Publication archives

(Ed. note. IATP's President, Jim Harkness, is blogging from China for the next two weeks as he meets with experts on China's food and farm system)

ST. LOUIS (AP)--Ethanol, for decades largely an afterthought in the global fuels market, is in the midst of a booming renaissance in the United States, despite a host of questions.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation is studying ways to convert leftover wood from logging into a biomass fuel. The agency has a $64,000 grant from the U.S. Forest Service for a 1-year project to evaluate whether there'd be enough potential users in and around the Adirondack Park to make woody biomass a worthwhile energy source.

Autumn color has appeared weeks earlier than usual this year, as the continuing drought has stressed trees and other plants in area forests. While much of northern St. Louis County received modest rains early in the week, it was likely too little, too late for most trees and shrubs.

Progress killed most of the black walnut trees in The Dalles, and now disease appears to be wiping out what's left. Bob Schecter of Pine Creek Wood Company in Dufur said only 20 to 30 black walnuts remain in The Dalles, and most are dead or dying.

Somewhere deep in an unmapped ravine or inaccessible creek bottom in Northern California hides a secret. If it exists - and it might not - it would be as old as the Roman Colosseum, yet it has never attracted much notice. It is the tallest tree in the world, a Sequoia sempervirens - a California coast redwood. And if it remains undiscovered to this day, that may soon change.