Publication archives

The Federal Government has announced $3 million in funding for eco-tourism in Tasmania's old-growth forests. The grants include $1 million to develop a bushwalk in the Tarkine region in the state's west. Another $2 million will be spent on forest-based tourism infrastructure.

Cass County Land Department waited until the March deadline neared before setting a policy to permit one-year extensions for loggers who want to keep a sale open. The Cass policy the county board approved Tuesday will permit an extension if the sale has been opened and paid in full. This will apply to all sales scheduled to expire in 2007.

Starbucks Coffee Company (NASDAQ:SBUX) announced today that the average price per pound it paid for all its coffee increased from US$1.28 in fiscal year 2005 to US$1.42 ($3.12 per kilogram) in fiscal year 2006. During the same period the industry average "C" (commodity) market price was $1.04 per pound ($2.28 per kilogram).

In a first-of-its-kind alliance that could fundamentally reshape the environmental movement, 20 labor unions with nearly 5 million members are joining forces with a Republican-leaning umbrella group of conservationists -- the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership -- to put pressure on Congress and the Bush administration.

Soon after the government bought or condemned 150,000 acres of east Georgia farmland in the early 1940s to create the mammoth Clark Hill Lake reservoir, foresters began the conversion of dormant cotton plantations to a new cash crop: timber.

The surging popularity of some of the most stunning wilderness lands surrounding Aspen will require tougher management steps, according to the U.S. Forest Service ranger who is leaving the district. The question is when, according to Aspen-Sopris District Ranger Bill Westbrook, who has specialized in recreation issues during his 20-plus year career with the Forest Service.

More people, pricier land, and a shrinking supply of open space are enough to make a growing number of Northwest property owners sign contracts called "conservation easements." Conservation easements are voluntary, binding agreements that prevent current and future owners from carving up or building on a piece of land.

When it comes to genetic resources, conifers are among the Boy Scouts of the biosphere: They're prepared. With four times as much genetic matter as humans and big variations even within the same species, pines and other cone-bearing trees are well equipped to face the challenges of long life spans in the same spot.