Timber Management - Myth vs. Fact |
"A rumor can race around the world while the
truth is just putting its shoes on."
— Mark Twain
Myth: The early U.S. forest was a carpet of trees that extended from coast to coast.
FACT: The pre-Columbian forest of 1600 covered less than half of the
present-day U.S.
Myth: We only have 5% of the original ancient forests left that
once covered the Pacific Northwest in the pre-European settlement era.
FACT: This figure wrongly assumes that the coastal Northwest was covered
with old trees before the arrival of settlers from the East. According to U.S.
government studies, no more than a third of the region’s forest was covered
with old-growth trees at any time. Natural wildfires, and fires set by native
Americans, routinely cleared vast swaths of old forests.
Myth: Congress authorized salvage logging of dead and dying timber
that ignores environmental safeguards.
FACT: Salvage logging cannot proceed without an approved Environmental
Assessment as required under the National Environmental Policy Act and a Biological
Evaluation as required under the Endangered Species Act. Moreover, a salvage
sale can be stopped at any time – by a district ranger up to the Secretary –
until the point when the sale is advertised.
Myth: We’re running out of trees.
FACT: We have more trees today then we had in 1970, on the first Earth
Day – and even more than we had 70 years ago. In the middle of the last century,
for example, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut were about 35% forested;
today they are 59%.
Myth: We’re cutting more trees than we’re growing for future
generations.
FACT: Forest growth has exceeded harvest since the 1940s.
Myth: We’re running out of old growth trees in our ancient forests.
FACT: In the U.S. today there are 13.2 million acres of old growth, i.e.
large trees 200 years of age or older. The vast majority of these trees – comprising
an area the size of New Jersey and Massachusetts combine – will remain in their
natural condition and will never be harvested due to legal and regulatory prohibitions
on logging, road building and even fire fighting.
Myth: We’re running out of wilderness.
FACT: The U.S. has permanently protected 104 million acres of land, much
of it forested, in the Wilderness Preservation System. It’s part of a larger
total of 270 million acres that is off limits to all commercial activity, including
logging, mining and grazing.
Myth: Clear cutting, the practice of harvesting most trees in
a given area, destroys the forest.
FACT: Clear cutting is a sound practice that benefits future forests.
By mimicking natural wildfires, clear cutting is widely recognized by forest
scientists and even by conservation groups such as the Environmental Defense
Fund, American Forests, and the Society of American Foresters as an ecologically
sound technique for reforested many softwood species. That’s because conifer
seedlings typically require sunlight from an open canopy and cannot survive
in the shade.
Myth: A natural forest supports more ecological diversity than
a managed forest.
FACT: Managed forests, even those with some clear cutting, often produce
more biodiversity than completely natural forests, according the U.S. Forest
Service studies in the lake States and New England. Even tree farm plantations
contain a rich mosaic of plant and animal life.
Myth: Forest management harms fragile wetlands.
FACT: In fact, good forest management is the environmentally preferred
land use for wetlands, as confirmed by the National Wetlands Policy Forum sponsored
by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Myth: Forest management harms wildlife.
FACT: Forest management helps wildlife. Forest management creates openings
that stimulate the growth of food sources – which is the prime reason why forest
species such as elk, deer, turkey and antelope are far more plentiful today
than earlier in the century.
Myth: More paper recycling will help us avoid the use of “virgin”
wood from harvested trees.
FACT: Even if we could recycle 100% of our used paper, we would still
need “virgin” fiber to replace worn-out recycled fiber and meet the increasing
demand for paper products. Recycling extends the use of virgin fiber, but it
will not replace it. Even so, today well over half of all fiber used in paper
products comes from recycles paper and from wood waste from sawmills.
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