News

Landmark event (ForestPress)

Febr. 9- 12 Verona Bioenergy World 2006 creates the first truly international gathering point for the bioenergy industry and signals a step-change for the sector. Set within the highly relevant context of Fieragricola (see below ‘the right place - Fieragricola’), it provides a unique platform for the industry to showcase its modern bioenergy solutions to a diverse community of stakeholders including the agricultural, forestry, energy and environment sectors, planners and land managers, industry and technologists, consumers, governments, bi- and multi-lateral agencies, development agencies, energy utilities and distributors, policy makers, financiers and business investors.

2006. February 11.

Feds move to protect polar bears (Associated Press)

DAN JOLING ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Amid concerns that global warming is melting away the icy habitats where polar bears live, the federal government is reviewing whether they should be considered a threatened species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday that protection may be warranted under the Endangered Species Act, and began a review process to consider if the bears should be listed.

2006. February 11.

Lion and Llama Freeze to Death in Macedonia Zoo (Reuters)

MACEDONIA, SKOPJE - A lion and a llama died of cold in a zoo in southern Macedonia this week as polar temperatures gripped the country, zoo authorities said on Thursday. The 25-year-old lion and the baby llama were found dead in their cages after temperatures in the southern city of Bitola, near the border with Greece, fell overnight to minus 28 degrees Celsius (minus 18.40 Fahrenheit).

2006. February 10.

Eco-Friendly Home (azobuild.com)

Councillors are set to visit a site in the Pennine hills today (February 7) to decide on planning permission for an eco-friendly home. Ged Parker has submitted the application for the dwelling at Maythorn near the wind farm Crowedge. Mr Parker and his wife wish to build a three-bedroom home that is completely covered in earth and grass – to enable sheep to graze on it.

2006. February 10.

Energy: Biofuel could be EU's 'Green gold' (eupolitix.com)

The EU should grow its way out of fossil fuel dependency, argues Mariann Fischer Boel. "In an industrialised Europe, energy is more central to our lives than ever before. The EU accounts for around 17 per cent of global energy use, and we are the world’s biggest energy importer.

2006. February 9.

Forest Focus BIOSOIL project (forestresearch.gov.uk)

Forest Focus is a Community scheme for harmonised, broad-based, comprehensive and long-term monitoring of European forest ecosystems. It concentrates in particular on protecting forests against air pollution and fire. To supplement the monitoring system, new instruments relating to soil monitoring, carbon sequestration, biodiversity, climate change and protective functions of forests are to be developed.

2006. February 8.

Voluntary protection of natural values is not free of charge (Nordic)

The results of monitoring nature conservation measures in Finnish commercial forests in 2005 indicate that preservation of natural values in these forests is mainly voluntary. Valuable natural sites are voluntarily saved while harvesting and many trees are spared in felling areas. Safeguarding natural values also means financial investments for forest owners. In general, natural sites are well preserved in commercial forests. The characteristics of more than nine sites out of ten are preserved in felling.

2006. February 8.

Neglected national parks create fuel for bushfires (nafi.com.au)

The National Association of Forest Industries said today that the damage caused by recent bushfires in Victoria could have been lessened if adequate funding and resources had been allocated to national parks by the State Labor Government. Over the past decade there have been huge areas of new national parks created. At the same time, park managers were not provided with sufficient resources to maintain the existing newly proclaimed areas,” said NAFI’s CEO Catherine Murphy.

2006. February 7.

Duma's Working Group Drafts New Changes to the Forest Code (ForestPress)

Duma's Working Group published (http://www.duma.gov.ru/cnature/workgroups/les/home.shtml) changes they are proposing for the second reading of the Forest Code.

2006. February 6.

FIRE PARADOX (ForestPress)

An Innovative Approach of Integrated Wildland Fire Management Regulating the Wildfire Problem by the Wise Use of Fire: Solving the Fire Paradox Fire Paradox is an important project for joint research on forest fires. It has just been accepted by the European Union, should start in early 2006, and will last four years. This project is co-coordinated by the Higher Agronomic Institute at Lisbon, Portugal.

2006. February 6.

Province gives $1.4 Million for UBC Wood Research Chair (ForestPress)

VANCOUVER – As part of its plan to tackle the mountain pine beetle epidemic and find new uses for beetle-affected timber, the Province is contributing $1.4 million towards a Chair in Wood Building Design and Construction at the University of British Columbia. Forests and Range Minister Rich Coleman made the announcement during a tour of the UBC Centre for Advanced Wood Processing, where product development and testing will occur.

2006. February 6.

Rain gardens 'cut city pollution' (BBC News)

By Mark Kinver "Rain gardens" can dramatically cut the amount of pollution in urban storm water, according to a study by US researchers. Most of the rain that falls on cities lands on impervious surfaces, such as roads, where it absorbs pollutants before it finally drains away. The team says a shallow depression in a garden containing bark mulch and shrubs can remove up to 99% of toxins.

2006. February 5.

4,000 homeless as Kenyan police burn down forest squats (AFP)

Kenyan police have burned down the homes of some 4,000 people in a forest community during a long-running tussle between landless squatters and the government, officials and witnesses say. Police razed more than 300 grass-thatched huts in the Eburru forest near the town of Naivasha in the central Rift Valley, 90 kilometres north-west of the capital late on Thursday, leaving nothing but smouldering ruins in a latest bid to rid the area of squatters.

2006. February 4.

Non-poisonous insecticides in Swedish forestry (Nordic)

Hylobius abietis – Photo by György Csoka Most of the tree plants for replacing the storm stricken forests in Southern Sweden are to be treated with poisonous insecticides in order to prevent the large pine weevil (Hylobius abietis) from gnawing at the stems. However, new alternative non-poisonous methods may soon be dominant. Sweden's biggest tree plant producer, the company "Svenska Skogsplantor" has purchased the rights of two kinds of non-poisonous insecticides.

2006. February 3.

News

U.N. reaches new pact to manage tropical timber (Reuters)

By Wafa Amr GENEVA (Reuters) - Tropical timber exporters and importers on Friday struck a new 10-year pact to help promote the sustainable development of forests in the face of illegal clearances and logging. Global sales of timber average about $10 billion a year, and some 15 million hectares of forest -- an area nearly the size of Belgium -- disappear every year.

2006. February 2.

News

Romanians Torture and Kill Wild Birds Near Danube (Reuters)

BUCHAREST - Romanians have been torturing and killing wild birds stranded by freezing weather close to where the country's first bird flu outbreak was detected in October, a wildlife organisation said on Tuesday. "Around 15 young men, aged between 20 and 25, were catching the birds, throwing them in the air, using birds which were still living as soccer balls, and tearing off their heads," Razvan Popescu, director of the Oceanic Club wildlife protection organisation told Reuters.

2006. February 2.

Report Says German Forests Are Ailing (Deusche Welle World)

Goethe composed odes to the lush German forest, today it's a shadow of itself GERMAN FORESTS, IMMORTALIZED BY GOETHE IN POEMS, ARE FAR REMOVED FROM THEIR IMAGE OF ROBUST HEALTH. A NEW STUDY SHOWS THAT INCREASING AIR AND SOIL POLLUTION HAVE TAKEN A HEAVY TOLL ON THE COUNTRY'S TREES.

2006. February 1.

News

If you're going to burn wood, burn it cleanly (The Seattle Times)

By Tom Watson When it comes to the environment, firewood has a split personality. From an air-quality standpoint, it's hard to defend wood heat. Wood smoke contains a slew of harmful or carcinogenic substances, including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, dioxin and particulate matter, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

2006. January 31.