Ecology

Karl Sowders
Strawberry Hill Nature Preserve

(3/2019) Most people think cutting down trees is bad. In some cases, I would agree. We all like seeing trees and it’s hard to not get a lot of value out of their presence. I particularly love the really big trees I come across during my time spent walking through the forest. As a student of the Forestry Program at Penn State Mont Alto, I have learned that most forestland property owners want to keep their trees for one reason in particular: to enjoy being among the flora and fauna.

Many people see trees as valuable natural resources that, although sustainable, belong in the landscape and not at the lumber mill or the paper factory. We all know that the wood in our homes, whether furniture or cabinets, came from somewhere. In one way, we are desensitized to the fact that we use trees for almost everything, but in an intrinsic way, we also want all the trees to be preserved.

Back in the nineties, my grandfather decided he wanted to own forested property. My grandparents purchased fifty acres in Pennsylvania that abutted the Michaux State Forest. Growing up, my summers were spent at my grandparents’ property, going for walks to pass the time. I vividly remember my whole family venturing to this wondrously big oak tree near the property line on the Michaux side.

When I started my first semester of forestry fifteen years later, I learned that the tree I had always remembered was the state champion northern red oak. It actually held the Pennsylvania record for being the largest tree of that species. As you can imagine, this was really exciting to me! To this day, I feel if I had not grown up spending time outdoors, especially in the forest, I would have never ended up studying forestry in college.

For most people, owning forested property is an unlikely investment. For others, their livelihoods are embedded in the forests and they take what the forest offers and turn it into mortgage payments, support their families, and find happiness in working for the resources that forests provide. Reality is, forests are managed for monetary gain in one industry in particular, lumber and paper pulp. Personally, I would like to be one of those people.

I have learned how to ensure a forest will grow back after harvesting trees in an area. There is a right way to make money in forestry, and a wrong way. Many people see clearcut forests as a bad thing. If managed properly, those forests can be restocked with trees within five to ten years. They can be harvested again in say 50-100 years. Clearcutting is not necessarily the wrong way to manage the forest for money, selective harvesting is. Selective harvesting means only cutting down the big, most valuable trees and leaving behind the trees with poor form and slow growth. This management practice is seen as a big detriment to the forest because the leftover trees are less valuable and repopulate the stand with more undesirable trees. To repopulate the stand with genetically dominant trees after harvesting, a few large valuable trees should be left standing. The large trees will function as the new seed source and the property owner will still get some aesthetic value out of their harvested lands.

Additionally, harvested forests will do more than invigorate new tree growth; they will also attract wildlife. Forest openings are likely to provide habitat for small rodents like mice and voles. The rodents will then attract birds of prey. The forest will grow back quickly if the deer are kept out by putting up a deer fence, and keeping the Japanese stilt grass in check. If the soil is right, the first species to regrow in a freshly harvested forest are likely to be black cherry, quaking aspen, sweet birch, and black locust. All of these trees provide food sources for important migratory birds and rodents. The initial trees to fill in are eventually outcompeted and overtopped by more long-lived species like white oak, red oak, hickory, and beech. The secondary trees are highly favored by deer, squirrels, birds, and almost any wildlife you might relate to the forest. Raccoons favor hollow trees for dens, owls are the same way, and wild turkeys often roost on the branches of big trees. Forests, in turn, are valuable to wildlife.

Forests are important for more than just wildlife. They provide essential water conservation and purification for the worlds’ fresh water. The property that my grandparents owned was located at the base of a steep incline where a spring came bubbling out of the side of the mountain. This was always a very special place to the entire family because the water would flow out of a small cave-like opening. You could see the water dripping off of the roots and soil and we could have consumed the water right there without filtering it. This was made possible because the ground water moved downhill from the top of the mountain to the spring and was filtered by the soil along the way. If the forest had not been not managed properly, and the soil was exposed rather than covered by leaves and vegetation, the water would have been contaminated and foul. Forests, therefore, are extremely valuable to the water cycle and overall natural water filtration.

Water filtration and air purification seem to go hand-in-hand with forests. Among the many benefits they provide, the trees that make up a forest breathe in carbon dioxide. Through the process of photosynthesis, they use energy from sunshine to break apart the carbon dioxide, keep the carbon for energy storage, and release the oxygen atom. The trees take in the greenhouse gasses we produce from driving and burning coal, and give back one of the basic elements we need to stay alive. A single tree collecting carbon and keeping it out of the atmosphere does not make a significant difference to the overall global pollution, but the more trees we have the more difference there is to make. Forests are a huge component of the fight against global warming and climate change; signifying their value is much greater than just a place to hike, hunt, or get lumber to build our homes.

In short, we owe a lot to the forests. I feel as though I belong in the wilderness appreciating all of the valuable resources that it provides. From the time I was a child walking around my grandparents dream property, to the day I have to leave my re-creation of what that property was to my family and I. We can all appreciate the fact that forests provide all of us with clean water and air. For those who are like me and enjoy being in the forest, they provide a place like no other to feel connected to something natural and greater than ourselves. Forests are not just a place for our species to live; they are a legacy for wildlife. We do not, and cannot exclusively find value in forests now, because they hold the key to reversing the rising sea levels, changing climate, and future development of sustainable harvesting practices.

Strawberry Hill Nature Preserve and Environmental Center is a non-profit environmental education and conservation organization located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of south-central Pennsylvania in Fairfield, Pennsylvania. To learn more about all they offer, we encourage you to visit them at 1537 Mt Hope Rd, Fairfield, PA 17320, or visit them on-line at www.strawberryhill.org