LSU has high hopes for 'tree of joy.' (Louisiana State University; Camptotheca acuminata)

Known as the "tree of joy" in China, Camptotheca acuminata may prove to be a lifesaver for thousands of cancer patients around the world, according to a story in The Forestry Source. This fast-growing native of northern China has found a home at Louisiana State University's (LSU) Agricultural Center's Experiment Station.

A natural compound called camptothecin, concentrated mostly in the bark, was discovered to have cancer-halting properties by Houston's Stehlin Foundation for Cancer Research. Trials showed the compound caused the regression of 32 types of human cancer.

The expense of extracting and shipping camptothecin from China makes it cost $35,000 per kilogram, but LSU researchers hope to cultivate the tree right in Louisiana. The state's climate matches northern China's, and 5,000 trees have grown successfully so far. LSU researchers see this as a model for a program to research other medicinal plants.

Forests Treat Wastewater

Trees might soon help take the pressure off wastewater treatment plants if university scientist Douglas Frederick has his way. A professor of forestry at North Carolina State University, Frederick has developed a method to use trees to reduce runoff from municipal, agricultural, and industrial wastewater.

Frederick sprays hardwoods and pine at several sites in eastern North Carolina with chlorinated wastewater, a process that removes, on average, about 60 to 90 percent of the nitrogen and phosphorous in the wastewater. Some nutrients are stored in the trees; others are used by microorganisms in the soil near the tree's roots.

"Fewer nutrients end up as contaminants in groundwater and surface waters, and because the wastewater acts as a fertilizer, the sprayed trees grow much faster than they would normally, allowing the cities or industries (on whose land the trees grow) to harvest them for wood products much earlier," Frederick said in a release. Treated trees at a municipal wastewater site at Edenton have grown 60 feet in eight years. The faster-growing trees mean timber can be harvested sooner. According to Franklin, after one generation of hardwoods is cut, another grows from the old stumps, providing a renewable revenue source for communities and industries.

Frederick's newest site is at Franklinton, where he and fellow professor Carlyle Franklin are using an existing pine forest to process wastewater from an industrial plant that produces laundry detergent enzymes. NC State foresters also are testing manmade wetlands for waste water treatment.

Forest Service Fights Fire with Fire

U.S. Forest Service land managers plan to use prescribed fire to prevent the wildfire disasters that have plagued the West for the last decade, according to a report by Knight-Ridder Newspapers. A million acres are planned to be burned next year to reduce the amount of undergrowth and trees that, when packed together, produce intensely hot blazes that can easily get out of control.

The tragedy at Storm King Mountain, where 14 firefighters lost their lives in a quick moving forest fire, is just one example where the denser and drier forests have proved destructive to both lives and property. Wildfires have already burned nearly 2.5 million acres and land managers have been forced to reevaluate past fire prevention policies.

Land managers expect to anger a lot of people who live in areas near the prescribed burning, but they believe the dangers of uncontrollable fires outweigh the discomfort of smoky skies and pollution. The EPA plans to study whether the prescribed burning will have any health effects. According to the EPA, an average of 500,000 tons of fine particles per year are emitted by forest fires, which can cause increased rates of asthma, aggravate heart disease, and heighten the risk of respiratory failure. - Chris Home is a former associate editor of American Forests.