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Congress can and WILL end mountaintop removal coal-mining. Memorize this number: 202-224-3121 Its the Congressional switchboard. You can call it anytime of day and speak with the office of any member of the US government (House, Senate, President, Government Agency, Committees, etc.) Learn to use it.

SFN has created a new monthly email newsletter as a means of providing landowners with easy access to practical information and resources for sustainable and community forestry. Each month Southern Forests & Communities will feature a different topic related to sustainable forestry, and provide landowners with the latest news on strategies for sustainable forest management,…

In the United States we increasingly restrict wood production in the name of sustainability while going abroad for an ever larger share of the wood we consume, even though our own forest resources per capita are greater than the rest of the Earth. The unintended consequence is we transfer impacts of harvesting and consumption elsewhere.…

[ Kentucky ] Along with rising temperatures, global warming is very likely to cause a shift toward more extreme weather — stronger storms with more rainfall, and longer and more severe droughts. Those changes are likely to have large-scale, obvious effects on farmlands, grasslands and forests and on the creatures that inhabit them. But many…

Forest harvesting with animals is a labor-intensive operation. It is expensive to use machines on smaller woodlots, which require frequent moves if mechanically logged. So, small logging systems using animals may be more cost effective. In this study, work sampling was used for five animal logging operations in Alabama to measure productive and non-productive time…

[ Idaho ] Potlatch Corp., Idaho ‘ s largest private landowner, plans to start charging for recreational use of its land, an official of the timber company says. Potlatch, based in Spokane , Wash. , owns almost 670,000 acres that the company says draws 200,000 visitor-use days each year from hikers, birdwatchers, hunters, anglers and…

To get the FSC’s stamp of approval, forest operations must meet 57 criteria, including protection of local wildlife, minimal use of chemical pesticides, even the guarantee that loggers can unionize. If a forest makes the grade, its wood products get branded with the FSC logo and a “chain of custody” number, which allows them to…

Cross-posted from Lazyhorses’ diary on the Daily Kos. This November is shaping up to be one of the toughest election seasons for the coal industry in recent memory.  No industry other than oil has benefited more from the attack on environmental and safety regulations over the last 6 years by the Bush Administration and the…

[Washington, DC] Three U.S. non-profit agencies are getting almost half a billion dollars in duties from Canadian lumber companies under the softwood lumber deal. The groups, announced Friday by U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab, include the respected Habitat for Humanity that ‘ s supported by former president Jimmy Carter and builds homes for low-income people.…

The demand for Chinese goods is driving destructive logging around the globe. [ China ] Night and day, the timber ships reach this Yangtze River port, one of the world’s busiest clearinghouses for logs from every corner of the globe: Southeast Asia, the Amazon, Russia , the Congo . Soon, this wood will be yours.…