NJAS Opinion: January, 2004

Ted Korth, Director of Policy

Bishop Berkeley asked, if a tree were to fall in a forest, with no one there to hear it, would it make a sound?  Fortunately, the direct impact of the answer to that question is fairly minimal, and can be left for academia, reflection and bar stool philosophy.  Let’s instead ask a different question, the answer to which does have a direct, immediate and widespread ecological impact right in our back yard: If a tree falls in a pine plantation, did that tree fall in a forest?  We say no.

A forest is more than a set of trees.  Forests are diverse, dynamic integrated systems of natural vegetative associations or communities.  Forests hold trees of different species, sizes and ages, as well as other vegetation; the trees of a forest are not of one species, even aged and uniformly disbursed.  Thus, trees cultivated in a plantation style do not make a forest.

What Is A Pine Plantation? … A Place Where Pine Trees Are The Crop Under Cultivation.

Generally, “plantation style” forestry means applying available tools and technology to forestry practices to maximize tree reproduction and optimize product yield continuity.  The goal of plantation forestry is to create a steady, uniform and predictable supply of wood-fiber.  Within plantation style forestry, trees are seen as a commodity, stewardship means managing to increase the dollar value of the commodity, and forest health is measured in board feet.

This view is not in itself bad or wrong.  Plantation style forestry has, however, fundamentally changed the practice of silviculture from a focus on the development and care of forests to a process of commodity management and production. 

Now we are not talking about traditional forestry methods, woodlot maintenance, or even using clear-cut techniques.  Forestry is a traditional use of the land, and it is a practice that landowners should rightfully continue when carried out in an ecologically sound fashion.  Used correctly, clear-cutting and intensive site preparation techniques can be effective restoration and management tools.  Concern arises when the land is so intensely prepared and densely restocked that the very potential for native forest regeneration is squelched; when the forest itself is no longer a renewable resource, but is converted into an ecologically dead fiber production vehicle.  

Pine Plantations? New Jersey? Come on.

Now, many of you may be inclined to wonder whether pine plantations are really something that New Jersey needs to consider.  You may be keen to point out that the development of managed pine plantations has been a phenomenon occurring primarily in historically timber producing regions, such as the Southeast, where in just 50 years the acreage dedicated to managed pine plantations has increased from virtually zero to approximately 32 million acres (cultivated pine now accounts for 15 percent of the Southern forests as a whole, and for half of the trees grown in southeastern North Carolina).  And you may say that, well … this is New Jersey, the most densely populated state – Turnpike, Meadowlands - not exactly a timber producing region.  So should not NJAS be looking at issues which have a bit more relation to conservation in New Jersey?       

I am sorry to report that pine plantations have become a bona fide conservation issue right here in New Jersey.  The combination of a good market for pulp, efficient reforestation mechanisms, and liberal forestry rules make it practical for landowners to convert woodlots and forest lands into pulp plantations - proverbial “green deserts.”   As one New Jersey forester has pointed out, "managing timber is an economic venture," and plantation style management appears to be the forest management flavor of choice.

Can plantation methods make forestry a genuinely profitable endeavor in New Jersey?  It appears so.  The cover story for the May 2002 issue of Timber Harvesting magazine (“America’s Only National Logging and Forestry Magazine”), titled “Exemplary Stewardship: Making forestry profitable on the front lines of the urban interface”, highlighted the profitability of pulp-wood extraction in the Pinelands.  The forestry method promoted in the article is called “selective timber maximization.”  This program is designed to maximize the future income and aesthetic potential of the woodland.  The program applies modern harvesting, land clearing, site preparation and planting techniques to eradicate the existing forest community, control tree growth and ensure future income maximization.  Selective timber maximization is used to cultivate a good tree crop.   

Not only may plantation methods be profitable, but if planned right, the cost of extraction and replanting may be offset (cost-shared) by federal government funds.  Oh, and you can get low interest loans against the future value of your plantation stand as well.  The lesson: creating green deserts is good for your wallet, your portfolio, and your borrowing power – and it’s subsidized.  The incentives to convert forests to plantations abound.

Why Plantation-Style Forestry is Bad

Again, forestry itself is not bad.  But the negative impacts to native ecosystems, wildlife, and overall forest health from plantation style forestry can be widespread.  Ecosystems are put at risk because plantation style forestry creates a significant pest and pathogen vector.  Generally, as plant diversity decreases, the potential for insect or disease damage increases.  Pine plantations provide ideal conditions for forest pests, and are highly susceptible to invasion by nuisance plant species. 

Wildlife suffers because pine plantations make for very poor habitat.  Field surveys show that pine plantations had the lowest bird diversity and lowest conservation values when compared to other forested habitat.  Plantation forestry destroys habitat for many animals, like the state threatened northern pine snake. 

Plantation style forestry causes harm to forest health by wrecking havoc on the forest soil structure.  The web of soil fauna, by maintaining the integrity of the forest soil structure, decomposing organic matter and retaining and releasing nutrients for plant species use, defines the very forest community that will occur. 

The soil disruption caused by intensive forestry methods – tilling and chopping, biocide application, and suppression of understory species - will result in a soil base that is biologically sterile.  Nutrients necessary for forest regeneration after the harvestable timber is removed become unavailable, requiring fertilizers to be applied.  For example, during the site preparation phase, mechanical and chemical methods used to eradicate remnants of the existing forest may destroy the local ectomycorrhizal community.  Loss of this critical community greatly limits the potential for native forest regeneration, and threatens the extirpation of age-old genetic diversity. In some areas, like the Pine Barrens, the loss of the native forest could be near permanent.   

The loss of traditional forestry in New Jersey could be significant as well.  If the practice of silviculture is thrown over in favor of cultivation, if wood-cutters are replaced by land clearing companies and professional foresters by purchasing agents, we will lose yet another way for landowners to engage in traditional land uses and stewardship activities. 

Let’s Keep Forestry Alive

Forest management plans which will promote forest regeneration, increase wood-fiber volume, rehabilitate habitat, and provide aesthetic value should and can be created.  Let’s encourage ecologically sound forestry practices, including tax driven incentives for proper management techniques.  And watch for forest management plans that apply sexy words to describe ecologically harmful practices.