Letter: Balch had it all wrong

Chris Balch's letter on Green Mountain National Forest (GMNF) logging plans in the Feb. 14 Ledger-Transcript (“Speak out against clear-cutting”) demands a response.

Balch purports to believe trees are part of our climate solution and that we must protect them, but was charged with spiking trees. Balch also has his facts wrong, and facts matter. The GMNF is not proposing to clear-cut "old growth forests.” The Green and White Mountain national forests have only a few hundred acres of old growth forest between them, and those areas are in protected zones. The GMNF is proposing scientifically based timber harvest to improve wildlife habitat and the quality of the trees so the remaining trees will grow faster and sequester more carbon.

Older forests do not sequester the most carbon; younger forests, between the age of 20 and 70, have the fastest growing rates and sequester the most carbon. This is documented in peer-reviewed scientific literature. Younger forests are helping offset greenhouse gas emissions, not old forests. Old forests store a lot of carbon from the past, but they are slow-growing and do not sequester a lot of carbon relative to younger forests. Trees and forests provide so many benefits, from clean water, wildlife habitat, recreational opportunities and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and, yes, timber for all the things that are made from wood. We can have all of those things and timber when we manage our forests sustainably in the Northeast, and we do.

Stopping harvesting only moves the cutting to other parts of the world where forests are not managed sustainably as we do. Balch needs to read up on the latest science on forests, climate change and the role of forests in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. 

Charles Levesque

Antrim

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