Letter: Speak out against clear-cutting

The federal government has rescheduled forests in Vermont for logging. Twelve-thousand acres in the Green Mountain National Forest (GMNF), over 90 percent of which is classified as old growth, is now scheduled to be clear-cut.

This is an abomination on many levels. Logging operations during the current climate crisis must be minimized as every tree, especially older-growth trees and the forest community surrounding them, are efficient carbon sinks that must be maintained. In addition, forest communities often contain over 60,000 different species, which are displaced or destroyed during logging.

We are only just becoming aware of the complexity of the mycorrhizal network that connects life in forest communities, and which is also destroyed by logging. This fungal network connects trees, shares nutrients and offers communication between multiple species. See science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aba1223 for information.

The human race can continue to view forests as a commodity, or accept that we are part of the living planet, and destroying that planet will lead to our own destruction. You have a voice. Even if you have never set foot in GMNF, as a citizen of the United States you can tell the U.S. Forest Service to preserve this precious forest community at savepublicforests.org/take-action. Please add your voice, and thank you. 

Chris Balch 

Wilton

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