Lowenstein quoted on imported pest damage to forests
In a study published this month in the journal Ecological Applications, Gary Lovett and 15 colleagues estimated that 63 percent of U.S. forest land, or about 825 million acres, is at risk of increased damage from established pests, and new pests continue to arrive with cargo shipments from overseas.
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"I think there would be resistance from overseas partners that are shipping a lot of material using these wood pallets," said Frank Lowenstein, deputy director of the New England Forestry Foundation, a conservation group based in Littleton, Massachusetts.
"But moving away from solid wood packaging could be really beneficial ecologically not only here in the United States but in some of our international trading partners' forests as well," Lowenstein said, noting how old-growth hardwood trees had been cut down in prime orangutan habitat in Indonesia to make shipping pallets in China.