Clear-cutting is a method of harvesting and regenerating trees in which all trees are cleared from a site and a new, even-age stand of timber is grown . ... Many conservation and citizen groups object to clear-cutting any forest, citing soil and water degradation, unsightly landscapes, and other damages.
What is the point of clear cutting?
The principal objective of clearcutting is to regenerate the forest with healthier trees, not to harvest timber . Timber harvesting is a secondary objective. In a true clearcut, all of the trees greater than 2 inches in diameter are cut, as opposed to a commercial clearcut where only marketable trees are removed.
Why is clear cutting a bad idea?
Clearcutting can destroy an area’s ecological integrity in a number of ways, including: the destruction of buffer zones which reduce the severity of flooding by absorbing and holding water; the immediate removal of forest canopy, which destroys the habitat for many rainforest-dependent insects and bacteria; the removal ...
Do trees grow back after clear cutting?
In the past 70 to 80 years, most fires in California’s coast redwood
What is an alternative to clear cutting?
Partial cutting , group selection, and selective harvesting methods were tried and found to be effective in many locations, especially where forest sites were hot and dry.
What are the pros and cons of clear cutting?
- Pro: Financial Reasons. Clearcutting advocates argue that the method is the most efficient for both harvesting and replanting trees. ...
- Con: Effects on Plant and Wildlife. ...
- Pro: Increased Water Flow. ...
- Con: Loss of Recreation Land. ...
- Pro: Increased Farmland.
What are the disadvantages of clear-cutting?
- They look bad. Until the newly planted trees “green up” a hillside, a clearcut is not considered appealing to the general public.
- Habitat disturbance. Clearcutting alters the habitat where trees once stood, and forest wildlife is displaced into new areas.
- Increased stream flow.
Is clear-cutting illegal?
Clear-cutting is not a universally accepted practice . Opponents of the practice of cutting every tree within a specific area contend it degrades the environment. Forestry professionals and resource managers argue that the practice is sound if used properly.
What might a sustainable alternative to clear-cutting look like?
Selective logging
Why is selective cutting better than clear cutting?
This process allows for better yield and productivity over several decades . Each year provides trees for harvest, rather than having to wait a minimum of sixty years after a clear cut.
What happens to animals when an area is clear cut?
Wild animals, insects and plants are killed by large clear cuts . After the trees are gone, groundcover plants wither in the sun and parched soils. ... Soil animals, bacteria and fungi, vital to tree growth and health, overheat, shrivel and die.
Does clear cutting cause flooding?
Deforestation causes increases in erosion and flooding . ... Tree root systems hold the soil together to slow the rate of flooding and reduce erosion. Trees themselves also absorb water during the rainy season. When the trees are removed from the environment, the rainy season can have devastating effects.
How does clear-cutting affect human health?
But deforestation is having another worrisome effect: an increase in the spread of life-threatening diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. For a host of ecological reasons, the loss of forest can act as an incubator for insect-borne and other infectious diseases that afflict humans.
What is the difference between deforestation and clear-cutting?
Estimates of deforestation traditionally are based on the area of forest cleared for human use, including removal of the trees for wood products and for croplands and grazing lands. In the practice of clear-cutting, all the trees are removed from the land , which completely destroys the forest.
What is the difference between clear-cutting and selective cutting?
Selective logging only cuts down certain trees (valuable trees), whereas clear-cutting cuts down all of the trees .
