what are the forests lows and Impact
Answers
Many forests which supplied valuable timber were declared as reserved forests by the British. The tribals were not allowed to collect wood, fruits, hunt and practice shifting cultivation in these forests. This resulted in the loss of livelihood, poverty and hunger among the tribals.♥
Answer:
Low-impact forestry (LIF) is about balance – of ecological systems and human society; nutrient richness and capital investment; timber stand improvement and human infrastructure. Humans need forest resources for heat, building material, paper, tools and more, but we also need to conserve, or at least limit, extraction so that the resource is available for years to come.
Our current forest economy is most concerned with the immediate value of wood leaving the landing and heading to a mill, usually because the logger and landowner’s incomes are tied to that wood. LIF professionals have to be paid too – but they place equal value on the health of the remaining forest and seek to improve it while extracting enough wood to meet their needs. This is the balancing act.
One LIF pillar is understanding that any kind of forestry will leave some kind of evidence. The name “low impact forestry” acknowledges that we can choose to reduce the known harmful impacts of logging.
Not all effects of forestry operation are detrimental. In fact, many folks prefer the term “positive impact” to “low impact” forestry because it emphasizes the good that working in our woods can do. A good, up-to-date forest management plan written by a reputable consulting forester is the best place to look for specific information about how to improve the economic and ecological value of a woodlot.
For example, forestry activity can create wildlife habitat. In southern Maine, cutting along forest margins and replanting open meadows with well-spaced groups of shrubs is creating habitat for the New England cottontail rabbit – a candidate for the Federal Endangered Species List.
A dearth of forestry activity in the past half century in much of Maine has made young, overcrowded forests abundant. Much of the rest of Maine’s forest is owned and managed by large private landowners who cut heavily and often. So, although Maine is heavily forested, it is also dominated by young, immature forests. Immature forests are as natural as old growth and necessary for many wildlife species, but the absence of large tracts of mature, uneven aged forests comes at great cost. Many species of wildlife and plants have declined in Maine because we no longer have enough contiguous tracts of mature forest.
To help revive mature Northeastern forests, LIF practitioners may, for example, harvest and market fast growing, early succession species, such as paper birch, poplar and red maple, while leaving slow-growing, late succession species, such as beech and yellow birch. LIF practitioners harvest damaged, diseased, lower value trees before harvesting large, mature trees. The goal of “worst first” logging is to leave a healthier, more mature forest that can and will sustain itself and the communities that rely on it for generations.
Choosing to abide by LIF principles in the current depressed wood market is difficult. The current economy of wood rewards primarily quantity, and even then pays a premium for only a few species. Justifying the extra costs of installing and maintaining a permanent road network is difficult; it is tempting to pass over poorer trees in favor of mature saw log quality timber – not so that the logger can make huge profits, but just to pay for the week’s fuel.