GEOG 5 Gillespie, Thomas2012 FallWeek 4Lecture 8October 23, 2012Announcements- Midterm changed to November 8th - Read chapter 13Outline of Last Lecture I. DrugsII. California AgricultureIII. Food and Medicinal plants Outline of Today’s Lecture II. Laws of forest conservationIII. Uses of national forests IV. Problems of timber, roads, and fire Today’s Lecture- California has some of the oldest trees: The oldest tree is 4800 years old! Laws: - 1891 – Forest Reserve Act – this created national forests; needed to maintain and protect the watersheds (155 national forests across the US)- 1960 - Multiple Use and Sustained Use Act – said how these national forests should be used: 1. Outdoor Recreation e.g. hunting, enjoying the forest 2. Range land (cattle) 3. Timber 4. Watershed protection 5. Wildlife- 1964 - Wilderness Act – designated certain areas within national forests as “wild” these areas could not be used for timber – 9.1 million acres dedicated as “wild” Clearcutting! - Method of extracting wood from forest – became very prevalent in late 60s/70s. How it works: 1. Identify the forest These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.2. Build a road 3. Cut down every tree 4. Cable lossing Problems:1. Soil erosion2. Water runoff – sediment goes into the streams – therefore polluting the water supply3. Plant monoculture – plant all the same species4. Apply herbicides – stop the growth of weeds 5. Every species is now the same age 6. Decline in wildlife. For example in the spotted owl population declined after clearcutting - 1980s – Lost 1.3 billion dollars, due to selling off our forest! How?1. Building roads 2. Restoration Department of Agriculture - National Forest Service falls under this department Department of Interior - Manages National Park Service – created in 1916 “Left unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations” - BLM – controls grazing, mining, oil - US Fish and Wildlife Service – manage wildlife refuges Timber- ALL timber companies in the US are private - Non-Profit Organizations; Nature Conservancy – they buy land and preserve it Sierra Club – lobby for forest protection and conservation Earth First and Elf – Activist organizations Julia Butterfly – environmental activist (tree siting for 2 years!) Forestry - Under Reagan – Dept. of Interior controlled by James Watt – national forests were sold off to private companies 60% of national forests were cut downHalf of all Redwoods were cut down and exported overseas unprocessedPonding – Chinese put the trees underground in hope of selling them at higher price when wood is scarce- Old Growth: 1. Trees of different sizes 2. Snags (dead trees) 3. More than 200/300 years old- Today 96% of all redwood forests have been cut – 2% of remaining redwoods are on private land, the other 2% on federal land 1990s: 1. Clearcutting is unsustainable2. Salmon fisherman (angry because the salmon start to die as result of increased sedimentdue to clearcutting) 3. Spotted owl! 4. After Clinton – 2% of all wood from national forests – huge decrease!Roadless Areas - In the US we have 44,000 miles of road - 380,000 miles of timber roads!!- Clinton - Roadless Act – said cannot build more timber roads - Bush – wants to repeal Roadless Act – each state governor can decide Fire - Smokey the Bear- Until 1970s they thought fire was bad and should be prevented - In the ‘70s the did control burns – experiments with fire – they discovered problems when fires are prevented: 1. Litter build up 2. Changed from open forest to closed forest 3. Bugs – huge increase in bugs killing the trees – making them more flammable!4. Crown fires!! By suppressing the small fires, we increase the chances of a huge crown fire Choices - Thinning – chopping down the litter and small trees – could burn it for energy - Re-introduce fire – problems as these fires are very hard to control, and worries the air quality board-