Re: [RC] Fires and the environment - Barbara McCrary
We select only about 30% of allowable timber take in
this part of CA. These are all trees that are 18" or over at chest
height. Being redwoods, they resprout from the stump and the sprouts are
2-3 feet high within the first year. This means that there will be at
least 6 new trees where there was once only one. This is why, after the
"clear-cutting" done before and during the turn of the 20th century, the forests
are more dense now than ever. This species of tree, harvested properly,
would produce a perpetual supply forever.
After the harvest, we send crews in to "lop", and all
the slash (limbs and foliage) removed during logging is cut into smallish
pieces so it all lies close to the ground and deteriorates more
quickly. The understory is opened to sunlight, which encourages growth of
the forbs that deer prefer to grass. After a harvesting job, the
forest looks untidy for the first year. By the second year, it is
beautiful. We harvested in May, about 5 years ago, right on the site of
our ride camp. We pointed this out to our riders...that the spot where
their trailers were parked had been a log deck about 30 feet high. We had
helicopters bringing the logs out of the forest and dropping them right into the
ride camp meadow. By fall, when our ride took place, everything was all
cleaned up. Now, 5 years later, all you can see are masses of young
trees growing. If one stands on top of the mountain overlooking the area
we harvested, you absolutely cannot tell where any trees were taken. We
will go back in 10-15 years to harvest the same area again.
Incidentally, it is the young, vigorous, growing trees
that scrub the carbon dioxide out of the air, not the old, stagnant-growth
trees.
You have just received your Forestry 101 lesson for
today. :-))
BTW - don't know if it's done in the same
manner - but the 'selective loggers' around here - leave these HUGE piles of
unwanted wood debri all through the woods. Which is a BIGGER fire risk - than
the minimal undergrowth that once was there. And they only take the BIG trees,
which opens the understory to the sunlight - then you get a hillside FULL of
imprenetrable thorns and small trees.. An even bigger fire risk than what was
originally there!
