To: Jamey who wrote (89080 ) 8/25/2002 3:24:24 PM From: E. Charters Respond to Algonquin Park, which is as large as the entire US national forest lands (:)) was logged by 3 companies selectively for 100 years. It was a protected area for all species except fish. The forest was largely clear understory, like you would expect a park to be. Great old trees towered abundantly through the park and wild animals flourished throughout, almost to the point of being pests. In time, our politicians in their greater wisdom, decided to stop this noble and successful experiment in forest mangement, and in craven fear of imagined resource depradation, they stopped all logging in the park. clear cutting had left the regeneration of Ontario's forests in ruin. Species were disappearing and vast areas of land lay fallow. Available trees were getting smaller, and replanting was not taking hold. The starkly simple and plainly obvious lesson could not be seen for the prejudice and pride of the fonts of scientific disaster. Also, within the green community they lobbied politically to "save the forests, stop old growth logging" and let the coniferous areas climax. Their reasons were never abundantly clear vis a vis doing good for the forest itself.
