by Michael Smith (Veshengro), RFA, EcoFor
Years ago, when I started working in forestry as a boy, and well before that time already, all woodlands and forests had a what could be described as “clean forest” policy in that no excessive debris was allowed to be left laying about.
Logging organizations and especially forestry agencies have begun asking for a return of this and to this policy, and this not before time either.
Environmentalists, misguided with no knowledge of silviculture, demanded that tops and other debris from logging operations be left in situ and even branches that were of supposedly no other use were stacked up, in a haphazard fashion more often than not, as so-called “habitat piles”. No one cared, though, in that particular quarter, despite protestations by professional foresters, that this was going to be a disaster waiting to happen in the form of a fire hazard and also a tree health hazard. The worms, fungi and other creepy-crawlies were much more important to them.
We are now reaping the fruits of what they have sown in the form of out of control wild fires and especially diseased forests.
In the days of the “clean forest” practice there was at least as much, if not way more, wildlife in woods and forests that there is today and that includes invertebrates and fungi, for instance.
If we are looking at the practice currently in use of leaving forests debris in the woods “for the wildlife” in the context of Global Warming/Climate Change then this is really is a bad thing. For not only does the decaying wood release CO2, the very CO2 the wood sequestrated from the atmosphere during its growth, but the process of decay also releases methane gas. Methane gas, however, is regarded to be a greenhouse gas many, many times more powerful and dangerous than carbon dioxide (CO2). That alone should make a good advocate to change this stupid practice of leaving wood to decay on the forest for and for the return to a “clean forests” policy.
The very same wood that is, still presently, left behind in the woods as “habitat piles” could, carbon neutral, be used to heat homes or even to fuel power stations, especially those of the “combined heat & power” (CHP) kind.
It would appear that the British Forestry Commission and other professional bodies are finally catching on to what on the ground professional foresters have been saying ever since this silly practice started and are not beginning to promote a return to the “clean forest” policy. This 180degree turnaround is certainly not before time.
Too much voice and clout has been given in the last decades to amateur experts and so-called environmentalists that seem to have an issue with professional forestry and professional woodland management.
Proper commercial professional forestry practice is not the enemy of the environment, as perceived, it would appear, by the afore mentioned environmentalists; it is more the opposite rather. True professional forestry is a steward of the woods and forest for sustainability. It is, after all, the foresters trade and bread and butter, his livelihood.
But there will always be some that think that they, even though they have neither the training nor the experience, know best.
This is much akin to those that go to places such as Yellowstone National Park and think they can walk up to Grizzlies just because of what they saw of “Ben” in “Grizzly Adams”. They then find out to their peril that Grizzly is not a cuddly teddy but a rather dangerous creature.
The fast and furious spread of many of the wild fires and forest fires in the USA and also elsewhere is, to a great degree, attributable to those bits of forest debris being left “for the wildlife” acting as a so-called “fire ladder” giving a ground fire access to the tree tops and thus allowing for such a fire to jump and to “explode”.
Instead of accepting that the quick spread of those fires in recent years is due to the forestry practice of littering the forest floor with debris which they have instigated those selfsame environmentalists claim that the rapid spread of such fires is all a sign and result of man-made Climate Change. Give me a break. The real truth is, obviously, way too inconvenient a one to accept.
In the days of the “clean forest” policy and practice there was no less wildlife – the opposite in fact – and fires did not go as ferociously out of control as they do nowadays; at least not in properly managed woods and forests.
Such a shame that those who basically caused all those problems vehemently refuse to acknowledge this fact.
It is the same “you must leave every stick in case some bug lives under it, that is, to a great extent and degree responsible for the fatal spread of wildfires in Australia.
Aside from the “fire ladder” issue there is the issue of those “habitat piles” being a hazard to the health of the trees in the woods and forests. The rotting piles harbor all kinds of pathogens that are detrimental and even fatal to trees.
So, let's clean up our forests and woodlands once again and also the Bush.
© 2009
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The Campaign for Clean Forests
