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[Oregon] Some consumers go out of their way to buy organic milk or cage-free eggs – and they’re willing to pay extra for the added effort and expense it takes to produce them – but Scott Ferguson and Barry Sims of Trout Mountain Forestry have found that getting a premium for “sustainable” lumber is a…

[Washington, DC] Now some lawmakers want to crack down on illegal logging around the world. Led by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., the group is seeking support for a bill to ban U.S. imports of wood products derived from illegally harvested timber. Much like the movie “Blood Diamond,” which portrays diamonds as fueling a brutal civil…

[Europe] Increasing demands are being placed on forests worldwide as competition between traditional wood-use sectors and bio-energy heats up, NGOs and industry warn. The capability of European forests to meet both growing demand from biofuels and the more traditional uses of wood such as timber, pulp and paper came under scrutiny at a workshop organized…

The 2007 Harriette Simpson Arnow Conference on Appalachian Literature and Culture (April 13-14 at Somerset Community Collegein Somerset, KY) will feature a panel discussion on the issue of mountaintop removal. The panel will include authors and activists Erik Reece, Anne Shelby, Gurney Norman,and Father John Rausch. The theme of this year’s Arnow Conference is “Weeping…

The Rainforest Alliance, an international non-profit conservation organization, has granted a new responsible logging certification called SmartLogging to a program in Maine managed by the Trust to Conserve Northeast Forestlands, a non-profit organization formed by logging contractors that aims to enhance the health of the state’s working forests and develop market-based incentives for responsible forestry.…

The Mountaintop Removal Task Force of Appalachian State University threw a benefit concert to raise money for a Washington DC Lobby Week. Held at Moonshine Café in Boone, North Carolina these eager volunteers raised over $300! This was a foot-stomping and hip-swinging good time all for the protection of the Appalachian Mountains these students have…

“Read it and your faltering hopes will rise.” – Studs Terkel “Biggers has fashioned a masterpiece of popular history.” – Citizen-Times The United States of Appalachia: How Southern Mountaineers Brought Independence, Culture and Enlightenment to America by Jeff Biggers $16 paperback Shoemaker and Hoard ISBN-10: 1593761511 ISBN-13: 978-1593761516 Appalachia has long been a vanguard region…

[Arkansas] University of Arkansas researchers are using cutting-edge spatial technologies to study the aftermath of an insect infestation that has devastated red oak populations in Arkansas and Missouri. By combining this research with field work, they seek patterns that might help explain what trees are vulnerable to infestation, thus helping forestry professionals determine future forest…

April 12, Columbia, SC, sponsored by South Carolina Association of Consulting Foresters and South Carolina Exotic Plant Pest Council, Category 1 SAF CFE and South Carolina pesticide recertification credits, contact Pat Straka, at 864-647-4889 or pastraka@earthlink.net News notes are courtesy of Southern Forests Network News Notes www.southernsustainableforests.org

(PRLEAP.COM) April 2007, Baltimore, MD— Catherine Pancake, West Virginia native and Baltimore, MD resident has received the prestigious “Spadaro Documentary Award” for her documentary film, Black Diamonds: Mountaintop Removal and the Fight For Coalfield Justice. http://www.blackdiamondsmovie.com. The award’s name honors the activist and whistleblower, Jack Spadaro, who has spent his entire professional career working within…