Clear-cutting has a very big impact on the water cycle . Trees hold water and topsoil. ... All this bio-mass normally retains water during rainfall. Removal or damage of the biota reduces the local capacity to retain water, which can exacerbate flooding and lead to increased leaching of nutrients from the soil.
How is selective cutting better than clear-cutting for wood harvest?
Selective logging —the practice of removing one or two trees and leaving the rest intact—is often considered a sustainable alternative to clear-cutting, in which a large swath of forest is cut down, leaving little behind except wood debris and a denuded landscape.
Why clear cutting is a more destructive method of wood harvesting than selective cutting?
Clear-cutting logging would be more likely to necessitate reforestation afterwards than selective cutting. Clear-cutting removes all trees in an area and results in more significant environmental damage, making it more difficult for the trees to regrow naturally.
What is the difference between clear-cutting and selective harvesting?
Clear cutting means to cut down every tree in a selected area in an efficient and quick manner. Selective cutting means to go in and harvest only a limited amount of trees that meet a certain criteria.
Why is clear-cutting cheaper than selective cutting?
Why is selective cutting less damaging to the environment than clear cutting? selective cutting removes single trees or a relatively small number if trees from the larger forest thus making it less damaging to the environment by taking out less trees. Clear-cutting is usually quicker and cheaper than selective cutting.
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.
What is happening with clear cutting?
Clearcutting disturbs soils, wetlands, and peatlands , releasing their vast carbon stores, and diminishes the boreal forest’s ability to sequester carbon from the atmosphere. As such, it is often an ecologically harmful form of logging.
Why is selective cutting bad?
“Selective logging, unless it is practiced at very low harvest intensities, can significantly reduce the biomass of a tropical forest for many decades , seriously diminishing aboveground carbon storage capacity, and create opportunities for weeds and vines to spread and slow down the ecological succession.”
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.
Is Strip cutting better than selective cutting?
According to NASA, clear cutting is much more damaging to a tropical rain forest because when all of the trees are removed, the soil loses its nutrients and becomes barren (NASA, 1998). However, according to Ashton, in some cases, it is better to clear-cut a forest than to selectively log it .
Which is more expensive clear-cutting or selective cutting?
Still destroys large sections of the ecosystem. Not as efficient as clear-cutting , and therefore more expensive. Selective Cutting: The object of selective cutting is to reduce visual scarring and preserve species diversity in forests.
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.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of clear-cutting versus selective cutting?
Clear-cutting is usually quicker and cheaper than selective cutting . It may also be safer for the loggers. Clear-cutting can damage the environment and the soil where the trees were cut. The soil is exposed to wind and rain.
Why is selective cutting good?
When practiced correctly, selective cutting has the following benefits. Removes trees that are low quality while they are young . Removes some of the profitable mature growth. Allows more light to penetrate the upper story of growth.
How is selective cutting done?
Selective cutting is the cutting down of selected trees in a forest so that growth of other trees is not affected . This is done according to criteria regarding minimum tree size for harvesting, specifications of the number, spacing and size classes of residual trees per area, and allowable cut.
What is the process of clear cutting?
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.
