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August 28th, 2017

8/28/2017

Just what does this all mean? It means the goal of management must now change to focus on the health and diversity of the forests communities or ecosystems, if you prefer, instead of producing renewable natural resources from the forests. It means that properly managing our remaining forestland is essential, and "preservation", attempting to remove the human from the environment, nor "conservation", wise use of the resources we take from the forests, will provide an acceptable future for life on our planet! It means we can not continue our current rate of deforestation unless we focus our management efforts on improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the remaining forest cover. It means a more intense management process that has a deep understanding of the elements our natural world provides for the sustenance of life!
Once we train our scientists to observe and understand the complexity of creation, it will become obvious that Bio-Diversity is a mandatory component of a healthy, productive forests. Diversity is encouraged by first recognizing the uniqueness of the individual communities, and then applying silvicultural systems that encourage natural regeneration for the mother trees on the site. This will require significant change in management goals and objectives. It will require strong direction from Management by changing the management emphases of the company or agency. Forestry is not " growing trees as a crop", it is " managing the remaining complex forest communities to provide the elements required for life on our planet ". A far more challenging job then described by Gifford Pinchot. Life in a complex forest community demands management principles far in excess of a simple agricultural concept. I appreciate the importance of feeding our growing population but, farming will fade away if we fail to recognize the vital contributions our forests make to all life. I am at a loss for words to convey the importance of just how essential management change is for our future!

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August 22nd, 2017

8/22/2017

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If you take the time to observe the complexity of the forest, you will begin to see the multitude of relationships that are at work within each community. The first thing we must realize is, that the life we cannot see below the surface of the forest floor is more active then what we are able to observe above ground. The significance of this information is important if we are to understand the complexity and magnitude of the activity that is constantly at work within these individual communities. How can we possibly understand the impacts of our management activities if, we are unable to comprehend the individuality of these unique communities and the magnitude of the relationships that exist within each community? Forest land management is far more complex than annually growing row crops for food production.
Trees are the gentle giants of these communities and understanding just this one plant is becoming ever more complicated. People look at you and question your sanity when you talk about how trees care for each other, communicate with other trees, recognize and care for their offspring and are able to learn and adapt to changing conditions but, science has proven this to be true. It is the human interference in the natural world that interrupts and destroys the attributes of our natural surroundings we depend upon for the sustenance of life. Can you imagine what the Rocky Mountains would look like if lodge-pole pine was the only species when the pine bark beetle infestation invaded or, what if Ash was the only species of trees in Michigan when the ash bore epidemic hit. It is the diversity of vegetation within each community that provides a degree of protection against these catastrophic events. Plantations are biological deserts and accidents waiting for a happening. The destruction of diversity through the application of agricultural principles in forest management, assures catastrophic events in the future.
Gifford Pinchot defined forestry as, " Growing trees as Crops" but this is not an acceptable definition. Our greedy approach to manipulate and maximize the production of resources from the forests will not provide a sustained yield of the elements we require for life. Diversity is essential for healthy forest communities to continue to contribute to the sustenance of life on our planet. Trees play a dominant role in each forest community and we are just beginning to understand the intricate, hidden and complex characteristics of these giants.
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I guess the move from mining our forests to managing them using agricultural principles was a step forward in 1890 but, it resulted in major losses of our forestland acreage and significant losses of bio-diversity on our remaining forested lands. Our heroes of the past are just that, heroes of the past. It is time to take a giant step into the future with new strategies for recovering the health and diversity of our original forests. There are no new lands to discover or new methods of creating life's vital elements except through proper management of our remaining forests. This story must be communicated to everyone and you can help. The documentary we are going to produce is a way to reach millions. Funding this project is essential. We are crowdfunding through a site called "YOUCARING". You can also go through my facebook page, Brian Stout. This process focuses on small donations from large numbers rather than on large donations from a few. "Visions", is a (501) ( c) (3) corporation so all donations are tax free. You can donate through YOUCARING or send to : Visions, Tree of Life, P O Box 1265, Brighton, MI.,48116. email [email protected]. She has 20 years of experience and numerous successful documentaries which have been aired worldwide on PBS and international TV.

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August 15th, 2017

8/15/2017

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I want to continue with my rationale for why forest management requires a much different set of principles then are applied to growing agricultural crops. I believe the most significant attribute of our original forest communities is diversity. I see the community boundaries as I observe the changes in the vegetation from one community to another. It is obviously, the physical characteristics of the site that determine the vegetation within the community such as,the soil type and characteristics, slope and aspect, drainage and moisture availability and climate conditions. When adverse events, such as fire, occur within the forest, the diversity tends to change the impact of the event. When a similar event occurs within a plantation, it usually wipes out the entire plantation. Consequently, I believe this is a major reason for changing our management concepts for the future!
The next reason which must be considered is trees are very different then agricultural crops which are usually annuals. Trees grow very slowly and we are just beginning to understand the hidden life they share within the forests. We are now discovering that trees feel and communicate within the community they live in. It has become apparent that trees depend upon large masses of fungi that live within the soil and help the tree absorb moisture and feed other trees that are sick or injured. We have actually observed stumps holding on to life because they are being feed by other trees nearby. Science has also discovered that trees communicate with each other by scent and electronic impulses transmitted through their root systems. Fragrances are used to attract insects for the pollination process and this secret language of scent is even part of the human communication process. Scientists believe pheromones in sweat are a decisive factor when we choose our partners.
Science has also discovered that trees are aware of and care for their young. For years foresters have talked about the dominate and co-dominate trees within the forests, and believed that co-dominate trees are competing for the nutrients and therefore, hindering the growth of the dominate trees. We now know that the dominate trees are the mother trees and they continue to care for their offspring throughout their life. Many of these dominant tree species are capable of living to be 300 to 500 years of age. Many of the sapling and co-dominant trees can be close to 100 years old and simply waiting for their turn to grow into dominant individuals. Foresters have long defined economic maturity as 80 to 120 years of age, and recommended harvesting to maximize economic return at this age. This disrupts the natural processes within the forest community and tends to adversely impact diversity in the next generation of trees.
The most amazing discovery about the hidden life of trees has been the fact that when we introduce the agricultural principles to plants and work to maximize production outputs, we destroy the plants instincts and social abilities, leaving them as isolated individuals. This is true of plantations! Plantations destroy diversity and the hidden life of trees.
My next blog will continue this discussion.

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August 13th, 2017

8/13/2017

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I have been doing some thinking lately, about my perception that forestry is not an agricultural process. That is a strong statement that deserves further justification. To explain my rationale requires me to go back in history to the late 1800's when forestry was being established as a new science in America. Prior to this time, we viewed the vast forests as reservoirs of valuable natural resources or obstacles to be cleared to allow for the raising of crops and grazing of livestock. No one could have imagined that there were limitations to what we could take from the forests. For almost 200 years, we simply mined the resources we wanted to build this new nation. We had forgotten that Europe had been experiencing population expansion and shortages of resource during the 1400's, which had led to the effort to discover new lands and trade routes.
It was not until the 1880's that a few individuals began to recognize there were limits to how much earth could produce. Bernard Fernow was one of these people and was considered the, " Father of Forestry in America ". This was really the first effort in America to begin managing our remaining forest cover for future use. It was not until the mid-1890's however, when Gifford Pinchot began a major movement to protect and manage our forests by establishing National Forests. The very first Forest Reserves were set aside in 1893 and the Forest Service was established in 1905 with Gifford Pinchot as the first Chief.
Gifford had some different ideas about forestry and the basis for his thoughts were driven by the medieval European forestry values. Some of his quotes provide insight into his concepts of forest management. " It must be clearly borne in mind that all land must be devoted to its most productive use for the good of the whole people ". " The first duty of the human race is to control the earth it lives upon ". " The National Forests are to be used for utilitarian purposes, and timber production is the preeminent use ". " To grow trees as a crop is forestry ". These concepts have been the driving principles of forest land management ever since and are the reason the Forest Service is an agency within the Department of Agriculture. The driving goal of forestry is to take from the forests the valuable natural resources we desire.
My forestry education and 34 years of experience has led me to conclude that managing our remaining forests as agricultural crops will not provide for an acceptable future for life on this planet!
I recognize that trees are plants and in fact, 99% of all life on this planet is plants but, forests are different. Science tells us that at least 70% of all life on our planet require forest for survival. I have said this before but must repeat, my experiences gave me the privileged of observing the complexity and detail of the forest makeup. Regardless of how you believe this planet was created, the complexity and diversity of life on earth is almost beyond human comprehension. Our dependency upon our natural world, I believe, is without question as is our ability to destroy that natural world. With the world population predicted to reach 10 billion people in just 35 years and the majority of life dependent upon forested lands, it is evident to me that managing the resources we take from the forests rather than the forests themselves can not provide for the sustenance of life! The forests are not just a mountainside covered in trees but rather, a mosaic of forest communities, each containing a multitude of unique relationships. It is this diversity that 70% of life depend upon for sustenance.
This is the first reason I believe change must be implemented! In the next blog. I will continue to present my rationale for why forestry science needs significant adjustments.

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August 01st, 2017

8/1/2017

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Please check out " youcaring", Tree of Life for information on our fund raiser. It can also be accessed thru my facebook site,Brian Stout. Please pass our information on to your connections! We need your help in getting the word to everyone that might be interested. Thank you for your support!

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