Forests

Over the last decade, aspens in the Rocky Mountains have been fading away from "sudden aspen decline." Now, as scientists have gained better understanding of the syndrome, they hope that timber harvesting and prescribed burns will help stands regenerate.

Lawyers for a long-established sustainable forest products label are challenging the legitimacy of another label backed by the paper and timber industry.

"The National Trust, Britain's conservation charity, has signed on to a five-year census of ancient trees organized by a sister charity, the Woodland Trust."

In the Yaak Valley of Montana, environmentalists have been talking to loggers, snowmobilers and other longtime opponents of wilderness protection about the future of public lands. Rick Bass writes of his involvement in a cooperative effort that could lead to the first wilderness-area designation in the state in a quarter-century.

"U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Friday outlined a vision for managing the nation's forests that placed a high priority on restoration to protect water resources and combat climate change."

"The Bush administration acted illegally when it opened millions of acres (hectares) of U.S. national forests to road-building and logging, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday. The U.S. Appeals Court for the Ninth Circuit effectively reinstated a 2001 rule that bars development in recognized 'roadless' areas of national forests, except in Idaho and the Tongass National Forest in Alaska."

The indigenous Kamayura tribe in Brazil's rain forest are losing their traditional source of food. The fish are disappearing from their lake as the Amazon region region is made hotter and drier by deforestation -- and some say by climate change.

"It will be hot, dry and a bad fire year for much of the West, Forest Service researchers are predicting."