Deforestation of the Pacific Northwest
One of the most controversial areas associated with the global problem
of deforestation is the Pacific Northwest of the US. The problem can be broken
down into several issues that all tie in together. These include the near
extinction of the Northern Spotted Owl, the "business" aspect of logging versus
the environmental aspect, and the role of the government in this problem.
In 1973, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was passed. This enabled the
Dept. of Commerce and Dept. of the Interior to place species, either land or
marine, as either threatened or endangered. Under these terms species could no
longer be hunted, collected, injured or killed. The northern spotted owl falls
under the more serious condition of being endangered. Also, the bill forbids
federal agencies to fund or carry out any activity that would threaten the
species or its' habitat. It is the latter part of the bill that causes the
controversy. Under the ESA, loggers should not be allowed to cut down the old-
growth of the forest. The old growth of a forest includes the largest and
oldest trees, living or dead. In the case of the North Coast forests, this
includes some thousand-year-old stands with heights above three-hundred feet and
diameters of more than ten feet.
In 1990, the number of spotted owls dropped to 2000 breeding pairs. The
preservation of any species contributes to the biodiversity of an area. In an
ecosystem, the absence of one species creates unfavorable conditions for the
others. The absence of the spotted owl could have a significant effect on the
North Coast forest ecosystem. In order to send the owl population in the right
direction, the major problem for their decline would have to be remedied – loss
of habitat. This fact combined with the owls' short life expectancy and late age
of breeding only exacerbates the problem. When loggers remove old growth the
owl loses habitat for its' food, housing, as well as protection from predators.
Approximately ninety percent of the forests in the Pacific Northwest have
already been harvested. In order to protect the current owl population, the
remaining forests would have to be preserved, but this would have a serious
negative economical effect. Such a decision would effect jobs, regional economy,
as well as the lifestyle of loggers. With such a...
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...siness. In some cases, the money subsidizes the large
companies for things such as logging roads in order to keep the cost of paper
and other tree products down. These same companies ship their lumber to Japan
for milling before they are sold back to the United States at a higher price.
Not only does the public lose money in this process but it costs Americans a
number of jobs. On the other hand, agencies have made efforts to prevent
deforestation. Members of the Forest Service educate not only the large
companies, but the private landowners as well. It is the private owners who own
sixty percent if the forests being harvested. By helping to show how
conservative forestry techniques can be made efficient as well as more
profitable, they are helping to diminish the rate of deforestation. If more
money was spent on research and the spread of new and better techniques, then
the taxpayers' money would be better spent. In conclusion, there are several
aspects of deforestation in the Pacific Northwest that need to be evaluated
before the situation becomes irreversible. If the current harvesting techniques
continue, our children will be missing more than the spotted owl.
Several factors including increased supply have caused declining prices for live hogs on the spot market. Also as shown below, futures prices will remain below the carrying cost for live hogs until nearly the end of the fiscal year. However, processed pork products such as bacon, loins, and ham remain above the current cost of production. Three Little Pigs Inc. is capable of processing hogs into these products internally at some locations. Unfortunately, not all hogs can be transported and processed at the main processing plants and must be sold as live hogs to third parties at spot market prices. There are four potential alternatives for dealing with the possible need to impair the value of Three Little Pigs Inc.'s inventories.
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?
Listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act, the Northern Spotted Owl has inadvertently landed in the in middle of the complicated debate over logging in the Pacific Northwest. Under the Act, logging of many old-growth forests has been suspended to protect the bird and its remaining habitat.
V6. N1:140-143. Netscape Web Sites - "The Web" Biology 65: Biological Conservation (lecture 1-Introduction). http://mamba.bio.uci.edu/pjbryant/bio65/lec01/b65/lec01.htm EDF Letter: Moratorium Ends, but Wildlife Needs a Better Law? http://www.edf.org/pubs/EDF-Letter/1996/Jul/l_mbean.html. Endangered Species Act:.
Shetler, in the book Seeds of Change: Five Hundred Years Since Columbus, supports the myth that the new world was an unspoiled paradise by stating that " Native people were transparent in the landscape, living as natural elements of the ecosphere. Their world…was a world of barely perceptible human disturbances"(Shetler 1991). Sale contends that the Indians had a benign effect and refering to them as the "Ecological Indian".(Sale 1990) These are fine examples of the new way of portraying the Native Americans as "Noble Savages". There is no question that the Europeans had a more obvious influence on the landscape than the American Indian, but the notion that the Native Americans were "transparent" or "benign" to the landscape is an absurd over exaggeration. When in fact, "twenty million indigenous people were hunting gathering, burning, tilling, and otherwise managing North America"(Anderson 1991). It is not the intention of this paper to claim the American Indians did more harm to the environment than the European Settlers, but one important notion that must be understood before proceeding is that "even though a landscape may appear green it is not in indicator of natural ecology". It is the intention of this paper to show that the Native Americans had a significant impact on the ecology of the Eastern North American Landscape, which is unknown to many scholars.
I would argue that at the very least, there needs to be some form of triage implemented. The way the Endangered Species Act is currently allocating funds is mediocre at best and has many flaws. There is no denying there are limited resources so that makes efficient use of them even more important. Each of the systems of triage outlined in this paper have valid points and problematic components. Elements of each system could be combined into a nicely working plan that recovers the greatest number of species on a limited budget.
Some might see this as a great expense with an increase of taxes. Yet, Congress
First of all I would have to say that yes it has a great impact on our global warming and I will go on to explain to you how it affects our planet. We as a whole have let the dollar get in the way of how our planet is affected, some would say at all costs. It is true we have refineries, car pollution, but most of all deforestation of tropical areas. In the National Geographic Magazine you will come to see and appreciate the facts of how deforestation has affected our nation and has spiraled into global warming. We can look at Brazil’s rainforest that is estimated to be larger than two hundred football fields it will be destroyed before you are even able to read the article at hand (Magazine, 1996-2014). It has been noted that within the past 40 years we have managed to do more damage than what was done in the four hundred and fifty (450) years since the European Colonization even began. That sent chills through my bones when I read that, imagine how much tropical areas have been affected. We have destroyed twen...
Rainforests cover 31% of the land on the planet. They provide many resources, homes for wildlife and vital oxygen. Therefore, deforestation, the clearing of the rainforest, has a major negative impact on the environment; it contributes to climate change and destroys the land. Yearly, 18 million acres of forest are destructed due to deforestation. Cattle ranching is responsible for 70% of the deforestation in the rainforest. This is a major environmental issue, hence, what are the potential solutions for this issue?
In the second chapter of his book, Tropical Deforestation: Small Farmers and Land Clearing in the Ecuadorian Amazon, Thomas K. Rudel hypothesizes that the cause of rainforest destruction goes beyond the traditional immiserization model. The immiserization model holds that there are two groups of people separately causing deforestation: powerful businesses such as the plantation owners and extractive enterprises; and landless peasants. Instead, he contends that these groups of people, along with the local and international governments, banks and markets all cause deforestation by their mutual interactions. His idea is supported by the pattern of deforestation. Instead of rising steadily as the population grows, it goes in spurts. Peasants seize the opportunity to develop new land when it is opened up by penetration roads built by the government or large extractive corporations. Owning land along a road is the best way to ensure that they profit from their labor. That way peasants have direct links to transportation for their products and don't have to deal with middlemen who take a large share of the profits. He cites resources indicating that deforestation rates increased when international banks loaned money to countries for frontier development projects. Similar results were achieved by development of extractive industries. Rudel refers to both the government and these industries as lead institutions because of their role in opening transportation routes that are used by peasant farmers who settle along them, clearing the land. Many nations also sponsor colonization programs, wealthy patrons hire peasant laborers, or groups of peasants band together to mutually profit from the land that they help clear together. These examples of growth coalitions are similarly responsible, in conjunction with the agencies that clear the transportation routes, for the destruction of the tropical forests. This leads him to the conclusion that the most important link in this system of destroying tropical forests is the creation of new transportation routes penetrating the forested land.
Large cattle pastures often replace rain forest to grow beef for the world market. Commercial logging is another common form of deforestation, cutting trees for sale as timber or pulp. Logging can occur selectively-where only the economically valuable species are cut-or by clear cutting, where all the trees are cut. Commercial logging uses heavy machinery, such as bulldozers, road graders, and log skidders, to remove cut trees and build roads, which is just as damaging to a forest overall as the chainsaws are to the individual trees. The causes of deforestation are very complex.
The Problem of Deforestation The world’s forests are in grave danger. Over half of the original forest cover has been destroyed, and things are set to deteriorate unless the current alarming rate of deforestation is checked. Every minute an estimated 26 hectares of forest is lost – that’s an area equivalent to 37 football pitches - and it is not difficult to see that if this continues we will be left with a planet devoid of woodland. This would be catastrophic: not only are forests home to some of the most important species on earth, but they also play a vital role in regulating the climate and making the planet habitable. Much of the earth was once covered by trees, but the majority of these were cleared long ago to make way for an ever expanding human population.
Deforestation means to cut down a big amount of trees, which results in damage to the quality of the land. Forests cover 30% of the earth's land, but are lost every year. The rainforest could disappear in about a hundred years because of the existing rate of deforestation.
was frozen, making the planet an ice age. Now, temperatures have been rising for centuries and
Critically endangered species are somewhat different from just endangered species; they face an extremely high risk of extinction in the immediate future. Unlike regular endangered species who only face a high risk of becoming extinct. In 1973, the United States passed the Endangered Species Act, this act is one many of United States environmental laws that were passed in the 1970. Simply, the act was passed to protect critically risked species from extinction.