European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 25, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Etc Over Here r it 5 re a mail re a a nce the Pride of Sherwood Forest is held up by steel cables and wooden supports. Fight is on for control of Sherwood Forest by William e. Schmidt the slew York times Here in t much left of Sherwood Forest and what there is Robin Hood would hardly recognize. Farmland pasture Coal mines and Urban sprawl have claimed most of the Trees. Where there is Greenwood a scattered pockets like islands adrift on the Dull midlands Plain a it consists mostly of dense stands of Mediterranean Pine imported and planted by the government after world War i As a Timber Cash crop. But while Sherwood Forest is Only a thin Wisp of its medieval past when the thick gnarled Oaks and spindly Birches offered Sanctuary to the bandits and rebellious woodsmen who once harried the sheriff of Nottingham its scattered remnants Are at the heart of National debate Verthe future of Britain s Public forestland. Prime minister John major s conservative government is contemplating turning Over to private investors control of 4,355 Square Miles of Woodland and Heath nearly 5 percent of the nation s land area. The land is now managed by the forestry. Commission Britain s largest landowner. Proponents of free Market economics in the tory government argue that privatization of Britain s forests like the earlier privatization of airlines and utilities would draw fresh investment and help renew the moribund Timber Industry. But a coalition of local government officials conservationists and recreation enthusiasts has mounted a loud Campaign warning that Selling these lands would sharply reduce  to them. Quot now that the Coal Industry has collapsed we View our forests As the heart of our county and the key to our future Quot said Gareth Broome forestry officer for Nottinghamshire. Quot we obviously Don t want to see them fall now that the Coal Industry has collapsed we View our forests As the heart of our county and the key to our future. A Gareth Broome forestry officer into the hands of private owners More interested in profit than  few groups Are As organized and vocal As Britain s vast army of Hill walkers hikers and Bird watchers who have a passionate attachment to what is left of the Countryside. Walking is ritually Liste d in surveys As britons favorite outdoor activity. But unlike the National forests and Parks of the United states nearly All of Britain s undeveloped Forest coast and Moorland is in the hands of private owners a landed families mostly who have controlled it for centuries. Government officials insist that no decision has been made on the Fate of the Forest lands and have promised to do whatever is necessary to ensure . But they also concede the land is less marketable if the government insists on attaching covenants guaranteeing . According to a study published in february by the Ramblers association a hikers group that claims 95,000 members nearly 85 percent of the 250,q00 acres of forestry commission lands sold off to private owners since 1981 is now closed to the Public. Quot Robin Hood and his colleagues would Rise from the grave if they knew what this wicked government was Dir it a said Paddy tipping a labor member of parliament from Nottingham. Robin Hood and his merry. Men Are the legendary 12th-Century heroes who lived in Sherwood Forest and robbed Rich normans to help poor saxons. A / Sherwood Forest s Fate illustrates Britain s changing perspective toward its Forest lands. As Britain became More densely settled wide areas of Sherwood Forest disappeared to make Way for farms and later the exploitation of the Rich Nottinghamshire Coal Fields. Now most of the mines have closed and with thousands of miners out of work local officials Are focusing once More on the Forest seeing its scattered remnants As a Way to lure tourists the Robin Hood legend already draws Large numbers of visitors each year to a nature Center and 450-acre tract managed by the Nottinghamshire government. The very heart of the old Hunting Forest it is now a thinning. Voo escape of Birch Yew and brooding Oaks including the major Oak a tree 400 to 500 years old whose huge limbs Are lashed together with steel cables and braced by Pine supports. Short subject Bonn has big beef with British neat by Petra Kaminsky Deutsche Presse agent or some germans Call it a new kind of epidemic others a time bomb and yet others an impending catastrophe. ,. German tabloids and strict vegetarians alike use terms like these to describe the deadly cattle illness called Bovine spongiform encephalopathy discovered in Britain eight years ago. More commonly known As Quot mad cow disease Quot it s the subject of heated political debate in the German capital of Bonn. For the time being and out of deference to the european Union the government decided to postpone any measures to ban the import of British beef until monday when eur agriculture ministers Are scheduled to meet. Meanwhile German retailers report an outbreak of a meat paranoia Quot in a country where meat consumption though 15.4 pounds less per person per year than in 1987, is still a hefty 138,6 pounds a year. Leading the Campaign for a total ban on beef and veal imports from Britain is health minister Horst Seehofer whose strident demand is threatening to escalate into a political skirmish with London. Vet a Butcher examines a Side of  does no to Rule out the deadly disease being transferred to humans a and compares the scanty knowledge of a mad cow disease Quot to / the initial Lack of information on aids some years ago. He also feels that existing Export restrictions Aren t Tough enough. Quot today we know that its never too Early to identify such diseases and that information on these can never be comprehensive enough Quot Seehofer said recently. In London this attitude lends to be seen As a typical German hysteria or just another attempt by German conservatives to improve their image in the year of general elections. A this is not hysteria not panic not political spectacle a just an urgent recommendation by scientists Quot Seehofer insisted in March As he defended in Brussels his attempt to enforce stricter controls within the eur. But at the meeting of 12 eur health ministers at which he made this claim Seehofer found himself alone with this View. From the scientific Point of View Only one thing seems certain British cows were first infected from fodder that included carcasses of sheep that had a viral infection. Since then almost 122,000 cows died a painful death a from the disease. Similar symptoms have been observed in humans afflicted by the rare Creutz feed Jakob disease. Although neither cause nor Transfer of the disease is properly understood consumer groups warn that not just meat could be dangerous. Cosmetics too a like lipstick a plus pharmaceuticals could contain Bovine tissue while ground cattle Bones Are also fed to pigs and poultry they say. A wednesday May 25, 1994 the stars and stripes