Reforestation Essay, Research Paper

The purpose of this written

report is to inform the reader about the concerns

and facts involved with reforestation. Reforestation

began in Ontario after World War II. What

happened was, professional foresters were

assigned to an area and became responsible for its

well being. Under the Crown Timber Act, long

term management was prepared. Then the many

steps needed to rebuild a forest began. Included in

this report will be information on the effects of

cutting and replanting, such as Carbon Dioxide,

and Global Warming. Following this will be

methods for planning a forest, and how they are

conveyed before planting in a forest begins. There

are many reasons why forests are cut down. One

is to benefit economically, with furniture and home

building. But there is also another reason.

Arguments say "the United States could help slow

the atmospheric accumulation of carbon dioxide

by replacing old-growth forests with

faster-growing young trees". A new study of

young and old forests says how this is in fact not

true. Loggers have said that new trees pull the

carbon dioxide better than old trees, and this may

seem true, but it is not. There is one point being

overlooked from all of this. The older, larger trees

can store much, much more carbon dioxide than a

new tree could. By cutting and burning these

magnificent seasoned trees, the CO2 is being

released back into the atmosphere. These releases

of carbon dioxide add up in our surroundings, only

to intensify Global Warming. Although this shows

what happens when one burns and cuts down old

forests, one must still plant new trees for long term

plans, not letting them grow for a few years, to

then cut them down. There are many methods for

planning a forest. The simplest method of

replanting a forest is to leave it to nature. A

suitable seed bed in which trees will readily take

root is integral for successful regeneration.

Reducing competition by eliminating grass, weed

or shrubs is another requirement in securing a new

crop of trees. These will sprout to produce

seedlings. Though the weeds were eliminated

before, they still grow back, and because of this

poor, quality trees will grow. Another method

though, is to create a planned forest, where new

conifers are grown from seed in a special nursery.

Seeding is a reforestation technique used mainly in

the Boreal forest area where fire or logging tends

to leave no or very little seeds for growth. In

specific cases, Ministry staff seed the area with

treated tree seeds. Following this is the planting. In

many cases, planting is the only means of initiating

a new forest. Up to 80 000 000 trees are planted

annually in Ontario on Crown and private land.

Usually immature forests have to be tended to.

Once situated, a new crop needs intermittent care

for the next 60 to 100 years. This means

continuing protection from fires, disease and

insects and routine thinning to focus the growth on

selected crop trees. Before a forest can be grown,

certain procedures must first occur. Collecting and

processing seeds is one of them. Tree flowers

fertilized by blowing winds or insects generate

seed, in a time of somewhere within 1 to 2 years.

Seed collecting from the woods must be timed

with periodically occurring good seed years.

Angus, near Barrie, is where all forest tree seed

collection is co-ordinated. Stock of seeds can

value up to $500 000. Usually this is around 3

billion seeds from 59 tree classes. In summary of

the aforesaid, trees are very valuable to the human

race economically and for health. Without trees

the environment could worsen to the point where

we would be living on one large dessert. We must

remember that forest do not grow as easily as they

used to because of fires and other disasters. This

is why many forests are planned, and cared for.

Most of us will never now how they turn out

because for a forest to completely grow, it needs

within anywhere from 60 to 100 years or more.

There are many reasons why we should have

reforestation. One being mostly that we need

forest to live! Without forests, or any type of plant,

the carbon cycle can’t result. There are not many

arguments against reforestation, but there can be

some opposition for the land being used between

a large business company and the Ministry. I feel

replanting of forests is very crucial to the human

race. The earth depends on many cycles, where

one organism depends on the other because of

what it does. We, exhale carbon dioxide which the

trees take in, while they give off vital oxygen. In

closing, we live in an age of technology, leaving

behind us the past. With the past we are forgetting

forests; we must make sure this doesn’t happen.

Andrew Likakis Mr. Jan GCA- 2A December

14, 1991