This is my contribution to this week’s Wordless Wednesday link-up.
What are your thoughts on logging forests?
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June 24, 2020 at 19:10
My thoughts: painful! Despite ‘necessities’ and ‘restrictions’, I truly hate seeing this.
June 24, 2020 at 20:25
I totally agree, Donna! When I was watching this machine tear down parts of the forest this easily, I nearly cried. It was right next to the campground and we even feared the trees would fall the “wrong” way. Plus, it was loud! No more peace…
June 24, 2020 at 19:17
OMG, I didn’t know that there was now equipment that could do this so fast and thoroughly. It sickens me and then it flashed on me that this is probably what is happening in Brazil and other sacred places…
June 24, 2020 at 20:28
Hi Luisa! Thanks for swinging by and leaving a comment. Your sentiments mirror mine. I stared at this machine with my jaw dropped to the ground. It goes so fast! Like you, I had to think about the millions of acres of precious forest that would/could/will be/ is being taken down if this method is a universal one. I have to hope that the equipment in the rainforest of Brazil is lower key!!
June 24, 2020 at 19:31
OOooohhhhhh. Heartbreaking how easy it is to destroy life.
June 24, 2020 at 20:30
Right!? It looks so awful. Men vs. nature. I truly hate this. But, we did find out that this machine (supposedly) was removing the thinner trees to get rid of the “underbrush” to avoid forest fires… It sure took down a lot of wood during the day we watched it “perform”.
June 24, 2020 at 20:06
Liesbet, Hundreds of years to grow. Gone in a moment’s time. A complicated issue.
June 24, 2020 at 22:01
Complicated! That it is, Erika. I did notice that this machine mostly cut down the thinner trees. Maybe the non-native species? It would be better to actually understand the whole picture somehow and to know who’s behind the logging and why…
June 24, 2020 at 20:29
I worked in the paper recycling industry for a long time. Recycled paper of course competes with virgin fibers–trees–for customers. It was my understanding that forest management was done well–every tree cut down was replaced. Don’t know if that’s true. I hope they skip the trees that are homes to animals.
June 24, 2020 at 21:54
I remember recycled paper better from when I was a teenager, conscientious to buy recycled note blocks and note pads to use at school. Either the recycled paper looks much better/brighter now, or less is being sold in the US than in Belgium. And interesting industry to be in, Jacqui. Maybe it led to you becoming a writer?
I hope you are right about forest management being done right. Maybe this depends on the state or the National Forest. Or the city and the lobbyists. Or the country and the government. I don’t know much about it, but I like the idea that every cut tree is replaced by a new one. As far as skipping the trees which are homes to animals, I doubt the drivers care about that… 🙁
June 27, 2020 at 12:58
A few of the Western series I read have ranchers cutting trees and to their credit–even in that unrelated genre–they make a point of saying they skip trees that are homes to birds. I love it.
June 29, 2020 at 17:12
Oh, I had no idea! That is wonderful about ranchers avoiding cutting down trees that have birds or other known wildlife in it. And, if this happens in fiction books, it must also be in real life. There is hope for the human race. 🙂
June 24, 2020 at 20:42
Forests need thinning (just as nature would do naturally with fires) but I really don’t trust corporations – or anyone with a vested interest – to “manage” forests responsibly. That would be hard to watch (I opted not to watch the video).
June 24, 2020 at 21:57
That vested interest (power and money) is where so many things go wrong. I hear you, Janis. And I respect your respect for nature and trees leading to skipping the video. I was saddened and fascinated at the same time, when we witnessed the forest damage done by this machine…
June 24, 2020 at 21:09
So sad…
June 24, 2020 at 21:59
That was my first sentiment as well, Jill. But, if it was truly done to prevent forest fires, maybe it’s less sad. We’ve also camped in many areas where the forest was set on fire (“controlled” or “prescribed” fires) to take care of the extra brush. Human interventions… good or bad?
June 24, 2020 at 21:44
I will be the devils advocate and point out a different view. Trees are grown to be cut down so we have toilet paper and other products. These are completely different “forests” as to those that I and many others enjoy walking or cycling through, those kind are classed as native forests. What companies are doing in the rainforests is another issue and far too complicated to discuss on here.
June 24, 2020 at 22:10
Hello Suzanne!
I welcome and respect you being the devil’s advocate. Thank you! There are always different factors at play, plus we don’t know all the facts. Like Erika mentioned earlier, this logging business can be complicated. Plus, what about the hypocrisy about being against logging, but buying wood products. Just like being against killing animals, but eating meat…
I believe you are correct in regards to this forest, that it was/is a planted one and the trees are, indeed, not the beautiful mature specimens we recreate in. I like to believe that the cut-down trees are replaced by new ones. Yet, it is still sad to see how human kind takes these living trees down with such ease. For some reason whaling comes to mind… If natives hunt them in a primitive way, with harpoons, and use every bit of them to eat and live, the procedure appears less appealing.
Yes, the decimation of the rainforest is an entire different topic and one that each of us is probably much more passionate and emotional about than logging in a US forest.
June 25, 2020 at 01:53
Horrifying, isn’t it? When I first saw one of these near where we live I gasped and then cried. How quickly man can destroy something that took decades to create.
June 25, 2020 at 10:01
So you’ve seen these as well, Leslie? I had the same feeling and sentiment when watching the machine in action. Like the trees were tiny sticks a kid snaps off. It becomes easier and easier for humans to destroy nature. Everyone is doing it every day, in small or large doses. Fossil fuels, paper pads and books, eating red meat… It all has to come from somewhere. 🙁
June 25, 2020 at 07:17
Wow, it’s like a tree harvester.
Logging can be necessary, but hopefully they replant the forest afterwards.
June 25, 2020 at 10:04
Hi Alex! I’m hoping forests are replanted every day. In this particular situation, smaller trees were being removed, but the brunt of the forest remained. We’ve been to places (British Columbia in Canada and the Pacific Northwest come to mind) where logging destroys entire hillsides and causes erosion. That’s bad! In these areas we also saw new forests emerge. I do think there are different reasons in different areas for logging to take place.
June 25, 2020 at 07:51
Great profile photo of your RV on the bridge!
June 25, 2020 at 10:05
Thanks! Each time you reload our Roaming About blog, a new banner photo appears. I think I selected five in total. I love the ones with our camper van in them. 🙂
June 25, 2020 at 07:53
Oh, thoughts on cutting the trees, too many people!
June 25, 2020 at 10:06
Yep. Too many people on this earth for many reasons. Mother Nature will take care of that over time…
June 25, 2020 at 09:53
I hope Mother Nature gets her revenge. This is such a sad sight to witness. For every tree cut down, the Earth loses another day if its life.
June 25, 2020 at 10:08
Let’s hope every tree that gets cut down is replaced by a new one, Hugh. But, at the rate they are being taken down, they can never restore. I think Mother Nature is taking revenge. That’s how I see hurricanes, droughts, and even pandemics. Who can blame her?
June 26, 2020 at 05:43
I agree. I do hope they are replacing a tree for a tree. Greenhouse gases have been cut during the early stages of this pandemic, but the weather still seems out of sync. Having just come out of two days of blistering heat with record high UV levels for the UK, I’m glad it was short lived. The trees came in very useful for walking in the shade. Not that I went far, but I had to get a little bit of exercise to keep my body from ceasing up.
June 26, 2020 at 11:19
If there is one positive about this recent pandemic, it’s the condition of the earth, the environment (other than all the extra plastic being used for grocery bags and packaging and the overuse of disposable items like wipes and masks), and the wildlife, Hugh. I”m so happy about that and I hope the realization about the status of our precious surroundings and resources sticks!
Even though Mark and I lived in tropical environments for a decade in the past, we are not a fan of the heat and too much sun either, so we ALWAYS attempt to walk in the shade. Thank you, trees! Sorry to read that it was crazy hot in the UK as well. My parents were sweltering in their top floor apartment in Belgium the last few days. Soon, AC will have to be introduced in private homes in Europe!
June 25, 2020 at 17:34
Liesbet, as you know I’m on a blogging break, but I’m breaking my silence to say I hope the deforestation is mitigated elsewhere. Doubt it though.
I spent 2 years of my life fighting a Walmart expansion disturbing wetlands and woods adjacent to my former neighborhood. In the end, our city councilperson enabled us to place 3.14 acres in Preservation status. Of course, I blogged about it seven years ago: https://marianbeaman.com/2013/03/15/its-not-easy-being-green/
Hope Mark, Maya, and you are doing well! 😀
June 26, 2020 at 11:10
Thanks for swinging by and making an exception during your blogging break, my friend. I appreciate it. And, sorry to hear about that fight against such a huge and powerful company. I stand by you!! Anything to help Mother Nature and protect our resources… But, it’s tough to fight money and power. Enjoy the rest of your internet absence. 🙂
Mark, Maya, and I are doing well and we hope the same is true for you and Cliff.
June 25, 2020 at 20:20
Wow, disturbing to see just how quickly trees can be torn down! Big biz doesn’t care, they’ll keep building better equipment to destroy it faster. We can only pray for legal deforestation, Liesbet.
June 26, 2020 at 11:12
Hi Terri! True sentiments. It’s the sheer “efficiency” of these machines that is terrifying. I do hope the deforestation witnessed here is legal indeed; I tend to think so, based on the conversation we had with one of the workers.
June 26, 2020 at 09:34
Liesbet, The destrunion of nature is sad and cruel. When we bought our home in South East fl there were beautiful woods behind us which was part of the reason we chose that house. We were told that it was an easement that would never be taken down. I came home one day three years later to a completely destroyed woods. The beauty gone so a house could be built. My heart ached for the beautiful trees and for all of the precious animals who lived there. The birds, squirrels, turtles, Bob cats all had their home torn away in one day.
June 26, 2020 at 11:27
Hi Lea!
That’s awful about the woods behind your home being decimated out of the blue. Criminal actually! Especially, when you were promised something else. The human race is cruel and often selfish, focused on money and power. When my parents bought the home I grew up in (they recently sold it), in Belgium, it was one of the few houses in the neighborhood. As a teenager, I saw all the brush and trees being turned into lots and brick houses over the years. If I hadn’t seen it change with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have recognized the neighborhood! I actually still have nightmares about this once in a while, strangely enough, where I can’t find my way “home”.
The only “solution” I see – if at all possible – is for people to buy the adjacent empty lot to their property. That is the certain way to prevent others from destroying it, building on it, or disturbing the peace. Our friends in Vermont, whom we just visited, did exactly that and have no regrets. Other than not having any money left to build a cabin and therefore needing to live and homestead in their RV. 🙂
June 26, 2020 at 13:06
Such a sad thing to see, Liesbet. So many years of growth cut down in a heartbeat. 🙁
June 29, 2020 at 17:11
That’s the worst about these machines… the sheer destruction in such short time frames. Disheartening. But, I have to think there was a good reason to do so in this situation and that the wood will be used.
June 27, 2020 at 23:48
Where we live on Vancouver Island, there’s a constant sound of those things in the distance. They’re clear-cutting the mountainsides right next to us, and the devastation that remains when they’re done is heartbreaking. We’re also noticing much more extreme flow peaks on our creek after a rain because there’s no vegetation left on the hillsides to mitigate the rainwater runoff, and the hillside soil is permanently compacted by those big machines.
But… I live in a house made of wood. I use toilet paper and writing paper. I own a LOT of printed books. I have wooden furniture and wooden kitchen cabinets. All that wood comes from somewhere, so I can’t condemn forestry. I just wish they could find a way to harvest the wood without destroying ecosystems and wildlife habitats in the process.
I suspect there is a way; but I also suspect that the big companies aren’t interested in anything that reduces their profits by a few pennies. There’s no easy solution…
June 30, 2020 at 16:08
Hi Diane,
Thank you so much for your nuanced, honest, and considerate reply. It’s a tough topic. Indeed, we can’t condemn logging if we use paper and wood products ourselves or we would be hypocrites. I couldn’t agree more. We can only hope for (or support) sustainable logging.
In your area (as we have noticed ourselves on VI and in BC), a LOT of deforestation is going on and this leads to erosion and eye sores in the scenery. It’s crazy! So many logging trucks in the Pacific Northwest! I wish they would replant those forests. Have you seen new, young forests sprout up around you? We noticed some of these “tree plantations” in Northern Vancouver Island. If only power and money wouldn’t play such an important role in our societies… 🙁
July 1, 2020 at 14:11
Yes, can you imagine what a wonderful place the world would be if we could just eliminate greed? The forestry companies are supposed to replant, and as far as we know they usually do. The BC Government’s forestry fact sheet says that 80% of harvested areas are replanted, and the remaining 20% are allowed to regrow naturally. Here’s a link: https://news.gov.bc.ca/factsheets/factsheet-reforestation-in-bc.
The problem is that when an entire area has been stripped and compacted by big machines, the baby trees struggle because of erosion and the diminished ability of the remaining soil to absorb water. But I guess it’s better than nothing…
July 1, 2020 at 21:12
Thank you for that information and for the link, Diane! I can really count on you when it comes to research. A good eye and lots of practice. I wonder whether you’ve come across anything off kilter this time that warrants a blog post. 🙂
I am very happy and relieved to read that the forestry companies, indeed, manage to rebuild most of the forests they take down. In British Columbia anyway. Who knows what the US situation is.
June 28, 2020 at 15:04
I had no idea that is how logging was done. Perhaps I had some ridiculous innocent notion that lumberjacks carefully picked out individual trees. Like someone above mentioned, my understanding, in Canada anyway, that strict replanting rules are in place in the forest industry. I hope that is true.
The video is both mesmerizing and horrifying all at once.
June 30, 2020 at 16:21
You express my sentiments of this video really well, Sue. To just watch this machine in action is fascinating and horrifying indeed! I wish your “innocent notion” was the correct execution of this liquidation of the forests… to make people “work” for their wood and be more considerate. But, big companies could never make money that way, right? I hope you are correct about the replanting rules. That would only make sense in the long run and everyone would benefit from it, especially the logging companies!
June 29, 2020 at 21:36
That’s a very sad sight 🙂 I do know it’s sometimes necessary, nevertheless, sad <3
June 30, 2020 at 16:50
Sad is a good word for this devastating machine. Yet, we all use paper… Maybe someone could come up with a sustainable way of logging. Or, maybe that’s already happening. 🙂
July 1, 2020 at 09:59
Maybe it is??????
July 1, 2020 at 10:48
Yep. Let’s just go with that! 🙂
June 30, 2020 at 18:02
Finally got enough internet to watch this and for the comment box to load!
I found it interesting that they seemed to only be cutting smaller trees. Was that what was going on or was it just perspective?
I think logging is a necessary evil. But hopefully it is done in such a way that this resource is not being destroyed. I have a friend who gotten into “rescuing” cut trees. When he finds cut trees along the road or is connected with someone who is clearing trees from their land, my friend collects the trees and then mills them. Apparently he keeps pretty busy at this.
It is a shame that more of our resources aren’t recycled like this – then maybe we could have more forests and still have the necessities that we use trees for.
June 30, 2020 at 22:08
Yes, they were only cutting down small trees for – what appeared like – two reasons: fire mitigation and getting rid of non-native species. The logging is indeed a “necessary evil” and we hope it is done in a sustainable way. I love the approach of your friend. My guess is, though, that the cut trees are often private property. It would be cool to “find” firewood this way. 🙂 The cut trees in this situation were hauled out by another machine, so I’m sure they were used for something.
July 1, 2020 at 16:20
Interesting video. I’ve never actually seen a feller buncher in action, even though I live on Vancouver Island where logging is one of the major industries. Apparently, this approach to logging is much safer for the people doing the logging — the old methods of logging were extremely dangerous.
Liesbet, as you know I am an environmentalist, and very concerned about the loss of forests, and especially old growth forests. Clearing forests around the world is a significant contributor to global warming. However, this doesn’t mean that ALL logging is bad. We need to regulate it to require environmentally sustainable practices, protect old growth and sensitive areas, and to force the big corporations to prevent environmental damage (e.g., erosion) and repair any that they cause (e.g., replanting).
Jude
July 1, 2020 at 21:57
Aha, they’re called “feller bunchers”? Good to know that they are safer for the operators. And, I should have known that I could count on you for helpful insights and knowledge about this topic, Jude. I have never heard about (or seen) logging of old growth forest in Northern America and I sure hope that’s not happening or at least is being regulated. I actually had no idea that logging is a contributor to global warming as well. I agree that not all logging is bad (people love their wood after all!) and trust that the big corporations have some care and common sense when it comes to repairing damage done.