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Exporting No Net Loss

By Royal Gardner / On September 6th, 2013
The concept of “no net loss” of wetlands, first officially endorsed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1990, continues to spread across the globe. The latest example is Taiwan’s national Wetland Conservation Act, enacted in July 2013 after five years of discussions. The new law adopts the objective of “no net loss” of area and function for wetlands designated as locally, nationally, or internationally important.
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Benefit of thinning forests for spotted owls is not so clear-cut

By Dominick A. DellaSala / On August 16th, 2012
The July 26 editorial "Logging for spotted owls" dismisses decades of scientific research by touting one new study that suggests "heavy thinning" (aka, clear-cut lite) of forests could benefit spotted owls. Based on a single computer simulation, the new study suggests that intensive logging will magically prevent "catastrophic fires" such as the Biscuit that "wiped out" owls and other wildlife. This is unfounded.
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Ghost Trees

By Cristina Eisenberg / On July 10th, 2012
The standing dead trees were everywhere, their boles weathered silver where the bark had peeled. The carcasses of their fallen comrades littered the understory, with few aspen sprouting from the deadfall. The occasional mangled saplings we observed provided graphic evidence of heavy elk browsing.
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Forests at Risk: Real and Personal

By Admin / On July 9th, 2012
As I gathered with other concerned Coloradans for the “Forests at Risk” symposium in Aspen, Colorado last week, the importance of climate change and forests became immediately clear with the absence of two key speakers.
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When Will the Fish & Wildlife Service Give a Hoot for Spotted Owls?

By Dominick A. DellaSala / On July 5th, 2012
Perhaps no other species symbolizes the conflict over logging in the Pacific Northwest more than the northern spotted owl. This medium-sized, forest-dwelling raptor has been credited with shutting down the logging industry in the 1990s and with shouldering the responsibility of conservation for hundreds of species that share its old-growth forest habitat.
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Time for British Columbia Provincial Government to Stand Tall on Historic Rainforest Agreements

By Dominick A. DellaSala / On May 15th, 2012
British Columbia is endowed with the 7.4 million hectare Great Bear Rainforest and adjacent offshore archipelago of Haida Gwaii, one of the few remaining large blocks of comparatively unmodified landscapes on earth. The Great Bear includes over a quarter of the Pacific Coastal rainforests of North America and is home to spectacular wildlife and prodigious salmon runs that are increasingly rare around the world.
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Deja Vu in Kiwi-Ancient Forests

By Dominick A. DellaSala / On December 14th, 2011
To the untrained eye, New Zealand forests have a tropical feel somewhat out-of-character in a temperate world. Like Australia, these rainforests owe their existence to the ancient ark of Gondwana that broke away from Pangea at a time when dinosaurs were still flourishing.  Some of the species like giant Kauri trees have lineages dating back 100 million years.

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