by Lee Hall

Created on: July 02, 2008   Last Updated: November 22, 2010

Let me begin by saying that my intended field of study at the University was Forestry Management. But having said that it was forty five years ago and I've moved into other areas. The fight between conservationist and the Forestry Service have always been in conflict over this issue. Many other departments and societies have chimed in and numerous studies and intellectual papers have been written on the subject. To date there is still no resolution. The timber giants want what they can get, and the population is moving into every nook and cranny it can find. Management of our limited resources is vital to its health and continued success. You can't allow millions of acres to be destroyed without trying to minimize that destruction as in doing fire control, which requires thinning and management by knowledgeable people.

The major conflict exists between, in my opinion, three major areas. Letting nature tend herself, put forth by the tree huggers and conservationist. Having managed forests to prevent fires and perpetuating the forests. There are also the timber industries trying to satisfy the population's huge appetite for wood products and their bottom line.

In our studies the concern for a healthy forest often ran up against the major, and the new at that time, field of the up and coming science of ecology. Lumber companies were clear cutting, or stripping whole sections of forest, denuding the slopes which created erosions and massive slides and destruction. The field of forestry was to prevent this wholesale ravaging of our land and restore these areas. They also tried to help with the healing process as well as the education of these companies, and people in general, for the protection of this finite resource. Conservationist with its limited data was attempting to prevent the other two from doing anything at all. They put forth that nature is a better steward than we ever could be.

If the forest is a mixture of deciduous and coniferous trees the forest floor has a very heavy carpet of dead and decaying debris. Only in those areas with plentiful rain can the decomposition break down and accelerate this process. Most forest with conifers has extremely poor soil and support little undergrowth except those plants that can survive in such acid conditions. In dryer climates the break down of material is a very slow process. Layers of needles over years of deposition, along with layers of silt sifting over it, can appear to have a solid floor. In fact, fires

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