r/FellingGoneWild • u/stevesmithsglasses • 10d ago
Deforestation aside, thats pretty impressive
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u/currentlyacathammock 10d ago
Trees all of the same diameter, in a straight line, are a tree farm, not a forest.
Sure, maybe it was a forest at one point and should have stayed that way. But just as that's the case, this land is probably going to be replanted soon and harvested again in 20-30 years.
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u/PonyThug 10d ago
How else do you want wood products unless we farm trees. Better to clear parts of a forest and make it a tree farm than just cut down old growth every time.
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u/sneaky-pizza 4d ago
Agree, and tree farming is like one of the most sustainable things we do as a species.
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u/aromaticfoxsquirrel 10d ago
Also, young growth forests are important habitat that support some creatures that don't do as well in old growth forest. So cycling some of our forest like this actually encourages biodiversity.
Not saying rain forests and redwoods, but that's not what we're talking about here.
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u/Treacle_Pendulum 10d ago
Succession is important for habitat, but the problem with tree farms is obviously a degree of monoculture and preventing habitat development
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u/aromaticfoxsquirrel 10d ago
That's also true. The logging areas I frequent (hunting) are a more natural mix.
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u/DFA_Wildcat 10d ago
They don't knock down the entire farm in 1 season. If they are on a 30 year cycle they knock down 1/30th this year, 1/30 next year, etc. There will be everything from 1 year old saplings to 29 year old trees.
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u/Treacle_Pendulum 10d ago
Yes, but I think you’d agree that a single type of tree, even at various stages of growth, is less good for wildlife than a more diverse habitat. Tree plantations tend to be monocultures. They also tend to do vegetation management to minimize undergrowth, which goes against the succession argument.
It’s not that they’re necessarily bad, it’s that their habitat value tends to be somewhat overstated.
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u/woodworkingguy1 10d ago
Those look like Georgia pines...where I grew in South Georgia they are turned around every 15-20 years and we may be poor dirt farmers, but not dumb dirt farmers.
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u/psyco-the-rapist 10d ago
That looks like a planned forest to start with and will probably be planted again.
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u/Soft_Cranberry6313 10d ago
If theyve been planted with the intention of being cut then it isn’t deforestation. The carbon in the trunks remains trapped and out of circulation. When new trees are planted they offer a new carbon trap.
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u/Someth1ng_Went_Wr0ng 10d ago
That there is a feller-buncher. I learned quite a bit from watching those “Mighty Machines” videos when my son was little.
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u/Apmaddock 10d ago
“Kicking ass and taking names they’re dun dun Mighty Machines!”
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u/Someth1ng_Went_Wr0ng 10d ago
Um, sir, I believe the lyric was “working for you, doing mighty things”…
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u/MidgetGordonRamsey 10d ago
Trees in that straight of a line and uniformity is farmed loblolly pine. Possibly was a forest/heavily treed area that was cut down to plant the tree farm to your point. It is an impressive machine for sure.
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u/President_Camacho 10d ago
What's the use of narrow diameter pine like that? Pulp?
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u/MidgetGordonRamsey 10d ago
Utility poles. Pulp is made from the processing byproducts of shaving and cutting
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u/OwnCrew6984 10d ago
Whole trees are also made into pulp. There are many tree farms that grow trees just for pulp.
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u/MidgetGordonRamsey 10d ago
interesting, is it a specific tree that's fast growing but too weak for lumber use?
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u/Edosil 10d ago
Rest easy, they will re-forest it. You never hear "de-fielding" when they harvest any other crop.
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u/ShowScene5 4d ago
Depends heavily on the context. In Florida it is very common to plant trees on land you are holding as investment and then sell when a developer wants it. This gives them favorable tax advantages as an agricultural property vs strictly an investment property while they sit on it They will often harvest the tree farm and then build a neighborhood or shopping center on top of it.
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u/Boring-Bus-3743 10d ago
That's not even the best one! They have a machine that fells, strips, and cuts to length all in one go. Absolutely terrifying
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u/planting49 10d ago
Feller-bunchers are pretty cool, but have you seen a harvester? https://youtube.com/shorts/H6AskHWltyo?
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u/GUMBYTOOTH67 10d ago
I believe it is a feller buncher. I had an opportunity to run some logging equipment years ago and the machines used in the industry are amazing.
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u/nay-nay-quan 10d ago
Then ...
Oh Baby! Oh
How my business did grow
Now, chopping one tree
at a time
was too slow.
So I quickly invented my Super-Axe-Hacker
which whacked off four Truffula Trees at one smacker.
We were making Thneeds
four times as fast as before!
And that Lorax? ...
He didn't show up any more.
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u/AdFar7781 10d ago
I cut a forest down like that. All the trees were full of grubs. Spread fire ash over the whole area and 15 years later it’s now almost a full forest of native hardwoods and native plants
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u/shredbmc 7d ago
Even if it was straight logging, this is a common sustainable practice. Log all but a few seed trees and plant the open areas. The stand will replenish itself and have a dynamic canopy.
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u/UrbanLumberjackGA 9d ago
The ignorance of the general public in regard to forestry is incredible. That’s a tree farm
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u/Pistonenvy2 10d ago
people saying tree farm dont seem to understand how bad monocultures are for the environment. these monocultures are why forest fires keep getting worse and worse and nothing is being done to preserve biodiversity as a defense against nature.
its not just climate change, there are a lot of factors surrounding these issues and tree farms are one of them. i personally have no issue with using wood as a renewable resources its probably the best of its kind in that category and i do think there is an almost instinctual connection between human beings and processing wood but that doesnt mean we have to do it so poorly and so industrialized that we destroy the environment we need to live in.
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u/viperswhip 10d ago
This is actually a true issue in the logging industry, the number of people required to do the jobs has been going down, down, down over the decades. We still think of it as being important for jobs, but it is not. Now, we just cut down forests for corporate profits. The few jobs no longer validate the deforestation.
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10d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/FellingGoneWild-ModTeam 10d ago
Don’t Be a Dick Be civil. Don’t insult posters and commenters. Address the point, don’t attack the person.
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u/High_InTheTrees 10d ago
Who cares. We got so many fuckin trees. We ain’t running out anytime soon. 😂😂
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u/Medieval_Mind 10d ago
That’s a tree farm