There is no doubt that seeing a fresh clearcut is extremely jarring.  I, also, used to believe that they were environmentally devasting but have changed my opinion for 3 main reasons:

1.  Amanda Rodewald, formerly of OSU and now at Cornell Ornithology Lab, is an amazingly good birder and someone whose opinion I deeply respect.  A few years ago she wrote an excellent report titled "Managing Forest Birds in Southeast Ohio: A Guide for Land Managers" which was based on years of research.  I don't know if this listserv will allow hotlinks to be pasted or not but I'll try:  

http://www.obcinet.org/committees/ForestManagement_web.pdf

If the link didn't work, it can be found by Googling the above title.

In brief, the report states that woodland breeding birds in Ohio have fared fairly well in the last 50 years, whereas early successional and grassland dwelling birds have declined significantly, in no small part due to habitat loss.  A very surprising finding of the study was that even mature forest specialists (e.g., wood thrush and scarlet tanagers) are drawn to early successional habitat right after fledging -- probably because of the dense cover and abundant food (berries on brambles and insects).

Early successional habitat is AMAZINGLY short-lived (only about 6 years before it has matured too much to provide the attraction to early successional habitat specialists (e.g., indigo buntings, yellow-breasted chat)) so it must be constantly re-disturbed to keep being a bird magnet.

Amanda's guide gives specific recommendations on the sizes and placement of the clearcuts.  The most value comes from them being pretty large and close together.

2. There is a sound silvicultural reason for doing a clearcut; specifically there are some species of trees that not only thrive on disturbance, they rely on it.  Many species of oak fall into that category -- they will not regenerate in great numbers without serious disturbance.  Historically it was frequent spring fires but a clearcut is a good alternative.  Which brings me to the second person whose opinion I deeply respect:  Jim McCormac.  His PowerPoint on the importance of forest caterpillars to the health of bird populations is amazing.  Oak trees are incredibly important "caterpillar factories" so we want to be sure we've got a steady supply of oaks up-and-coming.

3. My own personal experience with driving past a clearcut on the way to work.  It looked like Hiroshima about 25 years ago and my opinion pretty much was the same as yours..."Shouldn't there be a law against that?".  But within 2 years it had probably the prettiest fall foliage that I've seen -- the trees had sprouted back so thickly from the stumps that you couldn't have walked through the place.  The density of the foliage made the intensity of the colors incredible.  Now, 2 decades later, the early successional aspect is long gone but it is still a nice young forest.  Since then I've learned the first 2 points above that I didn't know then.


A nice quote from Amanda's publication is:  No matter how a forest is managed, whether actively or passively, certain species will be favored and others discouraged. The best strategy depends upon the management goal.  State forests offer a unique opportunity to do coordinated forest management with timelines over a century and create habitat that is in significant decline throughout the Appalachian area.  My opinion about clearcuts has definitely changed now that I understand the place they have in the ecosystem.  Humans too often want to keep things "status quo" whereas wildlife has evolved under realms of disturbance and we do a disservice to the wildlife by not providing disturbances.

Alan Walter

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