Pennsylvania: Gypsy Moth is not real reason for clearcuts, herbicides and log money

Standing at the edge of 447 acres of state game lands near the
Lancaster County line, she watches workers cut down trees, leaving an
empty expanse where dense forest had stood. “They’ve never done
anything like this before,” said Marcinkowski, whose family has lived
on Mail Route Road and hunted the land for more than three decades.
“The first time I stood here and looked, it really choked me up.” When
the two-month project is finished, contractors for the Game Commission
will have cut down more than 10,000 trees on 45 acres. Just 389 trees,
each marked with a spot of red paint, will remain, said David R.
Henry, forester for the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s southeast
region, which includes Berks County. That’s because gypsy moths have
been killing thousands of trees over the past three years, mostly oaks
but also hickory, black birch, sassafras and red maple trees.

Local
residents understand there’s a gypsy moth problem, but they don’t
understand why live trees are being cut along with the dead ones. Ken
F. Marcinkowski, Joan’s husband, pointed to dozens of healthy trees
already felled. Those were cut to regenerate the forest, Henry said.
“There’s a scientific method for managing a forest,” he said. “When
you drop below a certain level of stocking (number of tree stems per
acre), the forest becomes unmanageable in terms of a healthy, viable
forest.” To prevent invasive species from taking over, the Game
Commission applied an herbicide in September.

Maximizing logger profit is the only way to stop the Gypsy Moth

The herbicide, which
targets invasive species, will give tree seedlings a chance to take
root and grow, he said. Workers would have thinned out the forest even
without the gypsy moths, but removing the number of trees now being
cut might have taken them 15 to 20 years. Neighbors worry that the
cutting will increase erosion and flooding, already problems in the
area. Homes along nearby Shearer’s Road are at the bottom of a slope
that is being timbered, they noted. Henry said workers will leave
saplings and branches on the ground to help combat erosion and serve
as ground cover for turkeys, white-tailed deer, small rodents and
other animals. Crews also constructed foot-high mounds of earth every
75 to 100 feet to divert water and control erosion on the slopes. Each
mound will be reworked in spring, when the ground will be seeded with
grass and clover. Henry said stumps will decompose naturally and that
some dead trees will remain so animals can burrow inside cavities as
the trees decompose. Wildlife will adapt to the forest conditions, and
animals can migrate to hundreds of adjoining acres of uncut forest if
they choose, he added. At least one resident has lodged a complaint
about the timbering with the Berks County Conservation District, which
sent an inspector to evaluate the site.
http://www.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=121804

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