Why is a clear cut?

The purpose of a clearcut is to have a similar effect on the landscape as forest fire does: to consume aging trees susceptible to health issues and pests and to open up ground for young tree seedlings to grow where they don't have to compete for sunlight with big trees.

What is the point of clear-cutting?

The principal objective of clearcutting is to regenerate the forest with healthier trees, not to harvest timber. Timber harvesting is a secondary objective. In a true clearcut, all of the trees greater than 2 inches in diameter are cut, as opposed to a commercial clearcut where only marketable trees are removed.

What is a clear cut in the woods?

Clear-cutting is a method of harvesting and regenerating trees in which all trees are cleared from a site and a new, even-age stand of timber is grown. Clear-cutting is only one of several methods of timber management and harvest in both private and public forests.

What is clear-cutting and why is it harmful?

Clearcutting is the logging practice of cutting down all the trees in an area, despite the age or importance of the trees. In addition to harming rivers, clearcutting also alters the water cycle in general. While trees are growing, they help to trap and retain water, along with precious topsoil.

How is clear cutting bad for the environment?

Clearcutting disturbs soils, wetlands, and peatlands, releasing their vast carbon stores, and diminishes the boreal forest's ability to sequester carbon from the atmosphere. As such, it is often an ecologically harmful form of logging.

Clear Cutting Pros and Cons

What are the pros and cons of clear cutting?

Is clear cutting good for deer?

Clear-cuts are, for all intents and purposes, big woods food plots. Pound-for-pound, they supersede any amount of food produced by a mature forest. Deer use them for food, travel, bedding, socializing, escape, and pretty much any natural habit a deer exhibits.

Is clear cutting legal in US?

In California, clearcutting is no longer generally practiced on US Forest Service (public) lands. However, California forestry laws and rules still allow clearcutting on private lands except for in Marin, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.

Why do loggers leave one tree standing?

When many areas are logged in Minnesota, the operators leave behind standing trees to offer places for animals to eat, hide, nest, and more. It's part of a trend in forest management that intends to leave logged forests somewhat like after a natural disturbance, such as a fire or windstorm.

How does clear cutting benefit the economy?

Economy of harvest. Clearcutting is the most efficient and economical method of harvesting a large group of trees. Fewer disturbances to the forest floor. By entering a forest to log trees once instead of multiple times in a series of timber harvests, the landowner minimizes disturbance to forest soil.

Does clear cutting prevent forest fires?

Plantation trees are less fire-resilient.

Clearcutting removes all fire-resilient trees and replaces the entire area with younger trees in plantations, which are a high-fire risk. Over many years, the bark of mature trees thickens and becomes more resistant to fire.

How does clear cutting affect wildlife?

Wild animals, insects and plants are killed by large clear cuts. After the trees are gone, groundcover plants wither in the sun and parched soils. Most die. Soil animals, bacteria and fungi, vital to tree growth and health, overheat, shrivel and die.

What tree is worth the most money?

An African Black Ebony tree from Gabon could be worth a million dollars, if you can find one. Due to its high value many species of Black Ebony are now extinct or on the verge of extinction. The Paulownia may currently be the world's most valuable sustainably harvested hardwood tree.

What is a pile of logs called?

Cold-deck—A pile of stored logs, often around the base of a spar-tree. Donkey—A machine, originally steam-powered, that pulls the lines used in yarding and loading lumber at the cut site; it is a type of yarder. Depending on its use, it might also be called a skidder, loader, roader, or flyer.

How long does it take a forest to recover from clear-cutting?

How Long Does It Take A Forest To Recover From Clear-Cutting? Forest regeneration takes around thirty years on average. New saplings typically appear after five years after clear-cuts and grow about ten feet tall by the age of fifteen.

Why should clear-cutting Be Banned?

Clearcut logging, for instance, can increase wildfire risks, decrease a landscape's ability to retain water and lead leading to water shortages, or contribute to flooding as world temperatures rise and weather becomes more extreme, according to the report by forestry researcher Peter Wood for the Sierra Club.

When did clear-cutting become a problem?

The newspaper articles were authored by Dale Burk, who later wrote a book The Clearcut Crisis: Controversy in the Bitterroot in 1970 which tended to flame even more opposition. An internal review by the R-1 Regional Office ensued in December 1969 (printed in the summer of 1970).

When did clear-cutting become an issue?

Clearcutting on na- tional forests became a major public policy issue in 1969 and 1970, beginning with an outcry against clearcutting on the Bitterroot Na- tional Forest in Montana and the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia.

Do bucks like clear cuts?

Not only do clear-cuts create excellent whitetail habitat, they provide a healthy environment to many game animals. Unfortunately, some hunters fail to understand the benefits and importance of logging. Many people throughout the world, including hunters, are against it.

Does human urine spook deer?

H. Koerth, human urine does not frighten deer. On a large lease, mock scrapes were created and different lures were used to attract deer. Scrapes are spots where bucks paw the ground down to bare earth and then urinate in them.

Where do the big bucks hide?

1. Brush Piles. Bucks often find sanctuary in brush piles. These out-of-the-box hidey holes are big-buck hot spots.

How does clear-cutting affect climate change?

Clearcutting delivers a double whammy to the earth's climate: Not only does it release huge amounts of carbon during the logging itself, but it can also undermine the future ability of habitats to soak up greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

Does clear-cutting cause erosion?

[1] Timber harvesting by clear cutting is known to impose environmental impacts, including severe disturbance of the soil hydraulic properties which intensify the frequency and magnitude of surface runoff and soil erosion.

Does clear-cutting cause flooding?

After rainfall, water moves more rapidly out of the ecosystem. This results in larger flooding and greater property damage downstream from clear-cutting. Without shade, the snow melt becomes more rapid, increasing the spring flooding.

What is Purple Heart wood?

DESCRIPTION. Purpleheart heartwood is a deep purple-violet when freshly cut, maturing to a dark brown. The original color is restored when re-cut. Grain is straight, but often irregular, wavy and sometimes interlocked. Texture is moderate to fine.