Fire plan would cut 2.4 million New Jersey Pinelands trees

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Fire plan would cut 2.4 million New Jersey Pinelands trees

By WAYNE PARRY
November 25, 2022

BASS RIVER TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — Up to 2.4 million trees would be cut down as part of a project to prevent major wildfires in a federally protected New Jersey forest heralded as a unique environmental treasure.

New Jersey environmental officials say the plan to kill trees in a section of Bass River State Forest is designed to better protect against catastrophic wildfires, adding it will mostly affect small, scrawny trees — not the towering giants for which the Pinelands National Refuge is known and loved.

But the plan, adopted Oct. 14 by the New Jersey Pinelands Commission and set to begin in April, has split environmentalists. Some say it is a reasonable and necessary response to the dangers of wildfires, while others say it is an unconscionable waste of trees that would no longer be able to store carbon as climate change imperils the globe.

Foes are also upset about the possible use of herbicides to prevent invasive species regeneration, noting that the Pinelands sits atop an aquifer that contains some of the purest drinking water in the nation.

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-fires-forests-business-trees-a53a63f85ef664eb70df00af2d1c3bf8

[brush]

1. Hmmmmm? Cutting down 2.4 million trees to save other trees?

Come on now. That doesn't even sound like it makes sense. And plants generate oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Again, come now. Guess these idiots don't remember anything about photosynthesis from science classes in high school.

https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=Awr99PRYz4FjUsUDRi82nIlQ;_ylu=c2VjA3NlYXJjaARzbGsDYXNzaXN0;_ylc=X1MDMTM1MTE5NTcwMgRfcgMyBGZyA3locy10cm8tZnJlc2h5BGZyMgNzYS1ncC1zZWFyY2gEZ3ByaWQDZFFSUGdjVE1UN1MuU2lZNWxCbHptQQRuX3JzbHQDMARuX3N1Z2cDNgRvcmlnaW4DaW1hZ2VzLnNlYXJjaC55YWhvby5jb20EcG9zAzEEcHFzdHIDaG93IHBob3Rvc3ludGhlc2lzIHdvcgRwcXN0cmwDMjIEcXN0cmwDMjQEcXVlcnkDaG93JTIwcGhvdG9zeW50aGVzaXMlMjB3b3JrcwR0X3N0bXADMTY2OTQ1MTY1MwR1c2VfY2FzZQM-?p=how+photosynthesis+works&fr=yhs-tro-freshy&fr2=sa-gp-search&ei=UTF-8&x=wrt&type=Y219_F163_204671_090322&hsimp=yhs-freshy&hspart=tro#id=146&iurl=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-8YvA9cESSIE%2FUGEaEYdg5oI%2FAAAAAAAAACo%2FDaYV8Otn5o8%2Fs1600%2FScreenshot-15.png&action=click

[pscot]

2. Can't have forest fires without trees

[NickB79]

3. Good. This biome has become overcrowded due to lack of regular wildlfires

The Jersey pine forests were historically burned regularly by Native Americans to improve hunting habitat. In the process, they created a more open, park-like habitat. The very species composition, like pitch and jack pine, show this, as these species can't reproduce without fires.

But since European colonization, and especially in the past century, forest fires have become almost non-existent. Tree seedlings and shrubs grew thick, and now pose a serious fire risk that would burn hotter than any previous fires. Such an event would outright kill mature trees and sterilize soils instead of being a more gentle, clearing burn. And thanks to climate change, the East Coast is now seeing drought conditions that make forest fires harder to avoid.

Either clear selected trees from the forest and use controlled burns to reduce the brush load, or Mother Nature will do it for us, and we won't like those results at all.

As for the use of herbicides, that's impossible to avoid when combating invasive species. And a forest full of buckthorn and honeysuckle is a disaster for the environment far beyond any herbicide application.