MOTHER GOOSE AND THE DOVE
compiled by Dee Finney
Genesis 1:9 - And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear." and it was so. 10 - God called
the dry ground "land" and the gathered waters he called "seas". And God saw that it was good. 11 - The God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing
plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. 12 - The land produced vegetation plants bearing see
according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 - And there was evening, and there was
morning - the third day.
| 1-15-02 - DREAM - I was walking through a city and saw that work crews
were cutting down all the big old trees. I was shocked they were doing that.
As I went down the street there were more dead trees - all laying in the
street. Cars couldn't even drive - the tree trunks were all laying in the
road - particularly where I had to go through - there were two huge tree
trunks I had to jump over. |
| 6-30-02 - DREAM - I was out in the country. It was similar to our New
Berlin house but not quite. The house had a huge addition on it. The addition
was roughed in, but didn't have anything finished, no plumbing, no electricity. A salesman named Dennis - (named for St. Denys) called on the phone and wanted to give me a bid on upgrading the electrical outlets in the part of the house we were living in, but I thought I'd get a bid from him for the addition as well.
However, he started asking me questions about what kind of outlets we had in the house and I didn't know. I told him that every outlet was different. Then was no two alike.
He didn't want to hear that and I started getting upset because I couldn't give him a different answer and I couldn't change it.
I went back to the other part of the house to tell Joe about it and I managed to briefly, but he was busy talking to the people, but even though hew as leaning on me and using me for a back rest, which felt good, I didn't get to tell him about wanting to get a bid on the addition to the house.
I went outside and began weeding the garden in front of the house. The weeds pulled out easily. I also discovered that tiny trees had been planted in plastic tubes here and there, none had taken root and they had died. I went back into the house because I thought a storm was coming. as soon as I did, I saw Earl Burris walking around out in the yard with a chain saw cutting trees and there was a woman out there too who looked like a black thin shadow telling him what to cut out.
The phone rang and I ran for the phone and picked it up. It was tiny cell phone, but the call wasn't for me, it was for my grown daughter.
So, while she was talking on the phone, I was in the bedroom dusting the floors.
I saw a red toolbox then and left it so it was handy and prided myself on keeping the floor clean. Meanwhile I could hear everything else that was going on, but kept doing my own work.
|
| 9-29-02 - DREAM - I was out in the country, waking down a road, going
to meet my Father, when I saw a an old man come down an adjoining road on
a motorcycle. Just as the man came to the intersection, he hit a small hillock
on the corner of the intersection because he cut the corner too short. When
he hit the hillock, he bounced over it, hit another hillock and then crashed
and slid his motorcycle along the road the died.
There were witnesses to the accident besides myself. My Father saw it happen, as well as my cousin Paul, who is about the same age as myself. The man's son also saw the accident. The man's son immediately blamed my cousin Paul and had him arrested and jailed. The penalty for this accident was death, so knew I was going to have to testify for Paul, because I knew the truth. I was thinking bout this again as my Father and I were gain walking down a hill towards the scene of the accident. My Father pointed out to me where he had seen the accident occur. I went ahead of my Father to point out to him exactly which hillock the motorcycle had hit because since the accident, the grass had grown over part of the road and the scene didn't look exactly like it had earlier in time. As I neared the corner where the accident occurred, I saw a huge tree fall in the woods to my right. The branches were already cut off the tree, so only the trunk was falling. I walked faster to get away from the falling tree trunk and saw another tree trunk fall. I hadn't heard the sound of a logger's saw, these trees were falling on their own. I was standing at the intersection and looked back up the road towards where my Father was slowly coming down the hill behind me. I couldn't believe my eyes, but more and more cut tree trunks without branches were falling on the road behind my Father and coming close to hitting him and killing him, but not only that, huge brown grizzly bears were coming down the road behind my Father too. They had been scared to of the forest by the numerous falling cut trees which were continuing to fall. My Father was too far away for me to holler at him that he should hurry or the trees or the bears were going to kill him. How could he not know that he was in danger of being killed? But he didn't walk any faster. There was an old barn right next to where I was standing and I was ready to provide shelter to my Father just by opening the door on the barn, when he got to the intersection. But then I saw one of the bears pick up my Father, hold him up in the air, shake him, and put him back on the ground. My Father didn't look afraid as more and more tree trunks fell and slid down the road behind him and more and more bears came down the road out of the forest. The huge bear again picked up my Father with his huge clawed paws and held him up in the air - I was waiting then, watching - fearing my Father's death and woke up - remembering the silent scene - remembering that all those trees fell in silence - there had never been a sound.
|
| 2-27-03 - DREAM - I was working in an office with my friend Alyse. My
desk was right up against my bosses desk. He had a phone on his desk which
was a single line and I had a phone that was multiple lines, which also included his line.
I thought about whether to answer his phone on his desk because I could reach it easily, or if I should turn around and answer his phone on my desk which meant I'd have to actually turn to my right to do it.
For some reason, our answering machine wasn't working so the boss gave me a large box full of pads of "When Your Were Out." slips in it. There were hundreds of them.
I laughed and said to Alyse, "I'll answer is phone, take a message and put it on his desk - he won't have time to call the person back, so he'll give me the papers back and say, 'blah, blah, blah,' which I could have done in the first place."
Alyse then made a comment about the lack of rain, and said, "I wonder where the rain is!"
So, I mentally put a picture up in front of her that showed stand of topless tree poles, pouring rain and a bright shining sun behind the rain, and said, "There it is!"
Then I had to stop and wonder shy the trees were topless and where that was.
Joe was driving me home then. We were going along the street and some kids were crossing the street aways. They stopped in the middle of the road to pick up a dressmaker's manikin to drag it across the street.
The kids were right where we needed to make a right turn so we stopped and waited for the boys to finish crossing the street. But the boys just stood there with the manikin now standing upright on the street.
So Joe mentally shrunk the manikin down in size and moved it with his mind all the way down the street to the next intersection and up on the sidewalk in the front of the corner drug store.
I was amazed at the power of Joe's mind - but the boys were scared at that and ran across the street away from us. |
| 3-16-03 - DREAM - I was in my New Berlin house. It was almost 4 p.m.
I went into the house and my husband was in the livingroom playing music
on the stereo. He was playing it really loud, so I went in to see what he
was playing because I liked it.
As soon as I walked in, he turned the music down so I could barely hear it. So I complained and he turned it back up. I sat and looked at some sheet music, thinking about playing along with it on the piano and my hsuband got up off the sofa and went outside. I thought he was going somewhere so I followed him outside with the kids. He was sitting on a stone next to a cut-off tree and there was a big raven sitting on the tree, tearing at it. My husband had a huge black 3 x 4 ft. notebook on his lap. He was about to make some notations in it about something. I said, "What's up?" At the same time, over to my right, my son Ken was messing around by another bird, which was all upset in a taller cut-off tree. I went over to confront him and ask him what he was up to, when I heard a deep male voice singing at the top of a much taller cut-off tree. I looked over and there was a big commotion in the dead branches of the tree and the singing stopped. All of a sudden, a goose, dressed like Mother Goose flew out of the tree and a white dove flew out at the same time and flew away towards the west. |
QUOTATION: Who’ll be chief mourner?
I, said the dove,
I’ll mourn for my love,
I’ll be chief mourner.
ATTRIBUTION: Mother Goose (fl. 17th–18th century. Who killed Cock Robin? (L. 33–36). . .
Oxford Book of Light Verse, The. W. H. Auden, ed. (1938) Oxford University Press.
The poem "Who Killed Cock Robin?" appeared for the first time about A.D. 1800 in "Nursery Chap-Book." *
Commander R. T. Gould, of the Brains Trust, when approached on the subject replied: "So far as I know - but that isn't very far - there are two principal views about the Cock Robin rhyme. One scholar traces it to the intrigues which brought about the fall of Sir Robert Walpole - the other, working on 'GoldenBough' lines, derives it from the Norse legend of Balder. Take your choice."
THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF POOR COCK ROBIN
Who killed Cock Robin?
"I," said the sparrow,
"With my little bow and arrow,
I killed Cock Robin,"
Who saw him die?
"I," said the fly,
"With my little eye,
I saw him die."
Who caught his blood?
"I," said the fish,
"With my little dish,
I caught his blood."
Who'll make his shroud?
"I," said the beetle,
"With my thread and needle.
I'll make his shroud."
Who'll carry the torch?
"I," said the linnet,
"I'll come in a minute,
I'll carry the torch."
Who'll be the clerk?
"I," said the lark,
"If it's not in the dark,
I'll be the clerk."
Who'll dig his grave?
"I," said the owl,
"With my spade and trowel
I'll dig his grave."
Who'll be the parson?
"I," said the rook,
"With my little book,
I'll be the parson."
Who'll be chief mourner?
"I," said the dove,
"I mourn for my love,
I'll be chief mourner."
Who'll sing a psalm?
"I," said the thrush,
"As I sit in a bush.
I'll sing a psalm."
Who'll carry the coffin?
"I," said the kite,
"If it's not in the night,
I'll carry the coffin."
Who'll toll the bell?
"I," said the bull,
"Because I can pull,
I'll toll the bell."
All the birds of the air
Fell sighing and sobbing,
When they heard the bell toll
For poor Cock Robin.
Sir Robert Walpole
1676-1745
Portrait of Sir Robert
Walpole by Arthur Pond ©
Walpole, first Earl of Orford, is considered to be England's first prime minister. He dominated politics in the reigns of George I and George II as a leader of the Whigs.
He began his career as a statesman in 1701 when he entered Parliament at the age of 25. Within ten years he had ascended to the position of secretary at war followed by treasurer of the navy. His rise was temporarily halted by the Tories, who came into power in 1710. In 1712 the Tories accused him of corruption and he was imprisoned, but after the accession of George I he became first lord of the treasury (1715-17).
In 1717 he introduced the first sinking fund - in which a certain amount of government revenue was paid with the specific aim of redeeming the national debt - but when Charles Townshend (Walpole's brother-in-law) was dismissed, Walpole resigned. He returned to office in 1720 as paymaster general, in which position he bolstered public confidence after the South Sea Company collapsed. Then, the following year, he took on the role of first lord of the treasury once again. In this position he was effectively prime minister. To his credit he took a firm stance against a Jacobite plot (called Atterbury's plot after one of the main protagonists), uncovered in April 1722.
However, he met opposition because of his allegiance with the French, his unfavourable financial policies and his support of the system of patronage in government. When in 1733 he tried to impose an excise tax on wine and tobacco, he became particularly unpopular - much to the advantage of the Tories in opposition. Misfortune and unpopularity increased with the War of Jenkins' Ear against Spain (1739) and led to his resignation in 1742, although he continued to influence George II.
He left the unusual legacy of an impressive collection of paintings, sold to Catherine the Great of Russia and now held in the Hermitage museum, Leningrad.
HC
Sir James George Frazer (1854–1941). The Golden Bough. 1922.
LXI. The Myth of Balder
A DEITY whose life might in a sense be said to be neither in heaven nor on earth but between the two, was the Norse Balder, the good and beautiful god, the son of the great god Odin, and himself the wisest, mildest, best beloved of all the immortals. The story of his death, as it is told in the younger or prose Edda, runs thus. Once on a time Balder dreamed heavy dreams which seemed to forebode his death. Thereupon the gods held a council and resolved to make him secure against every danger. So the goddess Frigg took an oath from fire and water, iron and all metals, stones and earth, from trees, sicknesses and poisons, and from all four-footed beasts, birds, and creeping things, that they would not hurt Balder. When this was done Balder was deemed invulnerable; so the gods amused themselves by setting him in their midst, while some shot at him, others hewed at him, and others threw stones at him. But whatever they did, nothing could hurt him; and at this they were all glad. Only Loki, the mischief-maker, was displeased, and he went in the guise of an old woman to Frigg, who told him that the weapons of the gods could not wound Balder, since she had made them all swear not to hurt him. Then Loki asked, “Have all things sworn to spare Balder?” She answered, “East of Walhalla grows a plant called mistletoe; it seemed to me too young to swear.” So Loki went and pulled the mistletoe and took it to the assembly of the gods. There he found the blind god Hother standing at the outside of the circle. Loki asked him, “Why do you not shoot at Balder?” Hother answered, “Because I do not see where he stands; besides I have no weapon.” Then said Loki, “Do like the rest and show Balder honour, as they all do. I will show you where he stands, and do you shoot at him with this twig.” Hother took the mistletoe and threw it at Balder, as Loki directed him. The mistletoe struck Balder and pierced him through and through, and he fell down dead. And that was the greatest misfortune that ever befell gods and men. For a while the gods stood speechless, then they lifted up their voices and wept bitterly. They took Balder’s body and brought it to the sea-shore. There stood Balder’s ship; it was called Ringhorn, and was the hugest of all ships. The gods wished to launch the ship and to burn Balder’s body on it, but the ship would not stir. So they sent for a giantess called Hyrrockin. She came riding on a wolf and gave the ship such a push that fire flashed from the rollers and all the earth shook. Then Balder’s body was taken and placed on the funeral pile upon his ship. When his wife Nanna saw that, her heart burst for sorrow and she died. So she was laid on the funeral pile with her husband, and fire was put to it. Balder’s horse, too, with all its trappings, was burned on the pile.
Whether he was a real or merely a mythical personage, Balder was worshipped in Norway. On one of the bays of the beautiful Sogne Fiord, which penetrates far into the depths of the solemn Norwegian mountains, with their sombre pine-forests and their lofty cascades dissolving into spray before they reach the dark water of the fiord far below, Balder had a great sanctuary. It was called Balder’s Grove. A palisade enclosed the hallowed ground, and within it stood a spacious temple with the images of many gods, but none of them was worshipped with such devotion as Balder. So great was the awe with which the heathen regarded the place that no man might harm another there, nor steal his cattle, nor defile himself with women. But women cared for the images of the gods in the temple; they warmed them at the fire, anointed them with oil, and dried them with cloths.
Whatever may be thought of an historical kernel underlying a mythical husk in the legend of Balder, the details of the story suggest that it belongs to that class of myths which have been dramatised an ritual, or, to put it otherwise, which have been performed as magical ceremonies for the sake of producing those natural effects which they describe in figurative language. A myth is never so graphic and precise in its details as when it is, so to speak, the book of the words which are spoken and acted by the performers of the sacred rite. That the Norse story of Balder was a myth of this sort will become probable if we can prove that ceremonies resembling the incidents in the tale have been performed by Norsemen and other European peoples. Now the main incidents in the tale are two—first, the pulling of the mistletoe, and second, the death and burning of the god; and both of them may perhaps be found to have had their counterparts in yearly rites observed, whether separately or conjointly, by people in various parts of Europe.
American robin welcomes spring
By EVA DANNACKER
There are few urban or rural residents unfamiliar with the sight and sound of the American robin (Turdus migratorius). Indeed it is the best known and loved bird in North America. In cities, this 24-27 cm (10"-11") red-breasted thrush is the true bird of spring.
Early settlers from the British Isles were reminded of the small robin when they first sighted this large thrush, thus they named it robin. The only similarity between our American robin and the tiny English robin is the colouring but there is no other relationship between them.
Robins belong to the family of Turdidae (thrushes, solitaires and bluebirds). In their juvenile plumage they show this kinship as the young have black spots on their breasts.
The adult male robin has a dark gray back. His head, wings and tail are almost black, throat black and white streaked, breast reddish-orange, bill yellow and dusky at the tip. The adult female is similar to the male with paler and duller colours. Juvenile robins are similar to adults but their pale breasts are spotted black, with whitish throats and reddish brown flanks.
The American robin breeds from the tree limit in Alaska south to the southern United States and into Mexico. In Canada it breeds from the northern Yukon east and south across the country from Vancouver and the Queen Charlotte Islands to Cape Breton Island.
In March, when you see the first robin, even before the snow has melted, it is a sure sign that spring is not far off. In most bird species it is the male that finds a good spot, and commences to "advertise" his presence by singing his special song. At dawn and dusk, in season, the robin's song is an almost continuous outpouring with little variation. His singing not only attracts a mate, but also informs other males that a certain area has been claimed and is "off limits" to them. When a robin perceives danger, he will utter a series of short clucking sounds to alert his mate, or young. A feline or even a squirrel is perceived as a predator.
One morning, when I was still living in the countryside, I was awakened by some rapid staccato-like knocking sounds. I got up to investigate. The fast tapping persisted, but a search of every upstairs window yielded nothing. However, in the basement I discovered the source of this noise. A male robin was having a fight with an imaginary cock robin he thought he saw in the basement window. He took a few steps back then made a "rush" at the window, and proceeded to attack his "competition", angrily pecking his own reflection. Eventually he got tired of this fruitless activity and returned to his perch in a tall tree. This behaviour should not have been a surprise, as robins are territorial and will defend a particular area they have staked out for themselves. How large or small their domain is depends on the availability of food, nesting sites and foliage.
Female robins arrive a few days after the males and soon the ritual of mating begins followed by nest building. Often the female mates with the same male as the year before.
The robin's nest can be constructed in trees or bushes, (either coniferous or deciduous) on or in buildings or on man-made nesting shelves. Anywhere from slightly above ground level to even 21 m (70') up, but most frequently 1.5 to 4.5 m, is the best height.
The nest consists of straw, coarse grass, twigs and mud, lined with some fine grass. Upon completion of the nest, egg laying will begin, one a day, until there are three or four. In a few rare instances five eggs are laid. Occasionally some males share in the incubation of the blue-green eggs.
In anywhere from 11 to 14 days the skinny young hatch. Earthworms form a large part of their diet. Especially after rains, when the ground is moist, the adult birds find worms near the surface. Robins also consume other insects, cherries, berries, and many other fruits.
When, after 14-16 days the fledglings feather out and leave the nest, the father takes full charge of the brood and stays with his young for another week or two. Meanwhile, the female prepares for a second brood, builds a new nest or repairs the somewhat damaged, old one.
It is at this stage in June and July when the young are newly fledged and unable to fly very well that they are vulnerable to predator attack. Without question in urban areas as well as on acreages and farms, many young robins fall prey to cats. Responsible cat owners could prevent this by keeping their pets inside during nesting season, or allowing them out only with a harness and leash. Some people place a collar with a bell on the cat but this is ineffective.
The American robin also lives in the woodlands near the edges of the forest. In the wilderness where cats are not a threat, magpies and crows are the predators that steal robin eggs and prey on the young.
By early fall we observe many robins both adult and their young feeding in bushes and trees as they slowly move towards their wintering grounds from the southern U.S. to Mexico and Guatemala.
Not all robins migrate south however. Many attempt to over-winter if they find shelter and a good supply of berries, or feeding stations with raisins, currants and other dried fruit to sustain them all winter long.
Build them a nest
If you live on a treeless property, you could still attract nesting robins by constructing a simple 170 x 170 mm floor-sized nesting bracket with two sides. Place this under your eaves facing east or south.
Abandoned babies?
Many people wonder what they can do to help seemingly-abandoned young robins on the ground. Often these newly fledged birds are not abandoned at all but are being looked after by the father bird who is away on a foraging trip. Only if an hour or two passes and there is no sign of a parent, can one assume that the parent is dead, caught by a predator or killed on the road.
Occasionally, partially-feathered baby robins fall out of a nest prematurely. If you find such birds, it is best to return them to the nest. If you don't know where the nest is, then place the babies in a makeshift nest in the same tree. The parents will find and feed them.
This article first appeared in the March 1999 issue
FROM: http://www.canoe.ca/LifewisePlantGardenFeathered/mar99_robin.html
FROM: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/10/15
©1998 San Francisco Chronicle Page A19
Thursday, October 15, 1998
Pacific Lumber Faces Clear-Cutting Charge
Contractor razed sensitive area along creek near Eureka
Greg Lucas, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Just weeks after receiving $242 million from the state in a deal to save several groves of ancient redwoods, Pacific Lumber is facing charges of clear-cutting trees in a protected zone along a sensitive streambed.
The destruction along 500 feet of Freshwater Creek, just east of Eureka, took place over Labor Day weekend and prompted the state Department of Forestry to take legal action.
Pacific Lumber, which has already been cited for 14 violations of state forestry laws this year, blamed a logging outfit it hired to harvest adjacent areas.
Pacific Lumber President John Campbell said the company's own inspectors discovered the clear-cut and ordered the logging outfit to report it to the state.
"There was no effort to hide this," Campbell said. "Procedurally, the company took all the right steps. Our compliance guy found the problem and reported it, and we notified the contractor."
The logging outfit, Rounds Logging, will not have its contract with Pacific Lumber renewed, Campbell said.
State forestry officials found, however, that Pacific Lumber "shares responsibility" for the violation.
"We're going to file a citation (against Pacific Lumber)," said Ken Nielson, a deputy chief in the state Department of Forestry. "You're supposed to leave 50 percent of the shade along this watercourse. There wasn't any left."
Rounds Logging was also cited for cutting down the trees and for allowing trees to fall into the stream.
If found guilty of the violation, the company is guilty of a misdemeanor. Each violation carries a $1,000 fine, which is relatively small compared with the $50,000 to $100,000 worth of a mature redwood tree.
Clear-cutting is prohibited under state law along the banks of streams and creeks. Depending on the slope of the stream bank, the no-clear-cut zones range from 50 feet to 100 feet on either side of the watercourse.
If fish live in the stream, the zones are bigger.
According to Department of Forestry documents, the area near Freshwater Creek was found last year to contain a small number of spotted owls -- one of the endangered species that inhabit the 190,000 acres of North Coast forest owned by Pacific Lumber.
After finding the birds, Pacific Lumber scaled back its plans to clear-cut the area, instead deciding to leave 60 percent of the trees.
This year the owls moved on, and Pacific Lumber opted to clear-cut.
But the company did not amend the timber harvest plan that it submitted to the state. Nor did it mark the boundary of the protected creekside zone on the plan.
Over the Labor Day weekend, nearly all the trees in the protected zone were felled.
"This resulted in approximately 500 feet (of stream bank) with all but a few trees removed," according to a state report on the incident.
Environmental activists, who have been fighting with Pacific Lumber for years, say the latest alleged violation is normal behavior for the company.
"Breaking the law is business as usual for Pacific Lumber, but this incident is especially egregious," said Kevin Bundy, spokesman for the Environmental Protection Information Center.
The trees were cut a week after the Legislature adjourned for the year. Its final act was to approve a deal using $480 million in state and federal money to preserve a grove of 3,500 ancient redwoods in the Headwaters Forest and an additional 5,000-plus acres of timberland that serves as home to endangered fish and birds.
Signing of the deal ended months of often intense negotiations involving the White House, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, Governor Pete Wilson, state legislators, environmentalists and Charles Hurwitz, the Texas billionaire who owns Pacific Lumber.
During his ownership, the company has had a steady stream of violations of state forestry laws.
Since 1996, Pacific Lumber has been cited for 272 violations on its lands -- 12 serious enough to warrant criminal charges, according to the Humboldt County district attorney's office.
In 1992, the company logged in the Owl Creek grove of redwoods, one of the stands purchased in the Headwaters deal, without receiving state permits.
Last year, the company pleaded guilty to logging too close to streams and improperly disposing of slash, the brush and limbs from felled trees.
The company was placed on probation, a condition of which was that there be no more violations.
At the end of 1997, the state revoked the company's timber license but returned it several days later.
Shortly afterward, Campbell said he sent a letter to all company employees and to the various companies with which Pacific Lumber contracts, saying "violations and citations would not be tolerated, and people (should) be alert and vigilant."
In mid-1998, the state filed charges against the company for more violations similar to the ones last year and for operating heavy machinery in the rain, which is illegal because it increases sediment in streams.
The company was found guilty and fined the maximum amount: $13,000.
June 14, 2000
Scientists warn against cutting trees
Natural predators will take care of beetle problem, entomologist says
Beetle may be acquiring new tastes - Officials consider drowning beetles - 10,000 trees to be cut in park
By Susan LeBlanc -- Halifax Herald
Several Halifax scientists are questioning the decision to destroy 10,000 trees in Point Pleasant Park.
And they say the cutting will further stress the Halifax park, which is ailing from overuse and mismanagement - not the mysterious brown spruce longhorn beetle.
"This may be a totally unnecessary exercise," university chemist Phil Pacey said Tuesday.
"We may be fixing the symptom instead of the disease."
Mr. Pacey, a regular park user, began researching the beetle when its presence became a public issue a few weeks ago.
He said the beetles are feeding on dead and dying red spruce trees, and are not the cause of the trees' malaise.
His comments were echoed by Dalhousie University zoologist Edith Angelopoulos, whom he called the province's most senior entomologist, or bug expert.
"Any time a new insect appears (in a foreign environment), within a reasonable period of time, local animals will become predators (of it). It will become a food source," Ms. Angelopoulos said.
Though the insect's presence in Point Pleasant is "not good," she said, felling the trees is an overreaction.
"The less we interfere with nature, the better we're off," Ms. Angelopoulos said.
She said many entomologists are trained with agriculture in mind so they regard insects as enemies.
The beetle has already spread outside the park, and can't be contained, said Marek Roland-Mieszkowski, a Halifax physicist who has written a leaflet opposing the plan.
"We have to live with this beetle. . . . We have to just basically use safe and reasonable means to maybe offset the balance," he said.
At the most, 100 to 200 trees should be felled, Mr. Roland-Mieszkowski said.
The critics said the park is suffering from overuse, soil compression, removal of underbrush and its location near salt water and urban areas.
That's why the trees are sick, Ms. Angelopoulos said.
Yet the 15-member task force of federal, provincial and municipal officials remains adamant the mass cutting must begin in one to two weeks.
The beetle, native to Europe and Asia, is dangerous because it has shown it can adapt to this environment and is feeding off healthy trees, said task force member Gregg Cunningham.
"We know that it poses a significant threat to spruce outside of the park," said Mr. Cunningham, a plant protection officer with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
He stressed the 10,000 trees slated for the saw represent less than one-third of the evergreens in the 75-hectare park.
Before cutting can begin, tenders have to go out for the job, and logistics on burning the infested trees off-site must be finalized, Mr. Cunningham said.
Halifax Mayor Walter Fitzgerald didn't mince words Tuesday.
"We have to cut, slash, burn - whatever is necessary. . . . If we have to clear (the park) and replant, that's what we'll do," he said in an interview.
"We don't have any experts. You look at the fact that we couldn't even identify it. That frightens me. If they had been able to identify it a couple of years ago, (this crisis) might not have happened."
Mr. Fitzgerald said he expects all of the red spruce in the park will have to come down eventually.
Critics such as Ms. Angelopoulos may have a point, he said, but the safest approach seems to be destroying infested trees.
And he said selling so-called safe bits of the timber is risky for the "few dollars" the city would reap.
"If one bug gets out or two bugs, we're in trouble," said the mayor, comparing this to the spruce budworm outbreak of the 1970s and '80s.
"If we don't do it, all of Nova Scotia could be destroyed."
Mr. Fitzgerald said the city will heed whatever advice the task force gives, and council will not have to vote on the plans.
Dalhousie botanist Pierre Taschereau recently visited the park to eyeball the trees.
He would not offer an opinion on the plan to remove thousands of them, but said the public deserves an explanation of why this must be done now and so hastily, given that the beetle has been in the area for at least 10 years.
June 29, 2001
Would cutting fewer trees help 'save' the environment?
Our forests are beautiful, majestic, and we need to save them, right? The fast answer may be yes, but things are a bit more complicated.
A publication from the University of Minnesota Extension Service helps explain the worldwide environmental situation. Called "Materials and the Environment: Wood as a Global Resource," it says responsible environmentalism means:
--Thinking globally.
--Looking at the whole system, not just parts.
--Basing decisions on reason as well as emotion.
--Making sure that our assumptions reflect reality.
We all use raw materials such as wood, metals, plastics and cement to sustain our lives. And demand for raw materials increases as world population grows.
The U.S. annually uses roughly as much wood by weight as it does all metals, plastics and portland cement combined. And of all the raw materials available today, wood stands out as one of the very few renewable resources, according to specialists in the U of M College of Natural Resources.
Reducing our materials use-being less wasteful-will help the environment. Let's say you cut your consumption in half. You live in a home half the size of what you now have, shop in a supermarket with only half the shelf space, drive half the distance you're used to, and have only half as many shoes and shirts.
Even if every U.S. citizen were to do all that, overall global demand would still increase due to the population growth projected for the next century and the increased demand anticipated as others around the world seek a standard of living closer to ours.
We could also reduce domestic wood use by increasing recycling. As responsible stewards, it's critical that we pursue recycling as vigorously as we can, the publication says. But paper fibers and many other materials degrade each time they're recycled. That means new materials must continually be added to the mix.
We're familiar with wood poles, timbers, lumber, plywood and paper. Wood is also used in molded interior panels for autos, and in adhesives, paints, food additives, drapes, tires and even table tennis balls. Each of us consumes about 80 cubic feet of wood per year, equivalent to a tree one and one-half feet in diameter and 103 feet tall.
Who owns our forests? Individual private landowners own 57 percent, while 28 percent is owned by federal, state or local government. Only 15 percent is owned by the forest products industry.
Check the publication out at www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/naturalresources/DD6507html. You'll find purchase information on the complete educational package, which includes a video and other publications. Or, call (800) 876-8636 and ask for publication number 6507.
Editor: Jack Sperbeck (612) 625-1794, sperb001@umn.edu
Namibe: People Cutting Trees Illegally
Angola Press Agency (Luanda)
December 30, 2002
Namibe
Some citizens from the Democratic Republic of Congo together with Angolans are indiscriminately cutting trees at Capangombe village, Bibala municipality southern Namibe province, in order to profit from charcoal business, said the local administrator, Mr João Ernesto dos Santos.
According to Bibala municipality's Administrator, the cutting of trees to produce charcoal is banned by the province's authorities, under the Programme Against Desertification.
He warned that if the incumbent authorities do not take any measures, ten years from now the Bibala municipality will have ecological problems with the extension of the desert area. This negative behaviour may have cause reduction of water supply to the population, as as well as problems with cattle breeding, provoking great transhumances and forced migrations.
Time frame set for cutting trees in canker areas
Crews to be in Cape within six weeks
By CHARLES RUNNELLS, crunnells@news-press.com
Chain saw crews could come for Cape Coral’s canker-exposed citrus trees within six weeks, a state official said Thursday.
Meanwhile, agriculture officials expanded the Cape’s canker quarantine zone from 4 square miles to about 5. The decision resulted from a cankerous tree discovered Dec. 18 on Southeast 43rd Street.
Residents inside the quarantine zone can’t plant new citrus trees, and lawn maintenance crews must follow strict guidelines when working in the zone. Violators can be fined.
To publicize their tree-chopping plan, agriculture officials plan to knock on doors next week and hand out fliers, said Liz Compton, a spokeswoman for the state agriculture department.
“We couldn’t think of anything that would reach the people faster than going to their house,” Compton said.
The move came after a West Palm Beach appeals court ruling Monday that restored state officials’ power to cut canker-exposed citrus trees.
Cutting crews plan to chop down an estimated 500,000 canker-exposed trees statewide — including about 2,000 to 2,500 trees in southeastern Cape Coral.
State officials say citrus trees within 1,900 feet of cankerous trees also can develop the bacterial disease. They plan to get warrants to cut all the Cape’s canker-exposed trees.
Some Cape Coral residents weren’t happy about the idea.
Suzie Childers of Willow Court saw two of her cankerous citrus trees cut down last year. Now she could lose four nearby trees in her yard.
“We can’t stop them from taking them, unfortunately,” Childers said. “It’s terrible. I don’t want to lose them.
“The reason we bought this property was because of the citrus.”
Canker is harmless to humans, but it blemishes fruit and causes premature fruit drop, state scientists say. It’s considered a serious threat to the state’s citrus industry.
State officials weighed whether to start chopping trees immediately or wait for the outcome of a state Supreme Court challenge to Monday’s ruling.
In the end, they decided to act while they could.
“We can’t wait,” Compton said. “They (opposition attorneys) keep coming up with stuff.”
Besides, Compton doubted the state Supreme Court will touch the case. “We feel the appeals court’s opinion is pretty strong.”
An attorney representing Broward and Miami-Dade county homeowners plans to appeal to the Supreme Court of Florida. He also plans a request to block the chopping of canker-exposed trees throughout the state.
“We’re going to continue to fight this case,” said Andrew Meyers, an attorney for Broward County. “We believe these are issues that threaten the very foundation of the Constitution.”
The state’s canker policy violates homeowners’ property rights, he said.
Meyers appealed the January appeals court decision and asked for a rehearing. That request was denied Monday.
A recorded 131 infected trees have been found and cut down in Cape Coral’s canker quarantine zone. Canker was first discovered Aug. 21 in a Lafayette Street grapefruit tree.
The expanded quarantine zone won’t become official until an announcement is published in a local newspaper, Compton said.
Cutting crews could start chopping trees within four to six weeks — maybe sooner, Compton said.