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News archives

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Will palm oil drive deforestation in the Amazon?
Already a significant driver of tropical forest conversion across southeast Asia, oil palm expansion could emerge as threat to the Amazon rainforest due to a proposed change in Brazil's forest law, new infrastructure, and the influence of foreign companies in the region, according to researchers wri... Continued...

Seedlings of Rare Black Hawthorn Planted on Ottawa National Forest
Black hawthorn shrubs raised at Forest Service Nursery and planted at Black River Harbor to boost population viability. Black hawthorn, Crataegus douglasii, is classified as a Regional Forester's Sensitive and Michigan special concern plant. There is a documented population of this shrub just nor... Continued...

The effectiveness of fire fuel reduction (U.S.)
An invited feature in this month’s issue of Ecological Applications focuses on the U.S. National Fire and Fire Surrogate Study, a five-year effort to assess the effectiveness of wildfire reduction methods currently in use by forest management agencies. The study compares the effectiveness of fire fu... Continued...

Conservationists launch effort to restore prairies (Colo.)
Four conservation groups are teaming up to try to restore some of the country's original grasslands and preserve the wildlife that depends on it. The groups announced the partnership Tuesday. Members say only 10 percent of North America's 585 million acres of original native grasslands remain, pu... Continued...

Forest plan to be unveiled in July (Minn.)
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and its partners have an updated five-year plan in the works for the Forest Stewardship Program and should unveil it by July. This document provides technical advice and long range planning guidance to interested private landowners. The plan revision ... Continued...

Amazon could shrink by 85% due to climate change, scientists say
Global warming will wreck attempts to save the Amazon rainforest, according to a devastating new study which predicts that one-third of its trees will be killed by even modest temperature rises. The research, by some of Britain's leading experts on climate change, shows that even severe cuts in d... Continued...

Forestry decline threatens B.C.'s biomass plants
The largest biomass power plant in North America is running short of fuel. In the past few weeks, EPCOR Power's Williams Lake facility watched as the town's six forestry mills halted production, drying up their source for cheap, local wood waste that has fed their operation for 15 years. Now t... Continued...

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Tree death rate in Pacific Northwest doubled in 17 years (Wash.)
Trees are dying twice as fast as they did three decades ago in older forests of the western United States and scientists suspect warming temperatures are a contributing factor. In the Pacific Northwest and southern British Columbia, the rate of tree death in older coniferous forests doubled in 17... Continued...

Commissioner Goldmark launches biomass initiative (Wash.)
Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark today launched an effort to create jobs, renewable energy, and healthier forests by utilizing woody biomass in our state’s forests. “Through this biomass initiative, DNR has an opportunity to be part of the climate change solution at the same time that ... Continued...

New US paper purchasing toolkit recommends FSC
A new online resource guide for paper users in the US recommends that buyers should look for the FSC logo. The Environmental Paper Network (EPN) launched WhatsInYourPaper.com to assist and guide consumers and companies to use ‘environmentally superior paper’. EPN is a coalition of environmental orga... Continued...

Garlic Mustard Educational Video is Ready to Ship!
Stemming the Tide: Garlic Mustard ID and Control has been released and is ready to ship! You may order DVDs, which include the phragmites video, by emailing cynthiagaskill(at)yahoo.com, at which time I will acknowledge your order and give you a mailing address where you can send payment. We s... Continued...

Forest Service Doles Out Stimulus Funds
Clearing brush — a favorite occupation of a certain former president — is now earning stimulus funds. From the forests of Oregon to the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the Forest Service is getting money to keep trails and roads bramble free. The stimulus payoff for the Forest Service comes ... Continued...

Canada’s carbon sink has sprung a leak
Billions of tiny mountain pine beetles are treating Canada's boreal forest like a 3,000-mile-long salad bar, transforming a key absorber of carbon dioxide greenhouse gas into a CO2 emitter instead. In just a decade, exploding beetle populations and a rise in wildfires have flipped Canada's boreal... Continued...

Why Biofuels Are the Rainforest's Worst Enemy (Borneo)
nestled deep in the tropical rainforest on the island of Borneo, Pareh is a collection of about 60 weathered wooden houses perched on stilts and enfolded by coconut palms, banana trees, and the dappled green overhang of the towering forest. Pareh's inhabitants belong to the indigenous tribes of Born... Continued...

Latest reports reveal carbon market on shaky ground (ore.)
A market for forest carbon credits is beginning to congeal, but it's still far from solid. That's the message hammered home by carbon market experts at a recent workshop organized by the Western Forestry and Conservation Association. Trees are known to provide environmental benefits by sequest... Continued...

Buckthorn biomass to be converted into electricity (Minn.)
It was brought to the United States as a hedge and is now more of a nuisance. Buckthorn multiplies so fast it literally chokes native plants and trees, but the Department of Natural Resources has come up with a powerful pilot plan to make use of the plant. "Most of the material here that has... Continued...

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Colorado wages battle with beetles
As sunset softens the vast Colorado sky into warm shades of pink and blue, the sound of chainsaws jars the stillness of this remote and rugged wilderness. A forest service team works quickly, felling dozens of dead or dying lodgepole pines, the majestic trees that have towered over this region fo... Continued...

Silviculture and Carbon in the Cloquet Woods (Minn.)
What are the connections between forests and atmospheric carbon? How do different silvicultural interventions affect forest-based carbon uptake and storage? On February 25, about 75 foresters, researchers, and others took to the Cloquet Forestry Center woods to find out. The tour included visit... Continued...

Forestry Internet seminar: Climate Change, Wildlife, and Woodlands
Discussions of climate change in the popular press have highlighted negative effects on polar bears and arctic sea ice, but what will climate change mean for our environments in the Lower 48 and Northeast? Changes in temperature, season length, snowpack, and severe weather events are predicted. For... Continued...

Press Release: Watershed Research and Training Center Delivers Congressional Testimony
Lynn Jungwirth, executive director of the Watershed Research and Training Center in Hayfork, CA, testified before Congress today (March 3, 2009) about the role of federal lands in combating climate change, including the need for more proactive forest management to adapt to and mitigate for climate c... Continued...