New England’s Forests Are Sick. They Need More Tree Doctors.

    I’ve recently been more aware of the importance of trees and the impact they have on the habitat around them. This article caught my attention and it discussed a few important aspects of the importance of trees for the environment. I was surprised on the claims that this article makes on all of the different environmental factors that are impacting the overall health of our forests. Disease, invasive species, climate change and others all of a significant impact on trees. 

This is cause for concern because trees are vital for the health of our ecosystems and also play an important factor in our economy. Construction of residential and commercial properties are dependent on the use of lumber. Lumber seems like a commodity that is coming from a seemingly endless supply. Most people don’t really give much thought to it, they drive to the nearest home improvement store and there it is. Without much thought on how that wood got there. Luckily, wood is a very replenishable source. That replenishment, however, is being impacted by the high demand and stressors trees must overcome to stay healthy and grow. 

This article discusses the threats unhealthy trees can cause such as decreasing habitat quality for wildlife and threatening the overall success of tree survival. They are looking at trees in the New England area. Here in Colorado, we have seen the impacts disease and poor climate conditions can cause. I recently was helping with the East Troublesome fire in the Granby, CO area. The fire was devastating for the local population but even more for the forests and wildlife in the area. I have spent a lot of time in the forests in Grand County and have noticed the amount of beetle killed lodgepole pine in the area. You can look at the mountain side and see gray patches and sometimes whole mountain sides containing still standing and fallen trees that were overwhelmed with the beetle infestation. This is great fuel for fires and the East Troublesome fire flourished in the area. 

These fires cost millions of dollars to contain and fight. That is money that could have been spent elsewhere but due to the decline in forest conditions must be utilized to fight fires. This is a devastating reality that we find ourselves in. Most of the problems with our forests aren’t an easy solve. Weather and spread of disease are issues that can’t be solved in the short term. I do believe it is worth allocating resources into analyzing these issues and developing solutions. If we push it off, we could start to see loss of forest areas not caused directly by humans through logging but from environmental factors that humans have contributed to.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/07/climate/new-england-trees-forests.html