The effects of deforestation around my home and throughout my state are becoming more evident every day. When a deer or other wild game loses its home, they move into cities, urban areas, and parks; thus causing issues with the human population. Most people living in Illinois have hit or nearly killed a deer driving on Southern Illinois roadways. This common occurrence could be kept at bay or maybe even avoided if the deer and wild game had more space to reside. There are many points that coincide with this reality but the main issues are the small subtle ones that affect everyday life and are often overlooked. Picture the Illinois we will leave for our children. Do you see a lush green forest or miles and miles of concrete and steel?
. When people see new construction or a recently paved road, they often do not realize the sacrifice that was made to create these luxuries. Most people pass some form of construction on the way to their jobs or school every day. This simple fact sparks questions regarding what this area looked like before it was inhabited by humans. Illinois forests have undergone drastic changes in the decades since European settlement. Only 31 % of the forest area present in 1820 exists today. (Iverson Pdf) Tearing down trees to build new structures isn’t bad if done in moderation, in some ways with time and good planning its wonderful. However, anyone that hunts or claims to be an outdoorsman will relate to the incomparable feeling experienced when alone in the woods and far from the hustle of the urbanized world.
A point has to be made about hunting and outdoor life in Illinois, which is a common interest throughout Illinois. Though it may not interest everyone, the livelihood and a portion of income is g...
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...es do have solutions; however, just a careful watch and conservation of forests can help in the long run. Planting trees in yards or getting a group together to start an urban forest would be a great idea to help the cause. Common sense and a little hard work can help restore forests, closer to their original state, and avoid problems throughout the Illinois effecting society as a whole.
Work Cited
Iverson, L, R, Forest resources of Illinois: what do we have
and what are they doing for us ? Symposium Proceedings:
Our Living Heritage. Champaign. IL: Illinois Natural History
Survey Bulletin 34; 1991: 361-374,
Www.fs.fed.us/ne/newtown_square/.../other.../ne_1991_iverson001.pdf. Web
"Introduction for Creating Habitats and Homes for Illinois Wildlife." DNR. Web. 14 Sept. 2011. .
There are too many deer in the Wesselman Woods. The deer have eaten all the flowers and other flora. There have also been 8 car crashes involving deer, this imposes a dangerous threat to the civilians of Evansville. The deer have been invading people’s yards and eating their gardens. The deer are causing many problems that can’t be solved until the deer population is reduced.
The common wildlife include southern short-tailed shrew, seminole bat, ringtail virginia opossum, rafinesque’s big eared bat, eastern cottontail, common gray fox, striped skunk, bobcat, white-tailed deer, Swamp rabbit, Eastern gray squirrel, Eastern flying squirrel, Bull Frog, At “Rare animals and habitat include the red-cockaded woodpecker and bald eagles. Interestingly, bald eagles breeding populations occur in the is region of Texas and wintering occurs in suitable habitats across Texas.” (Texas Parks and Wildlife, n.d.) “About three percent of the remaining habitat is considered intact. Bottomland forests around the Red River have been completely converted.
“Fish and Game Warden”. What’s Next Illinois. Illinois Student Assistance Commission, 2014.Web. 7 April 2014.
Wisconsin is facing developmental problems mainly, but not limited to, the northern part of the state. People want to buy lakefront property to put their home or cottage on to get further from the cities and closer to nature. What they don’t realize is that developing this lakefront property like your home in the cities is ruining the natural vegetation and destroying shoreline habitat. The runoff of chemicals gets in the water affecting water quality and the removal of shoreline vegetation for recreational purposes reduces wildlife habitat. Basically they are pushing out the wildlife that they are trying to get closer to by being in the north woods.
http://www.burnsville.org/deer_management June 18, 2001. http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/ July 19, 2001. QDM: Are You Up To Its Challenges? Deer and Deer Hunting November 1999
middle of paper ... ... Works Cited Barrett, Todd. The "Oh, Deer!" National Wildlife (World Edition) 29.6 (1991): 16-22. Encore.
"Living with Wildlife in Illinois." Directory of Illinois Wildlife: Mammals Living with Wildlife University of Illinois Extension. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2014.
Pruning of trees to remove dead and diseased branches was critical to the longevity of the trees. Those diseased branches may have infected the entire tree (“Why Prune a Tree”). We also helped prevent potential brush fires by removing the brush in the area surrounding the education center. From 2007-2011 in the United States, there were an estimated 334,200 fires. Forty-one percent were brush fires (Ahrens).
In the last decade, from the Rockies to New England and the Deep South, rural and suburban areas have been beset by white-tailed deer gnawing shrubbery and crops, spreading disease and causing hundreds of thousands of auto wrecks. But the deer problem has proved even more profound, biologists say. Fast-multiplying herds are altering the ecology of forests, stripping them of native vegetation and eliminating niches for other wildlife. ' 'I don 't want to paint deer as Eastern devils, ' ' said Dr. McShea, a wildlife biologist associated with the National Zoo in Washington, ' 'but this is indicative of what happens when an ecosystem is out of whack. ' ' The damage is worse than anyone expected, he and other scientists say. Higher deer densities have affected growth, survival, and reproduction of many plant species which have aesthetic, economic or ecological value. In some cases, many species of trees have also been shown to have reduced growth as a result of high deer density (Environmental Benefits of Hunting, 1). Deer prefer certain plant species over others and frequently feed on economically valuable tree species. For example, they prefer oak and sugar maple seedlings, as well as acorns, over less palatable species like American Beech and striped maple. Thus, less marketable species are more likely to survive to maturity,
Over the years, past resources have quickly dwindling. Since then conservation has broadened beyond the use of natural resources, and has become a movement. Many critics of conservation believed it would stifle industrial development, however, the conservation movement has increased development over the years because it forced the need to find an alternative source of power. One of the main concepts of conservation is that it should be used to benefit the many not for the profit of the few, like big business that destroy large areas of wilderness without care for what they are destroying. Preserving wilderness areas will help with the conservation of America’s resources that are quickly dwindling. The resources we had years ago is much less due to the supply and demand of society today. Preserving certain areas will allow us to...
The Western forests are drastically different from what they were like before the European settlement. In pre-European time, the forests were open and park-like with only 25-35 trees per acre surrounded by areas of open grasslands. One could easily ride a horse through the spacious forest. This, however, is not possible in today's forests. Today, for example the Ponderosa pine forests, have over 500 trees per acre, creating thick dense areas of trees, brush, and bushes (President Bush, 4). The pre-European forests were subject to frequent low inte...
Many people have misconceptions about hunting. One such misconception is that hunting is easy and any person can go sit in the woods and wait for an animal to cross the hunter’s path. However, people who believe this are sorely mistaken. Hunting is not just sitting in the woods with a rifle; there are many other aspects that must be considered. An individual must have all preparations complete, purchase or gather the equipment needed, and know what to listen for while in the woods.
Thesis: The population of white-tail deer in Alabama has drastically increased over the past century causing significant damage to property and homeowners, caused by hunters being less active.
Environmental issues affect every life on this planet from the smallest parasite to the human race. There are many resources that humans and animal needs to survive; some of the most obvious resources come from the forests. Forests make up a large percentage of the globe. The forests have global implications not just on life but on the quality of it. Trees improve the quality of the air that species breath, determine rainfall and replenish the atmosphere. The wood from the forests are used everyday form many useful resources. Moreover, thinning the forests increases the amount of available light, nutrients and water for the remaining trees. Deforestation (forest thinning) is one of the most critical issues of environmental problems that are occurring today.
Deforestation is the amputation of trees from forest areas more swiftly than they can be replanted or regenerate naturally. The fact that trees play an incredibly momentous part in stabilising climate, atmospheric composition and soil structure, removing trees rapidly becomes a major problem. There are numerous reasons behind the felling of trees by mankind. The Amazon basin is a prime example of humans exploiting rainforests. Within this tropical rainforest lie a vast variety of tree species, with many uses, giving humans even more reason to exploit this area.