DOES LOGGING INCREASE FOREST RESILIENCE?

Logging is the practice of felling down trees and clearing forests. But, in forestry, the term ” logging ” is used to describe timber production by cutting branches of trees, removing the bark and cutting trees into parts. Primarily, this process is conducted commercially. Wood harvested by logging is sold for timber to build houses and furniture, and the pulp is prepared from the remainder for paper manufacturing.

Logging has been an essential practice since the beginning of civilisations. It provided timber as raw material for most human needs, such as furniture, fuel, construction material, sports goods and other commodities.

Though logging is an activity that seems more damaging to the environment at first glance, it can be justified with many advantages to the environment and people.

There is a common conception among many that ‘logging can increase forest resilience.’ The Climate Fact Checks team investigated the matter to back the statement with facts.

What is Forest Resilience?

Forest resilience is a vital feature of forests. It describes the ability of a forest to tolerate disturbances from external sources. A forest can respond to disruption by resisting damage or stress and recovering quickly.

According to Scheffer (2009), forest resilience was described as ‘the ability of a forest to absorb disturbances and re-organise under the change to maintain similar functioning and structure.’

How does logging help forest resilience?

When logging is performed, diseased and dead trees are also harvested. It helps to prevent the spread of pathogenic diseases among the trees and helps to improve the health of forests. Additionally, it gives protection to the forest from pest outbreaks.

Trees in the forests are very competitive to share the limited nutrient levels available in the soil. When the density of trees is higher, the competition also increases. When the number of trees is reduced by logging, this competition minimises and lets the trees grow without disturbance. This also boosts tree health.

Removing the large trees of a forest by logging allows an increased amount of air and sunlight to reach the forest floor. This enhances the forest’s undergrowth allowing ferns, grasses and bushes to flourish. These usually have a short lifespan. After the death of the undergrowth, it decomposes into the soil and increases the nutrient level. The large trees in the forest then extract these soil nutrients.  However, it needs to be highlighted that logging management is necessary to maintain the balance of the forest and its resilience.

Forests resilient to climate change

Logging improves the health of trees and the overall forest system. When trees become healthier and less compatible, the forest bears highly nourished soil; the forests become more resilient to disturbances. Due to climate change, forests are often disturbed by sudden environmental changes such as drought or heavy rain. Thinning of the tree layer protects the forest from forest fires. When trees are too close to each other, there is a higher ability for the occurrence and spread of forest fires. Logging increases the distance between trees, providing a percentage of protection to the forests from forest fires.

Downside to logging

As mentioned above, forests with a thin layer of trees have more forest resilience than unmanaged, old-growth forests. But it was found that above mentioned unmanaged, old forests also hold more tolerance towards external sources.

Hence, it is essential to discuss the negative impacts of logging to analyse whether logging helps forest resilience truly.

Cutting down the trees or even branches of trees compromises the food and shelter sources available for the faunal diversity in the forest. This increases the competition between animals. Finally, leading to the loss of biodiversity.

Logging removed the thermal cover of the forest. This raises the temperature of the forest and the water in the forest. It is also causing a change in the pH level of water and soil. Also, by decreasing the number of trees, the absorbance of carbon dioxide and the release of oxygen are reduced. It is making the forest an inefficient carbon sink and catering to climate change.

Soil is held tightly with the roots of trees. The soil held is decreased due to fewer roots with fewer trees. Accordingly, soil erosion is higher in forests after logging. The nutrients in the soil erode with the running-off water.

Accordingly, the harm of logging is more considerably damaging to forest resilience than the support of logging for forest resilience.

In unmanaged, old forests, there is higher carbon production and storage. These carbon stores are responsible for the increased resilience. This makes trees healthier and more robust.

The best way to increase or keep a stable level of forest resilience is to keep them unmanaged with reduced human interventions.

How to control the negative effect on forest resilience caused by logging?

But logging is not a practice which can be retained 100%. For most day-to-day activities, wooden products have a huge role and a market. Hence, it is essential to extract these resources without exploiting them.

The traditional logging methods need to be rejected because they do not have ways to minimise the harm to the forest system. New logging techniques have been discovered in the developing world. The technique involves controlling logging by using many factors; they reduce damage to the root system in the forest and try to harvest wood efficiently by branches or part of the trunk. The most famous logging method is selective cutting. This is the least destructive logging method. Only trees with a specific type, size, age and quality are cut.

Each country has set rules and regulations for the legal logging of forests. They are designed according to the status of the environment. These rules and regulations help save the forest layer and avoid a decrease in forest resilience. So, illegal logging is described separately in each country. Legalising logging differs from country to country or sometimes from area to area.

Logging is an unavoidable practice which is continuously happening all around the world. There are some advantages of logging. Most find an excuse stating that logging is crucial to improve forest resilience. But that is not an excuse for illegal logging. The fact that logging can increase forest resilience is a myth made with biased lore.

The best thing is to keep logging under control within the barriers of state-applied rules and regulations.