Proposed timber sales strive for 'ecological logging'
MARCOLA, Ore. - Can public land managers ramp up the timber harvest just a bit, improve conditions for wildlife and avoid acres upon acres of clearcuts?
A professor from Oregon State University thinks he's found a compromise.
"This is different than the old days, let me tell you," said Norm Johnson, a forestry professor who advocates what he calls "ecological forestry."
"We're trying to harvest trees in a way that reflects natural processes, the way these forests naturally develop," he said.
Johnson showed KVAL News around a proposed timber sale northwest of Marcola known as "Second Show," one of 6 test sales on federal land in Western Oregon.
Johnson said ecological forestry uses interspersed timber cuts to create openings in the forest while preserving areas of older trees.
"You won't look across 100 acres and see a clearcut," he said. "You'll see openings and then patches of trees."
Conservationists beg to differ and say a clearcut is a clearcut.
"Sort of shaggy clearcuts with patches of trees left that are not cut, but mostly clearcut," said Doug Heiken with Oregon Wild. "The best use for these older forests is to continue on the path and grow into healthy old growth."
It's going to take a few more years before Johnson's new forestry idea can be put to the test. The Second Show sale won't go to bid until 2014. Logging may not happen for another 3 years after that.
Lets bring money into oregon... lets cut.
small clear cuts allow deer and elk forage, openings for birds of prey to hang out on tree line looking for a meal, some red alder fixes nitrogen in the soil, big leaf maple supplies much nectar and pollen for pollinator insects. Norm has the right idea for many sites. Â Many private landowners practice parallel methods. Â There are many good foresters out there. Â It will not replace industrial forests per say but can be more widely implemented is site specific conditions on state, private and federal land.
There are lots of families that have managed small forests and wood lots for years maintaining healthy ecological systems on their properties. There is no reason the State and Federal Timber managers can't do the same. Selective logging while cleaning out some of the brush and trash is good for the forests and game. Best part, JOBS!
Wired had an excellent article on this some years back. Old growth trees are exactly the ones that should be cut down, not preserved. Ecologically, old growth tress produce the least amount of resources for animals, while producing the most amount amount of profit for business. Younger trees produce more for the environment. Similar to that of a human in their prime producing and contributing more to society than the elderly. Doesn't common sense dictate that logging industry types are going to know better than some guy with a diploma and a hat,, particularly a white guy? One would probably be better off long term relying upon the words of Native Americans, who have said that climate change ( Global Warming as the white man has labeled it) is all peaks and a valleys, with right now being a peak, and is in no way related to anything man does or not do.
Tell us how to do it white man, tell us about our future white man, since you're so knowledgeable about our past.
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First, produce more what for the environment? The life cycle of any tree cannot be simplified to producing "more" for the environment when it is younger. Each age class of a forest provides specific habitat and benefits to the forest as a whole; rather than trying to grow young, commercially productive monocultures that have caused so many problems already, a shifting mosaic of age classes is more appropriate.Â
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Second, Norm Johnson is more than a hat and a diploma. Norm is one of the big four that originated the Northwest Forest Plan some decades ago and has helped shape forest policy and research since. He has an incredible knowledge of forestry and is probably one of the last people you want to challenge on the subject.
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Third, what makes you believe that the logging industry is not involved in this project? I can assure you many companies are; who do you think is going to bid on the project? This project includes the industry as a stakeholder; the idea is to find a compromise that allows us to reap ecological benefits and increase the amount of timber cut in federal forests.
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Fourth, yes, global climate change has seen a series of peaks and valleys. No, they are not similar in scale. EVEN if you don't believe humans caused global climate change, why would you not want to acknowledge its existence and mitigate the negative effects? Whether you think your car is contributing or not, global climate change is occurring and natural resource problems are occurring as a result. Just take a look at beetle outbreaks current decimating conifers in the Rockies; warmer winters have allowed larger proportions of beetle populations to survive and in turn have caused high amounts of tree mortality when combined with drier summer conditions.
 simplifying is ok but maybe not accurate.  If one looks up how many birds,reptiles, mammals, lichen, fungi use your 300-1200 year old Doug Fir it would amaze you, especially old green snags.  Sure harvest the carrots before they rot in the ground while practicing good forestry.  Natives can do what they want to on the Warm Springs Res.. They log pretty damn heavy. If our timber was not a Wall St. commodity I believe it would be easier to manage.Â