Essay/Term paper: Reforestation

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Biology

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.
Andrew Likakis Mr. Jan GCA- 2A December
14, 1991