increase from 1960. Most people are good about recycling newspapers — only about 12% of them end up in landfills — but things like office paper (44% trashed), magazines (59%) and phone books (81%) don't get recycled as often, so represent much of the paper in landfills. About half of all paper produced for consumption in the U.S. is kept out of landfills — but we've still got a ways to go on that front. Reducing the amount of paper that goes to landfills also has another environmental benefit: that means less paper is burned in trash combustors, reducing air emissions, and there's less material in landfills breaking down organically, which releases methane into the atmosphere, a powerful greenhouse gas. (This methane can sometimes be trapped and used as an energy source — but only sometimes.) But what about " saving trees, " the mantra you hear paper-recyclers constantly repeating? Turns out that about 35% of the trees felled each year go to paper production, or about 4 billion trees. Fortunately, much of this comes from tree farms that re-plant trees after they're felled, though nothing can replace the old-growth forests which are still going under the axe to make toilet paper and phone books. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/15378 28) In Pennsylvania, the state is in the middle of a major deer population reduction in order to regrow the forests. According to reports from studies and officials, there are areas where too many deer have destroyed the natural under story of the forest allowing for growth of invasive plant species. In Connecticut, some areas are battling Lyme disease brought on by too many deer that carry the tick that causes the disease. In both these cases, the solution seems to be to reduce the deer population in order to accomplish one or both, of two tasks. Dr. Emile DeVito, a conservation ecologist and Manager of Science and Stewardship for the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, has an article in the New York Times about similar forest destruction problems in New York and New Jersey by deer. He offers solutions to the problem, one of which being a drastic reduction of the deer population and utilizing the efforts of hunters. DeVito says that there are too many deer to count and nothing left of plants to survey, so any money to study and count would be a waste. He calls for population numbers to be dropped to around 5 deer per square mile, claiming this number is necessary in order to allow for the forests to regenerate. These are very low numbers when you begin presenting them to deer biologists, depending on region and carrying capacities, and you're sure to get some heated responses from deer hunters, as we have witnessed in Pennsylvania. http://ushuntingtoday.com/news/archives/502 29) Institutional interest in timber assets is soaring. Trees & Money Americas will introduce you to the best managers of timber investments, their strategies, while keeping you abreast of market drivers likely to impact your timber and pulp & paper investment. Trees & Money Americas will bring the timber, pulp and paper industries and their investors together under one roof! You will meet timber investment managers, pulp and paper companies, private land owners, pensions, endowments, foundations, family offices, hedge and private equity funds, investment consultants and deal makers. Don't miss this unique opportunity to engage and network with influential timber asset allocators from leading US and international pensions, endowments, family offices, private equity and hedge funds. http://www.terrapinn.com/2008/trees/ 30) Mountaintop removal coal mining isn't an abstract debate. Real places -- places with names like Huckleberry Ridge and Black Mountain, Kentucky, Wise County, Virginia, and Walden's Ridge, Tennessee -- are at this very moment under threat. That's why we've put together a list of America's Most Endangered Mountains -- and given you the tools to help protect them: http://www.ilovemountains.org/endangered British Columbia: 31) Recently David Suzuki's syndicated newspaper column, his DSF foundation and his globally syndicated TV program (The Nature of Things) dominated the Canadian mainstream media on the Mountain Pine Beetle issue stating categorically (perhaps on behalf of the forest industry) that the cause of the current MPB outbreak is climate change. I suppose Suzuki also believes the Irish Famine in the mid nineteenth century in which several million people died from starvation and related disease was the result of unseasonable moist weather rather than the predictable consequence of conveying all of the best agricultural land in occupied Ireland to the colonial british meat export industry and thereby compelling the impoverished, disentitled and ethnic cleansed inhabitants into concentrated monocultural dependence on an irresilient single species of potato unreliably suitable for maximizing carbohydrate production in the very poor soil that remained accessible to them. Our society has a serious achilles heel type problem understanding cause and effect. Such is the case with the current MPB outbreaks in BC that have achieved phenomenal proportions not because of climate warming but because industrial forest practices have created conditions for the beetles that encourage linking and cascading MPB epidemics. Endemic populations of Mountain Pine Beetle have acheived epidemic MPB outbreaks since time immemorial without needing the trigger of climate change. MPB epidemic mode outbreaks are influenced in their timing by climate conditions but they will occur sooner or later depending on other factors the most important of which are proximal food and brood supply capable of supporting a rapid increase in local MPB population adequate to achieve mass attack effectiveness in otherwise healthy target trees. Normally once an outbreak occurs it is a very local phenomena because erupting beetles do not fly very far and the further they fly the less likely they are to be able to maintain the population necessary for the mass attack strategy in which case their survival is then based on falling back to the endemic mode of finding usually scarce distressed and dying trees. But, industrial forest practices have assured that new beetles flying from a successful local mass attack will have increased liklihood of finding sufficient numbers of distressed and dying trees at the margins of their flight in which they can successfully bore and brood and thereby survive to rebuild or maintain the population necessary for continuing their massing attack strategy. Letter to: American Institute of Biological Sciences from Michael Major 32) In a recent op-ed piece Private Managed Forest Landowners Association executive director Rod Bealing offers his views on the economics of the forest industry and log exports. Bealing suggests that today Coastal BC has the highest costs of any forest sector on Planet Earth. He blames wages and government regulation. But Bealing doesn't remind his readers that BC has some of the most rugged terrain of any place on Planet Earth. He also doesn't point out that on Crown lands, companies must go farther and farther into the woods to get less and less timber, while on private lands companies are knocking down less-than-40-year-old Douglas firs for export. Currently as Bealing says " private forest owners invest decades growing trees " – actually, three or four decades at most. Bealing's biggest sin of omission, however, is his failure to acknowledge that BC's problem with " mill-cost competitiveness " flows from companies' continued failure to invest in new plant and equipment. As long ago as 2001 Dr. Peter Pearse warned Coastal companies they weren't even meeting their depreciation costs. Indeed, this is increasingly a problem across BC. Steelworkers' recently showed, for instance, that five big BC companies invested 1.65 times as much in solid-wood mills in the US than the entire industry invested here in BC between 2004 and 2007. In other words, BC mills are inefficient and uncompetitive because firms like Interfor and Brookfield Asset Management prefer to buy sawmills in the US rather than upgrade their BC mills. They say " we won't invest because we aren't making profits; " the real truth is that " they won't make any profits until they invest. " That leaves workers trying to compete globally in old, run-down, dangerous mills. British Columbians should ignore the log exporters' weird science. It's obviously just self-interested gobbledygook from companies that don't want any change because for them, the status quo is just fine.http://www.opinion250.com/blog/view/9558/1/fractured+economics+from+the+log\ +exporters Canada: 33) Canada signed the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Canada also agreed to the 2010 target deadline set by governments to curb biodiversity loss. But the Canadian portion of an assessment done by the Global Forest Coalition in 2007 noted that Canada is not doing enough to fulfill its commitments to the CBD. In New Brunswick, the biodiversity strategy promised in the throne speech has yet to see the light of day. In New Brunswick we have seen the decline of most of our longer-lived tree species including the hemlock, which has a lifespan well in excess of 400 years. Many of the songbirds that journey to our forest to breed are rapidly declining in numbers. In the insect world, populations of important pollinators appear to be dropping. In fact, the World Wildlife Fund classified our entire forest region, the Acadian forest, as one of the most endangered forest ecosystems in North America. The remarkably diverse Acadian forest, more diverse in tree species than the boreal forest, has been simplified by humans. Of the 30 per cent of New Brunswick's public land designated as forest conservation area, only 4 per cent is actually protected from any logging. The remaining 26 per cent of conservation area does not allow clearcutting but is open to other forms of logging like partial cutting. After one accounts for watercourse buffers and areas that are too steep to log, clearcutting is actually only excluded from 15 per cent of the public forest. Areas important for biodiversity will be decimated if industry-driven recommendations of reducing forest conservation areas from 30 to 20 per cent are implemented. Industry wants more clearcutting in conservation areas because this is where the last big wood is found. The area of old forest would plummet again under such a concession when it only accounts for 5 per cent of the entire Acadian forest land base. http://miramichileader.canadaeast.com/article/312811 34) Nova Scotia Voluntary Planning is holding consultations on a long-term natural resources strategy for the province, looking particularly at forests, minerals, parks and biodiversity. Clearly, something big is afoot. It's also possible to submit written comments. Details are at vp.gov.ns.ca/projects/resources/getinvolved. These consultations may shape the government's natural resources strategy for years to come. But alarmed conservationists reported that the early meetings were packed with industry representatives demanding that the province reduce the number of protected areas, support clear-cutting and herbicide spraying, relax its regulations on mining and, specifically, abolish the moratorium on uranium exploration and mining. Ye gods. If nobody else is heard, those voices will control the discussion. So I trotted off to St. Peters with my ten-word recommendation. Go beyond brain-dead accounting, I said. Use the Genuine Progress Index. Every economic activity has costs as well as benefits. Brain-dead accounting overlooks the most important costs, and overstates the benefits. For example, it sees a forest only as potential pulp and lumber. The only costs are the cost of labour and equipment to cut it down. The benefits are employment and profit. http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotian/1059505.html 35) A local forester is taking a walk to highlight what he calls the devastation of Algoma's forests, June 21 and 22. Michel Blaiz has been a logging contractor for 40 years. He works with Algoma M‚tis Loggers Inc., a group that emphasizes partial logging. He invites the public to take a walk with him, comparing areas that engage in " environmentally sound harvesting " versus clear cutting sites. " With a harvest of perhaps 25 per cent of the trees within a stand, we could return every 20 to 25 years in perpetuity. We were effectively improving the quality and growth rates of the stands, not destroying them, " said Blaiz. But he said today's harvesting practices emphasize large, heavy equipment. A feller-buncher can destroy 10 acres of trees in one day. " Only one harvest of timber products could be realized during an 80 to 100 year rotation. " Smaller scale partial logging also employs more people than clear cutting practice can, he said. http://www.saultstar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1052483 36) Rainforest Action Network (RAN) praised the decision of logging company AbitibiBowater—the largest paper company in the world—to stop logging on the traditional territory of Grassy Narrows First Nation. The move follows decades of lawsuits and peaceful protest by the First Nation. Long-time activist and RAN campaigner David Sone issued the following statement: " We are thrilled for the Grassy Narrows community that their forests—which are key to their livelihood and culture—will no longer be clear-cut against their wishes. The U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples clearly establishes that resource extraction on Indigenous lands must have the free, prior and informed consent of the community. " Grassy Narrows has scored a major step forward for Indigenous rights. We're calling on all companies to follow suit and respect the rights of Indigenous peoples to give or withhold consent to industrial projects on their traditional territories. " Since 2003, RAN has worked collaboratively with the community, pressuring Boise Inc. and Weyerhaeuser Corp. to drop their logging contracts with AbitibiBowater for wood logged in the million-acre Whiskey Jack Forest, which makes up Grassy Narrows traditional territory. A broad coalition of human rights, environmental and faith-based groups has rallied behind the community's cause. " http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2008/06/03/abitibibowater-ends-clear-cut-logging-\ on-grassy-narro ws-traditional-territory/ Beware of Bowater bearing good tidings. Bowater made an agreement a few years ago with the NRDC and Dogwood Alliance to stop clearcutting on the Cumberland Plateau of TN. Before the agreement kicked in, Bowater rushed to clearcut some of it's more sensitive areas, including one a half mile from me, and then sold all their land holdings, most to developers or forest managlement firms. Bowater did cease clearcutting, but their new providers have carried on their tradition of land abuse and forest decimation. dennyh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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