News Mule deer (Odocoileus Hemionus) NEW YORK - Findings from an animal study suggest that disease-cause prions can be spread via infected skeletal muscle from deer with chronic wasting disease (CWD)– a wildlife illness related to mad cow disease.
News Uruguay River BUENOS AIRES - An Argentine provincial governor said on Wednesday he would try to block construction of two European-owned pulp mills in neighboring Uruguay by having the case taken to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Jorge Busti, the governor of Entre Rios province, said Argentina's federal government had agreed to file a petition to the international court against the planned $1.7 billion project along the Uruguay River shared by the two countries. Argentine government officials could not be reached for comment.
News Ralf Britz and the Paedocypris progenetica The smallest animal with a backbone known to science, a fish from the carp family, has been discovered in the peat swamps of Indonesia. Mature females of the fish species Paedocypris progenetica reach just 7.9 millimetres in length, making them the smallest vertebrates yet identified by a tenth of a millimetre.
News A new investigation made by researchers at the Växjö University indicate that more than half of the wood from trees felled by the storm in Southern Sweden a year ago have a new kind of cracks, so called core cracks.
NEW YORK, NY, (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) – Green Energy Resources Featured at London Biofuels Conference Green Energy Resources (OTC: GRGR) will speak at the Europe 2006 Bioenergy Conference in London March 16th. The International conference will include a feature article in the UK-based Environmental Finance magazine in February. Environmental Finance has over 30, 000 renewable energy subscribers and is a top-ranking industry publication.
News The EU agriculture council welcomed commission proposals for a European biomass energy action plan on Tuesday. After a first ministerial discussion of the plan, released in December, they concluded that biomass "offers one of the best means to reduce" Europe's dependence on fossil fuels.
News The announcement that Senator the Hon Eric Abetz will become the new Minister for Forestry has been well received by NAFI. NAFI today welcomed the Prime Minister’s announcement that Senator the Hon Eric Abetz will become the new Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation.
News Drongo, Dicrurus paradiseus Imitation of other species is one of the most intriguing and mysterious aspects of birdsong. Often — as in the case of mockingbirds — there seems to be little connection between what the bird is imitating and what it is doing at that moment. But in the rainforests of Sri Lanka, a bird that travels in mixed-species flocks has learned to use the calls of other species in the same contexts that those species use them, to apparently signal an alarm.
News By Yereth Rosen, ANCHORAGE — A judge declared illegal Tuesday Alaska's controversial program of shooting wolves from the air to boost the population of moose and other game, prompting state officials to suspend the policy. Superior Court Judge Sharon Gleason said the Alaska Board of Game failed to follow its own requirements when it launched a program allowing private hunters to gun down wolves from an aircraft to remove the animals from the food chain.
News By Tracy Staedter The Fab Tree Hab weaves together branches to form living archways Growing a home from living trees instead of building a home from felled timber is the goal of an architect from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr Mitchell Joachim, part of the MIT Media Lab's Smart Cities Group, along with ecological engineer Dr Lara Greden and architect Javier Arbona, propose a home that is actually an ecosystem.
News The document outlines that the area affected by nature fires in 2005 had increased by 20% in comparison with 2004. At the same time, the number of hearths had dicreased by 15%. In 2006, the Ministry predicts an increase in nature fires on the territory of the Russian Federation, especially in Siberia and the Far East.
News By Hannes Mäntyranta Finns trust mostly in foresters and researchers as a source of forest and also forest biodiversity information. This is one of the results of the opinion poll ordered by the Finnish Forest Association. There are no major changes in the results of the recent Metsä ja puu (Forest and Timber) opinion poll compared to the previous ones. The poll is made every second year. Finnish citizens accept the activities of the Finnish forest sector very widely. Due to the same reason the support of the forest sector has not increased any more.
News Illegal timber 'a fact of life within the UK timber trade' says committee MPs from across the political spectrum today called for urgent legislation banning imports of illegal timber into the UK. They say new laws are needed to protect the world's forests and warn that 'time is running out.'
EUROPEAN FORUM International Conference Centre of Geneva Geneva, 23-27 January 2006 CLIMATE CHANGES : ENERGY AND MOBILITY "I do not have to guess at my future but to decide on it”. – Denis de Rougemont FEDRE - European Foundation for the Development of the Regions on the ManagEnergy During its annual European forums, FEDRE provides information and examples that may help the choices of regional and local authorities who are conscious of the responsibilities and new powers that decentralisation and urbanisation entail for them. To this end, FEDRE brings together political authorities, local, national and international decision makers and scientists who are competent in relevant areas.
Prahlad Goala, a reporter who recently wrote about illegal forestry operations in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, became the first journalist murdered this year, reported the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans fronti?res, RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
News A nature reserve in Cumbria has received a cash boost to help it protect one of the country's rarest birds of prey. RSPB Geltsdale, near Carlisle, has been given ?175,000 to help prevent the hen harrier's local extinction. The award will be spent on habitat management and direct protection. It is part of the enriching nature programme run by SITA Trust, which distributes funding through the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme.
News GRANGEVILLE, Idaho - Northwest loggers are worried British Columbia may be forced to harvest as much as 21 million acres of forests to stop the mountain pine beetle, flooding the market and driving down timber prices. The infected forests in British Columbia make up an area roughly 40 percent the size of Idaho. To combat the beetles, the province is increasing allowable timber cuts 78 percent; big trouble for mills throughout the Northwest
News Byline: University of California - Berkeley Trees, particularly those with deep roots, contribute to the Earth’s climate much more than scientists thought, according to a new study by biologists and climatologists from the University of California, Berkeley.
