Thanks to the Daily Record for printing the Op Ed.
http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008806160352 Conservation, not Preservation, is Key for NJ Forests
Anthony Mauro, June 16, 2008
Three of the five major forest regions in the United States are rooted in the Garden State. From the Kittatinny Range to the Pine Barrens, nearly forty percent of New Jersey's total area is timberland. The soils of these woodlands help to perform the important function of drainage and also determine the vitality of nearly 90 species of trees and countless species of plant life. Additionally, the health of this ecology is transferred to fish and wildlife by means of food, water, cover and protection.
Forests are thriving, functioning organisms teaming with biodiversity - from the most inconspicuous micro fauna to the most notable of black bears. While some of us may appreciate woodlands for repose and aesthetics, a glimpse into the inner workings of soil, trees, plant and animal life will allow us to fully value the forest's theater.
Paleontology confirms that Mother Nature is a responsible steward of her forests. She provides balance for component species with her invention called "restoration;" the removal of older tree growth stands and successions of plant growth. Mother Nature manages her forest's health with such devices as fire, wind, flooding, disease and insects. These devices, as primitive as they may be, ensure a productive forest ecosystem over the long-term.
Many a bureaucrat shackles the devices of Mother Nature in the name of preserving her aesthetics. Additionally, even the most regarded scientist will admit that with each advancing stage of knowledge comes the discovery of how little he knows of the mysteries in his care. However, in the name of preservation both the bureaucrat and the scientist labor to tinker with machinery that already produces an efficient forest ecology.
Preservation is a manmade prescription designed to age woodlands. Ironically, preservation is a remedy that smothers plants and shrubs by maturing the forest canopy. The forest vegetation is replaced by a succession of invasive plant life, ingredients not found in Mother Nature's recipe book for a healthy wilderness. The result is an imbalance in the numbers of wildlife that depend on the forest. Adaptable creatures such as deer brim over, while dependent creatures such as bobwhites diminish.
The once familiar "bob - white" whistle was a tune played for audiences throughout most of New Jersey but now pipes only for limited engagements in a few select counties. The patchworks of grassland and shrub habitat needed to sustain this bird, and other threatened species, originated when lightening created fires and made forest clearings. Fire was also a tool used by Native Americans and European settlers to open woodlands for hunting, traveling and agriculture. Today, measures are taken to limit fire for its destructive capacity but by doing so we also limit its usefulness.
In the days when Washington marched his intrepid militia over a colonial New Jersey the territory of our revolution was covered in one-third grasslands, scrub and shrub. The headiness of succeeding generations has misspent much of this inheritance and by the time today?s age apportions its share, we will pass on a scanty five-percent.
The effects of preservation also give rise to problems with seedlings that replace older trees and concoct an overabundance of insect pariahs. To preserve forests is to amass tree branches, twigs, cones, moss, and altered vegetation composition, which serve as stockpiles of forest fuel. These unnatural fuel accumulations increase fire intensity, spread, and resistance to control, a problem compounded by urban sprawl and suburban living that nears, or nestles with, public lands. The result is more homes and structures near areas where large wildland fires can occur and a sizeable inventory of forest fuels available for catastrophe.
To conserve a thing is to use it in sustainable and efficient quantities. Conservation is the foundation of survival; it is designed into all living things. We consume the earth's resources of food, water, cover and protection with a responsibility to expend in amounts equal to those that can be restored. The act of restoration guarantees long-term survival of all the species that comprise the world wide web of ecology. Mother Nature has engineered conservation - a dynamic of life, death and rebirth - as a means for safeguarding species. She does not preserve her valuables by displaying them on a plinth.
Foresters have the means to supervise New Jersey's forests and assist in ecological balance by simulating the conservation formula of Mother Nature. Strategically determined forest cutting and burning practices, along with the culling methods of fishing and hunting, are utilized as part of a forest and wildlife management plan that uses an ecosystem approach to woodland restoration. Should man insist on imposing preservation over conservation the laws of science will ultimately sue for equilibrium - and will assuredly prevail.
The New Jersey Outdoor Alliance Conservation Foundation is excited about its initiatives in habitat improvement. Under the leadership of NJOACF Director of Special Projects, Joe Matter, and NJOACF advisor and forester, Bob Williams, we are collaborating with NJ Quail Project and other conservation minded organizations to reinvigorate a habitat in the Cohansey River Corridor of southern New Jersey. It is our goal to sustain abundant populations of bobwhites and other grassland, scrub and shrub dependent species by means of forest conservation.
Good habitat, well managed, is the key to regenerating many wildlife species and the health of the land. It would be well advised for New Jersey to make best use of forestry as a management tool for implementing practices that mitigate the potential of catastrophic wildfires and support biodiversity. Balance in the ecology yields a bounty shared by the angler, hunter, birdwatcher, nature lover, photographer, John Q. Public and Mother Nature alike.
Anthony P. Mauro, Sr,
Chairman, New Jersey Outdoor Alliance
President, New Jersey Outdoor Alliance Conservation Foundation
