Bio-energy forest plantations will supplement woody biomass from other sources such as logging residues. In the southern U.S., projections are for an increase of up to 25 million “new” tons of woody biomass demand for bioenergy. To supply this woody biomass demand will require purpose grown plantations of various species including pine, eucalypts, sweetgum, hybrid poplar and cottonwood, amongst others. Forest plantation yields can be 8-15 green tons/acre/year on rotations of 5-12 years. Utilization of this renewable and sustainable biomass resource will be as feedstock “designed” for a large number of bio-energy applications.

Juha Sipila, who once converted his own Chevrolet to run on wood-gas, is counting on the abundant Finnish forests to provide the key to an economic revival.

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Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon hit a new high in the first four months of the year, according to data released on Friday, a worrying trend after the devastation caused by record fires last year.

The question, “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”, raises interesting questions regarding observation and perception. Regardless of who postulated this thought experiment first, or when ...

TAOS, N.M. (AP) — The top administrator of a national forest in northern New Mexico says there’s an elevated risk of human-caused wildfires due to drying conditions and negligence by some forest visitors....

“I have never planted a tree in my life,” laughs Jairos Saunyama, a tobacco farmer, revelling at the absurdity of the question of whether he is involved in the country’s afforestation efforts. Sawunyama is one of thousands of farmers who are blamed by local conservationists for turning the country’s forests into deserts and dust bowls. […]

The post Zimbabwe’s Afforestation Challenge appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Epidemic diseases are not random events that afflict societies capriciously and without warning, on the contrary, every society produces its own specific vulnerabilities. To study them is to understand the importance of a society’s structure, its standard of living, and its political priorities. […] Epidemics are a mirror, they show who we really are: Our […]

The post Haunting Forest Spirits – is Mother Nature Striking Back? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

It has not got much attention with the world focused on coronavirus, but deforestation has surged in the Amazon rainforest this year, raising fears of a repeat of last year’s record-breaking devastation – or worse.Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon hit a new high in the first four months of the year, according to data released Friday by Brazil’s National Space Research Institute (INPE), which uses satellite images to track the destruction.A total of 1,202 square kilometres of forest – an…

There was a collective sigh of relief when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach shook elbows over the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in March because of the coronavirus pandemic. What with the unprecedented postponement of an Olympics and subsequent uncertainties over athletes, logistics, sponsors, a Tokyo 2020 main office employee contracting Covid-19, and the increasing friction between Abe’s and Tokyo governor (and…

Prague Daily Monitor

The Prince of Lichtenstein Foundation has lost its case concerning ownership of 600 hectares of forest close to the city of Říčany, outside of Prague. The Constitutional Court upheld the prior verdict in the case which was not to return the 600 hectares of forest to the foundation. "The Prince of Lichtenstein will in this case use all possible tools and opportunities to get justice in an international court and international institutio," said the foundation's spokesperson.

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Two Humboldt penguins, Nacho and Goat, went on a field trip in the forest accompanied by their keepers at Oregon Zoo on Friday (May 1) in Portland, United States.

We thought the Amazon got the essential nutrient phosphorus from Saharan dust. Now it appears it mainly comes from forest fires and people burning wood

Fossilised tree roots found in a New York quarry are 386 million years old, making them the remains of the oldest known forest yet

Two Humboldt penguins, Nacho and Goat, went on a field trip in the forest accompanied by their keepers at Oregon Zoo on Friday (May 1) in Portland, United States.

Kathryn Knight

Biological nitrogen fixation can be an important source of nitrogen in tropical forests that serve as a major CO₂ sink. Extensive deforestation of the Amazon is known to influence microbial communities and the biogeochemical cycles they mediate. However, it is unknown how diazotrophs (nitrogen-fixing microorganisms) respond to deforestation and subsequent ecosystem conversion to agriculture, as well as whether they can recover in secondary forests that are established after agriculture is abandoned. To address these knowledge gaps, we combined a spatially explicit sampling approach with high-throughput sequencing of nifH genes. The main objectives were to assess the functional distance decay relationship of the diazotrophic bacterial community in a tropical forest ecosystem and to quantify the roles of various factors that drive the observed changes in the diazotrophic community structure. We observed an increase in local diazotrophic diversity (α-diversity) with a decrease in community turnover (β-diversity), associated with a shift in diazotrophic community structure as a result of the forest-to-pasture conversion. Both diazotrophic community turnover and structure showed signs of recovery in secondary forests. Changes in the diazotrophic community were primarily driven by the change in land use rather than differences in geochemical characteristics or geographic distances. The diazotroph communities in secondary forests resembled those in primary forests, suggesting that at least partial recovery of diazotrophs is possible following agricultural abandonment.

IMPORTANCE The Amazon region is a major tropical forest region that is being deforested at an alarming rate to create space for cattle ranching and agriculture. Diazotrophs (nitrogen-fixing microorganisms) play an important role in supplying soil N for plant growth in tropical forests. It is unknown how diazotrophs respond to deforestation and whether they can recover in secondary forests that establish after agriculture is abandoned. Using high-throughput sequencing of nifH genes, we characterized the response of diazotrophs’ β-diversity and identified major drivers of changes in diazotrophs from forest-to-pasture and pasture-to-secondary-forest conversions. Studying the impact of land use change on diazotrophs is important for a better understanding of the impact of deforestation on tropical forest ecosystem functioning, and our results on the potential recovery of diazotrophs in secondary forests imply the possible restoration of ecosystem functions in secondary forests.

Damien Comolli, who took the England international to Anfield, saw the Reds enter into transfer talks with the Cottagers during the summer of 2012

Thinning the Sierra Nevada forest by removing trees by hand or using heavy machinery is one of the few tools available to manage forests. However, finding the best way to thin forests by removing select trees to maximize the forest's benefits for water quantity, water quality, wildfire risk and wildlife habitat remains a challenge for resource managers.

Forest fires are raging in the contaminated area near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, but officials insist there is no radiation threat.

Native woodlands can resist the spread of invasive species if they block light reaching the ground.

The Guardian investigates fire in the state of Pará - to reveal the loopholes that allow deforestation to be legitimised

We found the first fire without looking, crackling and roaring on farmland beside the busy Amazon highway, the flames consuming a road sign with its name – BR-163 – lying in the grass. Trucks thundered past, ferrying soya and corn from the agricultural heartlands of Brazil’s central-west to the ports of Santarém and Miritituba. Nobody was around.

Every year fires roar across the Amazon, and in just a few months they will be here again. But last August the number of blazes reached a nine-year high, and sparked an international crisis for Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro. Months later, their traces hung over the forests in the Amazon state of Pará, leaving blackened logs and charred tree stumps where there was once rainforest.

Thinning the Sierra Nevada forest by removing trees by hand or using heavy machinery is one of the few tools available to manage forests. However, finding the best way to thin forests by removing select trees to maximize the forest's benefits for water quantity, water quality, wildfire risk and wildlife habitat remains a challenge for resource managers.

A complaint was unsealed today in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts against a New York pharmaceutical company for alleged False Claims Act violations arising from the company’s marketing the drugs Celexa and Lexapro for unapproved pediatric use and for paying kickbacks to induce physicians to prescribe the drugs.

Forest Pharmaceuticals Inc. has agreed to plead guilty to charges relating to obstruction of justice, the distribution of Levothroid, which at the time was an unapproved new drug, and the illegal promotion of Celexa for use in treating children and adolescents suffering from depression.

Drug manufacturer Forest Pharmaceuticals Inc. was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner to pay a criminal fine of $150 million and forfeit assets of $14 million.

The Department of Justice today announced the filing of a lawsuit against the Nevada Division of Forestry (NDF) alleging that NDF discriminated against Ms. Tawnya Meyer, a former employee, when they fired her soon after she announced her pregnancy.

Love is often said to blossom, but a new government initiative in the Indonesian district of Garut aims to make that metaphor literal by requiring newly married couples to plant 10 tree saplings.Two years ago, Indonesia

Elephants, tigers, and other threatened species are thriving in Thailand's Western Forest Complex thanks to conservation efforts.

Draped in moss, orchids, lilies, and ferns, this city bus transports riders to a whole new world.

A massive public-private partnership pledges over $1 billion to cut deforestation and mitigate climate change.

Our dreamy photo of the day comes from Bohuslän, Sweden.

It is the "highest, densest and most environmentally friendly new neighborhood" in Stockholm.

Prior to the discovery, fewer than 1,000 grey-shanked doucs were known to exist, making them one of the 25 most endangered primates on the planet.

The newly discovered horned mountain toad found in Southern Vietnam's elfin forest is the smallest of its species – and is already considered endangered.

Built with a lighter impact in mind, this small mountain retreat is nestled among the trees in Vietnam.

It has a solar powered smoke alarm, GPS and is standing on guard, ready to phone it in.

100,000 acres of Sumatran rainforest to be protected in Indonesia by a new type of zoning, which will generate sustainable revenue from non-timber forest products.

Typically used to spot forest fires, one couple turns a fire lookout station into a simple but beautiful off-grid home.

The humble avocado pit has been rescued from the compost bin of obscurity and remade into these magical little sculptures.

Supporters of protecting the Teghut Forest in northern Armenia from a company's plans to build an open-pit copper mine there have an uphill battle to fight against the perception that mining

And in the meantime, the bodacious bovine has become a social media star and will receive a full pardon … as soon as they can get her out of the woods.

Touch the trees, hear them hum and murmur.

One side effect of gold prices continuing to rise (now at a new record of $1500/ounce): Deforestation in parts of the Peruvian Amazon have increased up to 600% since 2003.

From record investments in energy investments made by US states, to East Africa's largest wind power project, Chicago's smart gridization, to Chevron's huge fine being upheld, here's what we're reading today.

Now in its sixth day, the forest fire threatens critical habitats and precious water sources.