Forests

"A killer fungus has attacked ash trees across northern and central Europe, prompting pleas for the UK to ban sapling imports. But it may already be too late"

"BANGKOK -- Organised crime trade worth billions of dollars is responsible for 50 to 90 percent of illegal logging in parts of the Amazon basin, Central Africa and Southeast Asia, with implications for deforestation, climate change and the well-being of indigenous people, said a report released Thursday."

"SALT LAKE CITY -- Environmentalists are celebrating the Monday decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to let stand the federal 'roadless rule' that leaves protections in place for 45 million acres of national forest lands, including those in Utah."

"The 2012 wildfire season isn't over yet, but already this year is shaping up to be the one of the worst on record in the American West. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, with nearly two months still to go in the fire season, the total area already burned this year is 30 percent more than in an average year, and fires have consumed more than 8.6 million acres, an area larger than the state of Maryland."

"LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Officials have canceled a proposal for commercial logging in the Daniel Boone National Forest in Rockcastle County that had caused concern about the potential impact on a pristine spring and trees hundreds of years old."

"The emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle that has destroyed millions of trees in North America since being accidentally introduced from Asia, has been identified in Massachusetts for the first time, state officials said on Wednesday."