{"id":4301,"date":"2024-04-05T14:34:30","date_gmt":"2024-04-05T18:34:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/spire\/?p=4301"},"modified":"2024-04-12T09:05:22","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T13:05:22","slug":"box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/spire\/2024\/04\/05\/box\/","title":{"rendered":"Imposter Forestry"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Olivia Box<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This essay explores imposter syndrome in the woods and in the classroom. What does it mean to steward the forest, when humans have so deeply changed the course of ecological history? Time and trust are as essential to forestry as data, but I struggle to find my place in this narrative. As I walked the woods as a graduate student studying forest ecology, I looked first to textbooks and then to nature itself to find out what kind of ecologist I wanted to be, ultimately discovering that awe is a reliable teacher.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Shelterwood<\/span>:<\/span> A type of forestry cut that is intended to initiate a new stand beneath the trees that remain.<\/span><\/p>\n Ecological Forestry<\/span><\/span>: as described by Jerry Franklin, Norman Johnson, and Debra Jognson, who are credited with the development of the field. They write, \u201cEcological forestry recognizes that forests are ecosystems with diverse biota, complex structure, and multiple functions, and not simply collections of trees valuable primarily for production of wood. In doing so, it seeks to maintain the fundamental capacities (integrity) of the forest ecosystems to which it is applied.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Ecotone<\/span><\/span>: Where two distinct biological communities meet and mingle. This convergence point or transition area is referred to as an ecotone. <\/span><\/p>\n Veneer<\/span>:<\/span> Fine, high quality wood. Marketable. Often, veneer wood is used to cover coarser wood in woodworking to create a finer appearance. <\/span><\/p>\n When a forest returns, it is ugly at best. The seedlings are overshadowed by the brambles of raspberries and the pioneer species. The soil is encrusted by the zigzags of large tires, evidence of powerful equipment to which a tree stands no chance. Even the rocks look water-deprived, covered in a dusty excuse for soil. The landscape is shaped more by logging than nature. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A few years ago, I was standing in the middle of an 11-acre clearcut, hidden amidst the woods of Vermont. It was a small harvest, but it stretched on like an open wound. A few foresters were leading this tour, discussing the cut\u2014how many trees they took, why, and what will grow back. <\/span><\/p>\n We, the forest professionals, stood democratically in a circle assuming the role of nature even if we did not quite intend to. My eyes wandered from the gesturing hands and words of the lead forester to what remained of the forest underfoot. I always look for signs across the landscape that it\u2019s okay. I panicked knowing that it would be years and years until I could truly know if the landscape would move past this early stage\u2014if I would even be around to bear witness to the next growth. <\/span><\/p>\n The lead forester pointed to a scattering of solo trees and snags across the cut, meant to seed in new growth and act as habitat for birds. We all nodded along\u2014of course! A few trees are enough for the woodcock! I\u2019ve never seen a single bird among these well-intentioned trees. <\/span><\/p>\n At the time, I was a graduate student studying forest ecology. I still do not know the technicalities of stumpage values or market trends. I have trouble memorizing tree species, ever confused by bark patterns and slight variations of color. But I feel strongly, with no statistical evidence, that these woods always offer us a place to join the landscape, even for just a split second of its infinitude. <\/span><\/p>\n The cut is effective. It\u2019s mimicking natural disturbances, disturbances that the forest is both accustomed to and craves. This management references the newer tradition of ecological forestry, a modern way to cut and care for the forest, ecology first. There\u2019s no reason for me to feel discomfort, and yet this feeling dominates my psyche and I get lost in thoughts about just how intensely humans have immersed themselves in the goings on of the woods. <\/span><\/p>\n It is times like these \u2013 formal tours, classes, conferences set in air-conditioned hotels\u2014where I most fear that humans have too much control over nature. All too often, I sit towards the back of these conferences, my eyes glazing over and my mind wandering away from shelterwood cuts and conversations of shifting dynamics.<\/span><\/p>\n I am a scientist; I trust science. But the woods were never supposed to be this formal, this uncomfortable. I have more faith in the return of a forest, brambles and all, than in the definition of stewardship, if stewardship means \u201cto supervise or to bear responsibility.\u201d The deeper I move into science, the more I worry that it is getting harder to separate stewardship from control. I believe we need to return to awe, that natural gift of the wild, something that truly stands the test of time.<\/span><\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/p>\n I was eager to see a true clearcut after learning about them in my silviculture class. My first view of one was just as I had imagined: post-cut, the landscape was more dead than alive. Sloped acres resembling the color of used coffee grounds sandwiched abruptly between lush forests on each side. I wanted to stick my nose to the soil to better see the odd beauty of the open acreage, to see the new seedlings bursting through the soil. A new generation that survived the burning sun and the competitive seedbank, only to try to grow upslope. I tried to imagine walking up the slope, remembering the way my calves pulled when I walk uphill, like flimsy plywood on the verge of snapping. <\/span><\/p>\n Clearcuts are symbolic of the history of environmental decision-making\u2014a fast, cheap, easy way to maximize profits. After the profit is turned, the foresters, loggers, and landowners disappear. No point sticking around to watch the forest grow back\u2014it will take too long anyway. But it is amongst the messy dirt, sawdust, and chips where awe can be found. Awe in the form of seedlings, wiry in their eagerness and bright in their color against the dirt. Like fish eggs, not all of them even survive\u2014but they come through, nonetheless.<\/span><\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/p>\n In Thoreau\u2019s 1862 essay, <\/span>Walking <\/span><\/i>[1]<\/span>,<\/span> he states: \u201cNowadays almost all man’s improvements, so called, as the building of houses, and the cutting down of the forest and of all large trees, simply deform the landscape, and make it more and more tame and cheap. A people who would begin by burning the fences and let the forest stand!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n If only. As Thoreau screamed this, New England had just finished a massive cutting cycle, clearing nearly every tree by mid-century [2]<\/span>. Forestry has a history of playing with extremes. Despite that lesson, we moved west and cut more. Conservation has gotten better, but so has our ability to cut more wood, and faster. We\u2019re still greedy.<\/span><\/p>\n A mentor of mine used to remark that the public gets up in arms every time the forest is managed. Even when it\u2019s a small, necessary cut to prevent the spread of invasive species that would slowly kill the forest. When many hear <\/span>harvest <\/span><\/i>they see it as a euphemism for logging, clearcut, or domination. Sickened and uncomfortable by machines forcing trees from the ground, and yet most clearcuts these days lead to convenience: better cell service, connectivity, and ski slopes. All modern conveniences made congenial by the clearcut. <\/span><\/p>\n Thoreau equates walking to a vocation, writing: \u201cNo wealth can buy the requisite leisure, freedom, and independence which are the capital in this profession.\u201d In the essay, Thoreau promotes a mindset shift. It\u2019s not enough to simply walk or to saunter; to receive the full benefit of walking, you must be willing to surrender with open arms to the immersive experience of the outdoors. The splendor of the woods does not matter but the act of being there, amongst the trees, does. Good walkers, writes Thoreau, \u201cwere so blessed as to lose themselves for half an hour in the woods.\u201d So much good forestry is walking and getting to know the land and listening. Trusting that the forest will make it through. Just being there for a small part, and trusting time. A clearcut, I think, isn\u2019t always a wrongdoing; hasn\u2019t the land seen winds so strong each tree was killed overnight?<\/span><\/p>\n The narrative is ever evolving. Like good fashion, forest management has gone in phases of taking and leaving. In recent years, foresters are trading traditional clear cuts for ecologically based cuts, like a strip cut, about 10 acres wide and alternating with in-tact forest parcels. In doing so, foresters can harvest from a stand over time, mimicking natural disturbance regimes. <\/span><\/p>\nAbstract\/Precis<\/h3>\n
\nTerminology: <\/h3>\n
\nImposter Forestry <\/h3>\n