Day 058 - 30 Nov 94 - Page 58


     
     1        years ago.  Mr. Morris, I made a note or two here about
     2        clear cuts which it may be helpful to say about them,
     3        because I know that people are concerned that clear cutting
     4        whatever the size goes on.  There are some quite good
     5        reasons for doing it.  In the case of the existing forest
     6        areas, by that I mean those which are in a successional
     7        state, some trees over 100 years, some younger, mixed age
     8        and therefore not old growth, but certainly older forest
     9        areas, it is a good deal safer for those who are involved
    10        in the process of felling to clear an area rather than
    11        selectively fell.  Also it has been found hat if you clear
    12        an area there is a good deal of foraging allowed for
    13        wildlife there that would not apply if you are only pulling
    14        out individual trees.
    15
    16        Again it is certainly more economical to take out an area
    17        and then it is much easier to reforest and to look after
    18        the forest when you replace it.  Again by clearing an area
    19        you reduce the amount of wind throw.  If you go on thinning
    20        a forest you are in danger of losing that forest much more
    21        in areas of high wind.  Some species also need sunlight and
    22        will not grow as well if, in fact, they are planted in
    23        existing forest as opposed to in areas that have been
    24        cleared.  The process of leaving the branches on the ground
    25        helps to provide a natural nitrogen replenishment on that
    26        ground.  By the very nature of doing this kind of process
    27        there is less compaction and root damage on an area that is
    28        cleared than if you run machinery in order to selectively
    29        fell individual trees.  So that in point of fact, you have
    30        to be much more careful about your thinning process than
    31        you do about your clearing process to avoid compaction.
    32        When you have an even aged forest it is almost essential to
    33        do a clearance of a given area in order to be able to
    34        replenish it with new trees and start again with the
    35        restructuring in the way we have described.
    36
    37        I give you those reasons why clear cut is still popular
    38        because, in effect, to eliminate clear cut, as some would
    39        have it, would be a very poor progress in the way forests
    40        are managed.  I think that now with many environmental
    41        issues being addressed by foresters the balance is
    42        beginning to be right.
    43
    44   Q.   But the concern about the effects of clear cutting have not
    45        only come from environmental movements; they have also come
    46        from governmental and authoritative bodies, is that
    47        correct?
    48        A.  Oh, yes.  I mean the concern has been going on for
    49        years and that is one of the reasons why gradually the
    50        pattern has changed. 
    51 
    52   Q.   Just in the middle of page 19 about selective clear 
    53        cutting, when you talk about, "by early generations of
    54        foresters who planted trees under very different National
    55        Policy demands", planted trees less discriminately, is that
    56        where you are identifying past practices that now would not
    57        be allowed?
    58        A.  Can you show me the paragraph?
    59
    60   Q.   It is the paragraph that starts "This approach" in the

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