Prevention of Deforestation in the US - Essay Example

Jane Jones Jim Smith English IV 19 May Deforestation The forest provides many benefits for human life. First, a single mature tree can produce enough oxygen for two human beings during that same period, at the same time reducing carbon dioxide by forty-eight pounds. The shade of a deciduous tree can reduce the temperature by as much as twenty degrees, thereby reducing air conditioning bills and in effect, the carbon footprint. In addition, trees provide food sources (Fruit, nuts, syrup, etc), lumber for various uses and paper. National forests offer a cost effective and inexpensive way for the family to enjoy their vacations. In the 1970’s, Canadian artist Joni Mitchell sang a song called “Big Yellow Taxi”, in which part of the lyrics were: They take all the trees Put them in a tree museum They take Paradise And put up a parking lot Well, thankfully it has not gotten to that point yet. However, the American Museum of National History does have an exhibition hall devoted to the American tree, called the Hall of North American Forests (AMNH). Ms Mitchell is partly correct in the fact the museum does its best to preserve species of trees. Each diorama represents different specific areas throughout the continent, including the other plants, birds, insects and even mammals native to that habitat. If certain parties have their way and old growth forests do mostly disappear, at least the future generations will have a means to see how they once existed. One thing interesting and this writer did not know was how the museum labeled the giant cacti of Arizona as a “forest” and has an exhibit devoted to them. When one thinks of the desert, sparse dry land with little vegetation comes to mind. Maybe the occasional cactus, arms sweeping majestically with almost a human-like gesture, will be seen by itself. That particularly enduring symbol of the American Southwest is the saguaro (Carnegiea gigantean) and can ultimately grow to over seventy feet tall. It even has a national park named after it and devoted to it near Tucson, where the plant grows to its tallest. Pictures of the park do indeed show the cacti grouped together in forests and one stand in the park has saguaro estimated to be well over two centuries old. Arizona and Federal laws make it illegal to harvest or even harm the cacti in any fashion, including a practice known as “plugging”, shooting or chopping the plant in order to eventually kill it (NPS). Yet our forests have slowly dwindled. At the time of the first Western settlers in the seventeenth century, the United States was a forest primeval. Of the 2.3 billion acres in the continental part of the country, almost one-half of that was forested. The Native Americans practiced very little deforestation, preferring instead to use fallen and/or dead trees if possible. Yet the European settlers favored living in houses and settlements. So widespread use of the forests began to be practiced, as the young country became ever more urban, and industrialized, the old growth forests rapidly disappeared. Between 1607 and 1900 over three hundred million acres of forest disappeared when conversion efforts began in earnest. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the acreage of forests has remained very steady, 747 million acres, including some that have been planted or reconstituted since 1900 (National). Therefore, it is interesting the Hall of North American Forests has two dioramas devoted to marvelous species of the American biosphere. The first is the Giant Sequoia of California. The slab of one tree felled in 1891 was ring-aged to be over fourteen hundred years old. It stood three hundred feet tall. The Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron Giganteum) is native to California and interestingly enough, only grows in one sixty-mile area in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, mostly above five thousand feet. Widespread logging of the tree occurred until the early part of the twentieth century and it is now illegal to harvest the beautiful trees. Finally, in 2000 President Bill Clinton established and dedicated the Sequoia National Monument in the area of its natural habitat. Among the thirty groves of trees in the Monument is the Trail of 100 Giants in Long Meadow Grove, with the largest sequoia 220 feet high and more than twenty feet in diameter. Like the sample tree in the museum of the 125 trees in this particular stand (the name is a misnomer), scientists believe the largest samples in the Grove to be more than 1,500 years old. Visitors can hike into the forest to revel in the beauty of the stately old beauties but other than snowmobiles in the winter, vehicles are strictly regulated. The other specimen is the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, encompassing more than eight hundred square miles (521,000 acres) in parts of Tennessee and North Carolina, the largest east of the Mississippi River. More than twenty million people come to this natural wonder annually, making it the most visited National Park. Named for the smoky blue haze that lingers over the mountains (part of which is the residuals from Eastern pollution), which rise to over 8,000 feet, the park is home to more than 17,000 identified biological species and scientists estimate as many as another 60,000 species have yet to be identified. As such, it is the only National Park designated by the United Nations as an International Biosphere Reserve. It is also the ancestral home of the Cherokee, until most were driven out in the 1800’s and forcibly relocated to Oklahoma. However, many of them managed to hide out and now the tribe has a large reservation on the southern end of the park. This includes around one hundred species of trees native to the region and less than five per cent of the park is non-forested. More than one-quarter of the area is old growth forests. Yet it was not always that way. Like its Western relatives the Sequoia, forests in the region were logged to such an extent they looked like they had been “skinned”. More than 300,000 acres were “clear-cut” before conservationists like Horace Kephart took note in the early twentieth century. The movement was on with help from oilman John D. Rockefeller of all people. Donations from people all over the country poured in and in 1926, Congress authorized the National Park. Of course, the logging industry vehemently fought it but President Roosevelt personally dedicated it (PBS). However, that all happened in the nineteenth century, most would argue. The only widespread clear-cutting logging in done in poorer areas of the world, especially the rain forests of the Amazon, which supplies most of the Earth’s oxygen supply. This is true and is indeed a cause for concern. Nevertheless, most do not realize deforestation also continues to happen here in the United States. Under the pretense of environmental responsibility, the logging industry lobbyists have successfully obtained authorization for clear-cutting in many states. This is especially significant in Louisiana, where the state’s coastal wetlands and swamp areas such as the Atchafalaya Basin have their native cypress trees threatened by clear-cutting, for the simple purpose of providing consumers with the ever popular cypress mulch for their yards! The Sierra Club is fighting to help protect the lands from such widespread loss (Sierra). In conclusion, it is a wonderful thing the American Museum of National History is doing to show the native species of forests and trees of this continent. However, citizens should make it a priority to protect our existing forests. The National Park Service’s budget should be maintained, or even raised. Then, our wonderful trees will always be here to enjoy. WORKS CITED AMNH, “Hall of North American Forests”, Web, December 5, 2012. National Atlas, “Forest Resources of the United States”, Web, December 5, 2012. National Park Service, “National Park Getaways”, Web, December 5, 2012. PBS, “Great Smoky Mountains National Park”, Web, December 6, 2012. Sierra Club, “Louisiana Conservation Groups Call for Expanded Protection of State’s Cypress Forests”, Web, December 6, 2012. Read More