Silviculture: Art & Science of Growing Sustainable Forests - Essay Sample

Introduction

Silviculture comes from a Latin word 'silvi' meaning forest and culture means growing. Silviculture is the art and science of supervising the growth, well-being, and quality of forests and woodlands to meet the various needs of the society such as timber, water resources, wildlife habitat, and recreation in a sustainable basis. Achievement of Silviculture is through applying different types of treatments, which include; thinning, pruning, harvesting, planting, and prescribed burning. Thinning is a practice done to remove or get rid of trees with no economic value. Pruning involves the selective removal of specific parts of trees, such as buds, branches, or roots. Harvesting is the selective cutting down of specific trees to maintain a favorable environment in the forest for the growth of more trees. Lastly, prescribed burning is a technique that involves setting fires on forests for purposes such as site preparation or maintenance of forest understory (Nyland, 2016)

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Practicing of Silviculture is essential because it enhances the maximization of the production of timber and economic returns. Secondly, to enable the creation of a preferred wildlife habitat, which is associated with the growth of longleaf pine stands overseen for the red-cockaded woodpecker. Thirdly, to facilitate the protection of water catchment areas to improve the quality of water as demonstrated by the northern hardwood stands overseen in the Catskills Mountains of New York. Fourthly, silviculture restores and manages the eco-system function. An example of such is by bottomland hardwood plants, which are replanted on the agricultural lands found in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, and lastly, silviculture results to the preservation of the eco-systems of the natural forests and wilderness. A body that overlooks the preservation of forests is National Parks through forest management (Gamborg & Larsen, 2003)

Prescribed burning involves intentionally setting fires and allow the fire to burn; however, under controlled conditions. The prescriptions are managed and developed by ecologists and fire managers who work harmoniously to generate expectable fire characteristics that produce anticipated outcomes. The prescribed fires have varying effects on the properties of the eco-system, vegetation structure, and type of forests, but it varies on the type of fire (intensity, scale, timing, and frequency). Hence before prescribing a fire, there should be conduction of a thorough investigation of the effects of fire on the ecological system in multiple forests. The effects can be both negative and positive, as explained below.

(Fernandes & Botelho, 2003)

Prescribed fires enable hazardous fuel reduction; this is because there is the rapid accumulation of forest fuels in pine stands. Such accumulation poses a severe danger from wildfires; hence, prescribed fires are the most sensible approach to the moderate hazardous accumulation of inflammable fuels. Hence wildfires that combust in locations where prescribed fires have been prescribed result to less damage and are also manageable.

Also, there is insect and disease control. Prescribed fires are the most suitable and practical method of controlling diseases such as brown spot disease. It is a fungal disease that weakens and kills longleaf pine seedlings and insects such as the white pine cone beetle, which attacks white pine seed orchards. There is also an improvement of wildlife habitat. Forest managers often recommend prescribed fires to manage wildlife habitats, especially in areas where longleaf and loblolly are the main existing species. The prescribed fires often favor undergrowth species that provide food for the wildlife. Hence, animals such as deer and turkey are some wild animals that gain from the prescribed fires.

Prescribed fires are vital during the regeneration of Southern Pines because the fires uncover mineral salts and act as regulators of competing for vegetation until the pine seedlings become established. Additionally, these fires enhance grazing in open pine stands uniquely in the Coastal Plains through increasing availability, quality, and quantity of grasses and forages.

Prescribed fires also improve access to a forest. Burning the underlying forages before selling products from the forests increases the effectiveness of cruising and harvesting of timber. It also improves the safety of loggers due to better visibility.

On the other hand, prescribed fires can injure or kill a plant depending on the intensity of the fire or the exposure time of the plant to high temperatures. Plant components, e.g., the thickness of the bark and the diameter of the stem, are influenced when exposed to fire. Smaller trees tend to die faster than the big trees. Also, Southern Pines have barks that have excellent insulating capabilities than pine trees, which are more susceptible to injury.

Prescribed burning effects on water sources are severe because it increases runoff and rainfall. After burning when the ir is an increase in surface runoff, sometimes it may carry suspended soil particles, organic nutrients, and materials found near streams, thus reducing the quality of water. Rainwater causes leaching of minerals, which causes mineral salts from the soil layers to dissolve into the groundwater before the plants utilize them.

Also, smoke caused by fires affects human health. Fire management employees who do not have protective gears risk exposure to the thick smokes thus suffer from respiratory system irritation. Sometimes long exposure to high carbon monoxide levels can result in impaired judgment. Small particles from the fires can enter the respiratory systems of individuals causing severe health problems because the particles may contain toxic chemicals.

Conclusion

In summary, it is a suitable method for managing forests. Before applying this technique, many precautions should be taken into account because failure to do so can result in catastrophic consequences. Therefore, to ensure such safety, a monitoring program should be put in place to ensure that treatments associated with prescribed fires are meeting invasive plant management purposes.

References

Nyland, R. D. (2016). Silviculture: concepts and applications. Waveland Press. Retrieved from:https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=qDypDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR3&dq=silviculture+in+forestry&ots=s8m0riDWuO&sig=67bF7-xT5tMTaG0_v8UqHusGMJ0

Gamborg, C., & Larsen, J. B. (2003). 'Back to nature'-a sustainable future for forestry? Forest Ecology and Management, 179(1-3), 559-571.Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112702005534

Fernandes, P. M., & Botelho, H. S. (2003). A review of prescribed burning effectiveness in fire hazard reduction. International Journal of wildland fire, 12(2), 117-128. Retrieved from http://www.publish.csiro.au/wf/WF02042