deforestation and butterflies

Kondla, Norbert FOR:EX Norbert.Kondla at gems3.gov.bc.ca
Fri Sep 15 16:47:31 EDT 2000


The monarch topic and a morning field trip with a forester into the real
world caused me to think about something that seldom gets mentioned and
which many people may not be aware of.  Firstly, deforestation is not de
facto a bad thing, unless one has philosophical leanings that way.   Natural
process periodically de-forests parts of forested landscapes and organisms
have adapted to that, or gone extinct - all very natural.  There is
documentation that shows in the western USA and western Canda,  we actually
have more forested landscapes now (after 100 years of fire suppression) than
we had when mother nature ruled the wilderness and there were no loggers
around.  As a biologist and resource management practitioner, I am far more
concerned about forest encroachment and forest ingrowth in certain
ecosystems than I am about planned and regulated timber harvesting.  Trees
are not always good things and tree planting in one park (parks supposedly
protect things) in southern ontario contributed to the demise of the karner
blue in Canada.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Norbert Kondla  P.Biol., RPBio.
Forest Ecosystem Specialist, Ministry of Environment
845 Columbia Avenue, Castlegar, British Columbia V1N 1H3
Phone 250-365-8610
Mailto:Norbert.Kondla at gems3.gov.bc.ca       
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca


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