by Rintos Mail, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on April 12, 2014, Saturday

KUCHING: Native Customary Rights (NCR) landowners in Saratok are encouraged to participate in the Malaysian Palm Oil Boards (MPOB) oil palm mini-estate planting scheme.

Social Development Minister Tan Sri William Mawan said the scheme is the best opportunity for smallholders to develop their NCR land.

He called oil palm the best cash crop, saying its development is very reliable.

Although its capital outlay is quite substantial, the government, through the MPOB is doing its level best to help the people who want to develop their own land. The initiatives by the government I believe will enable the landowners to benefit from their customary asset, he said yesterday during a courtesy call by applicants from Saratok for the scheme.

The Saratok member of parliament, who endorsed his visitors application forms, said there is no acquisition of land under this scheme so the land and mini-estates would belong fully to the landowners.

He stressed that landowners need not worry about their land as there would be no land grab by the government as often alleged by some quarters.

MPOB, he explained, would only assist the landowners with aid in terms of land clearing, seedlings, fertilisers and pesticides.

The scheme is financed by MPOB, while the mini-estates belong to the landowners, said Mawan.

Saratok parliamentary constituency special affairs assistant officer Wilfred Empati said MPOB would assist each landowner with RM9,000 in kind per hectare, while each applicant must have at least 5ha to be eligible and the applications must be made in groups.

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NCR landowners asked to join oil palm scheme

EDITOR: Wild nature and human nature are closely interwoven; eco-centrism and human-centrism are therefore one in the same. To take care of our species we must assure mutual protection for all others in order for the system to run efficiently; providing all stakeholders safe passage for generations to come.

These are the simple tenets of a conservation biologist that any first year student of the discipline can grasp. Some of you who just read that opening salvo probably hope Im not talking about the removal of a couple of trees - all 250 of them - so that our kids can play after school sports more comfortably at Bernards High School. Sorry to report thats exactly what Im referring to.

As a professional in the field of environmental science I gained an intimacy with the Bernards High Lower Field woodland last spring. I devoted an entire day of my life to its confines. Here is what I learned.

The site is a mixed deciduous forest type at the terminus of a much longer finger of greenway connected lands associated directly with the Great Swamps exceptional resource value ecosystem. I restricted myself to the footprint that is to be the extended field and the forested buffers that surround it.

Through direct observation and interpretation of natural signs I catalogued 23 bird species, seven species of mammals, two amphibians, one reptile, and 32 species of flora - trees not included. I also performed a survey of nocturnal invertebrate species on a warm May evening that same week.

This study resulted in an impressive tally: 73 species of moths and other insects all in one night! The latter treatment is a much better barometer of the overall ecologic health of this forest patch than are the diurnal species mentioned. Combined, however, the numbers should give even the most skeptical amongst us reason for pause.

I beg you all to focus on the fact that these were species found in one single day in May what about the rest of the year? What about the potential of the site to support species like maternity roosting endangered bats and migratory birds?

Not the dumb bats and birds again - we hear the eco-whackism retort all the time as conservation biologists: Save the panda bear as long as its not in an area slated for human-induced, conceived necessity.

Will the clearing of 250 trees thrust any of them into extinction? Of course not; what I concern myself with, and you should as well, is the fact that we nip and tuck at our environmental capital each and every day in this state.

This latest example of small scale land clearing is just one of hundreds that has happened this week alone in New Jersey. So whats the big deal about a little deforestation in the back of Kings?

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LETTER: Bville tree clearing: Death by a thousand cuts

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Residents of North Charleston's Deer Park seem to live in a state of constant vigilance; not against crime, but against repeated efforts to convert residential properties near University Boulevard into businesses.

In the latest dispute, which North Charleston City Council will discuss April 17, developers want to rezone a residential lot on Shadow Lane for a medical office building. They argue, and some city officials agree, that nobody would build a home there because the property is surrounded by businesses and institutions.

For neighborhood residents who are trying to keep businesses from intruding, it's a zoning Catch-22. While residents don't want the edge of their neighborhood becoming more commercial, they face an argument that some properties should be rezoned for businesses because nobody wants to live there because they are next to businesses.

"I drove over there today, and there is no way anyone would build a house on that lot," Councilwoman Rhonda Jerome said at a public hearing Thursday.

Residents fear a domino effect, and have been pressing city officials to maintain a "demarcation line" meant to keep businesses out of the neighborhood. Prior requests to rezone the same property on Shadow Lane have been denied or withdrawn.

"You know our stance," neighborhood association president Beth Evans told council members at the hearing. "We don't want to ruin the integrity of our (comprehensive) plan by crossing the demarcation line."

Any zoning issue can involve lots of legal language and technical jargon, but in the end it comes down to what a property owner can do with their land, and how that could impact the neighbors.

In the Shadow Lane case, the residential lot is surrounded on three sides by church-owned property. Churches are allowed on residential property - the churches didn't need rezoning - but their presence has created the argument that the neighboring land is no longer suitable for a home site. Trident Medical Center owns the other land adjacent to the residential lot.

Developer Robert Pratt, of Parkway Associates, said he was unaware of the demarcation line, but said the office building would be "unobtrusive" if allowed.

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Land-use disputes keep coming in North Charleston's Deer Park neighborhood

Bulldozers and workers with chainsaws have been moving dirt and clearing land around the old gas station site at Gilberts Corner in recent months. The activity is the result of a complicated 12-year process (so far) thats led to the consolidation of a 400-acre swath of land, parts of which will be used as a public park, open spaces for agricultural use and what could be one of the areas premier farmers markets.

Over the past dozen years, Middleburgs Scott Kasprowicz, the Piedmont Environmental Council and others under the banner of Green Project LLC and Roundabout Partners LLC have quietly been purchasing property that now extends from Gilberts Corner, at the intersection of Rt. 15 and Rt. 50, going east all the way to the historic Mt. Zion Church.

The land has since been given either to the Northern Virginia Regional Parks Authority or the Piedmont Environmental Council, to preserve it in its current pristine state, while also keeping it out of the hands of developers or other commercial interests.

What makes this area so uniqueis that [travelers] breathe a sigh of relief when they see that scenic and historic landscape around Gilberts Corner open up before them, Mike Kane, PECs Land Conservation Officer for Loudoun County, said. Our goal is to conserve that landscape and preserve that experience.

Bottom line: no fast food arches or big-box retail store will ever blight one of the areas most well-traveled crossroads, and the surrounding land will be preserved for future generations.

Its really good news for the community, Kasprowicz, a former telecommunications executive who moved to Middleburg in 2000, said. Ever since, hes been an active participant in local preservation and conservation organizations, serving as past vice chairman for the PEC board. And the Gilberts Corner project clearly has been his great passion, pride and joy.

Ive had a lifelong belief in land conservation and the preservation of local agriculture, he said. There should be a balance between development and retaining open land for farming. This effort is helping to achieve that balance. Its private citizens, creating public parkland and preserving farmland in a multi-year collaborative effort.

It began in 2002 when Kasprowicz, a native of upstate New York and a Forestry and Environmental Science graduate of Syracuse University, took a call from Brad Bradshaw on behalf of the historic Mt. Zion Church off Rt. 50. Bradshaw said hed heard about a plan to develop nearby land and wondered if anything could be done to preserve the land. Kasprowicz, with the support of the PEC, spearheaded the effort to help Mt. Zion Church acquire the land, which is now known as the Gilberts Corner Regional Park.

It will include walking and nature trails, open space, farmland and picnic areas. To keep the property in its natural state, there will be no soccer or baseball fields or tennis courts. The PEC believes the now-protected land will restore agricultural vitality, enhance wildlife habitat and protect streams and water resources.

Also, the boarded-up building right at Gilberts Corner that housed a gas station from 1927 through the mid-70s, owned originally by the corners namesake, William A. Gilbert, has been stabilized. Kasprowicz said that the station would be renovated as funding permits, perhaps for a regional visitors center. It also will be the focal point for what Kasprowicz envisions as a thriving farmers market that will allow local farmers to sell their products directly to the public.

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Farm Fresh & Much More At Gilberts Corner

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Theological Seminary (STS) is in urgent need of funds to repair and restore areas in and around the campus that are affected by landslides due to developments and land clearing nearby.

STS principal Rev Datuk Dr Thu En Yu said developments and land clearing in nearby areas had caused severe landslides to the slopes in and outside the campus.

Hence, Thu said there was an urgent need for funds to maintain and restore the areas affected by the landslides which, if left unchecked, could cause accessibility problems from the campus to the chapel.

Thu said this in a courtesy call on Minister of Special Tasks Datuk Teo Chee Kang on Monday.

Also present were STS advisor Datuk Yap Pak Leong, Lim Chin Teck, Rev Dr Wilfred John, Rev Datuk Dr Thomas Tsen and Datuk Lee Khun Choi @ Peter Lee.

During the event, Thu expressed his gratitude to the state government for its annual financial allocation to STS, and hoped that the government would continue to provide financial support to the seminary.

In addition, Thu said the STS Education Centre (EC) was completed in 2010 and there was still a shortfall of RM1 million in the balance of construction costs of the building.

The building is now widely used by STS as well as the public for local and international functions, seminars, concerts, conferences and other purposes.

Apart from theology, Thu said STS also offered courses such as social work and counseling.

Thu said there were currently over 900 students studying on and off campus. STS also provides scholarships and helps to raise funds for students who require financial aid.

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Seminary in dire need of funds following landslides

APOPKA, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35 ORLANDO) -

Voters in Apopka have elected a new mayor.

Joe Kilsheimer, 56, has defeated 93-year-old incumbent John Land. Kilsheimer captured 54 percent of the vote to Land's 46 percent.

Tuesday's runoff election was called since neither Land nor Kilsheimer got a majority of the nearly 5,000 votes cast during last March's mayoral election in what was a four-candidate race. Kilsheimer and Land were the two top vote-getters.

Land had run unopposed in the last dozen years.

Also in Apopka, Sam Ruth has defeated Linda Ann Laurendeau, 51 percent to 49 percent in the race for Apopka City Council.

Apopka has a population of 44,000 residents.

Lynum, Hill will face each other in runoff for Orlando Council seat

In the city of Orlando, there was no clear winner in the race for the District 5 City Council seat. Juan Lynum was widely considered the favorite, but he will have to go to a runoff election after not getting more than 50 percent of the vote.

The race has been closely watched, because Juan Lynum is the son of longtime City Commissioner Daisy Lynum. She qualified to run for reelection early and it discouraged many challengers. In the last hour of the last day of qualifying, Juan Lynum entered the race. The following Monday, Daisy Lynum withdrew from the race, seemingly clearing the path for her son. Juan Lynum says he never just assumed he would win.

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Kilsheimer defeats Land in Apopka mayoral race; Lynum, Hill in runoff

Representatives of 50 families in Ratanakkiris Andong Meas district filed a complaint with rights group Adhoc yesterday alleging that a Vietnamese concessionaire is responsible for destroying about 50 hectares of cashew plantations.

Sorl Penh, 58, a representative for the villagers from Nhang commune, said yesterday that locals had been relying on the land for nearly 20 years but had been unable to stop Company 72 from clearing community land since March 14.

About 20 to 30 of us tried to stop their vehicles. They stopped while we were there, and they continued clearing when we left. We do not know what to do since the authorities also could not find a solution for this [dispute], he said.

Andong Meas district governor Norng Darith said district authorities had attempted to solve the issue three times already but had failed.

Some villagers stopped using the land eight or 10 years ago, but when the company tried to clear it, they stopped the company and said it was their own, Darith said.

Company 72 has already been implicated in a land dispute involving the clearing of some 10 per cent of a 1,000-hectare forest in neighbouring OYadav district, said Chhay Thy, provincial coordinator for rights group Adhoc.

This company did not obey the policy of economic land concessions, because it has cleared community forest and farmlands. But still there has been no legal measure set to punish them, Thy said, adding that the firm was overstepping its 6,000-hectare concession in OYadav.

Contact information for Company 72 is not publicly available, but OYadav district governor Dak Sar confirmed with the Post in late March that the companys concession partly overlapped with the villagers forest.

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Cashew plantations destroyed

ABC The Northern Territory Lands Department is investigating the clearing of this site in Berrimah.

A Darwin-based environmental group has called on the Northern Territory Government to prosecute a company that has cleared four hectares of forest.

Leslie Alford from the Rapid Creek Land Care group says the Lands Department has ordered a stop to the illegal clearing.

The land is on the corner of Amy Johnson Avenue and Boulter Road in Berrimah.

The department says an application is required prior to the clearing of any land on the site.

It says no application has been received to date.

Ms Alford says the Government has to prosecute to deter similar action in the future.

She says it also needs to order rehabilitation of the site.

"It was a 100 per cent bushland, part of it wetland, part of it transitional communities and part of it woodland," she said.

"But it was a beautiful block."

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Rapid Creek Land Care group dismayed by land clearing in Berrimah

Workers have started clearing land to widen the bottleneck in LPGA Boulevard near Derbyshire Road in Holly Hill.

Every day, Hamid Zomorodian experiences the traffic bottleneck near the intersection of LPGA Boulevard and Derbyshire Road in Holly Hill.

Vehicles race to and from Interstate 95 on a four-lane, divided highway only to have to slow down and merge into two lanes before hitting another stretch of four-lane travel.

In the next year or so, that will change. Volusia County which widened the stretch between Derbyshire and Nova Road several years ago used eminent domain to acquire several key parcels to finish widening the remaining two-lane stretch.

Motorists have noticed clearing activities on some of the lots, while electronic message boards signal construction work is expected to start this week.

County Engineer Gerald Brinton said Florida Power & Light is planning to move power poles and the county anticipates advertising for bids for the widening job within 90 days. The county has more than $3 million budgeted for the project, which will widen the road for less than a half-mile between Jimmy Ann Drive and Derbyshire.

I think its a very good idea, said Zomorodian, who owns a car sales and service business on LPGA farther east, at the corner of Ridgewood Avenue, and lives in Port Orange. In the short run, some businesses might be disrupted, but in the long run, it might be beneficial for everyone.

According to Volusia County traffic engineering data, an average of 17,300 vehicles traveled each day along LPGA Boulevard between Jimmy Ann Drive and Derbyshire Road in 2012. In comparison, the average daily traffic count that same year for the stretch of International Speedway Boulevard between Nova Road and Martin Luther King Boulevard was 24,500.

Renee Carpenter, an employee at one of those businesses, Southern Comfort Protective Systems, said she hopes the job wont drag out like the one farther east did. That took forever, she said.

The contractor, Built-Rite Construction of Pierson, had issues with removing soil, which extended the project to 18 months in length and led to a legal tussle with the county and Daytona Beach over its payment. In the end, the county and city ended up adding $400,000 to the $2.26 million job.

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County set to widen LPGA Blvd.

Volvo 160 Excavator Loading Big stumps
loading up 2 big stumps from a land clearing job.

By: letsdig18

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Volvo 160 Excavator Loading Big stumps - Video