View From The Canopy #40
Hello and welcome to issue #40 of View From The Canopy newsletter. As the heatwaves on the West Coast of North America have started and the megadrought intensifies it looks to become another desperate year for people, animals and forests in that region. The New York Times writes about consequences for drinking water after wildfires and in Arizona parks have been closed out of precaution.
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News articles 📰
[CANADA]
B.C.’s new old-growth advisory panel ‘a glimmer of hope’ for ancient forests
Environmentalists struggling to save diminishing ancient forests on Canada’s West Coast are hopeful after B.C. announced a new old-growth advisory panel staffed by respected foresters and scientists. “The technical panel is a very welcome positive step forward,” said Andrea Inness of the Ancient Forest Alliance. “It really gives me a glimmer of hope the province is going to listen to science around the state of old-growth forests.”
read at Ancient Forest Alliance
[USA]
American Forests Launches Nationwide Tree Equity Scores
American Forests, the nation’s oldest national conservation organization, today released its first nationwide tally of Tree Equity scores, a calculation that evaluates equitable distribution of tree cover in the United States. The Tree Equity Score (TES) tool identifies the cities that can gain the most significant health, economic and climate benefits by increasing tree canopy in places of high need.
[USA]
Montana court rules forest development plan threat to grizzlies
A federal judge ruled that parts of a plan to manage 2.4-million acres of Flathead National Forest in Montana violated the law because it would imperil grizzly bears, but said he would not throw out the plan.
[CANADA]
Time will ease Ontario’s Gypsy moth outbreak, biologist says
Gypsy moth caterpillars have been detected in Canada as early as 1969 and are prone to infestations every seven to ten years. David Beresford, a biologist and assistant professor at Trent University, said while the insects can cause rashes, and their feces can accumulate and produce fungus, the infestation is more distressing than it is harmful.
[CANADA]
‘War in the woods’: hundreds of anti-logging protesters arrested in Canada
Police in western Canada have arrested more than 270 people as a conflict over old growth logging in British Columbia’s ancient rainforests continues to grow.
Forest Fires Updates 🔥
Wildfires Threaten Urban Water Supplies, Long After the Flames Are Out
After a forest burns, the resulting erosion can contaminate drinking water supplies for up to a decade.
[AZ, USA]
‘There’s just too much at risk’: Arizona closes forests to prevent extreme wildfires
Coconino and Kaibab national forests have become a tinder box due to high temperatures and low precipitation
Research & Reports 🔬
Russian forests are crucial to global climate mitigation
Russia is the world's largest forest country. Being home to more than a fifth of forests globally, the country's forests and forestry have enormous potential to contribute to making a global impact in terms of climate mitigation. A new study by IIASA researchers, Russian experts, and other international colleagues have produced new estimates of biomass contained in Russian forests, confirming a substantial increase over the last few decades.
Featured Forest ✨
Knysna–Amatole montane forests, South Africa
Photo © Androstachys
This weeks featured forest is the Knysna–Amatole montane forests ecoregion in South Africa. This forest is a wide strip of dense timberland and is part of the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome.
Keep an eye out for the rare Knynsa elephant, leopard, bushpig, baboon, vervet monkey, honey badger, bushbuck, and blue duiker. However, it’s not just the wildlife that makes this area so truly unique, but also the wide array of vegetation, including stinkwood, kalander, kershout, hard pear, white pear, yellowwood, assegai, and the pink flowered Cape chestnut trees.
Miscellaneous 🍂
Intelligent Trees Official Trailer
Trees talk, know family ties and care for their young? Is this too fantastic to be true? Suzanne Simard (The University of British Columbia, Canada) has been observing and investigating the communication between trees over decades. And her findings are most astounding.
How to build an urban forest from scratch
When artist and stage designer Es Devlin was researching the space that was to be the centerpiece of the latest edition of the London Design Biennale for which she is artistic director, one bit of the historic record jumped out.
How to preserve Africa's forests and build a green economy
Africa faces unprecedented challenges of rapid population growth and climate adaptation. The continent is well positioned to harness nature-based solutions through sustainable forestry. UN-backed project in Gabon proves it's possible to protect biodiversity and create jobs.
Selected Book 📚
Amazônia
by Sebastião Salgado
The voyage wrecked his knee and almost cost an eye – but it took the Brazilian photographer into a world of shamans, hidden tribes and infinite rainforests. He relives an extraordinary odyssey.
We are talking about his hefty new photography book Amazônia, a stunning succession of black and white panoramas. Looking through his images, I feel the same awe I would feel in front of sublime paintings: serpentine rivers flow through seemingly limitless forests, sheer-sided rock escarpments vanish into skies, and apocalyptic clouds loom over wispy treetops. Yet Salgado does not talk about his work as art. He speaks of it as a journey, an adventure story, a history of the world.
Until next week ✌️
I hope you enjoyed the view from the canopy. If you've come across any interesting articles or you've written something yourself please hit reply and let me know about them.
See you next week!
Cheers,
Johan
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