Mr. Bird correctly states that we “are not alone in experiencing severe forest insect outbreaks.” We are also not alone in pursuing a spraying program to control these insects. Examples include programs to keep tent caterpillars from defoliating aspen trees in Colorado, and aerial spraying programs throughout the country to control the gypsy moth.

If the current insect outbreak were occurring in a remote part of the Lincoln, it would be a different matter. There might not be the urgent need to intervene. However, in the present situation, insects that have become out-of-control in the national forest are threatening private property in the village of Cloudcroft.

It is certainly appropriate for the village to control this infestation within its boundaries in a responsible manner. But since the moths of Nepytia janetae (Janet’s looper) and spruce budworm do not respect property lines, or village or forest boundaries, they will migrate from unsprayed land back onto sprayed land. Since the infestation originated on national forest land, it is the
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responsibility of the Forest Service to spray a wide perimeter of the forest around Cloudcroft to prevent reinfestation of the village next year.

The author attributes the severity of the current outbreaks to warmth and drought, but does not believe that justifies controlling these insects. To the contrary, it is my opinion that if unusual conditions are causing these outbreaks, it is imperative to take unusual measures, such as spraying, to help preserve the integrity of the trees, which are already stressed from the drought.

Mr. Bird states that he has “fairly good confidence that the forests around Cloudcroft will endure this insect outbreak.” Has he visited Cloudcroft recently to see the dead and dying trees? What does he consider “endure?” Is it one out of four trees surviving the mortality rate in the Nepytia janetae outbreak in the White Mountains of Arizona in 1996 through 1999?

He goes on to say that “fire risk is actually reduced as insects naturally thin dense forest stands.” First, why hasn’t the Forest Service logged and thinned the overly dense forest themselves? I suspect it is in large part due to lawsuits to the contrary filed by the Forest Guardians. I’ll bet that if your neighbor’s property was covered by dead and half-dead trees, and needles that had fallen to the forest floor, you would be calling your local fire department to report him as a fire hazard.

Mr. Bird states that “We should be embracing these forest defoliators as nature’s cost-efficient forest thinning crew.” This may be fine in the middle of a remote section of the forest, but not on private property, when it has been caused by the Forest Service’s inaction, and where felling a single dead tree next to a house or power line can cost anywhere from $250 to $1,500.

The column states “spraying will likely result in the death of the extremely rare checkerspot butterfly, found only in the Sacramento Mountains.” Wrong on two counts. The checkerspot is found in the western and northwestern U.S., elsewhere in the U.S., and in other countries overseas; a specific variety of the checkerspot is found in the Sacramento Mountains. Spraying will not result in the death of the checkerspot or any other butterfly or moth. The two insecticides mentioned in the article, Confirm 2F and Btk, are lethal only to actively feeding larvae of moths and butterflies. Larvae of the checkerspot enter an extended period of inactivity when the New Mexico penstemon that they feed on die back in the fall from freezing.

Some checkerspot larvae may remain inactive for more than one year, depending on environmental conditions. Since the larval feeding period of Nepytia janetae and the checkerspot are at different times, it is possible to spray for the looper and not kill the checkerspot larvae. Additionally, the insects that are defoliating the trees occur just there: in the trees in the forest. Checkerspot larvae live in the meadows. If it were necessary, checkerspot habitat could be avoided. Interestingly, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists “increased fuel loads, contributing to the threat of more catastrophic, high-intensity wildfires,” as a threat to the Cloudcroft checkerspot.

The column continues that “emergency listing per the Endangered Species Act will be necessary.” I assume this is a thinly veiled threat that the Forest Guardians will sue for listing, once again meddling in Otero County’s affairs.

The column states that Btk “is not specific to particular worms or moths,” and “unintended deaths of beneficial insects may result.” It fails to clarify, again, that it is specific only to actively feeding larvae of moths and butterflies; adults or other types of beneficial insects will not be harmed.

Mr. Bird continues to imply that control of the looper and budworm infestations may reduce the numbers of “fish, birds, and even bats” that feed on insects. I have two responses to that allegation. First, the population of these two insects has ballooned beyond the capacity of the current population of birds, bats, and fish to control them.

No spraying program kills 100 percent of the target insect. A budworm spraying program in Montana reduced the population to 37 percent of the insects present before spraying. There will still be plenty of insects for the “fish, birds, and even bats” to eat.

Secondly, in May 1984 the Forest Service aerial-sprayed the village of Cloudcroft and the entire Lincoln to control a spruce budworm outbreak. Btk was used on “particularly environmentally sensitive” areas, and Carbaryl, a more toxic and less insect-specific insecticide, for the remainder of the forest. Have the checkerspot butterflies, fish, birds, and bats died? No. Based on this experience, why are the Forest Guardians “wholly opposed” to the use of Btk on the Lincoln?

An environmental consultant for the Forest Service has performed thorough human health and ecological risk assessments on the use of Btk and Mimic (the identical compound, tebufenozide, as Confirm) to control gypsy moth. These documents can be found at http://www.fs.fed.us/foresthealth/pesticide/risk.shtml.

For Btk, “serious adverse (human) health effects are implausible;” “sensitive terrestrial insects are the only organisms likely to be seriously affected by exposure;” and “for other wildlife species, adverse effects are unlikely to be observed.”

For Mimic/Confirm, the only hazard to humans is “the long term consumption of contaminated vegetation.” “Adverse effects in nontarget Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) would be expected after application,” but not in terrestrial vertebrates or non-lepidopteran invertebrates. “Similarly, adverse effects from longer term exposures in birds and mammals appear to be unlikely under most conditions.”

Mr. Bird cites death from Btk “introduced through open wounds,” and problems for immune-compromised and allergic people. Btk has been, and continues to be, aerial-sprayed extensively over large metropolitan areas for the control of the gypsy moth, without documented serious adverse effects that were proven to be related to the spraying.

Any well-designed aerial spraying program will notify the residents of the date and time of spraying, and advise them to stay inside with the windows closed for a certain period of time after application. Sensitive individuals may wish to leave for the day. However, I would suggest that people suffering from allergies or asthma may react worse to the propane stove in their camper or trailer, or the smoke from their campfire (or a forest fire consuming the dead trees), than they would to the spraying.

The Forest Guardians suggest that “we should be exceedingly concerned about the village of Cloudcroft and private subdivisions” taking matters into their own hands and spraying. To the contrary, if the Forest Guardians had not tied the hands of the Forest Service to the extent they have, and if the Forest Service was doing its job and maintaining a healthy forest, spraying would not be necessary.

In conclusion, let’s quit talking about this problem and do something about it.

John E. Cronin, Cloudcroft — With file information from alamogordonews.com

The blaze, on the slopes of Mount Parnitha, is being contained, officials say, but a huge plume of black smoke is towering over the city.

Electricity pylons, exploding after a record heatwave, have sparked some of the fires, but arson is also suspected.

The fire near Athens is one of more than 100 blazes which have broken out across Greece in the last few days.

Overnight, residents of Athens could see the heavily-forested slopes of Mount Parnitha burning on the horizon.

On Friday morning, Public Order Minister Vyron Polydoras said: “We have successfully handled a difficult task.”

But he said the fight to extinguish the flames continued, and water-bombing aircraft and helicopters have resumed dousing the flames

‘Lungs of Athens’

The strong winds fuelling the fire have dropped and firefighters have so far prevented the blaze from reaching the suburbs of Athens.

An air force radar station, a casino and a summer holiday camp on the mountain, 25km (16 miles) from Athens, have been evacuated.

“My area was spared, but unfortunately the forest is no longer there,” the mayor of Thramakedones told Greek radio.

His village was one of the most at risk from the fire.

The forests of Mount Parnitha are popular with Athenians wanting to escape the heat of the city. They are considered the lungs of heavily-polluted Athens, reports the BBC’s Malcolm Brabant.

More than 120 fires have broken out across the country in the last two days, but most of the them have been extinguished, officials say.

Eleven people have died in the nine-day heatwave, one of the longest recorded in Greece.

Most have died from heat stroke or heart attacks. On Thursday, two volunteer firefighters were trapped by flames and died of smoke inhalation in the centre of the country.

Temperatures have now dropped below 40C, after peaking at 46C earlier in the week, but forecasters say another heatwave is expected next week. With file information from BBC News

“It’s not if we have a catastrophic wildfire in the Tahoe Basin, but when.”

“When” happened last week, and “when” will happen again.

There is no way to prevent forest fires. They are a natural part of forests, and have been long before human beings came along and tried to put them out.

Many of our forests suffer from a century of misguided attempts to help them. It wasn’t until fairly recently that forest managers truly understood that fire is essential to clean and renew this environment.

What we are left with are forests that are overgrown; suffering from drought, disease and pests; a firetrap with people living in it.

We can’t go back and change history. The small fires that were a natural part of the environment a hundred years ago become catastrophic infernos in today’s overgrown forests. Humans created this problem, and humans will have to solve it.

But we are trapped in the middle of a battle between two extremes.

First we have the urban tree huggers who - excuse the cliché - can’t see the forest for the trees. They are the ones who think that any cutting of any tree is a crime.

On the other side, we have people who look at forests and see nothing but board feet and dollar signs.

In reality, one side wants to kill the forests with love, the other with chain saws.

And while these two minorities fight it out, the forests suffer, as do those people who live in or near them.

Combine their war with a government that is unresponsive to the people it serves, and you get hundreds of Tahoe homes lying in ashes.

The finger-pointing season is in full swing in the Tahoe Basin, and the main target is the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. The TRPA is the poster child for organizations that are created for a good cause, but end up making the problem worse.

TRPA is a bi-state federal agency, which means it’s pretty much accountable to no one. Its governing board is set up in such a way that it almost guarantees that a majority of its members do not live in the basin. It’s a lot easier for politicians to make rules that they themselves don’t have to follow.

For instance, a few years ago, the agency pushed scenic regulations that would require some homeowners to actually plant more trees, in order to hide their homes from the lake. As if the Tahoe Basin needs more trees.

To TRPA’s defense, the agency does allow for homeowners to create at least some defensible space on their properties, and many homeowners have not done so, including some of those whose homes burned last week. The TRPA also can’t force the U.S. Forest Service or the states of California and Nevada to clean up their lands, which make up a majority of the basin.

But as my fire chief friend told me back then, if he started taking out all the trees he felt needed to go to protect his community, TRPA would have a fit.

It may be that a third, or even half of the trees in the Tahoe Basin need to be taken out to get the forest back on the road to good health. But no one is going to come out and propose that, because the TRPA would never allow it.

Some middle ground must be found to allow forests to be thinned out, to allow loggers to supply the wood products we all use, while preserving the forests we love, and making them safer for the populations that live in their shadows.

The people who live in the forests also need to do their part. Drive through just about any Tahoe neighborhood, and you will see houses lacking in defensible space. Some have wood roofs covered in pine needles, an invitation for destruction. That has to stop.

There will always be forest fires. Those people living in forests can take precautions, but they also must realize that their homes could burn along with the trees.

Source: nevadaappeal.com

The remarks were made by members of the House of Representatives (DPR)`s Commission I, Yuddy Crisnandy (Golkar), Effendy Choirie (National Awakening Party) and Chairman of the National Mandate Party faction at DPR Zulkifli Hasan here over the weekend.

The peak event of the National Family Day program which was attended by President Yudhoyono last Friday (June 29) morning was disturbed by a group of irresponsible persons who performed an unscheduled “Cakalele” dance.

Yuddy said the action showed that separatist groups especially RMS (the banned South Maluku Republic) had more courages and did not hesitate to create chaos.

“We hope the incident could be made an evaluation on our security system and the intelligence body`s performance,” he said.

According to Yuddy, such an incident should not recur and thus relevant authorities must conduct tighter security control in every state activity.

“We are questioning why such an incident could happen. Thus, the security system for every state activity must be evaluated,” he said.

Effendy Choirie who is chairman of the National Awakening Party faction at DPR called for the improvement of the intelligence body`s performance as such a separatist act had been committed bluntly.

“The intelligence body might have detected it but measures on the disturbers must be taken by relevant authorities like the police and military,” he said. –the Jakarta Post

The forest is ready to explode. We have too many trees, but no one dares do anything about it.

Plenty of ingredients during the past 150 years have fueled the fire that has denuded hillsides at Lake Tahoe. Gold Rush clear-cutting. Home and ski resort development. Mismanagement of the ecosystem.

But sometimes lost in the discussion is another key ingredient: the legal, political and bureaucratic battle between old and new conservationists. This war has led to policy paralysis — and the forests and the fire danger keep growing.

The Forest Service finally is mending its ways and, led by traditional science-based conservationists, has tried to get approval for more commercial thinning of the forests. Thinning the forests commercially is the only economically viable option: There isn’t enough money for publicly funded hand clearing, and high fuel loads make controlled burns too dangerous.

Commercial thinning isn’t pretty, but it works. The publicly funded hand thinning is like trying to empty the ocean with a teacup. The Sierra forest problem is like Iraq; there is no good way out of the mess we’ve created for ourselves.

Effective but environmentally safe forest thinning requires compromise between environmentalists and commercial loggers. Unfortunately, the new, more ideological environmental movement refuses such compromise. This refusal is exemplified by the Quincy Library Group.

The group drafted an agreement among Sierra conservationists, industry and political leaders that would have allowed enough controlled commercial thinning of Sierra forests to actually make a dent in the deadly growing forest fuel loads. The agreement was killed by lawsuits from the new, more radical urban environmentalists who value money and ideology above science, homes and human life.

The leaders of such groups as California’s chapters of the Sierra Club knew that their urban constituencies could be depended on to contribute to any anti-logging campaign.

Compromise would lose money and support to more-radical groups. Having spent decades creating the image of the evil logger as their favorite fundraiser, the urban environmentalists didn’t dare be caught talking to one. Allied as the Sierra Forest Legacy, these organizations have largely stopped effective efforts to deal with the fast-growing fire danger in Sierra forests.

The problem, of course, is that doing nothing is by far the worst option.

The Quincy Library Group agreement came in 1993. Sen. Diane Feinstein sponsored legislation in 1998, but the decade since has seen far more litigation than action. While the lawyers argue, and the environmental fundraisers happily collect their tribute, the forest fuel loads keep growing.

In Tahoe, the situation is exacerbated by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (known locally as the Tree Nazis). The agency’s rules override fire marshal guidelines and generally make desperately needed tree thinning impossible. Unless you go through an insanely complex, expensive and lengthy permit process, you can’t touch a tree that’s larger than 6 inches in diameter, even if it’s next to your house. And 6- to 12-inch firs are exactly the type of tree that is the greatest fire danger.

It’s an interesting choice: Listen to the fire marshal and save your home and your life, or risk being bankrupted by lawyers of the Tahoe planning agency. Why the agency has been so reluctant to allow more tree cutting is hard to understand.

A major fire is the worst possible environmental event: It would destroy both the land and the lake. How many homes and lives must be lost before we stop building the Tahoe Funeral Pyre?

Richard Carlson is chairman of Spectrum Economics, a consulting firm based in Palo Alto. He has owned a home at Lake Tahoe since 1986. Contact us at insight@sfchronicle.com. With file information from sfgate.com

HEVEA

What is it? This sounds terribly exotic but it is actually the source of nearly all the world’s rubber production so actually it’s just plain old rubberwood.

Is it green? Yes. There lots of it about. It comes from a controlled and sustainable source. Rubber trees stop producing latex after 25 years and the plantations are harvested and repl-anted with younger trees to ensure continuing production.

YOMPA

What is it? A variety of ash that comes from Laos. The wood is very hard and is said to remain in pristine condition with very little care. Both the Conran shop and the Holding Company are producing furniture from this, which gives it serious fashion credentials.

Is it green? A spokesman for The Holding Company said: “We started using this wood because we thought there were nice pieces. As far as we are aware there is nothing nasty in its production.”

What is it good for? Furniture. Yompa fits with the current trend for paler woods. The Holding Company did produce a range of storage made from dark stained yompa but it did not sell and has been discontinued, while the paler version is going well.

WENGE

What is it? An exotic wood from Africa that is nearly black, with fine brown streaks. The grain can be either very linear or have a kind of flame pattern, depending on what part of the tree it came from.

Is it green? The first questions to ask about any wood is: has it been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, and does it carry their logo. If it isn’t then you should start thinking of alternatives. Ring FSC UK (01686 413916) for more information. Wenge is on the Greenpeace Red List, which means it is vulnerable to illegal and unsustainable logging. Belinda Fletcher, one of their campaigners, said she was unaware of safe alternatives and counselled avoiding it altogether. Chris Cox, the environmental co-ordinator for Timbet Silverman, the largest independent timber importer and distributor in the UK, agrees: “You can’t get it certified, so you can’t be completely sure where it came from. If you want to be completely confident, use something else.”

What is it good for? This chocolatey wood is in vogue for flooring – as an alternative to that pale pine look typical of the Victorian terrace – as well as in kitchens. As Cox says: “It is very fashionable.”

BLACK WALNUT

What is it? A hardwood that is now very fashionable for use in kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms. But you need to be very careful where you get it from. This is what you should be looking for instead of wenge. It’s just as fashionable – and cheaper.

Is it green? African walnut is on the Red List and should be avoided, but black walnut from the temperate forests of North America is fine. The Americans haven’t signed up to FSC certification but they have their own scheme, SFI, which many suppliers regard as being just as good. Andrew Craig, the site director at James Latham, says: “You need to be careful of wood from the tropical forests and many people confuse African walnut with this walnut from America.”

What is it good for? Increasingly used in kitchens. Craig says that three years ago, there was hardly any demand for dark.

BAMBOO

What is it? Well, it isn’t actually a wood, it’s a grass. It often grows in places where the forest has been felled. Currently fashionable.

Is it green? There is no FSC certification, but bamboo can be grown without fertilisers or pesticides.

What is it good for? Bulthaup, the chic kitchen manufacturers, are using it for worktops and it’s a great alternative to a wooden floor. It’s much cheaper than wood as well.

MERBAU

What is it? This light golden wood has been in vogue in recent years.

Is it green? Merbau is on the Greenpeace Red List as being vulnerable, much of it is being logged unsustainably and many suppliers are scaling down or stopping their orders. Having said that, there is still a lot of it available to buy online. Chris Cox says: “It has been identified as being a desirable wood but it has been fingered by many of the environmental groups as distinctly dodgy.”

What is it good for? Mainly flooring.

To see the Greenpeace Good Wood Guide, visit www.greenpeace.org.uk. This will give you a list of both FSC and vulnerable woods.

What to look for

Not all woods are FSC certified but there are other certifications to look for.

* FSC means that the wood has been tracked from forest to furniture. It is supported by most environmental groups and buyers, and is regarded as the gold standard.

* PEFC, the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification was created and funded by the forestry industry, and it is a Europe-wide scheme. Greenpeace doesn’t approve as there is huge variation in standards.

* SFI, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, was developed in 1994 by the American Forest and Paper Association. While some environmentalists and suppliers say it helps, others feel that it does nothing.

* CSA, the Canadian scheme, has sparked less controversy than the American scheme and many suppliers are happy to buy wood that has been given this certification.

* SGS and MTCC are schemes from Malaysia and Indonesia. While not as good as the FSC, many suppliers regard it as a step in the right direction. It is better than buying wood from the tropical rainforests that has no certification at all, but it isn’t as thorough as the other schemes, says one.

Merbau’s out, bamboo’s in – and don’t even think about wenge. Kate Watson-Smyth polishes up on the ethics of buying wood

The files information from money.independent.co.uk

The files information from: northantset.co.uk