The weekend is here, but before you settle in for some R&R, take a look at this Friday’s Forest Digest.

• Harvard Forest report: Valuable Mass. ecosystems shrinking — Worcester Telegram
  Researchers at Harvard Forest, Harvard University’s laboratory for ecological research, found in a new study that development is causing forest ecosystems across Massachusetts to shrink. The scientists used satellite imagery to track changes in land cover, such as deforestation for agriculture or development, in the state from 2001 to 2011.

• More Alaskan forests are burning, not just due to climate change — High Country News
  Researchers from a recently released study found that Alaska’s boreal forests are burning more with each passing year, with acreage of burned forest in the interior of the state increasing by nearly five times since 1943.

• iForest: Apple gets into forest conservation in China and the US — The Guardian
  Electronics powerhouse Apple is using a different approach in its effort to increase the sustainable pulp and paper supply the company needs for packaging by working with conservation organizations in China and the U.S. to improve forest management and ensure the protection of these valuable resources.

• Indonesia Comes Up Short in $1 Billion Bid to Save Forests — The Wall Street Journal
  The Indonesian government agreed to renew a moratorium on new licenses to log primary forest land. However, since it was implement in 2011, the ban hasn’t successfully slowed back deforestation rates in the country.

• Fear of Ruin as Disease Takes Hold of Italy’s Olive Trees — The New York Times
  On the heel of Italian Peninsula, many olive trees are succumbing to a bacterial outbreak that has the government and many farmers and olive oil manufacturers worried. Scientists estimate that roughly one million trees are currently infected and that number could rise sharply.

• Root Fungi Can Turn Pine Trees Into Carnivores — or at Least Accomplices — Scientific American
  A fun read on the relationship between a fungus, insect and eastern white pines that ultimately comes to a carnivorous conclusion!