Rob Lee: Cutting Down the Old Growth Forests

By Brent C. (Senior)

December 5, 2003

This week's speaker was leader Rob Lee. He started off his presentation by showing a video about forestry. Since the video was in French, he kindly provided a translation into English for those members not fluent in French. For me, the highlight of this part of his presentation was learning about a device that one of the foresters was using to measure the size of trees. The device was a prism, and a proper explanation of it was given by one of our assistant leaders who is taking forestry courses. When you look through the prism at a tree trunk, the prism displaces the image of the trunk to one side. If the displaced image is moved so far to one side that it appears to be completely disconnected from the trunk, the tree is too small to cut down. However, if the displaced picture is not completely disconnected from the real trunk, the tree is large enough to be cut down.

Mr. Lee concluded his talk by telling what happens when old-growth forests are cut down, letting sunlight stream down to ground level. This in turn causes new trees to grow vigorously, sending out large side branches, which then die and cause decay when the crowns of the trees merge together. To have a good forest, the trees must grow straight up through shade.

Back to Most Recent Meeting

All Meeting Reports

Jan. 8, 2005 - Shawna Lee Currie: Riding Mountain National Park
Nov. 29, 2004 - John Waithaka: African Elephants
May 15, 2004 - Vishu Gurram: Point Pelee National Park
Feb. 7, 2004 - Duncan Smith: Blanding's Turtles
Jan. 23, 2004 - Maryse Mahy: The Bay of Fundy
Dec. 5, 2003 - Rob Lee: Cutting Down the Old Growth Forests
Sept. 27, 2003 - Martha Camfield's workshop on seeds

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