From: Equinox Corp. <jdmann@igc.org>
Newsgroups: sci.environment
Date: 12 Apr 92 20:02 PDT
Subject: Appalachian Forest Remineralizatn
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1466601329:000:27625
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!jdmann    Apr 12 20:02:00 1992


From: Equinox Corp. <jdmann>
Subject: Appalachian Forest Remineralizatn

/* Written  7:59 pm  Apr 12, 1992 by jdmann in cdp:en.climate */
/* ---------- "Appalachian Forest Remineralizatn" ---------- */
*/ written 11 pm 4/11/92 by David Yarrow in en.climate 

            Regenerating Appalachian Forests
    Interview with Forestry Expert Robert Bruck, Ph.D. 
      Director of the Environment for North Carolina

                Intro: Whither the Trees?
   In the 1970s, on remote  peaks of distant mountains in the southern
Applachians, many trees began to wither and die.  Through the 80s, this
death of trees spread rapidly to become a sylvan holocaust as
mountaintops became bald with skeletons of dead and dying trees.  By
1988 the "ring of death" on 6684 foot Mt. Mitchell (highest eastern
peak) had descended to 5100 feet, was still dropping, and no authority
could state what  was killing so many millions of trees.
   Dr. Robert Bruck, professor of plant pathology at No. Carolina St.
University, with many other scientists and citizens searched for a cause
and cure of this  sudden ominous collapse of an entire boreal ecosystem.
Mt. Mitchell became a barometer of our global future.
   In 1990, EarthDance, a non-profit environmental group in Asheville,
NC, asked Dr. Bruck about their plan to plant seedlings on Mt. Mitchell,
each fertilized with a megadose of micronutrients in the form of
Planters II rock dust.  In April 1991 5,000 seedlings were dug in by
adolescents, college students and a few adult volunteers.  This is now
the largest controlled study of forest remineralization currently
underway in North America.
   Dr. Bruck was recently appointed Director of the Environment for the
State of North Carolina.  Just back from a trip to study European
efforts to regenerate their own dead and dying forests,  Dr. Bruck spoke
to RE Editor Joanna Campe. 

Joanna Campe:  Give our readers a summary of the state of forests in the
U.S., particularly forests and species most endangered, and whatUs
causing the decline.  

Robert Bruck:  In North America we've seen over the past ten or fifteen
years significant and serious decline of certain forest species.  The
ones we're most concerned about are high elevation red spruce and Fraser
fir forests in the Appalachians.  These forests comprise very unique
mountaintop ecosystems on four, five and six thousand foot peaks.
TheyUre quite rare in that they're remnants from the last glaciation
period: very beautiful, very unique.  We've seen very rapid decline,
dieback and death of these forests occur to a great extent in high
elevations of the eastern Appalachians.  
   Second, we've seen a very rapid decline of sugar maples in the
northeastern United States, both in sugar bushes and in natural stands.
This caused great consternation, not only for the ecological and
esthetic beauty of these trees, but just as much due to the economic
value of sugaring to northeast states and eastern Canada. 
   Third, we see, particularly here in the southeast, growth loss and
decline of commercial pines, such as Lobblolly pine.  Multi-billion
dollar industries depend on  these trees' healthy growth, mostly for
fiber for paper production.  We see as much as a 30 percent decline in
growth rates since about 1960.
   Now, when we get into the cause of these problems, there is a
tremendous amount of equivocation and debate.  One string that goes
through the entire system seems to correlate very, very closely to
problems we are seeing right now: air pollution.  Now, air pollution can
be divided into several categories.  One is acidifying compounds we
generally call acid rain: nitric and sulfuric acids caused by the fossil
fuel combustion.
   Second, we're very concerned about man-made ozone.  This isn't the
RgoodS ozone that's 20 miles up, but rather RbadS ozone created
principally from auto exhausts.  Nitrogen oxides and organic
hydrocarbons combined with sunlight cause photo-chemical oxidation to
produce ozone, which is very detrimental to trees, as well as people.  
   The reality is that, as this chronic stress increases throughout
industrialized regions, the major concern is health of the soil.  If air
pollution itself, acting only on tree leaves or needles, were the
problem, the answer would simply be to turn off air pollution and
everything will be better.  
   Unfortunately, all air pollution Q including heavy metals, coal
burning and smelting metals Q end up in the soil.  This tends to acidify
soil, put toxic chemicals in soil, and ultimately, literally, from an
ecological standpoint Q sterilize and retard the productivity of soil
systems.  Unfortunately, these systems take a great deal more time to
recover than a simple leaf exposed to sulphur dioxide.  Once you turn
sulphur dioxide off, the leaf or tree will get better.  
   What weUre most concerned about right now isnUt necessarily acute or
short term ramifications of air pollution, but rather chronic, long term
implications of air pollution.  This is where soil remineralization
comes in.

JC:  You were in Europe recently.  How does the situation there compare
with the state of U.S. forests?

RB: I was just showing the Governor of North Carolina pictures of that
this morning.  The reality is that the forests there are far, far worse
than here.  Literally hundreds of square miles of dead forests in
southern Poland, southern Germany and northern Czechoslovakia.  Damage
done from the absolutely unmitigated burning of dirty coal Q sometimes
as much as 18 percent sulphur Q itUs unbelievable to see what happened
there.  Damage we see here, with the exception of high elevation
forests, is pretty benign, compared with Eastern Europe.
   On the other hand, weUre looking at the corollary here.  Our high
elevation eastern forests make a very nice corollary because they look
almost identical Q millions of dead trees.  Eastern Europe is far, far
further down that road to destruction than we are.  Hopefully, weUll
never, ever approach what theyUve done.  I think thereUs a very
important lesson to be learned there.  

JC:  When did you become concerned about minerals and trace elements in
regards to forest health, and where did it lead your research?

RB:  Well, soil has always been at the forefront of this subject.  My
colleagues who are soil chemists and physicists have looked looked at
these soils in our permanent plots, particularly in high elevation
forests, and found almost without exception, they are very poorly
buffered soils.  This means they canUt absorb acids very well, and are
very susceptible to leaching of trace elements, particularly magnesium
and calcium, which react with acids in the soil.  And because of high
organic matter contents, theyUre very susceptible to holding heavy
metals, such as aluminum, lead, zinc, copper, cadmium, in soil matrices.
   Therefore, the idea of soils being the problem was always at the
forefront.  As we became more interested not only in what the problem
is, but what to do about it, forest fertilization or trace mineral
fertilization, came to the forefront.  
   Our analyses found nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium werenUt lacking
in these soils.  In fact, in many cases they were abundant.  On the
other hand, when we looked at many trace elements, particularly those
susceptible to being bound or leached by acids, we found Q as in Europe
Q quite a depletion.  We learned our cue from Europeans Q particularly
West Germans Q  regarding application of trace minerals.  In their case,
theyUre applying dolomite/limestone on their forests.  Frankly, from
experimental fields IUve seen in the Black Forest and other areas,
theyUve had remarkable recoveries from air pollution effects by
application of mineral slurries and/or dusts.  
   Years ago I became interested in doing this myself.  Always had
problems finding support for such studies.  Nevertheless I became more
and more in touch with and interested in remineralization and trace
mineral fertilizers. That led to the preliminary experiments we have now
at Mt. Mitchell and Grandfather Mtn. in North Carolina.  Mt. Mitchell,
highest peak in Eastern America, is severely damaged at this time.  

JC:  When did you come across the concepts of John Hamaker, and how does
his concept of remineralization coincide  with your own work?

RB:  I was initially approached by Larry Ephron out in Berkeley, who I
understand passed away about eight months ago.  He contacted me Q I
didnUt contact him Q regarding Hamaker and others. I read the book and
saw the video Stopping the Coming Ice Age, and discussed this with many
people.  Of course, there's a lot of truth to it. 
   This is the thing we always deal with: RCan you prove it?S  Of
course, itUs very difficult to do.  We canUt go back 20,000 years in
time to see what Earth was like back then.  On the other hand, thereUs
little doubt from purely a logical, chemical view that long-term
depletion of soil systems ultimately leads to many problems in
productivity, sustainability of forests and agriculture, and many
others.  This is where I initially became aware of the work that was
going on.  
   IUve done natural rock or granite dust trials in the greenhouse and
had some minor effects on pine and spruce trees.  I never really pursued
it far, but ultimately I found out about Planters II, a substance from
U.S. Soils in Colorado.  In my opinion, it seems a fairly well-balanced
mix Q far more concentrated, of course, than a rock dust type slurry. 
   What IUve learned is one of the biggest problems we face in forestry
is the delivery system.  In agriculture, you simply put whatever the
material is in a fertilizer hopper, zip down your field and youUve taken
care of your problem.  
   When you deal with remote forests, very often it takes a tremendous
amount of labor and/or aircraft to get materials in.  When I saw rock
dust and dolomite-limestone experiments going on in Europe, I realized
that, by U.S. standards, actual labor and application were probably ten
to 100 times more expensive than the substance itself.

JC:  Yes, thatUs a major challenge to remineralization for forests.
What about military transport planes?  In the area where I live in
western Massachusetts near Quabbin Dam, military transport planes from a
local base often fly over doing exercises.  Do you think we could apply
it that way Q perhaps in cooperation with government, or the military?

RB: The possibility is there.  The military is the obvious benefactor of
thousands of aircraft that could do these things.  Personally, IUll be
honest: IUm skeptical of working on these programs with the federal
government because, for reasons IUve never understood, many federal
offices, including Forest Service, are reactive, rather than proactive
about these situations. Not until they're utterly convinced through
science and/or politics itUs worth their while to get involved do they
actually volunteer their services.

JC:  So there needs to be tremendous urgency recognized to remineralize
forests before the government would cooperate....

RB:  There would have to be an urgency, and I think the only way we get
to the point of expressing urgency is through science.  ThatUs my
opinion Q by actually having the data.  Even if itUs preliminary data,
even if itUs not extensive data, I think youUve got to present the
before and after Q the treated and non-treated  Q to show a response is
taking place and hard numbers to go with it.  ThatUs not something
thatUs simply self-serving.  IUm not trying to say that as a scientist,
but as a pragmatic citizen, understanding youUre not going to garner a
lot of support until you have those numbers.

JC:  Tell us about  EarthDance Institute and how you came to participate
in their remineralization project.

RB: The philosophy behind EarthDance is really something I agree with.
They particularly want to involve children and teenagers with a
proactive spirit when it comes to the environment.  Mark Fields, their
director, believes people Q children, adults, whoever Q become very
depressed and tired with the constant negative news out about the
environment.  
   I think thereUs a lot of truth behind that.  You get almost
overwhelmed; you almost end up where denial sets in and you donUt care
anymore.  Yes, we must inform people whatUs going on, but we must also
get them involved proactively fixing problems, instead of simply going
out with a placard, picketing a lawn, jumping up and down yelling.
LetUs go actually do something to make the situation better.
   So, the philosophy I agree with.  I think itUs great.  Obviously, it
can educate people while making them psychologically feel theyUre part
of the cure.
   As often happens, EarthDance came to me.  I hadnUt heard about them.
In fact, theyUre a new group that organized itself out in Ashville,
North Carolina, in our mountains.  Apparently, they found out about my
work in those mountains and contacted me about reforesting trees up in
these devastated forests, and to remineralize the soils to see what
response we could get.  I became interested in this, and volunteered my
advice and services.  
   Quite a number of months ago, in spring, we planted about five or six
thousand trees on Grandfather Mountain and Mt. Mitchell, and
remineralized half with Planters II and left the other half untreated.
The purpose is to follow the growth, mortality and other physiological
parameters of these trees, to actually see what goes on.  From the
scientific standpoint, although itUs a small and preliminary experiment,
itUs nevertheless a good start, to see what happens.  

JC:  Sounds like a wonderful approach.  What process did you use to
select a source of dust?  Why did you choose Planters II?  

RB:  I was given samples of many, many types of rock dust to use, and
found all seemed like good stuff.  However, rates recommended to get
enough material into a forest ran from two to three tons per acre.  With
many of these mountains, youUre dealing with thousands of acres of trees
that need to be treated. Whereas with Planters II we used 175 pounds per
acre for our experiment, due to the unique sedimentary nature of that
rock, if I can call it that.  ItUs really sediment, rather than rock.  I
donUt know if youUre familiar with Planters II, but as a pellet, itUs a
very desirable way to distribute material, even by hand.

JC:  ItUs very safe to apply?

RB:  Completely non-toxic.  In fact, a homeopathic physician in Ashville
feeds it to cancer patients.  Apparently it has a purifying nature.  I
actually put a few pellets in my mouth and it doesnUt taste bad.  ItUs
very safe, has no heavy metals, no caustic substances, and comes as a
small pellet.  By virtue of that fact, you can drop a handful on an area
or spread it across an area Q it doesnUt blow away, doesnUt stick all
over you.  Hence, the lower weight that can be used combined with how
itUs formulated made it very desirable.  
   IUll be honest Q with EarthDance, if I had to apply regular rock dust
two to three tons per acre, I donUt have the slightest idea how we would
have done that.  We thought about fertilizer spreaders and realized the
roots, rocks, steps and everything Q it simply would have been
impossible, short of working in aircraft, and frankly, very few people
could afford two thousand dollars an hour for that.  

JC:  You mentioned homeopathy.  Dr. Gernot Graefe, an Austrian scientist
associated with their Academy of Science who works with the government,
has done tests for agriculture, including remineralization.  With  Dr.
Maria Felsenreich, heUs been testing treating forests with homeopathic
spray solutions of rock dust  Also, an Austrian prince, about three
years ago, was remineralizing his forests.  I know he used rock dust on
one part and homeopathic spray in the other.  I want to get back to him;
IUm very interested in the whole problem of transport, what results he
might get, even though it seems a bit far out of normal science.

RB:  It would be interesting to find out, for sure.  

JC:  If you had resources for a large scale project, how would you
design it?  

RB:  Easy.  There are standard statistical designs to test any
fertilizer-type regime Q things weUve done in forestry a long time.  If
you decide to put in a 50-acre trial, there are ways to find a disturbed
forest, sample that area for initial soil and tissue characteristics, go
in at different rates remineralizing those forests, go back over periods
of time collecting soil, tissue and root specimens, taking all sorts of
data and, ultimately, come up with a statistically validated comparison
of treated versus non-treated areas.  
   Then, in treated areas, test the rate used to see what kind of
response you actually got.  Ultimately, you end up with a package of
information that says, RYes, it works,S RNo, it doesnUt,S RYes, it works
at this level but not at that.S  And thatUs exactly the package of data
the Forest Service or Department of Defense or whoever, will look for
before they would even talk about getting involved.

JC:  IUd like to see different rock dusts used for comparison.

RB:  Oh, absolutely!  No question about that.  It would be foolish not
to compare different substances to see their relative response.

JC:  With experiments IUve seen in Europe with rock dust in forests,
they used, for example, a diabase or basalt dust that would be
interesting for forest trials here.  Greg Watson, currently
Massachusetts Commissioner for Food and Agriculture, and I spoke
together to maple growers about a year and a half ago, suggesting a
local source of basalt which is very, very fine.  In fact, it would have
to be applied carefully in small amounts, because it goes through a 400
mesh screen.  We suggested that maple growers here try it, and in one
town, Salem, MA, I believe several growers have.  I want to get back to
them and see their results. 
   When do you hope to see the result for the Mt. Mitchell trial?

RB:  Well, actual final results for this year will be done probably by
mid-October Q when trees start going dormant Q stop growing for the
year.  At that point, IUll measure all the trees, and obviously, look at
characteristics of whether alive or dead.  In addition, bring soil and
tissue samples to the laboratory to analyze, and go through the whole
statistical procedure doing an analysis of variants to see what
differences there are. 
   Then, after one year of growth, weUll have a good indication whatUs
going on.  But just as important, this coming spring of T92 we'll go
back to these harsh ecosystems to look at survival of remineralized
versus unremineralized trees. 
   One of the biggest problems in replanting these areas is the trees
simply die Q a great deal of stress Q from wind and ice, as you can
imagine.  If thereUs a significant difference there alone, that by
itself would probably be a good omen in terms of the value of the
remineralization process.

JC:  Twice IUve visited Brixlegg Forest in Austria, where George
Abermann applied the diabase product called SanVita.  It was amazing to
see the results.  They have a copper smelt nearby, and thereUs copper,
cadmium and lead in the soil.  Nothing wild grows Q bare duff and
deformed trees.  Spruces, for example, grow like bushes, bushing
downward.  Some older trees had side shoots growing out in a deformed
way, and so on.  Abermann saw results after about six months.  It was
amazing a few years later to see wild strawberries growing in the
remineralized area along with other wild plants.

RB:  ThatUs incredible!

JC:  There were tree stumps with plants growing out of them, which
wasnUt true of the rest of the forest.  I have slides of this.  Spruce
trees six or seven years old were doing very well.  TheyUd been
remineralized about four years before I saw them.  

RB:  Areas I just visited in northern Czechoslovakia, southern Poland
and Germany sound almost identical.  WeUre talking about hundreds of
square miles just devastated by heavy metals and air pollution.  If
thereUs any hope to get those forests back, in my opinion, itUs through
remineralization.  They replant trees that die three to six months
later, so they pull it out and shove another tree in the ground.  No
offense to them, but theyUre wasting time and money.  They need to
change the entire soil system.

JC:  Scientists in the Brixlegg region insisted it would be necessary to
bring in totally new soil.  When Abermann decided to try rock dust, they
didnUt expect any results at all. 
   Now, youUve seen improvements in forests with dolomite limestone.
This is a little different than the idea we have.  It certainly affects
pH.  IUm curious what for a comparison of results between using
limestone and hard silicate rock dust.

RB:  A very important point IUve raised with my German colleagues.  They
admit themselves that using dolomite limestone... they use the analogy:
itUs like taking aspirin for brain tumors.  They understand acid rain
leaches a tremendous amount of magnesium and calcium from the soil.
What theyUre doing is simply replacing that magnesium and calcium, but
they find when they stop re-applying dolomite, the forest goes back to
the way it was.  Therefore, in my opinion, and IUve discussed this with
them, they arenUt significantly changing the long term prognosis; not
turning around the soilUs quality. 

JC:  Yes.  George Abermann, for example, told me that just putting lime
or limestone into the forests will destroy the humus-building complex.

RB:  ThatUs partially true.  In the short term, itUll make the trees
look good. 

JC:  By affecting the pH?  But it doesnUt have enough trace minerals and
elements in it for the long term.  

RB:  ThatUs right.

JC:  ThatUs interesting.  Did you know that in Germany, youUre not
allowed to put anything in the forest but limestone?  ItUs a law.  

RB:  Really?  I didnUt know that.

JC:  Yes.  There are, you know, substantial companies with agricultural
rock dust products in Germany, and they canUt apply their product to
forests because of the lime industry.  Only limestone can be applied in
a forest, nothing else.  ItUs the only amendment that can be applied.
So, all the work IUve seen with forests and applications of other soil
amendments, has been in Austria, not Germany.

RB:  God bless America.  I know what youUre saying.

JC:  We have to do something about that.  If remineralization proves
effective for bringing back the forest, what  strategy do you recommend
to bring this about?  

RB:  The way I look at it, is basically two or three stages.  First, in
my opinion, based on 15 years knowledge of bureaucracies, it will be
difficult-to-impossible to get federal involvement with what weUre doing
right now, because there are budgetary problems and all sorts of things
going on.  What theyUll say is, RYou have no definitive, hard core,
empirical proof.S  
   On the other hand, whatUs called the private sector Q foundations,
environmental activist groups, whatever it takes Q is able to pull funds
together, get people in different parts of the country, scientists,
interested and working on this, and get some good, scientifically-based
trials out to collect data.  For better or for worse, this is at least a
two or three year project.  This isnUt something you can simply just go
in and then come out six months later and say, RBingo, look what we
got.S  Certainly, we could collect data and publish it, but weUll be
hesitant to draw firm conclusions until we really see what whappens over
two or three years.

JC:  Two or three years is a short time, actually, as far as forest
research goes.  

RB:  To me itUs a very short time, but to some people that sounds
forever.  

JC:  Due to the urgency of the problem.

RB:  Right.  But if that information looked promising, you could start
making connections with federal agencies.  You have to almost put it in
the sense of, RYou look good if you get a program started, because
youUll be fixing whatUs gone wrong with our forests.S  ThatUs more or
less the tack IUd take personally, involving grassroots organizations
into volunteering money, the labor, time to make these things happen
under scientific supervision.  Following analysis and publication of the
results, hit it on a much bigger scale.  

JC:  Please tell us a bit more about the idea you mentioned with
Greenpeace of setting up a forest fund? 

RB:  It seems many environmental organizations, whether Sierra Club,
Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Environmental Defense Fund, are all
out there trying to actively do something about the environment.  If
there was a way to raise money, through whatever means...  IUve often
had the idea, RIt would be great to throw a rock concert or something on
Mt. Mitchell!S to raise money to get the place alive again!  I know it
sounds far out, but I think itUs very do-able, and with 25 or 50
thousand dollars in the bank to get materials, be able to get
experiments in....

JC:  How much money did you say?

RB:  Well, I would say it would take $25-50,000 to really do it right.
This is a kind of ballpark number I would shoot for.  Sure, we could
take a lot more than that.  That also depends on how much volunteer
labor there is Q whether people will donate materials for experiments Q
but the bottom line is this would be a way to make something happen,
instead of waiting around and playing politics forever.  We could
actually get something started, or as the old Chinese proverb says, RA
journey of a thousand miles begins with a single stepS and we canUt wait
forever.  
   Well, I got back from my meeting with the Governor and IUm looking at
my phone messages right now.  Do you know A.E.?  HeUs calling about the
Indian Embassy being interested in rock dust.  IUll have to get back to
him.  So, you know the wordUs out in terms of the potential to do
things.  It will take some leadership and guidance of where it will go
in the future.

JC:  Coordination and networking is important. For example, in India a
French scientist with ICRISAT  named Dr. Michel Pimbert, is doing
remineralization trials with chickpeas.  Some of his work has been
published in the last year.  

RB:  One thing I think needs to be done Q I remember speaking to Larry
Ephron about this on a dozen occasions Q I honestly believe funding
needs to be found for an international conference on this.  Bring in
experts invited from different walks of life and areas to get together a
published proceedings thatUs widely distributed to get this information
out.  Part of the biggest need we have right now is for people to talk
to each other or send reprints to each other.  Very often theyUre in
foreign languages we donUt understand.  It seems the amount of
information thatUs out there, although itUs fairly substantial, is
completely disorganized right now, and needs to be brought together.  

JC:  IUm happy to hear you say that.  Perhaps thereUs a way to now do
something like that.

RB:  I think these are important, not only to get the information out,
but also the kinds of contacts made really allow multidisciplinary
cooperative research.

JC:  Well, I feel this conversation is very important.  YouUve given us
some ideas to pursue at this point that could be coordinated by a group
of people here, and IUm really excited about that.  Thank you very
much.

RB:  Good.  I look forward to hearing from you soon.


   ***************************************************]
   prepared by David Yarrow <jdmann>
   Earthwise Education Center
   P.O. Box 91, Camden, NY 13316
   315-675-8498
   ***************************************************