The purpose of this written report is to inform the reader about the concerns
and facts involved with reforestation. Reforestation began in Ontario after
World War II. What happened was, professional foresters were assigned to an area
and became responsible for its well being. Under the Crown Timber Act, long term
management was prepared. Then the many steps needed to rebuild a forest began.
Included in this report will be information on the effects of cutting and
replanting, such as Carbon Dioxide, and Global Warming. Following this will be
methods for planning a forest, and how they are conveyed before planting in a
forest begins. There are many reasons why forests are cut down. One is to
benefit economically, with furniture and home building. But there is also
another reason. Arguments say "the United States could help slow the
atmospheric accumulation of carbon dioxide by replacing old-growth forests with
faster-growing young trees". A new study of young and old forests says how
this is in fact not true. Loggers have said that new trees pull the carbon
dioxide better than old trees, and this may seem true, but it is not. There is
one point being overlooked from all of this. The older, larger trees can store
much, much more carbon dioxide than a new tree could. By cutting and burning
these magnificent seasoned trees, the CO2 is being released back into the
atmosphere. These releases of carbon dioxide add up in our surroundings, only to
intensify Global Warming. Although this shows what happens when one burns and
cuts down old forests, one must still plant new trees for long term plans, not
letting them grow for a few years, to then cut them down. There are many methods
for planning a forest. The simplest method of replanting a forest is to leave it
to nature. A suitable seed bed in which trees will readily take root is integral
for successful regeneration. Reducing competition by eliminating grass, weed or
shrubs is another requirement in securing a new crop of trees. These will sprout
to produce seedlings. Though the weeds were eliminated before, they still grow
back, and because of this poor, quality trees will grow. Another method though,
is to create a planned forest, where new conifers are grown from seed in a
special nursery. Seeding is a reforestation technique used mainly in the Boreal
forest area where fire or logging tends to leave no or very little seeds for
growth. In specific cases, Ministry staff seed the area with treated tree seeds.
Following this is the planting. In many cases, planting is the only means of
initiating a new forest. Up to 80 000 000 trees are planted annually in Ontario
on Crown and private land. Usually immature forests have to be tended to. Once
situated, a new crop needs intermittent care for the next 60 to 100 years. This
means continuing protection from fires, disease and insects and routine thinning
to focus the growth on selected crop trees. Before a forest can be grown,
certain procedures must first occur. Collecting and processing seeds is one of
them. Tree flowers fertilized by blowing winds or insects generate seed, in a
time of somewhere within 1 to 2 years. Seed collecting from the woods must be
timed with periodically occurring good seed years. Angus, near Barrie, is where
all forest tree seed collection is co-ordinated. Stock of seeds can value up to
$500 000. Usually this is around 3 billion seeds from 59 tree classes. In
summary of the aforesaid, trees are very valuable to the human race economically
and for health. Without trees the environment could worsen to the point where we
would be living on one large dessert. We must remember that forest do not grow
as easily as they used to because of fires and other disasters. This is why many
forests are planned, and cared for. Most of us will never now how they turn out
because for a forest to completely grow, it needs within anywhere from 60 to 100
years or more. There are many reasons why we should have reforestation. One
being mostly that we need forest to live! Without forests, or any type of plant,
the carbon cycle can't result. There are not many arguments against
reforestation, but there can be some opposition for the land being used between
a large business company and the Ministry. I feel replanting of forests is very
crucial to the human race. The earth depends on many cycles, where one organism
depends on the other because of what it does. We, exhale carbon dioxide which
the trees take in, while they give off vital oxygen. In closing, we live in an
age of technology, leaving behind us the past. With the past we are forgetting
forests; we must make sure this doesn't happen.