Guest columnist Dave King: Use science to manage our forests
Published: 12-17-2023 7:00 PM |
Although a recently published guest column failed to offer an answer to its query “Can we just stop cutting state forests?” [Gazette, Nov. 29], I am pleased to inform the author there is a means for making that determination. It is called “science,” and the specific field that governs forestry is “silviculture.”
This science is old, and through over a century of observation, measurement and experimentation, silviculturalists have established a deep body of knowledge, including things like: Tree mortality is higher in overcrowded forests; forests that are homogeneous in age, class or species diversity are less resilient to climate change and pests; and that modern forests on the whole are crowded and homogeneous (due to historical land use), and thus subject to elevated risk of mortality from crowding, climate change or pests.
The good news is that silviculturalists have devised practices based on over a century of ongoing research and experience to remedy this vulnerability, for instance by reducing crowding through thinning, or increasing species diversity by opening up the canopy with patch cuts that allow sun-loving species, which can be excluded from closed forests, to seed and grow.
Even better news is that conservation biologists have determined that restoring diversity to homogeneous stands enhances wildlife diversity, including threatened and endangered species (see the July 20 Gazette article “Rare frosted elfin caterpillar spotted in Montague wildlife area”). And climate scientists have found that decreased carbon storage from removing trees can be offset in many cases by the increased resilience of managed stands due to increased growth of the remaining trees and the greater diversity of tree species in managed stands.
With respect to state forests in Massachusetts, the government has multiple agencies staffed with personnel with formal scientific training in silviculture or related disciplines, often with advanced degrees and decades of experience. These folks are engaged in systematic planning to identify vulnerable stands that would benefit from management intervention using an increasing variety of sophisticated planning and modeling tools.
Anybody interested in this stuff really ought to attend some field visits offered by these agencies, where they can hear the planning and rationale for the various projects directed at improving the growth, diversity and resilience of our forests, or enhancing habitat for declining wildlife species.
So, if you are wondering “can we just stop cutting state forests?” ask a trained, experienced and certified professional. Would you let anyone without a diploma on the wall work on your teeth? Why should forestry be any different?
Dave King lives in Amherst.
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