Category: Recreational uses

Nature in the beginning

Nature. When a tree falls in the forest, and no one, no animal is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Perhaps it does, maybe in practice, or perhaps it saves the sound for a listener to keep them out of the way of the falling tree. Only Mother Nature can answer that question with credibility. She’s been doing this since it grew the first trees on our planet before humans or animals were there to learn the dangers of falling trees and hear the warning sounds of Ms. Nature. Falling trees are not the only danger. New forests with diverse plants grow in stages small and fast-growing plants, soft broadleaf trees to slow growth with larger, more dense wooden plants such as trees like Pine, Spruce and Douglas Fir in the Forests. No one knows for certain, but large trees may have been preceded by Wild Cannabis and shrubs, which were likely the first plants on this planet. It was likely once part of nature on the entire planet.

Nature’s tools

When plants like trees grow, they drop seed as they mature. Some tree species like Aspen will spread out by their root systems with just one method of reproduction. When one tree drops the root system and the fallen trunk provides ‘starter material’ as it decays with branches that take root and grow with the root system. A single thick stand of aspen may be thousands of years old, perhaps even Millions years old. Large herbivores like Moose and Deer control the species that eat leaves and small saplings. They are the start of a forest construction along with the bushes and shrubs with seed and fruit for the smaller ‘workers’ like birds, squirrels and mice. Those animals eat seeds, nature employs them. They never stop eating. They are not really particular, munching on a diverse range of seeds. Predators eat vast amounts of seed eaters and some eat both animals and seed. The seeds survive the digestive tracts of consuming animal. Most animals poop, and that provides a good fertilized pile for the seed to grow in. The resulting plants condition the soil for larger plants like trees, most grown by seed themselves.

Nature’s way of regeneration

Well, we’ve already explained the ‘Poop cycle’ of natural workers to create new forest but there are other regeneration methods used naturally. Fire is one way. Pine trees have cones that contain seed.  Through their life, which could span eons, it drops seed in these cones.  Some of that seed is eaten, as some animals can eat cones and pooped all over the forest. The cones open naturally in heat drop seed.  Pine produces a powerful scent when it gets hot. That aroma is flammable and will ignite naturally. Often, nature will provide the spark with lightning, but more recently, humans have caused many wild fires in a forest, either by carelessness or industry. Human-caused fires can grow dangerously hot, making land sterile and seeds hard to grow naturally. Many times, it takes human intervention to regrow the natural forest quicker after a huge hot human caused wildfire.

Humans and Nature

Recreation

There are activities that support nature and are sustainable. We drop lines for fishing in our rivers, lakes and streams. We hunt game in the forests, as we are predators and herbivores. There are several berries, edible plants and some mushrooms we collect to consume. We can find holiday decorations and trees for Christmas in a forest. A walk in a quiet forest is mentally stabilizing for everyone, particularity those with challenges. It teaches the human child of all ages to respect nature.

Industry

Several activities occur in the forests that immediately don’t seem good for nature. Many seem to be conducted to collect wealth from the forest and nature takes a few generations to recover. Logging happens with clear-cutting and most times, the natural forest’s diversity is replaced with a monoculture of merchantable single tree species, Pine and Spruce mainly.  This practice must stop. It’s totally not natural. The trees use fire to regrow naturally, clean out dying and dead matter clearing soil for recent growth. A monoculture of trees that use fire to regenerate concentrates the heat so it completely burns the soil and there are no firebreaks like broadleaf plants to slow or stop it. Monoculture stands are suspected of being one cause of huge infrastructure fires seen in British Columbia during the summers of 2017 and 18 and could be a reason for declining animal populations. It is the most destructive use we have of the forest, but other activities like oil and gas, as well as mining also have an impact, but mostly those try to make the land natural after work is finished.