There are Pro & Cons

to Deforestation

Introduction

There are pros and cons to anything It is just a matter of digging deep enough to fine them. Some people would say that with deforestation/logging there is not anything good about it. That there is nothing but “bad news” for our planet. There are others that would beg to differ with this comment.

There are “Every Day” People who have a Great Point

There is a young lady that I have had the opportunity to speak with on the topic of logging/deforestation. Kim Gardner is originally from Seattle Washington whose family background is in logging. Her grandfather was a logger for over 50 years and her uncles have followed in her grandfathers footsteps. Her uncles to this day are to this day loggers in Washington State. I have had many conversations with Kim in regards to the pros and cons to deforestation.

Graft of the Job Trend for Logging

Some of the Pros

When it comes to deforestation in Olympic park area of Washington loggers used to do what is called clear cuts. This is where loggers take a portion of tree acreage, cut down all of the trees in that area and then plant new saplings in the old trees place. There are still the leaves, pine needles and moss on the ground to help promote healthy growth of these new trees. The way that loggers choose these areas to clear cut is by finding areas that if lightning were to strike, would cause a fire in which natural conditions would cause the pine tree’s cones to release their seeds.

The burnt trees become fertilizer for the seeds that have fallen to the ground to create new life in the forest, which had become to dense for light to shine through to the foliage on the ground below. The con to this is that these new saplings take about 20 years to become adult trees. This is not to be mistaken for mature trees that take over 75 years to reach this point. Logging companies have been trying something new where instead of clear cutting an area, they are now only cutting down certain trees in an area that are decrepit or younger and then plant new sapling in their place, leaving the older mature trees alone.

Some of the Cons

With out logging people would not have jobs in rural areas without the opportunity of a

logging job. Without these types of logging job which consist of people who cut the trees down, people who haul the trees from point A to point B, people who slice the trees into slabs which created cabinets, chairs, tables etc. Without these jobs, those towns in rural areas would no

longer exist. Those people who make a living by logging would

no longer be able to support their families. Logging as Kim put it brings jobs to people in small towns who would not have jobs

otherwise.

Something to Think AboutWhere it is a good thing to log areas that have become to dense for sunlight to shine through to the plant life below, you have to stop and think “is it really helping when it comes to our ecosystem?” Cutting down dense forest areas to create new plant life within those area which in turn helps with carbine dioxide on our planet, does the politeness that it take to do so worth it? The fuel to cut the trees down, the fuel it takes to take the trees from point A to point B, the fuel it takes to cut those trees into the slices that will make those tables benches and what not. Is it really worth it to create less denser forests that will in turn create less oxygen then the carbine dioxide and the machinery poultices that it takes to created this?”

A Key Factor is Land Erosion

Although the forests may look lush and beautiful, the underlying soils are very poor and has lost of almost all of it’s nutrients that are bound up in the vegetation surrounding the trees. The problem in that is that once forests are cut down the nutrients are washed out of the soil all together therefore, it is extremely hard for growth of these trees and vegetation to have a comeback and help with carbon dioxide that is floating within the air of our planet.

 

We as humans and any living being that have to breath this precious thing we call air should do ALL that we can to treasure it and do all that we can to keep it as abundant as possible.

Closing Statement

Any living that breaths air relies on trees and vegetation to not only produce the oxygen that we as oxygen breathing being breath in to survive but, the carbine dioxide that we exhale these plants and trees absorb to create yet again the oxygen that we breath that in its self substance life.

Works Cited

Author: Felicity BarringerTitle New Battle of Logging vs. Spotted Owls Looms in West Source http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/18/us/18owl.html?_r=1

Author: UnknownTitle: Logging: Exposing myths in debates about loggingSource: http://www.helium.com/knowledge/139845-logging-exposing-

myths-in-debates-about-logging