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The scale of logging in Canada is pretty hard to convey but can be best seen on Google maps satellite view British Columbia cut blocks are so large and numerous
by acc_297 3y ago
The scale of logging in Canada is pretty hard to convey but can be best seen on Google maps satellite view British Columbia cut blocks are so large and numerous they give the interior forest a textured look of dark green light green and brown showing every phase of forest cutback and regrowth
When we replant forests immediately with monoculture of pine/fir/spruce it unfortunately leaves out a lot that a true forest requires and the resulting land will be less ecologically productive and every time the same region is re-logged a good amount of topsoil is lost
Some parts of Vancouver island can be logged cyclically every 25-30 years since there’s so much rain and it’s incredibly warm through the winter
You are hard pressed to find a single acre in southern Canada that wasn’t logged at least once
It’s clear that the industry will not slow production I wonder what it would cost to do replanting properly though e.g. re fill land with a diverse plant selection and mandate a minimum 100-150 years in between cuts
But alas I am not sure
- itsoktocry 3y ago>it unfortunately leaves out a lot that a true forest requires and the resulting land will be less ecologically productive and every time the same region is re-logged a good amount of topsoil is lost What is a "true" forest? When a forest burns down and regrows, is it still "true"? Do you think that's better than logging and replanting?
- acc_297 3y agoOh replanting is much better than leaving a cut block to nature but a “true forest” in this sense would have an ecosystem - many different plants which support a population of animals etc… Without that it’s more or less a wheat field in ecological terms it’s just a monoculture of trees which actually don’t draw down much carbon until the forest is mature ~200 years or so whenever there’s enough ecological productivity to bury dead trees before they can fully decay
- gyanreyer 3y agoWhen a forest burns down and regrows, it does so in a much more natural way than if humans just slap down some trees and nothing else and call it a day.
- kruxigt 3y ago[dead]
- flakeoil 3y agoA natural forest doesn't burn as easily as a planted forest.
- RetroTechie 3y agoWhat is it with clear cutting anyway? To leave barren land where everything needs to regrow from scratch. Is it too unprofitable to cut trees selectively, drag/lift those out, leaving the forest as a whole (+ ecosystems in it) mostly in place? Let nature decide which species fill the gaps. At least this would prevent loss of topsoil.