The leading cause of extinction is destruction of native habitat by such human activities as clearcutting and logging roads. Each year of continued clearcutting in the national forests leads to the loss of more species.” Opposing View – “According to the WWF, trees can essentially act as anchors for soil.
What is clear-cutting and why is it done?
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 . Clear-cutting is only one of several methods of timber management and harvest in both private and public forests.
Why does Clear-Cutting happen?
Clearcutting is the most efficient and economical method of harvesting a large group of trees . Fewer disturbances to the forest floor. By entering a forest to log trees once instead of multiple times in a series of timber harvests, the landowner minimizes disturbance to forest soil.
Why clear cut is bad?
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 ...
How do I stop clear-cutting?
- Begin by hugging a tree. ...
- Start planting trees. ...
- Stop printing and go paperless. ...
- Recycle paper and cardboard. ...
- When shopping, move towards buying recycled products mainly. ...
- When at home, recycle as much as possible.
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 is an alternative to clear cutting?
As an alternative to clearcutting, selection management is the method of cutting only individual or small groups of trees in a healthy natural forest at periodic intervals, such as every ten years.
Do trees grow back after clear cutting?
Redwoods Regrow After Fires
In the past 70 to 80 years, most fires in California’s coast redwood forests were prevented or suppressed.
Why is clear cutting not sustainable?
The act of clear cutting is not only damaging to the structure and function of the forest , but in particularly erosion-prone areas the loss of root structures significantly affects water quality, and leads to the loss and fragmentation of nutrient rich soil, creating a lack of regenerative biomass and reduces primary ...
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.
Is clear cutting good?
Clearcutting increases the biological diversity of the forest , which enhances the habitat for a variety of wildlife. Some species of wildlife actually thrive better in brushy thickets of seedlings and small saplings.
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.
Who is affected by clear cutting?
Four species of ducks, snakes, mice, several owls, nuthatches, chickadees, tree swallows, flying squirrels, bats, kestrels, wild bees , seven woodpecker species and many other animals and birds depend on such tree cavities. Current forest management regimes leave a few, largely useless, clumps of trees in clear cuts.
What bad effect does cutting of trees have?
The loss of clean water and biodiversity from all forests could have many other effects we can’t foresee, touching even your morning cup of coffee. In terms of climate change, cutting trees both adds carbon dioxide to the air and removes the ability to absorb existing carbon dioxide.
How does clear cutting affect climate change?
Clear-cutting loosens up carbon stored in forest soils, increasing the chances it will return to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide and contribute to climate change, a Dartmouth College study shows. ... Clear-cutting involves harvesting all timber from a site at once rather than selectively culling mature trees.
When did clear cutting stop?
The Forest Service began to back away from this controversial harvesting method, when Chief Dale Robertson proposed new policies in 1988 and 1992. The 1992 policy, with seven criteria, called for eliminating clearcutting by as much as 70 percent from the 1988 levels.
