Reforestation
The purpose of this written report is to inform the reader about the
concerns
and facts involved with reforestation. Reforestation began in
Ontario after
World War II. What happened was, professional foresters
were assigned to an area
and became responsible for its well being. Under the
Crown Timber Act, long term
management was prepared. Then the many steps
needed to rebuild a forest began.
Included in this report will be
information on the effects of cutting and
replanting, such as Carbon Dioxide,
and Global Warming. Following this will be
methods for planning a forest, and
how they are conveyed before planting in a
forest begins. There are many
reasons why forests are cut down. One is to
benefit economically, with
furniture and home building. But there is also
another reason. Arguments say
"the United States could help slow the
atmospheric accumulation of carbon
dioxide by replacing old-growth forests with
faster-growing young trees". A
new study of young and old forests says how
this is in fact not true. Loggers
have said that new trees pull the carbon
dioxide better than old trees, and
this may seem true, but it is not. There is
one point being overlooked from
all of this. The older, larger trees can store
much, much more carbon dioxide
than a new tree could. By cutting and burning
these magnificent seasoned
trees, the CO2 is being released back into the
atmosphere. These releases of
carbon dioxide add up in our surroundings, only to
intensify Global Warming.
Although this shows what happens when one burns and
cuts down old forests,
one must still plant new trees for long term plans, not
letting them grow for
a few years, to then cut them down. There are many methods
for planning a
forest. The simplest method of replanting a forest is to leave it
to nature.
A suitable seed bed in which trees will readily take root is integral
for
successful regeneration. Reducing competition by eliminating grass, weed
or
shrubs is another requirement in securing a new crop of trees. These will
sprout
to produce seedlings. Though the weeds were eliminated before, they
still grow
back, and because of this poor, quality trees will grow. Another
method though,
is to create a planned forest, where new conifers are grown
from seed in a
special nursery. Seeding is a reforestation technique used
mainly in the Boreal
forest area where fire or logging tends to leave no or
very little seeds for
growth. In specific cases, Ministry staff seed the area
with treated tree seeds.
Following this is the planting. In many cases,
planting is the only means of
initiating a new forest. Up to 80 000 000 trees
are planted annually in Ontario
on Crown and private land. Usually immature
forests have to be tended to. Once
situated, a new crop needs intermittent
care for the next 60 to 100 years. This
means continuing protection from
fires, disease and insects and routine thinning
to focus the growth on
selected crop trees. Before a forest can be grown,
certain procedures must
first occur. Collecting and processing seeds is one of
them. Tree flowers
fertilized by blowing winds or insects generate seed, in a
time of somewhere
within 1 to 2 years. Seed collecting from the woods must be
timed with
periodically occurring good seed years. Angus, near Barrie, is where
all
forest tree seed collection is co-ordinated. Stock of seeds can value up
to
$500 000. Usually this is around 3 billion seeds from 59 tree classes.
In
summary of the aforesaid, trees are very valuable to the human race
economically
and for health. Without trees the environment could worsen to
the point where we
would be living on one large dessert. We must remember
that forest do not grow
as easily as they used to because of fires and other
disasters. This is why many
forests are planned, and cared for. Most of us
will never now how they turn out
because for a forest to completely grow, it
needs within anywhere from 60 to 100
years or more. There are many reasons
why we should have reforestation. One
being mostly that we need forest to
live! Without forests, or any type of plant,
the carbon cycle can't result.
There are not many arguments against
reforestation, but there can be some
opposition for the land being used between
a large business company and the
Ministry. I feel replanting of forests is very
crucial to the human race. The
earth depends on many cycles, where one organism
depends on the other because
of what it does. We, exhale carbon dioxide which
the trees take in, while
they give off vital oxygen. In closing, we live in an
age of technology,
leaving behind us the past. With the past we are forgetting
forests; we must
make sure this doesn't happen.