Tom Kimmerer: Conservation

Europe acts to reduce illegal logging in Africa

Thu, 30 Jun 2005 03:12:32 GMT

European timber buyers are demanding that Ghana's timber industry get third party certification for legal logging to meet new European standards. The UK Timber Trade Federation informed a meeting of Ghanaian timber producers that certification for legality would be a minimal requirement and certification for sustainability would be desirable. Similar meetings are to be held across Africa's tropical timber producing countries. Ghana's Forestry Commission is developing a log-tracking system to allow verification of legality.

It is clear that this kind of external pressure, supported by aid programs, is essential if illegal logging is to be halted. Europe, Japan, Australia and others will have to take the lead, since the US government is hostile to any moves to control illegal logging.

Conifers getting the ax in England

Thu, 30 Jun 2005 02:48:14 GMT

The Forestry Commission has announced plans to replace non-native trees in England's forests with native species. The intent is to restore the forests to something resembling the forests of 100 years ago, and to make forests more attractive for wildife and recreation. Up to 20 million trees will be removed over a 20 year period. Reduction of conifer shade should allow native species to reproduce, though enrichment planting will also be funded. Up to 30% of England's forests consist of ancient woodlands, stands over 400 years old, but which include lots of non-native conifers. The government had encouraged establishment of conifer plantations which today account for 15% of England's forests. Ironically, the government had paid for establishment of the conifer plantations that it is now paying to remove.

Reclaiming wood in paradise

Mon, 20 Jun 2005 19:12:34 GMT

A Hawaiian company is making wood products from trees cut as part of safety programs in Hawaii's Polipoli State Park and Kula Forest Reserve. The company, South Pacific Lumber Co. is providing wood for furniture, millwork and timber framing. The trees are being felled because they pose a risk to cabins and other facilities in the park, but they present a fire hazard if left on the ground. The company has paid $2000 to $3000 to the state to mill 20 pine and cypress trees and will return to mill about 25 more. The fire danger in these forests is very high. Milling the trees prevents fuelwood buildup and provides useful products in a state that lacks available wood resources.

Malaysian government to promote timber plantations

Mon, 20 Jun 2005 16:15:46 GMT

Malaysia's Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry (KPPK, Kementerian Perusahaan Perladangan dan Komoditi) has announced plans to build up the capacity for timber plantations to remove pressure from native forests. Most of Peninsular Malaysia's lowland tropical forests were converted to other uses during the colonial era, and today there are vast areas of former tin mines, as well as current plantations of oil palm and rubber. Collectively, these lands could produce large amounts of wood products that could be certified as originating from sustainable forest management (plantations can obtain sustainability certificates provided they are not created by felling existing forests). Malaysian growers have long experience with plantations of oil palm, rubber and fruit trees, and should be able to adapt to new species with careful planning.

KPPK Minister Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui announced the plan, saying that private funds would be sought from the wood industries for the approximately RM2 billion needed. The Ministry would like to see 1.5 million hectares of timber plantation set up in the next 10 years. Much of the money would be for federal support for states to develop plantation management methods. In Malaysia, land management is a state responsiblity in which the federal government plays an advisory role.

The world has an insatiable demand for timber, and today that demand is being met to a large extent with illegally harvested tropical timber. The US, New Zealand, Australia, Chile and other nations have had considerable success establishing major forest industries based on plantation-grown timber. In Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, rubberwood has become a major export commodity. Conservation of remaining tropical rainforests requires that alternative sources of raw materials be found, and Malaysia is taking appropriate steps in that direction.

One important challenge will be species selection. Many valuable forest species, such as meranti (Shorea spp. and other dipterocarps), may be difficult or impossible to adapt to plantation conditions. Forest scientists, including geneticists, physiologists and silviculturists, will need to carefully research and test appropriate species. Initial plantation projects should be small, so that large investments are not made in projects that fail.

Without this kind of science-based approach, the entire RM2 billion could be wasted on failed attempts at large-scale plantations. This happened in the Jari project in Brazil where Daniel Ludwig, an American entrepreneur, started large-scale plantations of Gmelina for pulp production. The project denuded 6475 square kilometers of Amazon rainforest and was a complete disaster. The disaster was due to bad planning, excess expenditure of funds, and, perhaps most importantly, the lack of results from any pilot projects prior to scaling up.

Majestic trees, symbol of Chile, are threatened.

Sat, 18 Jun 2005 03:32:14 GMT

A national symbol of Chile, the alerce, Fitzroya cuppresoides, is threatened by logging. Cutting of live trees is prohibited, but illicit loggers have found a way around the ban: make sure plenty of dead trees are available by killing them. From the UBC Botanical Garden Weblog.

Tangled Bank

Wed, 15 Jun 2005 16:49:10 GMT

The latest Tangled Bank is up at Geomblog. Tangled Bank is a blog carnival for science writers. The current offering has lots of great articles and is worth a visit.

Nitrogen fertilization decreases abundance of rare and native plants

Mon, 13 Jun 2005 18:01:37 GMT

Rare and native plant species are more likely than abundant or invasive species to be lost from an ecosystem when nitrogen is made more available. Nitrogen increases plant growth, but appears to give a competitive edge to some plants, and a disadvantage to plants that are not adapted to take advantage of more nutrition. This is the conclusion of a wide-ranging nitrogen fertilization experiment by Katherine Suding and her colleagues at UC Irvine. The study was published in PNAS.

Nitrogen in soil comes from nitrogen fixation by certain plants and microorganisms, by lightning-fixation in rainfall, and from manmade sources. The most important manmade sources include fertilizer and acid rain. While fertilizer is not applied intentionally to natural ecosystems, it can arrive in the wind from agricultural sources. Acid rain contains sulfuric and nitric acids from industrial pollution, and is adding considerable amounts of nitrogen to natural ecosystems.

The ecological consequences of nitrogen addition are made clear by this study. Increased nitrogen from anthropogenic sources will reduce biodiversity, eliminate rare species and favor aggressive, fast-growing species including invasives.

As landscaping in urban areas moves toward native plants, it is important to recognize that excess nitrogen fertilization will promote the growth of weeds and non-natives, which have been selected to do well in high-nitrogen environments.

Ancient date palm of Judea germinated after 2000 years

Sun, 12 Jun 2005 03:19:44 GMT

The date palms of Judea are praised in the Bible and the Koran for their beauty, shade, food and medicinal qualities. Now we may get a chance to taste the famed fruit. A date seed found during archeological excavations of Masada, where Jewish Zealots killed themselves rather than fall to the Romans, has germinated and appears likely to survive.

Radiocarbon dating confirms the archeological evidence: the seed is about 2,000 years old. This is the oldest seed ever germinated. Lotus seeds of about 1200 years' age have been germinated in China, but none as old as this.

The seed was obtained by Dr. Sarah Sallon, a physician and scholar of medicinal plants of the Middle East. It was germinated by Dr. Elaine Soloway of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies.

At the time of the fall of Masada, when Israel ceased to exist for 1900 years, vast plantations of date palms were found throughout the region. Dates were an important food and medicine. The biblical land of "milk and honey" refers to date honey. The Koran describes the date as a symbol of goodness, and the date palm is associated with heaven. By the time of the Crusades, all the date palms had been destroyed. Modern Israel, for which dates are important symbolically and economically, grows date trees imported from California and originating elsewhere in the Middle East. So, the growth of this seedling could potentially resurrect a highly important plant, both economically and culturally.

There is an important unknown, that will not be revealed for at least 20 years: is the tree a male or female? Dates are dioecious, bearing male flowers on one tree and female on another. If this tree is a male, it will only be a historical curiosity. If it is a female, there should be adequate pollen from males of other date palms to allow the tree to bear fruit.

If all goes well, we could once again taste the fruits of the land of milk and honey, thanks to the Zealots of Masada and the curiosity of a group of scientists.

No imported wood for Aceh reconstruction

Sat, 11 Jun 2005 13:06:16 GMT

Indonesia will not use imported wood for Aceh's reconstruction following the tsunami. The demand for wood is high, with about seven million cubic feet required. Forestry Minister M.S. Kaban announced the policy at a meeting of the House of Representatives in Jakarta. Legal wood harvest from Indonesia's forests is currently about 5.6 million cubic meters per year, so additional sources of wood will be needed. Minister Kaban did not reject the use of donated foreign wood, but said that no wood would be bought from other nations. The minister's statement appears to be a response to the World Wildlife Fund's concerns about the impact of Acehnese reconstruction on Indonesia's forest resources.

Menteri Kehutanan M.S. Kaban mengingatkan Badan Rekonstruksi Aceh untuk tidak mengimpor kayu tanpa ijin dari Departemen Kehutanan. Sebab, kebutuhan kayu di Aceh masih bisa dipenuhi dari pasokan dalam negeri.“Sejak awal diprioritaskan untuk memasok kebutuhan kayu di Aceh,” ujar Kaban. Selain itu, untuk kebutuhan rekonstruksi Aceh, bisa ditambahkan dari kayu temuan maupun kayu sitaan.

Borneo's lowland forests may disappear

Fri, 10 Jun 2005 12:28:30 GMT

When I worked in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo, lowland forests were being logged but were still extensive. The pictures show aerial views of these vast forests during the flight from Jakarta to Pontianak. At that time, Kalimantan still had over 80% of its lowland forests, but they were under substantial pressure from logging and from land clearance. The transmigrasi program, that moved large numbers of Javanese families to Kalimantan increased the rate of conversion of land from forest to agriculture. Forests were still extensive and unbelievably diverse. Home to orangutans and proboscis monkeys as well as a riot of plant species diversity, these forests are one of the great biological treasures of the world. In a new report, the World Wildlife Fund says that less than 50% of the original lowland forests remain, and could be largely eliminated within 10 years. Rampant illegal logging, much of it at the behest of Malaysian operators is stripping the forests. At the same time, development pressures of a growing population of poor farmers is accelerating land conversion. Populations of organgutans and proboscis monkeys may no longer be sustainable in the wild. Forest fires, once a rarity, are now an annual occurance, often blanketing Southeast Asia in haze. Efforts are underway to persuade Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei to set aside vast reserves of montane and upland forests in central Borneo, but preservation of significant amounts of lowland forests appears unlikely. Illegal logging can be stopped, with concerted action. Thanks to vigorous efforts by Indonesians like my friend Herujono Hadisuparto of Universitas Tanjungpura, illegal log routes from Indonesia into Malaysia have been closed. However, corruption and poverty continue to work against efforts to stop illegal logging. Indonesia is now a democracy, and the central government is working hard to control corruption. However, unless Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei cooperate to enforce existing laws against illegal logging, and unless the international community acts to stop consuming illegally obtained wood, the clearing of lowland forests will not stop until the last tree is gone. Borneo is one of the world centers of biodiversity. Over 210 mammal species are found in Borneo, at least 45 of them found only on the island. A new fox species was reported last month. Between 1994 and 2004, over 361 new species have been identified, including 260 insects, 50 ploants, 30 fish, 7 frogs, 6 lizards, 5 crabs, 2 snakes and a toad. The vast majority of these species have been poorly studied and little is known of thier life history and conservation needs. Borneo is also an important economic treasure for Indonesia. Huge, by far the largest Indonesian island, rich in natural resources, and with tremendous potential for ecotourism and sustainable forestry, Borneo will either deteriorate further or remain as one of Earth's treasures. The Heart of Borneo project to preserve 1/4 of the central part of Borneo is critical to the island's future.	Lowland forests of West Kalimantan in 1984.
	Plywood mills along Landak river surrounded by lowland forests in 1984.
	Young orangutan in lowland forest in West Kalimantan

Biggest ecological restoration project

Tue, 07 Jun 2005 16:39:39 GMT

New Scientist has an article (subscription required) about the largest ecological restoration/management project ever. Dust storms from Inner Mongolia and Northwestern China have always swept across northern China, but centuries of deforestation and overgrazing have made matters much worse. Chinese families are forced to stay indoors during the spring wind storms, and the dust destroys machinery and crops. The problem is worldwide: dust from China causes problems, including airport closures, in Korea and Japan. The dust darkens the sky as far away as Colorado.

The Chinese government initially tried building a wall of trees to block the dust. Now, China, along with Korea, Japan and Mongolia, are implementing the largest ecological management project to try multiple approaches to reducing the dust problem. Plans include grasslands restoration in dry areas, reforestation of uplands and a switch from wood as an energy source to wind and solar. There is no shortage of either of these energy sources in the region. One part of the forest restoration scheme involves the use of waste water to irrigate young pine plantations.

Although the project is huge, multinational and well funded, it may not work. Centuries of neglect of western China have made a natural phenomenon into a serious problem, and centuries of effort may be required to resolve it.

Thanks to Dave Roberts at Gristmill. He has a good account of the article here.

Big Bucky blooming live on your computer

Tue, 07 Jun 2005 01:31:57 GMT

Our earlier post on gigantic corpse lilies blooming in San Francisco and Wisconsin led to the following comment from Darrell Schulte at UW-Madison. Click on the link to see the Big Bucky corpse lily in bloom. Watch for a while - only when you see people in the scene will you appreciate how huge the flower is, and you can listen to people talking about the stink. Thanks, Darrell!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 6/6/05 CONTACT: Brian Rust (608) 263-9484, rust@doit.wisc.edu TITAN TV: LIVE SMELLY PLANT NOW ON A DESKTOP NEAR YOU! MADISON - The University of Wisconsin-Madison's giant stinky flower is now just a click away. As of Monday (June 6), live views of the titan arum known as Big Bucky are available on the Internet. The large flower is expected to transition into malodorous bloom sometime this week, and it may draw large crowds seeking to experience the rare plant. But for those unable to make the trek to the UW-Madison campus and the Birge Hall greenhouse where the plant resides, a live video broadcast can be accessed from the Internet at: http://webstreamer2.doit.wisc.edu/titan_arum/ The play-by-play broadcast, which features the striking plant from three camera angles, including a bird's-eye view, will continue until the blooming event is over. Additional information about the plant, as well as news and viewing hours and opportunities, can be found on the Web at http://www.news.wisc.edu/titanarum2005/. Special features, such as interviews with the plant's caretakers, are planned. Produced by the UW-Madison Division of Information Technology, the titan arum webcast is streaming at two different rates to accommodate the range of broadband users, and downloadable clips and "highlights" and interviews for dial-up users. In 2001, a cruder Web cam protocol was used and generated an enormous volume of interest worldwide. The current broadcast is a live video stream, as opposed to the photo sequences used by Web cams. The titan arum is native to the equatorial rain forests of Indonesia. It is a relatively rare plant and is known for its capacity to generate an overpowering smell of carrion when it blooms. The smell attracts pollinators such as flies, beetles and bees. In captivity, there have been only an estimated 65 blooms since 1889, when the first cultured titan arum blossomed at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, England. ### - Terry Devitt, (608) 262-8282, trdevitt@wisc.edu

Sorting out Citrus

Mon, 06 Jun 2005 14:22:54 GMT

The USDA has one of the world's largest collections of Citrus at its National Clonal Germplasm Repository for Citrus and Dates in Riverside, California. The collection is an important ex situ repository for preserving Citrus genotypes (meaning a site outside the natural range of the genus). Citrus originates in Southeast Asia, China and India. Many Citrus populations are threatened by industrial and housing development, so an ex situ germplasm collection is especially important. An interesting article in the ARS Agricultural Research magazine describes the Citrus conservation work of Robert Krueger and his colleagues at Riverside. One problem with the ARS germplasm collection is that recordkeeping was often spotty. Of the 900 accessions in the collection, many were of unknown or poorly documented origin. Using molecular techniques, Krueger found that most of the genetic diversity in the collection was in about 50 trees. This is not surprising because most commercial Citrus is of hybrid origin, so a small number of plants can encompass much of the genetic diversity. This combination of a traditional germplasm collection and molecular analysis to sort out the collection is very powerful in helping conserve the genetic diversity of this important genus. The article is well worth reading.

Fruits of lemon, Citrus limon, in a commercial orchard in Ventura County, California

Wollemi pine going to Japan

Fri, 03 Jun 2005 02:40:14 GMT

Wollemi pine, Wollemia nobilis, an extremely rare Australian species will be planted in Japan in an effort to broaden its range as a hedge against extinction. The tree, known only from the fossil record until 1994, when David Noble discovered living stands in a remote national park near Sydney, will go on sale in Japan next spring. About 500,000 seedlings will be sold to Japanese gardeners. Proceeds from the sale will go to conservation of the native stands in Australia.

Pines are revered in Japan as symbols of long life. Australian conservationists expect Wollemi pine to be extremely popular in Japan.

Wollemi pine should become available as an ornamental tree in other parts of the world, including North America, in 2006. Availability at first will be limited. Wollemi pine is probably hardy to USDA Zone 7 and above, so it is suitable for cultivation in the southern US.

See earlier story.

Another rediscovered species

Thu, 02 Jun 2005 15:19:11 GMT

A California grass not seen since 1912 has been found on Catalina Island off the coast of northern California. Catalina grass, Dissanthelium californicum, was found in a narrow canyon by Jenny McCune, a plant ecologist for the Catalina Conservancy. Grazing animals and invasive plants were thought to have eliminated the only populations of the grass, but recent fires in the canyon revealed a small stand. This is the second 'extinct' plant rediscovery in California in recent months. Although they may not get as much attention as warm fuzzy animals like the ivory-billed woodpecker, locating these rare plants is critical to protecting their habitat. A drawing of the plant is here.

Tangled Bank #29

Wed, 01 Jun 2005 09:50:54 GMT

Thanks to Chris at Organic Matter, there is a new Tangled Bank (#29) featuring a blog version of a natural history museum. Chris has put together a whopping collection of 40 articles on science, natural history, and anthropology. My article on maple rustling is there. There is also a stunning photo and essay about Kadsura interior flowers from UBC Botanical Garden. Great job, Chris!

Conflicts over cypress in Louisiana

Mon, 30 May 2005 12:13:22 GMT

National Public Radio has a well-balanced two-part story on conflicts among conservationists, landowners, loggers and the Corps of Engineers over logging of baldcypress, Taxodium distichum. Like its close relative coast redwood, baldcypress regrows rapidly after logging and is a good candidate for sustainable forest management. However, since the last round of logging in Louisiana abot a hundred years ago, the hydrology of Louisiana has been radically altered. Today, the cypress swamps do not have a seasonaly dry period. Mature cypress does fine in standing water, but seeds require exposed soil to germinate. Logging now may result in conversion of the swamps into marshes, which lack trees. The conflict is not over whether the cypress should be logged - they are on private property and most conservationists support the landowners needs to log their property. However, they argue that logging should be delayed by ten years or more to allow time for an ambitious project to restore the original hydrology of the region.

Discovery of a lost flower

Thu, 26 May 2005 02:54:17 GMT

A wildlflower long thought to be extinct has been found in a state park in California. The Mount Diablo buckwheat, Eriogonum truncatum, had not been seen in sixty nine years. A stand of the little pink buckwheat was found in a state park east of San Francisco in Contra Costa County on or near Mount Diablo. The location is being kept secret.

The discovery was made by a graduate student, Michael Park, who brought other botanists to the site to confirm the identification. Imagine the thrill for a young graduate student to find a species long thought to have vanished.

The find is being compared to the siting of the ivory billed woodpecker in Arkansas last year. While the ivory billed woodpecker was found deep in a remote swamp, the rediscovery of Mount Diablo buckwheat took place in a heavily used park within easy reach of millions of people.

Picture of an herbarium specimen (there don't seem to be any images of live plants available).

Update: Thanks to Chris at Organic matter (in comments) for providing a link to the UC Berkeley press release, which includes nice pictures of this beautiful little flower.

Fish and Wildlife Service told to ignore science

Tue, 24 May 2005 20:13:29 GMT

From Chris Mooney comes this pathetic story of the Bush administration's continued efforts to erode science. It seems the Fish and Wildlife Service has announced that species recovery plans under the Endangered Species Act can only use genetic science that was in place at the time a species was listed. So if a species was listed in 1975 but today's genetic techniques show that it actually consists of two subspecies, too bad. Managers can only 1975 data. This is incredibly stupid if you assume that the purpose of the Endangered Species Act is to help endangered and threatened species recover. If, as in the Bush administration, the ESA is a nuisance to be ignored when possible, then the new interpretation makes sense. Since the revolution in molecular genetics really only took off in the late 1970's, there is a vast amount of genetic techniques and information that postdates the listing of many species.

Amazon destruction accelerates

Tue, 24 May 2005 11:02:40 GMT

This morning is "Rainforest Rally" at my son's elementary school, a celebration of rainforests and expression of concern. So the news of events in the Brazilian Amazon is especially disturbing. Loss of rainforest in the Amazon to agriculture is accelerating. In spite of strong laws to protect remaining rainforests, the Brazilian government is unable to stop illegal logging and land clearing.

Rainforest clearing increased by 6% in last year's satellite surveys. The major cause is a booming national economy, but high worldwide demand for soybeans is a factor. Annual revenues from soybean exports now exceed those from coffee and sugar, Brazil's mainstay commodities for many years.

The government, despite passing strong laws and attempting to enforce them, is complicit in the conversion of land. BR-163, the major highway that bisects the Amazon from north to south, is being paved. The history of road encroachments is clear - more roads provide easier access which accelerates land conversion.

Corruption plays a major role. The governor of Mato Gross is also the largest soybean producer in the country. As in Indonesia and other countries where rainforest destruction is accelerating, the combination of poverty, greed and official corruption is fatal to efforts to conserve rainforests. Countries like Malaysia (at least Peninsular Malaysia) with strong economies and a tradition of fairly clean government are better able to combat greedy interests and at least slow the rate of rainforest conversion and illegal logging.

Where do the logs from illegal logging and land clearing go? While domestic consumption is significant, much of this wood is probably finding its way onto the international market, and is therefore winding up in the US. Is any going to China?

British plants under pressure but with plans for recovery

Tue, 10 May 2005 15:00:06 GMT

The Vascular Plant Red Data List, a compilation of the status of rare, threatened and endangered British plants shows that about 20% of British plant species are under threat, and there are many species whose populations are declining. Many of the species are upland plants in forests, but a surprising number are plants of arable lands that were previously thought to be safe in the margins of tilled farm lands. However, the increased intensity of agriculture has pushed many of these plants into ever-shrinking space.

British efforts to conserve endangered species have been quite successful. However, many other species have become dramatically less common. The Red List, a statistical analysis of the New Atlas of British Flora, enables conservation biologists to focus efforts on these declining species. New agricultural methods, which stress preservation of natural lands and the restoration of habitat, hold the promise of returning many of these plants to healthier population levels.

This approach, combining detailed spatial analysis of plant distributions with statistical analysis of abundance, is an important conservation tool. Unfortunately, many of the press accounts of the Red List's publications were quite hysterical. The BBC got it right, but the AP story had the header "British flora faces extinction." Other American accounts were equally overblown. This kind of coverage of natural resource issues is not helpful, as it gives readers the impression that everything is going to hell and there is no point in caring. The more optimistic interpretation of the news, and I think the correct one, is that the Red Data List provides guidelines for helping these species recover.

Ancient tree planted at Kew

Tue, 10 May 2005 14:17:43 GMT

Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis), one of the most ancient and rare trees in the world, has a new home at the Royal Botanical Garden, Kew. Sir David Attenborough planted the tree at Kew, and Kenneth Branagh planted one the same day at Wakehurst Place, Kew's garden in Sussex. These planting are the first of this extremely rare and newly discovered tree. Other botanical gardens are in line to plant Wollemi pine, and the species will be commercially available within the next year.

Wollemi pine was known only from the fossil record. An ancient lineage in the Araucariaceae, Wollemi pine dominated much of the southern world in the Cretaceous. Fossils resembling parts of Wollemi pine are known from Cretaceous sediments in Australia, and possibly are found in New Zealand, South America and India. During the Cretaceous, these regions were part of a single southern continent, Gondwanaland. Wollemi pine may have been a dominant species in southern forests from the Cretaceous to at least the Tertiary, a span of 143 million years. The oldest known fossil (the type specimen) of Wollemia dates from 90 Mya. The discovery of living specimens means that the genus, if not the species, has been around for at least 145 million years and possibly as long as 200 million years.

In 1994, David Noble, a National Parks and Wildlife Officer in New South Wales, Australia, found Wollemi pines in a deep gorge in Wollemi National Park in the Blue Mountains only 200 km from Sydney. Since then, two other small stands have been located in the same area. The exact location is a closely guarded secret to protect the trees from collectors. The botanical description of the genus and species were publihed in 1995 (Jones, WG, Hill, KD & Allen, JM 1995. Wollemia nobilis, a new living Australian genus and species in the Araucariaceae. Telopea 6:173-176).

Horticultural interest in the tree is extremely high. The Royal Botanical Gardens, Sydney (RBGS), has established a Wollemi Pine site to provide information about the availability of plants for commerce, as well as general information about the tree. RBGS also has an informational site with detailed information about this fascinating plant.

Ramp season in the Appalachians: Hip and in need of protection

Tue, 03 May 2005 19:31:41 GMT

Ramps, the smelly and tasty wild leek of the Appalachians (Allium tricoccum and A. burdickii), are in season. Ramp collection has long been an important spring activity for people in the Appalachians. Unfortunately, ramps have become trendy gourmet food items in big-city restaurants and markets, and overharvesting threatens many ramp populations.

Harvesting of non-timber forest products (NTFP) is a common activity of local residents throughout the world. At the low level required to meet local needs, harvesting is generally sustainable. Once a non-timber product becomes commercially valuable, it is much more difficult to sustain viable populations. Most NTFP are understory plants, though overstory nut crops like brazil nuts, can be important.

In the Appalachians, local people have been harvesting ramps, goldenseal, St. John's Wort, ginseng and mushrooms since long before Europeans arrived in North America. However, once commercial demand rose in recent years, many of these plants are threatened with overharvesting.

Ginseng is increasingly hard to find in many woodlands of eastern Kentucky. Since 1999, the US Fish & Wildlife Service has restricted the sale of wild-collected ginseng, and most states require permits for 'sangin (harvesting ginseng). Cultivated ginseng exports to Asia far outstrip export of wild-collected plants, but wild ginseng is worth more. American ginseng, Panax quinquefolium, is prized over Asian ginseng, P. ginseng. When I lived in Malaysia and Indonesia, all the kedai runcit and kedai ubat featured American ginseng, often with American flags displayed to show authenticity. I brought a box home to give to my friend Junior Marshall, who has been 'sangin in eastern Kentucky for the last 70 years, and told him I was returning his ginseng. In 2000, the US exported just over 400,000 kg of cultivated ginseng and 144,000 kg of wild ginseng. The cultivated ginseng brought a total of nearly $17 million, while the smaller wild crop brought in $24.5 million (USDA). The numbers have remained fairly static since then. Ginseng harvesting has been banned in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and is supposed to be tightly regulated by permit in the National Forests. However, enforcement staff in the Parks and Forests are spread very thin, and it is clear that considerable illicit 'sangin is continuing.

Ramp harvesting has been less controversial and less regulated. Many Appalachian communities have ramp festivals, like the Cocke County Ramp Festival in Tennessee. These celebrate not only the ramp, the first spring vegetable to be harvested, but also the local mountain culture.

However, now that ramps have been discovered by the culinary world, harvesting is getting out of hand. Great Smoky Mountains National Park has banned ramps harvesting, and permits will be required beginning next year in Nantahala National Forest. The Forest Service is eager to preserve the culturally important ramps festivals, while at the same time protecting the resource.

Conservation of ramps is made more complex by the fact that there are two species. Well, maybe there are two. Allium tricoccum is the more common ramp species. Allium burdickii is considered uncommon, rare or of uncertain status in many southern states. Most state floras and the USDA regard A. tricoccum and A. burdickii as separate species. A recent article by Gary Kaufman raises questions about the conservation status of A. burdickii and its status as a species. Analysis of proteins by electrophoresis does not show any difference between northern populations of the two species. There seems to have been no other genetic analysis of these species published.

How do we conserve these species when we don't really understand their taxonomy and conservation status? The obvious answer is to manage all ramps patches on public lands to maintain vigorous populations. Given the meagre budgets of the federal agencies managing the National Parks and Forests, ramps management will probably not have sufficiently high priority.

And what of the gourmet world? I am an avid viewer of the Food Channel, and love good cooking. How often, though, do we see high-end cooks paying any attention to the conservation status of their ingredients? Gourmet cooking seems to be almost entirely unaffected by moral decisions about the origin of ingredients. How many restaurants offer fair-traded, shade-grown coffee or sustainably-harvested fish? Ramps are just another example of how consumerism is at odds with sound conservation. And it need not be so: consumers can easily be educated to make the right choices in foods. It is the responsibility of the food industry to make those choices simple.

Reference (not on the web): Jones, A.G. 1979 A Study of Wild Leek, and the Recognition of Allium burdickii (Liliaceae). Systematic Botany, 4, 29-43.

Google Maps shows vast clearcutting in British Columbia

Thu, 28 Apr 2005 00:51:20 GMT

As a forester, I understand that clearcuts can be a useful management tool. In the Appalachians, where I live, small patch clearcuts are an excellent method to regenerate forests, return of vegetation is rapid (from stump sprouts especially), and impacts on water quality are minimal. As my silviculture professor, Doc Johnson, used to say, all silviculture is clearcutting - we're only arguing over the size of the cut. In other words, there is a continuum from cutting a single tree to cutting an entire watershed. Both ends of this continuum are probably worse than somewhere in the middle.

Nevertheless, clearcutting has to be used with care and responsibility. So it is really disturbing to see the satellite photos of clearcuts in British Columbia using Google Maps. It is difficult for me to believe that this represents responsible, sustainable forestry.

Google Maps lets us look at vast areas of North America with detailed maps and satellite photos. They give ordinary citizens a chance, not just to see what our continent looks like, but what we are doing to it.

Read more at Organic Matter and Mezzoblue. Then go to Google Maps to see the actual maps. You can pan and zoom the maps to get an impression of the vast scale of the clearcuts.

Satellite image courtesy of Organic Matter, derived from Google Maps