Biodiversity loss accelerates with 1 million species at risk of extinction, UN report finds
PBS - May 6, 2019
People are putting nature in more trouble now than at any other time in human history, with extinction looming over 1 million species of plants and animals, scientists said Monday.
But it’s not too late to fix the problem, according to the United Nations’ first comprehensive report on biodiversity.
“We have reconfigured dramatically life on the planet,” report co-chairman Eduardo Brondizio of Indiana University said at a press conference.
Species loss is accelerating to a rate tens or hundreds of times faster than in the past, the report said. More than half a million species on land “have insufficient habitat for long-term survival” and are likely to go extinct, many within decades, unless their habitats are restored. The oceans are not any better off…
Plan has new rules on killing wolves that prey on livestock
Associated Press Monday, April 15th 2019
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — With Oregon's wolf population growing, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife on Monday issued a draft conservation and management plan that established a new timetable involving when wolves can be killed for preying on livestock.
The old plan allowed for hunts after two confirmed wolf depredations of livestock in an area. The new plan would allow hunts only after two confirmed depredations within a nine-month period, said Derek Broman, state carnivore biologist.
The new plan also includes a hefty section on how to attempt to resolve conflicts involving livestock without killing wolves, which environmental groups prefer, Broman said.
The goal of the 160-page proposal remains the same as previous plans issued in 2005 and 2010: "To ensure the conservation of gray wolves as required by...
Wolves ‘Established’ in Netherlands for First Time in 140 Years
Olivia Rosane Apr. 10, 2019
For the first time in 140 years, wolves have an official home in the Netherlands.
Ecologists told BBC Radio 4 that a female wolf they had been tracking had stayed in the country for six months and could therefore be called "established," BBC News reported Tuesday.
The ecologists had been tracking two females in the Hoge Veluwe nature reserve, which has now been designated as a wolf habitat, Dutch News reported. There is also evidence that a male wolf has been moving in and out of the area, and scientists told BBC that the wolves could form a pack within...
Biodiversity loss accelerates with 1 million species at risk of extinction, UN report finds
PBS - May 6, 2019
People are putting nature in more trouble now than at any other time in human history, with extinction looming over 1 million species of plants and animals, scientists said Monday.
But it’s not too late to fix the problem, according to the United Nations’ first comprehensive report on biodiversity.
“We have reconfigured dramatically life on the planet,” report co-chairman Eduardo Brondizio of Indiana University said at a press conference.
Species loss is accelerating to a rate tens or hundreds of times faster than in the past, the report said. More than half a million species on land “have insufficient habitat for long-term survival” and are likely to go extinct, many within decades, unless their habitats are restored. The oceans are not any better off…
Plan has new rules on killing wolves that prey on livestock
Associated Press Monday, April 15th 2019
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — With Oregon's wolf population growing, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife on Monday issued a draft conservation and management plan that established a new timetable involving when wolves can be killed for preying on livestock.
The old plan allowed for hunts after two confirmed wolf depredations of livestock in an area. The new plan would allow hunts only after two confirmed depredations within a nine-month period, said Derek Broman, state carnivore biologist.
The new plan also includes a hefty section on how to attempt to resolve conflicts involving livestock without killing wolves, which environmental groups prefer, Broman said.
The goal of the 160-page proposal remains the same as previous plans issued in 2005 and 2010: "To ensure the conservation of gray wolves as required by...
Wolves ‘Established’ in Netherlands for First Time in 140 Years
Olivia Rosane Apr. 10, 2019
For the first time in 140 years, wolves have an official home in the Netherlands.
Ecologists told BBC Radio 4 that a female wolf they had been tracking had stayed in the country for six months and could therefore be called "established," BBC News reported Tuesday.
The ecologists had been tracking two females in the Hoge Veluwe nature reserve, which has now been designated as a wolf habitat, Dutch News reported. There is also evidence that a male wolf has been moving in and out of the area, and scientists told BBC that the wolves could form a pack within...
Forest Web of Cottage Grove
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Welcome to Forest Web…
Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow them...This simple quotation lives at the heart of Forest Web. If we want to change this sad truth, we need to change the concepts of how we relate to the natural world on which all of us depend.
Root systems may occupy an area four to seven times the surface area
occupied by the crown of the tree. Not only do these roots provide
nutrients to the tree and prevent soil erosion, they also play host to a
variety of fungi, or Mycorrhizae, forming symbiotic relationships.
These fungi receive sustenance from the tree and, in turn, increase
the efficiency of the tree’s root system, creating a web throughout a
healthy forest.
Forest Web applies this lesson from Nature to our organization,
working with a variety of environmental groups and individuals,
co-hosting events and hikes, collaborating on lobbying efforts and
united campaigns, and sharing information and support to nurture
all our common goals.
And, to continue building this network, we operate an ever-growing email list, Facebook page and group, YouTube channel,Instragram account,Forest Web blog, and this website to activate, educate and inform. To receive updates, action alerts, and event notices, please contact us at forestweb.cg@gmail.com.
Fire Ecology of Spotted Owls -
Conversation with Dr. Monica Bond
Environmental Groups Call for a National Forest Policy to Protect Mature, Old-Growth, Trees, Forests
Forest Web is proud to be a part of a coalition of more than 70 groups who launched a new campaign on February 15th called the Climate Forests Campaign and called on the Biden administration to take executive action to protect mature trees and forests on federal lands, which are critical in the fight against climate change.
Missing Link in Biden’s Climate Agenda: Letting Older Trees Grow
“It’s completely unacceptable that federal land managers lack strong policies to protect old trees and forests, given all we know about how critical they are to our climate and biodiversity,” said Randi Spivak, public lands program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We’re calling on President Biden to safeguard these beautiful, life-giving ecosystems to have a shot at a livable planet. It’s cheaper, smarter, and quicker than logging them. We just need to let them grow.”
Today’s campaign launch comes a year after Biden signed an executive
order setting a path to achieve net-zero emissions economy-wide by
2050 and work with partners internationally to put the world on a
sustainable climate pathway.
This month marks the 117th anniversary of the U.S. Forest Service. For
more than a century, the agency has focused much of its resources on
logging and timber sales. The Climate Forests Campaign is calling on
the Biden administration to kick off a new era of climate and forest
policy that values trees and forests as key pieces of the climate solution.
Forests, particularly older forests, store vast amounts of carbon and
continue absorbing carbon as they age. Logging trees in these areas
releases most of that carbon back into the atmosphere. Even under the
best-case scenario, newly planted forests would not reabsorb this carbon
for decades or centuries —timescales irrelevant to avoiding the worst
consequences of climate change.
Older trees and forests also are more fire resistant and help curb the effects of climate change by slowing soil erosion and moderating temperatures.
Carbon-absorbing older forests are also the best habitat for thousands of wildlife species, including spotted owls, red-cockaded woodpeckers, and pine martens.
The last comprehensive federal policy to protect national forests, the Roadless Rule, was enacted in 2001 under President Bill Clinton. The rule was adopted to protect nearly 60 million acres of designated roadless areas from logging and roadbuilding, safeguarding significant stands of remaining old growth. Though these areas act as a critical carbon sink, most older trees on federal land lie outside of roadless areas.
“Older forests on federal lands work as a natural climate solution, drawing down massive amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere,” said Spivak. “The science is clear that we should be protecting existing old-growth trees and allowing mature trees and forests to grow. This would show the world that Biden takes his pledge to end global forest losses seriously.”
Other members of the coalition include the Center for Biological Diversity, Earthjustice, Environment America, Natural Resources Defense Council, Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands, Standing Trees, Sierra Club, Southern Environmental Law Center and Wild Heritage.
Dozens of climate groups prepare to protest international timber conference in Portland
The planned action – and a counter conference – mark a first for the industry conference
BY: Alex Baumhardt
Oregon Capital Chronicle – September 26, 2023
An annual conference of international timber industry leaders will focus this week in Portland on the ownership and development of Northwest forests while protestors gather and hold their own conference on preserving them.
The industry conference, on Wednesday and Thursday, will feature panels on investments in private forests, with participants discussing everything from investments by international banks, timber companies and trusts to the future of private forest ownership and global markets for Northwest timber and wood products. It’s hosted by the 50-year-old nonprofit World Forestry Center in southwest Portland.
The conference has been held every year for more than two decades but this year, for the first time, it will face protests by more than two dozen environmental groups who oppose the corporate ownership and management of Oregon forests and what they say is the industry’s disproportionate contribution to global climate change. Environmentalists have planned a demonstration outside the World Forestry Center at noon on Wednesday, organized by the Pacific Northwest Forest Climate Alliance, which includes dozens of regional nonprofits such as Oregon Wild in Portland, Eugene-based Cascadia Wildlands and the Oregon chapter of the Sierra Club.
Alex Budd, an organizer for the alliance, said he’s expecting up to 200 people at the protest.
“Our forests can be a vital solution to the climate crisis right now,” Budd said. “We have a choice between how our forests are going to be managed, and whether they’re going to be managed to generate more shareholder profit for these Wall Street companies, or for the health and well being of our communities and the planet.”
The (Other) Georgia RICO Case That Could Threaten the Right to Protest Nationwide
The state is cracking down on anyone remotely associated with the movement to stop the construction of a controversial police training facility in Atlanta
Rolling Stone
September 6, 2023
On Tuesday morning, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced that a state grand jury had indicted 61 people allegedly connected to the Defend the Atlanta Forest movement, slapping a serious and shocking slate of RICO charges onto a decentralized movement that has sought to derail the construction of a massive police training facility for nearly two years. Activists and civil rights groups worry the indictment could set a dangerous, anti-democratic precedent for cracking down on similar protest movements nationwide.
The racketeering charges come amid an escalating, monthslong campaign to squash the protest movement opposing Atlanta’s “Cop City” through a combination of brute force and drastic charges. Protesters active in the forest and around the Atlanta area have been charged with domestic terrorism, while more specific financial charges have been leveled against nonprofit workers connected to the movement. Many of those targeted in the past are also named in the RICO indictment, which has rocked the loose network of activists that have driven the DAF movement, sending members scrambling to find out if their names had appeared on the list.
After more than 100 years, gray wolves reappear in Giant Sequoia National Monument
By Louis Sahagún - Staff Writer
Aug. 30, 2023
GIANT SEQUOIA NATIONAL MONUMENT, Calif.
On the morning of July 6, Michelle Harris saw a huge canid with yellow eyes dash across a fire road lined with charred snags and giant sequoias blackened by recent wildfires.
The animal “paused, started to pace and made clipped barking sounds — like it was very worried about something,” recalled Harris, a biologist who was working on a restoration project in the area. “Then it tilted its head back and let out a really decent howl.”
“All I could think was, ‘It doesn’t look like a coyote, but it has to be, right?’ ”
Animal tracks and DNA analysis of scat and hair samples determined it was an adult female gray wolf, the leader of a previously undetected pack settling into Giant Sequoia National Monument — a region of the Southern Sierra Nevada that hasn’t felt a wolf’s paw in more than a century.
