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.
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