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bmUgc3RhbmQgd2hpY2ggaGFzIGJlZW4g --Apple-Mail-1--645166072 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252 Yes Mary, as stated so eloquently by Auden's poem "Woods" - =93a culture = is no better than its woods=94 Paul R. On 2016-01-08, at 5:48 AM, Mary Macaulay wrote: > David >=20 > Step back a minute and remember it is our very interference and = "managing" that is upsetting the delicate balance of Nature. > Thoreau would remind you "In Wildness is the preservation of the = World". >=20 > With kindest regards >=20 > Mary (Macaulay), P.Eng. > Queen Bee, Insect Recovery Project > Owner, Remember Adventures > Pedal Buggy & snowshoe rentals, picnics, great bird friendly coffee, = breakfast & pasta, pollinator meadow, games & more!!=20 > (Open Wed to Sunday: 8:30 am) > 365 Main Street & Station Road > Trans-Canada Trail > Tatamagouche > RememberAdventures.ca & InsectRecovery.org > 1-902-657-0054 > Twitter @RememberTata & @InsectRecovery >=20 > On Jan 7, 2016, at 8:44 PM, David & Alison Webster = <dwebster@glinx.com> wrote: >=20 >> Hi Mary, Jim & All, Jan 7, 2016 >> By biomass I meant cutting trees (but clear cutting only in very = exceptional circumstances), mowing Miscanthus,.... and ultimately = burning for power. >> =20 >> It is a grave mistake to imagine that carbon accumulation in a = forest continues for all time. David Suzuki preached this for a while = but retracted about 20 years ago. After few decades or many, depending = upon initial state, a point is reached whereby release of carbon dioxide = by forest litter and soil equals the carbon fixed in any one year. This = steady state neither gains nor loses CO2. Consult a copy of The Soil = Resource Hans Jenny Ecological Studies 37 1980, 377 pp; fluff free so = about 400 hrs would be a good start. >> =20 >> A steady state forest does store carbon until a dry period hits, = as it has out west for several years, and one has huge forest fires. And = dry or not there are some forest fires every year. And on the heels of a = forest fire, unless there is very rapid regeneration, there will be = large losses of CO2 from soil, as in clear cuts. >> =20 >> As an aside, I have been selectively cutting trees for firewood, = off and on, for 72 years and I am confident that most cuts quickly led = to greater growth rates of the remaining trees and greater rates of = carbon capture. I don't want to put words in Jamie's mouth or actions in = his hands but, unless I have wires crossed, he also cuts trees = selectively for firewood and I suspect that given the same setting we = would very often make similar choices. >> =20 >> Also as an aside, one learns by making mistakes and I have = learned much that way. For example in 1971 I bought a woodlot south of = Wolfville with the view that the best way to protect woodland was to buy = and not cut it. For 10 years I spent many weekends thinning perhaps 5% = of the area and keeping the lines clear and in 1981 got a nearby lot and = neglected the first. At the time of the cutting craze (high prices) I = received many phone calls from those wanting to buy stumpage and refused = all. I was called all kinds of names, most having something to do with = fool and was warned that many would die if I did not have the larger = trees removed. It turns out they were correct. Many did die or perhaps = even worse survive and crowd nearby trees. In the wind of Dec 2010 many = more went over and in much of those woods one would be unwise to walk = without a chainsaw; land in a tangle of 10' Fir thickets and cross piled = windfalls is just plain dangerous to walk across without a saw to cut a = path if need be. With the objective of making matters easier for my = executors I put it up for sale and the only serious offer was from a = logger, about my age, who had cut some there when he was young. He has = two (?) sons and I am sure they will do a better job of managing it than = I did. >> =20 >> In the North Alton woodlot about 2003 my neighbor had a harvester = on his lot and offered to selectively cut about 20 acres of mine which = he claimed would soon die if not thinned; the offer was (?) $40,000 = guaranteed and half of any remaining profit. I agreed to this, slept on = it and backed out. Once again he was correct; probably 80% of these = trees did die and there are large patches bare of live trees. >> =20 >> The discussion about woodland, from my perspective, is whether = and how the desirable features of selective cutting for firewood can be = effected by machinery for biomass and therefore be cost-effective, = improve the forest and decrease net CO2 emissions. We have strayed into = several side issues but this is a necessary step so all or most can = agree on what is known or can be known. >> =20 >> For nearly a year now I have intended to make some comments about = possible futures for NS forests and this current discussion may lead = into that subject eventually. It is a topic which I think needs to be = carefully reconsidered in all respects. >> =20 >> My time and energy is largely taken up in 24/7 home care so time = is usually limited to fragments of time between chores. But I do = generally have ~3 hrs free when Alison has a nap between 12:30 and 3:30. = So Jim (and Mary if business takes you this way) I would be delighted to = show you a Pine stand which has been cut much and in need again of = thinning (the 2010 wind thinned some and my Nephews thankfully extracted = the logs) and some of the consequences of not thinning soon enough as = viewed in North Alton. >> =20 >> The average age of NS forests, so I understand, is about 40 = years. Non-commercial thinning costs, and the forestry outlook has been = depressed, so I suspect many are overstocked. By cutting intelligently = one could, using mechanical harvesters, clear cut 1/5 of the area for 9' = wide travel ways and then thin the remaining 80% to overcome suppression = and come away with biomass for burning. >> =20 >> And depending upon the state of the forest, there may be great = net release of CO2 in an unthinned forest if e.g. the trees are = overstocked such that nearly all die after a long period of poor CO2 = fixation of ongoing release from the litter & soil. >> And so to bed, >> Yt, Dave Webster, Kentville >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: Jim Wolford >> To: naturens >> Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2016 5:10 PM >> Subject: Fwd: [NatureNS] Red Herring & Forestry >>=20 >> I fear Mary is reading into =93biomass=94 its harvesting and burning, = which I=92m sure was not intended by David W. And yes to Mary=92s = second sentence. from Jim in Wolfville. >>=20 >> Begin forwarded message: >>=20 >>> From: Mary Macaulay <