The Rural Technology Initiative (RTI) website contains several tools to help landowners and managers achieve such tasks as building roads, placing culverts, and conducting forest inventories.
News notes are courtesy of Southern Forests Network News Notes
www.southernsustainableforests.org
[Washington, DC] House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today said Democrats would start to operate the House buildings “in a carbon neutral manner” at the earliest possible date with a deadline of the end of this Congress in late 2008 or early 2009. The House will buy only furnishings that contain recycled products or wood certified as sustainable by the Sustainable Forests Initiative, the Forest Stewardship Council or similar programs under the new plan. “Implementing this recommendation will make a small contribution toward insuring biodiverse forests for future generations,” Beard said.
News notes are courtesy of Southern Forests Network News Notes
www.southernsustainableforests.org
The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that the world’s sixth largest economy has taken another step toward reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by effectively prohibiting its municipalities from signing new contracts to purchase electricity from coal-fired power plants. While California has largely eliminated coal-fired power plants within its borders, it currently buys about twenty percent of its electricity from coal-fired power plants in neighboring states.
“While this is certainly a significant and exciting development, it falls short of a total ban on coal-fired power in California,” said Appalachian Voices’ In-house Council, Scott Gollwitzer. “The new rules allow municipalities to renew these contracts if the carbon dioxide can be sequestered underground–an unproven technology.”
May 24, 2007
Washington, DC: Over 100 people from 19 states came to Washington, DC May 12 – 16, 2007 for the second annual Mountaintop Removal Week in Washington. After a full day of training and three solid days of back-to-back lobbying appointments on Capitol Hill, the results of their hard work on the Clean Water Protection Act (H.R. 2169) were unbelievable:
That means that in less than 5 months since the new Congress took office, we already have more Congressional support for our efforts to end mountaintop removal coal mining than we did after the entire 109th Congress.
The volunteers in Washington were joined by thousands of people across the nation who called and emailed their Representatives during the week in Washington. Together, they are the reason the movement to end mountaintop removal coal mining is rapidly gaining power.
It wasn’t all hard work in Washington – there was a lot of fun and celebration, too. You can see a slideshow of the Week in Washington in our photo gallery.
Here is what one Week in Washington participant, Maribeth Meaux, had to say about her experience:
I felt it was truly an honor to stand in solidarity with people of Appalachia directly affected by MTR and to join my voice with theirs during lobby visits at the offices of Illinois Congressmen. I cannot think of a better way to use my time and energy than to speak out against the injustice and destruction caused by MTR…
Because of lobby week, I now know that I am part of a strong and growing group of citizens who refuse to be daunted by the enormity of the problem….
As a member of the Peace and Social Justice Ministry for the Diocese of Joliet, my passion for this issue comes from my faith. As Christians we are called to be good stewards of the Earth and to protect the rights of all people. Clearly, in the case of MTR, the people of Appalachia are being exploited and we are losing some of the most beautiful and biologically rich areas of our country…..
We need to speak out for change and I am thankful for the opportunity that the lobby week gave me to use my voice as a citizen!
The Clean Water Protection Act would curtail mountaintop removal by preventing the dumping of mining waste into streams. You can find out if your Representative is a co-sponsor of the bill, and then thank them or ask them to sign on, by visiting the iLoveMountains action center.
SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS
Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, Appalachian Voices, Christians for the Mountains, Coal River Mountain Watch, Earthjustice, Friends of the Earth, Keeper of the Mountains, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, Natural Resources Defense Council, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Save Our Cumberland Mountains, Sierra Club, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, United Mountain Defense, and West Virginia Highlands Conservancy.
Longleaf pines making comeback thanks to conservation program
[ Georgia ] The process of clearing land for farming more than a century ago destroyed most of Georgia’s historic longleaf forests, which experts say once covered more than 65 million acres of the South. Today, farmers are helping restore this endangered ecosystem with federal funding from the Conservation Reserve Program. Since 1995, farmers have signed 10- to 15-year contracts to grow longleaf pines on land that was recently planted in row crops, with the government reimbursing half the costs. More than 100,000 acres in Georgia have been planted in longleaf pines since then. On marginal land, the pines can produce more reliable income than crops, some farmers say. “To know where you’re getting a payment is rare in farming now, so more farmers are going to tree.”
News notes are courtesy of Southern Forests Network News Notes
www.southernsustainableforests.org
A companion publication to A Planning Guide for Small and Medium Size Wood Products Companies.
News notes are courtesy of Southern Forests Network News Notes
www.southernsustainableforests.org
Scott Gollwitzer, the in-house counsel at Appalachian Voices, was published in today’s Asheville Citizen Times. Gollwitzer wrote to praise the actions of a new congressman for Western North Carolina with a heart for our mountains.
Congressman Heath Shuler (NC-11) meets with Appalachian Voices staff and guests, who came to thank him for co-sponsoring the Clean Water Protection Act
OK, I admit it! I was wrong. Long before Heath Shuler challenged former Rep. Charles Taylor, I had no confidence that an unnamed Democrat could defeat the eight-term incumbent. No way! I told my wife “Taylor’s too strong to lose to a generic Democrat.” Then, after Shuler declared his candidacy and unveiled his “mountain values” platform, my pessimism shifted to hopefulness, not optimism. On Nov. 3, 2006, my waning hope for the future quickly turned to optimism as I learned that now-Congressman Shuler had ousted Taylor.
After five months, Shuler’s actions have transformed me into that optimistic environmentalist I was 20 years ago. How? A short list of his accomplishments speaks for itself.
What he has done
Congressman Shuler has:
(1) Voted to divert subsidies from Big Oil to accelerate the use of domestic renewable energy and to promote energy conservation and efficiency;
(2) Co-sponsored two bills that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions 7080 percent by 2050; and
(3) Voted against a motion that provides special consideration for funding coal-to-liquid development, a process that converts coal into a transportation fuel but creates so much global warming pollution that a hybrid car run on liquid coal would pollute as much as a Hummer.
Recently, Shuler demonstrated his deep commitment to protecting the Appalachian Mountains by co-sponsoring the Clean Water Protection Act (CWPA). Introduced on May 3, the CWPA protects the headwaters of streams that supply millions of Americans with clean drinking water by significantly curtailing the ravages of a cataclysmic form of strip mining called mountaintop removal (MTR).
Mountaintop destruction
MTR begins by stripping the forested Appalachian Mountains down to bedrock. Next, high explosives obliterate the bedrock to expose the coal. According to the EPA, mountaintop removal can involve “removing 500 feet or more of the summit.” The remaining rubble — millions of tons — is dumped into neighboring valleys and streams. The EPA estimates that more than 7 percent of Appalachian forests have been removed and more than 1,200 miles of streams have been buried or polluted. More than 470 mountains have been destroyed.
You can see this for yourself, in Google Earth, at www.iLoveMountains.org. At current rates, an area the size of Delaware will be destroyed by 2010.
Additionally, MTR requires giant dams to store billions of gallons of toxic coal sludge. Currently, 600 dams blight the Appalachian coalfields, and each will eventually poison the water supply. More immediately frightening is the threat of dam breaches. Several breaches have occurred, and one at Buffalo Creek, W.Va., killed 125 people. Many were children. There are 77 sludge dams in West Virginia alone that are at risk of failing. The most alarming is a leaking 385-foot-tall dam with a capacity of nearly 3 billion gallons sitting just 400 yards from, and above, the Marsh Fork Elementary School.
So, why should North Carolinians care about the devastating impacts of MTR? Well, because we burn 12 percent of the coal produced in that region.
Thanks to Shuler’s leadership, the CWPA will protect the Appalachian coalfields from MTR by repealing a Bush administration rule change that permits mining companies to dump mining waste into valleys and streams.
Walking the walk
Recently, I met with Shuler. After mentioning that I was putting solar panels on my home, he told me that he was preparing to have a wind turbine installed at his home and that he’d like the name of my solar installer.
During that brief conversation my optimism, like the Grinch’s heart, grew exponentially as I began to realize that Shuler’s steadfast personal and public leadership on environmental issues demonstrates that he not only has “mountain values,” he values our mountains.
Scott Gollwitzer lives in Asheville and is in-house counsel at Appalachian Voices, a nonprofit organization that brings people together to solve the environmental problems having the greatest impact on the central and southern Appalachians.
At the beginning of the 21st century, North American wood products companies are facing competitive pressure from numerous sources. Traditional products are being manufactured in new regions and substitute products are being developed by competing industries. The bottom line is strained by greater restriction of natural resources and the general rising cost of doing business. All of this pressure is stretching the abilities of the wood products manager to the limit. The times are changing, and they’re changing quickly. So what can be done to improve the chances of success and maximize a firm’s capabilities? Research has shown that a formal planning process is a key to the success of manufacturing companies, especially with regard to developing new products and new markets.
News notes are courtesy of Southern Forests Network News Notes
www.southernsustainableforests.org
The National Community-Based Forestry Week in Washington is a workshop designed to build capacity among forest practitioners to effectively participate in the national policy dialogue. Participants will receive training on how national policy is developed and will learn how to translate their concerns and issues into effective policy messages. They will present these messages at meetings and briefings with key representatives from federal agencies and Congressional committees and begin to establish relationships for long term success in national policy.
Apply by May 11th! Contact Cynthia Brunty at 740-593-8733 or cynthia@nnfp.org
News notes are courtesy of Southern Forests Network News Notes
www.southernsustainableforests.org
The North Carolina Consortium on Natural Medicines website includes a series of publications on medicinal herbs that can be grown, processed, and marketed in North Carolina . Each monograph comes in 3 versions; one is written for health professionals, the second is directed toward consumers, and the third is for commercial growers. The health professionals version includes detailed information on the biochemistry of the herb, safety and efficacy studies, known herb/drug interactions, and contra-indications. The consumer version includes basic history, uses, and precautions, as well as some information on how to grow the herb. The commercial grower version contains botany, active constituents, and marketing information, as well as uses of the herb.
News notes are courtesy of Southern Forests Network News Notes
www.southernsustainableforests.org