See my name? Grow Old Timber. What a concept. My idea? If the industry wants to cut down the remaining largest trees(which they do) I say grow your own old trees to harvest and leave the remaining one for us to remember what the country was before it was paved over.
A little history;.. Gifford Pinchot 'invented' the phrase "tree farm" to plant the idea in the minds of the people of sustainable harvests regularly (every 40yrs) has now become every 38years...the moss doesn't even have a chance to form, leaving the moisture collecting benefits of moss gone. In the remaining rain forest here, it 'rains' on non cloudy days due to the hanging moss effectively wringing-out the moisture of the air, really. 40 times it's own weight was measured. That's why streams decline after the forests have been altered.
The US forest service named the largest forest in the NW US after him (Gifford Pinchot) Now that's ironic.
30 years ago the harvests had reached the top of the cascade range. Damn. Let's blame the tree-huggers, we need those remaining monster trees, right?
What's worse, the pulp and timber industry have gone overseas and to Brazil Indonesia etc for MORE.
Destroying animal habitat and wreaking havoc on the unsuspecting. The industry only sees 1 thing, product, and does not even understand half of what they are doing. Now it gas become more apparent biting us on the ass...with higher tides etc. Still they will deny it.
Most of the big trees were cut down in the late 1800s to make coke(that's an old name for purified charcoal) for creating a better iron (steel) for the railroads. Thanks to Andrew Carnegie. That's how most of the original virgin timber was given to them, in exchange for rails.
This was done just before we figured out how to use electricity(by a mere 20 years) to clean the iron ore better How sad is that?
So Plant a maple tree in the front yard for a source of leaves to wipe your ass with. Hardly a solution I admit.
Trees breath CO2 and exhale Oxygen, shade the earth creating micro-climates and make wonderful composts. ALL beneficial.
If you have the groundwater to support it, Plant that tree and let it become Old Timber. Thanks
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