Please Don't Call it Forestry, Part 3:
Private Timberlands
Go to: Please don't call it Forestry, Part 4: Post-Fire Salvage Logging
Back to: Environment North America
Please Don't Call it Forestry, Part 3: Go to: Please don't call it Forestry, Part 4: Post-Fire Salvage Logging Back to: Environment North America |
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The conversion of natural forest to tree plantations is essentially complete on private timberlands. Clearcutting occurs on a regular rotation, as frequently as the scientists deem possible, followed by replanting of all one species, spraying of herbicides to prevent competition (poisoning the people downstream), thinning, and then "harvesting" again. Genetic manipulation is used to promote trees that grow fast and resist pathogens. The natural and very complex systems that were supported by organisms like mycorrhizal fungi and earthworms have been mostly destroyed, and most of the wildlife is gone. Streams are polluted by chemicals and filled with sediment from eroded hillsides; the shade and "coarse woody debris" that are essential for fish are gone, and the fish and amphibians that live in wild forests are mostly absent. Cutover forests do not provide the carbon storage that's needed to slow climate change, and they are more prone to wildfire than ancient forests. The timber corporations are now mostly run by distant money managers who have no connection to the places their decisions affect. In the long-term, the land will become exhausted, and the whole system will collapse. See also: Douglas-fir National Monument, and Old-growth Douglas-fir Forests |
Image 1. Along a BLM road in Oregon, southwest of Eugene. The tree plantations in various stages of growth of cutting all belong to Weyerhaeuser Co.
Image 2. Along a BLM road in Oregon, southwest of Eugene. The tree plantations in various stages of growth of cutting all belong to Weyerhaeuser Co.
Image 3. Along a BLM road in Oregon, southwest of Eugene. The tree plantations in various stages of growth of cutting all belong to Weyerhaeuser Co.
Image 4. Along a BLM road in Oregon, southwest of Eugene. The tree plantations in various stages of growth of cutting all belong to Weyerhaeuser Co. Image 5. Along a BLM road in Oregon, southwest of Eugene. The tree plantations in various stages of growth of cutting all belong to Weyerhaeuser Co.
Image 6. Along a BLM road in Oregon, southwest of Eugene. The tree plantations in various stages of growth of cutting all belong to Weyerhaeuser Co.
Image 7. Along a BLM road in Oregon, southwest of Eugene. The tree plantations in various stages of growth of cutting all belong to Weyerhaeuser Co.
Image 8. Along a BLM road in Oregon, southwest of Eugene. The tree plantations in various stages of growth of cutting all belong to Weyerhaeuser Co.
Image 9. Along a BLM road in Oregon, southwest of Eugene. The tree plantations in various stages of growth of cutting all belong to Weyerhaeuser Co.
Image 10. Along a BLM road in Oregon, southwest of Eugene. The tree plantations in various stages of growth of cutting all belong to Weyerhaeuser Co.
Image 11. Along a nearby road going north to OR 126, and might be Weyerhaeuser land as well.
Image 12. Along a nearby road going north to OR 126, and might be Weyerhaeuser land as well. |
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