Selective logging was used to remove younger trees from an old growth forest. They used a helicopter to pull out the trees so that the hundreds-of-years-old trees would not be harmed. Turns out though, that the giant old growths needed the smaller trees for support; without them, they wound up toppling in the wind.
Heh, guess they may as well just cut them down.
Here's the story:
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Scientist question selective logging in B.C.; see damage to old growth, although uncut
CHILLIWACK, B.C. (The Chilliwack Progress)
Thursday, August 05, 2004
Dire predictions about the irreversible damage to Elk Creek area in the wake of the controversial selective logging project last September may be coming true, says a wildlife biologist.
Andy Miller, who is also a former employee of the U.S. Forest Service and the Alberta Forest Service, says he's conducted recent surveys of the site east of Chilliwack, mainly because the Cattermole Timber plan was "hailed as innovative and more sensitive" for preserving the old-growth attributes of the area.
The hundreds of large trees that survived wildfire a century ago, made the Elk Creek area into a high-quality forest, he says.
"Unfortunately, Cattermole removed so many of the trees that the ecological quality of the forest has been damaged," says Mr. Miller.
But Cattermole's Ted Holtby disagrees.
"That's his own perspective," he says. "We feel we took adequate steps to protect the vets in that we did not fall any of them. To our knowledge we never harmed any of them either. The bulk were in the riparian area where there was no logging."
The biologist says he gained relevant expertise while helping to design innovative logging projects in the U.S. and Alberta. He predicted some of the vets would topple without the support trees, in his original report last year to Chilliwack Forest District Manager Kerry Grozier.
"A giant selectively logged area on the east bank of Elk Creek did so much damage that already, only months since the logging was completed, several of the leaning giants have toppled, and others were severely damaged," he says.
Mr. Miller contends the degraded state of the forested area is in contrast to the logging company's pledge the logging would create the lightest "footprint" possible in the forest. "I can't ascertain that," Mr. Holtby says about reports of toppled or leaning vets. "When we left it, everything was fine and I presume it's fine now. If something fell over, it could have been rotten. These are just allegations from (Western Canada Wilderness Committee) so consider the source."
He says the allegation the forest has been reduced to low-quality old-growth that's inadequate for certain wildlife species is "nonsense."
Asked if the logging company learned anything in its first major foray into heli-logging on the eastern hillsides, Mr. Holtby replies: "I guess we learned about the difficulties of working around private property."
Heh, guess they may as well just cut them down.
Here's the story:
--------------------
Scientist question selective logging in B.C.; see damage to old growth, although uncut
CHILLIWACK, B.C. (The Chilliwack Progress)
Thursday, August 05, 2004
Dire predictions about the irreversible damage to Elk Creek area in the wake of the controversial selective logging project last September may be coming true, says a wildlife biologist.
Andy Miller, who is also a former employee of the U.S. Forest Service and the Alberta Forest Service, says he's conducted recent surveys of the site east of Chilliwack, mainly because the Cattermole Timber plan was "hailed as innovative and more sensitive" for preserving the old-growth attributes of the area.
The hundreds of large trees that survived wildfire a century ago, made the Elk Creek area into a high-quality forest, he says.
"Unfortunately, Cattermole removed so many of the trees that the ecological quality of the forest has been damaged," says Mr. Miller.
But Cattermole's Ted Holtby disagrees.
"That's his own perspective," he says. "We feel we took adequate steps to protect the vets in that we did not fall any of them. To our knowledge we never harmed any of them either. The bulk were in the riparian area where there was no logging."
The biologist says he gained relevant expertise while helping to design innovative logging projects in the U.S. and Alberta. He predicted some of the vets would topple without the support trees, in his original report last year to Chilliwack Forest District Manager Kerry Grozier.
"A giant selectively logged area on the east bank of Elk Creek did so much damage that already, only months since the logging was completed, several of the leaning giants have toppled, and others were severely damaged," he says.
Mr. Miller contends the degraded state of the forested area is in contrast to the logging company's pledge the logging would create the lightest "footprint" possible in the forest. "I can't ascertain that," Mr. Holtby says about reports of toppled or leaning vets. "When we left it, everything was fine and I presume it's fine now. If something fell over, it could have been rotten. These are just allegations from (Western Canada Wilderness Committee) so consider the source."
He says the allegation the forest has been reduced to low-quality old-growth that's inadequate for certain wildlife species is "nonsense."
Asked if the logging company learned anything in its first major foray into heli-logging on the eastern hillsides, Mr. Holtby replies: "I guess we learned about the difficulties of working around private property."
