Today for you 32 new articles about earth’s trees! (334th edition - USA)
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--Alaska: 1) Industry no longer prosperous.
--Pacific Northwest: 2) Timber export stats, 3) When will industry ruin soil viability?
--Washington: 4) Just like big tree forests, UW forestry school almost gone, 5) GP task force’s plan for restoring volcano country,
--Oregon: 6) Politicians want big timber on public land, 7) Shameless Ethanol advocate,
--California: 8) A hundred mature trees lost to protect concrete, 9) Oak grove treesit raid imminent, 10) UC Berkeley cop’s have already arrested hundreds of treehuggers / history of UC cops, 11) History of Aussie Blue Gum in CA., 11 1/2 Harrison Ford gets chest waxed for rainforest, 12) County lawsuit against PL thrown out for last time, 13) Maathai speaks in LA,
--Idaho: 14) Last of the Caribou must be saved!
--Colorado: 15) Bill Ritter plans to unprotect roadless areas,
--New Mexico: 16) Reforesting state’s riverbanks
--Michigan: 17) Nature Conservancy’s “working forest” fantasy unravels in lawsuits
--Louisiana: 18) Mulch madness, save the Cypress!
--Mississippi: 19) Demanding new rules so builders protect forests
--Arkansas: 20) More mills and loggers shut down by lack of Diesel prices
--Southern Forests: 21) 60% of US paper comes from most endangered forests
--Indiana: 22) Powerful I-69 protests poised and ready to begin
--Pennsylvania: 23) No one wants to buy Bethleham water’s prized black cherry trees
--Maryland: 24) Traditonal Irish wake for trees murdered for a highway
--Florida: 25) National Conference on Urban Ecosystems
--USA: Baucus want less capital gains tax for loggers, 27) Rules of public right-of-ways shift from logging to housing, 28) Bush’s Billion dollar slush fund for big timber illegal? 29) Survey of Forestland Conservation Easements, 30) Excellent forestry? 31) Bull Trout protections might survive latest ESA challenge, 32) Sidewalks no easy place for trees to live, 33) We’re recycling 56% of our paper,

Alaska:

1) These are not prosperous days for Southeast's timber industry. The mills are starving and the loggers have left town. "The patient is very ill," said Jack Phelps, a former industry spokesman, who now works for the state's wood products program. Timber provided 378 direct jobs in Southeast Alaska last year, about 1 percent of the jobs in the area. That's down from more than 3,500 jobs at the industry's peak in 1990, according to state numbers. Those in the industry now debate whether the patient can recover. After a decade of litigation and rewrites, the U.S. Forest Service has released a plan for how timber sales and all the other uses of the Tongass National Forest will be managed over the next 10 years. Alaska Forest Association Executive Director Owen Graham hasn't found much to love in the new plan. He says it will never allow the Forest Service to sell the amount of timber the industry needs to survive or thrive. Tongass Forest Supervisor Forrest Cole said he respects Graham's position, but his own is different. "Our mandate is multiple uses," he said. He also doesn't have the funding to prepare such large sales, he said. Nonetheless, he'll release a five-year plan in the next few weeks that he says will allow the industry to stabilize. "I think this plan is something we can actually implement for a change," he said. Most in the industry said they couldn't see Southeast Alaska returning to the days when timber sold in the billions of board-feet. Not everyone laments smaller harvests, of course. Russell Heath, executive director of the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, spent years fighting timber harvests he said would harm the Tongass. SEACC has never wanted the industry to disappear completely, he said, but it should be appropriately sized. "The industry should be fitted to the resource, not the resource to the industry," he said. But pockets of hope remain for timber, in small-scale sales and high-value or novel uses of this renewable resource. Wood could, some say, even solve Southeast's energy crisis. http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/042708/loc_272761976.shtml

PNW:

2) A total of 879.9 million board feet of softwood logs was exported from Washington, Oregon, northern California, and Alaska in 2007. The 2007 volume was up 11.6 percent from the 2006 total of 788.4 million board feet, according to Debra Warren, an economist at the Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station. “ Some 546.8 million board feet or 62.1 percent of the west coast softwood log exports in 2007 went to Japan, 264.8 or 30.1 percent went to South Korea, 42.4 million board feet or 4.8 percent went to China, and 7.2 million board feet or 0.8 percent was exported to Taiwan,” says Warren. …Other statistics included in the report are: Log exports for 2007 from Washington and Oregon totaled 673.0 million board feet, up 26.0 percent from the 2006 volume of 534.3 million board feet. A total of 457,000 board feet of logs was exported from northern California, up from 75, 000 board feet in 2006. Alaska exported a total of 206.5 million board feet in 2007 compared with 254.1 in 2006. Douglas-fir accounted for 53.7 percent of the 2007 log exports; western hemlock, 13.6 percent; Sitka spruce (out of Alaska), 17.3 percent; and other softwoods made up the remaining 15.4 percent. The total value of 2007 log shipments was $544.1 million at port of exportation, and the average value was $618.40 per thousand board feet. Douglas-fir averaged $780.17 per thousand board feet; western hemlock, $521.92; and other softwoods, $460.77. http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/news/2008/04/softwood.shtml

3) Many sources agree that, “Some 90 percent of the Pacific Northwest’s old growth forests have been destroyed in the past century.” Many enraged environmentalists, however, marched into battle to save what is left of these old trees. But timber companies plug on and continue to cut, while pollution spews from the mills. Sure, companies plant trees after clear-cutting, but they’ll never wait for an old growth forest to grow before they harvest. “In 200, 300 or 400 years, these new ecosystems will collapse because the soils will collapse,” according to an article in Borealis magazine. Hundreds of animals depend on the undergrowth, and when the old trees are destroyed, the animals’ habitats are gone forever. Some timber companies argue that the young forests they plant soak up more carbon dioxide and release more oxygen than the older trees. But that’s where many scientists disagree. Oxygen decreases without these old trees. And, without old growth forests, more carbon ends up in the atmosphere. Still, logging continues and even increases. Why? According to the Environment News Service, “The Bush administration is making it easier to cut old growth trees for an industry that funded its re-election campaign. The industry donated more than $1 million dollars to the president and his party and the payback is log trucks loaded with our biggest trees.” http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.cms.support.viewStory.cls?cid=96201&sid=41&fid=1

Washington:

4) Washington students just don't seem interested in studying forestry anymore. The state may soon find itself without an accredited undergraduate program in forestry — despite being half-blanketed in trees and home to forest-product giant Weyerhaeuser, and its $16 billion-a-year business. Washington State University appears likely to cut its only forestry program before next fall, because of declining demand. The University of Washington, meanwhile, graduated the last of its forestry engineers in 2007. In the future, companies like Weyerhaeuser may look more to universities such as Yale, the University of California, Berkeley, and Oregon State for forestry managers and experts. "It sounds almost impossible that this state would find itself in that position," said Bruce Bare, dean of the UW's College of Forest Resources. "For some reason, students today just don't view the woods as a place they can engage in a meaningful career ... we just don't get the enrollment interest from the day they are freshmen." The UW forestry faculty this month voted 28-16 in favor of continuing talks with Provost Phyllis Wise that could result in the college being absorbed into a new UW environmental college, perhaps as soon as the fall. The UW forestry college has struggled to survive in the modern era. Undergraduate numbers have fallen from about 800 in the early 1970s to just 175 last year, when the college celebrated its centennial. Four years ago, the college stopped accepting new students into forestry engineering. As a result, its undergraduate program lost accreditation from the Society of American Foresters. The UW has retained a five-year master's program in forestry, which remains accredited. About a dozen students are taking that course. To take the place of forestry, the college introduced a new major: environmental science and resource management. That has helped revive enrollment this year to 220 students. Bare thinks just having the word "environmental" in the title helped. Students today are interested in a wide range of issues, from water production to habitat, he added. But they aren't necessarily qualified to manage big forests, either for companies like Weyerhaeuser or even for conservation agencies such as the Cascade Land Conservancy. http://www.google.com/search?q=Fewer+students+choosing+forestry&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.m
ozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

5) The Task Force recently published “Restoring Volcano Country—A Plan for the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.” The restoration plan is the Task Force’s vision for the future management of the 1.3 million acre Gifford Pinchot National Forest. “Restoring Volcano Country” outlines priority areas for implementing restoration activities over the next twenty years, such as road removal, weed eradication, and de-fragmenting habitat. The plan also calls for management policy changes. Its implementation will require collaboration with diverse interests, new partnerships, creativity, and the ability to adapt as new information or tools become available. The GP Task Force is excited to turn this vision into reality by implementing restoration work to create stable family-wage jobs that will lead to streams thriving with salmon, unbroken expanses of ancient forests teeming with diverse wildlife, and wolves once again howling in the woods. You can learn more about the restoration plan and even download a PDF version at: http://gptaskforce.org/article.php?id=225. If you would like to learn more about the plan or its implementation or if you would like a physical copy of the plan please contact Lisa at lisa@gptaskforce.org. Also here’s the link to The Columbian article about our restoration plan from today’s news: www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/04/04242008_Gifford-Pinchot-Task-Force-proposes-20-year-f
orest-restoration-plan.cfm

Oregon:

6) Peter Defazio’s and Edward Shepard’s pro-con guest viewpoints in the April 9 Register-Guard are not in opposition to each other. Both are trying to increase the fraudulent taxpayer-subsidized logging of publicly owned trees from already overcut public lands to profit the logging industry. Yes, there were a few minor differences. Congressman Defazio says that old growth is “important to environmental groups” but knows that native forest is critical for the climate, weather and other natural services it provides. This fight has nothing to do with brokering “wins” for “environmental groups.” It’s also clear that Shepard, Oregon-Washington director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, couldn’t care less about trees and the life-giving complex ecosystem they make possible. Both DeFazio and Shepard demand that the subsidized destruction of our life-giving watersheds continue. Both want to spend tax money to take the public’s trees, soil, air and water. They merely argue over details and distract us from far more serious questions. Questions such as whether logging is the highest and best use of our remaining forests. Questions such as how to best to deal with the full environmental, economic and social costs of industrial logging. The truth is, we live in a closed system. What we have is the Earth, whatever we can responsibly extract from it, and the sunlight that falls here. Using the Earth is OK; using it up is not. We get to choose. At least for what’s left. Where will we draw the line? Where do you draw the line? http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.cms.support.viewStory.cls?cid=97155&sid=5&fid=1

7) Industry lapdog. Dishonest shill. Shameless profiteer. These are some of the names I’ve heard people call Martin Jack Desmond after his April 20 guest viewpoint pushing cellulosic ethanol as a solution to the rising cost and dwindling supply of gasoline. As former director of the Northwest Reforestation Contractors Association, which has profited from the conversion of natural forests to industrial fiber farms, Desmond is in no position to tell us what’s good for Oregon’s forests; a circumstance best summed up by Upton Sinclair: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” Whether he realizes it or not, Desmond has become a soldier of Big Timber, which — having conquered all but the last islands of old growth — has declared woody biomass as the new frontier of forest liquidation. Already, Weyerhaeuser and Chevron have joined forces to develop “treecell technology” to manufacture cellulosic ethanol. As you read this, ethanol factories are popping up across the United States like gaping mouths hungry for a constant supply of forest. And, conveniently, just when industry develops the technology to exploit even the smallest tree for profit, the Forest Service announces that “more than half of Oregon’s 29.7 million acres of forest lands” are overgrown and in need of “thinning” to keep down fire risk. What a coincidence! While science suggests that densely planted tree farms and some fire suppressed forests in the Southwest are likely to burn hotter than natural forests, the fire suppression argument is of little relevance to Oregon’s healthy native stands. Historically, much of Oregon’s forests have gone centuries between rejuvenating wildfires. Industrial fire suppression has been around for only about 50 years — leaving these forests well within their natural fire cycle and in no need of “fixing.” Of course this hasn’t stopped Desmond’s Biomass Study Group from eyeing our rainforests as feed stocks. The truth is, thinning can’t even reduce the risk of severe fire, as demonstrated by ecologist George Wuerthner’s observations of 2002’s Biscuit fire: “Many of the low-density, widely spaced Jeffrey pine growing on serpentine burned up even though their natural stand density is much lower than what you are left with under even aggressive thinning.” When drought, high temperatures, low humidity and wind combine — which we’re seeing more of with climate change — a fire’s going to burn, no matter how many stumps are in its way. http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.cms.support.viewStory.cls?cid=96663&sid=5&fid=1

California:

8) People who live in the west Bakersfield community said frustrations grew throughout the day as City of Bakersfield crews cut down more than a hundred mature trees. One resident tells me she has lived in her Bakersfield home for about 15 years. When she saw city crews at work this morning, she knew she had to do something to save the trees that have lined her backyard for years. Large stumps will replace trees that once lined Stockdale Highway. Bakersfield resident Marcia Bryant said she was disappointed and frustrated when she learned the trees behind her home would be cut down. Bryant said, "It was 5 p.m. on Friday and I thought what can I do? Should I sit in the tree until they come cut it down? I didn't know what to do." Bryant was so frustrated that when she could not reach city officials she posted a sign instructing city crews not to touch the large trees behind her yard. Bryant said, "I think they would be better at telling us what trees are going to be cut down, when and for what reason." Diane Hoover of the City's Recreation and Parks Department said the trees have to come down. Hoover said as part of Bakersfield's right tree- right place program the city is working to replace 111 large trees on Stockdale Highway near Allen Road because the roots are ruining the sidewalk and threatening the block wall and the irrigation system. http://www.kget.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=00636ed7-2920-4884-916c-53ce9f9980be

9) Red alert mode has begun! If you love the oaks, please read this... A decision is expected any day in the lawsuit against UC's construction plan. No matter what the judge's ruling, UC Police Chief Harrison has stated that she intends to remove the treesitters from the grove immediately after the ruling is announced. If UC obtains a favorable ruling, they also plan to clearcut the grove immediately. Now is the time! If you love the Oak Grove, here are two ways you can help: 1) Treesitters have asked for folks to join "The Oak Grove Emergency Support Team." You can email oakgroveteam@gmail.com to join the team. Please include your contact info. 2) Day to day, the Oak Grove treesitters have asked for additional folks who can be at the grove to keep vigil. If you're interested, call the oak grove ground support phone at 510 938 2109 or email citizyn@riseup.net

10) "To protect and to serve" has never been UCPD policy when it comes to student protest. Back in 1969, police enforced UC policy on People's Park. UCPD failed, and today we have a park, not a parking lot. In 1999, when hunger strikers defended Ethnic Studies, UCPD attacked the protesters. Again they failed, and today ethnic studies has tenured faculty. Recently, UCPD has made nearly 100 arrests at the oak grove and conducted numerous raids, stealing activists' personal property,blankets, food, water, and even leaflets, making a mockery of their alleged respect for free speech. Michael Schuck, a former student who withdrew from in protest of UC's misguided policies, climbed a tree near Wheeler Hall in early March to raise awareness. UCPD's response was to violate the Geneva Conventions by denying food and water to a peaceful protester. Several students were arrested for tossing Schuck water bottles. UCPD malfeasance extends into racist targeting of people of color. Recently UC Police Chief Harrison met with me to discuss UCPD's harassment of tree-sitters and the possibility of UCPD opening the gates to the oak grove to accommodate the Longest Walk, a Native America cross-continental trek to defend sacred sites and promote Native rights. After I went into the office to meet with Captain Beckford, I was arrested for an outstanding warrant-one that I had never been informed of because UCPD mailed the citation to an incorrect address. The warrant charged me with violating the court order against the treesitters as well as obstructing a police officer. UCPD attempted to videotape grandmothers sending food and water to the treesitters on Dec. 2nd -the one-year anniversary party for the protest. My "Native American Burial Ground" banner allegedly interfered with their ability to spy on senior citizens armed with pies. UC Executive Director of Public Affairs Dan Mogulof assured us that UCPD would not interfere with the party. The fact that UCPD targeted me -a woman of color-was not only a violation of this commitment, but also a racist action. Many others held the banner, but only Native Leader Zachary RunningWolf and myself were charged. Furthermore, UCPD abused its discretion: They could have simply informed me of the warrant. I unnecessarily spent the night in Santa Rita Jail instead of studying for midterms, and I'm wasting time with numerous court appearances.UC has tried to spin the truth about UCPD behavior at the grove. Mogul of claims that UCPD actions, such as building fences with barbed wire and cutting traverse lines, are for the sake of safety. However, Chief Harrison admits they are "making life difficult" for those
living in the trees. http://www.dailycal.org/article/101354

11) "After the 1849 Gold Rush, transpacific shipping was booming. Seeds of the Australian Blue Gum Eucalyptus from Southern Victoria and Tasmania were imported in San Francisco in 1853; by 1860 the young Blue Gums had reached 50 feet. Californians started planting and hyping the incredibly fast-growing trees; thousands of newly planted acres were sold as investment property. In 1876, state Sen. Ellwood Cooper promoted their use in ‘Forest Culture and Eucalyptus Trees,’ in which he wrote about his experimental plantings near Santa Barbara. But the discovery of oil in Pennsylvania in 1859 led to the gradual replacement of wood with oil for industrial energy use. When it also became known that weed from young Blue Gum trees makes good firewood and pulp, but poor lumber because it is very difficult to cure, the instant-gratification plantation bubble burst. Still, we are left in Southern California with two thousand miles of Blue Gum hedges that protect citrus orchards from cold winds and we see thousands of older ornamental specimens in our cities. Notoriously fire-prone because of its ethereal oils, the tree usually resprouts after a fire. It is aggressively invasive in coastal Northern California, but barely here in the Southland because our climate is too dry. Blue Gum is one of the most widely planted trees worldwide for the production of hardwood, pulp, firewood, honey, and the essential oils contained in the leaves. These are used in the manufacture of cleaners, deodorizers, food, insect repellents, and many medical purposes. For our urban forest we have far better choices available among the 600+ Eucalyptus species than the Blue Gum, although during the last 10 years many new Eucalyptus pests such as the sap-sucking, aphid-related psyllids have become established here. Thank UC for continuously introducing small predatory wasps to fight these pests the natural way." http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laland/2008/04/tree-of-the-w-3.html

11 1/2)Environmental campaigner HARRISON FORD has had his chest waxed in an effort to showcase the pain involved in deforestation. The Indiana Jones star - who is the vice chair of the global environment group Conservation International - subjected himself to the painful beauty treatment in a bid to raise awareness about the conversion of global forested areas Former Spice Girl Melanie Brown was a spectator as the event was filmed by Access Hollywood. http://www.pr-inside.com/ford-has-chest-waxed-for-the-r554485.htm

12) The California Supreme Court has refused to hear Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos' major fraud case against the Pacific Lumber Co. The court turned down the DA's request to review a scalding decision handed down in January by the California Court of Appeals' First District. ”Further, we conclude the state has failed to prove, on its third try, a reasonable possibility that the operative pleading's defect can be cured by amendment,” the three-judge panel wrote for the First District. The Supreme Court ruled without comment. It also denied Gallegos' request that the First District decision be depublished, which would have prevented it from being a precedent-setting opinion. The 2002 suit alleged that Palco secured a overly liberal long-term logging plan when it agreed to sell the 7,400-acre Headwaters Forest and other groves for $480 million. The company submitted false data on landslides in one watershed and didn't correct the record until the last minute -- which prompted the California Department of Forestry to adopt a less stringent logging strategy, the complaint held. The suit was filed shortly before an effort was launched to recall Gallegos, a campaign that was largely funded by Palco. The recall failed. Palco is now in bankruptcy. ”The trial court, the appellate court and now the California Supreme Court have all recognized this case to be more an exercise in spite and sloganeering than an action of any substance or legal merit,” said Palco Vice President and General Counsel Frank Bacik. Gallegos did not return the Times-Standard's phone call by deadline. http://watchpaul-articles.blogspot.com/2008/04/ts-supreme-court-wont-reverse-palco.html

13 "It doesn't have to start with big things; start with small things, start with ourselves," she said. Maathai's appearance in Los Angeles was part of an Ecological Justice Day of Awakening sponsored by the Women's Global Resource and Development Initiative, an organization that seeks to promote self-esteem in women and children through self-help projects around the globe. "When you are talking about healing the earth, you are talking about healing the quality of life for all who share in the earth," said the Rev. Cecelia Williams Bryant, executive director of the organization. Minority communities in Los Angeles, Bryant said, need to look at the rise in asthma that stems from air pollution, and childhood obesity as an outgrowth of fast food diets. "Children are full, but not well-fed. If you send children to school hungry and ill-equipped and tired, you are sending them as fodder to respond negatively to a stressful environment." In addition to honoring Maathai, the program paid tribute to Anna Marie Carter, a local environmentalist known as "The Seed Lady" for her work promoting organic gardening in Watts and Long Beach. "We are kindred spirits," Carter said of Maathai. "We do the same work, but on opposite sides of the planet." As part of the event, Million Trees L.A., a joint project of the city and community groups, distributed free trees to those in attendance. In front of an audience of more than 300 people, L.A. City Councilman Bernard Parks welcomed Maathai and described her as a courageous woman who had risked her life on several occasions to save the environment. "We can live in a home without furniture, but we cannot live in a place where there is no food or water," she said. To take part in the Green Belt Movement, each new member must plant at least one tree. "If the tree dies, your membership lapses," she said. In Kenya, the Green Belt Movement has taken up several environmental issues, including the fight to reduce the use of plastic bags. "There were so many that people thought it was the native flower," she said. During this trip to the U.S., Maathai said she wanted to "try to get young people to understand the value of protecting the environment and the value of thinking about the environment that is not just in their neighborhood but far from where they live. "Most communities are concerned about survival and their immediate needs rather than the long-term effects brought by climate change that affect us all, whether rich or poor," she said. "It's important to understand that if things are bad, they can get worse." http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-nobel27apr27,1,3379094.story

Idaho:

14) The freezing alpine world below is home to the mountain caribou -- the most endangered large mammal alive in North America. The airplane, contracted by Panhandle National Forest caribou biologist Tim Layser, banked and made a second pass over the tracks. Then another, and another. There are few other large mammals adapted to live this high in the Selkirks, but some moose and other animals wander across the mountain tops, making the job of deciphering tracks from hundreds of feet above an extremely difficult one. According to Layser, no one knows just how many mountain caribou historically lived in the U.S. But researchers know through the 19th century, herds spanned mountain ranges across the northern tier of the United States, as well as much of Canada. In Idaho, caribou lived as far south as the Salmon River. In 1950 the Selkirk herd numbered an estimated 100 animals. By the 1980s that number had dropped to 25. Now, only a few herds live north of the Canadian border, and only one south of it in North Idaho and a sliver of Eastern Washington. Rough estimates indicate there are about 1,200 to 1,400 mountain caribou alive on the planet. Mountain caribou are a type of woodland caribou -- a subspecies that includes two other "ecotypes," said Wayne Wakkinen, IDFG biologist. While there are small genetic differences between woodland caribou and the barren ground caribou that cross northern tundras in staggering numbers, there are only behavioral differences between the ecotypes. The primary difference being the mountain caribou's choice of habitat. During winter months when deer, moose, elk and other herbivores are driven down slope, the caribou follow to lower elevations. But only for a short time. When mountain snows harden, they return to using the firm snow as a platform to reach strands of lichen that drape across high tree branches that were unreachable before. In that habitat they are removed from competition over food, and they are guarded against predators. But that survival strategy has its drawbacks, Wakkinen said. "Their whole evolutionary behavior has been to live where nothing bothers them, that's why they're up on the top of a mountain," he said. "They're actually pretty docile. If they see people they're not just going to fade into the trees and get away from you. It's actually one of their downfalls. Wakkinen said declines in Caribou populations likely resulted from destruction of old growth forest through logging, development and wildfire. http://www.cdapress.com

Colorado:

15) As an avid fly fisherman and outdoorsman, Gov. Bill Ritter said he appreciates Colorado's natural treasures. That didn't mollify environmentalists who said April 11 they are upset with his plans to revise the roadless petition submitted by his predecessor, Gov. Bill Owens. "The 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule has been reaffirmed as the law of the land and it's the best way to ensure protection for our last wild forests. Despite what Governor Ritter may say, his state-specific roadless petition is not only unnecessary, but it aims too low in terms of protecting Colorado's roadless areas," Vandermark said. Dave Peterson, a spokesman for Trout Unlimited, said Ritter's proposal fixes some problems in Owens' petition but it also leaves too much leeway for road-building for timber and grazing. "There is no restrictive language and it would allow roads in roadless areas," Peterson said. Brian O'Donnell, public lands director for Trout Unlimited, said Ritter's petition leaves hunters and fishermen at risk of losing the protections they have now. http://www.hpj.com/archives/2007/may07/may7/Rittersubmitsrevisionstoroa.cfm?title=Ritter%20sub
mits%20revisions%20to%20roadless%20petition

New Mexico:

16) Lowe and dozens of volunteers spent a recent day planting native trees along a half-mile stretch of the Santa Fe River that has been reduced to a dry, sandy wash. “We’ve got to do something and this is one little place we can do it,” Lowe says, wiping sweat from her brow. “And if we multiply that by thousands of other places around the world, think of what we can do.” Federal agencies, states, tribes and concerned citizens are spending millions of dollars and thousands of hours on waterway restoration projects to reverse decades of poor management and combat the mounting threats of population and climate change. Nationally, there are more than 37,000 river restoration projects underway, costing more than $1 billion annually, according to a study released this month by Colorado College. The Bureau of Land Management has spent close to $15 million in the last couple of years on its Restore New Mexico program, which includes oilfield restoration as well as work on the rivers and streams that flow through BLM land. The U.S. Forest Service spent about $500,000 on watershed work in New Mexico and Arizona last year and plans to spend just as much this year, said Penny Luehring, watershed improvement program manager for the agency’s southwest region. Just weeks ago, the agency and its partners finished planting willow trees along the Centerfire Creek in western New Mexico as part of a comprehensive plan that included removing cattle and building culverts for a road that crosses the creek. Land managers agree that cooperation has been essential in trying to treat entire river systems rather than just a stretch at a time. “We’ve been very successful in telling the story to all different kinds of groups - industry groups, conservation groups, other agencies - and they’ve all been very willing to join with us to try and fix some of these past mistakes,” said Linda Rundell, state director for the BLM in New Mexico. The work has resulted in more wildlife habitat, fewer invasive species, less erosion and the recharging of the aquifer in many areas. And managers say those benefits can’t be realized soon enough. Federal researchers at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque predict that the fresh water supplies of more than half of the nations in the world will be stressed in less than 20 years, and that by 2050 three quarters of the world could face fresh water scarcity. The U.S. is no exception, said Michael Hightower of the lab’s Energy Systems Analysis Department. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080423/ap_on_sc/rescuing_rivers

Michigan:

17) Fred Jr. and Janet Roth, through their attorney Donald J. Molosky of Petoskey, filed a complaint and demand for a jury trial against the Conservancy on Thursday, April 17 in 13th Circuit Court. Molosky also filed a motion to dismiss the Conservancy’s lawsuit against the couple. The Conservancy on March 13 filed suit in Circuit Court against the Roths and Lonnie Sparks, owner of a timber company in Kalamazoo, to stop Sparks from cutting select trees on the 43-acre parcel that surrounds an access way into the Whaleback Natural Area. Conservancy officials objected to a planned harvest of trees on the parcel, which they claimed violated the conservation easement agreement between the property owners and the land preservation group. The Roth’s suit alleges misconduct by the Conservancy for violating terms of the conservation easement, further contending that Conservancy officials or their representatives may only enter the property at reasonable times and may not interfere with the Roth’s enjoyment of the land. The suit also contends the Conservancy has no right to permit others to enter the property for purposes unrelated to the conservation easement, and the general public is not allowed on the property. In addition, the suit alleges the Conservancy has made false statements and representations that it owns the property. Also alleged: fraudulent and innocent misrepresentation; interference with business relations; termination of the easement agreement and quiet title; trespass; defamation; and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Speaking from their seasonal residence in Scottsdale, Ariz., Tuesday, Janet Roth said the Conservancy’s suit was very aggressive, and she and her husband felt they had to respond in like fashion. “Their suit was unnecessary. Since they sued us, it is our obligation to do the same because they have slandered us with (an Enterprise) article and their lawsuit,” she said. Roth said they were also upset that the article stated the couple declined to comment on the suit. She said they were never contacted by the newspaper. In fact, the Enterprise contacted the Roths for comment, but received a return call too late to be included in that week’s edition. “All they want to see is their rights protected,” Molosky said. “The Conservancy jumped the gun with their lawsuit.” http://www.leelanaunews.com/blog/2008/04/28/couple-responds-sues-conservancy/

Louisiana:

18) If you've read Michael Behar's "Mulch Madness," you already know that the sale of cypress mulch is threatening to destroy Louisiana's best defense against hurricanes and one of the country's most diverse ecosystems. And once destroyed, Louisiana's cypress will never return. So what can you to help? Wherever you live, making sustainable choices in your own garden is a great first step. 1) The first question to consider when planning to mulch your garden is whether you need to buy mulch at all. One of the biggest myths about cypress mulch is that it is especially rot resistant. In fact, the young trees that are being harvested are just as susceptible to rot as other species. So instead of buying mulch, take a lesson from Mother Nature, and consider using fallen leaves or pine needles in place of commercial mulch. 2) If you must buy bagged mulch, question your supplier closely to make sure you are not buying Louisiana cypress mulch or any other mulch that is not sustainably harvested. A good alternative to cypress is pine, which has many of the same properties but is far more abundant and harvested as a byproduct of the pine lumber industry. 3) Wal-Mart, Lowe's, and Home Depot are the largest commercial sellers of mulch. Wal-Mart has already agreed not to sell Louisiana cypress mulch, Lowe's has a moratorium on cypress harvested from certain parts of Louisiana, and Home Depot is still crafting its policy, but all three can take steps to ensure that whatever mulch they do sell is sustainably harvested. Learn More and Take Action: http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/03/Mulch-101.html

Mississippi:

19) Clearcutting is a method of logging that collectively refers to the removal or destruction of a significant area of forest for the purpose of land development or cultivation. Mississippi is one of very few states that still allows this technique of tree removal despite the known detrimental effects on the environment. Trees can be considered natural "air scrubbers" so that when they are cut, the amount of garbage in the air increases. Given this, clearcutting yields increased CO2 emission contributing to global warming, the death of millions of flora and fauna in the canopy and underlying soil and a drastic decrease in the aesthetic value of the area, according to the National Resources Defense Council. Instead of wiping out an entire plot of trees, we propose the great state of Mississippi follow the following building plan, which has proven to be economically stimulating and ecologically mindful. A friend from New Jersey, Bob Green, a professional engineer with over 33 years in site design and construction says: "Instead of bringing an inner city look into the pine forest the new housing areas can be designed in harmony with the natural environment. Apartments can be clustered leaving large areas of virgin woodland in-between. "Single family houses can be sited on lots that leave most of the trees intact on the sides and rear. Even the streets can be laid out to leave rows of original trees (i.e. not cut) on both sides. "This is not hard, it just takes commitment. Working around the existing trees and land creates a "win-win" situation for builders, buyers, passers-by and the surrounding ecosystems. Buyers will want to live in a more natural setting instead of looking at brick, concrete and vinyl all around them. "The developer wins because the units will sell faster, they won't have to purchase saplings to replant, and preservation of the environment benefits itself and ultimately our health and well being." http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080427/OPINION01/804270339

Arkansas:

20) Wahl, 49, a contract logger for Potlatch Corp., said, "There's no simple solution. We've all got to be more efficient." Diesel fuel prices of more than $4 a gallon have only exacerbated the problems caused by the current downturn in lumber demand, he said. Potlatch, which owns about 470,000 acres of pine timberland in south Arkansas, announced last month the permanent closure of its Prescott sawmill in Nevada County, which produces dimensional lumber. When the mill finally closes its doors next month, a total of 182 sawmill jobs will be eliminated. Timber is especially important in Nevada County, said Darwin Hendrix, chairman and chief executive officer of the Bank of Delight, which is based in neighboring Pike County. "It's all we've got down here, you know," Hendrix said, referring to the timber industry. "We've got some chicken houses and some cattle, but we're primarily timber country." The difference between a lumber boom and a lumber bust is easy to see in Prescott, he said. "Three years ago there were log trucks going by my window every 15 or 20 minutes, and now, nothing," Hendrix said. The Prescott mill already has stopped buying sawtimber, cutting log demand in the area by 120 to 140 truckloads per day, Wahl said. Stewart, of Forest2Market, says the Potlatch closure is part of a much larger equation. "Collectively, in that marketplace, demand I'd say conservatively is down 35 or 40 percent," Stewart said. "The loggers certainly are taking it on the chin," he said, but forest landowners also are seeing a reduction in pine sawtimber demand. South Arkansas pine stumpage prices, which reflect the value of standing timber used to make lumber, averaged more than $50 a ton during the first quarter of 2006 but fell below $38 a ton during the first quarter of 2008, according to Forest2Market. http://www2.arkansasonline.com/news/2008/apr/29/housing-slump-taking-whack-out-logging-20080429/

Southern Forests:

21) The Southern forests of North America supply 60% of US and 15% of global paper demands. Deforestation for wood and paper products, along with urban sprawl, has resulted in a total decline from 356 million acres in colonial times to 182 million acres today. The South contains more threatened forest ecosystems than anywhere else in the US. A major perpetuator of deforestation in the South is the fast food industry. With nearly 100 paper packaging mills in the South and thousands of restaurants worldwide, major fast food retailers such as KFC and Taco Bell are leaders in paper consumption and subsequent waste. The Dogwood Alliance (dogwoodalliance.org), a nonprofit organization formed to increase awarness of the importance of Southern forests and the threats their survival, has launched a new campaign at nofreerefills.org which specifically targets the paper packaging practices of the fast food industry. "Southern forests are (among) the most bio-diverse forests in the world", says Dogwood Alliance Media Outreach coordinator Lauren Barnett. "These forests contain high concentrations of rare and endangered species." The Southern forests also function as major carbon sinks, regions that are incredibly important in their ability to remove carbon from the atmosphere and sequester it in trees and soil. Not only are carbon-gathering trees being felled to create products which ultimately find their way to landfills where they decay and release carbon into the atmosphere; "the large-scale industrial forestry practices that are used to supply the fiber that is turned into fast food packaging are major contributors of carbon emissions since bound carbon is exhausted from the soil when forests are cleared and managed intensively with chemical fertilizers." Overall, the Southeastern US has the highest number of endangered ecosystems in the country. More than 30 percent of all native Southeastern plant communities have become critically endangered due to habitat loss and degradation. Many Southern forest communities are now limited to only a small fraction of their original range, resulting in 25 endangered and 14 critically endangered communities. Because of this, 18 mammal, 20 bird, 40 reptile, and 54 amphibian species are now classified as imperiled. http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0428-davis_nofreerefills.html

Indiana:

22) Protesters are in action as the I-69 project continues to make headway. Some are singing, some posting banners, while others are laying low for now. What used to be two neighboring homes is now just empty lots. Construction for the anticipated I-69 is underway.. leaving in some areas, nothing but tree stumps..and that's reason enough for some to protest. David Rovics is a music artist known for his political music. He'll play at Penny Lane coffee house in a benefit for the anti-I-69 group, called CARR. Thomas Tokarski, a member of CARR, tells it's to raise money to hire lawyers for homeowners who will lose their homes to the project. Another group, we found, came all the way from Bloomington to protest on site. Two were knocking on doors and two were sitting by a cut down tree. None of the group members would speak to us on camera, but after hearing from Tokarski, it's the five thousand acres of farm land that will be turned to concrete and the two thousand acres of forest that will be leveled that has them protesting. INDOT officials we spoke with say they've studied the project as well--- for more than ten years. And they tell us the road to building I-69 is being conducted with the least environmental impact as possible. That doesn't satisfy Tokarski or Rovics... And whether it's through music... Or silence... These protesters want to be heard. http://tristatehomepage.com/content/fulltext/?cid=6237

Pennsylvania:

23) Around this time of year, black cherry trees blossom with clusters of yellow-white flowers that attract not only bees but loggers looking to score some valuable hardwood before the humid summer. The bees have come this year. The loggers have not. With a weak housing market, Bethlehem water officials have had a hard time creating a buzz among loggers to chop down some of the authority's prized black cherry trees on its 23,000 acres in the Poconos. In fact, they received no offers last week for a Monroe County stand they believe is worth $99,000 in timber. It's the second bid in a row that loggers passed over. ''I think the economy is playing a major factor,'' mused Steve Repasch, executive director of the Bethlehem Authority. ''Definitely. There's no question about it.'' Logging in Pennsylvania, the nation's leader in hardwood lumber production, is getting tougher. The home-building market is on a downward spiral, cutting the demand for new logs. Loggers say they expect things to get worse. 'The mills aren't looking to buy as much, and with fuel prices rising, it's hard to haul the logs away,'' said Bob Hobbes, owner of Hobbes Forestry in Tunkhannock, Wyoming County. ''I've heard from guys who got jobs, and just had to stop in the middle of them because they can't afford to keep going. They're taking early vacations, hoping the market will pick up in the fall.'' http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a1_4timber.6371724apr27,0,6215555.story

Maryland:

24) On Sat, April 26, the Shady Grove Woods Homeowners Association held a traditional Irish wake for the trees killed by spreading ICC highway construction in the neighborhood. In addition to the wake and the speeches, trees were planted near where the ICC will pass but outside the "limits of disturbance" in a symbolic attempt to heal the wounds the ICC is opening in the land and in our communities. At least 80 people by WTOP radio's estimate were present. It is very rarely that you see a street protest in a suburban residential neighborhood-and even rarer that half of the protesters live in that neighborhood! One speaker blamed Governor O'Mally for the spreading mess, saying "the buck stops here." She quoted O'Malley as saying prior to election that former governor Erilch's decision to pursue the ICC was threatening Maryland's financial future. Now, of course, MD Governor O'Mally has "talked" to rich businessmen with sacks of cash just like Fenty did, and just like Fenty he now supports things he ran against-like the ICC. The wake procession featured a traditional bagpiper just like in any other Scottish or Irish traditional funeral. http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/143091/index.php

Florida:

25) The growth of the Human Network is rapidly overwhelming the Natural System on which it depends. Reconciling these two systems so that their interactions minimize conflict and maximize efficiency is the focus of the 2008 National Conference on Urban Ecosystems. National Conference on Urban Ecosystems -> May 28 – 30, 2008 | Orlando, Florida… This session will lay the foundation of the Natural System and the Human Network. Nature has been evolving for 4.5 billion years. Its tens of millions of species, processes and interactions have evolved into a highly efficient system that uses the sun’s energy to produce food, water, climate, flora and fauna. The human network is much younger and much less refined. It has been developing for only 2,200 years - the first global trade began with the Silk Road from Asia to the West. While it does not have the efficiency of the natural system, it is the focus of almost all of the human activity and is the delivery system for our goods and services that make up our economy. The conference opening session will demonstrate how the Natural System and the Human Network can be understood and analyzed so that these two systems can be reconciled. The Piedmont Crescent in the Southeastern United States will be used as an example. Speakers: 1) Michael Gallis, Principal, MGA, Charlotte, North Carolina, 2) Michael Flaxman, Assistant Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Massachusetts, 3) Gary Moll, Senior Vice President, American Forests, Washington DC http://www.americanforests.org/conference/conf_08.php

USA:

26) Mr. Baucus's volte-face arrives in the form of a plan to lower the tax burden for U.S. timber companies, which he is trying to graft onto the farm bill now moving through Congress. Timber sales are treated as capital gains, taxed at 15%. Timber companies, however, face the full 35% corporate tax rate. So to pay the 15%, many companies have restructured as real-estate investment trusts or transferred holdings to individuals. But not all. So Mr. Baucus wants to equalize the tax treatment of all timber concerns, regardless of the corporate structure. Even better, he wants to effectively lower the top rate to 15% from 35%. Fair enough: As Mr. Baucus notes, everyone deserves the same standard in a competitive market. It also seems right to treat timber income as capital gains, given long growth cycles, high front-end costs and vulnerability to natural risks. But hold on. Isn't that also true of the financial partnerships that have Mr. Baucus so worked up? The lord of Gucci Gulch claims it is unfair that some of these partnerships pay only the cap-gains rate. But the corporations owned by these partnerships already pay the corporate tax rate when their profits are earned, so it makes sense to treat as cap gains the dividends that are passed on to their owners. These are, also, risk-based investments. If the risks don't pan out, there's no income to tax – just as if, say, a natural disaster wiped out some timber forest. But apparently some businesses are more deserving of special treatment than others. While all politicians have favored constituencies, at least Mr. Baucus has had the courtesy to acknowledge his arbitrary assault on private equity. Still, this is no way to write tax policy. The larger point is that America as a whole would be far better off if all U.S. companies paid the same low corporate tax rate – if not 15%, then no more than 25%. If the rate were lower for everyone, neither timber nor private-equity interests would need to lobby for a special, lower rate. More important, fewer U.S. companies would feel obliged to build their next plant in Ireland or other low-tax countries. Let's hope Mr. Baucus's timber exception is the beginning of his tax awakening. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120934099382148443.html

27) For decades, the U.S. Forest Service and private timber companies have shared logging roads, negotiating access across one another's ground and agreeing to split the cost of shared roads. The intent of those agreements was to enable both the agency and the companies to cut timber and haul logs. But that intent was not spelled out in any specific way. Instead, the easements were written with the broadest of language. Now, the breadth of that historic language is causing headaches for modern land managers, as forest values and uses change. In 1999, Plum Creek Timber Co. restructured as a real estate investment trust, turning to residential land sales to bolster its bottom line - and turning logging roads into subdivision gateways. The Forest Service viewed the easements narrowly: logging use only. Plum Creek viewed them broadly: all uses, including residential access. Neither wanted to test its opinion in court, however, because there was too much at stake for the loser. And so they talked. Beginning in fall 2006, the agency and the company embarked on closed-door negotiations aimed at hammering out a middle ground. They succeeded, but just as they were finishing, word of the talks leaked. County governments, among others, became alarmed. They worried the plan paved the way for wholesale conversion of forests into subdivisions. They worried about impacts to lumber mills, recreationists, wildlife and wildlands. They worried about wildfire and future forest management. The counties, in particular, worried taxpayers would get stuck paying to provide emergency services and infrastructure maintenance to rural forest neighborhoods. And so the door has not quite closed on the true nature of those decades-old road easements. The Forest Service has its legal opinion but others have theirs, as well. And now that the discussion is out in the open, the road rights are being tested, right here in Missoula. http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/04/27/news/local/news03.txt

28) Is it an illegal $1 billion slush fund for Bush administration friends in the timber industry, extorted from Canada and designed to evade congressional oversight? Or is it a fairly negotiated end to an expensive trade war that's "the best thing that has happened to private forest land conservation in the United States in 100 years?" It depends on your point of view. Now, a federal lawsuit filed in Seattle is bringing more scrutiny to the controversial deal. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is spearheading a Senate effort to get more information about who got the money and what they're doing with it. The deal had its roots in the administration's decision six years ago to slap tariffs on Canadian lumber. Echoing the U.S. timber industry, the administration contended that Canadian timber companies were selling their wood in the United States at unfairly low prices. Over the next five years, the tariffs collected and held by the United States grew to more than $5 billion, including interest. The Canadians fought back in U.S. and international courts, winning most of the decisions in a drawn-out process. The U.S. lost before NAFTA panels, and two rulings by the U.S. Court of International Trade. Rulings at the World Trade Organization were mixed. But despite the largely favorable rulings, the Canadians were being starved into submission by the continuing U.S. tariffs, said Elliott Feldman, a lawyer representing Canadian timber interests. And with Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government seeking a closer relationship with the Bush administration, the Canadians finally agreed to a U.S. proposal: We'll stop fighting you in court and send you back the $5 billion, if you wire $1 billion back across the border to the U.S. timber industry and timber-friendly groups. The U.S. Trade Representative's Office arranged the deal to get the money paid directly to timber companies and nonprofits, including one hastily organized entity dominated by timber industry insiders. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/360970_timber29.html

29) A Survey of Forestland Conservation Easements in the United States: Implications for Forestland Owners and Managers -- Internationally, conservation easements are increasingly popular land management tools for private landowners, government agencies and non-governmental organizations seeking to preserve forests and other natural settings. This paper reports a study of the design and use of conservation easements by organizations and public agencies in the USA. More than 355 conservation organizations and 16 state agencies holding at least 3,598 forestland easements were identified. Demonstrated shortfalls in baseline forest inventories, record keeping, and professionally-developed management plans were evident on working forest easements. Failure to address these shortcomings runs the risk of jeopardizing the legitimacy of the easement approach even where favorable legal and tax conditions exist. Management restrictions varied broadly, with a minority of respondents prohibiting such techniques as clearcutting and salvage logging. Concerns for the use of chemicals, best management practices, and streamside management zones were commonly reflected in easement language, whereas logging road design and the cultivation of old-growth conditions remain largely undeveloped. Implications from the US experience, where easements are relatively well-developed, highlights the need for professional forestry advice—particularly for non-industrial or small-scale forest owners—in both easement development and implementation, the need for careful planning, and the need to carefully consider the respective goals of the forest landowners in crafting the easement documents. In the cases of developing nations, consideration of the differing needs of landowners may require increased flexibility in management documents. http://www.springerlink.com/content/x60h2306824l4h41/fulltext.html

30) Excellent forestry goes beyond meeting minimum best management practices and places the long-term viability of the forest above all other considerations. It uses nature as a model and embraces the forest’s many values and dynamic processes. Excellent forestry recognizes the forest’s intrinsic value as well as human dependence on forest products and services. Many Guild members have found that excellent forestry produces quality, high value forest products, and a strong return to landowners while also maintaining wildlife habitat, soil structure, water quality, and other forest values. Guild members are located throughout the United States and Canada, and include many consulting foresters who provide services to private landowners. Others work for land trusts, government agencies, Native American tribes, and privately held corporations where the well-being of the forest is not sacrificed for short term profit. We also include faculty, scientists, and students, as well as citizens who care about forests and want to support restoration and improved management of our forests. http://www.forestguild.org/#

31) Bull trout were designated as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1998 and 1999. A member of the salmon family, they are typically found in high mountain streams, where the water is clean and cold. Human encroachment, mining, grazing, logging and overfishing over the past 150 years have reduced the species to about 45 percent of its range. Five-year reviews have been rare since they were required by 1978 amendments to the Endangered Species Act. This one was requested by former Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne - now U.S. secretary of the interior - and the Idaho congressional delegation, who contend the species is thriving in Idaho and that restrictions on logging, mining and other activities that can degrade water quality are not needed. Environmentalists had complained the review was motivated by politics, not science. The review concluded that multiple distinct populations of bull trout might exist and that the agency should evaluate whether these require different levels of protection. "The health of bull trout populations varies by location but overall, the species in the United States still needs protection," said Ren Lohoefener, director of Fish and Wildlife's Pacific Region. Studying individual populations will allow the agency to focus resources on those in trouble, remove regulatory burdens where they are not needed, and provide local incentives to help recovery, Lohoefener said. Michael Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, a Montana environmental group, said that retaining threatened status for the fish was good news. "I think they should now focus on recovering the population to remove it from the ESA, rather than divert resources to considering if it should be listed as five distinct groups," Garrity said. "That is a delay tactic by the Bush administration to delay recovering the bull trout." Arlene Montgomery, of Friends of the Wild Swan in Montana, said draft recovery plans have been sitting idle since 2002 while this review was conducted. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_wst_bull_trout.html

32) "The city sidewalk can be one of the most hostile environments for a young tree," a cramped cell of garbage soil surrounded by smothering asphalt, says Gregory McPherson, a scientist with the federal Center for Urban Forest Research. "A virtual conflict zone," as one arborist put it, beset by disease, pollution, drought, insects -- not to mention drunk drivers and staple guns and trip-and-fall lawsuits. Trees are the new potholes. On his first day in office, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa helped pat moist mulch around a golden medallion sapling, the first in an audacious promise to transform this dense, dirty, dry city by planting 1 million new trees. That was almost three years ago. Lessons learned? "We have learned that a million is a really big number," says Nancy Sutley, a deputy mayor who oversees the mass reforestation project, which has experienced some serious growing pains. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino last year promised to add 100,000 trees by 2020, a goal that sounds almost humble compared with those of his counterparts. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels envisions a new tree for every man, woman and child in the city -- 649,000 maples, sweet gums and cherries over the next 30 years. Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, announcing his "Tree by Tree" project, is going for a million by 2025. A million just has that aspirational ring. Indeed, Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon is calling his bid "One Million Trees for One Million People." The state of Nebraska is shooting for a million in a decade. New Mexico recently unveiled its "Plant a Million More" campaign. The Sacramento region is betting it can add 5 million. Going global, the United Nations launched the Billion Tree Campaign. (Less numerically ambitious programs are underway in cities such as Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Indianapolis and Washington.) Not be outdone, on Earth Day last year Mayor Michael Bloomberg promised New Yorkers a million trees in 10 years. The cost of planting a single street tree in Manhattan? About $1,000. Estimated cost of the urban reforestation project is $600 million, annual maintenance not included. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/24/AR2008042403952.html?hpid=topne
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