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May, 31 2002: CFRC Weekly Summary 5/31/02

CONTENTS:

HEADLINES:

Forestry co-ops help owners pool resources

Non-profit status sought for test forest

Unusual allies work to preserve northern Minnesota forest

Three Years Later: Lessons Learned From the Monarch Butterfly Controversy

ENSR International Assists International Paper in Award-Winning Remediation Project

For more headlines visit: http://www.forestrycenter.org/cfrc/News/News.cfm

EVENTS:

Minnesota Worm Watch hands-on teacher training workshop June 11, Laurentian Environmental Learning Center, Britt, MN

Forest Engineering Challenges - A Global Perspective Council on Forest Engineering, 25th Annual Meeting, June 16-20, Auburn, Alabama

Special Forest Products Production & Marketing Conference August 23-24, 2002. Sinsinawa, WI and October 25-26, 2002. Cape Girardeau, MO

Midwest Green Building Conference and Expo October 16, 2002, Oakland Community College, Auburn Hills Campus

For more events listings visit: http://www.forestrycenter.org/cfrc/Calendar/Cal.cfm

INFORMATION:

Small Business & the Environment

Midwestern Ephemeral Wetlands

Mobile Community Tree Inventory

Searching for Green Building Programs

For more documents and information visit: http://www.forestrycenter.org/cfrc/library/listcontent.cfm

PUBLICATIONS:

Ecosystem Analysis Report Available

Community Forestry Case Studies

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HEADLINES

Forestry co-ops help owners pool resources

Groups work together to create management plans, get better prices for wood products BY STEVE KUCHERA NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER, Duluth, MN

John and Ellie Thomason and other members of Wisconsin's Living Forest Cooperative are trendsetters. They're among a growing number of Midwestern landowners forming or joining forestry co-ops.

"Each co-op is very personalized for its region,'' said Katie Fernholz, a forester with the nonprofit Community Forestry Resource Center in Minneapolis. "Generally, one of their missions is to support sustainable forest management.''

In defining sustainability, many co-ops use the Forest Stewardship Council's certification guidelines. The guidelines' 10 principles require such things as a forest management plan, assessing environmental impacts of logging and maintaining productive forests.

Certification, and the sustainability it represents, is one reason the Thomasons and others joined the Living Forest Cooperative. It's a major reason two young co-ops have begun in northern Minnesota.

For the entire article, please visit one of the following sites: http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthtribune/3337245.htm http://www.forestrycenter.org/cfrc/News/news.cfm?News_ID=232

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Non-profit status sought for test forest

'Mini summit' for Bear River Demonstration Forest slated for June 27 By Tim Spielman, Associate Editor, Outdoor News

St. Paul - DNR officials and others with a stake in the now one-year-old "demonstration" forest in northern Minnesota are seeking non-profit status, a move they say could increase the flow of donations used for research projects on the 280,000-acre plot of land. Furthermore, it could mean the Bear River Demonstration Forest - created to test "innovative" forest management practices and their effects on land and wildlife - is assured longevity.

http://www.forestrycenter.org/cfrc/News/news.cfm?News_ID=233

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Unusual allies work to preserve northern Minnesota forest

By The Associated Press Statewire Published May 27, 2002

A couple of unusual allies -- conservationists and a paper company -- are working together to preserve the 7, 500-acre forest and wetland at the headwaters of the St. Louis River in northeastern Minnesota -- and it' s raising more than a few eyebrows.

The Nature Conservancy, which bought the forest land late last year for $1.7 million, has contracted with Grand Rapids-based Blandin Paper Co. to devise a forest management plan for the property.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/468/2862548.html

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Three Years Later: Lessons Learned From the Monarch Butterfly Controversy

Pew Initiative paper examines the process used to take science away from politics; possible model for Mexican biotech corn controversy

Washington, D.C. _- Three years ago this month, a short research article published in the scientific journal Nature saying that monarch butterflies were threatened by genetically modified (GM) corn caused major controversy and placed the insect virtually overnight squarely in the middle of a major public policy battle over the future of agricultural biotechnology. The unique, collaborative and inclusive process then used to help answer scientific questions raised by the monarch controversy can be a useful way to resolve politically-charged scientific debates, according to a new retrospective of the monarch butterfly/GM corn controversy released today by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology.

For a copy of the paper, go to http://www.pewagbiotech.org/resources/issuebriefs/monarch.pdf

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ENSR International Assists International Paper in Award-Winning Remediation Project - EPA Grants Award for Time-saving, Cost-saving Approach -

Thursday May 30, 11:05 am Eastern Time Press Release SOURCE: ENSR International

WESTFORD, Mass., May 30 /PRNewswire/ -- ENSR International, a leading environmental and energy development services firm, played a key role in the partnership between the USEPA and International Paper to streamline the hazardous waste remediation process at an Arizona Chemical site in Dover, Ohio. In recognition of these achievements, USEPA granted an award to International Paper on February 14, 2002. Roger Schumer, Remediation Project Manager, accepted the award at the RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) Corrective Action Conference in Chicago.

For the complete article: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020530/neth025_1.html

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EVENTS

Minnesota Worm Watch hands-on teacher training workshop June 11, Laurentian Environmental Learning Center, Britt, MN

Each hands-on workshop includes in-depth instruction on: 1) how to build forest ecosystems and see they work before & after earthworms invade, 2) earthworm ecology, worm identification and how to make earthworm observatories, 3) the tools & background to conduct earthworm and habitat surveys with your students, 4) outline for using our program as part of your graduation standards package! Ideal for middle to high school (adaptable for elementary, college and general public)

http://www.seek.state.mn.us/calendar_detail.cfm?id=1280

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Forest Engineering Challenges - A Global Perspective Council on Forest Engineering, 25th Annual Meeting, June 16-20, Auburn, Alabama

The 25th annual COFE meeting will include 42 technical presentations focusing on the challenges faced by forest engineers across the globe. COFE members from Latin America, Asia -Pacific and Europe will update us on the developments they have made in their forest industry. Our field day will focus on machinery and machine simulations with a panel discussion from leaders in machine simulation from Sweden, Germany, Canada and the United States. Mead-Westvaco will provide tours of the management practices used to meet stand management objectives. We will conclude with field trips to local logging sites to see how technology is used in the Southeast U.S.

http:// www.cofe.org/page14.html ----------------------

Special Forest Products Production & Marketing Conference August 23-24, 2002. Sinsinawa, WI and October 25-26, 2002. Cape Girardeau, MO

The purpose of the Special Forest Products Production & Marketing Conference is to enlighten landowners on the numerous ways to earn income from their woodland other than just growing trees for timber production, and to give them some good background information on what is involved in marketing these products. A key question is: How can one profit with SFPs by meeting the needs of their customers? The answer: Through effective marketing. Marketing is the dominant constraint for most SFP producers either due to a lack of understanding about how to market or simply a failure to realize that developing a market is part of the process. Presentations will explore the SFP market opportunities for food, floral, medicinal and crafts and address the questions: How does one market SFPs? How does marketing differ for each type of SFP?

http://ilvirtualforest.nres.uiuc.edu/Conferences/SFP_Marketing_Conference.html

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Midwest Green Building Conference and Expo October 16, 2002, Oakland Community College, Auburn Hills Campus

http://www.sbam.org/green.htm

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INFORMATION

SMALL BUSINESS & THE ENVIRONMENT http://www.geocities.com/aboutcsbe/index.html

America's 23 million small businesses are like gravity -- immensely powerful but often invisible. They make up one-half of our economy, provide more than one-half of all non-farm employment, and create virtually all new net jobs. They function as an ecosystem in that, as a whole, they are responsive, flexible, innovative, efficient, resilient, and strong.

The Center for Small Business and the Environment (CSBE) is a project of the California-based nonprofit The Tides Center. Believing that profitable, efficient and innovative small businesses can lead the way to an environmentally restorative economy, CSBE works to organize small businesses into a new economic/environmental constituency (called "Green Gazelles" - see http://www.greengazelles.org for two dozen case studies) that will be the base of clean and ecologically sensitive industries of the future.

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Midwestern Ephemeral Wetlands

Ephemeral Wetlands may also be referred to as ephemeral ponds, seasonal ponds, temporary ponds or vernal pools. Ephemeral Wetlands are depressional wetlands that temporarily hold water in the spring and early summer or after heavy rains. Periodically, these wetlands dry up, often in mid to late summer. They are isolated without a permanent inlet or outlet, but may overflow in times of high water. Ephemeral Wetlands are free of fish, which allows for the successful breeding of certain amphibians and invertebrates.

http://herps.ipfw.edu/wetlands/ephemeral/brochure.pdf

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Mobile Community Tree Inventory

The Mobile Community Tree Inventory (MCTI), a software program for Windows and Palm operating systems, was developed as a desktop and personal digital assistant (PDA) package. The package provides a versatile tree inventory collection system for municipal tree managers. PDAs and the Palm OS offer a variety of tools to urban and community foresters, tree wardens, and consultants for fieldwork and record keeping. Using the PDA and Palm OS component of the MCTI software package gre

For more information on the MCTI software program, visit the web site at http://www.umas.edu/urbantree/palm or http://www.umass.edu/urbantree/mcti/.

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Searching for Green Building Programs

The OEA is currently compiling examples of environmentally friendly building design, construction, renovation and/or building-procurement programs and activities that are occurring on the local government level throughout Minnesota. This information will be used to educate public officials on the opportunities for and advantages of green building within public facilities and communities.

Contact to share your story or for more information: Erin Barnes-Driscoll, 651/215-0211, or 800/657-3843, or e-mail erin.driscoll@moea.state.mn.us

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PUBLICATIONS

Ecosystem Analysis Report Available

The Williamette/Lower Columbia Regional Ecosystem Analysis Project is now complete. Nine communities participated in the project; Portland, Beaverton, Tualatinm, Wilsonville, Salem, Albany, Corvallis, Eugene Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington. Utilizing data from Landsat satellite images, the analysis measured the change in forest canopy between 1972 and 2000.

A complete copy of the report is available online at http://www.americanforests.org/resources/rea/ ----------------------

Community Forestry Case Studies

Forest Communities, Community Forests: A Collection of Case Studies of Community Forestry, compiled and edited by Jonathan Kusel and Elisa Adler, 2002. This collection of 13 community forestry case studies examines the link between community well-being and forest-ecosystem health in both urban and rural communities and in different regions of the United States.

Copies of the report can be downloaded at http://fcresearch.org/cfbooktoc.html or purchased for $6.00 from Forest Community Research, PO Box 11, Taylorsville, CA 95983.

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