Guess what? We agree......
To my knowledge none of the "reforestation" that goes on in the West uses any "mixed forest" strategy...that means that on the Westside of the Cascades, where most of the Western Red Cedar comes from, if a clear cut is planted it is planted in DOUGLAS FIR......I could be wrong and would accept it if someone told me that in Oregon and California there were some cuts that are planted in Sugar Pine but I've not heard of any of those......so essentially, once you cut the Cedar out of an area if its going to be there in the next rotation then its going to get there on its on.....for sure that happens, and in fact until the last dozen years most clear cutting relied on leaving "seed trees" at prescribed intervals that were supposed to, and did, reseed the cut naturally, (this is actaully a better "strategy" from any standpoint other than just a "board foot of one log type" than human replanting because of the diversity of species that results).....
In reality you couldn't, at least not with any financial responsibility, keep Cedar out of a cut over area, so its going to continue to occur in the "renewable" forest that will be cut in the future.....the problem with that is that, as Tim says, if it was cut in our lifetime, its not going to be cut again until sometime LATE in your kids, or Grandkids if your Tim's age, or your GREAT Grand Kids if your Bill Wasson's age, lifetime.
Western Forests are managed differentely than Southern Forests and they grow at a much slower rate so you see cutting cycles span three, and often more, times the length of managed forests in the South.....that doesn't mean were going to run out it just means that "renewable" has to be look at differently in the West than it does in the South and East.....
A good example is the piece of propety that I live on.....It was logged in the late 30's. Today the Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar on it has ZERO value as saw logs and only marginal, (as in I could get it cut free if I wanted it gone but wouldn't make anything on it), for veneer or pulp.....thats dang near 80 years, of almost TWO CYCLES if you're comparing it to Slash Pine in the South...and we're still another 50 plus years away from the trees being of any real value.....(and we're at a much lower altitude, and therefore have a longer growing season, than the forested areas that will someday be cut)....
For sure the days of ONE LOG LOADS are long gone even though you'll still hear the "LOG THE EARTH FIRST-WE'LL GET THE OTHER PLANETS LATER", people whining that there are trees, heck even forests, out there that contain them and that we should be cutting them. In some "rare cases" I'd agree but for the most part the "old growth" is gone and what remains would be gone in less than a dozen years if the loggers, and lovers of "one log loads", had their way. Based on the fact that whats left would be quickly gone if it was allowed to be cut I'm against subsidizing a dying lifestyle, (The NW "GYPO" LOGGER who supplies mills that haven't bothered to modernize to handle smaller stems), just to prolong their ultimate demise, but thats really not what you asked, (but you know me I'm never shy about jumping up on a 500 year old tree stump to preach.......
I'm actually all for "selective" logging, which includes, thinning, removal of "dead and dying", etc. etc. but I don't believe, as many do, that the only place "true old growth" should exist is in the National Parks.....many disagree.....I "hope" that those GREAT GRANDKIDS mentioned above will be doing the same in the future....
Steve
