Page 12 RAIN November 1981 THE TREE ENTE by Laura Stuchinsky "Forests are the fastest-disappearing ecosystem on this planet. There's a lot of wealth there and it's real easy to exploit it. Bu~ once you exploit it, if you don't take some of the wealth and plow it back in, as with farming or any continuous operation, it's going to decline in productivity. It's going to go back in the ecosystem succession from coniferous forest to hardwoods to brush to brush-burn rocks to sandstone to desert." -Gerald Myers (Forester) in Tree .Talk For centuries our technology has been based on a seemingly endless supply of wood-wood used for houses and tools, for railroads and bridges, for heating and cooking. Not until the late 1800's did the country diversify its nearly exclusive reliance upon wood. Despite the introduction of steel and iron, the demand for wood has continued to rise. After the Civil War, growing industry demands for wood prompted the timber industries to move west and south in search of bigger and more plentiful trees. By 1876 the largest lumbering operations had moved to the white pine forests of the Great Lakes Region-Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. By 1947 the virgin forests of the West Coast, the redwoods of California and the Douglas fir of Oregon and Washington had become "logger's paradise." As the industry moved westward, dozens of small companies collectively became a great industry, on a par with the railroad and iron industries, gradually consolidating into large holdings and sawmills. The tillable open land left in the wake of this westward movement became farmland, while the less-profitable land became open prairie. With this reduced quality wood, it is projected that new housing will need to be replaced every generation. Through the 1950's the demand for wood, particulary high after the post-World War II housing boom, absorbed the rapidly . expanding production level of developing industry. By the 1960's the effects of this stepped-up production became apparent: privately-owned, old-growth timber was on the verge of becoming extinct. In order to maintain the supply of timber, public lands held out of production thanks to the wilderness conservation movement of the 1900's (led by John Muir) were thrown open for harvest. By the early 1960's public land accounted for more than a third of the timber harvested in the United States. Forestry had become a matter of public policy, rather than the sole domain of private industries, with a conservationist movement once more on the rise. In response to increasing worldwide demand for timber, intensive forestry practices were introduced to maximize timber yields. Today, foresters are taught that it is the function of forest management to replace "old-growth" timber-upwards of 100 years oldwith fast-growing trees. The rate of production in "overmature" trees begins to decline as decay sets in, while young trees are at the peak of their growth cycle. With this logic, old-growth timber has become a "waste of productive land." Modeled after standard farming practices, intensive forestry management ("tree farming") is practiced through "even age" monocultures. Stands of a single tree are planted all at the same time to simplify management and harvesting: Clearcutting is an integral part of even age monoculture, creating a clean slate to pegin a new forest. Site preparation follows the clear cut, accomForestry Be) plished by burning, manually removing, or plowing the old growth into the ground. In the last 10-20 years, herbicides have become the preferred treatment for removal of less-profitable hardwoods and "competitive" brush that might shade intolerant species such as the Douglas fir. The rotation of harvest is accelerated by genetically improved, fast-growing seedlings that are chemically coated before planting with mixtures such as thiram or B.G.R (Big Game Repellant) to repel animals. Insecticides, pesticides, and artificial fertilizers follow. Second-growth timber differs substantially from old-growth timber. Because of its size, old-growth timber is more difficult to fell, increasing the risk of harm to neighboring trees. It is also more often damaged by rot. On the other hand, the quality of secondgrowth is substantially poorer. The fine grain of old-growth takes centuries to develop. Second-growth trees are knottier, and yield a high percentage of sapwood, lacking the strength and durability of heartwood. The timber industry has adjusted to the poorer quality of timber being produced, gearing production towards higher percentages of glued and pressed products. With this reduced quality, it is projected that new housing will need to be replaced every generation. Criticism of new forestry practices has been mostly aimed at herbicides. Yet herbicides are symptomatic of a far greilter problem: poor forestry management. Selective harvesting techniques which · degenerated into "high grading" (taking the best trees and leaving the rest), as well as extensive clearcutting and an increase in wild fires, created millions of acres of unproductive forest land dominated by brush. Not until 1976 and the National Forest Management Act was there a concerted effort to restock these problem areas. Phenoxy herbicides have been introduced as a preferred method of preparing land for reforestation. The price, many ecologists argue, for high-yield, intensive management is in the long-term productivity and survival of our forests. Pure stands of single species are rarely found in nature. A basic ecological principle is that genetic diversity creates stability. Single stands of species, particularly those exposed to constant pesticides and insecticides, become more susceptible to infestations and disease as more resilient strains of bacteria and animals develop. Reduction in seed diversity, through scientific manipulation of preferred species of trees, holds no guarantee that the fast-growing varieties will produce a genetic line better adapted to environmental )
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