FEATURED ESSAYS 1. Ensuring Our Future Through Conse... 2. Effects Of Deforestation 3. The Controversial New Deal 4. Reforestation 5. Reforestation 6. Reforestation 7. The New Deal 8. Between The Forest And Greed 9. Ireland 10. Forest Management 11. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Relie... 12. FDR 13. Impact Of New Deal On The 14. FDRs Influence As President

Reforestation


     The purpose of this written report is to inform the reader about the
concerns and facts involved with reforestation.  Reforestation began in
Ontario after World War II.  What happened was, professional foresters were
assigned to an area and became responsible for its well being.  Under the
Crown Timber Act, long term management was prepared.  Then the many steps
needed to rebuild a forest began. Included in this report will be
information on the effects of cutting and replanting, such as Carbon
Dioxide, and Global Warming.  Following this will be methods for planning a
forest, and how they are conveyed before planting in a forest begins.

    There are many reasons why forests are cut down.  One is to benefit
economically, with furniture and home building.  But there is also another
reason.  Arguments say "the United States could help slow the atmospheric
accumulation of carbon dioxide by replacing old-growth forests with faster-
growing young trees".  A new study of young and old forests says how this
is in fact not true.  Loggers have said that new trees pull the carbon
dioxide better than old trees, and this may seem true, but it is not. There
is one point being overlooked from all of this.  The older, larger trees
can store much, much more carbon dioxide than a new tree could.  By cutting
and burning these magnificent seasoned trees, the CO2 is being released
back into the atmosphere.  These releases of carbon dioxide add up in our
surroundings, only to intensify Global  Warming.  Although this shows what
happens when one burns and cuts down old forests, one must still plant new
trees for long term plans, not letting them grow for a few years, to then
cut them down.

    There are many methods for planning a forest.  The simplest method of
replanting a forest is to leave it to nature.  A suitable seed bed in which
trees will readily take root is integral for successful regeneration.
Reducing competition by eliminating grass, weed or shrubs is another
requirement in securing a new crop of trees. These will sprout to produce
seedlings.  Though the weeds were eliminated before, they still grow back,
and because of this poor, quality trees will grow.  Another method though,
is to create a planned forest, where new conifers are grown from seed in a
special nursery.  Seeding is a reforestation technique used mainly in the
Boreal forest area where fire or logging tends to leave no or very little
seeds for growth.  In specific cases, Ministry staff seed the area with
treated tree seeds.  Following this is the planting.  In many cases,
planting is the only means of initiating a new forest.  Up to 80 000 000
trees are planted annually in Ontario on Crown and private land.  Usually
immature forests have to be tended to.  Once situated, a new crop needs
intermittent care for the next 60 to 100 years.  This means continuing
protection from fires, disease and insects and routine thinning to focus
the growth on selected crop trees.

    Before a forest can be grown, certain procedures must first occur.
Collecting and processing seeds is one of them.  Tree flowers fertilized by
blowing winds or insects generate seed, in a time of somewhere within 1 to
2 years.  Seed collecting from the woods must be timed with periodically
occurring good seed years.  Angus, near Barrie, is where all forest tree
seed collection is co-ordinated.  Stock of seeds can value up to $500 000.
Usually this is around 3 billion seeds from 59 tree classes.

    In summary of the aforesaid, trees are very valuable to the human race
economically and for health.  Without trees the environment could worsen to
the point where we would be living on one large dessert.  We must remember
that forest do not grow as easily as they used to because of fires and
other disasters.  This is why many forests are planned, and cared for. Most
of us will never now how they turn out because for a forest to completely
grow, it needs within anywhere from 60 to 100 years or more.

    There are many reasons why we should have reforestation.  One being
mostly that we need forest to live!  Without forests, or any type of plant,
the carbon cycle can't result.  There are not many arguments against
reforestation, but there can be some opposition for the land being used
between a large business company and the Ministry. I feel replanting of
forests is very crucial to the human race.  The earth depends on many
cycles, where one organism depends on the other because of what it does. We,
exhale carbon dioxide which the trees take in, while they give off vital
oxygen.

    In closing, we live in an age of technology, leaving behind us the past.
 With the past we are forgetting forests; we must make sure this doesn't
happen.