DESTRUCTION OF THE NATURAL WORLD!
I JUST COMPLETED REVIEWING AN ARTICLE BY ED BOKS, PAST BOARD MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL ANIMAL CONTROL ASSOCIATION, ABOUT POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT IN FOREST LAND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN CALIFORNIA. THE CHANGE IS DESIGNED TO GROW CHEAP FAST GROWING TIMBER. THE RESULT WILL DESTROY BIODIVERSITY AND ACCELERATED THE DEMISE OF MANKIND. THE PRACTICE INVOLVES THE SPRAYING OF VAST ACRES OF BURNED OVER LANDSCAPES WITH GLYPHOSATE (ROUNDUP) TO KILL INDIGENOUS VEGETATION, WILDLIFE AND OTHER ORGANISMS. ONCE THE AREAS HAVE BEEN STERILIZED OF NATIVE LIFE, THEY ARE PLANTED WITH FAST GROWING FREQUENTLY NON-INDIGENOUS NURSERY STOCK. NATURAL CONNECTIONS AND RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE VARIOUS ORGANISMS AND ESSENTIAL BIODIVERSITY IS COMPLETELY DESTROYED, AND A FUTURE OF CATASTROPHIC EVENTS SUCH A WILDFIRES ARE INEVITABLE.
IT IS A WELL-ESTABLISHED FACT THAT THE ELEMENTS THAT SUSTAIN LIFE ON OUR PLANET ARE CONTAINED ONLY WITHIN THE NATURAL WORLD, THE WORLD AS CREATED PRIOR TO THE INTRODUCTION OF MANKIND. FORESTS MAKE UP A CRITICAL PART OF THAT NATURAL WORLD WITH ONLY 27% OF EARTH’S ORIGINAL TREE-COVERED LANDS REMINING. IT IS ALSO TRUE THAT WE WILL EXPERIENCE MAJOR COMPETITION FOR THE REMAINING RESOURCES AND ENERGY BY 2050 WHEN THE WORLD POPULATION REACHES 10 BILLION PEOPLE. WE ARE CURRENTLY DEFORESTING THE EQUIVALENT OF 20 FOOTBALL FIELDS EVERY MINUTE WORLDWIDE, WHICH WILL INCREASE AS OUR POPULATION INCREASES BY 75 MILLION PEOPLE ANNUALLY.
THE REPORT DISCLOSES THAT NUMEROUS TIMBER INDUSTRIES AND THE U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FOREST SERVICE; ARE SPRAYING LARGE ACRES OF FIRE SCARED NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEMS LANDS WITH THE CHEMICAL ROUNDUP TO PREPARE THE SITES FOR GROWING TREES THE WAY AGRICULTURE GROWS CORN AND OTHER ROW CROPS. A YEARLONG INVESTIGATION INTO CALIFORNIA’S FORESTS PESTICIDE RECORDS, REVEALED THAT FOREST USE OF GLYPHOSATE REACHED 266,000 POUNDS IN 2023, NEARLY 5 TIMES MORE THAN WHAT IT WAS TWO DECADES AGO. INFORMATION ALSO DISCLOSED PLANS TO DRENCH ALMOST 10,000 ACRES ON THE LASSEN NATIONAL FOREST WITH THE HERBICIDE GLYPHOSATE, EXCEEDING THE TOTAL ACRES OF FOREST LANDS SPRAYED IN CALIFORNIA IN 2023.
GLYPHOSATE IS ALSO BRING APPLIED TO CLEARCUT FOREST LANDS AND AROUND TRAILHEADS, CAMPGROUNDS, SKI RESORTS, AND THE HEADWATERS THAT FEED SALMON WATERS AND RURAL DRINKING WATER SYSTEMS. THIS IS WHAT “RESTORATION” NOW MEANS IN MUCH OF CALIFORNIA’S PUBLIC FORESTS: NOT THE RETURN OF NATURAL LIVING DIVERSE ECOSYSTEMS, BUT THE ESTABLISHMENT OF BIOLOGICAL DESERTS, SINGLE SPECIES TREE PLANTATIONS. THE SITUATION IS FURTHER EXACERBATED BY PLANTING NON-INDIGENOUS SPECIES WHICH TEND TO OUT-COMPETE WITH THE NATIVE VEGETATION.
I FIND IT DIFFICULT TO BELIEVE PROFESSIONAL RESOURCE SCIENTISTS WOULD EVEN CONSIDER IMPLEMENTING A PRACTICE WHICH WILL CAUSE SUCH DISASTROUS RESULTS. IF OUR COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES ARE EDUCATING SCIENTISTS TO UTILIZE THESE TYPES OF MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES, WE HAVE A SIGNIFICANT PROBLEM. I PERSONALLY EXPERIENCED THE DOMINATE GOAL OF TIMBER HARVESTING DURING MY 34 YEARS WITH THE FOREST SERVICE. MY EXPERIENCES AND OBSERVATIONS LEFT ME WITH A VERY DIFFERENT UNDERSTANDING OF THE NATURAL WORLD, OF WHICH FORESTED LANDS ARE A CRITICAL PART. I NOW SEE TREE COVERED LANDS AS A MAJOR PART OF THE NATURAL WORLD CONTAINING MOST OF THE ELEMENTS THAT SUSTAIN LIFE ON EARTH.
ALTHOUGH, I DISAGREE WITH PRIVATE TIMBER COMPANIES DISREGARD FOR THE ADVERSE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS MANY OF THEIR MANAGEMENT GOALS CAUSE, I CAN UNDERSTAND THEIR FOCUS ON AVAILABLE RESOURCE SUPPLY AND PROFITABILITY. WITH ONLY 27% OF OUR ORIGINAL TREE COVERED FORESTLANDS REMAINING, WE MUST CONSIDER IF WE CAN TOLERATE THE MINING OF EVEN OUR PRIVATE FORESTED LANDS, LET ALONE OUR PUBLIC FORESTED LANDS. IT IS NOW AN ACCEPTED FACT, THAT THE LIFE SUSTAINING ELEMENTS FOR AT LEAST 80% OF ALL ORGANISMS ON EARTH, ARE MAINLY PROVIDED BY THE NATURAL WORLD. MANKIND IS BUT A PART OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT, AND MUST LIVE IN BALANCE WITH NATURE.
34 YEARS WITH THE FOREST SERVICE, EXPOSED ME TO NUMEROUS CHALLENGES AND CONCERNS. I OBSERVED A VERY SLOW TRANSITION FROM A FOCUS ON INDIVIDUAL RESOURCES, TO A RECOGNITION THAT MULTIPLE RESOURCES EXISTED ON EVERY ACRE, TO AN UNDERSTANDING THAT FORESTS COVER MOUNTAIN SIDES AND VALLEYS, BUT ARE ACTUALLY AN AMALGAMATION OF SMALL, UNIQUE INDIVIDUAL ECOSYSTEMS. I ALSO LEARNED THAT THE VALUE OF THE LIFE SUSTAINING ELEMENTS PROVIDED BY THE NATURAL WORLD AND TREES, FAR EXCEEDS THE VALUE OF THE WOOD PRODUCTS THE FORESTS PRODUCE. THE CONCEPT OF APPLYING VAST QUANTITIES OF CHEMICALS TO LARGES AREAS OF PREVIOUSLY FORESTED LANDS, AND THE DEVASTATING HARM THAT WILL RESULT, SIMPLY SEEMS POORLY THOUGHT-OUT AND LACKING IN KNOWLEDGE OF THE NATURAL WORLD RELATIONSHIPS. SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE!
THE DANGEROUS IMPACTS ON WILDLIFE AND THE MASSIVE NUMBERS OF MICRO-ORGANISMS IN THE SOIL, SHOULD BE OBVIOUS. THE DESTRUCTION OF HABITAT FROM FIRE AND CLEAR-CUTTING FOLLOWED BY HEAVY DOSES OF GLYPHOSATE CLEARLY ACCELERATES THE DESTRUCTION OF THE NATURAL WORLD. THE REPORT CONCLUDES THAT THE CHEMICAL TREATMENT WILL INJURE OR KILL 9 % OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS CURRENTLY PROTECTED BY THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT, AND DAMAGE CRITICAL HABITAT FOR 96% OF LISTED SPECIES. THE FISH AND AQUATIC LIFE IN NEARBY STREAMS AND WATER BODIES WILL SUFFER INJURY AND DEATH. ECOSYSTEM BALANCE AND FUNCTION WILL BE UPSET ON LARGE ADJACENT AREAS TO THE TREATED ACRES.
ONE OF THE MOST DEVASTATING IMPACTS, WHICH APPARENTLY IS NOT UNDERSTOOD OR SELDOM CONSIDERED, IS THE FACT THAT FORESTS ARE AN AMALGAMATION OF SMALL UNIQUE ECOSYSTEMS. YES, FORESTS COVER MOUNTAIN SIDES AND VALLEYS, BUT THE ENTIRE PLANET IS DIVIDED INTO INDIVIDUAL ECOSYSTEMS, BOTH ON LAND AND AT SEA. THE QUESTION IS, HOW DOES THE APPLICATION OF LARGE DOSES OF CHEMICALS TO VAST PREVIOUSLY TREE COVERED LANDS ADVERSELY IMPACT THE CURRENT AND FUTURE NATURAL WORLD?
THE FIRST CONCERN IS THAT DIVERSITY AND INDIVIDUAL ECOSYSTEMS ARE CRITICAL ELEMENTS WITHIN THE NATURAL WORLD. ECOSYSTEMS ARE NATURAL SMALLER UNITS, WHERE SEVERAL DIFFERENT SPECIES OF ORGANISMS LIVE AND SUPPORT EACH OTHER, THEREBY ALLOWING THE ECOSYSTEM TO FUNCTION PROPERLY. WHEN EVALUATING TIMBER MANAGEMENT TREATMENTS, THE SCIENTIST MUST BE ABLE TO READ THE LAND, IDENTIFY INDIVIDUAL ECOSYSTEMS AND BE KNOWLEDGEABLE OF ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING. I LEARNED THESE SKILLS BY MAPPING AND SAMPLING THE VEGETATIVE COMMUNITIES ON A 200 THOUSAND ACRE RANGER DISTRICT, IN THE BEGINNING OF MY CAREER. UPON COMPLETION OF THE PROJECT, I FOUND THE AVERAGE SIZE OF THE INDIVIDUAL ECOSYSTEMS WAS JUST 35 ACRES, AND THE UNIT BOUNDARIES WERE DETERMINED BY THE SITE CONDITIONS THE VEGETATION WAS GROWING ON. SUCH THINGS AS SOIL TYPE, SOIL CHARACTERISTICS, SLOPE, ELEVATION, ASPECT AND MOISTURE AVAILABILITY; DEFINE THE ECOSYSTEM BOUNDARIES. CHANGING OR MANIPULATING THESE SITE CONDITION IS NOT AN OPTION FOR MANKIND, EVEN THOUGH THEY MAY THINK THEY KNOW BETTER THAN NATURE.
PLANTATIONS ARE PRETTY MUCH VOID OF DIVERSITY, AND FAIL TO RECOGNIZE UNIQUE ECOSYSTEMS. THE LACK OF DIVERSITY, SETS UP A FUTURE CYCLIC PATTERN OF CATASTROPHIC EVENTS LIKE WILDFIRES, INSECT AND DISEASE INFESTATIONS AND OTHER SEVER WEATHER EVENTS. A PROPERLY TRAINED FIRE FIGHTER, KNOWS THAT AS A FIRE PROGRESSES FROM ONE VEGETATIVE ECOSYSTEM TO ANOTHER, THE FIRE BEHAVIOR CHANGES AND YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO APPLY SUPPRESSION ACTIONS. ENHANCING DIVERSITY, REQUIRES USING NATURAL REGENERATION OR AT LEAST LOCAL NATIVE SEED SOURCES! SEEDS FROM THE MOTHER TREE REMAIN VIABLE FOR YEARS. FOLLOWING NATURES WAY IS THE SECRET!
FINALLY, PLANTATIONS FREQUENTLY INVOLVE FAST GROWING NON-INDIGENOUS SPECIES THAT TEND TO INTERFERE WITH NATIVE VEGETATIVE GROWTH. FOREST ECOLOGISTS HAVE LEARNED MUCH ABOUT THE LIFE OF TREES AND HOW THEY COMMUNICATE, RECOGNIZE THEIR OFF-SPRING AND CARE FOR THEM. THESE CAPABILITIES ARE LOST IN PLANTATION PLANTING OF DOMESTICATED NURSERY STOCK. INTRODUCING NON-INDIGENOUS FAST GROWING TREE SPECIES INTO PLANTATION, SIMPLY EXACERBATES THE ISSUES.
READING THE LAND, IDENTIFYING ECOSYSTEMS, UNDERSTANDING RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN NATURE, AND INTERPRETING THE NATURAL CONNECTIONS TO HUMANITY; ARE ESSENTIAL SKILLS REQUIRED OF RESOURCE SCIENTISTS TODAY. I MUST ADMIT THAT DURING MY YEARS WITH THE FOREST SERVICE, I FOUND VERY FEW SCIENTISTS CAPABLE OF APPLYING THESE SKILLS AS THEY EVALUATED THE IMPACTS OF VARIOUS MANAGEMENT TREATMENTS. THIS WAS CONFIRMED DURING MY CAREER, AS I REVIEWED NUMEROUS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS, OBVIOUSLY PREPARED FROM TEXTBOOK INFORMATION RATHER THAN ON-SITE DATA FROM THE TREATMENT AREAS. BASED ON MY OWN EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCES, I DO NOT BELIEVE ADEQUATE TRAINING IN THE COMPLEXITY OF THE NATURAL WORLD IS OCCURRING WITH STUDENTS IN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS. IT IS BEYOND MY ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE COULD JOIN COMMERCIAL TIMBER COMPANIES TO APPLY SUCH DEVASTATING MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON OUR REMAINING PUBLIC FOREST LANDS. THE SCIENCE OF FORESTRY IS SO MUCH MORE COMPLEX THAN SIMPLY “GROWING TREES A CROPS “. WE HAVE LEARNED SO MUCH SINCE 1905, YET FAIL TO RECOGNIZE AND APPLY OUR MODERN DAY KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIPS WE DEPEND UPON FROM THE NATURAL WORLD! APPARENTLY, PROFIT AND WEALTH IS FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVEN HUMAN LIFE!
I JUST COMPLETED REVIEWING AN ARTICLE BY ED BOKS, PAST BOARD MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL ANIMAL CONTROL ASSOCIATION, ABOUT POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT IN FOREST LAND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN CALIFORNIA. THE CHANGE IS DESIGNED TO GROW CHEAP FAST GROWING TIMBER. THE RESULT WILL DESTROY BIODIVERSITY AND ACCELERATED THE DEMISE OF MANKIND. THE PRACTICE INVOLVES THE SPRAYING OF VAST ACRES OF BURNED OVER LANDSCAPES WITH GLYPHOSATE (ROUNDUP) TO KILL INDIGENOUS VEGETATION, WILDLIFE AND OTHER ORGANISMS. ONCE THE AREAS HAVE BEEN STERILIZED OF NATIVE LIFE, THEY ARE PLANTED WITH FAST GROWING FREQUENTLY NON-INDIGENOUS NURSERY STOCK. NATURAL CONNECTIONS AND RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE VARIOUS ORGANISMS AND ESSENTIAL BIODIVERSITY IS COMPLETELY DESTROYED, AND A FUTURE OF CATASTROPHIC EVENTS SUCH A WILDFIRES ARE INEVITABLE.
IT IS A WELL-ESTABLISHED FACT THAT THE ELEMENTS THAT SUSTAIN LIFE ON OUR PLANET ARE CONTAINED ONLY WITHIN THE NATURAL WORLD, THE WORLD AS CREATED PRIOR TO THE INTRODUCTION OF MANKIND. FORESTS MAKE UP A CRITICAL PART OF THAT NATURAL WORLD WITH ONLY 27% OF EARTH’S ORIGINAL TREE-COVERED LANDS REMINING. IT IS ALSO TRUE THAT WE WILL EXPERIENCE MAJOR COMPETITION FOR THE REMAINING RESOURCES AND ENERGY BY 2050 WHEN THE WORLD POPULATION REACHES 10 BILLION PEOPLE. WE ARE CURRENTLY DEFORESTING THE EQUIVALENT OF 20 FOOTBALL FIELDS EVERY MINUTE WORLDWIDE, WHICH WILL INCREASE AS OUR POPULATION INCREASES BY 75 MILLION PEOPLE ANNUALLY.
THE REPORT DISCLOSES THAT NUMEROUS TIMBER INDUSTRIES AND THE U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FOREST SERVICE; ARE SPRAYING LARGE ACRES OF FIRE SCARED NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEMS LANDS WITH THE CHEMICAL ROUNDUP TO PREPARE THE SITES FOR GROWING TREES THE WAY AGRICULTURE GROWS CORN AND OTHER ROW CROPS. A YEARLONG INVESTIGATION INTO CALIFORNIA’S FORESTS PESTICIDE RECORDS, REVEALED THAT FOREST USE OF GLYPHOSATE REACHED 266,000 POUNDS IN 2023, NEARLY 5 TIMES MORE THAN WHAT IT WAS TWO DECADES AGO. INFORMATION ALSO DISCLOSED PLANS TO DRENCH ALMOST 10,000 ACRES ON THE LASSEN NATIONAL FOREST WITH THE HERBICIDE GLYPHOSATE, EXCEEDING THE TOTAL ACRES OF FOREST LANDS SPRAYED IN CALIFORNIA IN 2023.
GLYPHOSATE IS ALSO BRING APPLIED TO CLEARCUT FOREST LANDS AND AROUND TRAILHEADS, CAMPGROUNDS, SKI RESORTS, AND THE HEADWATERS THAT FEED SALMON WATERS AND RURAL DRINKING WATER SYSTEMS. THIS IS WHAT “RESTORATION” NOW MEANS IN MUCH OF CALIFORNIA’S PUBLIC FORESTS: NOT THE RETURN OF NATURAL LIVING DIVERSE ECOSYSTEMS, BUT THE ESTABLISHMENT OF BIOLOGICAL DESERTS, SINGLE SPECIES TREE PLANTATIONS. THE SITUATION IS FURTHER EXACERBATED BY PLANTING NON-INDIGENOUS SPECIES WHICH TEND TO OUT-COMPETE WITH THE NATIVE VEGETATION.
I FIND IT DIFFICULT TO BELIEVE PROFESSIONAL RESOURCE SCIENTISTS WOULD EVEN CONSIDER IMPLEMENTING A PRACTICE WHICH WILL CAUSE SUCH DISASTROUS RESULTS. IF OUR COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES ARE EDUCATING SCIENTISTS TO UTILIZE THESE TYPES OF MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES, WE HAVE A SIGNIFICANT PROBLEM. I PERSONALLY EXPERIENCED THE DOMINATE GOAL OF TIMBER HARVESTING DURING MY 34 YEARS WITH THE FOREST SERVICE. MY EXPERIENCES AND OBSERVATIONS LEFT ME WITH A VERY DIFFERENT UNDERSTANDING OF THE NATURAL WORLD, OF WHICH FORESTED LANDS ARE A CRITICAL PART. I NOW SEE TREE COVERED LANDS AS A MAJOR PART OF THE NATURAL WORLD CONTAINING MOST OF THE ELEMENTS THAT SUSTAIN LIFE ON EARTH.
ALTHOUGH, I DISAGREE WITH PRIVATE TIMBER COMPANIES DISREGARD FOR THE ADVERSE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS MANY OF THEIR MANAGEMENT GOALS CAUSE, I CAN UNDERSTAND THEIR FOCUS ON AVAILABLE RESOURCE SUPPLY AND PROFITABILITY. WITH ONLY 27% OF OUR ORIGINAL TREE COVERED FORESTLANDS REMAINING, WE MUST CONSIDER IF WE CAN TOLERATE THE MINING OF EVEN OUR PRIVATE FORESTED LANDS, LET ALONE OUR PUBLIC FORESTED LANDS. IT IS NOW AN ACCEPTED FACT, THAT THE LIFE SUSTAINING ELEMENTS FOR AT LEAST 80% OF ALL ORGANISMS ON EARTH, ARE MAINLY PROVIDED BY THE NATURAL WORLD. MANKIND IS BUT A PART OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT, AND MUST LIVE IN BALANCE WITH NATURE.
34 YEARS WITH THE FOREST SERVICE, EXPOSED ME TO NUMEROUS CHALLENGES AND CONCERNS. I OBSERVED A VERY SLOW TRANSITION FROM A FOCUS ON INDIVIDUAL RESOURCES, TO A RECOGNITION THAT MULTIPLE RESOURCES EXISTED ON EVERY ACRE, TO AN UNDERSTANDING THAT FORESTS COVER MOUNTAIN SIDES AND VALLEYS, BUT ARE ACTUALLY AN AMALGAMATION OF SMALL, UNIQUE INDIVIDUAL ECOSYSTEMS. I ALSO LEARNED THAT THE VALUE OF THE LIFE SUSTAINING ELEMENTS PROVIDED BY THE NATURAL WORLD AND TREES, FAR EXCEEDS THE VALUE OF THE WOOD PRODUCTS THE FORESTS PRODUCE. THE CONCEPT OF APPLYING VAST QUANTITIES OF CHEMICALS TO LARGES AREAS OF PREVIOUSLY FORESTED LANDS, AND THE DEVASTATING HARM THAT WILL RESULT, SIMPLY SEEMS POORLY THOUGHT-OUT AND LACKING IN KNOWLEDGE OF THE NATURAL WORLD RELATIONSHIPS. SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE!
THE DANGEROUS IMPACTS ON WILDLIFE AND THE MASSIVE NUMBERS OF MICRO-ORGANISMS IN THE SOIL, SHOULD BE OBVIOUS. THE DESTRUCTION OF HABITAT FROM FIRE AND CLEAR-CUTTING FOLLOWED BY HEAVY DOSES OF GLYPHOSATE CLEARLY ACCELERATES THE DESTRUCTION OF THE NATURAL WORLD. THE REPORT CONCLUDES THAT THE CHEMICAL TREATMENT WILL INJURE OR KILL 9 % OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS CURRENTLY PROTECTED BY THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT, AND DAMAGE CRITICAL HABITAT FOR 96% OF LISTED SPECIES. THE FISH AND AQUATIC LIFE IN NEARBY STREAMS AND WATER BODIES WILL SUFFER INJURY AND DEATH. ECOSYSTEM BALANCE AND FUNCTION WILL BE UPSET ON LARGE ADJACENT AREAS TO THE TREATED ACRES.
ONE OF THE MOST DEVASTATING IMPACTS, WHICH APPARENTLY IS NOT UNDERSTOOD OR SELDOM CONSIDERED, IS THE FACT THAT FORESTS ARE AN AMALGAMATION OF SMALL UNIQUE ECOSYSTEMS. YES, FORESTS COVER MOUNTAIN SIDES AND VALLEYS, BUT THE ENTIRE PLANET IS DIVIDED INTO INDIVIDUAL ECOSYSTEMS, BOTH ON LAND AND AT SEA. THE QUESTION IS, HOW DOES THE APPLICATION OF LARGE DOSES OF CHEMICALS TO VAST PREVIOUSLY TREE COVERED LANDS ADVERSELY IMPACT THE CURRENT AND FUTURE NATURAL WORLD?
THE FIRST CONCERN IS THAT DIVERSITY AND INDIVIDUAL ECOSYSTEMS ARE CRITICAL ELEMENTS WITHIN THE NATURAL WORLD. ECOSYSTEMS ARE NATURAL SMALLER UNITS, WHERE SEVERAL DIFFERENT SPECIES OF ORGANISMS LIVE AND SUPPORT EACH OTHER, THEREBY ALLOWING THE ECOSYSTEM TO FUNCTION PROPERLY. WHEN EVALUATING TIMBER MANAGEMENT TREATMENTS, THE SCIENTIST MUST BE ABLE TO READ THE LAND, IDENTIFY INDIVIDUAL ECOSYSTEMS AND BE KNOWLEDGEABLE OF ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING. I LEARNED THESE SKILLS BY MAPPING AND SAMPLING THE VEGETATIVE COMMUNITIES ON A 200 THOUSAND ACRE RANGER DISTRICT, IN THE BEGINNING OF MY CAREER. UPON COMPLETION OF THE PROJECT, I FOUND THE AVERAGE SIZE OF THE INDIVIDUAL ECOSYSTEMS WAS JUST 35 ACRES, AND THE UNIT BOUNDARIES WERE DETERMINED BY THE SITE CONDITIONS THE VEGETATION WAS GROWING ON. SUCH THINGS AS SOIL TYPE, SOIL CHARACTERISTICS, SLOPE, ELEVATION, ASPECT AND MOISTURE AVAILABILITY; DEFINE THE ECOSYSTEM BOUNDARIES. CHANGING OR MANIPULATING THESE SITE CONDITION IS NOT AN OPTION FOR MANKIND, EVEN THOUGH THEY MAY THINK THEY KNOW BETTER THAN NATURE.
PLANTATIONS ARE PRETTY MUCH VOID OF DIVERSITY, AND FAIL TO RECOGNIZE UNIQUE ECOSYSTEMS. THE LACK OF DIVERSITY, SETS UP A FUTURE CYCLIC PATTERN OF CATASTROPHIC EVENTS LIKE WILDFIRES, INSECT AND DISEASE INFESTATIONS AND OTHER SEVER WEATHER EVENTS. A PROPERLY TRAINED FIRE FIGHTER, KNOWS THAT AS A FIRE PROGRESSES FROM ONE VEGETATIVE ECOSYSTEM TO ANOTHER, THE FIRE BEHAVIOR CHANGES AND YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO APPLY SUPPRESSION ACTIONS. ENHANCING DIVERSITY, REQUIRES USING NATURAL REGENERATION OR AT LEAST LOCAL NATIVE SEED SOURCES! SEEDS FROM THE MOTHER TREE REMAIN VIABLE FOR YEARS. FOLLOWING NATURES WAY IS THE SECRET!
FINALLY, PLANTATIONS FREQUENTLY INVOLVE FAST GROWING NON-INDIGENOUS SPECIES THAT TEND TO INTERFERE WITH NATIVE VEGETATIVE GROWTH. FOREST ECOLOGISTS HAVE LEARNED MUCH ABOUT THE LIFE OF TREES AND HOW THEY COMMUNICATE, RECOGNIZE THEIR OFF-SPRING AND CARE FOR THEM. THESE CAPABILITIES ARE LOST IN PLANTATION PLANTING OF DOMESTICATED NURSERY STOCK. INTRODUCING NON-INDIGENOUS FAST GROWING TREE SPECIES INTO PLANTATION, SIMPLY EXACERBATES THE ISSUES.
READING THE LAND, IDENTIFYING ECOSYSTEMS, UNDERSTANDING RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN NATURE, AND INTERPRETING THE NATURAL CONNECTIONS TO HUMANITY; ARE ESSENTIAL SKILLS REQUIRED OF RESOURCE SCIENTISTS TODAY. I MUST ADMIT THAT DURING MY YEARS WITH THE FOREST SERVICE, I FOUND VERY FEW SCIENTISTS CAPABLE OF APPLYING THESE SKILLS AS THEY EVALUATED THE IMPACTS OF VARIOUS MANAGEMENT TREATMENTS. THIS WAS CONFIRMED DURING MY CAREER, AS I REVIEWED NUMEROUS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS, OBVIOUSLY PREPARED FROM TEXTBOOK INFORMATION RATHER THAN ON-SITE DATA FROM THE TREATMENT AREAS. BASED ON MY OWN EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCES, I DO NOT BELIEVE ADEQUATE TRAINING IN THE COMPLEXITY OF THE NATURAL WORLD IS OCCURRING WITH STUDENTS IN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS. IT IS BEYOND MY ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE COULD JOIN COMMERCIAL TIMBER COMPANIES TO APPLY SUCH DEVASTATING MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON OUR REMAINING PUBLIC FOREST LANDS. THE SCIENCE OF FORESTRY IS SO MUCH MORE COMPLEX THAN SIMPLY “GROWING TREES A CROPS “. WE HAVE LEARNED SO MUCH SINCE 1905, YET FAIL TO RECOGNIZE AND APPLY OUR MODERN DAY KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIPS WE DEPEND UPON FROM THE NATURAL WORLD! APPARENTLY, PROFIT AND WEALTH IS FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVEN HUMAN LIFE!