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Re: [GWL]: Old Growth

It is the latter in your question.  Ancient or old forests take time
just like a good wine.  They have organisms that appear after a long
time that establish themselves synergistically - allowing a stability
that does not occur in younger forests.  Also the older and the larger
the trees the larger the organisms they support - larger birds, other
larger animals - younger forests can not support them.
And the list goes on. 
One can ask, what if we got rid of our older population, what would it
leave - only middle age and younger - a less rich society - less rich
environment. 

Eva Monheim

-------------------
> 
> 
> >
> > Just curious.  What is it about old growth forests that make them
> desirable
> > or even sacrosanct?
> >
> > Is it just because they are old?
> > Is it because they represent an ecosystem that cannot be replicated
in a
> > younger forest?
> >
> > Dan Strickland
> 
> Greetings from Port Angeles, Washington, where we live in a 5 mile
band of
> land that surrounds over a million acres of old growth forest known as
The
> Olympic National Park.
> Nothing, and I truely mean, nothing, looks like an old growth forest. 
The
> branches are covered in mosses that sometimes weigh more than the
branches
> themselves.  The forest floor is covered in places by solid masses of
> mosses, or in the early summer, carpets of a native oxalis that
stretches as
> far as you can see through the forest.
> Many birds and animals live within an old growth forest that will live
> nowhere else.  One is the spotted owl.  There aren't that many left. 
My
> employee room-mates with the head of the Owl Crew.  They go into the
forest
> every 10 days for 2 week stints and hoot to call the owls in.  They
know
> where every owl in the Park is.  Another bird is marbled murrelet,
which is
> a semi sea-bird that nests on an open, moss covered branch in old
growth
> forests.  According to National Geopgraphic, we have more biodiversity
in
> our forest than a jungle.  The trees are absolutely massive, huge
things
> that can grow so large that 15 people, holding hands can barely
encircle.
> ( True, not many of these are left; and the loggers that take them
down glow
> with pride that they got the honor of cutting them.)
> One misconception that people have is that in a large amount of the
old
> growth, deer and elk are not in residence.  When the wind blows,
branches
> can crash down.  They are usually so dark from overhead branches that
mosses
> and ferns are the most common food.  The large herbivores live on the
> outskirts, where sun causes the undergrowth to produce huckleberries,
alders
> and other more nutritious fare.
> http://www.northolympic.com/onp/
> Will give you the parks' website.  I don't wish to give you pretty
pictures
> ( but they are there ), but rather information.
> My father in law is 88 and lives in New Jersey.  He only knows what
the
> media divulges.  He says "What's the difference?  Cut it all."  He
doesn't
> get it.  We have logged this state to the point that this is the last
of it.
> Now it's time we used that prior logged area like corn fields.  Cut
it,
> plant it and cut it again.  But we certainly can log this country in
less
> than a lifetime and when it's gone, it's gone forever.  And for a
pocketful
> of cash that is spent in a very short amount of time.
> I am not an ardent environmentalist.  I'm 42 years old and a native of
> Washington who has seen the same mountain logged 3 times since I was a
> child, sitting on the porch wondering if we could ever log the whole
world.
> Entire forests that I have visited as a child are gone.  Roadways that
> evoked images of passing through a tunnel are now open to the sun and
> surrounded by stumps.
> I sound like a tree hugger.  Please come see this National Park.  A
million
> people a year come.  And yet it isn't at all crowded because they are
spread
> all over and around it.  One of my employees went hiking for 3 days
last
> week.  Day one they saw 3 people.  The second day they saw one person.
 The
> third day they saw nobody.
> 
> Diana Politika
> The Greenhouse Nursery
> Port Angeles, WA
> 
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