Good News About Trees and the Environment

Stories this week:

$10 million forest restoration project in tri-state Great Lakes area will help preserve several at-risk species, including Golden-winged Warbler, American Woodcock, Ruffed Grouse, Black-billed Cuckoo, Moose, Canada lynx, and Northern long-eared bat.

New study reveals that Western dry forests are affected 7 times more by insect outbreaks and droughts than they are by wildfires. Forests have historically contained up to 92% small trees, so reversing the modern restoration treatment of removing small trees will increase the resilience of the dry (tall pine) forests, as the smaller trees are attacked by insects less than larger ones.

According to experts from the U of Copenhagen, crops are able to do their own weed control, if we would plant in tight grid patterns, rather than in rows. The employment of new seed-sowing techniques would allow farmers to use little or no pesticides on crops, to obvious advantage to the environment in general, not to mention our own health.

South Africa said on Thursday that it had moved around 100 rhinos to unspecified neighboring states as part of efforts to stem the illicit slaughter of the animals for their horns. Home to around 80 percent of the global rhino population, South Africa is at the epicenter of a poaching crisis. Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa told a news briefing that for security reasons, the precise countries where the rhinos had been moved would not be named.

India’s tiger population has increased by nearly a third to 2,226, a recent government survey showed, boosting conservation efforts in the country with more than half the world’s population of the endangered big cats. Conservation experts credit the increase to better management and policing of tiger habitats across the country.

For the details of these stories, please go to http://laurajmerrilltreetalker.com

New Stories on The Treetalker

 

How Environmentalism Can Help Stop Ebola – deforestation is making the situation worse by bringing humans in contact with the animals that carry the virus, since loss of habitat leaves them with nowhere to go.

 

http://laurajmerrilltreetalker.com

 

Moose Drool Detoxifies Fungus – Moose and reindeer saliva can help slow the growth of a toxic grass fungus, and subsequently make it less toxic for them, alowing the animals to graze on the grass without negative effects.

 

Wasp Recruited to Fight Invasive Beetle – U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers have released tiny parasitic wasps in forests in Maryland to attack the emerald ash borer, an invader from China that is devastating forests across the Northern United States.

 

Surfboard Builder Finds Gold in Albizia Wood – Gary Young turns the wood of an invasive species into light, strong surfboards.