Читать книгу Dynamic Forest - Malcolm F. Squires - Страница 8

The boreal forest is constantly changing, often dramatically. We like to picture the boreal forest as a stable, balanced system. It is anything but stable. Balanced? Yes, but only temporarily and in limited areas. It is resilient.

Over sixty years, progressing through bush worker, forestry student, practising forester, and retired independent thinker, I have seen forests that were “protected” within national parks become devastated by insects, moose, wind, and wildfire.1I have worked in and studied forests that over 110 years have been twice clear-cut harvested and are now mature again on private and public land. In all cases, the forest has returned; sometimes that forest is quite different from the original, and sometimes it is quite similar to the original, but never is it exactly the same as the original.

For decades I have monitored stands that were unaffected by dramatic depletion, such as that associated with clear-cut harvesting, only to discover that they had almost completely changed in tree and other plant species and wildlife habitat. I have become convinced that a naturally balanced boreal forest is a human concept that does not exist in nature. The boreal forest is always changing; the boreal forest is dynamic.

If we don’t soon collectively recognize and accept that reality, and stop making what I feel are irrational demands that we tie up or “protect” ever-increasing areas of forests from change or human management, we may be conditioning the boreal forest for future disaster.

My love of that forest compelled me to write the articles on which Dynamic Forestis based. Readers of the articles convinced me I should write this book. In it I discuss the dangers I see if we follow the demands of those who want us to change the boreal forest from its natural, even-aged structure to an unnatural, uneven-aged structure. I end with a plea that we put aside our selfish wants and work together for the good of the forest, its inhabitants, ourselves, and our descendants.