Waiting For Work in the Silent Woods

Though you would be interested in a Washington Post (Thursday, August 13, 2009), front page above the fold, article about a logger and the condition of the logging industry. It is a story of a logger who waits four days for a job while his crew and equipment set idle. There is quite a photo gallery as well. This story is not unique to Alabama, its appearance on the front page brings to light the stress to the logging industry and the rippel effects of poor markets, the stressed economy, and closed mills. Note the lesson in logging economics in the article - $1.6 million to $35,000. It is worth a read.

To read the full story go to:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/12/AR2009081203423.html

Environmental Groups and Timber Companies Form Unlikely Alliance

This story appeared in the Seatle Times on August 3rd. Thought I would share it with my readers. It has real potential. Patrick Moore the once Green Peace advocate may have founded this idea in his book Green Spirit: Trees are the Answer (www.greenspirit.com/trees_answer.cfm).

Environmental groups turn to clear-cuts to stave off development

Environemtnal groups and timber companies have formed an unlikely alliance to back federal legislation that would support logging. The legislation would authorize $3 billion in tax-exempt revenue bonds to buy forest at risk of being converted into real estate. The bonds would support timber activities in exchange for conservation easements designed to keep the lands permanently undeveloped.

Expanding urban areas have increased land values and many timber companies are morphing into real estate giants. While many environmentalists are not fond of logging, they prefer its temporary effects to the permanence of development. It is at times an uneasy alliance.

"I'm an apostate, a turncoat on this issue," said Mitch Friedman, executive director of Conservation Northwest. We need to hug loggers the way we do farmers. Given the choice between a logger and a developer, I'm going to take the logger, even if that challenges some of the notions of my old friends (Lydia V. Mapes, Seatle Times, Aug. 3, 2009)

For the full story go to: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009588406_forest03m.html

Saving the Eastern Hemlock

Battling an exiotic pest.....

From Georgia to Maine, this once-mightly conifer is now succumbing to an exotic pest, hemlock wooly adelgid. First detected in the western United states in 1924, the adelgid caused little damage. But, when it was carried east and reached Virginia in the 1950's it began its destructive spread. An aphid-like insect, the adelgid kills eastern hemlocks within a few years after infestation, feedling on the sap at the base of their needles and cutting off their nutrients.

To read the full story go to:

http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/theview/article.php?id=2238

Edited from The View, University of Vermont