Publication archives

People like Danny Barney and Gary Chastagner stay in touch this time of year, comparing notes on how the battle is going. The two are university researchers who are both trying to hold the line against a common foe: artificial Christmas trees. Their focus is on producing the ideal fresh Christmas tree, which would help tree growers in this part of the country.

The Minnesota Forest Resources Council voted Wednesday that Gov. Tim Pawlenty not take any action on roadless areas in the state's two national forests. Pawlenty had asked the council, a state board charged with plotting forestry and timber harvest policy, to give him direction on the issue.

Forrest Runquist's six-wheeled all-terrain vehicle churns through a frozen bog 20 miles north of Chisholm. The trailer is piled high with tight bundles of miniature Christmas trees. The black spruce tops are about 2 feet tall, studded with short, tight needles and tiny pine cones.

There are two facts to get your head around when it comes to British Columbia's mountain pine beetle infestation: It's killed stands of lodgepole pine covering an area of north-central B.C. forest the size of New Brunswick with no end in sight. And government and the forest industry are in a race against time to log the dead and dying timber before it rots.

With at least 40 fatalities reported so far this year, relatives of forestry workers who have died on the job in British Columbia are calling for action to make the province's logging camps a safer place to work. David Gramlich believes his brother might be alive today if workplace regulations in B.C. were tightened to prevent loggers from working alone in the bush.

Apple growers could urge the Government to take an immediate case to the World Trade Organisation over the Australian import ban without waiting for an approval process that could take two years. Upset at the prospect of Australian quarantine officers "turning over every leaf" in orchards searching for diseases, they warn they may not wait for the full approval process.

The eco-conscious carnivore: a meat-lover's guide to making choices that maximize personal and planetary health; Healthy Appetites: savvy strategies for eating well By Dayna Macy "DO YOU WANT REGULAR GRASS-FED, OR ORGANIC?" asks the clerk behind the meat counter. It s winter and I've been craving a warming substantial food like brisket.