Darcy Sweeney: Unmanaged forests critical to mitigating the climate crisis

I couldn’t disagree more with guest columnist Mike Leonard’s diatribe against Gov. Healey’s ambitious goals to preserve the commonwealth’s forested lands, starting with her campaign promise to invoke a logging moratorium in our public forests (“Healey’s plan will accelerate the decline of our forests” Gazette, Jan. 2). It defies common sense — as well as scientific studies — to maintain, as the writer does, that the logging of watersheds will result in cleaner water (think heavy machinery tearing up forest soils), or that humans must manage forests to ensure a diversity of animals and trees.

Forests have managed themselves for millions of years; it is the ultimate in human hubris to think that human intervention is necessary to have “healthy resilient forests.” As for the contention that managed forests sequester more carbon — this is old, debunked science. Older trees, because of their greater size, not only store more carbon in their wood and leaves, but throughout their lives will continue to pull more carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, again because of their greater size, than smaller, younger trees. As for the need for forest products, of course we will continue to need wood for building (although not for wood pellets), but this wood need not be sourced from our public forests!

Furthermore, let’s call this logging what it is: cutting trees for commercial purposes (not to produce healthy forests). Conservation of resources, such as reusing building materials when older structures are torn down, must be the watchword so that there is less demand for forest products. Increased resource conservation will allow for ever-increasing swaths of forests, both public and private, to be left undisturbed. I do agree with Mr. Leonard that the loss of forest jobs is a serious concern that must be addressed. But rather than putting the brakes on change, we must develop policies that will support workers and help them find new jobs as we make the transition to a green economy.

Forests, especially intact unmanaged ones, provide a critical tool in mitigating the climate crisis, since they remove and store the vast amounts of carbon dioxide that human activities have put into the atmosphere over past decades. If we are to have any hope of averting climate catastrophe, the commonwealth, and the nation, must institute policies that prioritize the preservation of this precious resource.

Darcy Sweeney

Florence

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