May/June 1984 RAIN Page 19 FROM: A Field Guide to the Cascades and Olympics {see page 35). competition in any given area between trees of different species than there is between trees of the same species. A natural forest, where different species are growing, will therefore produce more gross fibre than the same area planted as a mono- cultural operation. I believe that on the average. Natural Selection Forest Management could easily achieve twice the yield of a standard monocultural operation. (2) Slash-burning is the most usual method for removing the debris left in the wake of logging operations from the forest floor and for minimizing fire hazard. Not only does this cost time and money, but much material usable by the forest or as sellable products is lost. With Natural Selection Forest Management we remove slash down to 2” for firewood or other useful purposes. Any remaining slash the decomposers on the forest floor remove for us. This improves the soil and eliminates both the expense of burning and the hazard of fire. (3) The massive use of herbicides and pesticides in our forests is costly and dangerous not only to the forest but to human health as well. When we consider the forest as an ecosystem, we can see that herbicides and pesticides have no place there. If a forest is healthy and has been properly harvested using natural selection management techniques, it should not require any herbicides or pesticides, as nature keeps an adequate system of checks and balances. (4) Reforestation costs in public forests are enormous. According to the National Forest Service, the cost of reforestation in Washington and Oregon is $382 per acre. In some regions of the country, it runs as high as $893. In addition, reforestation is often not successful on land that has been severely damaged, such as clear-cut areas. Natural Selection Forest Management, by keeping an all-age stand, lets Nature plant the seedlings. (5) Many conventional forest management tools cause severe environmental damage, which could be greatly reduced by the methods outlined in this book. For instance, small-scale harvesting equipment can cause less erosion and stream pollution than large-scale equipment, and thus can more easily maintain the forest's ability to function as a healthy organism. Natural selection management practices could eliminate these thorns in the side of public foresters. The diversity of the forest ecosystem is the key to the stability of the forest and could be the key to the stability of the timber industry as well. The reduction or elimination of management costs for reforestation and the use of chemicals would reduce the budget (our tax money) and free up the money for hiring people to fill jobs created by increased product diversity and the methods of Natural Selection Forest Management. If natural selection harvesting practices and other methods of forest farming were to reach into our public forests as well as our own, our total forest ecosystem could become healthy as well as productive. □ □ [Reprinted by pennisskm of the publisher \ Good news spreads fast! Based on the Oregon decision, a federal judge has banned the use of herbicides on all Forest Service lands indefinitely. FROM: The Forest Farmer's Maiuibook
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