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Published on: 1/10/2001
Last Visited: 5/26/2001
John Flynn , a local science writer , heeded the talk and laid the groundwork for a regional coalition of ecologists and forest activists , the Lucy Braun Association for the Mixed Mesophytic Forest ( LBA ).The LBA designed a citizen science monitoring project to test the hypothesis that mortality rates are on the rise in forest species throughout the mixed mesophytic forest system.After three years of monitoring , the Lucy Braun Association published its finding that trees are dying at three to five times historic rates , especially oaks and hickories.The report also concluded that the increased mortality is consistent with the deposition patterns of sulfates , nitrogen oxides , and ground-level ozone - an effect of fossil fuel combustion , especially from coal-fired utility plants upwind.These findings , the report goes on to say , should be of concern not only to private owners of timber , but to those who benefit from the forest's common ecosystem services.
For the American scholars , activists , and communities who participated , the significant thing about this project is a model it suggests for linking local commons within a regional commons that provides a global service.