Dan Botkin s Newsletter MAJOR ENVIRON MENTAL ISSUES THAT WILL CONFRONT THE NEXT PRESIDENT

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1 Dan Botkin s Newsletter Copyright Daniel B. Botkin Free sample: subscriptions available Subscription form on last page MAJOR ENVIRON MENTAL ISSUES THAT WILL CONFRONT THE NEXT PRESIDENT forefront of public concern have been too much ignored, and require major and immediate attention. These are here andnow problems. In addition, most, if they received proper attention, would either help alleviate concerns about climate change or be neutral. Until the start of the 21 st century, major environmental organizations focussed on these, and public and policy discussions did too. 9 Environmental Issues that need our attention now 1. Energy 2. Habitat destruction 3. Invasive species 4. Endangered species threatened now 5. Forests 6. Fisheries 7. Fresh water 8. Toxic substances pollution 9. Phosphorus and other essential minerals Logging trucks in Malaysia illustrate the rapid harvesting of forests in developing and undeveloped nations. Forests are one of the 9 major problems we need to be more focused on. By Daniel B. Botkin With the presidential Democratic and Republican Conventions just weeks away, an important question is what environmental issues will confront the next president and require that president will have to focus on. With the recent emphasis on climate change, some major environmental issues that used to be at the 1 Each of the nine has major consequences for the environment now, including endangered species, which are affected by widespread habitat destruction such as converting tropical rain forests to palm oil plantations. These days, we like simple answers, the 20 second sound byte kind. But nature just isn t like that. This issue focuses on forests, one of the nine, illustrating the approach objective, scientific based. Other newsletter issues have focused on and will continue to focus on each of these and their effects on environment.

2 ONE OF THE 9 ISSUES THAT WILL CONFRONT THE NEXT PRESIDENT: Where Have All the Forests Gone? Long Time Passing. Two odd things happened to America s forests in the twenty first century. First, until the 1980s, most U.S. private forests were owned by 15 major timber corporations, and forest research was expanding. Today, none of the major timber corporations own any significant forestland. They sold their forests, and now the major large private owners are real estate investment trusts (REITs), which own four, and timber investment management organizations (TIMOs), which own ten. One cannot overestimate the importance of this change. REITS and TIMOs have much less motivation to conserve our forests, ensure their sustainability, and protect their biological diversity. But oddly, almost nobody knows about this change and almost nobody talks about it. Even many of my colleagues in the science of ecology know nothing about this. Second, environmental concerns about forests have pretty much vanished from the public forum. Summer wildfires get in the news; the possibility that forests might sequester carbon dioxide gets some attention. But that s about it. Throughout the twentieth century, how to use, harvest, and conserve forests were major environmental concerns. Now that discussion is strangely silent. How this happened and why forests are so important and need major attention is explained in this issue, to the extent I understand it. There were major, ongoing debates about forest management and conservation between the 15 major timber companies and environmental groups, but fundamentally they shared the same major goal how to sustain forests so that they could be productive in the future. I participated in many meetings between timber corporations and environmental groups. One series took place in New England, where the two sides seemed to be making good progress in arriving at common understandings and goals. The future for forest conservation and management looked good. But in the large, the debate intensified. Before this change in ownership, forest corporations and environmentalists held many different opinions about how forests should be managed, but both were in it for the long term. Timber companies saw their profit from the sustained yield of their lands. But the primary goal of REITs and TIMOs is to make a profit by buying and selling land. There is less inherent interest in sustainability. Some REITs seem to be attempting to do a decent job of forest management, even so. But those of us who 2

3 hope for best management have to add a new level of watchfulness and action. Just the Facts, Ma am (A Regular Newsletter Feature) A 2002 National Academy of Sciences report noted that the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Forest Service has experienced a 46 percent decrease in the number of scientists in the last 15 years, from 985 in 1985 to 537 in 1999." Since then the number of U.S. Forestry Service scientists has dropped even more, to 498 in 2008, the most recent estimate I have found. An ironic result of heavy environmentalist criticism of forestry corporations was that it was easier for these corporations to simply sell off their forests, no longer be involved in forest management, no longer be what they perceived as continually condemned no matter what they did, and just buy timber grown elsewhere. There were also economic pressures that made it advantageous for the timber corporations to sell their land. Forest research has declined and much less attention is being paid in the U.S. to forest management than used to be the case. The major U.S. timber corporations used to have staffs of professional foresters who tried to do good, science based 3 management. Forest research and its funding have declined since the 1980s, when forestry was one of the central environmental issues. The traditional timber companies supported their own research, some of it substantial, like that of Weyerhaeuser Corporation. Research conducted by the fifteen previous major traditional timber companies is gone. The National Academy report about forests (see Just the Facts, Ma am text box) warned that "the waning Forest Service research base may be challenged as demands on forest resources increase. Enhancing the nation's forestry research capacity must deal with the tangible matters of substance funding, facilities and equipment, and personnel and with intangible matters of perception and values priorities, organizations, structures, and leadership." Our current task, therefore, seems much more difficult and complex than it did 30 years ago. Even then, available data were generally inadequate for scientifically guided management, and today less information is available and being collected. This is an ironic situation, because forests cover a large area of Earth, are habitats of many species including endangered ones, affect climate in four ways. While not abandoning concern about climate change, we must return our attention to our forests, because of the many ways they benefit us. Where have all the forests gone? Gone to

4 new ownership, almost every one. The forests are still there, of course, but no longer in our attention, it is as if they have disappeared. One result is that a lot of timber used in the U.S. is grown in third world nations where there is much less attention to the conservation of forests. Much of the U.S. timberland is now owned by REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) whose goal is to make money and in general have little interest in forest management. Also ironically, because of heavy environmentalist pressure against the U.S. Forest Service management of national forests, timber cutting has been greatly reduced in our national forests. But the funds for U.S. National Forest research depended on the income from timber sales, so this research is also down. Environmental Good News Department (A Regular Newsletter Feature) Professional certified forester Bob Williams, who has planned timber management and carried out selective harvests and controlled burns over decades in the Pine Barrens forests of New Jersey, providing profitable harvests to the local timber companies, was awarded Conservationist of the Year in 2013 by the New Jersey Audubon Society. Cooperation between environmental groups and commercial timber companies is possible. It is said that The Nature Conservancy is now the largest private (nongovernmental) owner of forest land in the U.S. Let us hope that they hire many professional foresters and do the best job possible with forest management. Another Irony about Forests: knowledge is insufficient to calculate accurate forest potentials to sequester carbon from the atmosphere. One of the primary remaining topics about forests that gets public and media attention is the suggestion that forests could be a major way that the carbon dioxide added by burning fossil fuels could be removed from the atmosphere. Discussions are underway for major international carbon trading programs. But for this to work, the amount of carbon that forests can take up and store for long periods has to be known accurately. As I and my two Australian colleagues, Michael Ngugi and David Doley, have shown in one paper recently published and another that will be in print this October, the estimates in use by the U.N. International Program on Climate Change and in international negotiations are not scientifically nor statistically reliable. Those that can be compared to reliable estimates appear to considerably overestimate the amount forests could absorb, and to not take sufficient account of how rapidly forests can change. 4

5 Why We Should Care about Forests Their environmental value Their commercial value The importance of forest products Their aesthetic, recreational, spiritual value Their role in the global Earth system climate, etc. The Take home Lesson Forests have long been of great importance to people and remain so, but we have turned our attention too far away from them in the 21 st century. For many reasons, we need to be monitoring forests much more accurately and widely around the world than we are. Support programs to learn more about forests. Focus on the facts, and avoid emotional blame games about who might be at fault, especially where straightforward scientific information is lacking. Subscriber Feedback Subscribers comments are welcome and came be sent to me at HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO DAN BOTKIN S NEWSLETTER. The newsletter is published twice a month except for July and August 50 issues a year. Standard subscription price: $95/yr. Institutional Rate: $250/yr. Special Student rate: $50/yr. Special subscription referring to this sample issue: $75/yr. Two options: online/paypal and mail/check. To Subscribe Online Go to: ns/ To Subscribe by Mail: Fill out this form and send your check as indicated below. Name Address 1_ Address 2_ City State ZIP_ Phone_ _ Subscription Type (check 1): Standard ($95/yr.) Special Introductory with this sample: $75/yr. (mention this issue) Student ($50/yr.) Institutional ($250/yr.) Make checks payable to: Daniel B. Botkin, 1180 South Ocean Blvd., Boca Raton, FL, U.S.A. Questions? E mail: danielbotkin@rcn.com 5