Saturday, May 16, 2020

Forest grooming




Throughout this blog, i have emphasized how important forest grooming is to the whole process of Terraforming Terra.  It is essentiually the all important first step in the whole process and i would wager that we can employ all 7 billion of us just doing that properly.

Yet it is the all important first step and then also the continuing maintenance procedure.  It is not the whole story.  Yet maintenance will produce annually a steady supply of wood fiber which will also be optimised into biochar at the least and product were possible.  Right now  even partially managed forests are producing tons of wood fiber.  It is not too hard to arrange wood fiber harvest around when the accumulation has reached perhaps fifteen tons per acre. That is known as common sense management that also optimises productivity.

The main thing now is that we have the light chain saws and the wood chippers to hand. Add in a proper thinning protocol and the application of mob animal husbandry and it all starts to work rather well before we start getting smart regarding plant mix and additions.

Getting smart starts first at establishing a proper cascade of native trees while opening up plenty of light as well to allow ample healthy ground cover.  Learn to do both well.  The wildwood jambs it all together and forces the system through light strangulation which is wasteful at the least.  That is why grooming is so productive just by itself.

Then you start inserting preferred cultivars.  Again most of those are mid story trees or sun loving fruit bushes and those  need ample direct atrention of an owner, but also avoiding local concentration were possible.  Of course there is still plenty of space for field cultivation, but here it will turn out additional integration of trees is highly beneficial.


All this effort provides a core basis for every square mile of the earths surface, even when the wildwood has completely failed as in the Sahara Desert or a steep mountain surface.  Never underestimate human ingenuity once applied when we care enough...






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