Volume 23, No. 02 - March 30, 2011

U. S. Fish and WIldlife Service requesting information on seven bat species

The rapid spread of white-nose syndrome (WNS) and associated declines in bat populations have led to requests to the US Fish and Wildlife Service to protect cave-hibernating bats under the Endangered Species Act. The Service is preparing for a status assessment process that will first focus on cave-hibernating bats known to be susceptible to WNS (or which have been exposed to WNS but not known to be susceptible). Over the last decade, NCASI has supported several research projects across the nation investigating habitat relationships of bats in managed forest landscapes.

Read Full Article ›

Biomass technical session and forestry water workshop NCASI 2011 Northern Regional Meeting

The NCASI Northern Regional Meeting will be held at the Jefferson Street Inn in Wausau, Wisconsin on May 18-19, 2011. A technical session on Sustainable Production and Use of Forest Biomass will follow the general session the morning of May 18. On the morning of May 19, NCASI will offer a workshop that will review and provide a forum to discuss water quality issues and regulations affecting sustainable management of northern forests.

Read Full Article

EPA defers regulation of biomass CO2 emissions

The US Environmental Protection Agency has published a proposed rule to defer regulation of CO2 emissions from biomass under certain provisions of the Clean Air Act (Federal Register Vol. 76, No. 54, pp. 15249-15266; March 21, 2011). During the three-year deferral period, “EPA will be conducting a detailed examination of the science associated with biogenic CO2 emissions from stationary sources.”

Read Full Article

EPA requests delay for pesticide permit program

An EPA website posting announced that “On March 3, 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requested an extension to allow more time for pesticide operators to obtain permits for pesticide discharges into U.S. waters.”

Read Full Article

Project explores habitat-based approach to conserving at-risk biodiversity

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI), Weyerhaeuser Company, and NCASI recently supported an assessment by NatureServe of the extent to which globally imperiled and critically imperiled species and communities are associated with generalized habitat types. The NatureServe assessment encompassed three pilot regions. For each of the three pilot regions, NatureServe established lists of globally imperiled species and communities of conservation concern to the forest products industry, documented occurrences by county, and characterized the generalized habitat types as optimal, suitable, marginal, or unsuitable for each imperiled species/community.

Read Full Article

National Soil Carbon Network

The National Soil Carbon Network (NSCN) was developed to improve the understanding of soil carbon dynamics across the United States by assembling databases, identifying and filling gaps in data coverage, and through modeling and experimentation. Specific goals of the NSCN are to 1) coordinate soil carbon observation, archiving, experimentation, and modeling; 2) understand the relationship between soil carbon and ecosystem services; 3) forecast soil carbon vulnerability under changing climate, land use, and other disturbance; and 4) contribute to organizing and communicating this information for land managers, modelers, and policy makers.

Read Full Article