Bumpersticker explained: “Want more forests? Use more wood!”

Bumpersticker explained: “Want more forests? Use more wood!”

Peter Stangel is an expert birder who has spent his life working to conserve bird habitats, and — for the past 10 years — forest habitats in the South specifically.  When Peter bought his 100 acres of pine forest in coastal South Carolina, it was a “very densely stocked, dark forest with almost no understory, habitat or aesthetic appeal." (Like the left-side photo).  He wanted to thin it—removing some of the smaller trees to allow others to grow bigger, to allow sunlight to reach the forest floor and stimulate plant growth, and to create habitat for birds and other wildlife (like the right-side photo, a Weyerhaeuser property in Mississippi). But what happens when there is no market for the wood to be removed?

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