Coincidentally, I got two messages yesterday concerning trees, and a third today. All came by email, so no trees were killed in the communication, which is a nice bonus.

The Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club are trying to beat back a GW Bush proposal to log a wilderness area in the White Mountain National Forest, and the Nashua River Watershed Association seeks to education people about the benefits of letting fallen trees lie, even if they make your canoe trip all the more challenging. Meanwhile, global warming is killing trees out west, the United States Geological Survey reports.

Read all about it….

RICHMOND, Vt.— In the final weeks of the Bush administration, the U.S. Forest Service slipped in one more plan to clearcut in a roadless area on the White Mountain National Forest. Six weeks later, on the morning of Inauguration Day but before the Bush administration left office, conservationists filed what they hope will be their last appeal of a logging project located in a roadless area on any national forest in the country.

The Center for Biological Diversity and the Vermont and New Hampshire Chapters of the Sierra Club submitted their appeal to the U.S. Forest Service, opposing the fourth roadless area logging project to be proposed on the White Mountain National Forest in the span of eighteen months. The Kanc 7 Project, which would rebuild roads and clearcut a portion of the Sandwich 4 roadless area, is located between the Sandwich Range Wilderness and the Kancamagus National Scenic Byway, west of Conway, New Hampshire. Earlier this month, the conservation groups appealed the Mill Brook Project, which targets the Kilkenny roadless area, in the northern section of the national forest.

“The Bush administration tried, and failed, for eight years to kill protections for roadless areas on our national forests,” said Mollie Matteson, conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. “The American people would not allow it. They recognized the importance of safeguarding these special places on national forests as final bastions of natural beauty, wildlife habitat, and healthy watersheds. ”

Said Matteson: “But unfortunately, a few national forests saw the anti-environmental policies of the Bush administration as good cover for invading roadless areas. The White Mountain National Forest was one of these. They hoped they’d get away with flouting the Roadless Rule.”

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which was enacted at the close of the Clinton administration, prohibits road construction and logging in national forest areas that are still relatively free of development and provide the intact habitat and security that many of the most imperiled and vulnerable species in the country need to survive. The rule received more public support than any other administrative rule in American history.

Barack Obama has said he supports the rule, and conservationists are calling on the new president, as well as the new Congress, to carry out the will of the American public and ensure that the Roadless Rule is fully and permanently implemented.

The Kanc 7 project would log approximately 938 acres in the Sandwich 4 Inventoried Roadless Area, including about 80 acres of clearcuts. The logging would be visible from the Kancamagus Highway, one of the most traveled and spectacular scenic drives in the eastern U.S. The corridor along the Swift River, which the Kancamagus Highway parallels, is extremely popular for camping, hiking, fishing, and backcountry skiing. The logging project would affect numerous high-use hiking trails that access the Sandwich Range Wilderness.

“We are optimistic that the new administration will view roadless areas as a precious, common heritage we should protect and pass on to future generations, not as warehouses of lumber and pulp fiber for companies to make a fast buck,” commented Matteson. “We sincerely hope Kanc 7 will be the last roadless area logging project proposed by the Forest Service, anywhere, and that soon, we will have lasting, strong, consistent protection for all our national forest roadless areas.”

The conservationists await the decision of the Forest Service on their appeals of Mill Brook and Kanc 7. They say they hope the Forest Service will drop the projects, but are prepared to pursue legal action if the agency decides not to follow the law.

“Trees in the River – What to Do?”

What should be done about trees lying in a river?  Should they be removed, pruned, or left undisturbed?  What are the safety considerations?  What is the appropriate balance between the desires of canoeists, kayakers, and motor boaters who seek access; the interests of property owners concerned about flood drainage and a ‘tidy’ appearance; and the needs of fish, mammals, and other animals for adequate food and shelter?  What is “large woody debris” in rivers, and how does it improve water quality and control flooding downstream? 

To understand and discuss these questions, the Nashua River Watershed Association (NRWA) invites you to come to a talk by Russ Cohen at Memorial Town Hall in Townsend on Tuesday, February 3, from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm.  The snow date is Thursday, February 5.  The Town Hall is located at 272 Main Street (Rt. 119) in Townsend Center.  Parking is behind the building.

Mr. Cohen works as the Rivers Advocate for the Mass. Riverways Program (www.massriverways.org) in the MA Dept. of Fish and Game.  He provides technical assistance and other help to groups in establishing and publicizing public access to and along rivers, consistent with resource protection.   He has a Bachelor’s degree in land use planning, a Master’s degree in Natural Resources, and a law degree.

“Trees in the River – What to Do?” is part of a series of free programs, open to the public, which the Nashua River Watershed Association is offering in celebration of its 40^th Anniversary.  Over the course of the year, NRWA will be presenting a free public program in each of our 32 communities; visit www.NashuaRiverWatershed.org for additional information.

No reservations are required.  For more information, please contact Rick Muehlke, NRWA Land Programs and Outreach Assistant, at (978) 448-0299, or email RickM@NashuaRiverWatershed.org.  The NRWA is a non-profit environmental organization that depends on memberships for support.

Tree Deaths Have Doubled Across the Western U.S. — Regional Warming May be the Cause

Tree death rates have more than doubled over the last few decades in old-growth forests of the western United States, and the most probable cause of the worrisome trend is regional warming, according to a U.S. Geological Survey-led (USGS) study published in Science on January 23. 

The study found that the increase in dying trees has been pervasive. Tree death rates have increased across a wide variety of forest types, at all elevations, in trees of all sizes, and in pines, firs, hemlocks, and other kinds of trees. 

Regardless of the cause, higher tree death rates ultimately could lead to substantial changes in western forests, said Phil van Mantgem, a USGS scientist and co-leader of the research team.  Such changes, the team noted, can have cascading effects, such as by changing forest suitability for wildlife species. Additionally, increasing tree mortality rates mean that western forests could become net sources of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, further speeding up the pace of global warming.

“The same way that in any group of people a small number will die each year, in any forest a small number of trees die each year,” said van Mantgem. “But our long-term monitoring shows that tree mortality has been climbing, while the establishment of replacement trees has not.” 

The result is that forests have begun to lose trees faster than they’re gaining them, said van Mantgem.

The study’s authors ruled out a number of possible sources of the increasing tree deaths, including air pollution, long-term effects of fire suppression, and normal forest dynamics.  In contrast, increasing regional temperature was correlated with tree deaths. 

“Average temperature in the West rose by more than 1° F over the last few decades,” said van Mantgem.  “While this may not sound like much, it has been enough to reduce winter snowpack, cause earlier snowmelt, and lengthen the summer drought.”  

The lengthening summer drought could be stressing trees, leading to higher death rates, he said.  Warmer temperatures also might favor insects and diseases that attack trees.  Some recent outbreaks of tree-killing bark beetles in the West have already been linked to warming temperatures.

“Tree death rates are like interest on a bank account - the effects compound over time,” said Nate Stephenson, also with the U.S. Geological Survey and research team co-leader. “A doubling of death rates eventually could reduce average tree age in a forest by half, thus reducing average tree size.” 

In some cases, increasing tree deaths could indicate forests vulnerable to sudden, extensive die-back, similar to forest die-back seen over the last few years in parts of the southwestern states, Colorado, and British Columbia.  “That may be our biggest concern,” said Stephenson. “Is the trend we’re seeing a prelude to bigger, more abrupt changes to our forests?” 

Complete findings appear in the article, Widespread increase of tree mortality rates in the western United States, by Phillip J. van Mantgem (USGS), Nathan L. Stephenson (USGS),  John C. Byrne (U.S. Forest Service), Lori D. Daniels (University of British Columbia), Jerry F. Franklin (University of Washington), Peter Z. Fulé (Northern Arizona University), Mark E. Harmon (Oregon State University), Andrew J. Larson (University of Washington), Jeremy M. Smith (University of Colorado), Alan H. Taylor (Pennsylvania State University), and Thomas T. Veblen (University of Colorado).