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Last stand for Europe's remaining ancient forest as loggers prepare to move in
theguardian.com ^ | 18 May 2016 | Arthur Neslen

Posted on 05/31/2016 8:51:08 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper

Europe’s last primeval forest is facing what campaigners call its last stand as loggers prepare to start clear-cutting trees, following the dismissal of dozens of scientists and conservation experts opposed to the plan.

Poland’s new far right government says logging is needed because more than 10% of spruce trees in the Unesco world heritage site of Białowieża are suffering from a bark beetle outbreak. But nearly half the logging will be of other species, according to its only published inventory.

Oak trees as high as 150 feet that have grown for 450 years could be reduced to stumps under the planned threefold increase in tree fells. Białowieża hosts Europe’s largest bison population and wolves and lynx still roam freely across its sun-mottled interior. Its foliage stretches for nearly 1,000 square miles across the border between Poland and Belarus.

Beneath its green canopy, sunlight filters down on to a panorama of skyscraper trees soaring as much as 180 feet into the air, swampy water pools dammed by beavers, and psychedelic fungi that sprout from tree trunks.

But a recently-passed logging law to allow work to begin on the old-growth forest has divided families, and led to death threats against campaigners and allegations of an “environmental coup” by state interests linked to the timber trade. The logging in Białowieża is expected to raise about 700m złotys (£124m), and pave the way for extensive and more lucrative tree clearances.

Sources say that internal government discussions have already begun on extending the new timber regime to the national park, which covers 17% of the forest and has been untouched by humans since the ice age.

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: Gardening; Outdoors
KEYWORDS: barkbeetles; bialowieza; conservation; forest; logging; oldgrowthforest; poland; spruce; trees; woodbison
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1 posted on 05/31/2016 8:51:08 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper

Forests are sustaneable.


2 posted on 05/31/2016 8:53:13 AM PDT by Paladin2 (Live Free or Die.)
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To: Berlin_Freeper

Long overdue.


3 posted on 05/31/2016 8:53:45 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Berlin_Freeper

The Psychedelic Fungi Association is upset.


4 posted on 05/31/2016 8:55:23 AM PDT by Carriage Hill ( A society grows great when old men plant trees, in whose shade they know they will never sit.)
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To: Berlin_Freeper
Białowieża Forest
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Named oaks
My daughter communing ("I am your greatest fan") last week with her favorite neighborhood tree, she calls: Lady Tree.

5 posted on 05/31/2016 8:58:41 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper

Sounds like a necessary evil to me.
Just so long as they plant new trees behind them.


6 posted on 05/31/2016 9:01:25 AM PDT by Little Ray (NOTHING THAT SOMEONE ELSE HAS TO PAY FOR IS A RIGHT.)
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To: Little Ray

It will save the forest from a devastating fire down the road.


7 posted on 05/31/2016 9:02:34 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Paladin2

Yep. There are now more forests in the US than any time since the revolution.


8 posted on 05/31/2016 9:03:55 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Socialism is always just one more murder away from utopia.)
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To: Berlin_Freeper

Trees are nothing but a slow growing crop.


9 posted on 05/31/2016 9:07:37 AM PDT by cyclotic (Guns don't kill people. Abortion clinics kill people)
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To: Berlin_Freeper
Poland’s new far right government

Of course they just had to get that "far right" jab in there.

10 posted on 05/31/2016 9:09:09 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Berlin_Freeper
 photo Cartman_zpsd8aed8cd.gif
11 posted on 05/31/2016 9:09:13 AM PDT by Snickering Hound
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To: Berlin_Freeper
Beneath its green canopy, sunlight filters down on to a panorama of skyscraper trees soaring as much as 180 feet into the air, ...

The way that's written it sounds like the 180 foot trees are the understory. Maybe the author's a little too emotional to think straight.

12 posted on 05/31/2016 9:15:47 AM PDT by piasa
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To: dfwgator

The fire in Yellowstone proved that those natural events are actually good for the forest in the long run.


13 posted on 05/31/2016 9:18:13 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: dfwgator

And save other trees from the borer beetle.


14 posted on 05/31/2016 9:23:00 AM PDT by Little Ray (NOTHING THAT SOMEONE ELSE HAS TO PAY FOR IS A RIGHT.)
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To: Little Ray

Reminds me of the Cold War when all of the propaganda films accused the CIA of dumping Potato Beetles to kill the crops in the Satellite countries.


15 posted on 05/31/2016 9:24:24 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Berlin_Freeper
Can they selectively cut diseased and damaged trees? There has to be an alternative to “clean cut,”
16 posted on 05/31/2016 9:30:42 AM PDT by immadashell (Save Innocent Lives - ban gun free zones)
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To: Berlin_Freeper
"Untouched by humans since the last ice age"

From Wikipedia: Before 1426 a wooden hunting manor for king Władysław Jagiełło was built in the middle of the Białowieża Forest on the Lutownia stream. It was most probably one of the first permanent settlements in the area, although the forest was already penetrated by hunters from the nearby areas and by the king himself... Hunter's manor - the oldest surviving building in Białowieża From 1538 the forest was protected by the laws of king Sigismund I the Old. However, until the times of John Casimir the forest was mostly unpopulated. Sporadic settlements were established in various places, but the manor in Białowieża was the only one to be permanent. In the late 17th century, several small villages were started for development of local iron ore deposits and tar production.../snip

17 posted on 05/31/2016 9:37:26 AM PDT by piasa
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To: Berlin_Freeper

The Ents will wake up and realize that they are strong.


18 posted on 05/31/2016 9:43:40 AM PDT by agere_contra (Hamas has dug miles of tunnels - but no bomb-shelters.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

Turning trees into lumber keeps the C locked up and apparently younger trees suck up more CO2/acre. Cut down ~0.5%/yr and then taper off after 50 years.


19 posted on 05/31/2016 9:52:37 AM PDT by Paladin2 (Live Free or Die.)
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To: cyclotic

Solar energy plants...


20 posted on 05/31/2016 9:53:32 AM PDT by Paladin2 (Live Free or Die.)
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