Some people can't see the forest for the trees
15/07/09 11:56
[Appeared www.thehammontonnews.com]
To the editor:
I recently had an opportunity to read and review a report by forestry professionals prepared to address forestry programs in New Jersey. A visit to many of the vast forests in South Jersey clearly indicates the lack of and the dire need of a comprehensive forestry plan for both public and private land. When able to review the documentation prepared by professional foresters that by a scientific approach address the health and conditions of New Jersey's forest ecosystem or lack there of, it proves there is cause for concern.
Let's take a look.
To the editor:
I recently had an opportunity to read and review a report by forestry professionals prepared to address forestry programs in New Jersey. A visit to many of the vast forests in South Jersey clearly indicates the lack of and the dire need of a comprehensive forestry plan for both public and private land. When able to review the documentation prepared by professional foresters that by a scientific approach address the health and conditions of New Jersey's forest ecosystem or lack there of, it proves there is cause for concern.
Let's take a look.
On a walk into what is known and used to be New
Jersey's pine forests, one finds themselves plodding
through a tremendous volume of leaf litter and
needles constituting the forest floor. Leaf litter
over the years has built up to levels that lend
themselves to little value and, when coupled with the
dead wood scattered throughout the forest floor,
amounts to a hazardous level of fuel. One need not
look further to recognize the seriousness of this
situation. As pointed out in the study, the pine
forest survives as a healthy ecosystem through
dependency on fire and has for centuries, but now
exists as a severe threat to public safety as the
concern of wildfire is real. Loss of life and
property, as well as wildlife and habitat, are at
risk.
How have things reached these conditions, one might ask, when we have commissioners who, through political appointment, were charged with the stewardship of these most precious natural resources? Despite the presentation of scientific-based forestry recommendations, the conditions of the pine forests remain in decline and worsen day by day while the threat of wildfire increases as these once-healthy forests turn into wasteland. This can be evidenced by not only the dramatic loss of habitat, but also the lost of wildlife whose very survival depends upon it.
Case in point, the decline of the red-headed woodpecker, the ruffed grouse and the bob white quail, who once existed in thriving populations, now almost nonexistent or lost altogether. Rare and endangered plant colonies are now threatened, as well, as the overloaded forest floor and lack of sunlight penetration reaching down and promoting successional growth now prevails.
Once healthy pine forests have turned into overcrowded mazes of growth. In addition to eliminating habitat regeneration and destruction of many species, what once existed as pine forest is now changing over to oak.
A situation like this one did not just happen overnight. Could it be the very idea of preservation and -- to quote a study, "a hands-off policy" with regard to forest management -- has occluded the real scientific aspect of things?
The powers to be, charged with the stewardship of our forests, obviously are resisting any viable means of forestry management. Preservation goes a lot farther than restricting development. Restricting development is a good thing and promoted with good intention, however, the stewardship involved in preserving a forest ecosystem extends far beyond placing it under glass and allowing for the resource to degrade into wasteland.
Preservation is meant to be inclusive of all the components of a forest, including the wildlife, plant life, endangered fauna and water.
Far be it from me to portray myself as a forest management professional, but in terms of what is obvious to the eye, there are many questions as to the effectiveness of the current "don't touch anything" policy.
This problem should be of particular concern to the sportsmen and women in New Jersey since these "hands-off" policies are having a direct effect on the very wildlife and natural resources we have always sought to protect. Could there be a direct correlation between the anti-sportsman movement and the preservationists? Could there be a hidden agenda to systematically eliminate our wildlife through neglectful forestry management with a "no game left, nothing for them to hunt" strategy? You would think the sportsmen would be up in arms at the very suspicion.
One need only drive the Atlantic City Expressway and view the many road-killed deer, many of which aren't any bigger than dogs. Why so many deer/automobile conflicts? It's easy. The forest floors are desolate, and the only food available is the grass that grows on the shoulders and median strips of the highways. Without sufficient food sources, wildlife is left with no choice but to head to the edges of the highway to eat. Nothing can survive on a diet of dried-out oak leaves, pine needles and dead wood except fire and, unfortunately, our forests have been reduced in a great part to nothing more than a smorgasbord for wildfire. Think about it, it should be cause for alarm.
This is what we've achieved through the preservation concept, a highly combustible fuel source covering over a million acres and a wasteland that promotes the extinction of many species.
Sportsmen and women -- in the tradition of Theodore Roosevelt, an icon of conservation -- must again take the leading role in drawing attention to this environmental disaster occurring right before our very eyes.
We must alert our legislators of this nightmare and demand the review of these ill-fated preservationist attitudes. Implementation of a scientific-based forestry management plan is long overdue. Proper forestry management put in place now can and will restore our natural resources to good and safe conditions. Decades of neglect must be reversed now in the true sense of conservation.
Nothing short of a proper forestry management plan can reverse these disastrous trends. Good forestry management benefits all -- ecosystems, environment, water resources, wildlife, habitat and above all negates the high risk of a conflagration due to wildfire that puts lives and property in harm's way. Contract your legislators, make them aware of your concerns and urge them to review New Jersey's forestry policies in place today, if we even have one.
Over the past several years, even a casual observer can see the shift of some New Jerseyans in positions of power to imitate the social issues of California. But come on now, taking it to the level of mimicking California's wildfire problem is taking it to the extreme and, above all, placing the lives and homes of many New Jersey citizens in peril. It's too late when crown fires are jumping across highways leaving a path of death and destruction, leaving no response but to get out of the way.
According to the experts, the risk of devastating wildfires is real. New Jersey needs a comprehensive forestry management plan, and needs it now.
Joe Matter
Gloucester City
Chairman
N.J. Quail Project
How have things reached these conditions, one might ask, when we have commissioners who, through political appointment, were charged with the stewardship of these most precious natural resources? Despite the presentation of scientific-based forestry recommendations, the conditions of the pine forests remain in decline and worsen day by day while the threat of wildfire increases as these once-healthy forests turn into wasteland. This can be evidenced by not only the dramatic loss of habitat, but also the lost of wildlife whose very survival depends upon it.
Case in point, the decline of the red-headed woodpecker, the ruffed grouse and the bob white quail, who once existed in thriving populations, now almost nonexistent or lost altogether. Rare and endangered plant colonies are now threatened, as well, as the overloaded forest floor and lack of sunlight penetration reaching down and promoting successional growth now prevails.
Once healthy pine forests have turned into overcrowded mazes of growth. In addition to eliminating habitat regeneration and destruction of many species, what once existed as pine forest is now changing over to oak.
A situation like this one did not just happen overnight. Could it be the very idea of preservation and -- to quote a study, "a hands-off policy" with regard to forest management -- has occluded the real scientific aspect of things?
The powers to be, charged with the stewardship of our forests, obviously are resisting any viable means of forestry management. Preservation goes a lot farther than restricting development. Restricting development is a good thing and promoted with good intention, however, the stewardship involved in preserving a forest ecosystem extends far beyond placing it under glass and allowing for the resource to degrade into wasteland.
Preservation is meant to be inclusive of all the components of a forest, including the wildlife, plant life, endangered fauna and water.
Far be it from me to portray myself as a forest management professional, but in terms of what is obvious to the eye, there are many questions as to the effectiveness of the current "don't touch anything" policy.
This problem should be of particular concern to the sportsmen and women in New Jersey since these "hands-off" policies are having a direct effect on the very wildlife and natural resources we have always sought to protect. Could there be a direct correlation between the anti-sportsman movement and the preservationists? Could there be a hidden agenda to systematically eliminate our wildlife through neglectful forestry management with a "no game left, nothing for them to hunt" strategy? You would think the sportsmen would be up in arms at the very suspicion.
One need only drive the Atlantic City Expressway and view the many road-killed deer, many of which aren't any bigger than dogs. Why so many deer/automobile conflicts? It's easy. The forest floors are desolate, and the only food available is the grass that grows on the shoulders and median strips of the highways. Without sufficient food sources, wildlife is left with no choice but to head to the edges of the highway to eat. Nothing can survive on a diet of dried-out oak leaves, pine needles and dead wood except fire and, unfortunately, our forests have been reduced in a great part to nothing more than a smorgasbord for wildfire. Think about it, it should be cause for alarm.
This is what we've achieved through the preservation concept, a highly combustible fuel source covering over a million acres and a wasteland that promotes the extinction of many species.
Sportsmen and women -- in the tradition of Theodore Roosevelt, an icon of conservation -- must again take the leading role in drawing attention to this environmental disaster occurring right before our very eyes.
We must alert our legislators of this nightmare and demand the review of these ill-fated preservationist attitudes. Implementation of a scientific-based forestry management plan is long overdue. Proper forestry management put in place now can and will restore our natural resources to good and safe conditions. Decades of neglect must be reversed now in the true sense of conservation.
Nothing short of a proper forestry management plan can reverse these disastrous trends. Good forestry management benefits all -- ecosystems, environment, water resources, wildlife, habitat and above all negates the high risk of a conflagration due to wildfire that puts lives and property in harm's way. Contract your legislators, make them aware of your concerns and urge them to review New Jersey's forestry policies in place today, if we even have one.
Over the past several years, even a casual observer can see the shift of some New Jerseyans in positions of power to imitate the social issues of California. But come on now, taking it to the level of mimicking California's wildfire problem is taking it to the extreme and, above all, placing the lives and homes of many New Jersey citizens in peril. It's too late when crown fires are jumping across highways leaving a path of death and destruction, leaving no response but to get out of the way.
According to the experts, the risk of devastating wildfires is real. New Jersey needs a comprehensive forestry management plan, and needs it now.
Joe Matter
Gloucester City
Chairman
N.J. Quail Project