Long-term damage from logging hits ability of Canada's forests to regenerate

[Judi Lynn]

‘Logging scars’ blight up to 25% of formerly logged areas
Canada partly relies on forests to capture carbon

Leyland Cecco in Toronto
Wed 4 Dec 2019 13.16 EST

Canada’s logging industry has a larger and more damaging impact on forest health than previously thought, a new report has found, casting doubt on the sustainability of forestry management in the country.

The findings also raise questions about Canada’s ability to make good on its international climate commitments, which partly rely on forests for carbon sequestration.

In a report released on Wednesday, the Toronto-based conservation group Wildlands League found that “logging scars” – the vestigial remains of roads, landings and turnoffs meant to accommodate heavy machinery – suppress forest regeneration. Because the dirt roads are so heavily compacted, seedlings have little chance of successfully repopulating the area.

Using drones to survey the 27 sites in northern Ontario, Trevor Hesselink, a land-use planner and former forestry policy analyst, found that the scars made up anywhere from 10% to nearly 25% of the areas where forests had once been logged.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/04/canada-logging-scars-forests-regenerate

[Backseat Driver]

1. Factors that lead to unsustainibility of forest resources is so sad--not only in Canada.

I liked to follow the activities depicted in "Gold Rush." Even my grandson likes to watch the heavy equipment drive and scoop, (better than fantasy comic book characters?) but it disturbs me more and more that the folks depicted have little to no regard for their sites/claims once the season is over or played out, and I try to raise his awareness. Only lately have I even heard reclamation mentioned. Yes, their expenses are big; their return in gold, iffy...but the damage that was done by driving, dragging, and scooping of the earth and without concern for the impact of climate change on that beautiful and isolated area that includes changes to waterways is just as sad as fracking and Appalachian coal blight of the land. I'll probably never get to visit Alaska, so I do love to see its majestic beauty on TV--not its demise or any other nation's resources so damaged at their hands.