WHAT ARE the REASONS to not harvest a dieing FOREST? 100% 2 Votes

Other Answers (4)

• Well - I think you%26#039;re defining the question wrong.
  
  A lot of timber companies who are making money from cutting down %26quot;Old Growth%26quot; forests in the US will make the case that %26quot;hey, these trees are dying, so why shouldn%26#039;t we be allowed to cut them down? Not to cut them down is just pure waste.%26quot;
  
  And this literally confuses the %26quot;forest for the trees.%26quot;
  
  In natural Old Growth forests, where individual trees may live to be 500 years to 1100 years old or even older, a very complex ecosystem develops in which dead and dying trees are mixed in with living ones.
  
  The FOREST is healthy, and the FOREST provides natural habitats for a much greater diversity of plants and animals than you would see, say, in a %26quot;managed forest%26quot; where trees are only allowed to grow to 100 years old, or even less, before they%26#039;re cut down for timber.
  
  But within the FOREST, which is healthy and biologically rich, there will be individual trees that are completely dead or that are dying from insect infestations, disease, lightning strikes, etc.
  
  Those dead and dying trees, however, will have holes and hollows inside them that provide homes for birds, squirrels and other mammals. The rotting stumps and rotting trunks that are lying along the ground probably will provide homes for various kinds of frogs and salamanders, too.
  
  Some of the fungus growths that appear on the sides of the dead and dying trees also may be important in collecting nutrients and cycling them more efficiently through the forest ecosystem.
  
  Also even a %26quot;dying forest,%26quot; because of the way it traps rain water in its roots and leaves, may be essential in regulating the rate at which rain rolls off a mountain side in say, western Oregon or western Washington or northern California.
  
  With the %26quot;dying%26quot; forest in place, a lot of the heavy rains up in the mountains will be absorbed by the ground and released very slowly, and this will avoid destructive erosion on the mountain side and destructive flooding downstream. If the local timber company is allowed to clear-cut the %26quot;dying%26quot; forest to make money from the trees before they rot, on the other hand, the complex vegetative cover that the forest provides to the landscape may be destroyed, and destructive erosion and floods will follow. I%26#039;m too lazy tonight to get you really great references on this subject, but the subject of %26quot;dying%26quot; forests and biological diversity has attracted a lot of scientific research by biologists.
  
  Below is a list of 4 or 5 hits I got just by surfing Yahoo using the search terms %26quot;old growth forests biological diversity.%26quot; You can find other references easily if you look.
  
  WEB RESULTS[PDF] RESTORING COMPLEXITY: Second-Growth Forests and Habitat Diversity
  1382k - Adobe PDF - View as HTML
  characteristics of old-growth forests, then large parts ... The old-growth forest%26#039;s structural complexity is the key. to its biological diversity. ...
  www.fs.fed.us/pnw/scienceupdate1.pdf
  
  Eastern Old-Growth Forests
  ... fungi, old-growth forests often have an increased diversity of understory ... Third, eastern old growth functions as a reservoir of biological diversity. ...
  www.plantbio.ohiou.edu/epb/instruct/ec... - Cached
  
  Old-Growth Forests of the Santa Cruz Mts
  In fact, old-growth forests contain an exceptional diversity and abundance of ... Unlike tropical rain forests whose biological diversity is found in above-ground ...
  www.scmbc.net/ogforests.htm - Cached
  
  Winter 2001 Conservation Perspectives: Update on Old Growth Forests in ...
  ... e-Publication, Conservation Perspectives, Winter 2001: Old Growth Forests ... ecological value, old-growth forests contribute habitat and biological diversity. ...
  www.nescb.org/epublications/winter2001... - Cached
  
  Vanishing Old-Growth Forests
  Vanishing Old-Growth Forests. Brad Cundiff, Borealis Magazine, 1992. The disappearance of old-growth forests may be one of the most serious ...
  raysweb.net/specialplaces/boreal-artic... - Cached
  
  Managing Wisconsin%26#039;s old-growth -- Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine ...
  ... on protecting and producing old forest characteristics, published in the October ... toward promoting biological diversity, forest sustainability and economic ...
  www.wnrmag.com/supps/2004/oct04/work.h... - Cached 0% 0 Votes
• There is no good reason to not harvest any forest. Remove the old, and make way for the new. It%26#039;s wasteful to let forests grow too thick, and become nothing more than a fire hazard - especially if trees are dieing- like from bark beetles. The %26quot;let it burn %26quot; idiots should be airlifted in front of forest fires with axes and shovels. 0% 0 Votes
• You%26#039;d be interrupting the cycle of life. Death and decay lead to new life, yadda yadda. 0% 0 Votes
• which one is it?? #1 has a great answer... 0% 0 Votes