What are the impacts of logging
What are the impacts of logging and can logging be healthy
Forest Ecology
Logging has been a part of Vermont history, culture and economy since the first settlers came here. I want to know what the impact logging has on our forests, how humans utilize logging, to determine if logging can be safe and even healthy for our forests.
Every year hundreds of people come to Vermont to experience our amazing forests. Hiking, camping, fishing and hunting are just some of the activities people enjoy in Vermont forests. Lush forests cover over three quarters of Vermont which is very different that it was a hundred years ago. Farms and pastures covered seventy percent of Vermont giving people a very different view. Today almost eight percent of Vermont is forested. How did this happen?
Vermont landscape has been drastically altered by human development. A hundred and fifty years ago Vermont mountains were stripped of trees, with only thirty percent of the state remaining forested. The people who settled Vermont believed that the ideal community consisted of small family farms. As a result, the forests were cleared to make room for them. These farms were not sustainable, and after the farms consumed all of the resources, they were abandoned and people moved on.
As smaller farms were abandoned, the state decided to work toward conservation of our forests. “Between 1900 and 1930, the amount of improved land in Vermont declined by 34 percent”. (Harrison & Judd. p.115) Improved land refers to land that has been developed for agricultural, residential or business use. Much of this lose was through the abandonment of small family farms.
Strong legislation for timber conservation in Vermont was developed in the 1920’s, though it had been worked on for the previous 30 years or so. Between 1910 and the 1970’s, the demand for timber products significantly declined. We were unable to economically compete with the north western and southern part of the
Forest Ecology
Logging has been a part of Vermont history, culture and economy since the first settlers came here. I want to know what the impact logging has on our forests, how humans utilize logging, to determine if logging can be safe and even healthy for our forests.
Every year hundreds of people come to Vermont to experience our amazing forests. Hiking, camping, fishing and hunting are just some of the activities people enjoy in Vermont forests. Lush forests cover over three quarters of Vermont which is very different that it was a hundred years ago. Farms and pastures covered seventy percent of Vermont giving people a very different view. Today almost eight percent of Vermont is forested. How did this happen?
Vermont landscape has been drastically altered by human development. A hundred and fifty years ago Vermont mountains were stripped of trees, with only thirty percent of the state remaining forested. The people who settled Vermont believed that the ideal community consisted of small family farms. As a result, the forests were cleared to make room for them. These farms were not sustainable, and after the farms consumed all of the resources, they were abandoned and people moved on.
As smaller farms were abandoned, the state decided to work toward conservation of our forests. “Between 1900 and 1930, the amount of improved land in Vermont declined by 34 percent”. (Harrison & Judd. p.115) Improved land refers to land that has been developed for agricultural, residential or business use. Much of this lose was through the abandonment of small family farms.
Strong legislation for timber conservation in Vermont was developed in the 1920’s, though it had been worked on for the previous 30 years or so. Between 1910 and the 1970’s, the demand for timber products significantly declined. We were unable to economically compete with the north western and southern part of the