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.
EU criminalises environmental damage ‘comparable to ecocide’
Fri 17 Nov 2023
The European Union has become the first international body to criminalise wide-scale environmental damage “comparable to ecocide”.
Late on Thursday, lawmakers agreed an update to the bloc’s environmental crime directive punishing the most serious cases of ecosystem destruction, including habitat loss and illegal logging, with tougher penalties.
Marie Toussaint, a French lawyer and MEP heading EU efforts to criminalise ecocide, said the decision “marks the end of impunity for environmental criminals” and could usher in a new age of environmental litigation in Europe.
The environmental crime directive will be formally passed in the spring, and member states will then have two years to put it into national law.
Oregon State walks away from Elliott Forest plan, but backers say forest in good hands
By April Ehrlich and Monica Samayoa
OPB Nov. 16, 2023
OSU President Jayathi Murthy announced she won’t recommend the university’s participation in the research forest. The governor and longtime stakeholders said they were disappointed, but the plan to study the forest is in good shape.
Oregon State University is stepping back from a years-long effort to turn the Elliott State Forest into the country’s largest research forest, but state leaders and longtime advocates say they aren’t concerned about the long-term designs to rehabilitate the forest.
The announcement marks another twist in a lengthy story involving the 82,000-acre Elliott State Forest. For more than four years, OSU has worked with the Oregon Department of State Lands on a proposal that would make the Elliott a “world-renowned” research forest to help better understand how climate change is impacting forests, contributing to sustainable forest products while also allowing public access and timber harvesting.
Let forests grow old to store huge volume of carbon – study
Report says cutting emissions should still be key priority as it cautions against mass monoculture tree-planting
By Patrick Greenfield
The Guardian - November 13, 2023
Forest conservation and restoration could make a major contribution to tackling the climate crisis as long as greenhouse gas emissions are slashed, according to a study.
By allowing existing trees to grow old in healthy ecosystems and restoring degraded areas, scientists say 226 gigatonnes of carbon could be sequestered, equivalent to nearly 50 years of US emissions for 2022. But they caution that mass monoculture tree-planting and offsetting will not help forests realise their potential.
Humans have cleared about half of Earth’s forests and continue to destroy places such as the Amazon rainforest and the Congo basin that play crucial roles in regulating the planet’s atmosphere...
