Redwood Reader

I have been traveling the last several weeks and have seen quite a few interesting tidbits that continue to support our theory of glomalin destruction and recovery. Really interesting examples of natural disturbance abound at timberline in avalache country. We have also seen mosquito, mormon cricket and caterpillar outbreaks. The caterpillars are deleafing large tracts of woodland but are not expeected to last much more than a few more weeks before they go on to the next life cycle stage.
Back home, California courts ruled again that coho were endangered between San francisco and Punta Gorda and threatened in the north to the Oregon border. The ruling ended a challenge to previous rulings by the California Forestry Association and Eureka Chamber of Commerce that said the state rules were duplicative of federal law, and should apply to populations ooooorather than species. Judge Gail Ohanesian ruled the state was within its right since federal law did not prevent further declines in coho populations. It seems that the numbers should start to show some recovery as a result of all the restoration projects like the culvert project relatively soon. Thihs would include the Klamath fishery, since this is a case of a failed spawning year. If enough water stays in the river, the fish should return. Sometimes we just need to wait.
State Court Backs Coho Protection Rules, John Driscoll, 6/14/06
http://www.times-standard.com/fastsearchresults/ci_3935360
Palco apparently has made a deal to sell off some of its lands mentioned earlier this year in order to make Julys interest payment. A Colorado resource investment group, Resource Land Holdings of Colorado Springs, is listed on the document transfer tax document and mentions a purchase in California on its website.. The buyers invest in timber, agriculture and mining. The 7.95 million dollar purchase probably represents about 3600 acres. The land is in Kneeland, Miranda, Mad River, Rio Dell and Fortuna.
Palco sells off properties to Colorado Group.
http://www.times-standard.com/local/ci_3940259, John Driscoll, 6/15/06.
The California Oak Mortality Task Force newsletter, the best source for information on the ongoing investigation into the invasive disease, written by Janice Alexander with assistance from Katie Palmeri and Susan Frankel. New findings of P. Europa in Eastern and Central United States as a result of investigations caused by the lack of information about subsoil denizens in the forests there. Each month covers new ly found infestations, regulations, abstracts from studies, nursery management and other relevant topics. This month our good friends at the Arcata Field Office of BLM were Kudoed for involving local schools in Phytophthora baiting in the King Range Natiuonal Conservation area, where stream baiting in the Mattole has been going on for two years. BLM has also offered to have students visit an infestation site later in the year, but that seems to imply SOD has foound its way there. We expressed concern BLM was not part of the HRSP eradication earlier this year but they are right on it. The project is being carried out in cooperation with the Humboldt County Agriculture Department and the University of California Cooperative Extension. For more information, contact Jeanne McFarland, BLM, at: (707) 825-2332 or jeanne_mcfarland@ca.blm.gov. One other important tidbit in this packed newsletter is that the gisease is found in the wood itself, forcing rewriting of rules that allowed wood stripped of its bark to be moved out of quarantined areas.
COMTF newsletter: http://nature.berkeley.edu/comtf/html/current_newsletter.htmlWebsite: www.suddenoakdeath.org