To the Editor:
This letter is in response to “Rising criticism of State Forest cutting plan” (Dec. 27). It’s clear-cut frivolous government spending.
I’m very wary of the clear-cutting of the white pines in the Manuel Correllus State Forest. To cut this first succession of trees, and remove all the organic material, is like taking a hammer to someone’s broken arm when the bone hasn’t set yet. Over the past 40 years, I’ve watched firsthand the reparations pioneer species make on damaged land. Trees that do grow on poor ground grow slowly, as they are slowly building relationships and cultivating soil microbes. People don’t understand that the soil microbes underground are as important as the plants above that they symbiotically live with.
In this article, it was expressed by a clear-cutting proponent that “trees pose a risk to the Island.” Let’s face it, folks, nature is a risk, life is a risk, fire is a risk, water is a risk, driving a car is a risk. Every house that is built is a risk to the Island, and if I were to judge which is the bigger risk to the Island, a tree or yet another house, well … If you don’t know, then just ask the MVC.
There was the assertion that clear-cutting would reduce the fire risk that is a result of climate change. Ahem: Didn’t I hear somewhere that climate change is mitigated by trees? And that the U.S. government is hemorrhaging billions in cash toward initiatives to plant more trees? Now we are going to pay the government to cut them down? My head is spinning like chainsaw chain, full-throttle. So cut and chip these trees, so they can possibly be sold to the E.U., shipped across the Atlantic to Europe, and burned as “green energy”?
I propose a win/win/win: that the people who actually use this place get together and design where they want forest shelter, meadows, and recreational paths, and begin a successional girdling of the white pines. Over decades, this will allow the forest, and especially its soil, to gently transition into what could become a rich savannah edge of meadow, sandplain, and woods supporting habitat for new species to populate. The people of M.V. have ownership of their State Forest (win), the environment is enhanced (win), and (win) subsidy money goes back to the state to pay off debts, or to be used for something relevant.
Though the white pines may not have been originally seeded by God’s grace, they are performing an essential role in the succession of reestablishment of a functioning healthy ecosystem. If girdled, they will stand dead for a number of years, and you will begin to witness an increase in rich wildlife habitat for tree-cavity-nesting birds and small mammals, including bats, as well as wood-nesting solitary wasps that are such important native pollinators. Economically speaking, these trees are the principal, and the interest they return is what will support native soil microbes and macrofauna in the earth, that in turn feed more of the wildlife indefinitely. Eventually, through the long chain of decomposition, the trees become fertile soil, with high levels of organic matter sequestering carbon, and sequestering and filtering rainwater to replenish the precious freshwater aquifer you all depend on. When these trees fall, they create micro habitats of more sunlight, and nature’s clearings give way to meadows, and in their own time, appropriate shrubs and fauna of this State Forest will be realized.
Nature is a big girl, and if allowed to do her will, she’s a cheap date. If man gets in her way, he will pay. Don’t girdle Mother Nature: Set her loose by intelligently girdling the pine trees.
Bill Whipple
West Virginia
