Scrambling up to the Saddle Mountain summit on a
recent clear and crisp day, scaling with all customary huffing
and puffing, ravens hovering and diving overhead, I paused
here and there, surveying the scenery below. Over here, the
mouth of the Columbia. Over there, the mouth of the
Nehalem. The rugged basalt mountains crumpled up in-
between, concealing Cannon Beach and a comer of the stark
blue ocean horizon. In the far distance, the jagged white of
Cascade peaks: Jefferson, Hood, Adams, St. Helens, Rainier.
And the whole of Clatsop County, sprawled out below. Every
last bit of it, a patchwork of greens and browns, the terrain
criss-crossed with clearings, scrub, and young stands of
timber, geometric vegetation entirely at odds with the soft and
chaotic curvature of the lands it once concealed. Visual buffer
zones, left to conceal the clear-cut wastelands from the
motorists’ eye, snake across the valley floors, marking the
road’s progress. Yet, up here, from the bird’s eye view, it is
all too clear: this is a dramatically altered landscape.
Almost the entire County, and indeed, almost the
entire Coast Range of Oregon has been clearcut, once, twice,
three times. The old-growth coastal rainforests have been
liquidated, most during the last 80 years, making way for the
humanized landscape we see today, biologically simplified
plantations, sprawling cellulose factories. No doubt, logging
has improved much over the years. We have come a long way
since the days, not long ago, in which downed trees were
dragged through streams, sheer mountain slopes were logged
bare, or lands were not replanted. A long way since logs
tumbled to downstream mills on torrents of water created by
splash-dams, temporary log structures that retained lakes in
mountain stream valleys until blown up with dynamite,
carrying logs (and streamside trees, and soil, and fish, and
spawning beds and salmon eggs, and any number of other
creatures) down to the lowland bays below. The alder trees
will show you where these things have happened.
Today, timber companies must replant; buffer zones
are left along streams. Here and there, a few solitary trees are
left standing. Still, in any fresh clearcut, there are some things
that simply cannot be avoided, no matter how careful you are.
Clearcuts magnify climatological extremes.
If
anyone doubts this, they should go stand in the middle of a
clearcut on a particularly hot or cold day, then go stand under
the a mature, old forest to compare. One of the most
important foundations of a coastal forest’s ecology in the
microclimate which the forest canopy produces. Year round, a
mature forest’s floor is shaded, dark and moist, much cooler
than exposed clearings in summer, slightly warmer in winter.
Once the forest cover is removed, the change is dramatic: the
local levels of light, heat, and wind go from zero to sixty in
moments.
This comes as quite a shock to the diverse array of
forest organisms adapted to, and inextricably dependent upon
cool, stable temperatures, constant moisture, low light, and big
trees. Spotted owls and marbled murrelets, fine-looking birds
with stage presence, get all the press coverage. However, this
transition is equally (and often far more) troublesome to many
other living things: certain deep-forest lichens, fungi, insects,
frogs and salamanders, limb- and cavity-nesting birds,
vascular understory plants. (Meanwhile, downstream, salmon
and their aquatic peers do not fare well in warm waters,
moderated somewhat by the remnant trees now left on the
water’s edge.)
Then, only a few years after the coastal clearcut has
exposed the forest floor to the elements, a reverse pattern
emerges. Dense, young trees, all o f the same age, crowd in,
creating a solid forest canopy through which light scarcely
penetrates. The forest floor grows darker and seasonally
colder than ever. Little understory vegetation remains, only
returning years later as the trees crowd one-another out,
creating small holes in the forest canopy, admitting small
amounts of light to the forest floor.
It is a rare forest organism that can survive years of
complete exposure, followed by years of complete
concealment. Most forest organisms that can leave do; many
that can’t die. And many of them are important players within
coastal old growth ecology. Once removed, they are very
slow to return. It’s not clear whether healthy coastal forests
can persist long without them. And while it is possible for
these things to retreat to the darker woods, their retreat
becomes particularly difficult as the number of remaining
mature forests in the neighborhood has dwindled.
The
ecological effects from a single clearcut may be small, not all
that different from those once created by natural fires or
windstorms, which sometimes opened small, short-lived forest
clearings. But the cumulative effects can be dramatic, as vast,
contiguous stretches of forest are leveled, repeatedly,
continuously. At this scale, we are no longer altering a forest
microclimate; we are altering the climate of a forested region.
Ciearcutting, no matter how carefully executed, also
contributes to the depletion of soil. Dig your fingers into the
forest soil - it is soft, it comes apart in the hands, it is deep but
delicate. When the vegetation is removed, this soil is exposed
to the full force of winds, rain, frost and runoff. Soil is
washed away by rains. Perennially damp forest soil, once
exposed, often dries out and goes airborne. And soil fertility
is diminished. When it comes to nutrients, coastal forests are
conservative; there are few nutrients available in the soil, and
what is available is rapidly absorbed and stored in the tissues
of trees. As timber is removed, the slash is burned, and even
small amounts of soil are washed away, nutrients - nitrogen
phosphorous, potassium, calcium - are permanently lost to
returning local forests. Tree roots die after the cut, loosening
their hold on the soil, contributing to landslides and erosion
which can convert comers of the forest into barrens and foul
nearby streams.
This is a recently-colonized comer of the planet, and
our ubiquitous logging of its forests is an experiment without
local precedent. We have not yet witnessed the long term
effects of logging on this coast, but it is something we must
consider. In temperate forests subject to logging over many
generations, in parts of Europe or Asia, forests have been
biologically simplified, species diversity reduced down to a
small subset of the forest’s original inhabitants. These forests,
in their entirety, only house those organisms that could stand
repeated, abrupt changes in their environments. In these
places, lands repeatedly clearcut grow less and less productive
over time. Continuously depleting soil and soil nutrients,
harming beneficial soil microorganisms, long-term logging
has resulted in stunted and slow-growing trees. Shrubby
wastelands or rocky barrens have replaced many of the once
vast forests of Europe and Asia. It is very difficult to predict
what might happen in the Northwest, but we have no good
reason to assume that what once happened in the forests of the
Old World will not repeat itself in the unprecedented industrial
intensity of the New World.
Selective logging, or the strip cutting as we have seen
Willamette Industries behind Cannon Beach can improve
things a bit. By leaving some portion of the forest canopy
standing, we can keep temperatures relatively constant, limit
erosion, enhance water retention, and retain some habitat for a
much wider range of forest organisms. These are viable
cutting strategies, though not as profitable to timber
companies, who are responsible to their shareholders and are
compelled to make big profits on the short term. (And most,
like our neighbors at Willamette Industries, have grown
accustomed to making very good profits in the recent past -
Willamette stock has increased in value at an impressive
average of around 17.3% during the last 30 years. And not
many trees increase in value at a 17.3% annual rate. Therefore
it is hard to earn this much unless a company clearcuts early
and often. Proceeds from the sale of very young trees, even
the skinny ones only a two-by-four wide, can be invested
elsewhere, anywhere really, and still beat the annual growth
rate of a mature stand of timber.) Selective cutting is labor-
intensive and cuts into these impressive profits, requiring
several return trips to cut and maintain the land, cautious
cutting, and high levels of road maintenance. In light of their
hard-edged corporate obligations, it is remarkable that
companies like Willamette have employed these methods at
all. Still, some might argue that the longer-term benefits may
outweigh these costs, whether in terms of ecosystem health,
the preservation of salmon, the maintenance o f our million-
dollar scenery, increased lumber quality and size, or the
preservation of the long-term productivity of the land.
Most of our local timber lands are private property,
yet the public has a stake in their management. The way they
are managed, for better or for worse, spills over, affecting the
quality of life for all neighbors, possibly for a very long time.
The outcomes are not only aesthetic. As Asian economies
stall and our timber sales momentarily dip, we - landowners,
neighbors, and others - might take pause and engage in a
dialogue, exploring how the forests might be best managed,
for the long term. Measure 64 has generated much ill will
between us.
Idealistic, young environmentalists have
proposed heavy-handed legislation and been outspent, 10-to-l,
by a heavy-handed coalition of timber companies and out-of-
state chemical companies (Dow, Du Pont, and others), with an
entourage of lawyers, lobbyists, California-based public
relations firms, and all of the machinery required to spin the
issue this way or that, to remake public opinion. Let us see to
it that this statewide head-butting does not stall progress,
cooperative
progress,
toward
long-term
solutions.
Approached thoughtfully, it might still be possible to find
innovative ways to sustain our communities and our ecology
for the long-term.______________________________________
Many people have written about the long-term
economic and ecological ramifications of ciearcutting. You
might check out Ray Raphael’s More Tree Talk : The People,
Politics, and Economics o f Timber. Island Press: Washington,
D.C., 1994. Thus has been a topic of growing interest to
planners; see, for example, Kirk Johnson, Building Forest
Wealth : Incentives fo r Biodiversity, Landowner Profitability,
and Value Added Manufacturing. Seattle: Washington
Forestry Working Group, Northwest Policy Center, University
of Washington, 1995. A very thorough list of threatened and
endangered plants, animals, and habitats in Oregon can be
found in the State of Oregon report, Oregon Natural Heritage
Plan. (Natural Heritage Advisory Council to the State Land
Board). Salem: Oregon State Land Board, 1993. The State
Land Board may be contacted at 775 Summer Street, N.E.,
Salem OR 97310.
B»«Iu.,STK*1ittKS.CAH0S •&FKPMIC (tSlCM • BuSnUSS C a M>S•
It’s relaxing to go out with my ex-wife because she
already knows I’m an idiot. Warren Thomas
¿Photograph the Oregon Coasts
spectacular beaches, rainforests,
tidepools and wildlife at these
nature photography workshops
with professional photographer
Cfary cfiayes.
on Coast
W inter I
Supported ly cKodak ‘Professional
My message from the Birds
by Blue Sky..
I had just left a survey research class at TWU, an elegant,
sedate environment, know for it's scholastic climate. The
building stands tall within the inner core of the TWU campus,
surrounded by concrete promenades bordered by trees and iron
benches. It is quite a lovely place and especially so with the
recently rain-washed leaves shining in the sunshine. As I
walked through the pathway going toward my car, I was aware
of a cacophony of trills, twitters, chirps and caws. Virtually,
the impromptu avetrium had wrought pandemonium of the
peaceful surroundings. The sounds were almost deafening, so
much in fact that a passing student had to repeat her disdainful
remark about the plumed chorus in order for me to understand
her. 1 walked on briskly only to be called back. The birds
were yelling at me! Not unlike unruly monkeys clamoring for
the attention of children bearing treats at the zoo, they called
for me to hear them. What communication did the feathered
creatures have for me? I knew I would receive a message if
only I would listen for it. I went back, directly under the
boughs of the post oak tree, to sit on the bench It took a
while for my mind to settle down enough to hear the
individual birds. What, my mind whispered? I don't
understand? What is it you wish me to know? As surely as
the cloud covered the sun I felt void of comprehension and
even dread of what I would perceive. At times a brief silence
would overtake us only to be broken with more energetic
warbling. I sat silently on the bench with my head bowed
slightly concentrating on a squirrel that in turn was
concentrating on a pecan nut Spell-like I was able to come as
one to the sounds, smells, and visions I became aware of the
shadow from the trees playing on the sidewalk Like a
phantom in flight, a shadow of a bird would flit across my
vision. Shadows. Are shadows all I am seeing? Is my life
only shadows, not true images of life but dark shadows of
death and misconceptions, keeping tmth out of my reach? Is
that what you are saying to me? As these thoughts reeled
through my mind I was almost blinded by sudden reflections of
pure sunlight upon the whiteness of the sidewalk. Sunlight.
Sunlight was filtering through the trees stronger and stronger
until I knew that was my message Light I saw the light
coming out of the darkness. Quickly I opened my notebook to
write down my thoughts and record the message sent to me
from the blue skies. Suddenly there was a splat, bulls-eye on
my paper. I could only burst into laughter as I realized the
message was pure BS in the form of bird-shit Without doubt
a mockingbird had delivered THA I' message My laughter
subsided as I wiped my paper to go. Still chuckling to myself
I recalled the role that bird-dropping, like guano, play in the
circle of life Concentrated energy derived from nature, it
returns life in the form of seeds and nounshment to replenish
the earth I could experience only BS or I could see beyond it
to the essence of life. My message from the birds was
confirmation that I can see beyond the shadows and experience
light
May you walk in light
UNIVERSAL-^ VIDEO,!
leo.
ZbzAtar: 1, 1999
/ ¿fyril 16-19, 1999
C a l l f o r i n f o r m a t i o n : (,5 0 3 ) 4 3 6 - 0 3 7 0
47 N. HOLLADAY DR.
SEASIDE, OR 97138
738-8877
“ A u TW« UloAU
Awt> L ots o f S ooo S n jrr
F aih TIK&S,
STEVE HAUGEN
JIM HAUGEN
Most of my friends arc not Christians, but I have
some who are Anglicans or Roman Catholics.
Dame Rose Macaulay
Gcppctto’s
ôhopjxt
200 N. Hemlock
Cannon Beach, OR
436-2467
Where quality and tradition make kids happy ’
Holiday Special!
Starts November 25, 1998
Brio Builder
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(Ed.: Blue Sky is a grown up native American woman we met
on-line, currently going for her Master's in the Social Sciences
in Texas )
Railway
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