Published: January 13, 2009 09:49 pm      

Forest sustainability is the ‘long-term goal,’ official says

CHARLESTON — If there is no new thing under the sun, as divine wisdom holds, that axiom certainly applies to forest sustainability — a concern that state Forester Randy Dye says harks back nearly two centuries ago.

Many fretted over the prospects of diminishing woods back in the 1800s as Americans cleared the land in a massive effort to launch huge farms, he told the Forest Management Review Commission in Tuesday interims.

Even with the onslaught of modern forestry and the increased demand for wood products, Dye advised the panel that West Virginia is faring better now than then.

“So what you are saying is that we’re in much better shape in every aspect, and every respect, than we were at the turn of the century?” asked Sen. Walt Helmick, D-Pocahontas, a co-chairman.

“Yes, that’s true,” Dye said.

Even so, Dye said in the second installment of his 12-month study, preparatory to developing a new strategic plan, the proliferation of markets and high-tech devices have combined to allow humans to exploit woods “far beyond sustainable levels.”

Dye called on the commission to evaluate each individual stand of trees a year or so before any harvesting.

“We need to do this to protect the genetic basis of the stand,” he said. “We need to shape the species abundance and diversity.”

Timber is a $4 billion industry in West Virginia and functions in all 55 counties, providing employment to some 30,000. Forests blanket 78 percent of the state.

More than a century ago, in the horse-and-buggy days, the first large-scale research into forestry was performed by A.B. Brooks, in a 1,000-page book, at a time when 40 percent of West Virginia was occupied by crops, meadows and pastures.

Dye said misconceptions abound in forestry. For instance, up to 90 percent of Americans live without any connection to the land, unaware it is the source of food, shelter and water.

Moreover, it isn’t possible to revert to pre-European conditions, as detailed in some books.

“No matter how romantic, we can never return to the past,” he said.

A third problem is what Dye criticized as media coverage that emphasizes “inflammatory portrayals, seldom with deep insight,” and this has contributed to a general misunderstanding by the public.

“Unfortunately,” he told the commission, “most citizens can identify more automobiles by name than they can trees, and so they are often unknowingly misled.”

West Virginia was the first state to complete topographic mapping, no small feat considering there were no airplanes, electronic transits and satellite positioning systems, merely mules, plane tables and altimeters, Dye said.

Dye acknowledged a sustainability mission can be no simple matter and is a long-term goal.

“We have to be careful that elegance does not overwhelm practicality,” he said.

“We are, in essence, at the beginning of something new. Our idea of a strategic plan is to come up with a list of the best solutions. With scarce financial resources as now exist, we must prioritize all that is absolutely essential and that takes skillful planning.”

Dye said emphasis must be assigned on the structure of each stand, edge effects, dead trees and snags, appearance, crown cover, invasive plants, tree density, basal area, micro environments, water movement, potential plant diseases and noxious insects, and stand disturbance.

“To do the best job, we must remember at all times that a forest ecosystem will collapse if pushed too hard for short-term products or allowed to grow old to be vigorous,” he said.

“We must also remember that business is the practice of what is possible.”