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The tree is a beloved symbol of environmental health, but when it comes to combating pollution, not all trees are equal. Just as some provide better shade than others, some types apparently are superior at filtering particulates from the air.

During Tuesday's legislative floor period, State Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, and State Rep. Gary Sherman, D-Port Wing, pushed through a bill which will ensure that area loggers will be able to compete in today's global marketplace.

It is a Sunday afternoon. The woods are adorned with a newly fallen blanket of snow, and the sun has made an appearance for the first time in weeks. In the forest, there is a muffled crackle as a tree crashes to the ground. Five pairs of Belgians and Percherons take turns pulling fallen logs out of woods along an icy grove worn into the snowy path.

It's a raw March morning in the Oregon Coast Range, and melting snow is dripping from the trees. Cocooned in a waterproof suit and insulated boots, timber cruiser Pat Barnes sights through his laser range-finder at the slender gray trunk of a Douglas fir.

President Bush is seeking a replacement for Gale Norton, an original member of his Cabinet, to run the Interior Department. Norton announced Friday that she was leaving as secretary at the end of March, capping five years during which she guided the administration's initiative to open federal lands in the West to more oil and gas drilling, logging, grazing and commercial recreation.

The number of moose on Isle Royale dropped to 450 this winter, the lowest level since scientists began tracking the animals nearly a half-century ago. The moose population is down from 540 last year and is just a fraction of the all-time high moose population of 2,442 in 1995.

TimberWest Forest Corp. (TSX:TWF.UN) will look to real estate sales to supplement its operations and help meet cash requirements for distributions in 2006, CEO Paul McElligott told analysts Thursday.