Seattle will receive $440,000 by settling one of two lawsuits it brought against homeowners last year in connection with the cutting of city-owned trees in West Seattle.

Guess who gets the last laugh.

The trunks all bend toward the ground in the same direction, extending three to nine feet, before curving upward and stretching toward the sky, taking the shape of an upside-down question mark. But almost a century after the 400 pine trees were planted in what is now known as Poland's Krzywy Las, or Crooked Forest, the reason for the deformity remains a mystery, reports the New York Times.

In the gray half-light of dawn, eight figures creep through the dry pine forest near Quincy, California. Seven of them wear camo uniforms bearing the logos of various government agencies: U.S. Forest Service, National Guard, California Fish & Wildlife, Plumas County Sheriff. Most have blackened faces and assault rifles at the ready. An 11-year-old Belgian Malinois named Phebe and her K9 handler lead the way.

In Poland’s Krzywy Las, or Crooked Forest, the pine trees look like potbellied stick figures.

The Mari people of central Russia speak a distinct language and practice a separate religion from their Christian neighbors. Photographer Sergei Poteryaev and reporter Regina Khisamova attended a traditional prayer ceremony in one of the sacred forest groves of the Mari El Republic.

A non-native snake species that has already wiped out most of Guam's tree-dwelling birds is also decimating the Pacific island's forests, researchers said Wednesday.

The kings of the Eastern forest now die as shrubs

At current rates of deforestation, rainforests will vanish altogether in a century. Stopping climate change will remain an elusive goal unless poor nations are helped to preserve them. By John Vidal.

The majority of plastics today are created from oil, which is unsustainable. This can change though. Scientists from the Centre for Sustainable Chemical Technologies (CSCT) at the University of Bath (UK) have developed a renewable plastic from a chemical known as pinene which is present in pine needles. Pinene is the aromatic chemical from the terpene family that gives pine trees their distinctive “Christmas smell” and is also waste by-product of the paper industry.

Goldman prize winner Isidro Baldenegro López, who was known for his activism against illegal logging, was shot dead months after Berta Cáceres was murdered. By Nina Lakhani.

Warming temperatures due to climate change may spell the end for some of the oldest trees on the planet, a new study has warned. Bristlecone pines - including Methusaleh, one of the world's oldest trees have lived in North America's Great Basin for thousands of years. However, warming temperatures due to climate change could cause trouble for the ancient trees by tipping the ecological balance in favour of the conifer's neighbour, the limber pine, scientists said.

The City of Boulder plans to remove 121 ash trees that were affected by the Emerald Ash Borer. Replanting has already started.

The recent discovery of the grave of an ancient soldier is challenging accepted wisdom among archaeologists

R.O. Blechman

UK scientists have decoded the genome of the ash in the fight against a devastating plant disease.

More than 800,000 volunteers pitched in to help the country fight climate change.

Global lenders, sometimes flouting their own policies, have financed projects in Indonesia and elsewhere that destroy ecosystems and contribute to climate change. By Hiroko Tabuchi.

... and it won't be easy to save them.