Two tracts of land being cut

[Barry Caselli]

I made two horrible discoveries, one yesterday and one today.

First, I have to explain a little. In Egg Harbor City, north of Moss Mill Road (CR Alt.561) the city is pretty much wild, except for a short disjunct section of Liverpool Avenue, a block west of CR 563. But then last year the regional high school district decided to put their new high school in Egg Harbor City. Guess where it was put? North of Moss Mill Road, off New York Avenue, which existed only on paper. This is west of Philadelphia Ave (CR 563) and Liverpool Avenue by 2 blocks (on paper). Then just in the past year we find out that the city wants to put in a development on two sides (or three?) of the new high school! (Brad Haber Homes) There hasn't been significant development in EHC since the 1950s, apparently. So yesterday I was driving up 563, and what do I see, but woodland being cleared on the other side of Liverpool Avenue north of Moss Mill Road. The alley (5th Terrace) runs right next to the cleared land, so I drove down 5th Terrace and saw the destruction. It's unbelievable. It's about a 80% or 90% clearcut. All I can say is, I hope they use the paper streets (which are historic to the founding days of the city). But the sight is very disturbing. From what I've read the city council is ecstatic about getting development in.

Now, the second thing I discovered was today. I was driving through Green Bank, a tiny settlement in Washington Township, Burlington County, just over the Mullica river from here. Much of the wooded part of Green Bank is the Green Bank section of Wharton State Forest. And much of that is an old tree plantation, probably from the CCC days. Today I was in Green Bank, driving on River Road. I noticed massive destruction in the woods behind the little park where people can park their cars and walk down to the river. There is also a big picnic pavilion in that park. So behind it was this big pine plantation. The trees are Loblolly and White Pines, among others. So behind this park area and part way along Lover's Lane there is massive cutting going on in this woods, which is this old plantation. It's really a disturbing thing to see. The forest looks like a war zone. It sort of looks as if a tornado went through. I'd estimate that about 50 to 60% of the trees have been cut, and what's left is a horrible mess of stumps, logs and broken limbs all over the place. And it's right on the edge of the small town. I've never seen anything like this in our area.

[edfrank]

I am sorry to hear this Barry.

Ed Frank

[dbhguru]

Barry,

   I think many in NTS can sympathize with you. There are no forests that are safe from human activities, natural disturbances, or human introduced invasives or insect aliens. Still, it is extremely troubling when a woodland is hammered by direct logging. We feel your pain.

Bob

[Joe]

What's so unfortunate is that the vast majority of logging is poorly done. If done right, few people would object because done right, it's really not that objectionable except to dedicated logging haters. As a forester for almost 40 years- I have the "one third rule": http://www.maforests.org/rulethum.pdf
Joe

[lucager1483]

Joe,

Excellent little slide show!  I especially liked the picture of Savoy with your palms open.  How common is your type of rotational (my term) practice within the forestry industry?  Pretty much all I've seen are clear-cuts or high-grading jobs around my area.

Elijah

[Barry Caselli]

Here are two pictures. The one that looks uphill a little shows the destruction in Egg Harbor City. The picture was taken looking northwest, towards the new high school.
The other picture shows the destruction in Green Bank.
I just found that there was discussion of this on the NJ PIne Barrens.com forums. They say it was because of Pine Beetle infestation. Channel 6 from Philadelphia was there and did this little report: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?secti ... id=8552307 But I saw no dead or dying trees there. I drive by there all the time (Green Bank, that is). I also read on those forums that the forest was cut along Quaker Bridge Road, east of Atsion. I also never saw any dead or dying trees up there, and I've been there very recently.
Yet on the other hand there is a place in Galloway where there are several acres of completely dead pines, and nothing is being done about it. Anyway, here are the pictures:

[Joe]

Joe,

Excellent little slide show!  I especially liked the picture of Savoy with your palms open.  How common is your type of rotational (my term) practice within the forestry industry?  Pretty much all I've seen are clear-cuts or high-grading jobs around my area.

Elijah

Clearcutting was very, very rare until about a decade ago- the forestry "thinkers" started pitching the idea that such work was great for wildlife- but most of the large clearcuts on state and private lands were poorly implemented- angering a lot of people- precipitating a "forest futures vision process" by the state- I was appointed to one of the committees, the technical steering committe: http://www.mass.gov/dcr/news/publicmeet ... tryfvp.htm. High grading until a few years ago was the most common form of logging. Things have gotten better after a small number of foresters fought for years to expose this problem and change the rules.

Regarding that photo in Savoy- I also have a video regarding that butcher job- from which I cut the still shot: http://vimeo.com/2090043 and I did a powerpoint on that clearcut showing how they messed up a grave yard: http://www.maforests.org/savoy/savoy-c.pdf

Regarding the other photo at Gould Farm in  Monterey, in the Berkshires of western Mass.: that property is the only Forest Guild Model Forest in this state: http://www.forestguild.org/mf-gouldfarm.html
Joe

PS: the past decade has seen endless forestry battles- and in the past few years, we now have huge battles over solar "farms" and wind "farms"

[greenent22]

Here are two pictures. The one that looks uphill a little shows the destruction in Egg Harbor City. The picture was taken looking northwest, towards the new high school.
The other picture shows the destruction in Green Bank.
I just found that there was discussion of this on the NJ PIne Barrens.com forums. They say it was because of Pine Beetle infestation. Channel 6 from Philadelphia was there and did this little report: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?secti ... id=8552307 But I saw no dead or dying trees there. I drive by there all the time (Green Bank, that is). I also read on those forums that the forest was cut along Quaker Bridge Road, east of Atsion. I also never saw any dead or dying trees up there, and I've been there very recently.
Yet on the other hand there is a place in Galloway where there are several acres of completely dead pines, and nothing is being done about it. Anyway, here are the pictures:

wow, really sad, the first pic shows some pretty decent sized pines for that area

[greenent22]

Joe,

Clearcutting was very, very rare until about a decade ago- the forestry "thinkers" started pitching the idea that such work was great for wildlife- but most of the large clearcuts on state and private lands were poorly implemented- angering a lot of people- precipitating a "forest futures vision process" by the state- I was appointed to one of the committees, the technical steering committe: http://www.mass.gov/dcr/news/publicmeet ... tryfvp.htm. High grading until a few years ago was the most common form of logging. Things have gotten better after a small number of foresters fought for years to expose this problem and change the rules.

That is really not true at all. Clear-cutting has been going on for decades all over the US and the world.

[Joe]

That is really not true at all. Clear-cutting has been going on for decades all over the US and the world.

I should have clarified that- IT WAS RARE IN MASSACHUSETTS. Obviously, I know it's common elsewhere, I've been a forester for 40 years, I know what forestry is like in most places- in most places, it sucks- mostly clearcutting and high grading.
JOE