Makes as much sense and Environmentalists along with the forest service saying an area on a mountain where I live needed to be clear cut for the “health” of a different species of trees.
But the environmentalists blocked every attempt for logging the area so the wood could be used. A company got a contract to clear cut a few hundred acres in a mosaic patter, pile all the tree’s up and burn them. Becuase the enviro wacko’s said the trucks going up and down the mountain would polute the air too much.
Precisely. Those small underbrush fires move rapidly while leaving larger healthy trees intact. It’s the weaker and unhealthy trees that brought the beetles in.
Fires are crucial for most pine seeds to germinate. The hotter the better. In the Yellowstone fires the areas where the hottest “crown fires” burned are the sections that returned the fastest
And in western pine fire is needed to open the cones to release the seeds…the very seeds that small rodents need as well. Small rodents bring in predatory birds, animals etc. It’s all part of life cycle.
You ever been to clear cut area about 5 years later? Lots of plants, seeds etc which brings in birds and rodents, which brings in predatory birds and small cats.
You can watch the owls come out and perched themselves around clear cut areas. Deer and elk will come out.
So what you’re saying is mankind is the source of all mankind’s problems and we’d be much better off if we stopped trying to manage everything? I hear you. Of course that isn’t really compatible with our everything is disposable, must make a profit no matter the cost, corporate conglomerate “free market” capitalist empire, is it?
Parr also points to small changes that could be a turning point for migratory species. For instance, the forests that now cover large portions of the northeastern region of the United States tend to be about the same age and lack the varied structure many migratory birds need to thrive. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is now working on selective cutting of forests to introduce more varied habitat. “They’ve a very active program,” said Parr. “They don’t want to see species become endangered, because that’s not good for anyone.” It is smarter and far cheaper to save a species before it ends up on the endangered species list.
