Pat Chesney on sat 5 jul 97
At the risk of inflaming this topic, before anyone falls for all the fables
about the loss of trees-check out the facts-there are more trees and more
acres in forrestation in the US today that there was in Colonial times.
We are controlling forest fires today-a situation that is causing a lot of
harm actually. It is important to release the carbon debt that is
represented by the trees and such in the forests. If they are not burned,
there is actually less Oxygen and other beneficial substances released by
the forests that just sit and rot slowly.
This is all a complex issue and there is a lot of misinformation flying
about because it is a source of POWER to the environmentalists. Notice what
old Gorby moved into after getting out of the USSR? He could end up much
more powerful as an environmental icon. Also, there has been a suggestion
of the UN sponsoring an international Environmental Police of some kind.
That is realy scary!
The secret is to dig up your facts from many sources and not from the folks
who gain power from the new Green policies. Look at all of it-even from
those who disagree with you.
By the way. I am prejudiced and biased. I am a wood-firer. But I am also
responsible.
My kiln is very efficient-10 hours to cone 12 with less than a chord of
wood gathered from waste generated from the salvage of 100 year-old lumber
taken from warehouses. "From dust to dust and ashes to ashes" (:>) We can
fire with no visible particulate if we want to. We are in a rural area on a
private property several thousand feet from the nearest neighbors. We do
not fire if the wind is toward them. We're trying.
I want clean air too.
Pat Chesney
Pat-Chesney@easy.com
Waco, Texas
Kathryn Whipple on sun 6 jul 97
Tree farms should not be confused with forests.
Monoculture (mostly pine, and employing tons of man hours, petroleum
products, and chemicals) cannot in any way be compared to the climax
deciduous forests that were here when white people came, nor even the
second, third, and fourth growth forests that still remain.
You should have seen what happened around here when the southern pine
beetles got the word out bouut tree farms. Mono culture is not an ecological
system. Trees, any trees, covering the earth is better than a sheet of
asphalt--but but do not attempt to further confuse the issue by calling a
tree farm a forest.
Kathryn Whipple
Cindy on tue 8 jul 97
I have to jump in here--wasn't going to, but, oh well. I don't know a lot
about you folks east of the river, but here in the Black Hills, the trees
are far, far thicker than they were when Gen. Custer came through with the
first exploration party. We have the photos to prove it. No one here farms
trees. It'd be like farming dandelions--or thistles. The thicker forests
aren't as healthy. Trees are small, don't grow as fast, and are too close
to allow forage to grow for wildlife. Since we (rightly, I think) fight all
forest fires, we must take the responsibility of thinning our timber. That
means both marketable lumber and slash piles.
Unfortunately, every time the forest service strikes a logging deal, the
local Sierra Club folks (mostly made up of people who've never hiked the
first trail in the heavily over-grown Black Elk Wilderness) appeal the sale
for years. Because of this, many of our lumber yards have closed down,
prices for lumber are exorbitant, forests are far less healthy, and deer
have to go to the city to find anything to eat. (true)
I should mention that we never clear-cut except where scientifically
indicated for the benefit of wildlife and of the forest. Because of a bunch
of well-meaning, ill-informed environmentalists, we are no longer able to
effectively manage our forests. When you plant a row of carrots, you have
to throw out a lot of perfectly good plants. It's a shame, but if you don't
do it, none of the carrots can grow properly. Same thing with trees.
There's plenty of wood for everyone if forests are properly cared for. And
that includes the anagama fans.
BTW, our forests are almost exclusively Ponderosa. We didn't plan it that
way. Monoculture? I suppose. But if we could keep the pines at their
natural level, birch, aspen, oak, and spruce might be able to compete. As
it is, we being disallowed by the environmental wizards to thin the pines,
other trees just have to make out the best they can.
Cindy
> Tree farms should not be confused with forests.
> Monoculture (mostly pine, and employing tons of man hours, petroleum
> products, and chemicals) cannot in any way be compared to the climax
> deciduous forests that were here when white people came, nor even the
> second, third, and fourth growth forests that still remain.
> You should have seen what happened around here when the southern pine
> beetles got the word out bouut tree farms. Mono culture is not an
ecological
> system. Trees, any trees, covering the earth is better than a sheet of
> asphalt--but but do not attempt to further confuse the issue by calling a
> tree farm a forest.
> Kathryn Whipple
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