The philosophy behind Greek & Roman conquests was to destroy and conquer, clear the land and build cities. The same has held true through all history. The late 1800's and early 1900's found the same philosophy in the United States "clear the land and build cities". Cities were created and flourished from the seemingly endless supply of timber with which to build homes, ships, and furniture and produce leather supplies. The land was cut and cleared of every living woody plant stem with disregard for the plant and animal species that survived there and only the dollar drove the saw.
"Clearcutting" a term that brings to mind a sight of a once pristine forest ravaged by the worst of human kind with blatant disregard for all the species which reside there, a "raping of the woods" where the only concern is the money it returns. In our society "many people associate clearcutting with deforestation"(Bliss 6). But could there be a remote possibility that if done properly and with regard to all species involved that it could be a good and effective silvicultural tool? Those of us in the forestry field feel the answer is 'yes', in general society says 'no'.
In general "public opposition is widespread. But why is this so?"(Bliss 6). Much of it is the perception of clearcutting and how a clearcutting looks after it has been applied. It is not always a pretty sight and many "find clearcutting aesthetically offensive"(Bliss 6), myself included. The short terms after affects are no more pleasing, briars everywhere, treetops strewn about, dead stems reaching towards the sky. When applied on a small scale these areas are virtual havens for wildlife. The briars and treetops support an as diverse, if not more so, species population than the forest preceding it and the dead stems provide homes for many squirrels and bird species.
What about the other factors such as "soil erosion, landslides, loss of biodiversity, and degradation of water resources"(Bliss 6)? Many of these problems can be avoided and depending on the area which clearcutting is applied may be of no concern. As stated before species biodiversity may actually increase, the pioneer species (briars, ferns, grasses and saplings) along with the tops of trees can often prevent soil erosion.
Thousands upon thousands of acres are lost in forest fires every year. We always hear about the dramatic losses caused by forest fires and are often concerned by them. There are so many horrible effects from fires and most of them affect so many people. Studies have shown that out of all of the different methods to decrease fire damage, prescribed burns are the most affective. Many people would argue that they are not as affective because they cause so many health problems. Although that is a very important view and may seem valid, those health issues are not as extreme as one might think. People should look at the majority of the benefits form prescribed burns and they will see how affective and important they are. Prevention is the key to society these days and is definitely an important factor in saving lives. If more lives can be saved as well as land and wildlife, prescribed burns may be the better way to go about forest fires. Although, prescribed burns are better for the environment in order to prevent drastic forest fires, severe damage to timber and extreme death of wildlife; some people feel it affects the health of a firefighter too much and it causes too many long term effects.
"Selective cutting" is the practice by which trees are cut down according to certain ascertainable features. If a tree were so old and large that it inhibited the growth of other trees, then it would be a prime target for timber. Trees can hinder the growth of other trees by means of overbearing roots or overgrowth of branches that would not permit sunlight to reach smaller and less developed trees.(p17-18) "Clear cutting", however, takes an entirely different approach. Rather than a few trees that are undoubtedly ready to be timbered, all the trees in the area would simply be cut down. There would be no selection process involved and nothing would be left of the surrounding trees.(p18-19) The last process is called "sustained yeild". Murphy said, "…others might cut themselves out of existence, but his company would never lack timber ready to fell. It’s annual cut would always be limited and never exceed its timberland’s newgrowth."(p18)
The United States, from its inception had a lust for real estate. From the original chants of "manifest destiny" to the calls for the annexation of Indian territories, America has been driven to acquire land. In this country's youth, land was needed for economic expansion; however, by the end of the 19th century, the entire continental United States had been in possession and the citizenry of this country turned their eyes out to sea. The United States no longer sought new lands to farm and work nor did they need new areas for their geological resources; the motives had changed. The United States was now driven by the temptations of world power and political supremacy. The self-absorbed citizenry looked upon their intrusion into foreign areas as a moral obligation; to spread the words of democracy and Christ throughout the world.
While the US may have prided themselves in the fact that we didn’t practice imperialism or colonialism, and we weren’t an Empire country, the actions conquering land in our own country may seem to rebuff that claim. In the 19th century, the West was a synonym for the frontier, or edge of current settlement. Early on this was anything west of just about Mississippi, but beyond that is where the Indian tribes had been pushed to live, and promised land in Oklahoma after policies like Indian removal, and events like the Trail of Tears. Indian’s brief feeling of security and this promise were shattered when American’s believed it was their god given right, their Manifest Destiny, to conquer the West; they began to settle the land, and relatively quickly. And with this move, cam...
By then there was no more land to be claimed and America had built up
Before the nineteenth century America had an agriculturally based economy and wanted to expand its nation for this use. The United States slowly grew after the American Revolution through warfare and land purchase. Thomas Jefferson signed the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 which doubled the size of the United States and this promoted more land usage and westward expansion. This expansion however caused problems that lead up to warfare such as the civil war. When new lands were acquired through these treaties problems such as the expansion of slavery and relations with the Natives Americans arose. America became bigger through land treaties such as the Louisiana Purchase and the Gadsden purchase and also through warfare like Spanish American war and Mexican war. However as time went on land treaties and warfare died down and expansion beyond North America became another motive. America slowly but eventually changed from an agricultural based economy to a more big business and trade economy. At the time nations had their own spheres of influence and within that sphere they tried to dominate trade and commerce. In document A Thomas Nast cartoon displays countries trying to establish their ...
Throughout history, the United States had come off as a stubborn nation that would take what they wanted at any cost. This was prevalent in both cases of expansion as the Americans risked war and national safety for the sake of gaining land, or even merely for proving a point. During the early years of expansion, the Americans had pushed aside the Native Americans and whoever else inhabited the land they wanted. They believed that the land was rightfully theirs and that everyone else was merely squatting on their territory. This idea continued into the early twentieth century as the Americans looked to the oceans for new territories to their kingdom.
... cities. In the end, the government’s role and policies regarding the war allowed America to expand so much.
be a drastic change. Expansion was growing fast and the United States and they needed new land for
“The Earth is 4.6 billion years old. Scaling to 46 years, human have been here 4 hours, the industrial revolution began 1 minute ago, and in that time, we’ve destroyed more than half the world’s forests.” - Unknown. One major environmental problem in our world is deforestation - what is that, you ask? According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, deforestation is the action or process of clearing of forests. Some consequences of this include a large contribution to global warming and climate change (about 1.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year), loss of biodiversity especially in tropical rainforests, and the extinction of many known or yet to be discovered species. But, through some Debt-for-Nature Swaps, leaving forests
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.
General Information: First off, deforestation is the clearing of forests or areas with trees to be converted into something else after. There are a few different ways forests are cleared. Clear cutting is simply removing everything in sight. Patch cutting is the removal of trees in specified patches. Strip cutting is removing trees in selected strips. The most environmentally friendly method is known as selective cutting. This is the removal of only selected trees, leaving the others un-harmed. The technique used most during deforestation is the slash and burn technique. This uses the basic cutting method of clear cutting, but afterwards everything that remains is burned to ash.
Deforestation happens in many ways; fires, clear-cutting for agriculture, ranching, development, logging, and degradation due to climate change, impacting lives and posing a horrific threat to a wide range of species (WWF, 2017). The reoccurring issue of rapid forest clearing is continuing to progress. Some direct causes are the incredibly high demand and extensive dependency of resources that rainforests provide, land expansion, logging, agriculture and infrastructure. This critical matter must be taken seriously and re-evaluated with extreme consideration. Global involvement of governments and an abrupt interference of forests clearing needs a redirected approach of an implemented mandatory reforestation in these areas. This will create a decrease in the major dilemma that is compromising the planets future sustainability. Primarily, causing the extinction and endangerment of millions of plants and animals from
Scientists themselves are just beginning to understand the serious problems caused by deforestation. Deforestation occurs all over the world by all types of people. Peasant farmers even add to the problem because in most tropical countries the farmers are very poor only making between eight hundred and fifty four hundred dollars annually (NASA Facts). Therefore, they do not have enough money to buy what they need to live therefore they must farm to raise crops for food and to sell. In these poor countries the majority of people are peasant farmers this farming adds up to a great deal of deforestation. These farmers chop down a small area of trees for there plot to farm on and burn the tree trunks (NASA Facts). The combined number of farmers maintaining this process creates a great deal of clearing and burning of the land they need to cultivate, which results in land being treeless. Commercial logging is also another common form of deforestation. This commercial logging wipes out massive amounts of land sometimes deforesting several miles at...
Solutions to the Problem of Deforestation Personal: There are many things that one can do personally to rectify the problem of Deforestation. These include such things as using wood sparingly, planting indigenous trees, purchasing the most ecologically sensitive products, recycling paper, reducing consumption of wood related products, communicating your opinions to the proper authorities, calling on forestry companies to act responsibly, and more. Education, however is the most effective catalyst for change, we must respect the forests as living communities not just resources to be exploited. Government: There are many things that governments are doing to rectify this problem. Probably the most effective of these are Forest Protection Schemes, Farm Forestry and plantations, and Raising Awareness/Education.