Forest Conservation

Itchy! Itchy! This poison ivy is driving me CRAZY!!! Well enough of that, I am not writing this to complain to the world about how allergic I am to poison ivy, I am writing this to talk about old growth (mature) forests, new growth (young) forests, and all the forests in between. Now you may be wondering where I am going with this and it all boils down to conservation. Over the past decade, the need for land to build houses, golf courses, swimming pools, schools, etcetera, has reached a level in that when you turn your back for a second, a sub-division pops up by the time you turn back around. Wow! Where did those town homes come from!!! This, of course, is natural as the human race expands and grows, but what about the land needed to build this classical Victorian style house? Is all land created equal or to “quote” the great George Orwell “all animals [land] are equal, but some animals [land] are more equal than others. Now back to my poison ivy…

In my spare time, I love to go to the local forests and do what I call a mushroom hunt in which I search for and then identify various species of mushrooms and fungi. I have mushroom hunted at many spots, but recently I went to a forest that has been a favorite of mine to tromp through poison ivy while bird watching, tree identifying, and observing any wildlife that crosses my path. While I was there what should I see and hear but a news helicopter taking footage for a local story. Now, I am not just rambling on about some noisy helicopter here for my health but rather because the helicopter was an unpleasant reminder that the forest, wildlife, and yes poison ivy I am walking through is currently on a path to be a sad case of “duh, duh, duh” Death by Bulldozer.

What makes this forest different than other forests in pretty much the entire US of A is that this forest has not been logged or plowed for farming in over 100 years, if ever! Now I will in the next paragraph, discuss some of the advantages of a forest that has not been plowed or logged over forests that have been in the past 80 years.

Forests that have not been plowed differ greatly when compared to forests that have been plowed. When you compare the soils of a mature forest (forests that have not been plowed in over 80 years) to a young forests (everything else), a plowed forest will be relatively light in color and weight, and have clumps of clay and few rocks. Now when you look at soil underneath a mature forest, it is heavy and pitch black (from the amount of time things have had to die and decompose) like soil you would buy from a garden store. This nutrient rich soil allows this forest to house a hugely diverse population of plants from the wild orchids to the gigantic hardwoods that have had time to become the primary trees of the forest. The diversity of the plant life also allows these mature forests to house animals that you wouldn’t see in a young forest.

There are many things I still have yet to mention such as all the many other benefits that a mature forest would have over a young forest and also how all of this ties into conservation, but I know (and you will know if you are still reading this) I have been rambling on, without break, for quite a while now. Therefore I have made the dramatic decision to stop here and leave a cliffhanger. This (hopefully) will force you to come back to read of what will be part two of this saga which will be available by Sunday.