roscoe
Supreme Mariner
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2002
- Messages
- 21,739
Re: Bush support for logging in national forrests to reduce wildfire risk..?
Many of Wisconsin's forests were totally destroyed by clearcutting almost 200 years ago. The massive hemlocks and white pines are gone. The folks on the east coast saw some trees, so they cut them down, long before anyone thought about conservation or preservation.<br /><br />Today, we have many thousands of acres that are protected from all activities except walking in them. There is even an old growth virgin timber stand near Milwaukee of all places.<br /><br />The bulk of our logs now go to paper mills, but plenty still goes into hardwood veneers and lumber.<br /><br />Most of the logging around my area takes place on private land, which the owner values very highly. It is all logged with selective cutting, unless the owner wants it cleared for some other purpose. Most of the logging is done by small 1 - 3 man companies. <br /><br />The owner specifies which individual trees will be untouched, and a minimum size limit for the rest of the harvest. In our case, everything under 8" diameter was left standing.<br /> Looked kindof thin for awhile, but 2 summers later, it was thick with underbrush and new saplings. And the unharvested trees had room to grow. And these trees provided the shade and preserved the moisture that was needed by the new saplings.<br /><br />25 years later, the 6-8 inchers have grown to havesting size, and the smaller ones are now in the "under 8" protected class."<br />Dad will have it harvested again in a year or two.<br /><br />Now, if you want to see some clearcuts, I can show you thousands of acres, but not here, over the border in Canada. They take it all but the tops, and pulp it so you can have cheap newsprint.<br /><br />We also harvest more than 3 million Christmas trees per year. Now those are raised on tree farms, and selectively harvested too.<br /><br />Any of you ever spend 2 weeks shearing trees, acres and acres and .........acres of #@#@%$#@ trees?
Many of Wisconsin's forests were totally destroyed by clearcutting almost 200 years ago. The massive hemlocks and white pines are gone. The folks on the east coast saw some trees, so they cut them down, long before anyone thought about conservation or preservation.<br /><br />Today, we have many thousands of acres that are protected from all activities except walking in them. There is even an old growth virgin timber stand near Milwaukee of all places.<br /><br />The bulk of our logs now go to paper mills, but plenty still goes into hardwood veneers and lumber.<br /><br />Most of the logging around my area takes place on private land, which the owner values very highly. It is all logged with selective cutting, unless the owner wants it cleared for some other purpose. Most of the logging is done by small 1 - 3 man companies. <br /><br />The owner specifies which individual trees will be untouched, and a minimum size limit for the rest of the harvest. In our case, everything under 8" diameter was left standing.<br /> Looked kindof thin for awhile, but 2 summers later, it was thick with underbrush and new saplings. And the unharvested trees had room to grow. And these trees provided the shade and preserved the moisture that was needed by the new saplings.<br /><br />25 years later, the 6-8 inchers have grown to havesting size, and the smaller ones are now in the "under 8" protected class."<br />Dad will have it harvested again in a year or two.<br /><br />Now, if you want to see some clearcuts, I can show you thousands of acres, but not here, over the border in Canada. They take it all but the tops, and pulp it so you can have cheap newsprint.<br /><br />We also harvest more than 3 million Christmas trees per year. Now those are raised on tree farms, and selectively harvested too.<br /><br />Any of you ever spend 2 weeks shearing trees, acres and acres and .........acres of #@#@%$#@ trees?
