Link: http://www.regenwald.org

American Pine Nut forests slated to become biofuel for WECHAR . This should offend everyone who is screaming about the high price of pine nuts and the fact it is almost impossible to get American Pine nuts:

The world's first bill dedicated to promoting 'biochar' has been proposed in the US, called WECHAR, or Water Efficiency and Carbon Harvesting Act.  The Bill foresees large-scale removal of so-called 'invasive' or 'excess' biomass in south-western states, particularly in National Parks, in order to produce charcoal which is to be applied to soils ('biochar').  Amongst the trees which are to be charred are salt cedars in the Mojave desert, which are being blamed for using more water than native trees, a claim disproven by studies. Salt cedars are often the only trees which can survive along rivers where hydro dams have been built or freshwater has been diverted - removing them can leave large areas without trees.  Native pinyon pines and junipers in National Parks would also be turned into charcoal, as well as trees in beetle-infested forests, despite evidence that 'salvage logging' of inested forests causes serious harm to biodiversity and forest soils a
 nd harms forest regeneration.  Yet there is no proven benefit to biochar, i.e. to putting charcoal into soils - other than greater profits for companies.  Serious scientific uncertainties remain about the climate impacts of biochar - which could well be negative. Please to to  and write to the Senate and House Committees to which the bill has been referred and ask for it to be rejected.

Best regards,


Reinhard Behrend
Rettet den Regenwald e. V.
Friedhofsweg 28
22337 Hamburg

My comment:
BTW - it is absolutely riduculous that people in the United States can not or will not  protect their public lands and that the energy to protect our pinyon pine nut forest is coming out of Germany.