All the Dirt on Gardening

The Spring 2013 issue of Biosurvey news from the Oklahoma Biological Survey announced that federally endangered Harperella is now also endangered in OK.  US Forest Service " Harperella is an aquatic, primarily annual herb. The inflorescence is an umbel of small white flowers quite similar to other members of the carrot family. The most distinguishing character of the plant is its unusual leaf form. Leaves are reduced to a hollow, septate central stalk, or "rachis leaf"—an adaptation to a semi-aquatic habitat. Harperella blooms from May through October. Population sizes may vary dramatically from year to year in response to water levels. The Oklahoma population was found along a river in the southeastern part of the state and included two stands of approximately 500 plants." The link in the first line above will take you to the original article. 

Mexico's president Felipe Calderon announced the news that 250-million trees were planted in his country during 2007. The UN Environment Program set a goal of four-times that number to be planted around the world to combat climate change. The story was reported at Yahoo News (click link to read) and came to me through an Internet based Urban Forest newsletter. Calderon reported using local labor and investing $540 million in the project. Environmentalists Complain Greenpeace complained that the planting was done without enough thought. Trees were not planted in appropriate locations and no arrangements were made for their care after the initial shovel-in-the-ground effort was completed. The Greenpeace spokesperson also said that the rate of deforestation in Mexico is an astounding 1.48 million acres a year. The United Nations claimed success, however. A total of 1.4 billion trees were planted. The top ten countries were: Ethiopia, Mexico, Turkey, Kenya, Cuba, Rwanda, South Korea, ...