There are different reasons for clearcutting (also termed clear-felling): There’s the straight-forward collection of timber, there’s the razing of forests for ranching, grazing, agriculture and disease mitigation - and then there are also reforestation efforts.
This was such a sobering read. The phrase “destructive efficiency” really stuck with me. It captures so well how modern forestry can become a machine of removal, not renewal. Here in the UK, we’re seeing echoes of this too with large-scale clear-felling justified under the guise of “management,” but with little thought to soil health, biodiversity, or the cultural landscapes left behind.
That said, I’m heartened by the rise of alternative approaches like continuous cover forestry, which keeps the canopy intact while harvesting selectively; or native woodland creation schemes that aim to restore complex, resilient ecosystems rather than uniform plantations. Projects like the restoration of temperate rainforests in the West of Scotland, or the work being done in the South West to bring back diverse coppice systems, give me hope that forestry can be something more than extraction — that it can be about relationship, recovery, and time.
This was such a sobering read. The phrase “destructive efficiency” really stuck with me. It captures so well how modern forestry can become a machine of removal, not renewal. Here in the UK, we’re seeing echoes of this too with large-scale clear-felling justified under the guise of “management,” but with little thought to soil health, biodiversity, or the cultural landscapes left behind.
That said, I’m heartened by the rise of alternative approaches like continuous cover forestry, which keeps the canopy intact while harvesting selectively; or native woodland creation schemes that aim to restore complex, resilient ecosystems rather than uniform plantations. Projects like the restoration of temperate rainforests in the West of Scotland, or the work being done in the South West to bring back diverse coppice systems, give me hope that forestry can be something more than extraction — that it can be about relationship, recovery, and time.
Thanks again for shining a light on this. 🌳