Earlier this week, I read an article where a forester from private industry was attempting to convey the economic value of products from trees to justify increasing the harvest of more lands. I am a strong supporter of managing our remaining forested lands but, with a very different focus. In fact, I believe a more intensive process is necessary to combat the continued deforestation that is occurring around the world. At least 70% of all living organisms, including humans, would be unable to live on our planet were it not for forests, trees! Current projections call for a world population of 9.5 BILLION people by 2050. The demand for more open space will continue, as the population increases and our remaining forested acreage will suffer. How long can we continue to ignore these two environmental issues? Is it to late already? In 2007, the Department of Agriculture's "Report on Abuse", stated that a single tree over a 50 year life cycle, contributes $162,000.00 in economic value to the human environment and we are trying to justify increased harvesting for the few hundred dollars in product that a tree can provide. Something is wrong in this process!
When I say, I am a strong supporter of management, I want to take the focus on products away and re-orient our efforts on the forests and their needs to remain healthy and diverse. The human demands over the last 600 years for products from the forests as resulted in the loss of a little over half of the forested lands that once covered this planet. The other situation that has occurred has been the massive loss of diversity in our forest cover, as a result of our, so-called, management strategy's, or harvesting projects. If we truly care about health and diversity, we must begin to see and identify the unique communities that make up the forest mosaic. Each community requires a unique prescription that assures improved health and maintains or improves the unique characteristics of the unit. I am sure this sounds overwhelming, but we have no other alternative available. If we join together, we can start the process that will improve the effectiveness of our remaining forested lands, return the natural diversity that was once present, reduce the catastrophic risk for fire and other events and, oh yes, prolong life for many creatures including ourselves.
We do not want to eliminate the utilization of the valuable products from the forests, we simply want those products to become the by-product of adjusted scientific forest land management!
Our project with Montcalm Community College will focus on supporting the above comments, by reaching out to our young students to change the way they see and relate to nature. We each have a job to do, and together we can provide a better conclusion for the future!
When I say, I am a strong supporter of management, I want to take the focus on products away and re-orient our efforts on the forests and their needs to remain healthy and diverse. The human demands over the last 600 years for products from the forests as resulted in the loss of a little over half of the forested lands that once covered this planet. The other situation that has occurred has been the massive loss of diversity in our forest cover, as a result of our, so-called, management strategy's, or harvesting projects. If we truly care about health and diversity, we must begin to see and identify the unique communities that make up the forest mosaic. Each community requires a unique prescription that assures improved health and maintains or improves the unique characteristics of the unit. I am sure this sounds overwhelming, but we have no other alternative available. If we join together, we can start the process that will improve the effectiveness of our remaining forested lands, return the natural diversity that was once present, reduce the catastrophic risk for fire and other events and, oh yes, prolong life for many creatures including ourselves.
We do not want to eliminate the utilization of the valuable products from the forests, we simply want those products to become the by-product of adjusted scientific forest land management!
Our project with Montcalm Community College will focus on supporting the above comments, by reaching out to our young students to change the way they see and relate to nature. We each have a job to do, and together we can provide a better conclusion for the future!
