Quote:
Originally Posted by DwnWthVwls
I'm not sure of its effect on soils, but around here there are a couple reasons.
Landscape biodiversity (the oaks are out competing pine stands in a lot of cases where natural fire has been suppressed), safety (to reduce fuel loads on the forest floor), and habitat restoration for hunting (in Pa this is a large focus) and species support.
Here is a great picture Ben Jones presented at the NAFSE workshop my college hosted a few weeks ago:
https://pagamecommission.wordpress.c...-and-wildlife/
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That's wonderful! I'm obsessed with creating self-sustaining habitats, especially for birds and beneficial insects. Where I live, the pines usually outcompete everything else, which sucks since they're a softwood and certainly not as useful to recycle after they come down (which is quite often, due to extreme fluctuations in weather... like snow making the ranches snap easily because of the soft wood). I have to hire a tree service to cut some of my own down, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to recycle the wood; it sucks because I can't use it for hugelkultur (ie: self-composting mound gardening) due to its antimicrobial properties (takes too long to decompose and doesnt retain water well)...so I'll probably just end up chipping the wood and using it for mulch in the garden. I'll probably replant understory trees in their place; something native and useful; like fruit trees, or herbal trees (like sassafrass or watch hazel), or perhaps nitrogen fixing trees (assuming any of those will grow in zone 8 lol).