While the book looks primarily at two kinds of old forests (In US and Australia), its roots (so to speak) reach back into two research threads: the recovery of blast areas following the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens, and basic research by the authors (and others) conducted during the peculiar circumstances of the ‘old growth’ debate in the PNW. It’s fairly well-written if text-booky (and preachy) but it neatly summarizes a chunk of research.

What allowed rapid recovery in the apparently lifeless blast zone and where it happened first post-eruption was largely a function of remaining structure. One example is that down logs (and the inside of down material) shielded small areas in their lee (or their interior) from the blast, which not only provided a source of plant seed and rootstock for rapid recolonization, but also microbes, reptiles, amphibians, insects, worms and crawly things and small mammals. There were tree-frogs where water accumulated adjacent down logs first year post-blast, and insects within reasonable travel distance to pollinate plants as they recovered.

In the process of trying to sort out what the heck an ‘old growth’ forest is during that era, researchers made some remarkable connections between the micro and macro life of the forest. One example (beloved of Maser) is the northern flying squirrel consuming the fruiting bodies of mychorrhizal fungi (truffles) as well as douglas-fir seeds, and flying about at night pooping fir seeds prepped for planting, in a perfect little packet of balanced fertilizer and mychorrhizal innoculum.

Microbes (notably nitrogen-fixing bacteria and mychorrhizal fungi) and insects (and the microbes in insect guts) play an enormously important role in forest ecosystems of all kinds. The ‘below ground’ portion of a forest is vast. The root biomass of a 50-year-old douglas-fir forest is about 20% of the total tree mass. And that doesn’t include any of the other living or formerly living bits: shrub roots, groundcover roots, decaying twigs and chunks, accumulating humus, and a whole _lot_ of insects, worms, decay bacteria and the fungi which extend those roots’ effectiveness to many times their actual length.

Forests do not exist without “rot”. The rot part of a forest’s life cycle (whatever the stand is managed for) is fascinating – and absolutely critical to maintaining energy and nutrient cycling on a site.

One of the things which makes managing a forest distinctive to me is the sheer complexity of using a naturally-functioning and largely self-renewing system to produce stuff for us humans to use. How much and how little fiddling ‘ought’ I do?

I have no idea what some future ‘harvester’ will think the “products” of the forest I am planting are. Pretty “woods” to look at and wander in? germplasm reserve? cellulosic feedstock? fuel? mushroom farm? squirrel refuge? source of miracle cure? hot tub? If I fiddle too much, will I be taking the really important thing out?

Brian

If it was one or two trees, I’d think of spraying. But is there any bug, bird, frog, anything that can keep these things under control?

Harvested sites (final harvests) are replanted within 10 months of harvest.

It is a philosophical belief which is at the mercy of nature herself. What is the sustainability of a family name? Theoretically, just one male heir per generation. Yet due to the quirks and whims of life, three male heirs might not be enough.

So it is with forestry. Political, market, and natural forces all play a hand it raising havoc with one’s artificial term sustainable.

My point…..we need to place a pragmatic term on what is defined as sustainable. The smaller the unit of forestland (property ownership)….the less restrictive the definition we should apply. If a neighbor harvests his
total 5 acres and replants the following winter that may not in many people’s mind be considered sustainable. But from
a feasible standpoint, (shade intolerence
of regeneration, cost of bringing in logging equipment, and need to effect a profitable harvest to protect one’s forestry heritage investment) a final harvest of the total (small) ownership
in necessary. This 5 acres is (most likely)part of a larger treed landscape
and taken on a broader scale (township,
county, state, or region) the more magnanimous definition of sustainability could apply.

So sustainability is a belief which should be applied on a case by case
basis depending on a myriad of factors
including land base size. Only future circumstances will determine if the degree of conservation and timber management was sufficient to meet any
applied definition.

On a personal level our tree farms are managed in such a way that at any one time, you can find trees from 1 year old to 90 years old. The average age over
the entire acreage is probably 26 to 28 years…..which represents just over 1/2 the crop rotation life of the dominant tree species.

That leaves a fair bit of fudge-room, so here’s Aldo Leopold:

“The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant, “What good is it?” If the land mechanism as a whole is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not. If the biota, in the course of aeons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.”
― Aldo Leopold, Round River: From the Journals of Aldo Leopold

I manage for diversity because I do not understand all of the pieces nor how they connect, and I do not know what the future holds.

We are now completing the second week of receiving Tree School 2011 registrations and demand has been very strong. As close of business today we will have already taken 389 registrations and have now closed 8 of our 73 classes. Closures include these classes:

7D – Stan Density Management
9A – Mushrooms: from forest to plate
10C – Oregon’s Geography and Geology
12D – Landscape Tree Pruning
13C – Chainsaw & Tree Felling for Men
15B – Fruit Tree Restoration and Maintenance
15D – Fruit Tree Restoration and Maintenance
19D – Saving Seeds – Perfection and Preservation

If you haven’t registered yet, please do so this coming week. If you want to encourage someone you know to register, please do soon. We still have lots of great classes. We expect a full house on Saturday, March 24, lots of energized woodland owners and a great day of learning and connecting with other landowners. I look forward to seeing you!