(PRLEAP.COM) April 2007, Baltimore, MD— Catherine Pancake, West Virginia native and Baltimore, MD resident has received the prestigious “Spadaro Documentary Award” for her documentary film, Black Diamonds: Mountaintop Removal and the Fight For Coalfield Justice. https://www.blackdiamondsmovie.com. The award’s name honors the activist and whistleblower, Jack Spadaro, who has spent his entire professional career working within the coal mining industry for the betterment of the Appalachian community. One award is given annually to recognize the best film, video, radio, television, or other media presentation on Appalachia or its people. The award was recently presented to Catherine during the Appalachian Studies Association’s (ASA) annual meeting “Piecing the Appalachian Experience: Celebrating an Organization and a Region: The 30th Anniversary of the Appalachian Studies Association” at Maryville College in Maryville, Tennessee. https://www.appalachianstudies.org/

Jack Spadaro, for whom the award is named, had this to say about Black Diamonds after it’s screening at the ASA conference. “Black Diamonds had me with it all the way through. By the end I was in tears. I have known these people and participated in their struggle for nearly forty years. With great compassion and forcefulness, Catherine Pancake has told the story of their fight to save the Appalachian Mountains and their communities. She has given voice to a people who have shown amazing dignity and courage on a daily basis against the powerful forces of the coal industry and unresponsive and uncaring government agencies. Catherine Pancake’s film illustrates the violence and destructiveness of mountaintop removal mining, but, more importantly, she shows us the power of good people joining together to resist and ultimately triumph over injustice.”

Catherine also received a 2006 Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media Award and a Maryland State Arts Council Grant for her work on Black Diamonds. The film has been screened at the Kansas International Film Festival, West Virginia International Film Festival, Anchorage International Film Festival, Takoma Park Film Festival, and numerous universities and conferences.

Black Diamonds: Mountaintop Removal & The Fight for Coalfield Justice is distributed by Bullfrog Films and DVDs are now available for purchase by going to https://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/bd.html or contacting Bullfrog films at 800-543-FROG (3764) or {encode=”info@bullfrogfilms.com” title=”info@bullfrogfilms.com”}

ABOUT BLACK DIAMONDS: Black Diamonds is the first of its kind to offer a wholly comprehensive survey of surface mining and mountaintop removal practices (removing the tops of mountains to expose coal seams) in West Virginia. It is a riveting portrait of radical community resistance — an American region fighting for its life—caught between the grinding wheels of the national appetite for cheap energy and an enduring sense of Appalachian culture, pride, and natural beauty. The film features voice over talent by Lauren Graham (of Gilmore Girls) and includes testimony from Julia Bonds, WV activist who received the 2003 Goldman Award (the nation’s largest environmental activist award). Ken Hechler, former WV Secretary of State, William Maxey, former Director of WV Division of Forestry, and the passionate, committed citizens of West Virginia.

ABOUT CATHERINE PANCAKE: Catherine Pancake, West Virginia native and Baltimore resident, is a filmmaker, cultural worker and activist. As a filmmaker and artist, Catherine’s work has been shown at The Baltimore Museum of Art, Ohio State University, Philadelphia International Film Festival, Contemporary Museum Baltimore, AFI Silver Theater, Silver Springs, MD, Millennium Theater, NYC and many more venues. Catherine is also an award-winning producer for commercial web site projects and online marketing.

[New Hampshire] “Of all the things that have been looked at about the effects of climate change, the effects in the soil is probably . . . the least well-studied.” Lack of research means there’s still a lot of hypothesizing involved, but it seems likely that one effect of global warming will be a loss of fertility in the soils of forests and fields, root damage to trees and plants, and maybe even muddier mud seasons. This has already proved a problem for the logging industry, which depends on frozen ground to get its equipment into the woods in winter. This winter’s warm, wet December and early January idled a huge number of loggers.

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[West Virginia] Add value to raw material and establish long-term relationships with both the supplier and distributor ends of the economic chain. That sums up the business philosophy of Jim Hinkle, president of West Virginia Forest Products LLC. “West Virginia has always been a state that exported its raw material to let value be added elsewhere – Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina” beyond, said Jim. He wanted to change that equation and help his state thrive. “We take the lowest common denominator material and add value, keeping jobs here,” he explained. Long-term relationships make it all possible. Jim seeks long-term relationships with not only his employees but also the customers and the supply chain

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Forestry Field Day at Cooleemee Plantation
April 10, Advance, NC, Topics include: Natural stand management, Prescribed burning, Harvesting systems, Working forest conservation easements, Wildlife habitat management, The Farm Bill, Invasive Species, & FSC Certification, hosted by the Southern Forestry Foundation, www.southernforestryfoundation.org, to resister email or call by April 4th: Connor Coleman 704-647-0302, connor@landtrustcnc.org

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The future of our endangered forests in North America depends on how dedicated corporations pitch in to help Mother Nature. Our woodlands — one of our most precious natural resources — are in jeopardy. Forestry, which provides us with essentials ranging from homes to paper, food to fuels, is currently awakening to the vast possibilities that renewable, sustainable methods can offer. This eight-page special section of Fortune Magazine takes a close look at how companies are working together to renew the entire life-cycle of the continent’s forests.

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[West Virginia] Appalachian hardwoods that grow here have a reputation for quality that is unsurpassed. But harvesting those trees costs significantly more than it does in surrounding states, said Dick Waybright, executive director of the West Virginia Forestry Association. One of the primary concerns is the state’s severance tax, which is based on gross receipts rather than profits. But the tax problem might be overstated, said Randy Dye, state forester and director of the West Virginia Division of Forestry. “I don’t know that the taxes are significant enough to add to the present economic downturn,”

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[Canada] Landowners who sell pulpwood to paper giant Stora Enso Port Hawkesbury ratified a deal with the mill Sunday that will bring the highest wood prices in the Maritimes. Although the 2,000-member group took a 10 per cent price cut, it will still be paid almost double what landowners in western Nova Scotia and New Brunswick receive, he said. The price per cord will allow landowners to pay for certification plans and audits, new standards that the Forest Stewardship Council requires. “Stora Enso customers are demanding woodland certification,” Mr. Brown said.

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For the last several years, a congressman from North Carolina, Charles Taylor, stood in the way of attempts to increase federal funding for conserving open space. But last November, Taylor lost his seat, the Republicans lost their majority, and now the nation should be able to look forward to a rejuvenated effort to protect forests, watersheds, and wildlife refuges threatened by development. Bush’s new budget includes less than $48 million for the conservation fund and Forest Legacy, down from $600 million in the last year of the Clinton administration. The new majority in Congress should begin rebuilding both the conservation fund and the Forest Legacy program.

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[North Carolina] Land owners, timber producers and sawmills are suffering as prices for pine saw timber declined dramatically in 2006. At the same time, the data shows that consumers are enjoying the best lumber prices from their local hardware stores in more than 18 months, according to Forest2Market, Inc. Ample timber supply and a slumping housing economy aided in driving prices down. While pine saw timber prices and demand declined, strong demand from pulp and paper created higher prices for pine pulpwood. The trend in hardwood pulpwood delivered prices also increased.

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[Washington, DC] A bipartisan group of senators, including the Democratic chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is proposing tax incentives for landowners who take steps to recover endangered species. The approach is a narrower alternative to a comprehensive overhaul of the Endangered Species Act, a priority for Republicans before Democrats took control of Congress. The bill would offer tax credits to landowners who protect endangered animal habitat and agree to an animal management plan. The bill would not amend the Endangered Species Act, but would attempt to provide landowners with incentives for compliance, Crapo said.

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[Colorado] Aspen Skiing Co. is removing all Kimberly-Clark products from its resorts, hotels and restaurants because of Kimberly-Clark’s sustainable forestry practices, the company said in a letter to Greenpeace. In the letter, the company said it was switching to other paper tissue suppliers, “whose operations are more environmentally sound.” “Businesses and the public alike are making the right decision to use products from companies that are not destroying our last remaining forests,” said Greenpeace spokeswoman Ginger Cassady in a prepared statement.

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Coalition Unites to Secure Funding for Forests in the Farm Bill

[Virginia] Poll results released today show American voters are concerned about the consequences of forest loss and support Federal action and conservation programs to help keep privately-owned forest lands intact for future generations. The newly-launched Forests in the Farm Bill Coalition, the poll sponsor, urges Congress to take immediate action through the Farm Bill to protect forest lands and the significant economic and environmental benefits forests provide.

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