California clear-cut logging missed a spot

July 3, 2018 1:53 PM

Why do loggers in California seem to always leave a few bunches of trees standing? I noticed this common pattern while flying over Northern California where every logged section has 3-4 clumps of trees left standing. In Washington and Oregon, absolutely everything gets cut down within a section.
posted by Diddly to Science & Nature (5 answers total)

Best answer: Generally this is done in order to leave some sort of "green corridor" for wildlife and is mandated as part of a forest management plan.
posted by JamesBay at 3:04 PM on July 3, 2018 [3 favorites]

Best answer: This is a specific type of clearcutting called "shelterwood cutting." Shelterwood cutting is a type of clearcutting which leaves a few trees per acre to reseed the area from those remaining trees.
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:10 PM on July 3, 2018 [9 favorites]

I saw just this thing in Oregon recently (though you're right, it's not normal here). Thanks for asking the question so I could see the answers.
posted by kbuxton at 4:14 PM on July 3, 2018

I've done some work for foresters - what they have told me is basically what JamesBay said. They have a forest management plan, and are required to leave some clumps of trees for wildlife/endangered species, etc.
posted by FireFountain at 6:07 PM on July 3, 2018

It may be Cultural Resources Management in action. On federal land,* before logging or any other activity that would disturb the soil and destroy the data, an archeological survey is done to look for any evidence of human culture, historic or prehistoric. If anything of importance is found, the simplist thing to do is mark off the area, and log around it.

I was a shovelbum for one season in Wisconsin, decades ago, on an Army Reserve base. Our survey consisted of digging holes along 15 meter transects and screening through the dirt. We mainly found flakes left over from making or sharpening stone tools; they're really common. There are probably a whole bunch of criteria that go into what gets saved and what gets logged--I wasn't involved in that part.

*Probably some non-federal land too. It likely varies by state.
posted by hydrophonic at 6:39 PM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]