Interior Department Moves to Increase Logging on Oregon Land

Oregon is bracing for the revival of a decades-long battle over logging of old-growth timber. The Interior Department recently announced their intention to double the rate of logging on 2.6 million acres of federally owned forests in southwestern Oregon, ignoring the objections of the governor and two federal agencies in charge of protecting the quality of the water in the area.

From The New York Times:

The economies of the timber industry and Oregon’s rural southwestern counties took a major hit when logging on federal lands in the area was cut back by 80 percent under the terms of the Northwest Forest Plan, which took effect about 15 years ago. Representatives of both groups applauded Wednesday’s decision, saying it would revive local mills and timber companies.

But environmental groups condemned the decision and gave notice that they would challenge the plan in federal court. The group Earthjustice called the decision a “massive giveaway at the expense of salmon spawning streams, healthy old-growth forests and habitat for rare birds such as the northern spotted owl and marbled murrelet.”

Oregon Governor Kulongoski warned that such a plan would interfere with any future wilderness designations in the areas around the Rogue River. He advised that harvest increases be phased in slowly due to environmental and public concerns.

There will still be a chance for environmental review and public comment as each tract of land is prepared for sale, a process that takes some time. OPB News reports that the Obama Administration is unlikely to back the plan, giving many hope that it won’t end up becoming reality.

Two conservation groups are suing over the plan. Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics and EarthJustice both say the agency failed to consult federal biologists over the harm that logging might cause to spotted owls and other wildlife protected by the Endangered Species Act.

Link [The New York Times] + [OPB News] + [Seattle Times]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Orangutan Populations Decreasing at an Alarming Rate

A recent study has shown that orangutan populations in Indonesia, on the only two islands in the world where they still live in the wild, have declined sharply since 2004. The decline is mostly due to illegal logging and the expansion of palm oil plantations, which we wrote about back in April. If urgent action isn’t taken soon, the species may go extinct.

From Wired:

The survey found the orangutan population on Indonesia’s Sumatra island dropped almost 14 percent since 2004, Wich said. It also concluded that the populations on Borneo island, which is shared by Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, have fallen by 10 percent. Researchers only surveyed areas of Borneo that are in Indonesia and Malaysia.

In their study, Wich and his 15 colleagues said the declines in Borneo were occurring at an “alarming rate” but that they were most concerned about Sumatra, where the numbers show the population is in “rapid decline.”

“Unless extraordinary efforts are made soon, it could become the first great ape species to go extinct,” researchers wrote.

Great job, humanity. We’re the presiding species on the planet – the only one capable of protecting all of the other species that we share it with – and we allow things like this to happen, all for our own greed and convenience. Of course, there are those that believe that as humans, we’re entitled to everything on earth, and can use it as we wish without caring what consequences our actions have. If it’s not a person, it’s property, right? Why don’t we take all of those people and put them in livestock pens, dairy cattle enclosures, circus cages or just dump them in the middle of a forest while it’s being cut down by loggers and let them fend for themselves. You know, help Karma along a little.

Link [Wired]
Photo credit: Flickr user exfordy

Story of ‘Uncontacted Brazilian Tribe’ Not Entirely True

We got punked, along with the rest of the world. When the Brazilian media released photos of an ‘undiscovered native tribe’ in the Amazon, painted head-to-toe and pointing spears at the airplane that was flying overhead, people around the world were amazed. Now, it’s been revealed that, while this is indeed a real uncontacted tribe, the Brazilian government has known about them for decades – so they aren’t ‘newly discovered’.

It turns out that Carlos Meirelles, who works for the Brazilian Indian Protection Agency, Funai, intentionally flew over the area where the tribe is known to live in an attempt to get a photograph, so that he could both prove wrong those people who insist there are no more isolated tribes left in the world, and so he could call attention to the danger facing them in the form of outside contact. Ironically, flying over the tribe in an airplane and photographing them is, in itself, a form of outside contact.

From The Guardian:

In his first interviews since the disclosure of the tribe’s existence, Meirelles described how he found the group, detailed how they lived and how he planned the publicity to protect them and other tribes in similar danger of losing the habitat in which they have flourished for hundreds of years.

Meirelles admitted that the tribe was first known about almost a century ago and that the apparently chance encounter that produced the now famous images was no accident. ‘When we think we might have found an isolated tribe,’ he told al-Jazeera, ‘a sertanista like me walks in the forest for two or three years to gather evidence and we mark it in our [global positioning system]. We then map the territory the Indians occupy and we draw that protected territory without making contact with them. And finally we set up a small outpost where we can monitor their protection.’

Meirelles wanted proof that the tribes were flourishing, to confirm that the government policy of no contact and protection was working. The aim was partially to convince Peru’s president, Alan Garcia, that the tribe is real, since Garcia has stated in the past that he thinks uncontacted tribes along the Peru/Brazil border are ‘the creation of the imagination’ of environmentalists and anthropologists. Since the photos were released, Peru has begun to re-examine their logging policies – they had been cutting down trees dangerously close to the tribe’s home.

Hopefully all of this will preserve the areas of the Amazon where native tribes still live, so that, in the event that they did become aware of outside society, they would still have a choice as to whether they wanted to join it or continue living as they have been. Imagine how traumatic it would be for them to be forced into modern society due to logging.

Link [The Guardian]

Paper Company Finds that Green Makes Good Business Sense

Grays Harbor Paper went under in 1992, and not just jobs were lost – as families made hard choices and were forced to move, some committed suicide. 600 people in the nearby rural cities of Hoquiam and Aberdeen lost their jobs. Things were bleak overall, and Bill Quigg had quite a task in front of him when he bought the company in 1993.

That’s why he decided to make a big change: the traditional paper industry wasn’t working in these small logging towns, partially because of the protected status of the endangered spotted owl, which calls the forests in this area of Washington state home. Where workers once cursed the owl for putting them out of work, Quigg saw a solution: using 100 percent recycled paper instead of cutting down trees. And, he didn’t stop there – the plant is now entirely powered by biomass fuel derived from logging waste.

Quigg isn’t doing it for the earth. It’s all about money. From Mother Jones:

“Politically I am on the right side of Genghis Khan,” says Quigg. “I’m not a lefty wacko.” Nevertheless, “We make the greenest products, and we make them with the greenest fuel,” he enthusiastically boasts. “Nobody else does that. We have the audacity to think we can change the market. If you buy local and smarter, you save a tremendous amount of fossil fuel.”

Regardless of Quigg’s motivations, Grays Harbor Paper stands to be an excellent model for green practices reviving depressed rural areas as well as green business practices in general. As other companies watch, perhaps down the line we’ll see more following the same path to being successful and eco-friendly at the same time. They’re not mutually exclusive, folks!

Link [Mother Jones]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons