November 15, 1997
Important Information for All
In Reference to NFPRA-(H.R.2789)
Defining some terms:
A forest is a system, where trees and their associates
are so highly ordered in their connections that they all survive at a high
quality state. A forest is like a spiders web. You can hardly expect
to touch any one portion without effecting the whole web. A system
is a highly ordered connection of parts and processes that
have a predetermined end point - product, service ( In this case the universal
biological currency-glucose. I need it. You need it. The animals need it.
We all need it). Stress is a condition where a system, or
its parts, begins to operate near the limits for which it was designed.
Strain is disorder and disruption of a system due to operation
beyond the limits of stress. Survival means that you stay
alive and you stay in a working state under conditions that have the capacity
or the ability to kill you. Vigor is the capacity
to resist strain; a genetic factor, a potential force against any threats
to survive (We cannot change this). Vitality is the ability
to grow under the conditions present; dynamic action. High quality
means as it survives it survives in a state that will continue
to be usable. Low quality means if it does survive it will
be in a state that will not be usable. Health is the ability
to resist strain. Old forestry is forestry without the understanding
of tree biology, i.e., they make decisions without understanding trees
biology. Soil is a substance made up of sands, silts, clays,
decaying organic matter, air, water and an enormous number of living
organisms.
Keep these for future use. Also see My Glossary of Terms on my web site at:
The question is how best to increase National Forest Health of Sustainability.
Present practices or theories involve the following forest treatments due to commercial logging interests. There is no basis for them
Misconceptions That You Need Be Aware Of :
Myth 1 Removal of nurse logs increases or maintains the present health of the forest.
Myth 2 Road building increases or maintains the health of the forest.
Myth 3 Salvage logging increases or maintains the health of the forest.
Myth 4 Planting grass in the forest is beneficial for the trees of the forest.
Myth 5 Planting grass increases the health of the forest or maintains it.
Myth 6 Applying synthetic herbicides increases or maintains the health of the forest.
Myth 7 Herbicides do not harm the living soil.
Myth 8 Applying synthetic fertilizer ammonium nitrate increases or maintains the health of the forest.
Myth 9 Changing water patterns increases or maintains the health of the forest.
Myth 10 Removing trees, dead living or dying, before they are able to return to the soil what they have removed increases or maintains the health of the forest.
Myth 11 Thinning of trees rather than allowing the self-thinning rule of ecology to do what nature does best increases the health or maintains the health of the forest.
Myth 12 Removing dead trees increases the health or maintains the health of the forest.
Myth 13 Planting hardwoods in conifer soils, or vice versa, increases or maintains the health of the forest.
Myth 14 Chipping mills increase or maintain the health of the forest.
Myth 15 Cutting trees reduces mud slides and increases the health of the forest.
Myth 16 Insects are the prim cause of forest health decline.
Myth 17 Salvage logging decreases morbidity and mortality of the forest trees.
Myth 18 Timbering practices reduces forest fires.
Myth 19 Drought has caused forest decline.
And if there is any proper research to back any of that up I want to be the first to know about it.
However, many reviewed papers and work by some of the worlds finest tree biologists and forest pathologists strongly suggest the decline in forest health is due to present commercial extract practices and it is getting worst and they are hitting the forest harder.
Note, most work titled FOREST RESEARCH focused strictly on trees, and removal of and not forest health as I have defined.
(NOTE, nurse logs are water reservoirs for trees during dry times and lack of such has reduced the vitality of the soil thus reducing the vitality of the trees within the tree farm. A wooded area without nurse logs is not a forest, it is a tree farm and a unsustainable one.)
References: (only some)
1. Schulze, E.D. 1989. Air pollution and forest decline in spruce (Picea abies) forest. Science 244: 776-783
2. Duchesne, L.C. and D.W. Larson. 1989. Cellulose and the evolution of plant life. BioScience 39: 238-241
3. Schoeneweiss, D.F. 1975. PREDISPOSITION, STRESS, AND PLANT DISEASE. Ann. Rev. Phytopathology 13: 193-211
4. Thomas O. Perry. 1982 THE ECOLOGY OF TREE ROOTS AND THE PRACTICAL SIGNIFICANCE THEREEOF. Journal Of Arboriculture August 1982 Vol. 8, No.8
5. Shigo, A.L. 1969. The death and decay of trees. Natural History 78: 42-47
6. Shigo, A.L. 1985. Wounded forests, starving trees. J. Forestry 83: 668-673
7. Shigo, A.L. 1986. A NEW TREE BIOLOGY
8. Shigo, A.L. 1986. A NEW TREE BIOLOGY DICTIONARY
9. Shigo, A.L. 1989 TREE PRUNING (A WORLDWIDE PHOTO GUIDE)
10. Shigo, A.L. 1991 MODERN ARBORICULTURE
11. Shigo, A.L. 1992 Alex Shigo-TREE TOUCHER (video)
12. Shigo, A.L. 1993 100 TREE MYTHS
13. Shigo, A.L. 1994 TREE ANATOMY
14. Shigo, A.L. 1995 TREE BASICS
15. Shigo, A.L. (Date?) A CLOSER LOOK AT TREES (Video)
16. Managing Wildlife Trees for Wildlife in the Northeast USDA Tech
Report NE-101
Richard M. DeGraaf / Alex L. Shigo 1985
17. Shigo, A.L. Many articles from the TCI Journal.
See: Web Site: Click Here
18. Thomas O. Perry, Tree Roots: Facts and Fallacies; Arnoldia
49: 3-21 1989
The lack of support for the present forestry practices is enough to justify the need for NFPRA (H.R.2789) at this time before it is too late. Any honest politician with common sense will support this bill.
I am willing to meet in DC and discuss these issues.
Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Tree Biologist
Text & Graphics Copyright © 1997 Keslick & Son Modern Arboriculture