Posted on 07/07/2007 4:37:32 PM PDT by Coleus
The world's first boardwalk was nailed down at the Jersey Shore in 1870 to solve the nuisance of sand being tracked into hotels. Now boardwalks themselves are the problem in some Shore towns. Plans to redo the fabled boards of Wildwood and Ocean City this fall have environmentalists and activists fighting local officials over the wood for the projects.
In bid specifications for the work, both Cape May County towns have requested wood from the ipe, a tropical tree that grows in Central and South American rainforests, fragile regions some environmental groups argue are being ravaged by unscrupulous loggers. The project is especially loath some to some Ocean City residents who say officials reneged on a decade-old promise to avoid ipe (pronounced ee-PAY) if possible.
"We were very, very upset when 10 years later, a new administration would go out for ipe wood. We could not believe it," said Georgina Shanley, a member of the grassroots group Friends of the Rainforest. The group organized a protest before Thursday night's council meeting in Ocean City and solicited signatures on the boardwalk over the weekend for a petition. Members also attended a meeting of the city's environmental commission last night in which both sides were aired ahead of the council's June 14 vote on awarding a contract using ipe.
"The hardwood issue was an issue we studied very carefully," said Ocean City Mayor Sal Perillo, who noted months of private discussions and inquiries preceded the presentation of the certified ipe plan. "We think it's the environmentally responsible thing to do." This is not the first time environmentalists and local officials have been at loggerheads over boardwalk lumber sources. In Atlantic County, Atlantic City -- credited with building the world's first permanent boardwalk -- now has decking entirely of ipe.
(Excerpt) Read more at 216.239.51.104 ...
Report: Hotter, wetter, dirtier Jersey ahead (sky is falling alert)
Hey! Why not go down to HomeDepot and get some of that recycled plastic stuff they sell for decking?
Hey! Why not go down to HomeDepot and get some of that recycled plastic stuff they sell for decking?
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that’s what a lot of NJ shore towns are doing, none to worry about getting splinters.
Jungles are the lungs of the planet, they say. Somehow, Ramar of the Lungs of the Planet wouldn’t make such a good TV name, though.
Or pressure-treated Southern yellow pine at Home Depot, and keep jobs in the USA?
My personal favorite- REDWOOD!
Why not build it out of neema? /obscure
The bulk of the clear cutting done on the rain forests was done, not by loggers, but by soybean farmers. Is your question related to the importance of the rain forest or logging procedures?
How about using the dried bones of environmentalist.
Buy the ipe or adopt a central American illegal and take him home.
Is your question related to the importance of the rain forest >>
rain forests and how a jungle in brazil impacts the world’s climate, does it?
Can’t help you there. Since I import Ipe, I’m familiar with the logging regs and ops.
I thought trees were a renewable resource. Am I missing something?
Yes, there is a shortage of finished product. As far as I know there is no shortage of trees. They are being plantation-grown now, like Redwoods in Northern California. The “slash and burn” clearing was done by farmers who by and large planted soybeans. That has been pretty much stopped by the government as has illegal harvesting of logs.
if memory serves me right, in south america, you have a very deep a-horizon soil devoid of nutrients, minerals are dissolved and organic matter is not retained by the soil, that makes it difficult to grow trees. also, check out post #16.
There is very little argument left to be made over Central and South American rainforests. Almost all of the rain forests have very little soil on top of the bedrock and clay. Once those areas are clearcut/burned, the land can be used for 3 to 5 years, maybe 15 years if you use no till farming. By that time the thin layer of top soil will have been eroded. Nothing approaching a useful economic and social return on that land will be had for another 20 years afterwards.
I took 3 courses in university on rain forest ecosystems/sustainable development, and I don’t dare say I know enough to give an informed opinion.
Removing global warming debates, the fluctuations in evaporation rates in the rain forests in the Western hemisphere affects everything from the precipitation levels in Canada to how many and how severe the tropical storm systems are in the Gulf of Mexico, which is considered a variable that affects the entire hemisphere.
Evaporation rates in the Amazon basin’s weather are a self contained system. And the system is breaking down in direct correlation to areas that have been clear cut.
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