West Virginia: State forester promises new era in forest planning
CHARLESTON — If there is no new thing under the sun, as divine wisdom
holds, that axiom certainly applies to forest sustainability — a
concern that state Forester Randy Dye says harks back nearly two
centuries ago. Many fretted over the prospects of diminishing woods
back in the 1800s as Americans cleared the land in a massive effort to
launch huge farms, he told the Forest Management Review Commission in
Tuesday interims. Even with the onslaught of modern forestry and the
increased demand for wood products, Dye advised the panel that West
Virginia is faring better now than then. “So what you are saying is
that we’re in much better shape in every aspect, and every respect,
than we were at the turn of the century?” asked Sen. Walt Helmick,
D-Pocahontas, a co-chairman.
“Yes, that’s true,” Dye said. Even so,
Dye said in the second installment of his 12-month study, preparatory
to developing a new strategic plan, the proliferation of markets and
high-tech devices have combined to allow humans to exploit woods “far
beyond sustainable levels.” Dye called on the commission to evaluate
each individual stand of trees a year or so before any harvesting. “We
need to do this to protect the genetic basis of the stand,” he said.
“We need to shape the species abundance and diversity.” Timber is a $4
billion industry in West Virginia and functions in all 55 counties,
providing employment to some 30,000. Forests blanket 78 percent of the
state. More than a century ago, in the horse-and-buggy days, the first
large-scale research into forestry was performed by A.B. Brooks, in a
1,000-page book, at a time when 40 percent of West Virginia was
occupied by crops, meadows and pastures. Dye said misconceptions
abound in forestry. For instance, up to 90 percent of Americans live
without any connection to the land, unaware it is the source of food,
shelter and water. A third problem is what Dye criticized as media
coverage that emphasizes “inflammatory portrayals, seldom with deep
insight,” and this has contributed to a general misunderstanding by
the public.
“Unfortunately,” he told the commission, “most citizens can identify
more automobiles by name than they can trees, and so they are often
unknowingly misled.” “We are, in essence, at the beginning of
something new. Our idea of a strategic plan is to come up with a list
of the best solutions. With scarce financial resources as now exist,
we must prioritize all that is absolutely essential and that takes
skillful planning.” Dye said emphasis must be assigned on the
structure of each stand, edge effects, dead trees and snags,
appearance, crown cover, invasive plants, tree density, basal area,
micro environments, water movement, potential plant diseases and
noxious insects, and stand disturbance. “To do the best job, we must
remember at all times that a forest ecosystem will collapse if pushed
too hard for short-term products or allowed to grow old to be
vigorous,” he said.
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