Clear cutting forests

Quantifying the sources and rates of input of base cation nutrients (calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium) to forest ecosystems is an important goal in forest biogeochemistry, particularly when seeking to understand the recovery from environmental disturbances such as acid rain and forest clear-cutting. The earliest study to use isotopes as an indicator of atmospheric inputs to soils was by Dymond et al. (1974), who used strontium isotope measurements of micas in Hawaiian soils to determine that a significant proportion of the potassium input to Hawaiian soils was from deposition of dust transported... 

Increased erosion due to forest clear-cutting and widespread cultivation has increased riverine suspended matter concentrations, and thus increased the riverine particulate-P flux. Dams, in contrast, decrease sediment loads in rivers and therefore diminish the phosphorus flux to the oceans. However, increased erosion below dams... 

These expressions are sufficient to calculate wind speeds over hills for different clearcut options over alternative slope triangular hills. Meroney, 1993 [418] presented figures based using the above relations for effects of various size forest clear-cuts on hill top flowfields. These measurements were subsequently compared with windtunnel measurements of wind fields over various two-dimensional hill shapes covered with model forest canopies simulated by different depths of plastic indoor-outdoor carpeting, Meroney, et al., 1993 [419],... 

AD the histic podzol was buried by driftsand deposits. This age correlates with the period of forest clear cutting (Vera, 2011). The syn-sedimentary pollen spectra of the 2C are dominated by Ericaceae, reflecting heath dominance. After stabilization, a micropodzol (2AE) developed. It is difficult to establish an age, based on datings. The date of the HUM fraction probably overestimates the age and the date of the HAC fraction just indicates post Mediaeval. The pollen spectra of the C are dominated by Ericaceae and Poaceae, reflecting a more degraded heath. After stabilization and reforestation Larix and Finns pollen infiltrated, dominating the spectra of the actual micropodzol (3S). 

The burial of the palaeopodzol took place after 1200 AD. This is still in line with the period of forest clear cutting. Time, available for the development of the micropodzol (2S), de stable period between the depositions of S2 and S3, was (based on OSL datings) maximal 130. The radiocarbon ages of the carbon fractions, extracted from the 2Ah (with the exception of FUL) look too old, but the OSL age of the burial of the micropodzol is fits with the heat degradation after the introduction of deep stable management. 

Less mechanization is used on smaller tracts of individually owned land, where the terrain is mountainous or otherwise difficult to reach, or where thinning as opposed to clear-cutting is the preferred silvicultural practice. The harvesting operation maybe done by the landowner or small contractor using chainsaws and tractors. In some operations where minimal damage to the forest is critical, horses may be used. Sale of pulpwood to the mill operation is usually through dealers. 

Over the course of human history rivers have reflected the impact of human activity. Since the beginnings of the great civilizations 5000 years ago, humankind, in its pursuit of agriculture, exploration and conquest, has exploited and mistreated the environment on a broad scale. Major changes on the face of the earth occurred. Forests were cut, pastures grazed, fields cleared and plowed "... as the landscape was carved to fit the new economic demands of humankind." (7). Such changes have been well documented (2-5). 

Garcia E, Carignan R. 1999. Impact of wildfire and clear-cutting in the boreal forest on methyhnercury in zooplankton. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 56 339-345. 

Failures of newly established forest tree plantations or abnormal delays in tree seedling growth seldom have clear-cut causes. In the absence of knowledge of cause, foresters often attempt remedies that are unnecessarily costly or environmentally damaging, even when they succeed. Allelopathy, the direct or indirect deleterious effect of one plant upon another through the production of chemical inhibitors released into the environment, is likely a common cause of such failures or delays. 

Nano-photosynthesis can produce sugar and starch for food and further synthesis of cellulose can produce paper and wood to avoid clear-cutting forests. Carbon retrieved from the atmosphere and recycled from existing wastes by MNT will be used to make carbon nano-tubes, with superior properties to steel. Carbon will be the most common structural and functional element for a MNT-based civilization [32,33]. A carbon-based MNT material production model is conceptualized as in Fig. 9. If there is a specific need for metal, a nano-factory with trillions of nano-assemblers will synthesize steel, copper, and alloys in order to skip mining and refining [32,33]. Therefore, industrial wastewater, hazardous wastes and air pollution will all vanish. 

The eastern spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana, Clem., is one of the most economically important coniferous forest defoliators in the world. Several mating disruption experiments and field trials have been conducted since the mid 1970 s (5, 6). A great deal has been learned in the process but no clear-cut conclusions regarding the feasibility of this approach as a management tool have, as yet, emerged. In an effort to simplify the interpretation of future field experiments, we undertook a study... 

Uhl, C, C. F, Jordan, K. Clark, H. Clark, and R. Herrera. 1982. Ecosystem recovery in Amazon caatinga forest after cutting, cutting and burning and bulldozer clearing treatments. Oikos 38 313-320. 

We know that the economic role of forests would fade out. Forestry in Europe was based on a balance between annual growth and annual cuttings. This balance is disturbed first later annual growth will become less and less while cost will increase because a single tree management costs more than clear cuts or periodic thinning and weeds impede replanting. Hence forest land owners will not get any return, while wood consumers will not get the steady supply which they need. So many jobs will be lost. 

Henriksen A. and Kirkhusmo L. A. (2000) Effects of clear-cutting of forest on the chemistry of a shallow grormdwater aqrrifer in southern Norway. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 4, 323-331. 

On the other hand, if the seedlings are transplanted into a recent clear-cut that was previously a forest dominated by the same or closely related species of trees (for example during post-harvest regeneration of the stand), they will generally do well. This happens because the clear-cut still has a population of mycorrhizal fungi that are suitable to inoculate the tree seedlings. 

Clear-cutting—A method of forest harvesting by which all trees of commercial size are removed from the site. Usually the trees are de-limbed, and the branches and foliage are left on the site as slash while the stem is removed as a commercial product. 

Wind flow near clearings, clear-cut and forest edges... 

Fowler et al. [198] examined the effects of shelter wood cutting (30-percent canopy removal) and clear cutting clearings from 0.8 to 8.5 ha on climatic variables of the High Ridge Evaluation Area within the Umatilla National Forest in northeastern Oregon. 

The study of SOM, and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in soil solutions and stream samples in clear-cut and uncut sites at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire using DOC fractionation techniques and solid-state C NMR has been presented. 

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