"symplastless" wrote in message
. ..
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.



Central TX here. 1.5 acres of 5 cleared for house, detached garage, septic
system, and firebreak. Native trees in area are juniper ashe ("mountain
cedar"), live oak, red oak, with a sprinkling of pecan and chinaberry. I
found a juniper ashe that was cut about 5' height. No bark left on it,
about 18" thick at base, unusually large for this tree. Its been dead for
quite some time. There's other juniper ashe shading it with undergrowth
around it. Rabbits have a hole adjacent to the trunk's base. Its
relatively cool and moist in the area around the dead trunk during the long
TX summer.

If you're somewhat curious, research photographs of central TX hill country
before 1900. You will find it barren of trees, except along rivers and
creeks. The juniper ashe has changed that, and allowed other trees to
populate the region natively. Yet, most homeowners cut all the juniper ashe
down, leaving sparse stands of live oaks on their property. Tracts usually
are 5-20 acres. Reasons vary from fire hazard (true), ugly appearance,
shades the live oak to death, steals water runoff.

Juniper ashe is highly tolerant of pruning. I've seen no problem with
cutting all branches to 6' in height on 12' tree. Only do this within
wooded area around the house to allow sight within the area. Allows more
sunlight to the live oaks as well. Thinning the juniper ashe from time to
time is also needed. This allows more water runoff to feed the water table,
this local wells and seasonal creeks. But, at the same time, allows the
juniper ashe to continue its work of breaking up the limestone for eventual
soil creation. The remaining land, I've left nature to do its bidding. I
urge all that live within the central TX hill country to do similar.

Dave