It's Friday: Here's Your Week in Trees
Here's tree news from around the world this week:
- The late Wangari Maathai’s illustration of the interconnections between culture, politics, economics, and the environment marked a breakthrough in conservation activism (The East African)
- Here’s a fun seed collection project for kids. Happy fall! (Washington Post)
The October 2011 issue of World Heritage magazine is all about forests. Check it out (UNESCO) - This list of the world’s top 10 deadliest plants includes the strychnine tree. A 30mg dose of the tree’s alkaloids, and it’s lights out (ZIDBITS)
Dead trees, an effect of the severe ongoing drought, will mar the Texas landscape for years (KCBD/Associated Press) - Mango, umbrella, and other trees in Australia are causing drunkenness in parrots when the birds eat fermented fruit and nectar (Australian Geographic)
Plant a tree, boost your property value (GOOD) - In the years after 9/11, foreign insects slipped undetected into the U.S. because authorities were so focused on preventing another attack that they overlooked a pest explosion that threatens the quality of the nation's forests and food supply (Atlanta Journal Constitution/Associated Press)
- Maryland loses 7,000 acres of forests each year to development (MD Department of Natural Resources; hat tip to National Association of State Foresters)
- This Dutch "cathedral" has been grown, rather than built; it consists of 178 Lombardy poplar trees that mirror the arches of Notre Dame de Paris (inhabitat)
- Implementation rules for the Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program, which encourages the creation of community forests and fosters rural economies, were released this week (USDA Forest Service)
- From the archives, unearthed this week: A British artist created a series of drawings produced using writing instruments attached to the tips of tree branches. When the wind blew, the trees drew.
Would you like to see your tree news included here next week? Let us know on Facebook , Twitter , or email me at acooke@forestfoundation.org . Thanks!
