Wednesday, February 11, 2015

"Woodlands" Is A Term Used By Commercial Foresters.


Buckland State Forest has been defined as a "woodlands" by logging interests. This designation will make it very difficult for Friends to stop commercial logging here, but Friends will try. For years commercial loggers have looked upon Buckland State Forest with envious eyes and they have quietly made their plans.

If you are not a member of LinkedIn it is easy to do and it is free. The above link will ask you to join.

The above question was answered by hundreds of people both government workers and ordinary people. Ordinary people are great contributors to projects and ideas because their job is not at stake. Too often we go to meetings where professional foresters and professional ecologists answer questions by simply referencing code, law, government policy, "best practice" management practices written by commercial foresters and many other "official" resource guides.

South River State Forest, Conway, MA (US) is only a few miles from Buckland State Forest. It is a little lower in altitude and it is adjacent to the Deerfield River. Other than that the forest is just about the same.

South River State Forest is about to be logged by private contractors. The public cannot trust the reports and studies done by the state. That is because logging in Massachusetts' lands are motivated and legislated by stakeholders and not ethical conservationists. A stakeholder is a person or organization which as a money or property interest in some action. Only ethical conservationists have an interest in the well being of the forest and do not intervene except for true management of human caused problems (such as invasives, forest diseases and non-native species). The healthiest forest is a species' forest (aka a natural forest). Consultants who are hired by the state, by definition, never are independent experts. They are always looking for the next paying customer and that is usually the State.

So check out these global and nationwide thoughts written by stakeholders and non-stakeholder alike.

Massachusetts Commonwealth state species' forest that are approved for logging are renamed "woodland" at the suggestion of commercial logging companies.  This renaming was intentional as to make it appear that logging of these species' forest was the true order of things. No, forests do not have such an innate resource purpose.