Publication archives

From CNN.com, by Greg Botelho Fires have served Mother Nature dutifully for millennia, shaping the landscape, revitalizing forests and grasslands, clearing out underbrush and weeding out weak trees. But Americans have traditionally viewed such blazes as a menace, prompting strict suppression policies.

From the BBC Millions of conifers and other non-native trees are to be felled in the next 20 years to regenerate indigenous trees in England's woodland. Oak, ash and beech would be encouraged to naturally seed and regenerate, said Forestry Minister Jim Knight, and Lord Clark, of the Forestry Commission.

From the Associated Press via Maine Today

From the Associated Press via Boston.com, by Katharine Webster Conservation efforts in the 26 million-acre Northern Forest have been highly successful in the past decade, but the forest products industry is struggling against overseas competition and its high-paying jobs are dwindling, a new report says.

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune, by Tom Meersman

From the Corvallis Gazette-Times, by Erin Madison There's money in moss, and that's causing problems for national forests and law enforcement agencies. Moss is a popular item to harvest and then sell to brokers who sell it worldwide to florists, said Clay Stephens, patrol sergeant with the Benton County Sheriff's Office. "It's a real lucrative business," Stephens said.

From the Northwest Florida Daily News via Environmental News Network, by Mladen Rudman What's good for Northwest Florida's developers isn't good for its environment -- so contend the critics of a bill signed into law by Gov. Jeb Bush this week.

From Reuters via CNN.com Sri Lankan biologists have found dozens of new species of tree frog over the last decade in the island's dwindling rainforests, but warn many known species are either extinct or on the verge of disappearing because of man.