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World's Forests Rebounding, Study Suggests James Owen for National Geographic News November 13, 2006 Forests are branching out across the planet anew, raising hopes that an end to deforestation may be in sight, a new study claims. The study suggests that deforestation is not as drastic as it once was and that forests are recovering in many countries. The researchers say that over the past 15 years the amount of woodland has increased in 22 of the world's 50 most forested nations. China and the U.S. have achieved the greatest overall forest expansion, the team says, while tree cover has...

FEARS of a "skinhead" Earth devoid of any trees appear to be unfounded, according to new research which shows forests making a comeback in China and India.An international team of scientists, including Aberdeen University academic Professor Alexander Mather, found that 22 out of the world's 50 most forested countries were now increasing the amount of woodland and predicted that a "great restoration of the landscape" could begin by 2050. While global forests are still in decline, China, Vietnam and Spain have seen significant net increases from 1990 to 2005 and India's forests are now stable. Jesse Ausubel, director of the...

Environmentalists asked a federal judge Wednesday to overturn the Bush administration's rules for managing the country's 155 national forests, arguing that the regulations illegally weaken protections for wilderness and wildlife. Issued in December 2004, the rules represented a major shift in how the government balanced conservation and commercial interests in its 192 million acres of forest land. The management plan gave regional forest managers more discretion to approve logging, drilling and other projects without lengthy environmental studies. Wednesday's hearing in federal court in San Francisco was the first since a coalition of environmental groups sued the Bush administration over the...

The U.S. Forest Service has not developed national guidelines to assess the risks communities face from wildfires and is unable to ensure that the most important fire prevention projects are funded first, an independent government audit has found. And while the majority of catastrophic wildfires occur in the West, nearly 58 percent of the total acres treated in fiscal year 2004 were in the southeastern states, the report said. "The Forest Service cannot clearly identify the level of risk to communities from wildfire," it said. "It cannot demonstrate to stakeholders its accomplishments in reducing those risks with the funds provided."...

MARTINSVILLE, Ind. - In a town that is one of the key battlegrounds in the Interstate 69 fight, environmental groups Monday announced a federal lawsuit to block design and planning of the Evansville-to-Indianapolis leg of the highway. The plaintiffs, including the Hoosier Environmental Council and several business owners, allege that the Indiana Department of Transportation ignored harmful environmental impacts of building a direct route between Evansville and Indianapolis. It also claims INDOT was biased against a route that would have upgraded the existing U.S. 41-Interstate 70 corridor into a new highway. It accuses 11 defendants - state and federal agencies...

Logging trucks are again rumbling through town after a nearly 15-year hiatus. The Forest Service has reopened - or has plans to reopen - numerous drainages south of Eagle Ranch to logging... There are currently two active sales south of Eagle, with another in the works, said Cary Green, the White River National Forest's timber management assistant for the Eagle area. The 60-acre Beecher Gulch salvage timber sale, on Hardscrabble Mountain, sold in 2005, and about 500,000 board feet of timber is currently being harvested... A typical 2,000-square foot, single-family home requires about 27,000 board feet of framing lumber, paneling...

SAN FRANCISCO A federal judge on Wednesday overturned the Bush administration's rules on road construction in untouched areas of national forests and reinstated a Clinton-era ban on new roads in nearly a third of federal forests. U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte sided with states and environmentalists who sued the U.S. Forest Service after it reversed Clinton's "Roadless Rule" that prohibited logging, mining and other development on 58.5 million acres of forest land in 38 states and Puerto Rico. In May 2005, the Bush administration replaced the Clinton rule with a voluntary state-by-state petition process that the plaintiffs claimed violated federal...

Millions of mountain pine beetles are swarming the Rocky Mountains...looking for new trees to destroy. The Colorado State Forest Service wants residents to help stop the spread of the devastating pest before the Pike and San Isabel national forests take on a brown cast like those in Summit and Grand counties. "It's currently at an epidemic level," ... Dead trees are a sign the forest is unhealthy; they also pose a fire risk. The U.S. Forest Service... Trees are succumbing by the millions. "If the beetle is successful in getting underneath the bark of the tree, mama mates and burrows...

A mountain pine beetle infestation that has already killed off billions of trees in British Columbia is threatening to take over Alberta's jack pine, marking the start of a deadly cross-country trek. Each mountain pine beetle is the size of a grain of rice, but the voracious insects have already devoured an area of B.C.'s forest the size of Iceland. Another two million hectares in Alberta are now at risk, and the infestation could spread to Canada's boreal forest. "It likes all pine species and we've recently discovered this includes jack pine, which is a component of the boreal forest,"...

Some 750,000 trees have burned due to fires ignited by rockets landing in open areas. JNF estimates damages stand at NIS 36 million Ynet reporters Rocket damages beyond casualties and property: The fires sparked when rockets hit open areas in the north have scorched large forested areas, and according to the Jewish National Fund, it will take 60 years for the forests to regenerate. Altogether, in the 29 days of fighting, some 750,000 trees have burned, including oak, pine, pistachio and others. Direct damage stood at no less than NIS 36 million. On Wednesday a number rockets landed in open...

KERBY — A 40-foot log used by protesters to block access to the Mike's Gulch timber salvage sale in a roadless area of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest Tuesday morning was cut from a nearby botanical area, according to forest officials. One irate activist called it a "petty" point, and said the U.S. Forest Service and John West, president of the firm that purchased the roadless sale, had cut countless trees illegally [snip] Illinois Valley resident Annette Rasch, a longtime environmental activist who was at the protest, discounted the issue. She said she did not know where the log came...

SACRAMENTO Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday plans to ask the federal government to prohibit roads on 4.4 million acres of national forest land in California, with limited exceptions for thinning trees to reduce fire danger. The goal is to protect areas of the forests that currently are not accessible by roads, Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman said Tuesday. Schwarzenegger is acting under a regulation adopted last year by the Bush administration. That regulation replaced a Clinton-era rule prohibiting road-building on nearly a third of national forest land. Clinton passed the road-building ban eight days before he left office in January 2001....

A group of environmentalists and residents who live near the Santa Fe National Forest have won an appeal that will delay plans to thin more than 1,800 acres near the Santa Fe Watershed. Project planners with the forest's Española Ranger District did not adequately collaborate with landowners, community groups and other stakeholders, according to U.S. Forest Service officials who reviewed the appeal. "Local collaboration may have resolved some of the public concerns, issues, and alternatives to the project that surfaced during the public involvement process," Santa Fe National Forest supervisor Gilbert Zepeda wrote in his May 25 decision. The Forest...

Open Letter from Congressman Scott McInnis (R-CO) to Senator John Kerry Regarding His Flip-Flop on the Healthy Forest Initiative(title edited for length) Senator Kerry-During your recent campaign stops throughout the west, you have waffled in your position on the President's Healthy Forests Initiative.  At the time of passage in 2003, you made unfounded claims concerning the Administration's forest health policies.  As you said, "Bush signed the so-called 'Healthy Forests' initiative that takes a chainsaw to public forests in the name of protecting them."  Now it appears you've changed your position, emphasizing your support for many of the forest management reforms President...

A Washington watchdog group has called on Congress and the IRS to investigate Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, for a laundry list of what it calls the lawmaker's ethics violations.Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington -- CREW -- on Thursday released a 13-count ethics complaint and a letter it sent to the Internal Revenue Service.Pombo called the charges a politically-motivated assault timed to appear just weeks before the June 6 primary election, where he has two opponents."I have never engaged in any illegal or unethical conduct whatsoever in my nearly 14-year career in the House, nor has any evidence been...

While North American newsprint usage was down again in March, output declined even more sharply, giving at least a temporary impression that producers are gaining in their efforts to keep the market tight. By Debra Garcia ETNA, Maine (May 01, 2006) -- While North American newsprint usage was down again in March, output declined even more sharply, giving at least a temporary impression that producers are gaining in their efforts to keep the market tight. According to statistics released today by the Pulp and Paper Products Council (PPPC), North American newsprint production was down year-over-year in March by 9.1%, while...

MISSOULA, Mont. — First came the knapweed. Then came the gall fly. And now the mice population is exploding — the mice that carry hantavirus. In a classic case of unintended ecological consequences, an attempt to control an unwanted plant has exacerbated a human health problem. Spotted knapweed, a European plant, is a tough, spindly scourge that has spread across hills and mountainsides across the West. In Montana alone, one of the worst-hit states, it covers more than four million acres. In the 1970's, biologists imported a native enemy of knapweed, the gall fly. The insect lays eggs inside the...

"GMUG" stands for the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests. Combined, they encompass some 2.9 million acres of National Forest lands in Central and Western Colorado. These three forests are home to some of the most outstanding recreational opportunity in the West. Right now, the forest's are revising their Forest Plans. These management plans provide broad guidance on what activities may or may not occur on these lands. The BlueRibbon Coalition (BRC), a national recreation advocacy group that champions recreational access and responsible use of public and private lands, is growing increasingly concerned about the influence several anti-access groups...

Mystery mammal discovered in Borneo’s forests 00:01 06 December 2005 NewScientist.com news service Shaoni Bhattacharya The new beast, with its dark red fur and long tail, could be a new species of marten or civet, or belong to a new group entirely (Image: Stephan Wulffraat, WWF) Experts are mystified by the new creature, with some saying it looks like a civet, and others say that it resembles a lemur (Image: Wahyu Gumelar/Stephan Wulffraat, WWF)The mammal, which is slightly larger than a domestic cat, has dark red fur and a long, bushy tail. It was snapped twice at night by a...

Though there's geology involved, today we will just take a look at the colors of autumn from the air. Using Bertrand's Web site, I guessed and got lucky with an identification of the first one. I have no idea where the second one is from, so if someone has the time and enterprising spirit, have fun figuring out the location. The caption for the first is below the picture. AUTUMN FOREST IN THE REGION OF CHARLEVOIX, QUEBEC, CANADA (47°40' N, 71°02' W) The hills of the Charlevoix region along the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec province are dominated by a...