Remnant Of An Old Logging Road example essay topic

Clear-Cutting of Forests- In the past three decades humans has cleared over half the Earth's original forests. The only countries remaining that still have significant areas of original forests are Russia, Brazil, and Canada (Staff. 1997). Such devastation has occurred over these few years as a result of clear-cut logging being practiced all around the world.

First, Loggers allow no time for re-forestation. In brief, trees are being cut down faster than they can be re-planted. Second, clear-cutting speeds up erosion and causes landslides, which are mostly caused from road building and use. Third, BC makes up for 74% of Canada's land dwelling mammals and 70% of breeding birds (Staff. 1997). Therefore in order to protect these animals, clear-cutting must cease.

Clear-cut logging in British Columbia must be abolished. Large scale clear-cutting must be halted to allow people to re-plant forests. Reforestation is happening in BC, but not fast enough. Twelve years ago Mount Paxton was completely cleared of all trees and shrubs that grew there (Hamilton, G. 1997, October 14), not one tree was missed. Mistake piled upon mistake when Mount Paxton was logged.

Says environmentalist, Mark Haddock, of Forest Policy Watch. Interfor [logging company that cleared Mount Paxton] originally cut the mid-zone, and when a buffer strip along the ocean began to blow down, the forest service had the strip logged. Then a slash fire got out of control and burned the top. Under the rules of the day, the forest service demanded Interfor then log the rest, despite two appeals by the company that the slope was steep, rocky and unsafe to work on. Fallers had to be lowered on ropes to cut the 40-metre-tall trees.

Is it any wonder rains washed the exposed soils awa (Hamilton, G. 1997, October 14) Afterwards, no one bothered to re-plant on Mount Paxton. It's coastal side, exposed to wind and rain, remains bare to this very day. It was an ecological disaster, Gordon Hamilton recalls: As our helicopter approached Mount Paxton from the Pacific, we first saw the bare summit, an old logging road visible across its face like a still fresh scar. Landslides swept downward from [logging] roads like tears. Then we saw rebirth on the lower slope, where the second growth already forms a thick blanket of green.

When we landed there, on the remnant of an old logging road, the new forest on either side was almost impenetrable. Later on the summit, we noticed re-forestation has been less successful. Slacco [Ric Slacco, Forest Products chief forester] noted strong incremental growth on the shorter and less numerous trees, a positive sign. The summit will recover, he forecast. Haddock said he saw signs that much of the thin soil had washed downhill.

(Hamilton, G. 1997, October 14) Haddock states that While it is true trees are returning, it will be centuries before a forest as biologically rich as the old one returns on Mount Paxton (Hamilton, G. 1997, October 14). Despite the new growth, the mountain still stands as a legacy of everything wrong with the way BC's forests were logged as recently as a decade ago. It also offers a graphic warning of the hazards of logging on steep coastal slopes where as much as seven meters of rain a year can wreak havoc on the terrain. (Hamilton, G. 1997, October 14). For supposed mistakes, like Mount Paxton, to never re-occur, clear-cut logging must end.

Clear-cutting in BC harms environmental features. Because of total logging, all the trees have been harvested, thus resulting in land slides. The roots of the giant tree's rot and cause instability in the soil. This rotting of the roots can cause slides as big as three hectares that can cause devastation to nearby villages, pollute rivers, and clear all the soil off steeper parts of mountains making it impossible for trees to grow. A great contributor to this vast number of mudslides, are logging roads. The tire ruts from logging trucks in these roads get so deep that they can become the main waterway replacing the ditches at the side of the road, thus resulting in more erosion.

Faced with a shortage of logging approvals, companies are building roads and logging on them within a matter of months, before the roads have a chance to stabilize. (Hamilton, G. 1997, October 16). These premature roads, referred to as green roads, often cannot withstand heavy equipment rumbling over them without turning into a sea of mud, which ultimately makes its way to streams. If salmon happen to be nearby, the silt can smother spawning beds. Chilliwack Forest District manager, Jerry Kenna h, had this to say on the issue of green roads: When you are forced to be logging on a road that's been built within the last six to eight months, you can get this type of activity [muddy roads]. If we had more time, had the plans in place, had everything approved and have the roads built 18 months in advance, you wouldn t get this.

But unfortunately, in some situations, companies are waiting for the next permit to come out or else their fallers are through next week. They go home unless we get something out of the office for them. Jack Munro, chair of the pro-industry Forest Alliance of BC voiced It shouldn t be happening [using green roads]. The roads need at least two years to settle (Hamilton, G. 1997, October 16). If contractors know they are building a road that will be in use very soon after construction, they can take steps to ensure sediments don t float to the surface and wash into streams. Forest Products chief forester, Ric Slacco expresses his feelings about a road building technique called side-casting: This is wrong.

It shouldn t have happened, and it is not something we would condone as an acceptable practice. Side-casting is a practice where excavated material is simply cast over the side of the mountain, where its weight can greatly lead to slope failure. Streams, no longer regulated by the forest cover, grow in power, washing out everything but the largest rocks from their beds. Side slopes cave in, adding to the damage. For these environmental features to be preserved, clear-cut logging must end. The environmental features that are ruined are also the homes of the birds, animals, and insects that live in the forests.

Clear-cutting must cease to protect animals in BC. In the Nahmint Valley, 20 kms west of Port Alber ny, many species of insects and animals lose their food and homes. Clear-cutting has caused forests to become so shrunken that creatures that before were thriving, are now being nominated for the endangered species list. Heavy logging [and hunting] have eliminated two of six elk subspecies; others have been stressed almost to extinction. Only a fraction of virgin forests on public lands in the United States and Canada is wholly protected.

A view that timber cutting favors such animals by increasing shrubs and foliage along forest edges has drawn increasing challenges from researchers. Recent studies indicate that some species, such as the Roosevelt elk and Black-tailed deer, need the tempering microclimate of old growth to get through summers heat and winters cold. (Findley, R. 1990, pg. 108). An endangered bird of prey, the goshawk, was found recently to have been inhabiting an area in the Nahmint Valley, and may become extinct if the area continues to be cleared. According to Smith It's the classic example of science versus politics. We have science that tells us we have to do certain things to protect wildlife and then we have politics that says it must not impact the rate of cut because the forest industry is generating revenue for the government.

(Hamilton, G. 1997, October 15). Water contaminated from the mud slides endangers the lives of salmon, and steelhead trout. Furthermore, it is unhealthy for the elk, bears, and other animals who drink at these streams. For these animal's food to be preserved, and their homes be protected, clear-cut logging must end. Forests must be allowed time to regenerate. All in all man must assist by planting new trees where old growth is cut.

People must use more caution in exercising their destructive logging practices, which in turn are most harmful to the environment. Loggers must find an alternate tree harvesting method to clear-cutting. Though it may take longer and be a little more expensive, man must devise a method that won t completely destroy an area of land which, to many animals, is home. Human beings must allow animals to have plenty of available food, and an easy home to find. All animals will soon become endangered or be driven to extinction if not given space to thrive. Today in BC, 190,000 hectares of forest are clear-cut every year.

A result of 10,000 years of post-glacial activity, is being clear-cut. Unless people take action now, half of all the unprotected intact rainforest valleys will have roads built into them or be clear-cut.