Old-growth forest logging – What’s the big deal? British Columbia begins logging old-gro

Old-growth forest logging – What’s the big deal?British Columbia begins logging old-growth forests to feed starving sawmills, and renders one year’s carbon emission credits worthless.Altruistic climate change fighting legislation is only as strong as the government regulating its efficacy. This is inherently challenging as it requires a balance between foresight, aesthetic appreciation, scientific backing, and economic growth; the latter tending to work against the rest. In British Columbia, a carbon tax is in place to encourage businesses to make decisions based on the marriage of ecological health and economic gain. However, to feed starving sawmills they have started cutting old-growth forests. Since the B.C. government does not recognize the value of old-growth forests in their carbon tax legislation, the Sierra Club reports that they have offset a years’ worth of carbon credits (roughly 3 million tonnes into the lower atmosphere) in the process.So, what makes old-growth forests so important?Old-growth forests provide a unique habitat, full of large dead snags, pits and mounds (in the soil), and ancient trees that many species require for nesting; which means an overall increase in biodiversity. They also support more types of lichen, fungi and nitrogen fixing organisms, which insures a more efficient rate of nutrient transfer.It was traditionally thought that old-growth forests become “carbon neutral” after a few hundred years of growing. That conclusion, from an archaic 1960’s study from a single plantation, needs to be omitted from the new paradigm in climate legislation, for new data has been suggesting for years that forests continue to accumulate carbon indefinitely (mostly tree girth, rather than height). The larger issue in cutting old-growth forests is how they respond post-cut. It takes between 5-20 years for the plot to begin sequestering more carbon than it gives off.While it may be impossible to account for all of the effects our actions have on the environment, we must make an attempt to remediate what we know is wrong. Cutting old-growth forests is a blatant disregard to our current understanding of carbon dynamics, and renders B.C.’s carbon tax a worthless doctrine until fixed.-Greg AegisFurther Reading- http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080910133934.htm- http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/forests_types/oldgrowth/importance.html- http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/niacs/carbon/forests/carbon_cycle/Photo – old growth forest tree stump B.C.- http://seymouroldgrowth.blogspot.com/2011/09/ubc-ancient-forest-committee-return-to.html -- source link

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