A lot of what you state is true, but you also forget some other reasons.
Many animal populations have increased dramatically over the last
century due to federal and state management, and endangered species
laws. (They started having car wolf collisions in Wisconsin
again. A rarity when the state lost their wolf population in the
early 1900's)
The deer population in Wisconsin is at all time highs. (Saw a
national TV news blurb on car-deer collisions. Largest source of car
damage in the US. Ought to know son had one before Thanksgiving)
Many areas once forested are not. Many areas that were once forested
and cleared are back into forests.
The acreage change locations according to the lumber companies and
paper companies etc. You obviously did not read what I stated
earlier. The species is different now than what it was and that is
largely due to forestry management.
What you are arguing is not what I stated. What you point out is
very true!!!!
How many of you remember the name George Washington Carver? Father
of peanut harvesting in Southern Alabama and Georgia.
He helped Southern Alabama move from a cotton agriculture to a peanut
agriculture because they had depleted the soil of nutrients. Also
the Boll Weevil decimated the Cotton crop. Changed the face of
agriculture in this area.
But you must look at everything not just some things. Many areas in
the Upper Midwest have been rededicated to forestry. You have
chartered foresters who help people manage their tree stands better
and not clear cut anymore.
How many of you remember the dreadful forest fires in Yellow Stone or
Yosemite a decade or so ago? Why were these so bad. Bad land
management we had protected the forests so much they became tinder
boxes. (Look at those areas now, growing wonderfully.)
When I lived in Norther Ontario there were plaques all over the place
that marked where devastating forest fires happened in the early
1900's. Hundreds of Thousands of acres of forest wiped out by
fire. Standing again with wonderful trees, but their bio diversity
was changed.
That is the big problem is how the bio diversity has changed in our
forests. Try and find a White Pine tree. Hardly any exist. They
are a slow growth tree that was virtually wiped out in the 1800's and
early 1900's. Introducing trees into areas they will not
sustain. This killed off some trees in different areas.
Are we perfect in what we do now with forest management? I don't
think so but we are getting much smarter and much better.
The big worry this century? Will not be forests. It will be
water!!!!!! Useable potable water. In my neck of the woods this has
become almost an object of war!!!!!! Who controls what water resources!!!
Oh one last comment, we have become much better in wood management
also. We do not burn as much wood, but we also use less wood in a
house than before. We also use wood products that better unitize the
lumber than before. Like many natural resources we may use less than
we once did due to better utilization.
Stewart
At 08:25 PM 1/11/2008, you wrote:
OK, here comes the voice of ignorance.
Whereas the number of forests might have increased, surely the
acreage of forests has decreased. In the 1800's and 1900's in
America, the population increased dramatically in America. Today
there are many urban and suburban communities where none existed
before, the dwellings are largely built of lumber, and on the two
coasts this expansion came at the expense of forests. In my
neighborhood in the suburbs I see animals roaming city streets that
once were confined to forested land -- deer, fox, and exotic animals.
I don't know what percentage of forests have been lost, but I would
like to know if global warming (now considered a certainty by most
environmental scientists) will cut the acreage of trees
further. The kinds of trees that grow in a given area must surely
change. Maybe the temperate hemispheres will become like rain
forests, or maybe they will become dry so that cacti will flourish
-- I don't know since I am ignorant.
Rev. Stewart A. Marshall
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Prince of Peace
Ozark, AL SL 82
************************************************************************
* ==> QUICK LIST-COMMAND REFERENCE - Put the following commands in <==
* ==> the body of an email & send 'em to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <==
* Join the list: SUBSCRIBE COMPUTERGUYS-L Your Name
* Too much mail? Try Daily Digests command: SET COMPUTERGUYS-L DIGEST
* Tired of the List? Unsubscribe command: SIGNOFF COMPUTERGUYS-L
* New address? From OLD address send: CHANGE COMPUTERGUYS-L YourNewAddress
* Need more help? Send mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
************************************************************************
* List archive from 1/1/2000 is on the MARC http://marc.info/?l=computerguys-l
* List archive at www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
* RSS at www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml
* Messages bearing the header "X-No-Archive: yes" will not be archived
************************************************************************
