Deane’s posterous

Washington: Salmon extinction scandal begins to unravel

Washington’s timber industry won a 50-year exemption from the Endangered Species Act by promising to take steps to help endangered salmon and other critters that depend on clear, cold water in Washington streams. But it was a complicated and contentious deal that had environmentalists and even scientists in the federal agencies that approved the pact calling foul.



Their criticism: This is a political deal that gives short shrift to the science of saving salmon. The agreement, they said, didn’t assure that the steps being taken would actually result in salmon recovery. Those steps included not cutting timber along the banks of fish-friendly streams and making sure roads used to truck out timber aren’t smothering the streams. 



This week, a new state study showed that the timber industry in many cases isn’t living up even to the terms of what the environmentalists and federal wildlife scientists called a flawed deal. The state Department of Natural Resources announced results of its random checks of private industrial forestlands to see if they’re logging so as to protect salmon and other endangered critters.


Sorry, salmon: The study found loggers failing to live up to logging rules under the so-called Forests and Fish deal 25 percent of the time. (As for building roads in such a way so as to not harm fish, they’re doing a little bit better. Noncompliance was at a 13 percent rate.) “Not all infractions have the same impact on public resources, but we need to move toward full compliance,” Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark responded in a news release. http://seattlepostglobe.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=222:state-25-percent-of-logging-operations-dont-meet-rules&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=18

Ethiopia: New Species of Acacia tree discovered an expanse of 3,100 square miles

On recent visits to Ethiopia, Swedish botanist Mats Thulin discovered a new species of tree that covers an area of more than 3,100 square miles, an area the size of the island of Crete. Botanist David J. Mabberley of Britain’s Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew described the new tree in a report Friday in the journal Science, noting that it probably has been overlooked by botanists because few have visited the region where Ethiopia’s Ogaden National Liberation Front is fighting for self-rule.



The area is also difficult to get to, he said, and the trees can be seen from drivable roads in only a few places. The newly identified tree, called Acacia fumosa, grows to about 18 feet to 20 feet tall, with a canopy that spreads 24 feet to 30 feet in diameter. It sprouts pink flowers during the dry season when it is leafless. It differs from closely related species in the color of its flowers and in its gray, smooth bark, among other things.



The total number of trees in the region “must be in the millions,” Mabberley wrote. People living in the sparsely populated region are familiar with the tree, he noted, but have no uses for it other than as firewood. He speculated, however, that gum from the tree might be used in foods and glues. The discovery was a result of the Flora of Somalia project established to look for new plants in the region. So far, researchers have discovered and described more than 400 new species of flowering plants in the country. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/bizarre/6391204.html

Australia: Forest Defender set on fire by cops!

Ms Gavio said: "When they were cutting just behind my head, they cut the fuel line underneath the car and the sparks from the angle grinder must have started the fire behind me. They tried to extinguish the fire but it got bigger just behind me and I saw a large flame that came over me and under my arm, at which point, I unlocked myself quickly and ran out of the car."

Police inspector Glen Woolley said a spark from the grinder ignited petrol which had been splashed on the ground. But Suzi Gavio, who was chained inside, accused the police of cutting the fuel line under the car. Ed Hill, of the Still Wild Still Threatened protest group, said 10 police officers raided the group's camp in the Upper Florentine on Thursday morning. The car was set into the logging road with concrete. Mr Hill said the actions of police at the camp were greatly concerning.
"Conservationists engaged in peaceful protest activity in defence of Tasmania's forests deserve to have their basic human rights and safety taken into consideration when they are being dealt with by police," he said. http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2009/05/02/70521_tasmania-news.html

Ancient Redwood Canopy Ecology

All photos titled "Sillett" are from here:

http://www.humboldt.edu/~sillett/redwoods.html

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Photos titled Brett Lovelace are from:

Brett Lovelace who can be reached at: 541-796-2124

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Marbled Murrelet photos are from:

Wildlife Biologist / Murrelet expert: Kim Nelson

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All photos starting with the title Deane are by me!

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Poetry: Tree Music and Various poems by Deane-Chris-Tom-Gary

These poems and improvisational ramblings / samplings were created in the Month of March 2009.

They were performed by our as yet unamed band in its latest iteration.

The recordings took place at the former Forest Policy Research Office space, which is Media Island International in Olympia, WA

Forest Policy Research's first ever funding drive!!!

Today marks the 113th day of the new http://forestpolicyresearch.org
image-based, twitter-based blog on international forest protection and
education.
 
This 113th day also marks the completion of the initial “proof of
concept” stage of this project.
 
In the past 113 days I’ve posted over 1,400 visually oriented tree
information from around the world. According to Google Analytics
Forest Policy Research currently has a readership averaging 400 people
per day!
 
This is an all day everyday labor of love that must continue! And as
much as I love doing this work it can only continue if there is a
funding base!
 
With your donation of $8, $88, or $888 Forest Policy Research will
continue to grow, will continue to develop a broader range of content,
will continue to increase in global readership / world-wide community
activation in defense of the trees!
 
Donations can be made via paypal: https://www.paypal.com/us/deanerimerman
 
Or for larger 501 (c) 3 non-profit tax deductible donations:
 
Checks can be mailed to:
 
Media Island International
c/o Forest Policy Research
PO Box 2640
Olympia, WA 98507
 
Thanks for taking the time to consider funding this endeavor
 
If the funding drive is successful the goals for the month of April are:
 
--User friendly forest research tool box
--Rewrite of the tabs section at the the top of the blog
--Interviews with leading forest defense bloggers from around the world
--Search Engine optimization to increase readership
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
And again Thanks for taking the time to consider funding this endeavor
 
Long live the trees, Deane
 
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483 - North American Tree News

Today for you 31 posts about earth's trees! (483rd edition)
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1) North America: A wolf named Pluie who taught us conservation on a
mind-boggling scale (Y2Y) http://bit.ly/UaJt
 
2) British Columbia: BC voters rally to defend ancient forests
http://bit.ly/D51S
3) British Columbia: How industry’s extreme wood waste policies makes
for a 5% increase in emissions http://bit.ly/P06PL
 
4) Pacific Northwest: Re-educating misguided USFS about fire salvage
harms http://bit.ly/EbV8C
 
5) Canada: Native peoples may win back some logging rights, but will
they log it? http://bit.ly/m3mia
6) Canada: Judge’s inaction and lack of public accountability is
incomprehensible http://bit.ly/w4Vy9
 
7) Alaska: Northern forests first grew faster with more carbon
emissions, now they grow slower http://bit.ly/iyBgt
 
8) Washington: No one wants to think about, talk about, regulate, plan
for: landslides http://bit.ly/112QF
9) Washington: Interpretation of pending all-terrain vehicle ban on
Okanogan-Wenatchee NF http://bit.ly/GW7Ws
 
10) Oregon: Scientists unite in defense of East Cascades forest
ecosystems http://bit.ly/4BCyyz
11) Oregon: Questions about stimulus for “fuels reduction” http://bit.ly/1767j
12) Oregon: Say thanks for saving old growth in state parks & also ask
‘em to do it more often! http://bit.ly/odjQz
13) Oregon: Summary of State’s Wilderness protections under new
federal bill that just passed http://bit.ly/iYhL6
 
14) California: Sierra Pacific is destroying a public & private
roadless forest on Underwood Mountain, help us stop ‘em!
http://bit.ly/niPre
15) California: US Fish & Wildlife says it’s green-minded to sell out
future survival of Spotted owls on Van Eck land http://bit.ly/oLj4e
16) California: Preservation ranch has become a hell a developer wants
to cover in housing & pavement http://bit.ly/prLRl
 
17) Idaho: Retired forest service employees denounce corrupt Upper
Lochsa Land Exchange http://bit.ly/DtEnO
 
18) Montana: Comment on Lolo NF post fire road removal plan that’s
been stalled for six years http://bit.ly/ZuS3Z
 
19) Texas: Centuries long war against trees appears to be failing
http://bit.ly/B4HHt
20) Texas: Stop Border Patrol from using aerial spraying to kill all
vegetation along Mexican border http://bit.ly/SKkuf
 
21) Illinois: Only you can stop Shawnee NF’s plan to start logging
after being shut down by courts for 12 years http://bit.ly/oGIs
 
22) New York: Lyme Timber’s Adirondack park ‘conservation easement’
pays them to cut the forest down http://bit.ly/4fdRx
 
23) Massachusetts: Biggest US forest fraud campaign against FSC and
inept dying industry http://bit.ly/lb6P
 
25) New Hampshire: Save vernal pool fairy shrimp who feed many
http://bit.ly/183lm
 
26) Kentucky: How Artists get involved in saving hemlock trees
http://bit.ly/lx4e
 
27) Florida: Culverts and subdivisions are killing mangrove forests in
the Marco islands area http://bit.ly/prgl0
 
28) USA: Gov tells judge they’re withdrawing from Bush-era Spotted Owl
extinction plan http://bit.ly/WSHe
29) USA: Army Corps of engineers sets itself up for a big fall
regarding Mt. Top Removal http://bit.ly/iIBuC
30) USA: FLAME Act legislation seeks to redesign how USFS spends money
fighting fires http://bit.ly/aWlz
31) USA: Timber industry’s wildly misleading attempt to promote
increased logging on public lands http://bit.ly/1bfx8

Australia: 500 year old forest destruction on a daily basis in East Gippsland is confirmed

Since 1992, when I've come across a recently giant fallen elder tree,
I pay my respects to that tree by counting each ring of its life. It
has always confounded me that enviros and loggers alike don't have the
patience to relive each year of life that tree lived. It only takes
about 5-10 minutes to count each ring of a 500 hundred year old tree.
And what's even better the mind altering experience / wisdom it
creates in me makes it worth the effort. So next time you have the
chance please, please, please take the time to remember the life of a
tree by counting it's rings! --Editor, Forest Policy Research
 
A Victorian environment group has radiocarbon-tested a felled
old-growth eucalypt and the result suggests the giant gum was at least
500 years old. The battle to save the old-growth forests of Brown
Mountain in Victoria's far east has been waged by environmentalists
since 1989. When another coupe was cut down early this year, logging
opponents decided to send a sample of a felled tree to the University
of Waikato in New Zealand for radiocarbon dating tests.
 
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/02/2532783.htm
 
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Jill Redwood is the coordinator of the lobby group, Environment East
Gippsland. "Considering that ancient trees like these have been
chainsawed down every day across south-east Australia, no-one has ever
been able to give a definitive age on the trees," she said. "We just
thought it would be really interesting to try and get an absolute age
for these trees." The test results said there was an 84 per cent
chance the tree was between 500 and 600 years old. Botanist Steve
Mueck has worked for the Victorian Department of Natural Resources and
Environment and is now a consultant in the private sector. He says
radiocarbon dating of eucalypts is unusual and the result in this case
is significant. "Current forest managements practices are looking at
harvesting on rotation times in the vicinity of 80 to 120 years with
the perception that that's a particularly long period of time," he
said. "Now it is, I suppose, in the context of a human lifetime, but
it is a very, very short period of time in comparison to the age in
which many of the components that live in these forests can in fact
get to in a natural system."

Massachusetts: Fast becoming the biggest E. Coast forest fraud whistle blowing campaign against FSC and an inept dying industry

An environmental group is whacking Gov. Deval Patrick for allowing
private timber companies to cut down huge swaths of trees from public
forests and parks. Massachusetts Forest Watch founder Chris Matera
claims Patrick has overseen a 400 percent increase of logging on
public lands, conflicting with the governor’s liberal bona fides.
“It’s the worst cut when it comes from people who pretend to be
defenders of nature,” Matera said.
 
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http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1162593
 
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The group’s new report shows dramatic photos of trees cut down at
October Mountain State Forest, Savoy Mountain State Forest, and closer
to Boston, Quabbin Reservation. “These lands should be heavily
protected, not heavily logged,” Matera said. Rick Sullivan,
commissioner of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation,
said the logging is part of responsibly managing forests by allowing
struggling local timber companies to remove patches of old and
diseased trees. “We want to be good stewards, and that is what the
governor has charged us to be,” Sullivan said. Matera countered the
state is losing money on the venture, with state costs exceeding an
estimated $300,000 annual take. On that point alone, Sullivan agreed.
“We’re not doing it because it’s a moneymaker,” Sullivan said.
 
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http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1162593

New Hampshire: Save the vernal pool fairy shrimp that feed so many!

Vernal pools are usually small shallow depressions in the woodland
floor that fills with spring rain and melting snows. They have no
inlet or outlet and they form in the same location each year. The
creatures that migrate to the pools do so by the millions and follow
the journey of countless millions of their critter ancestors going
back to when the glaciers retreated our area some 10,000 years ago.
The migrating amphibians are spotted salamanders and wood frogs. The
pools themselves offer another mysterious creature which can not
migrate to or from the vernal pool.
 
Get full text; Support da' word producer:
http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20090401-SPORTS-904010307
 
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The fairy shrimp lives, survives, breeds, and produces the next
generation all in the same limited area of the vernal pool. Remember,
vernal pools normally dry up in the summer until the next spring. The
eggs of the mating adults settle into the layers of leaves as the pool
dries up. They hatch the following year when the pool swells with
spring rains and winter snow melt. Why are these creatures important?
If one were able to scoop up all the living creatures that use vernal
pools to breed and propagate their species, there would be a huge pile
of what biologists call biomass. This biomass is available to other
woodland creatures including turtles (some rare species), insects,
birds, and mammals to feed themselves and their own young. This
availability of a food source comes at a critical time for many of
these predators when there is nothing else available so early in the
spring. In everyday human life we concern ourselves with the immediate
crisis at home or at work. We are just too busy to notice another
world — one that is older than us and our family heritage — just
outside our windows. What we don't see, we don't know. What we don't
know, we don't care about. For New England, Massachusetts led the way
for educating the public and lawmakers. In my state, Maine dragged its
heels for decades and has a controversial law to protect the areas
from further development. It's always a hard sell to convince
landowners and developers of the significance of vernal pools and the
creatures they support because there's no poster child like the bald
eagle or Canada lynx on display. If people could relate to the spotted
salamander like they do with the cute gecko lizard with the human
Australian accent on their TV sets, vernal pools would soar to the top
of places of concern to protect. Alas, there's no talking spotted
salamander or wood frog to endear them to the hearts of developers or
bulldozer operators.
 
Get full text; Support da' word producer:
http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20090401-SPORTS-904010307