Large, fallen trees in various stages of decay contribute much-needed
diversity to terrestrial and aquatic habitats in western forests. When most
biological activity in soil is limited by low moisture availability in
summer, the fallen tree-soil interface offers a relatively cool, moist
habitat for animals and a substrate for microbial and root activity.
Intensified utilization and management can deprive future forests of large,
fallen trees. The impact of this loss on habitat diversity and on long-term
forest productivity must be determined because managers need sound
information on which to base resource management decisions.

Future forests will contain much less coarse woody debris (CWD), and that
debris will be smaller and of different quality than that seen today. We
have the technology to remove most coarse woody debris from the forest; in
fact, current wood utilization standards encourage such removal (fig. 2.1).
Moreover, converting natural forests to intensively manipulated stands
reduces tree lifespans from centuries to decades; future trees will be much
smaller than they are today, and wood quality will undoubtedly be different
from that of today's forests.

For much mo
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/L/logging.html


--
Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Consulting Arborist
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.