by Paul Holcomb

This article originally appeared in Appalachian Voices .

Drive the backroads of western North Carolina, and you'll see what the statistics tell us: logging on our private lands has increased dramatically over the past 10 years. Caught between property taxes and the lure of quick cash, some owners of mature forestland have taken their trees to the bank. But it's a safe bet that many of them have turned their trees to cash reluctantly. As Appalachian Voices publisher and mountain landowner Dr. Harvard Ayers put it, "many people are interested in multiple uses for their land." These people want their property to produce some income without compromising its aesthetic appeal and biological integrity.

Acknowledging this dilemma faced by many private landowners, Appalachian Voices sponsored a Sustainable Forestry Demonstration on Dr. Ayers property atop Ellison Mountain near Boone last October. While observing the process of selective cutting, horse logging, and on-site milling, 20 participants learned that eco-friendly forestry is not an oxymoron.

But exactly what is eco-friendly forestry? At its heart is the idea that trees are part of a larger community. Conservation biologists think of it this way: A black cherry tree is part of an ecosystem community (a northern hardwood forest) that is part of a landscape (the Ellison Branch/Sawyers Creek Watershed) that is in turn part of a bioregion (the southern Appalachians.) Like ripples from a stone tossed into a pond, removing a tree - or trees - has effects that extend well beyond the logging site itself. Forests that have been fragmented by development and clearcutting, for example, provide little habitat for migratory neotropical songbirds such as the Cerulean Warbler, which prefers to nest in unbroken tracts of mature forests of at least 7500 acres.

Heeding the old adage "Think Globally, Act Locally," ecological foresters strive to preserve or create habitats that are regionally or globally rare. The trick is to harvest trees selectively, in a manner that mimics the natural disturbances to the forest produced by high winds, ice storms, insect infestations, fire, and the toppling of individual dead trees.

These disturbances create gaps in the forest's canopy that allow sunlight to reach the forest floor. Within these gaps early successional plants such as goldenrod, mountain golden heather, and various grasses and berries quickly sprout. Shade-intolerant trees, like red oak, take root. These plants, in turn, create a new habitat that is friendly to wildlife deer, meadowlarks, bog turtles, the golden-winged warbler, and other species that favor open spaces and the forest's edge. In time, this gap is filled as the trees mature, while somewhere nearby, another is created.

It is this dynamic cycle of disturbance and regeneration that keeps old growth forests from becoming a geriatric ward for old trees. These forests are distinguished not only by the presence of old trees, but equally importantly, by young trees and their cohorts - the herbaceous plants that accompany early succession. In fact, studies of the old growth forests of the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forests and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park show that about 25 percent of these forests' canopies are interrupted by gaps.

How old must a forest be before it can be called "old growth?" It varies. Here in the southern Appalachians, a moist, rich cove may develop the intricate structure of old growth in a little over 100 years, while a forest on a dry exposed ridge may not show this complexity for at least another century.

This "uneven-age" old growth forest is the opposite of what we see on highly managed timber plantations, where thousands of acres are planted at the same time with the same species. The result is an even-aged monoculture that requires intensive inputs of fertilizer, pesticides, and herbicides to maintain the site's productivity.

Our mountain forests are well on the way to recovering from the devastation they suffered by cut-and-run logging early in the last century. Mosts of these second-growth forests are at least 60 years old, solidly into middle age. Although highly diverse compared to the monocultures of plantation forestry, the canopy of these mature stands features few gaps, and its trees are roughly the same age. Keeping these mature forests intact, while managing them to improve their "uneven-age" characteristics, is the practical goal of eco-friendly forestry.

Undoubtedly, over the next 20 years the temptation to clearcut our mature second-growth forests will be great. But this doesn't have to happen. By logging selectively and applying the principles of uneven-age timber management, private landowners can have their forests and harvest some trees too.

Three Steps to Sustainable Logging

1.) Survey the site. Hire a botanist and/or a zoologist to identify and map all forest types and unique habitats. Make sure that old growth areas, rare plant and animal populations, and areas of high species diversity are clearly marked.

2.) Mark the trees to be cut. Hire a forester who is well versed in the principles of conservation biology and uneven-age timber management. Avoid removing only the best trees, a practice known as "high-grading." Leave snags and dead trees. These have little timber value and provide den and nesting sites for wildlife.

3.) Minimize the impact of logging. To reduce soil compaction and disturbance, hire a horse-logger or have the trees removed by cable-hoist. (Some timber companies remove valuable trees from sensitive areas by helicopter, but this option is too expensive for most private landowners.) Log in the late fall or winter. During this time, forests are "hardened-off" and less susceptible to the microbial, fungal, and insect infestations that thrive on fresh stumps and other damaged plant tissues.

Sources

Books:

Maintaining Diversity in Forest Ecosystems , edited by Malcolm L. Hunter

Saving Nature's Legacy: Protecting and Restoring Biodiversity , by Reed F. Noss and Allen Y. Cooperrider

Defining Sustainable Forestry , edited by Gregory Aplet

Forest and the Trees: A Guide to Excellent Forestry , by Gordon Robinson

Websites:

Forest Stewards Guild

Healing Harvest Forest Foundation

500 Year Forest Foundation

Turtle Island Preserve

The Society for Conservation Biology