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Alaska:
1) Mike Salazar, the Ketchikan borough mayor, had just fielded a call from Reader's Digest. Another reporter wanting to talk about "the Bridge to Nowhere." The proposed $315 million bridge from this small Alaska city to a neighboring, nearly uninhabited island, has become a sensation. It's made Ketchikan famous, but not in a way Salazar likes. "It makes me frustrated that we haven't been able to communicate our need well enough for the rest of the United States to understand it," said the mayor, who was first elected to the town council in 1976. Salazar said, "Everybody calls it a bridge to nowhere. ... It's a bridge to our future." "Before Bush went off on vacation, he signed a $286 billion highway bill containing $24 billion in pork -- among which was a quarter-billion-dollar bridge from Ketchikan, Alaska, population 8,000, to Gravina Island, population 50. Had half that sum been spent fortifying the levees of Lake Pontchartrain, New Orleans would not be underwater today." The bridge is a huge undertaking. It will be more than a mile long in two sections. It will soar 200 feet over the east channel of Tongass Narrows, landing on Pennock Island and then taking off again, 120 above the west channel to reach Gravina. There is logging planned for Gravina Island, but Reeve said that would happen anyway. Other development could include fish processing and cold storage facilities as well as wood products manufacturing, he said. http:/www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/6984
British Columbia:
2) The first ever report on safety in the woods by the workers who fall the trees in B.C. condemns the industry, Workers Compensation Board and Ministry of Forests for allowing unsafe practices to result in unnecessary deaths and serious injuries. Citing an industry attitude of 'just do it' and 'whatever it takes to get the job done', the report says B.C.'s forested slopes have turned into death zones with fallers working below cliffs or in debris left by heavy equipment. Fallers have been bombarded with snags, deadfalls and, in some cases, logs being cut by fallers above them who are being pressured to produce at all costs. Calling for significant changes in practices and regulations, the report by the Western Fallers Association says the industry must adopt a change of attitude at all levels before the forests will be a safe workplace. The report says logging contractors who don't ensure the safety of their forest workers should be shut down. Called A View From The Field, the report was compiled from interviews with many of the 250 self employed independent fallers who are members of the Western Fallers Association. The report was funded by the B.C. Forest Safety Council which has implemented a certification program to educate fallers on safe work practices. The report cites debris left by road builders and heavy logging machinery as a major cause of accidents involving fallers. The practice of stacking fallers on steep grades is condemned as a contributing factor to accidents when logs have the potential to 'torpedo' down slopes toward fallers working below. Retention or selective harvesting of species or grades of wood while leaving much of the forest standing to answer environmental concerns is described as a dangerous practice. Selective harvesting forces fallers to break numerous WCB regulations that have been put in place for their safety. The report recommends this practice of falling selected trees in congested areas be either stopped or done only by fallers who have advanced formal training. http://www.ccnmatthews.com/news/release
3) Forest workers say they are considering shutting down the entire forest industry for a day of mourning every time a logger dies on the job in a bid to focus attention on the industry's unacceptably high number of fatalities. Twenty-seven workers have died in the B.C. forest industry this year, according to Darrell Wong, president of Local 2171 of the Steelworkers Union. Three of those deaths have occurred within the last two weeks. "If the whole industry were to shut down every time somebody was killed, then safety would suddenly become a very high profile issue," said Wong, who represents loggers working on the B.C. coast. The Steelworkers Union passed a resolution calling for such action last week. Wong called the high number of fatalities the forest industry's "dirty little secret" that is not being addressed as long as each death goes unmarked. The resolution calls for large public funerals every time a worker dies in the woods. "Twenty-seven people have been killed in the forest industry this year. That would mean there would be 27 days less operating time, and 27 days of less wages for people. But everyone in the province would be paying attention. Look what happens when an RCMP officer is killed on the job. The whole world pays attention, so things get changed. http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouv
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4) The First Nations Forestry Conference to be held on October 5th and 6th in Vancouver is set to tackle a number of significant issues facing the industry, not the least of which are changes to the regulatory framework of forestry practices implemented in B.C and Ontario. For attendees, the conference theme “Strategic Directions and Business Structures” will be an opportunity to hear how some of these changes are intended to cut bureaucratic red tape, develop an industry that is more market-based and ultimately create greater access for First Nations to the forestry industry and its economic benefits. The two-day conference will feature a number of panelists and presenters who will discuss the new policies and legislation, provide expertise on negotiating forestry and range agreements and on the application of First Nations consultation and accommodation in the general forestry sector. http://www.firstperspective.ca/story_20
Washington:
5) After failing to halt two timber sales in Washington and Oregon in federal court, environmental groups now hope to scuttle the projects by accusing Boise Cascade Co. of reneging on its 2003 promise not to buy wood from old-growth forests. The Boise-based company began logging 10 million board feet of timber in the Deschutes National Forest in eastern Oregon last week. It expects to begin cutting 6.5 million board feet from the Wenatchee National Forest in northeastern Washington within days. Both areas were damaged by 2003 fires. Environmentalists say it's old growth. Boise Cascade says it isn't. Forestry experts watching this fight say it highlights the difficulty of defining just what makes up old-growth forests, which for years have been at the center of the clash between loggers and preservationists. It's made even more contentious because only limited research exists on the best way to promote forest health. "You have the environmental community saying, 'If you touch it at all, it's contaminated and you won't end up with a natural situation.' And you have the company saying, 'It's a light touch,'" said Bob Edmonds, the associate dean for research at the University of Washington's College of Forest Resources. "There's a lot of opinion, and it's not based on really good science." But environmental groups, including Conservation Northwest of Bellingham, Wash., objected, saying that land slated to be logged was within areas designated by the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan as a reserve for old-growth trees and wildlife habitat. The groups sued in U.S. District Court, arguing the reserves should be left alone. The ongoing lawsuits have so far failed to halt stop logging. So now, the environmentalists are reminding Boise Cascade of its 2003 promise to stop cutting timber from old-growth forests in the U.S. by 2004, hoping to pressure it into pulling out of the projects. The company made the pledge after it lost customers, including Kinko's paper products and sportswear companies Patagonia and L.L. Bean, amid concerns over harvest practices. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/apl
6) Governor Gregoire left yesterday on an 11-day trip aimed at promoting Washington's ties with two of its biggest trading partners, Japan and China. She is counting on face-to-face interaction to build relations with government leaders and open doors for companies. In China, Gregoire will focus on new opportunities the country's rapid growth presents for local products and services. For instance, Gregoire plans to meet with China's minister of commerce to dispute anti-dumping tariffs she says are unfairly penalizing Weyerhaeuser and other Washington paper companies. Such duties cost Weyerhaeuser about $2 million a month, said Michael Zhu, Weyerhaeuser's director of international sales for container-board packaging and recycling. "This is a critical product for us," he said. "China is a growing market and many customers are using it for products they export here." The company's sales of linerboard to China grew from $20 million in 2003 to $35 million last year, he said. But since May the company has lost millions of dollars because of the anti-dumping tariffs. The problem is also affecting Longview Fibre and Port Townsend Paper. A recent paper industry survey indicated that Shanghai residents use more than twice as much tissue and toilet paper as the international average. Last year, the survey said, they used 140,000 tons of it, which required about 80,000 tons of pulp. Weyerhaeuser also is interested in marketing technology to help China establish a healthy, sustainable forest industry, Zhang said. In October 2003, he said, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with China, agreeing to share ideas on technology and international forestry practices and to collaborate on research on introducing eucalyptus forests for pulp. “On the top levels we have a very great understanding,” Zhang said. Zhang explains Weyerhaeuser’s slow growth in China as a consequence of high principles, an emphasis on the long term rather than the quick buck. Weyerhaeuser was one of the first American companies to inaugurate trade with China, back in 1972, when the company first started sending raw logs, Zhang noted.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/b
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/loca
Oregon:
7) Trees older than any living person are being cut and dragged through native forests in the hilynx (hi north) units in the mt. hood national forest just off hwy 26. A quick visit to the hi north units (see bark-out.org) yesterday to check on logging progress revealed that more huge hemlocks are being removed in units 13, and possibly unit 1. that suggests that they are finished with unit 6. i did not want to challenge the vehicle parked in the middle of 2130310 (as it had logger written all over it) so i was unable to see the situation in unit 6. at least some of the equipment has been moved south down 2130310. next up will undoubtedly be units 2, 9, and 10.... this is a beautiful area with an open forest unfortunately ridiculously roaded. : http://www.bark-out.org/tsdb/detail.p
8) Elliot State Froest: The 10-year implementation plan lays out the logging specifics, and calls for logging about 40 million board feet a year, 48 percent more than what's been logged annually the past decade. Young said up to 50 million board feet can be sustainably logged from the forest. "We do have federally listed species that use the forest, and we need to have a plan that protects those species as well as produces revenue, and that's what we've tried to do with the plan," said Jim Young, district forester with the Coos Bay office. Young said the document has many similarities to the 1994 version it is replacing. One main difference is that the revised plan defines habitat according to "structure" rather than age. For example, 40 to 60 percent of the Elliott will be in older stands with trees at least 18 inches in diameter, and with a diversity of ages and tree species, snags and down logs. About 35 to 45 percent will be in an intermediate structure of medium-aged stands, and 5 to 15 percent will be made up of young seedlings or saplings. The three structures are defined by canopy, snags, tree diversity and other factors in addition to age. Over time, the different stages would rotate throughout the forest as younger stands mature and older stands are logged. The plan also sets aside about 27 percent of the forest as protected areas for northern spotted owls, marbled murrelet and other sensitive species -- an increase from the previous plan. http://www.newsreview.info/article/2005
9) Cascadian Guardians of the Mckenzie Watershed: Yesterday contract climbers working for US Forest Service Law Enforcement and Lane Co. Sheriff's evicted 2 of the 3 tree-sits in Sten unit 43. One tree is still occupied. Active logging has begun within unit 43. Today .USFS and Sheriff's Dept LEO's escorted fellers into the area of the two evicted tree-sits and found one tree had been reoccupied by an activist during the night. Law enforcement guarded loggers as they cut trees around the activist, who remains in the tree at last report. Two activists were arrested on the ground, both were charged with interfering with an agricultural operation. Another activist is remaining in the third tree-sit further down the hill that was not evicted yesterday. A police report was filed yesterday september 14th by an independent journalist who was present during the arrow attack last weekend. The report was taken by 2 officers from Lane Co. Sheriff's office. These same 2 Sheriff's were on-site today(sept 15th)in unit 43 at Sten, evidently the Lane Co. Sheriff's Department feels arresting forest activists is more important than finding violent criminals who would attempt to kill them. Activists are continuing to occupy the forest at Sten and prevent further logging. Updated information will be provided as it comes in. http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2005/0
10) I live in St Helens, right near the Boise Cascade mill. I've never really felt good about this neighbor; all summer long yellow-brown veils of smog hung over the city, trailed from the stacks at boise. And just before it rains, the whole town stinks of au de paper mill. I've called DEQ to complain, but never heard back, and I've called city hall, but gotten no help. Today, I learned from the local paper out here that there was a chemical accident nearly 2 weeks ago, that sent 23 people to the hospital. Despite living within spitting distance of the mill, I was never notified of any danger until today, reading it in the paper, 13 days later. On September 8th, according to the Columbia County News/Adviser, "two chemicals were mistakenly mixed together, creating a poisonous gas, at the Boise Cascade Paper Mill." The accident happened at around 11:15 am, when a tanker truck full of sodium hypochlorite was accidentally unloaded into the wrong tank. A tank already filled with sodium bisulfate. The two gases combined to form sulfur dioxide, a poisonous gas that can cause respiratory and cardio-vascular problems, and that also causes acid rain. I found this very disconcerting, to say the least. I never even thought about the possibility of this kind of accident happening here. So after reading the article, I did a little research. I began to wonder what other surprises the mill might have in store. The one thing that Boise spokesperson Karen Punch said that I did find somewhat comforting was when she reflected, for a moment, on why she believes that the mill is a good neighbor. It's because, she sighed, management knows that "If the community decides they don't want you here, they can get you out. If you're not a good neighbor..." Let it be so. I want them out. http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2005/0
11) The Medford BLM has planned a number of controversial old-growth timber sales in Southern Oregon despite requests from numerous communities to spare their watersheds and ancient forests from destruction. Citizens from the Applegate Valley, Ashland, Cave Junction, O’Brien, Glendale, Grants Pass, Medford, Takilma, Williams, and Wolf Creek have all asked the BLM to save our remaining ancient forests and focus logging and restoration on the second-growth tree plantations that dominate the landscape. All of these requests have fallen on deaf ears. Simply put, the BLM does not care what you think about their old-growth logging program. While the BLM’s own inventory indicates that out of 2.6 million acres of Federal lands within the Rogue Basin, 770,000 acres consist of dense young second growth fiber farms. Instead of targeting our last ancient forests, the BLM should repair the damage that it has already done. Rather than bring communities together to restore the forest, the BLM has proposed the following timber sales that will log our ancient forests and divide our communities. The BLM has responded to community requests for protection of these forests, and for more time to comment on these timber sales, by claiming that they intend to offer all of these timber sales to the timber industry by the end of the 2005 fiscal year and that environmental impacts and community concerns will not alter their plans in the slightest. Please stand up with your neighbors to demand that the BLM provide sustainable jobs in the woods repairing the consequences of their past logging and fire suppression policies. The old-growth that still stands belongs to all of us, not just the BLM’s friends in the timber industry. http://www.kswild.org
12) As much as I'm enjoying being home, I miss reveling in the backcountry solitude day after day, alone with the immensity of the place, watching nature move in small, uninterrupted worlds. My view of the world today is not from the grassy shore of an idyllic Alpine lake such as Scout Lake, a shining blue-green pool under the shadow of Mount Jefferson. It's from my cubicle, fluorescent lights overhead and air conditioning blowing down from a ceiling vent. I was struck by something my first week back at work. On my editor's computer screen, as on mine and many others in the newsroom, are pictures of sun-baked cliffs, snowy mountains, sandy beaches and duff-covered hiking trails winding through green forests. These scenes pop up in front of us in our man-made world. Whether we think a wilderness experience is a multiday hike to the top of a mountain or a 20-minute walk to a farmers market, many of us would rather be outside listening to the breeze than the hum of our computers. After hiking about 480 miles from Northern California to Cascade Locks carrying a 35-to-40-pound backpack, I understand more than ever the importance of having wilderness, whether you actually use it or not. I'm not talking about the tangible benefits of preserving vast tracts of land for wildlife, clean air and drinking water -- though all those are reason enough. I'm talking about how nature provides us with that place of balance. Being outside embraces us in a way that's immeasurable in terms of dollars, priceless in terms of afterglow. Being outside in a place undisturbed by mankind's destructive nature helps me freely connect with a greater power, away from mediators who often lecture about how to think and act. http://www.oregonlive.com/commentary/or
California:
13) In an extraordinary move, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) yesterday released a formal analysis of the risks posed to the endangered marbled murrelet from logging under the MAXXAM/Pacific Lumber (PL) Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) in Humboldt County. The assessment concludes that PL's ongoing program of logging murrelet habitat will not jeopardize the declining seabird’s chances for survival and recovery. However, that conclusion appears to contradict the findings of a comprehensive Status Review completed last year for the marbled murrelet. Prepared by a blue-ribbon panel of top murrelet researchers, the Review warned that if current trends continue, the species faces a very high probability of extinction in California. The timing of FWS’s new Biological Opinion raises the question whether the agency is reacting to pending litigation rather than the murrelet’s needs.“Under the Bush Administration, we’ve seen a pattern of federal wildlife agencies acting to protect the profits of politically powerful interests, like Houston’s Maxxam corporation, while neglecting the animals, fish, and birds they are supposed to safeguard,” said Lindsey Holm, a timber harvest monitor with EPIC. "It is particularly troubling that the FWS has sought to discredit the authoritative Status Review to get the results that Maxxam/PL wants in this case,” she added. “It is outrageous that Maxxam/PL is allowed to drive this magnificent species toward extinction just to service its massive and unsustainable debt-load,” said Sam
Johnston, EPIC’s industrial forestry campaigner, adding, “The FWS should reconsider its
responsibilities under the law, particularly in light of recent setbacks to the murrelet’s chances for survival in California.” http://www.wildcalifornia.org
14) Late last month the San Francisco Environment Department announced it would not push to weaken the city's 15-year-old ban on purchasing tropical hardwood, despite calls from some green groups to do just that. The decision was seen as a victory for local activists who oppose any logging in the endangered tropical rainforests. Purchasing tropical hardwood "is not critical for the city," said Mark Palmer, the city's green building program manager, in an e-mail announcing the decision. For outdoor construction projects for which tropical hardwood was being considered – such as piers, for which environmentalists have criticized the use of wood soaked in arsenic or other toxic preservatives – Palmer said the city will turn to other green building materials. Two environmental groups, Greenpeace and Rainforest Action Network, had OK'd the use of tropical hardwood that's certified by the international Forest Stewardship Council. But others railed against the FSC label, criticizing the very notion that logging could help preserve tropical rainforests (see "Between a Rock and a Hardwood," 5/25/05). http://www.sfbg.com/39/34/news_environm
Montana:
15) The Bitterroot National Forest has spent more than $160,000 marking trees for a timber cut designed to reduce hazardous fuels, even though a final decision on the logging project hasn't been reached. "We find it incredibly disingenuous that during the public comment period, a period where they said they would take the public's comment and incorporate it into their plan, they were just moving ahead with the plan that they apparently already have chosen," said Matthew Koehler, director of the Native Forest Network. Koehler's group is adamantly opposed to the Bitterroot forest's preferred alternative for the project, which calls for logging roughly 4,000 acres, and instead favors a citizen-initiated proposal that would log less than half that total. Friends of the Bitterroot, another group opposed to the Bitterroot's preferred plan, also decried the money spent to identify the timber cut. "It is an indisputable fact that as the public was asked to study and comment on several alternatives contained within the draft (environmental impact statement), the Forest Service simply went ahead and spent tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars marking the logging units for their alternative," said Larry Campbell. "If we didn't get started working on it now, maybe it would be another year before we could do anything," Dies said Monday. "This is a hazardous fuels project, so it's a priority and it's something we want to move quickly on." Dies and Koehler had widely different views on what the public thinks of the logging project. Koehler noted that another FOIA request yielded information that of the more than 10,000 comments received on the fuels reduction plan, 98 percent of them oppose the Bitterroot's preferred alternative. "I know they'll say this is a response that was generated by protection groups, but it's still very important that so many people would speak out on the project," Koehler said. http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2
16) In Bush's war on the wild, the trees themselves are portrayed as standing weapons of mass destruction, which must be leveled by chainsaws before they ignite into raging wildfires that threaten to incinerate the towns of the rural West. Such is the tale of the spin, any way. Ground zero in this war is the Bitterroot National Forest, a 1.6 million acre chunk of public land, adorned with Ponderosa pine, serrated mountain peaks and alpine lakes, that sprawls along the spine of the Continental Divide in western Montana. Beneath the rugged peaks and park-like forests lies the stunning Bitterroot Valley, once the province of working cattle ranches. In the last few decades, though, the ranchers have been pushed out and the valley has been re-colonized by the super-rich, who have erected multi-million dollar weekend retreats, ornamented with private airstrips and helicopter pads, from which they survey their boutique ranches and decamp for fly-fishing expeditions on the Big Hole River. Perhaps that explains why the Bush administration has chosen to make the Bitterroot National Forest an ecological version of their assault on Fallujah. On December 3, 2003, Bush signed into law the cunningly-titled Healthy Forests Restoration Act. This bill, a kind of War Powers Act against old-growth forests, was adeptly maneuvered through congress by Mark Rey, Bush's Undersecretary of Agriculture in charge of the Forest Service, who once toiled the mean blocks of K Street in DC as the timber industry's top lobbyist. Offering fantastical claims about the coming sylvan inferno, Rey, with the timely connivance of a few key Democrats, was able to intimidate the congress into giving the Bush administration a free hand to assault western forests without having to abide by the troublesome constraints of environmental laws, such as the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act. One of the first assault plans to emerge from this Act is slated to demolish a swath of old-growth forest along the East Fork of the Bitterroot River, close to the pass where the Nez Perce, under the leadership of Chief Joseph and Looking Glass, executed their dramatic escape from the murderous troops of the 7th Infantry into the what they believed to be the sanctuary of the Big Hole valley. There's a final irony here. After learning of the preemptive targeting of the old-growth stands along the East Fork of the Bitterroot River, environmentalists went out to inspect the doomed groves for themselves. Usually, the condemned trees are marked with an X. Here in the Bitterroot, though, the Forest Service spray-painted the big, yellow-bellied Ponderosas, some more than 400 years old, with an all-too familiar brand: "W". http://www.counterpunch.org/stclair0921
17) In all the years he's worked in the woods, Craig Thomas has never seen anything like it. Just the other day, he saw a father and his small children stand a couple hundred yards back and watch a logger run whole trees through a de-limber. Then there was the 60-something woman who unloaded her horse and rode up through the middle of the logging operation happening around the Pattee Canyon trailhead. Every day, hikers, dog walkers and bikers are using the trail system in the Pattee Canyon Recreation Area while Missoula's Johnson Bros. Contracting fells trees, skids them into piles and hauls them off to local mills. Missoula residents are taking advantage of the opportunity to get a close-up view of a restoration logging operation in action. "As loggers, we've always been real poor communicators," said Thomas, a forester with Johnson Bros. "This is a chance for people to see the whole process of restoration logging." Johnson Bros. loggers are in the middle of a project to reduce fuels around the popular recreation area in Missoula's backyard. "There was some concern from the community when we first got started," Thomas said. "We heard complaints that the place looked like a war zoneŠit can look messy when we're working in an area." This spring, many of those same people were pleasantly surprised to find the treated areas flourishing with low-level vegetation, said Missoula District Ranger Maggie Pittman. The birds and small mammals had also returned. "The flowers just went ballistic this spring," said Thomas. "People didn't want us to come in and finish cleaning up because we'd wreck the flowers." Missoula residents are passionate about Pattee Canyon, Pittman said. They go there to walk their dogs, ride their bikes and cross-country ski in winter. "It's really right in their backyard," said Pittman. Normally, the Forest Service would close an area while work was under way. But with the popularity of the Pattee Canyon trail system, the agency opted to keep the trails open and ask people to be careful and not get too close. They've also posted an information sign at the trailhead to let people know where work is occurring. http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2
Colorado:
18) It's not our fault! While humans are often the instigators of such ecological tragedies, this time, our hands are clean, said town of Vail and county officials involved with the problem. "Humans play absolutely no role in the infestation," said Tom Talbot, fire technician and wildland coordinator for Vail's fire department. As part of the natural cycle of life for lodgepole pines, mountain pine beetles appear toward the end of a tree's life to help finish it off. However, years of drought have led to weakened trees that are unable to fight off the infestation. Vail officials are trying to speed up the natural cycle that, once the trees are dead, would see fire sweep through the forest, causing pine cones to burst and leveling the forest floor to ready it for new life. Vail's efforts are just one in a series of forest-health projects to remove dead and infested trees from around town, but it will likely be the largest. "It's rewarding to know that there will be new growth here," Talbot said. "I'm hoping my children will be able to enjoy it." Around the county, the forest service will continue efforts to prevent or lessen the severity of wildfires, while sustaining the resort-based economy, Wettstein said. "The problem right now is scenery. In a couple of decades it's fire," Wettstein said. "In 20 to 40 years, there will be a fire, and we won't be able to stop it. These will be immense fires in the tens of thousands of acres." However, driving down Meadow Mountain, looking over the patchwork quilt of colors on the hillside in the backdrop of the jagged Gore range, Wettstein was optimistic. "It's a resilient landscape," he said. "It will take care of itself." http://www.vaildaily.com/article/200509
19) Forest managers have approved the Estes Valley Fuels Reduction Project, a plan to thin the forest by removing trees on 7,129 acres southeast of Estes Park between U.S. highways 36 and 7. The project had faced a mix of opposition and support from environmental interests and homeowners who wanted forest health restored and fire risk reduced, though not if it meant building roads in the largely roadless area. The U.S. Forest Service, under the plan as it was approved, won't build any permanent roads, though Forest Service vehicle and foot traffic could leave paths on the land, said Dyce Gayton, natural resource coordinator at the Arapaho and Roosevelt national forests. "That may end up looking like a path, and we may have to cover that up," Gayton said. "By opening up roads or skid trails, you make it easier for those vehicles to get in there," said Rocky Smith, the forest watch coordinator for Denver-based Colorado Wild. http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGN
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Indiana:
20) Some critics of a plan to harvest more trees in state forests present it as evidence that Gov. Mitch Daniels is launching some sort of greed-driven assault on trees. But dig beneath the most superficial presentation of that plan, and it turns out to be a sensible, long-term shift to improve and extend forests, not wipe them out. This plan aims to harvest three to five times as much timber from state forests as is now being cut. That is not going to wipe out the forests. Tim Maloney, executive director of the Hoosier Environmental Council, is in favor of the state acquiring more land and promoting better resource management on private land. “But is this the best use of the public forest?” he asked. In general, his group opposes logging on public land; it explicitly opposes logging in the Hoosier National Forest, owned by the federal government. And Maloney makes a good point when he notes that nearly all the wood used in Indiana – 95 or so percent – already comes from privately owned forests. Cutting trees on publicly owned land might not be necessary to support state businesses. There are potential pitfalls in the plan. Careless logging can ruin the look of a forest and undo many of the environmental benefits the wooded land provides. This plan to dramatically change how public lands are managed was written and announced without public involvement, as Maloney noted. This deprived the state of the scrutiny of independent experts who might have spotted shortcomings missed inside the DNR. http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentin
Pennsylvania:
21) The U.S. Forest Service may consider the financial value of trees in developing forest management plans, but that wasn't the sole factor behind a controversial logging policy created for the Allegheny National Forest, a federal appeals court ruled. Although the declaratory judgment by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia upheld the legality of the policy, the Forest Service said it will have to revise the management plan for the 7,600 acres in question because many trees have since decayed and lost their value. Environmental groups, led by the Allegheny Defense Project, sued the Forest Service in 2001, claiming it violated the National Forest Management Act by primarily managing the forest for profit and catering to the logging industry. The National Forest Management Act requires national forests be managed for "multiple use," which includes recreation and timbering. The 513,000-acre forest is Pennsylvania's only national forest. Opponents claimed the Forest Service intended to create a monoculture of black cherry trees - which are less valuable to wildlife but worth more on the lumber market, where they are used in furniture - at the expense of native species, such as American beech, white pine, eastern hemlock, maple and birch. The proposed sale of dead and dying trees was expected to earn millions of dollars. The court found the plan "was based on a thorough analysis of a variety of both economic and non-economic factors." http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/1
Canada:
22) Canada's Boreal Forest is big -- roughly thirteen times the size of California -- but its value to our planet is even larger. The Boreal is Earth's one remaining lung, playing a vital role in keeping the air we breathe clean. It's also an essential regulator of climate: our first line of defense against global warming, and therefore one of our most vital assets in preventing devastating hurricanes like Katrina. But the Boreal is increasingly feeling the heat of the axe, with destructive logging occurring at a rate of two acres every minute! Unfortunately, the trees from this Endangered Forest are made into catalogs that are no sooner mailed to households around the country than they're put in the trash to clog up landfills. One of the largest culprits of this wasteful destruction is Victoria's Secret, which prints 395 million catalogs each year predominately on virgin paper from the Boreal and other Endangered Forests. That's more than one million catalogs sent out every day! On November 3rd, help us expose Victoria's most scandalous secret and take part in the International Day of Action for the Boreal Forest! It's time Victoria's Secret finally learned there's nothing sexy about forest destruction. We need your help for this International Day of Action for the Boreal to start making Victoria's Secret reveal their devastating impact on the world's Endangered Forests. Get involved in the November 3rd International Day of Action to expose Victoria's Dirty Secret's practice of Forest Destruction. Go to www.victoriasdirtysecret.net
Latin America:
23) Large-scale monoculture tree plantations that have been promoted in the countries of the South with fast-growing species, such as eucalyptus and pine have generated considerable negative impacts, economically, socially and environmentally in the countries where they have been installed. In May 2004, the Brazilian "Network against the Green Desert" that has a considerable track record of resistance to tree plantations, held its 3rd National Meeting in the city of Bello Horizonte. On that occasion it decided to select the 21 September, National Tree Day, as a significant date to commemorate the struggle against monoculture tree plantations. In Brazil, the students of the Federal University have organized a mobilization to take place on that date in the capital of the State of Espirito Santo, with the participation of representatives of affected groups to denounce the workers’ situation and encroachment of the lands of the local communities by monoculture tree plantations. In Argentina, in the Province of Entre Ríos the negative impacts of monoculture tree plantations will be given dissemination by the press and in the Province of Misiones native species will be planted as a symbolic way of rejecting the monoculture of exotic species that is covering the province. Uruguay is joining in this celebration with an exhibition at the City Hall Esplanade, with the distribution of information, videos will be shown on a gigantic screen. they will include the impacts of monoculture tree plantations and the situation of Uruguayan forestry workers, prepared by the Association of Labour Inspectors of Uruguay. For those of us who believe that "another world is possible", governmental policy must make a radical change. It must cease its support of monoculture tree plantation companies and centre its support on the men and women who live in rural environments to enable them to improve their quality of life, while ensuring environmental quality. http://www.wrm.org.uy/plantaciones/RECO
Mexico:
24) Tensions over logging in Petatlán first bubbled over in the late 90s when the Canadian lumber company Boise Cascade was buying up pine logs from the higher slopes of the mountain range in southern Mexico. Satellite pictures show that 40% of the forest cover in the area disappeared during the 90s. The rate of deforestation was five times the national average, itself the fifth worst in the world. But in 1998 a month-long blockade by the peasants kept the lumber trucks stuck in the rugged mountains that rise steeply from a jungle-covered base in the Pacific state of Guerrero. In the next two years, Boise Cascade became nervous and pulled out. The Ministry of the Environment cancelled most permits, and the local environmentalist movement took root. Today, deforestation has slowed to a trickle and activists are focusing on replanting trees. But animosity between the former loggers - most notably Mr Bautista - and the environmentalists remains as sharp as ever. The latter allege that the rancher belongs to a long tradition of local strongmen in the state of Guerrero who have used intimidation, violence and close ties with corrupt local authorities to impose their will. Two of his sons died in the attack, and a third was badly injured. "I held them in my arms. I heard them cry out in agony. I could do nothing," he said. Convinced that vengeful loggers orchestrated the attack, the family now live in hiding. Felipe Arreaga, considered to be the ideologue of the Petatlán environmentalists, also believes his life is in danger now that he is out of prison. They say he is intent on destroying their movement in order to start cutting down trees again, both in order to sell the lumber and to clear pasture for his cattle. Mr Buautista denies it, insisting he is just an ordinary rancher who sparks envy because he has done well through hard work. He not only alleges the environmentalists killed his son, but also claims their organisation is a front for criminal activities such as cattle rustling and kidnapping. "The media treat them like little saints, but they are lazy good for nothing criminals who want to steal what I have worked hard to get," he told the Guardian during Mr Arreaga's trial.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/conserva
Brazil:
25) The mystery of the Amazon rainforest’s “Devil’s gardens”, in which only a single species of tree survives for hundreds of yards around, has been unravelled by scientists. The enigmatic stands of Duroia hirsuta trees are not tended by evil forest spirits, as local legend would have it, but are the work of an industrious variety of ant. Research has shown that ants of the species Myrmelachista schumanni, which live in the hollow stems of D. hirsuta trees, produce Devil’s gardens by poisoning all the other plants that spring up around their woody homes. By destroying the competition to the trees they rely on for food and shelter, they allow D. hirsuta saplings to thrive and provide them with fresh nests into which ant colonies can expand. Their arboriculture is so successful that the longest-lived Devil’s gardens are thought to be more than 800 years old, and to house as many as three million workers and 15,000 queens. Tropical rainforests are generally populated with an abundant variety of trees, vines, shrubs and wildflowers, but Devil’s gardens, which appear apparently at random in the Amazon, consist purely of the D. hirsuta tree. “Devil’s gardens are large stands of trees in the Amazonian rainforest that consist almost entirely of a single species, Duroia hirsuta, and, according to local legend, are cultivated by an evil forest spirit,” said Megan Frederickson. of Stanford University in California, who led the study. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,
Kenya:
26) Kenya`s forestry officials, regional administrators and wildlife service personnel from the central and eastern provinces Monday held a crisis meeting in Chuka, a town 200 km north of Nairobi, to redress the deteriorating conservation situation around Mount Kenya forest region. The meeting, which was chaired by the Eastern Provincial Forester, Charles Kimini, also addressed the issue of poaching for meat by residents living adjacent to the forest, which doubles as an animal sanctuary. The officials expressed concern over illegal logging, cultivation of "cannabis sativa" and encroachment by residents into the forest, which is recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The stakeholders emphasised on the need to fully involve the community and also to train them on the need to conserve the forest for their own good. Briefing the media here, Kimini said that there was a need to fully equip forest guards and at the same time intensify patrols for at least three days a week to stop illegal logging and cultivation of "cannabis sativa" activities that he said were rampant in the forest. http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/no
Vietnam:
27) Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) provinces have seen an unprecedented boom in illegal logging recently, regardless of authorities’ warnings and efforts to curb the trend Environmental activists warn that unless authorities actually take strong action soon, illegal logging will completely decimate Dac Lac Province’s forests, even as soon as by the year-end. Authorities have placed billboards at forest gates, saying "We are determined to protect the forest – Deforestation is a crime," but people illegally chop down a large number of trees daily. On my visit to Ea M’roh Commune, Cu M’gar District, Commune Chairman Tran Van Tu said, "You want to write about deforestation? The forest is destroyed. There’s nothing else to say." The district’s forest was destroyed before he became chairman, he added. A former wood smuggler, who preferred anonymity, said people illegally logged in the Buon Don national park area and transported wood to the lowlands via Cu Mgar roads, bribing local authorities along the route. "We all carried logs on cong nong (three-wheeled) vehicles, which are really loud. How could authorities not know? It’s not like we were stealing a cat off a farm." I went to Buon Don, the hardest hit area, where I saw the hundreds of acres of forest that had been wiped out. The Ea Tul Forest Station supervises the area. The chief Buon Don Forest Ranger, Do Minh Kha, said, "We don’t have enough personnel." He said the green areas were disappearing quickly because locals lacked farming land and conservation awareness. However, the public claims it wants a concrete reason – somebody to blame for the vast losses – before it is gone. http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/show
Indonesia:
28) Illegal logging is still taking place in the waters of Nunukan, East Kalimantan.
“It’s happening almost every day,” Nunukan Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) deputy speaker Abdul Wahab told TEMPO on Wednesday (21/09). According to Wahab, wood from the forests in Nunukan regency has been smuggled to Tawau island in Malaysia via the waters of Nunukan. “The wood is taken at around 8pm Eastern Indonesian Time and usually arrives at 6am in the morning at Tawau island,” stated Wahab. The wood is taken from forests in Semanggaris and Sebakis as well as from the protected forest on Nunukan island. The wood is taken from Sebatik island to Tawau. According to Budilukito, two problems occur in dealing with illegal logging cases. These are the huge size of the area and the limited number of security personnel. To secure the Nunukan regency, the 0911 military command, consisting of 70 personnel, is assisted by 409 personnel under the joint operational command joining of the 613 battalion. (Fanny Febiana-Tempo News Room) http://www.tempointeractive.com/hg/nasi
Malaysia:
29) THE fruiting season and logging activities in the Setiu and Hulu Terengganu districts have drawn wild elephants out of their habitat in the interior areas. Elephants have ransacked villagers' plantations around the forest areas and one even attacked a ranger. Trucks carrying fruits have also not been spared. Villagers in both districts are now terrified to work in their orchards, fearing that the elephants would return. Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) deputy director Ghazali Omar said villagers had complained about the raids which took place in their plantations, most of which were around the forest areas in Langkap, Hulu Seladang, Chalok Barat and Payong in Setiu, as well as Durian Batur and Sekayu, in Hulu Terengganu. http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/N
30) The state government will withdraw logging licenses in areas which had been gazetted as Selangor Heritage Parks and new concession areas would be given in their place, Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo said Wednesday. He said the withdrawal was in line with the state government's decision not to allow logging in the Heritage Parks. Logging licenses had been issued in 2000 and 2001 in the Hulu Langat forest areas, he said. "We will discuss with the companies concerned and we will give them areas which are not in the Heritage Parks. We don't want any logging activities in these areas," he said at a press conference after chairing a weekly exco meeting, here Wednesday. The Selangor Heritage Parks comprising 107,000 hectares in three districts of Hulu Selangor, Gombak and Hulu Langat are symbolic of Selangor's advanced state status. The parks would be maintained at all times. The parks provide protection to some unique habitat and hilly areas, prevent flooding in downstream areas, and provide protection to slopes, flora and fauna. http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/ne
New Zealand:
31) “Using standard industry formula, one of our forestry officers calculated that almost 260 cubic metres of logs had been harvested from Pembroke Station - 99.61 cubic metres more than what was authorised.” Wayne Mark Ford was fined a total of $56,000 at the court on 16 September – the highest fine ever awarded in a forestry case of this type. His company, Helilogging Ltd was convicted and discharged. Mr Ford and Helilogging were also found guilty of transporting timber in contravention of the Forests Act. The defendants pleaded guilty to failing to provide sawmill returns. “We are very pleased with the outcome of this case as it sends a clear message that the consequences are severe for people breaking the rules around harvesting our native forests,” says Robert Miller, Manager of the Ministry’s Indigenous Forestry Unit (IFU). “Harvesting and milling indigenous timber without the appropriate consent, or beyond the conditions of a consent, threatens the sustainability of New Zealand’s private indigenous production forests and the ecological maintenance of forests forever.” The case was brought against Ford and his company by MAF back in 2003 after an investigation by the IFU and the Ministry’s Special Investigation Group. The IFU had received information alleging that a quantity of indigenous rimu timber in excess of that allowed by permit had been removed from a block of privately owned land known as Pembroke Station, near Wharekopae in the Bay of Plenty. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0509/S
Australia:
32) In Tasmania's north-east Break O'Day region, a new political group's been formed, BODCRAP, or Break O'Day Concerned Residents Against Plantations. As debate continues about the Tasmanian Government's involvement with the forest industry a new twist is emerging in the forestry debate. This time it's the local government level, with an electoral fight looming over plantation forestry. Anti-plantation groups are planning to field candidates at next month's council elections, promising a vigorous fight. Supporters of forestry say it's a case of green groups never being happy with their industry. David Clement: “If you are going to cover 25 per cent of your water catchment wall-to-wall, carpet to carpet four metres apart with water sucking eucalyptus and spray them with helicopters or spray them with groundspraying it's dangerous. These plantations will be to windward of the schools, windward of the golf course, windward of the swimming pool, windward of the town water supply, windward of the town. It's a potential disaster.”
Mr Clement says he shares Mark Latham's view that the State Government is controlled by the forestry industry. Mr Clement says local council represents the best chance for change. “This is a remote rural community, a small population, and you've got large, multimillion dollar companies and a pulp mill coming up, that's David and Goliath isn't it?” So how do you rate your chances? David Clement: Um (laughs) we'll be a bloody nuisance and we will raise the conscience levels. Peter Cave: Anti-plantation council candidate David Clement, BODCRAP indeed! http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/conten
33) Since Gunns bought Boral’s Tasmanian woodchipping interests in 2000 and North Forest Products in 2001, the company has become the monopoly woodchipper in Tasmania. While most other states have been moving away from woodchipping native forests, Gunns has been dramatically increasing the volume of native timber it extracts for woodchips. Over the same period Gunns’ profits have increased meteorically from $9 million in 1999-2000 up to $105 million in 2003-04 — making it one of the most profitable companies in Tasmania. While Gunns produces sawmill and wood veneer products (and has bought out the Tamar Ridge wine label), most of this profit comes from woodchipping. The woodchipping component of Gunns’ business actually went backwards between 2004 and 2005, and this resulted in a drop in its overall profit to $101 million in 2004-05. Greg Barber, national corporate campaigner for the Wilderness Society, writing for <http://crikey.com.au> attributes this drop in woodchip sales to “a dramatic increase in wood supply [on the global market]” due to the increase in plantation timber from other parts of the world. This is what explains Gunns’ enthusiasm for a new pulp mill in northern Tasmania — a new avenue for using those woodchips it is finding harder to sell on the global market. “Every time we hear something new about the pulp mill, it goes from bad to worse”, Socialist Alliance campaigner Kamala Emanuel told Green Left Weekly. “I’m not sure how much worse it could get, but knowing Gunns’ record, I’m sure they’ll give it a bloody good try.” Still smarting from the defeat of the proposed Wesley Vale pulp mill in the 1980s, the timber industry and its supporters in the state government have been keen to try to present this mill as the “world’s greenest pulp mill”. ‘‘It turns out, however, that this is entirely public relations spin’‘, according to Emanuel. http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/6
34) The lack of response from Ministers or regional forestry officers to earlier requests for advice about what is happening in the Murrah Forest has led the Friends of Five Forests to seek a meeting with the Premier. We were told that the halt to logging in the Murrah catchment would provide an opportunity for community consultations, but none have occurred, and the issues remain unresolved while community disharmony is increasing. The letter to the Premier emphasised the strength of local community opposition to logging in the Five Forests and noted that intensive logging over nearly four decades has seriously affected regional biodiversity, including the threat to the remnant koala population in the Murrah Forest. It highlighted the concerns that forestry is a major cause of damage to one of the most beautiful environments in the State, and that in contributing to worsening siltation and water quality and quantity in the lakes and rivers in the catchment areas it is threatening the growth industries that the region increasingly depends upon -including tourism and recreation, oyster growing and fishing. Friends of Five Forests urged the Government to take the opportunities afforded by the availability of plantation timber supplies to make major changes in forestry policies and practices that were not available to it when the Regional Forest Agreements were put in place, and in this way resolve the following: àThe damage that intensive logging to meet a now unrealistic quota is doing to the forests and waterways in the South East: àThe costs to NSW and Australian taxpayers from subsidising an uneconomic industry; and the economic threat to plantation forestry posed by continuing high levels of native forest logging in a situation of oversupply; and. à The community outrage and associated social tensions including the alleged assault on community members which intensive logging is causing. http://narooma.yourguide.com.au/det
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