Dialogue Updates
- Upcoming Opportunity
- Firewood and Montana
- RILA and Sustainability
- Meeting with Obama Team
- Skiing with Trees
- Don't Move Firewood wins Award
Of Interest
Note to users on Government computers: please scroll to the bottom to get help with using links in the newsletterMarch Pest Quiz!
Where was the first infestation of Gypsy Moth located?
Be the first person to email the right answer to lgreenwood@tnc.org and win a stainless steel Don't Move Firewood water bottle!
Winner will be listed in the next newsletter...
Answer to the October Pest Quiz!
At first, the damage to oaks from the Gold spotted oak borer was attributed to a long term drought that California has been experiencing.
4th Annual Continental Dialogue Meeting Summary
The 4th annual meeting summary is now available. The completed documents, including attachments and presentations from the meeting, are available online at the Dialogue website
Pests in the News, Winter '08 - '09
New
infestations discovered this winter... [read more]
Forward this newsletter to a colleague
Click here to forward this newsletter to a colleague or a potential Continental Dialogue member.
Upcoming Opportunity: Appropriations Letters
Members of the Dialogue are developing a proposed set of
recommendations for funding (appropriations) for key USDA programs that
address non-native forest insects and diseases... [read more]
Targeting Out of State Visitors with the Don't Move Firewood message
This
spring, well over 700,000 target audience eyes will be looking at
Dontmovefirewood.org materials as a result of a single partnership....[read more]
Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) Sustainability Initiative
RILA met with members of the
Continental Dialogue in the fall of 2008 to discuss the
Sustainability Initiative. ... [read more]
Meeting with Obama Team
In December, Representatives
of the Dialogue and NECIS met with David Lazarus of (then) President-Elect Obama’s USDA Transition Team... [read more]
Ski areas and Dialogue members both want healthy forests
The simple fact that the ski industry and the Dialogue both want healthy forestsis the driving force behind our new outreach campaign with the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA).... [read more]
Emerging Media Award given to Dontmovefirewood.org
Dontmovefirewood.org won the 2008 Emerging Media Award for Green Marketing by Summit Awards International.... [read more]
Dialogue Member Profile: Jerry A. Carlson
Dialogue member Jerry A. Carlson is a Research Scientist and Chief of the Forest Health and Protection Section of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.... [read more]
Of Interest: Great Plains Tree and Forest Invasives Multi-state Initiative (submitted by Diane Denenberg, Communications Director, Western Forestry Leadership Coalition) Funded by federal and matching state dollars, the Great Plains Tree and Forest Invasives Initiative (GPI) has given state forestry agencies in Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota the opportunity to work together to prepare for the arrival of EAB, and other invasive species, in the Northern Plains... [read more]
FULL STORIES BELOW
Pests in the News, Winter '08- '09 (full story)
New infestations and information came out this winter. Below is a sampling of new developments in the realm of North American forest pests.
- Asian longhorned beetle reemerges on Staten Island
- Over 9,000 trees to be cut in Worcester MA, by April 2009
- EAB now confirmed in Central PA and Hamilton (Ontario) Canada
- Tree death in the Rockies and Pacific Coast speeding up
- Gold spotted oak borer can move on firewood
Upcoming Opportunity: Appropriations Letters (full story)
Members of the Dialogue are developing a proposed set of recommendations for funding (appropriations) for key USDA programs that address non-native forest insects and diseases. We anticipate asking for increased appropriations for USDA APHIS programs addressing Asian longhorned beetle, sudden oak death, and the Sirex woodwasp; and continued funding at the same level as this year for the emerald ash borer. We will also ask for funding increases to support the USDA Forest Service Forest Health Protection and Research programs which address these pests and a range of others including hemlock woolly adelgid, goldspotted oak borer, laurel wilt, ohia rust, and the newly detected “1000 canker” disease of walnut. Be on the lookout for an email inviting your organization to join other Dialogue members in endorsing these funding requests.
Submitted by Faith T. Campbell, fcampbell@tnc.org, chair/convenor of Working Group 5
Targeting out-of-state visitors with the Don’t Move Firewood message (full story)
This spring, well over 700,000 target audience eyes will be looking at Dontmovefirewood.org materials as a result of a single partnership. By teaming up with the Dialogue, the Department of Natural Resource Conservation in Montana has enabled our website and its crucial message to be seen by a large swath of out-of-state visitors. Postcards are being sent to out of state hunting license applicants, ad space has been donated by a Montana Travel magazine, and the 2010 Deer, Elk, and Antelope State of Montana Hunting Regulations will feature a ½ page advertisement. The Montana DNRC wants to be sure that the people who enjoy hunting big game, fishing in blue ribbon trout streams, or just enjoying the scenery in a big Western state will not pack any firewood in the back of their RVs.
If you think your state organization or government might be interested in engaging with dontmovefirewood.org and creating its own campaign, email us at lgreenwood@tnc.org or visit www.dontmovefirewood.org/montana-campaign.html
Retail Industry Leaders Association Sustainability Initiative (full story)
The
Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) met with members of the
Continental Dialogue in the fall of 2008 to discuss RILA’s
Sustainability Initiative. RILA’s website states that “…
members of the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) have embraced
environmental stewardship and sustainability.”
From
leading efforts to identify and address key environmental compliance to
managing efforts to embrace voluntary opportunities in sustainability
leadership, the Dialogue sees a natural partnership with RILA.
Recognition of positive efforts on the part of business is part of the
plan, and members of the Dialogue feel that they can help identify
opportunities, prepare case studies, and assist in the education of
customers, organizations and other stakeholders.
The conversation was well received, but action on the part of RILA at
this time focuses on the analysis and evaluation of governmental
policies and marketplace issues that constitute barriers to sustainable
retail business practices. RILA is also working on alternative
solutions to improve products, operating practices and stewardship of
retail-related activities. Opportunities for engaging RILA members,
both as organizations and as individuals, with a goal of bringing them
into the Dialogue may arise, and continuing discussions will raise
issues and awareness. Future Dialogue member discussion may focus on
providing RILA with information about forest ecosystem challenges, and
advising RILA’s Sustainability Initiative as it moves along towards its
goals. For more information on RILA related issues, email John Peter
Thompson at ipetrus@msn.com or Frank Lowenstein at flowenstein@tnc.org
Obama Transition Team expresses interest in forest pest issues (full story)
In December, Representatives of the Continental Dialogue and the National Environmental Coalition on Invasive Species (NECIS) met with David Lazarus of (then) President-Elect Obama’s USDA Transition Team. Dialogue members were pleased by Mr. Lazarus' interest in forest pest issues and the time he devoted to exploring our suggested solutions. We had ample time to discuss our priorities (improve coordinated government response, USDA leadership, Q-37 rulemaking, Funding of key programs, Rulemaking regarding wood packaging used in interstate trade) and we also presented information on some other invasive species priorities and concerns that had not been included in the groups’ joint recommendations.
The next opportunity for both the Continental Dialogue and NECIS to interact with Obama Administration officials on invasive species will probably be confirmation hearings for the new Under Secretary of Agriculture.
Find the Dialogue's transition package at www.continentalforestdialogue.org and NECIS transition package at www.NECIS.net
Those present at the December meeting were:
For the Dialogue
- Nadine Block, American Forest & Paper Association
- Craig Regelbrugge and John Peter Thompson, American Nursery and Landscape Association
- Bob Ehart, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture
- Jay Farrell, National Association of State Foresters
- Carol Holko, National Plant Board
- Faith Campbell, The Nature Conservancy
- Lin Schmale, Society of American Florists
For NECIS
- Aimee DeLach, Defenders of Wildlife
- Read Porter, Environmental Law Institute
- Corry Westbrook, National Wildlife Federation
- Cat Hazlewood, The Nature Conservancy
- Phyllis Windle, Union of Concerned Scientists
Ski areas and Dialogue members both want healthy forests (full story)
The simple fact that the ski industry and the Dialogue both want healthy forests is the driving force behind our new outreach campaign with the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA). Frank Lowenstein and Leigh Greenwood of The Nature Conservancy recently gave brief presentations and staffed an information booth at NSAA conferences in both Vermont and Colorado. It is our hope that the interest ski area managers showed in preventing the movement of firewood to and from their regions, and their general support of the Dialogue’s mission will result in new and unique partnerships.
A few ski areas have already begun to spread the message of dontmovefirewood.org. In Central New York, Mohawk Mountain included a piece about the importance of leaving firewood at home in their monthly newsletter. the NSAA journal will be featuring an article on the threat of firewood to the ski industry in their June/July edition.
For more information on how dontmovefirewood.org is engaging with the ski industry, please contact lgreenwood@tnc.org
Emerging Media Award given to Dontmovefirewood.org (full story)
Dontmovefirewood.org won the 2008 Emerging Media Award for Green Marketing by Summit Awards International. Not only is it exciting to have won an award, but it also helps the website promote itself through enhanced rankings in search engines, and greater visibility to others.
Dialogue Member Profile: Jerry A Carlson (full story)
Jerry is a Research
Scientist and Chief of the Forest Health and Protection Section of the
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. As a Biologist, Forester and Entomologist, Jerry has over 30 years experience examining insect, wildlife and vegetation interactions in managed and natural environments. In 2002 Jerry took on his current position with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The Research Scientist is the Department's chief expert on forest protection where research is driven by the concern over loss of biological diversity and forest sustainability. Other division sections are forest management oriented and Jerry's role is to provide forest health research support to Private Forestry, Marketing and Utilization, Urban and Community Forests, State Tree Nursery, State Forests and Forest Preserve. Jerry lives with his wife Andrea Lee and his children Rebecca and Orin in Delmar New York.
[return to top]
Of Interest: Great Plains Tree and Forest Invasives Multi-state Initiative (full story)
(submitted by Diane Denenberg, Communications Director, Western Forestry Leadership Coalition)
Funded by federal and matching state dollars, the Great Plains Tree and Forest Invasives Initiative (GPI) has given state forestry agencies in Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota the opportunity to work together to prepare for the arrival of EAB, and other invasive species, in the Northern Plains. In 2008, states made strides in assessing the region’s tree resources, developing educational materials and coordinating a citizen-based monitoring program.
In 2008, the four states initiated a massive inventory project to identify and quantify tree resources previously not measured or inventoried. To develop a methodology for accurately capturing the region’s tree and forest resources, GPI contracted with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) National Inventory, Monitoring and Assessment Center in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. To promote awareness of EAB among natural resource professionals, the GPI assembled an EAB Awareness More than 1,500 packets were distributed to natural resource professionals and extension personnel across the four states.
For more information please see http://www.wflccenter.org
[return to top]
Note for those using government computers:
With our first newsletter, we discovered that users of federal and state owned computers have trouble following links. This seems to be a spam or virus filter feature that is "overzealous."
If you are running into problems with the links, the easiest thing to do is try to copy and paste the link you wish to follow into a new browser window. Usually, to do this, you'd "right click" your mouse on the link, select "Copy Link Location" from that menu, and then paste the link into a new window.
Good luck, and if your problems persist, please contact lgreenwood@tnc.org to let her know (so that she can attempt to improve usability in the future).