OUTDOOR CORNER: CUTTING FACTS OF FOREST MANAGEMENT

Almost everyone likes trees. People like them for their utility and beauty. Wildlife and birds like them for homes and food. Even fish like them because they shade their watery homes and recharge the organic system of the stream. Foresters love trees because it is their profession to tend that collection of trees known as the forest.

Why, then, do foresters cause trees to be cut down?

From a forester's point of view, it's really quite simple. Cutting, or killing trees is the single most important way we have to control and perpetuate forest composition. If forests are to be managed to provide multiple benefits, then tree removal, at one time or another, is necessary.

Many people think that forests are a static thing because they don't seem to change much in our lifetime. However, nature is never the same, and things are always changing out there in the woods whether we do anything or not. Natural growth and development of forests, called succession, will tend to reduce the variety and kinds of trees and other plants found in our forests. This, in turn, reduces the number and kinds of animals and birds that inhabit the forests. If natural succession is allowed to proceed, and no natural disruptions occur, such as windstorms, then the forest will eventually reach what we call a climax condition. That condition is self-sustaining, but species diversity is reduced and multiple benefits are limited.

But now you are asking how can cutting trees perpetuate the forest? Removal of trees, through modern forestry practices, actually substitutes for natural disruptions, allowing the forest to remain in a healthy state. Foresters work with nature to guide responses of the forest. By doing this we can perpetuate certain conditions that are beneficial to man and other animals. A healthy forest is one that provides useful products for man's use, is a net producer of oxygen, provides a haven for many species of wildlife, and protects our valuable watersheds.

I would hate to think what would happen to our characteristic oak-hickory forest if we didn't cut trees. Oaks are not a climax species and would be lost, over time, except in limited areas where natural disruptions occur. Regulated forest management can prevent it from happening.

There is also a role for natural succession in forest management, and forester's management plans allow for integrating this into the overall scheme of tending the forest.

We're fortunate to have forests in Missouri that are easily regenerated. Cutting can occur on almost any scale, and the oaks, hickories, pines, etc., will generally reproduce themselves in a satisfactory manner. The only real problems we have is when cutover forests are converted to a non-forest use such as range land, a parking lot, or a housing development. It's difficult to regenerate oaks on asphalt.

~Tony Jaco in a resource forester with the Missouri Department of Conservation.