MEADOW GREEN, N.S.

If you are wise enough to find yourself wandering a river under old hardwoods over the coming days, look down.

Because while it is good to be wise, it is better to be lucky.

And if you are both, you will see a wide carpet of flowering blood root.

Out toward the fringe of the flowers, the dutchmans breeches may be swinging on their green line.

The nodding trillium, however, most likely wont be quite yet roused from its slumber to welcome the bees.

Give it another week.

Our man-made hybrids are just clumsy when compared to a wildflower, said Bruce Partridge on Tuesday.

Its like comparing a deer to a cow.

Small flowers are blooming now in our old forests.

It is a display of beauty made all the more precious for its being so fleeting.

A few more warm days and the blood root, which bleeds bright red when cut, and the dutchmans breeches, named by some forgotten soul who saw in their aspect a pair of shorts hung out to dry, will be done with flowering.

Because to be elegant is to be parsimonious in both form and presence.

They are just enough flower to attract the bumbling bees without exposing themselves unnecessarily to wind, rain and frost.

They are with us just long enough to get pollinated.

And their symmetrical beauty is enough to confoundthe arguments of Charles Darwins followers that survival is natures only polestar.

Next to bloom will be the nodding trilliums and the yellow violets, then the blue bead lily and the jack in the pulpits.

Then it will be June and the leaves of the elderly sugar maple and ash trees will be fully formed and stealing the sun.

Down where the East Pomquet River wends through Meadow Green, Antigonish County, the fiddleheads and sensitive ferns will unfurl themselves and grab whats left of the energy produced by a nuclear furnace 150 million kilometres away.

And the floor of this small copse of old forest will be shadowy and damp until winters return.

These are just the lowland flowers, said Partridge.

Theres also the flowers of the upland hardwoods, coniferous forest, the Guysborough bogs. Each has its own florae and each is just as amazing and just as complicated.

Partridge discovered this patch of wildflowers while out walking the Meadow Greens unpaved main three decades ago.

Trained as a botanist in Utah before lifes meandering path saw him building a homestead and raising children and plants in Antigonish County, he recognized the wildflower from a picture in a book.

When the first settlers came they were everywhere, said Partridge.

Theres only the tiniest fraction left after all our land clearing and cutting. Its not really fair to pin blame because hardly anyone pays attention to what their wheels drive over.

They arent just pretty flowers.

They are the now preciously rare signs of an untrammeled ecosystem.

These wildflowers spread primarily by their roots. This patch of blood root on this bend of the East Pomquet River could be a thousand years old.

So could the ferns whose root systems overlay and intertwine with that of the flowers and the towering hardwoods overhead.

Those like Partridge who make a life seeking to understand these places do not walk on the earth.

They walk between a living system for the gathering of water and nutrients and another for the inhaling of light and carbon dioxide.

He tried for years to breed these flowers from seed, failing season after season.

Then watching the ants carry the seeds, that have these fatty flaps to attract them, you realize its something they do or are involved in, said Partridge.

The find on that morning walk led to a rekindling of his fascination with these flowers.

It led him and his wife Mary to start Borealis Wildflowers a mail-order seed catalogue.

Though he survived a long battle with cancer, the company didnt.

And ever since beating the terminal prognosis of the disease, hes seen in these flowers a wisdom.

They are above the earth long enough to do what needs to be done.

They are beautiful while they are here.

And then they are gone.

They know where they stand, said Partridge, 72.

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Something beautiful is happening in Nova Scotias forests - TheChronicleHerald.ca

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Vsir/Icelandic Road Administration

All in all it took four days to break through a thick snowdrift which accumulated over the course of the winter on the road into Mjafjrur. The road is now open again after having been closed since around October.

Foreman at the Reyarfjrur service center of the Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration Ari B. Gumundsson stated on the Administrations website, We started shoveling the snow away last Friday. We continued on Monday and a narrow path, complete with corners to pull over for oncoming cars, and were completed by the middle of the day on Wednesday.

After four days of hard work, the road into Mjafjrur has been opened, though it was not easy to clear through the thick snowdrift previously present there, Frttablai reports.

The road was first closed in October last year. It was cleared around the middle of the month for the emergency services, who had to move in equipment to place fiber-optic cables in Mjafjrur. It was cleared again at the end of November and beginning of December to transport the equipment back out of Mjafjrur. The road was left open just a little longer in order to allow the Minister of Transportation to inaugurate the cables and has been closed since shortly thereafter, until now.

About 14 people live in Mjafjrur all year around, and they have everything they need in Brekkuorp. In the winter the road is often closed, and the only way in or out is by boat, at which time the ferry Bjrgvin sails between Brekkuorp and Neskaupstaur twice a week.

According to locals there was an usually high quantity of snow this year. Work on the tunnel will continue over the next few days, but at first there will only be Jeeps on the road. Four-wheel drives should be able to get on the road by tomorrow, but smaller private cars are likely to pass only after the weekend.

According to Ari, weather conditions will greatly influence when the road in Mjafjrur is cleared. Sometimes when there is little snow, the road is only cleared a few times over the course of the winter. In worse years, the road has to continue to be cleared to allow vans to pass all the way into the fall.

He acknowledges that the population has increased in the last few years to complete the land route. Were a bit behind behind in clearing the road compared to last year, due to both the weather conditions and COVID-19.

These weather conditions differ starkly with the mild temperatures predicted by Vedur.is in much of the country today. Predicted high temperatures include 15C in Reykjavk, 11C in both Egilsstair in the far east and Patreksfjrur in the Westfjords, and 10C in Akureyri.

Note: Due to the effect the Coronavirus is having on tourism in Iceland, its become increasingly difficult for the Grapevine to survive. If you enjoy our content and want to help the Grapevines journalists do things like eat and pay rent, please consider joining our High Five Club.

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From Iceland Four-Day Battle With a Five-Meter-Deep Snowdrift - Reykjavk Grapevine

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Political references aside, the unequivocal answer is 'no'. Inland and coastal swamps - wetlands - are ecosystems that support all life, including us. If rainforests are the lungs of the planet, wetlands are the kidneys. Trapping nutrients from runoff, they are immensely important filters of fresh and saltwater. This makes them extremely rich habitats, supporting fish, birds and other wildlife, which are integral to the food web. They are breeding grounds for fish and molluscs that are in turn, food for us. As human population climbs relentlessly towards 8 billion people and beyond, we cannot afford to undermine food production systems. Wetlands are also supremely good at capturing carbon dioxide. The remaining mangroves that currently cover 14-15 million hectares around the world, trap an estimated 31 to 34 billion kilograms of carbon every year. Researchers at Deakin University believe that this biosequestration is one of the single largest opportunities for reducing CO2 emissions in Australia. While wetlands cover only about 4 per cent of the earth's land surface, they are sequestering up to 33 per cent of the carbon in soils. In mangrove forests, tidal marshes and seagrass ecosystems, carbon is stored in the soil down to 3 metres. By clearing them, we remove the carbon sinks and also make coastlines vulnerable to storm damage. In inland waters, wetlands and healthy riparian zones also trap nutrients and preserve soil. Healthy rivers also store considerably more carbon than unhealthy ones. Concrete drains accelerate runoff, and the increased flow of nutrients exacerbates outbreaks of blue-green algae. These are examples of ecosystem services - work that nature does for us for free. Unfortunately, wetlands also occupy prime waterfront real estate where we like to build houses, hotels, marinas and dockyards. Humanity has an abysmal record of removing wetlands that once covered around 10 per cent of the earth's land surface. In only 50 years, half the world's mangrove forests have vanished. Our attitude to wetlands and other parts of the environment would be different if they were explicitly acknowledged as part of the economy, however, ecosystem services are completely ignored by GDP. In fact, their destruction ostensibly boosts GDP because of the economic activity involved in 'developing' them. Fortunately, many cities have programs to restore urban waterways, making them attractive places while improving the environment. They replace the hard, ugly concrete surfaces with places that are nice to visit. By replacing these, we create natural rainwater buffers, promoting places where amphibians, dragonflies and birds can thrive. The Fuzzy Logic Science Show is 11am Sundays on 2xx 98.3FM. Send your questions to AskFuzzy@Zoho.com Twitter @FuzzyLogicSci Podcast FuzzyLogicOn2xx.Podbean.com

https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/Z4Q6sUEHdcmw72MBPYgZkU/2a2bc265-8742-4521-81c1-429a220b9306.JPG/r13_98_5484_3189_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg

If rainforests are the lungs of the planet, wetlands are the kidneys. Picture: Supplied

Political references aside, the unequivocal answer is 'no'.

Inland and coastal swamps - wetlands - are ecosystems that support all life, including us. If rainforests are the lungs of the planet, wetlands are the kidneys. Trapping nutrients from runoff, they are immensely important filters of fresh and saltwater.

This makes them extremely rich habitats, supporting fish, birds and other wildlife, which are integral to the food web. They are breeding grounds for fish and molluscs that are in turn, food for us. As human population climbs relentlessly towards 8 billion people and beyond, we cannot afford to undermine food production systems.

Wetlands are also supremely good at capturing carbon dioxide. The remaining mangroves that currently cover 14-15 million hectares around the world, trap an estimated 31 to 34 billion kilograms of carbon every year.

Researchers at Deakin University believe that this biosequestration is one of the single largest opportunities for reducing CO2 emissions in Australia.

While wetlands cover only about 4 per cent of the earth's land surface, they are sequestering up to 33 per cent of the carbon in soils.

In mangrove forests, tidal marshes and seagrass ecosystems, carbon is stored in the soil down to 3 metres. By clearing them, we remove the carbon sinks and also make coastlines vulnerable to storm damage.

In inland waters, wetlands and healthy riparian zones also trap nutrients and preserve soil. Healthy rivers also store considerably more carbon than unhealthy ones. Concrete drains accelerate runoff, and the increased flow of nutrients exacerbates outbreaks of blue-green algae.

These are examples of ecosystem services - work that nature does for us for free.

Unfortunately, wetlands also occupy prime waterfront real estate where we like to build houses, hotels, marinas and dockyards.

Humanity has an abysmal record of removing wetlands that once covered around 10 per cent of the earth's land surface. In only 50 years, half the world's mangrove forests have vanished.

Our attitude to wetlands and other parts of the environment would be different if they were explicitly acknowledged as part of the economy, however, ecosystem services are completely ignored by GDP. In fact, their destruction ostensibly boosts GDP because of the economic activity involved in 'developing' them.

Fortunately, many cities have programs to restore urban waterways, making them attractive places while improving the environment. They replace the hard, ugly concrete surfaces with places that are nice to visit.

By replacing these, we create natural rainwater buffers, promoting places where amphibians, dragonflies and birds can thrive.

The Fuzzy Logic Science Show is 11am Sundays on 2xx 98.3FM.

Send your questions to AskFuzzy@Zoho.com Twitter @FuzzyLogicSci Podcast FuzzyLogicOn2xx.Podbean.com

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Ask Fuzzy: Should we drain the swamp? - The Canberra Times

An urgent motion for a moratorium on land clearing on the NSW South Coast is before Shoalhaven City Council as a property developer prepares to raze a local forest.

Manyana residents have been protesting project developer Ozy Homes clearing the forest to make way for nearly 180 housing lots, given so much local bushland has recently burned.

The urgency motion mayor Amanda Findley put to council - which requires a report - was passed 12 votes to one.

If the report is supported at next Tuesday's council meeting urgent representations will be put before Planning Minister Rob Stokes.

Ms Findley says clearing of the forest must be halted because the trees offer a refuge for animals who lost other crucial habitats during the summer's unprecedented bushfires.

"There are animals living in there now that have nowhere else to go because the local forest is so badly burned," Ms Findley told AAP.

Bill Eger, 60, has lived in the area for 35 years and recently helped fight fires that blazed through Conjola National Park.

He said it was hard to think he risked his life alongside emergency services and other members from the local community to save land that would potentially be destroyed by a developer.

"After putting our lives on the line, to save these pockets of ground, to have it then taken out by Ozy Homes ... what's the point," Mr Eger told AAP.

"What are we doing here, why are risking our lives to save these endangered species and little critters, if they're going to be bulldozed a few months later."

Mr Eger is particularly worried about the greater glider possums which had their habitat decimated by the Currowan fire.

"It took 22 years for the gliders to come back to the Conjola National Park, they were making a comeback until the Currowan fire wiped out nearly everything in that park," he said.

Ozy Homes was forced to delay bulldozing about 20 hectares of the Manyana forest following the bushfires for three months and set up fauna boxes to re-home native animals.

"The attempts to try and transfer animals from homes in thriving bushland to burned-out bushland is a ludicrous proposition at this point in time," Ms Findley said.

The council is asking Mr Stokes to halt logging until there is a better understanding of the ecological impacts of the fires in the area.

Protesting residents continued to observe COVID-19 social distancing rules on Wednesday morning by running, cycling and doing yoga in case they needed to physically block workers from entering the site.

Manyana Matters spokeswoman Jorj Lowrey said she understood Ozy Homes was to start clearing land on Wednesday and was pleased those plans had been delayed.

Following yesterday's gathering of more than 100 people, Manyana Matters spokesman Peter Winkler said residents would remain on-site throughout the week.

"The local community will remain vigilant and will launch into action if required," Mr Winkler told AAP.

Comment was sought from Ozy Homes and Mr Stokes.

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Urgent call to halt land clearing in NSW - Yahoo News Australia

Demonstrators were forced to use exercise as a means of protest amid the COVID-19 pandemic on May 4, when New South Wales South Coast residents campaigned against the clearing of forest that had been spared from the catastrophic 2019-2020 bushfires.

Developer Ozy Homes planned to develop a 20-hectare area at Manyana after receiving approval for the project in 2008, according to reports.

However, locals were concerned that the development land had become a last refuge for local wildlife that had lost its habitat during the bushfires.

Social distancing regulations in place across New South Wales to stem the spread of coronavirus had effectively banned mass protests, forcing the demonstrators to use exercise such as yoga and walking as a reason to attend the site.

An estimated 312 homes were destroyed and 500,000 hectares were burnt in the surrounding area by the 74-day Currowan fire in late 2019 and early 2020. The blaze threatened homes and forced resident to evacuate to beaches in the area on New Years Eve.

Record bushfires gripped much of New South Wales in late 2019 and early 2020, with over 11,400 bush and grass fires burning 5.5 million hectares, the equivalent of 6.2 percent of the state of New South Wales. Fires burned across the state for 240 consecutive days between July 2019 and March 2020. Credit: Manyana Matters via Storyful

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Demonstrators Exercise in Protest Against Land Clearing on South Coast During COVID-19 Restrictions - Yahoo News UK

One of the most beneficial trees for wildlife is the oak tree. Oaks offer food, shelter, cover and nesting sites for a number of animals. The branches, nooks, crannies and hollow areas in oak trees afford protection from the elements, a place to rest, escape predators and nesting areas to raise the young.

Many animals feed on the small twigs, buds, shoots and leaves of oaks as well. Oak trees attract hundreds of insects and invertebrates that feed on their foliage. These insects attract insectivorous birds, reptiles, frogs and mammals, developing a very dynamic food web within the forest. Because oak trees attract such a wide variety of insects they are considered to be one of the most important trees for woodland inhabiting birds. Oak trees also produce acorns, which are a very important winter food for deer, fox, bear, squirrels, turkey, wood duck and many birds. Animal populations tend to increase or decrease based on yearly acorn production, a testament to the importance of oak trees. As oaks mature, they typically produce more acorns and develop a large hollow area, which further enhances their value for wildlife.

Oak trees tend to be longer lived, slower growing trees that develop best in full sunlight to moderate shade. Acorns may be able to germinate and develop a small tree in dense shade, but the oak tree will cease growing in shady conditions, waiting until it can exploit a gap in the canopy and continue its development. In this holding pattern, the small oak trees are vulnerable to deer browse or they may eventually succumb to lack of sunlight. Trees such as red maple, black gum, hickory, beech, sugar, maple, black birch and hemlock can develop much better in the shade, and they will overtake the young oaks underneath a dense canopy.

Many of the oak forests we now have are a result of former land clearing and logging practices that created conditions beneficial to oak germination and growth. In the past, large forest fires were also much more common throughout our region, giving rise to more oak regeneration. The thick bark oak tree is more resistant to forest fires and more likely to continue growing when the thinner barked maple, beech, birch or white pine tree may succumb following a forest fire. Oak and oak-pine forests are considered to be fire-dependent communities by ecologists.

Many of our present oak forests contain trees in their golden years, and the understory is full of shade-tolerant maple, birch, gum and beech trees. In ecological terms, an oak forest is considered to be intermediate, while a beech birch maple forest is considered to be a climax forest community. This means that in the absence of disturbances as the older oaks succumb to old age, the forest composition will change and the forest will contain more maple, birch, beech and gum, and less oaks. And, the prevailing trend seen throughout the east is that oak numbers are indeed declining. Along with changes brought about by forest succession, factors such as gypsy moth mortality, oak decline and other diseases, feeding activity of white tail deer, logging operations that remove oak and little else, forest fragmentation and invasive plants that overrun the forest thereby suppressing most native plants are all contributing to the decline of oak trees.

To understand how intricately nature interacts, it has been shown that a reduction in the amount of oak trees is impacting numerous forest interior bird species, including the wood thrush and wood pewee. Many of these species are displaying sustained population declines of 3 to 4 percent per year. Other factors contributing to this decline include loss of habitat from forest fragmentation, increased mortality, nest parasitism, overabundance of deer, cell towers, wind turbines and acid rain.

Recognizing that the gradual loss of oak canopy may impact future wildlife populations, plant diversity, and the forest products industry, many foresters, wildlife managers and forest ecologists, etc., are attempting to encourage the retention of oak forests or the establishment and development of oak tree regeneration where it is suitable.

In the fall of 2019, a prescribed burn was conducted at the Pine Swamp area on the Frederick City watershed. The purpose of this controlled burn was to encourage pitch pine, shortleaf pine and oak development by controlling the thin barked maple, beech and birch trees that had colonized the site while reducing fire danger by eliminating some of the downed fuels that were scattered around the site. The burn was deemed a success. Preliminary evidence suggests that numerous young pine and oak trees are developing in the area that was burned in 2017. Besides these silvicultural practices to encourage oak regeneration, landowners can plant oak seedlings and protect their oak trees from destructive insects like gypsy moth to help maintain this majestic tree on our landscape.

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Nature Notes: The importance of oak trees | Travel And Outdoors - Frederick News Post

Ever since COVID-19 lockdowns put a stop to tourism, wildlife has been thriving in the heart of the Maya Biosphere, Guatemala, a UNESCO recognised reserve.

The reserve covers a fifth of the country, with El Mirador National Park at its heart. With ancient Mayan cities, tropical forests and wildlife, this territory has been the centre of conservation efforts and initiatives to make sustainable tourism the countrys biggest source of income.

El Mirador has been under constant threat from land clearing projects for cattle ranches, as well as narcotrafficking and wildlife poaching. But major efforts have been made to protect the park through ecotourism, with job opportunities in hospitality for local residents who might otherwise have made a living through hunting or logging.

While the current travel restrictions mean a lack of tourism draws resources away from these projects, animals are being seen more frequently, including large mammals like cats, jaguars, and pumas.

"What the coronavirus leaves me with, is that we really do affect the animals. We do affect the forest," says Gabriel Urruela, photographer and park ranger at El Mirador National Park.

Original post:
Wildlife is roaming the Mayan forests | Living - Euronews

ATLANTA Georgias annual ban on outdoor burning began Friday in 47 counties. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division puts the restrictions in place during the summer months, when increases in ground level ozone may create health risks.

For seven counties that are normally included in the summer burn ban, restrictions will be activated on June 1, giving them extra time to clear vegetative debris from April storms. Those counties are Banks, Catoosa, Chattooga, Floyd, Gordon, Upson and Walker.

From May until Sept. 1, open burning of yard and land-clearing debris is prohibited in some counties where particulate matter pollutants and chemicals from smoke are more likely to combine with emissions from vehicles and industrial activities, Frank Sorrells, chief of protection for the Georgia Forestry Commission, said in a news release. Thats more likely to occur in cities, where theres more asphalt and concrete than open green space and trees to help cool and filter air. The risk of wildfire also may be high in summer, so our agencies are closely monitoring air quality and weather conditions for the safety of all Georgians.

The 47 counties affected by the ban beginning May 1 are Barrow, Bartow, Bibb, Butts, Carroll, Cherokee, Clarke, Clayton, Cobb, Columbia, Coweta, Crawford, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Hall, Haralson, Heard, Henry, Houston, Jackson, Jasper, Jones, Lamar, Lumpkin, Madison, Meriwether, Monroe, Morgan, Newton, Oconee, Paulding, Peach, Pickens, Pike, Polk, Putnam, Richmond, Rockdale, Spalding, Troup, Twiggs and Walton.

May through September is the time of year when people, particularly children, are more likely to be outdoors. Higher levels of ground-level ozone and particle pollution levels are known to contribute to lung problems and heart disease.

Residents in Georgia counties not included in the annual burn ban will continue to be required to secure a burn permit from the Georgia Forestry Commission before burning outdoors. Permits can be secured online at GaTrees.org, by calling 1-877-OK2-BURN or contacting their county GFC office.

During this time of increased focus on safety and respiratory issues in response to COVID-19, the GFC will be particularly mindful about the potential impact of smoke in every area of the state, Georgia Forestry Commission Director Chuck Williams said. The GFC and EPD carefully monitor air quality indices and will continue to do so wherever prescribed fire is permitted.

For more information about the EPD summer burn ban, go to epd.georgia.gov/ and click on Open Burning Rules for Georgia under Popular Topics, or call the EPD district office serving your area. To learn about services of the Georgia Forestry Commission, visit GaTrees.org.

Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free.Please support us by subscribing or making a contribution today.

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Georgia burn ban is in effect for 47 counties - The Albany Herald

We found the first fire without looking, crackling and roaring on farmland beside the busy Amazon highway, the flames consuming a road sign with its name BR-163 lying in the grass. Trucks thundered past, ferrying soya and corn from the agricultural heartlands of Brazils central-west to the ports of Santarm and Miritituba. Nobody was around.

Every year fires roar across the Amazon, and in just a few months they will be here again. But last August the number of blazes reached a nine-year high, and sparked an international crisis for Brazils far-right president Jair Bolsonaro. Months later, their traces hung over the forests in the Amazon state of Par, leaving blackened logs and charred tree stumps where there was once rainforest.

But what happens to the land afterwards, especially in protected reserves? Is anyone punished for burning the forests? Are the forests allowed to grow back? Most of all, what can we expect from this years fire season? Late last year, reporters from the Guardian and investigative site Rporter Brasil spent a week at reserves along the BR-163 to find out.

We started in the hardscrabble settlers town of Novo Progresso in the state of Par, with its plethora of gold shops serving the largely-illegal wildcat mining trade. Police are still investigating Novo Progresso farmers for allegedly coordinating a fire day last August to show Bolsonaro their will to work fires soared by 300% around the town that day. The town sits beside the Jamanxim national forest, a protected reserve of more than 1.3 million hectares (3 million acres) that is one of the most devastated in Brazil. Where better to begin?

The first morning we steered the rented 4x4 along a dirt road out of Novo Progresso, bouncing over potholes as it snaked in and out of the Jamanxim forest. This forest is managed by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), a federal environment agency named after the rubber tapper, activist and environmentalist who won international acclaim before being murdered in 1988 by cattle ranchers.

Inside Jamanxims borders, as forest gave way to a sweep of cattle farms, we found more fire: a patch of forest still smouldering in places, trees swiped at waist height, and the felled, blackened trunk of a regal brazil nut tree in the scorched earth. An extensive search of government websites, publicly available information and internal ICMBio documents revealed that this very patch of forest has an emblematic history of environmental offences and fires.

This smouldering land fell inside the 889 hectares of land registered in 2015 by Jair Ferreira de Souza, a Novo Progresso resident, on Par state governments Rural Register (CAR), just inside the borders of the Jamanxim forest. In 2017 and 2018 Nasa satellites spotted fires on this land, and in 2015 and 2019 De Souza was fined more than 500,000 for destroying hundreds of acres within it by environment officials who photographed cattle branded with his initials: JF.

De Souza has appealed the fines, none of which have been paid. He told officials that he needed pasture and denied that one patch of destroyed forest was his. He claimed his family had owned land here for 30 years, arguing that he had cleared only a minimal area he needed to work, and requested one fine be annulled because he was unable to pay it.

Souza did not respond to messages sent to his phone.

But to understand how Jair Ferreira de Souza is able to claim ownership of land within a federally protected forest, we need to step back into the Amazons chaotic and rapacious history of colonisation.

The military dictatorship that ruled Brazil until 1985 often lauded by Bolsonaro - encouraged migration and built highways to force development into the Amazon region, but failed to impose a functioning property system. Instead, it sold off chunks of forest then largely government owned to private investors. It also handed out lots to migrants who had been encouraged to move there from the poorer north-east.

Much of this land was sold on later, often in deals involving unscrupulous notaries in a range of scams that continue until today, aided by the remoteness and lawlessness of the Amazon region. Adding to the disorder, under Brazilian law, improving land you are on can strengthen an eventual ownership claim. And Amazon farmers often argue that previous governments had encouraged them to move to the region, only to plonk a reserve on top of them years later even if they actually squatted the land afterwards.

As long as its confusing, as long its undetermined who owns what, the guys with the lawyers, the guys with the guns and the influence always win, said Jeremy Campbell, an associate professor of anthropology at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, who specialises in Amazon land conflicts.

Landgrabbers nicknamed grileiros, or crickets, after the tested ruse of leaving fake land titles in drawers full of the insects whose secretions turn them yellow and convincingly old-looking proliferate in the Amazon.

Having some sort of document is key to eventually legitimising stolen land. These days farmers register their own land online as was done for de Souza but often there is more than one claimant for the same area. In Par, there are around three times as many land titles as there is land, state prosecutor Jane Souza said in an interview. In December, Bolsonaro signed a measure allowing grileiros to claim up to 2,500 hectares (6,177 acres) of land squatted before 2018 under certain conditions, such as no environmental fines or embargoes. This needs to be approved by Congress.

The Jamanxim national forest reserve we were in was created in 2006 to slow rampant deforestation. Farms in the reserve were supposed to be repossessed by the government, but that never happened. Commercial agriculture is not permitted there but many local people have never accepted its reserve status.

Paulo Moreira, a federal prosecutor in Par, explained in an interview that protected areas like Jamanxim are attractive to speculators who buy illegally cleared land cheaply to sell on, or deforest it themselves, betting it will be regularised in the future and increase in value. Crime compensates and that makes it attractive, Moreira said.

We spoke to residents of Novo Progresso who clearly saw themselves as hard-working pioneers in a hostile wilderness. Wood, gold prospecting and now cattle made this town, Jadir Rosa told us. The 36-year-old mechanic had moved from Paran state in the south of Brazil and was lunching in the towns market. Rosa supported Bolsonaro and shared his governments scepticism over climate science. Global warming does not exist, he said.

Other residents similarly harboured little sympathy for environment officials. Laudi da Silva, a 72-year-old market stall holder and Bolsonaro supporter, complained that her brothers wildcat mining barge had been destroyed during an operation by environment officials. Theyre always burning things round here, she said. I dont like it.

Agamenon Menezes, the influential president of the towns rural producers union, has been interviewed by police in connection with the fire day investigation, and his computer seized, but he denied involvement during an interview at his unions headquarters. He argued that fire day had been invented by the media to attack Bolsonaro and that there were no more fires last August than in any other year. He denied man-made climate change existed because, he said, 35,000 serious Brazilian scientists had disproved it.

Menezes said Bolsonaro was popular in the region because he was against environmental officials and regulations preventing people working. They have to eat, they have to produce food. So they work illegally, he said. Nobody wants to be illegal as well. They want to work legally. Fires were lit to clear land for pasture that is then turned into agricultural land, he explained. You get an area of dense forest and deforest it, he said. You need to burn this wood.

Environmentalists describe a similar deforestation process. First, landgrabbers and loggers remove the most valuable trees, leaving some cover to make it harder for satellites to spot the damage. The remaining trees are then felled, left to dry and burned hence the fires. Later grass is sown, and cattle put on the deforested land to consolidate possession.

This is the classic cycle we have seen in recent years, said Greenpeace Brazils senior forest campaigner, Adriana Charoux. If the farmer feels confident enough about his ownership of the land, the next stage is soya, she added.

Soya production is growing in the Novo Progresso area, Menezes said, taking pride in the regions improving productivity.

It was striking to see how farming had eaten into the forest on both sides of the BR-163. Cows were everywhere. Wildlife survived as best it could. One morning a white monkey scuttled across a dirt road, followed by a gaggle of forest pigs. Black, blue and orange macaws squawked atop a charred tree trunk, their only perch in a field of cattle. An opportunistic anteater darted across the highway in a gap between the trucks.

All along the highway were signs of logging, including an enormous sawmill at Moraes Almeida and three clapped-out flatbed trucks parked up one morning without licence plates by a smaller sawmill at Vila Izol. Nearby were three swastikas daubed on a bar door. Logging was also evident in the Serra do Cachimbo Springs reserve a 342,000 hectare biological reserve created in 2005, which is also run by ICMBio.

Driving down a dirt road in the reserve one morning we passed a man standing next to a motorbike as a lookout while chainsaws howled in the trees. It was a tense moment: environment officials warned that running into loggers in reserves, who are often armed, can be risky.

When a convoy of government firefighters in 4x4s hurtled past, we followed them into a 6,000-hectare farm registered on the CAR system in 2016 to Andr Ferri. Cattle grazed on pasture littered with old charred logs outside an empty farmhouse, surrounded by a curtain of forest.

All of this was burned, and this is a sensitive area, said one of the firefighters, speaking anonymously because Bolsonaros government has banned environment agency employees from talking to the media.

A few miles from here, a thousand hectares of Ferris farm was embargoed by ICMBio officials in April 2015 after being destroyed illegally and he was fined 3m. Four months later officials revisited the area and found the area had been burned and the area of devastation increased by more than 400 hectares. A satellite image from 2005, when the reserve was created, found no deforestation in the embargoed areas. In 2017, Nasa satellites found fires around the same area. The farms limits have since been modified on the CAR system to exclude the embargoed area.

Ferri has accumulated millions of pounds in fines, some of which were handed out after he broke previous embargoes and none of which has been paid. The neighbouring farm is owned by a transport company run by his brother Edner in Paran state where Andr Ferri is also believed to live. Reached by phone on a Paran number, he refused to answer questions. Brazils justice system has been unable to locate him to formally notify him of any of his fines.

The firefighters headed deeper into the reserve to check an area that had been flagged for deforestation by satellites. Near a patch of houses there were freshly felled trees but no flames yet. They raced off again, passing a charred clump of felled forest, over a rocky ridge and through more cattle farms before parking near a clearing pockmarked with blackened logs and trunks.

Officials first came here last August following a deforestation alert and found a wooden house under construction, which they destroyed. Days later, the area was set on fire. The flames spread for miles and firefighters took days to bring the blaze under control. This is an enormous loss for the environment, one firefighter said. It will take hundreds of years to recover.

As the fires raged, a woman calling herself Nair Brizola drove up to Brazilian reporters and told them that ICMBio officials had started it. Her story was widely circulated by Bolsonaro supporters and the president ordered an investigation. In 2015, nearly 2,000 hectares of land including the scorched clearing where we stood was registered on the CAR system under the name Nair Rodrigues Petry. They are the same person. As Nair Brizola, Petry stood for the council of a town 150km away and had offered a similar plot of land for sale on Facebook for around 500,000.

Brizola/Petry has since been fined 221,000 for destroying 71 hectares of forest using fire. In a telephone interview on the same mobile phone number that appeared on the Facebook land sale advert, Petry said she had documents proving the land had been hers since 2001. When they came and created this reserve, we were already there, she said. Nobody is a crook. She repeated her accusation that ICMBio officials had started the fire, denied offering the land for sale and has not paid the fine.

Petry said she was only just beginning to mess with the land. In the future, the only thing we could do is pasture, she said, meaning more cattle. If I leave there, and leave it all abandoned, someone else will go in.

Brazilian meat companies have complex systems in place to prevent them buying from Amazon farmers facing fines and embargoes, like Andr Ferri. But farmers can avoid those checks by selling cattle to other farms for fattening, who then sell on to slaughterhouses a triangulation process some environmentalists have dubbed cattle laundering. Pressure is growing on meat companies that are largely unable to monitor all their indirect suppliers. In the case of one company, Marfrig, indirect suppliers provide more than half of its cattle supplied from the Amazon.

Research by Holly Gibbs, a professor of geography at the University of Wisconsin who monitors Amazon cattle supply chains, has found that from 20172019 there were at least a hundred properties in the Jamanxim forest raising cattle 68 of them indirect suppliers. Gibbss team found another 27 properties in Serra do Cachimbo involved in cattle production from 20172019, including 25 that were indirect suppliers.

We had our answers: the farms we had managed to reach had illustrated the whole process. Fires three times more common in Amazon cattle farming areas are used to clear forest for pasture. Fragile law enforcement means fines are ignored. And when the loopholes that allow farmers to sell cattle raised on illegally burned or deforested land are taken into account, the future for Novo Progressos forests is not bright. Instead, it is black with smoke.

It was dark when the firefighters convoy left, bouncing back down dirt tracks. A huge fire lit up the night sky: Petrys neighbours burning more trees, the firefighters said. It was dark, and there was nothing they could do. We know why Amazon forests like this burn, but given Brazils current political situation, there are no solutions in view.

More here:
Forest fire season is coming. How can we stop the Amazon burning? - The Guardian

Residents of a tiny community on the New South Wales south coast gathered at dawn on Tuesday as part of a last-ditch effort to prevent a small pocket of bushland that escaped the summer bushfires being bulldozed for a 20-hectare housing development.

Between 70% and 80% of bushland in the Shoalhaven council area was affected during the January fires. Now the local community at Manyana wants the state government to intervene to at least postpone the destruction of one of the few unburnt areas, with the chainsaws expected to start as early as Thursday.

Some bring their yoga mats for the daily protests and, spaced out, greet the dawn. Others arrive on bikes rugged up for a socially distanced protest.

The developer agreed to put it on hold for social and environmental healing, yet just three months later, in the midst of the pandemic, people losing their jobs, out of the blue he said he was starting next week, said Jorj Lowrey, a spokesperson for Manyana Matters.

This is the last thing this community needs, its just too much to put on peoples shoulders. They need time to deal with their post-traumatic stress disorders, to find employment and to deal with their mental health, she said.

Lowrey said the area was home to more than 84 species of birds including the endangered powerful owl, glossy-black cockatoo, and migratory species such as rufous fantails and black-faced monarchs, as well as greater gliders.

These are now under habitat stress due to the huge tracts of bushland that were ravaged by the Currowan fire, which burned 499,600 hectares and razed more than 300 homes during December and January.

Nearby Conjola national park has remained closed which means there has not yet been a stocktake of the wildlife and species loss due to the fires. Plans to have the issue debated in NSW parliament have stalled due to coronavirus.

We called for a moratorium on all land-clearing in bushfire-affected areas, Lowrey said. We put together a petition and it was tabled in parliament, but now its in limbo due to Covid-19.

The developer Ozy Homes had planned to start bulldozing in January.

It now intends to begin clearing work on stage 1, for 30 housing lots, but has agreed to pause the other stages for now. Ozy Homes declined to comment.

The planning and public spaces minister, Rob Stokes, has said he cannot issue a stop-work order without legislative change. But the Greens MP David Shoebridge said Stokes could immediately declare a new State Environmental Planning Policy (Sepp) covering bushfire-affected areas, which would allow him to protect them from land clearing while bushland recovered.

The only reason this development is pressing ahead is because they are worried about policy change, Shoebridge said. I am certain the planning minister is under pressure to act and he could, by issuing a Sepp.

Lowrey said the land clearing was causing particular angst for people who fought the fires.

They stopped it burning across Cunjurong Point road. They put their lives on the line to protect the houses and this piece of bush, she said.

On New Years Eve, the Currowan fire ripped through Conjola, then crossed the lake and headed north up Bendalong Mountain, cutting off the villages of Manyana and Bendalong for days. More areas were burned on 3 January.

The history of development at Manyana has been fraught. Three new housing estates were approved more than a decade ago, despite local protests over loss of coastal environments including wetlands.

But because of sluggish market conditions, they became what are known as zombie developments. The sites changed hands and enough work was done to keep the development approvals alive, but development itself was paused.

Lowrey argues that over the past decade environmental standards for new housing estates in coastal areas have become more stringent and appreciation of the value of the remaining natural environment has increased. Some developers, she says, have chosen to develop larger lots and keep more vegetation, rather than opting for the standard suburban configuration.

Cruelly, the fires also burned part of the other planned development site, Inyadda Drive the part of the site that is to be kept as an environmental zone. It largely spared the area to be cleared.

If the one thing we make happen out of this is that the law changes. You shouldnt be able to sit on a development application, Lowrey said.

People get left with an out-of-date style project thats no longer viable, when something much better could be done: larger blocks with dedicated green space on each lot.

Read more from the original source:
Spared by the fires, NSW's south coast bushland now faces the bulldozers - The Guardian