Impact of Clearcutting - Assignment Example

Clearcutting as a method of generating and harvesting timber wealth has accrued much controversy in the last few days. Though the industries dependant on the usage and exploitation of timber wealth deem clearcutting to be an efficient and economic method of managing timber wealth, still, many environmental groups and concerned citizens tend to criticize and oppose clearcutting owing to its debilitating impact on land, biodiversity, water and human life (Kemp 70).

Impact of Clearcutting on Land and Environment
As per the opinion of many environmental groups, clearcutting stands to be one of the major contributors to global warming (Johansen 199). While clearcutting, when the trees are cut down, their stumps, branches, and leaves are left on the forest land, where they naturally decompose and release much carbon dioxide that immensely contributes to global warming (Quindlen 76). This problem is many times augmented by the commensurate processing activities of the sawmills. Of the wood availed by clearcutting, the sawmills are able to process only a segment of this wood into usable timber, and much of this wood gets wasted as sawdust and scraps that further decompose to release carbon dioxide. The net impact of clearcutting is that it leads to the release of many greenhouse gases into the environment (Quindlen 76). Besides, it has been seen that the timber companies after clearcutting a forest happen to burn the residual scrub, twigs, and leaves, thereby directly polluting the environment with much particulate matter.

Impact of Clearcutting on Water
Clearcutting has a direct negative impact on the water cycles (Killingworth & Palmer 33). Eventually, it is the trees and their roots that hold and retain water in the soil. When these trees are cut en masse, the possibility of flooding of water and the topsoil increases manifold. When it rains, owing to the clearcutting of forest tracts and the consequent absence of sponge-like retaining influence of trees and their roots, the water flows down to the rivers carrying with it the fertile topsoil (Killingworth & Palmer 33). The flow of nutrient-rich soil to the sea also leads to an undesirable influence on the ecosystem in the seas. This may also give way to the flooding of adjacent urban areas, causing damage to human life and property.

Impact of Clearcutting on Biodiversity
Clear cutting leads to the en masse annihilation of forest tracts that leads to the complete annihilation of the delicate ecosystem in these areas. That way clearcutting not only pushes out and stresses the entire wildlife and plant life residing in such areas, but also makes these tracts of the forest more vulnerable to destruction by floods, acid rain, plant and animal disease, and winds (Eaton 32). This is the direct evil influence of clearcutting on biodiversity. Clearcutting also indirectly mars the biodiversity. For instance, much aquatic life around the land tracts subjected to clearcutting may depend on the nutrients and raw materials brought by the water flowing through these forests (Eaton 32). Clearcutting, by destroying these forest areas in a way indirectly leads to the devastation of such affiliated aquatic ecosystems (Eaton 32). In addition, clearcutting deprives the landmass and water bodies of the shade provided by the trees, thereby leading to a rise in the temperature of such land and water bodies, causing the extinction of many plant species, insects, amphibians, and fishes (Johansen 199). The excess of nutrients flowing into the sea owing to clearcutting also causes many problems for the marine life far away (Eaton 32). Clearcutting jeopardizes the entire web of delicate ecosystems associated with a landmass, thereby harming biodiversity in a variety of ways.

Impact of Clearcutting on Humans
Clearcutting impacts human life in multiple ways. The floods and landslides caused by the clearcutting of forests may destroy the adjacent human life and property. Besides, clearcutting deprives the neighborhood human communities of timber, forest produce, game, and other associated natural assets for a long and sustained period of time, thereby having a direct economic impact on humans. Besides, forests also tend to have an aesthetic appeal for humans and clearcutting leaves land masses desolate, flat, and dusty. Clear cutting also has the capacity to influence agriculture by making the neighboring farms more vulnerable to weeds and natural parasites, in the absence of the natural checking and restraining influences (Pirages 264). The flooding of the topsoil also causes the usage of more fertilizers and pesticides, harming the environment in one more way. Read More