Publication archives

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Maine's Agriculture Committee took historic action to make Maine the first state to adopt a meat purchasing policy to address the antibiotic resistance crisis in human medicine.

The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore is the first Northland area to ban all incoming firewood to prevent the invasion of emerald ash borers and other insects. The National Park Service this week announced the ban, effective immediately, on the transportation of all firewood in the Apostle Islands and the movement of firewood from island to island within the park.

U.S. environmentalists and two Peruvian groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday pressing the Bush administration to block imports of mahogany from Peru. The mahogany, harvested in protected natural areas of the Peruvian rain forest, is shipped to the United States for use in high-end furniture, automobile dashboards and fancy wood trim in homes.

International Paper Co., the world's largest paper maker, will sell its coated paper business to CMP Holdings LLC, an affiliate of the investment firm Apollo Management, for $1.4 billion, the companies said Monday. The deal includes the sale of four paper mills in Maine, Michigan and in Sartell, Minn.

Impassioned about the importance of the Amazon's thick jungle, D.C. philanthropists Victoria and Roger W. Sant have pledged to donate $20 million to the World Wildlife Fund to help create a huge conservation area in the Brazilian tropical forest.

Karin de Gier hasn't always been green. In 2001 she founded San Francisco-based Zwanette Design to produce cabinets, tables, and other custom-made furniture. As she learned more about woodworking, de Gier also learned more about toxic glues, sustainable forestry, and green building principles. De Gier, now 45, soon realized green building was in line with her own values.

The U.S. Forest Service withdrew a fire protection plan for Sequoia National Forest that allowed commercial logging, nearly a year after a judge ruled the blueprint violated federal law.

In one of the most sweeping deals of its kind in the nation, federal officials Monday agreed to shield timber companies and forest landowners from provisions of the Endangered Species Act for 50 years if they follow new state rules to protect salmon when logging.