Kimmerer.com November 11, 2008

Mulch made from baldcypress and the closely related pondcypress is prized by landscapers because its long strands create a lasting mulch bed. The native cypress forests of North America, concentrated along the southern Atlantic and Gulf Coast waterways, have been decimated by centuries of logging, erosion and development. Now, vast tracts of cypress are being clear cut for the production of cypress mulch.

Tom Kimmerer, PhD.
Kimmerer.com

MongaBay.com November 5, 2008

The cypress forests of Louisiana have suffered much devastation from human development, coastal erosion, and exploitation by the lumber industry. Now, vast tracts are being clear cut for the production of cypress mulch. A new online campaign — saveourcypress.org — is seeking to reform the Louisiana cypress mulch industry.

Cypress wetland forests are among the most productive wetland ecosystems in the world, but with no state laws in place to protect Louisiana trees, these forests are being logged without discretion, at a rate of 20,000 acres per year. In the mid-1800s, Louisiana boasted over two million acres of cypress-tupelo swamps; currently, fewer than half that number currently exist.

Morgan Erickson-Davis, special to mongabay.com
MongaBay.com

The Times Picayune - New Orleans, June 21 2008

As gardeners turn to mulching to fend off heat and weeds in their summer beds, it's a good time to take a look at the ongoing controversy over cypress mulch.

Once favored as the platinum level of mulches, its use now is being discouraged through massive public information campaigns by organizations across the Gulf Coast, including the
Waterkeeper Alliance, Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper, Atchafalaya Riverkeeper and the Save Our Cypress Coalition. Because cypress is grown primarily in wetlands areas, opponents of cypress mulch say, cutting the trees contributes to habitat destruction and the erosion of wetlands, an important line of defense againt hurricanes.

Moreover, they continue, green-minded individuals won't be losing anything by boycotting cypress mulch: It doesn't work as effectively as gardeners once believed.

"People think that cypress mulch is more rot-resistant and insect-resistant, but scientists at the University of Florida have shown that there are equally effective sustainable alternatives that don't deplete our natural wetlands and don't deprive our gardens of the benefits of mulching," said Dan Favre, campaign manager of the nonprofit Gulf Restoration Network. "The really sad piece of all this is that the popularity of cypress mulch is predicated on myths." 

Molly Reid - Staff Writer
The Times Picayune

The Washington Post, June 5, 2008; Page H01

...As I see people hauling and ripping these bags, I wonder, what's driving them? Is it a clear understanding of the benefits of mulch, or is it some civic impulse to conform in what has become Mulch Nation?

"We seem to have gone nuts for mulch," said Marylee Orr, an environmentalist who says our addiction to mulch is costing Louisiana its coastal cypress forests.

Without doubt, we decorate our lives with mulch in a way our ancestors would have found strange and extravagant.

Adrian Higgins - Writer
The Washington Post

The Washington Post, May 19 2008; Page A16

The May 11 Business article "Shreds, Reds and Stony Beds" recommended the use of cypress mulch. But the Sierra Club, along with its partners in the Save Our Cypress Coalition, has been fighting for years against the destructive and unsustainable logging practices of the cypress mulch industry.

Louisiana, Florida and the other Gulf states are paying a premium so that unknowing consumers can use cypress mulch in their gardens. Cypress mulch is not a byproduct of milling operations. The mulch industry is clear-cutting tens of thousands of acres of century-old trees, which lack the commonly touted rot- and insect-resistant characteristics of the ancient growth, and is putting them into a chipper and sending them off to your local retailer or garden center.