Arcata Community Forestry

As Graf puts it, in order to resume effective deliberation among the actors involved (stakeholders),That is to say, at the forefront of these discussions, there are both internal and external factors that depict a common application and must have an all around understanding of everyone’s values, interests, culture in order for deliberation to be successful (Graf 2011). All of these factors impact new innovations for environmental resources in “social and economic contexts” which trace back to the beginning and start all over again (Graf 2011;

To understand where the motivation and passion to protect the environment was developed, one looks to the rapid deforestation of East Coast old-growth forests at the turn of the century. “As Gifford Pinchot expressed it, ‘The American Colossus was fiercely at work turning natural resources into money.’ ‘A

The wilderness and forests need to be saved for the future generations, and a sort of “wilderness bank” needs to be formed in order to keep the reality of the wilderness alive and keep mankind grounded to the earth.

Question 3: Mainstream environmentalists were correct to stop Pacific Lumber from ravaging it’s timberland. Prior business practices provided ecosystem shelter for endangered species and protected virgin forest from being logged. Changes to federal

The forests have an independent watchdog(?) named British Columbia’s Forest Practices Board (BCFPD). The board oversees the activities of forest companies, their private contractors, and the government on public land. The board audits randomly selected forestry companies to be audited for compliance and enforcement with forest practice requirements, audits the enforcement of the government forest practices requirements, addresses public complaints on forestry practices, and conducts special investigations on forestry issues (mr113). All the work that the BCFPD does has led to notable positive changes in BC forestry. Some of these positive changes include: Less disturbance from logging, smaller cut blocks, better logging roads and proper maintenance, and more deactivation of logging roads (mr113). While reports have noted these improvements, the board still believes that there is room for improvement. Policies and changes are continually evolving to make BC’s forest as competitive and sustainable as possible. Some of the changes that are believed to be needed include new policies for efficiency, more timber availability to smaller organizations, such as first nations or small communities to help long-term economic development, and many others(mr113).

Decisions regarding environmental problems require both knowledge and values. Placing value on specific issues can be sorted into four categories of justification: utilitarian, ecological, aesthetic and moral. California Blue focuses on the interplay of environmental issues and ethics emphasizing the conflict between industry and species preservation. Timber cutting in the Northwest United States is a mainstay of the economy. Although clear cutting is not as environmentally sensitive as selective harvesting and redwood cutting, some is essential to America's continued growth and prosperity. To ban timber operations and to throw people out of work, all to preserve an endangered blue butterfly, is to test the limits and logic of ecological priorities. The national policy of preserving endangered species serves the purpose of promoting biological diversity, which if not followed might threaten the ecosystem. This national policy of species preservation is a matter of social policy balanced with the competing interests of the local economy and human needs. Under the utilitarian approach one must balance the benefits of species preservation with the detriment of stopping human activity which threatens that species or the environment in which the

One of America’s greatest conservation achievements is the Wilderness Act of 1964. Fifty-two years later, this act has a legacy to withhold. A legacy that meant something in 1964 and remains the same today: to protect unspoiled land. Even though, through this act millions of acres have been conserved, the key word is continue. That is why America should pass laws to preserve the wilderness before developers spoil them.

“People who will not sustain trees, will soon live in a world that cannot sustain people”(Bryce Nelson). Deforestation is the permanent destruction of forests in order to make the land available for other uses. Deforestation has overtime become a leading environmental problem in the U.S. It is estimated that at the beginning of the european settlement, in 1630, the area of forest was 423 million hectares. By 1907, the area had declined to 307 million, according to,”U.S forest facts and historical trends”. Deforestation is caused and will affect the human who call the U.S home. Issues with the environment such as global warming, the thinning of the ozone, and deforestation all contribute to critical problems in the U.S. deforestation highly

In June 1864 the Yosemite Land Grant was signed by Abraham Lincoln, which deeded 39,000 acres of the Mariposa Big Tree Grove and Yosemite Valley to the State of California (Hawken 40). It was an unprecedented piece of legislation, having almost universal support from private business, environmentalists and Congress. Sparked largely by the de-barking of “The Mother of the Forest”, one of the oldest sequoias in Yosemite’s Mariposa Grove, several years earlier (Hawken 39). The Yosemite Land Grant was the first piece of legislation founded on the principle that nature needed to be preserved and protected from humans (Hawken 40). After nearly a century of clearing many forests on the East Coast, affording protection to land on the West Coast was a novel concept.

The rising number of high severity wildfires in California has significant ecological, economic, and health impacts. Many western American forests are adapted to frequent low severity fires. However, the majority of these forests, and particularly the mixed conifer forests of California, are not adapted to high intensity fires and do not possess fire resistance adaptations such as serotinous cones to protect seeds. Consequently, high severity fires have significant negative impacts on California forests, and the absence of low severity fires has considerably altered many fundamental ecosystem processes (Miller et al. 2008). Prior to 1900, low severity fires would burn every 6-15 years. Low severity fires are generally non-lethal, have minimal change to the overstory, and kill mainly small trees. In the past, these fires were started naturally by lightning, or by Native Americans who used low severity fires to manage the forests.

Lastly, one of the biggest benefits of the Wisconsin’s Managed Forest Law at the state level has been its effects on Wisconsin’s forests’ ecosystems. Within forests, the MFL has helped to provide wildlife habitat for game and threatened/ endangered species, maintain forest ecosystem health and vitality, conserve and maintain water and soil resources on and around forestland, and promote forest conservation and biological diversity (Gass 10). To help aid in creating sustainable forest environments, the Wisconsin MFL requires that landowners follow mandatory practices including: releasing trees from competing vegetation, reforesting land to meet minimum forest density standards, performing pre and post harvest treatments to insure forest regeneration,

Environmentalism has always been two sided. Nature versus urban. locals versus national. Frequently, large tracts of public and federal land are bought and developed by industry. Pristine wilderness turned to bustling epicenters of human activity, all in the name of progress and economic growth. This tale of preserving natural wilderness is one that begins with John Muir, an advocate against the taming of Yosemite national park and the Hetch-Hetchy reservoir, while the head of the US Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot, insisted on the reservoir to supply the city of San Francisco with water. This timeless epic of conservation or preservation brings us to the Jumbo Valley, a vast expanse of uninhabited, pristine wilderness home to diverse

In the reading named "The Forest Stewardship Council: Risk and Potential of Private Forest Governance" written by Philipp H. Pattberg explains the negative and positive elements of privately managing of forests. As we all know forests and natural resources always recognized as a common property, especially in urban and industrialized cities.

In my excerpt of the reading, In Ecotopia’s Big Wood’s, Weston laments on Ecotopia’s vast forests that are treated with human dignity. The forests are looked at in a “religious” matter and treated like family. The logging system includes education on the importance of trees in nature and how they must be preserved by any means necessary. Weston even writes about a young man, who he points out did not seem under the influence, leaning on a tree and saying, “Brother Tree!”. This appears to be the consensus of every citizen in Ecotopia. The scientists of Ecotopia have even developed biodegradable plastics out of tree pulp. Trees and the forests of Ecotopia are without a doubt a major factor in the Ecotopian economy. Weston points out that in the America of the time, and arguably the America of today, would find this to be not only a huge contradiction but also an economic penalty as a waste of time. In America, time is money and the time it takes to reforest a logged forest, let alone teaching those who are doing the logging about the importance of the forest would be looked at as a waste of time and therefore money.

I am appealing to you as a conservationist. I believe that the natural resources of the forest can be of great help to us. As we experience this oil and gas crisis in the US, we are forced to import oil from foreign countries. Thus causing the cost of