Sept 1 (Reuters) – A Trump-era rule change that allowed expanded logging of large trees on millions of acres of U.S. forest land in Oregon and Washington violated federal environmental laws, a federal judge has found.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Hallman in Pendleton, Oregon, on Thursday agreed with six environmental groups that had challenged the U.S. Forest Service’s decision to relax rules prohibiting cutting down old-growth trees, saying the agency had not thoroughly analyzed how it would impact the environment.
Oregon Wild, WildEarth Guardians and other environmental groups that sued the agency over the change in 2022 have said it removed the only meaningful protections for old-growth forests – which absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change, and bolster biodiversity – in the region.
The 2021 rule change eliminated a bright-line prohibition on cutting down trees that are larger than 21 inches in diameter across six national forests and millions of acres of federal land. It aimed to make it easier to remove large fire-prone trees that flourished during a century of robust federal fire suppression, while still protecting old trees that are more resistant to flames and disease, the government said.
Hallman said the agency violated the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act, finding the impacts of the change are “highly uncertain” and warrant a more thorough environmental review than what was originally conducted. His recommendation to vacate the rule will now be submitted to U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken for a final decision.
The American Forest Resource Council, a timber industry trade group that intervened in the case to defend the rule, said in a statement Friday that the judge’s recommendations will get in the way of proactive forest management to reduce wildfire risk.
The Forest Service didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. It had argued in a February 2023 court filing that the rule change was based on reasonable determinations that it would not have significant environmental impacts.
The case is Greater Hells Canyon et al. v. Wilkes et al., U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, case No. 2:22-cv-00859.
For the environmental groups: Oliver Stiefel and Meriel Darzen of the Crag Law Center
For the U.S. government: Tyler Alexander and Hayley Carpenter of the U.S. Department of Justice
For the intervenors: Aaron Bruner and Caroline Lobdell of the Western Resources Legal Center
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
02
Illegal cutting threatens Nigerian forest
OMO FOREST RESERVE, Nigeria — Roaring chain saws sent trees crashing to the ground, and bare-chested men hacked away at the branches beside a muddy road. Others heaved logs onto a truck, where they were tied in place with wire.
The work was similar on the other side of the road, with a timber-laden truck coughing dark plumes of smoke as it pulled away. This was miles into the conservation zone of Omo Forest Reserve in southern Nigeria, a protected area where logging is prohibited because it’s home to threatened species like African elephants, pangolins and white-throated monkeys. But forest rangers, seeing the impunity, were hesitant to act.
“We see people we arrested and turned over to the government back in the forest, and they get emboldened,” ranger Sunday Abiodun told The Associated Press during a recent trip to the reserve.
Conservationists say the outer region of Omo Forest Reserve, where logging is allowed, is already heavily deforested. As trees become scarce, loggers are heading deep into the 212-square-mile conservation area, which is also under threat from uncontrolled cocoa farming and poaching.
Conservationists and rangers blame the government for not enforcing environmental regulations or adequately replanting trees, impeding Nigeria’s pledge under the Paris climate agreement to maintain places like forests that absorb carbon from the atmosphere.
The government of Nigeria’s southwestern Ogun state, which owns the reserve, denied failing to enforce regulations. In a statement, it said it’s replanting more trees than are being cut down.
The forest’s gatekeepers and those processing the wood both dispute that assertion, insisting trees are disappearing.
Sawmillers get annual permits from the government to cut down trees until their designated area is completely deforested. Then they can apply for a new section. They say the permit fee of $2,645 is intended to cover the government’s costs to replace trees but that this rarely occurs.
“The government is not replanting,” said Owolabi Oguntimehin, a sawmiller in Ijebu, a nearby town that has over 50 sawmill companies relying on the reserve. “It is not our responsibility to replant because the government collects the fee from us.”
Besides problems with replanting, authorities don’t enforce tree removal standards, even when loggers get permits, according to forest guards, who are employed by the state government.
Joseph Olaonipekun, a guard, said officials from Ogun state’s forestry department used to mark trees that could be cut and ensured “strict” enforcement to prevent others from being removed. But that’s no longer done, he said.
“By implementing selective logging, the adverse effects on the biodiversity of an area can be minimized while also providing the opportunity for young trees to continue growing,” Nigerian ecologist Babajide Agboola said. “This method allows for a more sustainable approach to logging and forest management.”
Trees such as Cordia wood, mahogany and gmelina are disappearing from the forest’s periphery, according to both sawmillers and reserve gatekeepers.
“There has to be massive reforestation so that the conservation zone will not be dismantled,” Agboola said.
But forest rangers hired by the nonprofit Nigerian Conservation Foundation, which is the government’s partner in managing the conservation zone, have found it a challenge to protect against illegal logging in off-limits areas.
They say loggers harvesting trees in the conservation zone brag about bypassing regulations by paying off government officials.
“We want the government to support us in preserving the forest,” ranger Johnson Adejayin said. He echoed his colleagues in calling for strict enforcement and sanctions, “so that the loggers do not come back to continue their illegal acts and boast that with money they can avoid punishment.”
The Nigerian economy, Africa’s largest, heavily relies on agriculture, forestry and other land uses. These industries, which are responsible for 25% of Nigeria’s greenhouse gas emissions, provide jobs for the majority of people in agrarian communities around the reserve.
As a result, there is debate about the political will to enforce environmental sustainability when livelihoods are at stake.
That factor should be considered, said Wale Adedayo, chairman of the Ijebu East local government area where a significant part of the forest is located. He advocates for a reduction of the conservation zone to give more land to locals to farm and log.
But he also acknowledges that “there is a lot of deforestation” that should be reversed to ensure Nigeria’s contribution to fighting climate change.
For its part, the state government said “it is incorrect” to blame the pressure to make a living “when loggers illegally find their way into the conservation area to steal parts of the conserved trees.”
Adedayo said logging in protected areas “is not possible without the connivance of the civil servants.”
The government’s forest guards have seen it first hand.
“There is too much corruption in this forest caused by greed and poverty,” Olaonipekun said. “When we say, ‘Don’t go there,’ some go through higher authorities to defy us, and we are helpless.”
The government, meanwhile, has delayed formally declaring the conservation area a wildlife sanctuary to protect it from threats like logging, farming and poaching, said Emmanuel Olabode, who manages the Nigerian Conservation Foundation’s wildlife conservation project in the forest.
The foundation’s rangers are focused on nearly 6.5 square kilometers of strictly protected land where elephants are believed to live and has been designated a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.
“It is left to the government to enforce the regulations,” said Olabode, who supervises the foundation’s rangers.
Loggers even have resorted to violence to ensure their timber supply. Olabode recounted when assailants with assault rifles attacked a ranger patrol base in 2021, and loggers just kept cutting trees.
“Our rangers escaped with injuries, and we notified the authorities, but nothing was done, and we have not gone back there due to security concerns,” Olabode said, adding that the area is now unprotected.
The government says it plans to employ the military and police to combat illegal operators. It urges loggers who follow the rules to “fight their members who are into illegalities.”
03
Think twice before cutting trees in Hyderabad
Over 50 trees in the Botanical Garden at Kothaguda have been equipped with a tree protection system that will send alerts when an attempt to harm them is made
Published Date – 07:40 AM, Tue – 5 September 23
Hyderabad: Those indulging in illegal tree logging will now have to think twice before they strike their axe, as there is now technological messiah for these trees.
Over 50 trees in the Botanical Garden at Kothaguda have been equipped with a tree protection system that will send alerts when an attempt to harm them is made. This is a pilot project by the Telangana State Forest Development Corporation Limited (TSFDC) and this technology is expected to be rolled out to save trees in the State.
The innovative solution was developed by a Bengaluru-based agritech startup CB IoT Technologies Pvt Ltd. Around 2,000 trees in the country are protected using their technology and they have now set up shop in Hyderabad to conserve more.
“When any illegal attempt to chop down the tree is made, our sensor sends alerts to the registered users. It even sends WhatsApp messages within a fraction of a second. In addition to that, an alarm will also be set off in that area,” says Satyanarayana Choppadhandi, founder.
The device, which is just a tad bigger than a regular AA battery, is installed on a tree’s branch at a height of 10 feet above the ground. These sensors are used only for trees older than eight years, as they develop hardwood making them most vulnerable for logging. Foolproofing the device, any attempt to disarm or break the sensor will also set off an alarm.
Although each sensor now costs somewhere between Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000, Satyanarayana says they hope to reduce the price soon. The batteries on the device must be changed only once in three years, making it easy to maintain them.
Indicating that more trees in the city will be protected by their sensors soon, he says, “By the end of September, we will be installing around 200 sensors at the Zoo Park in Hyderabad. We are also expecting orders for another 600 trees in Telangana, including from GHMC and Cantonment area.”
The company also plans to introduce a camera that would flock to the site when an alert is sent. Apart from that, they are coming up with QR codes on trees which when scanned will provide information about the species.
