Why Logging Forests After Wildfires is Ecologically Destructive
October 1, 2015
Why Logging Forests After Wildfires is Ecologically Destructive
by Monica Bond
When it comes to wildfire, the U.S. Forest Service has it all wrong. In its just-released plan to chop down trees in nearly 17,000 acres hit by last years King fire in the Eldorado National Forest including logging in 28 occupied spotted owl territories the agency trots out the same tired falsehoods.
First, the Forest Service claims burned areas must be logged and replanted to restore the forest. In truth, wildfire is natural and necessary in the Sierra Nevada, even fires that burn very hot over huge areas, and human interference after fires is harmful rather than helpful.
For thousands of years, big fires have burned in the Sierra Nevada and are as ecologically critical for native plants and animals as rain and snow. And the trees have always grown back on their own.
But before the trees grow back, the burned forests erupt with life. Black-backed woodpeckers thrive in the most charred forests, feasting on the superabundance of insects and creating nesting holes in the freshly dead trees. After the woodpeckers, mountain bluebirds and house wrens use the abandoned cavities to raise their own chicks.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/01/why-logging-forests-after-wildfires-is-ecologically-destructive/