For the future — 04/25/08

Sat, May 17 2008

— It’s doubtful that any of those who recently helped plant some 28,000 black oak and white oak seedlings on 51 acres in Carter County will live to see the fully mature forest they created. That’s because it takes about 80 years for an oak seedling to grow to full maturity.
Although they won’t live to see the full benefits of what they have done, those involved in planting the seedlings are helping to assure that hardwood trees will not disappear from Kentucky’s landscape. In planting the oak trees, the Kentucky Division of Forestry is fulfilling one of its primary missions: The preservation of all types of forests throughout the state.
It’s a certainty that few private landowners would invest thousands of dollars to plant and nurture hardwood trees from which there is no hope of recouping their investment in their lifetime. With few exceptions, private landowners lack both the will and the resources to take on such a long-term project. The vast majority of trees that are planted on private land in Kentucky are faster-growing softwood trees, primarily pine trees.
But with the help of a $9,000 grant from the Hardwood Forestry Fund and Armstrong World Industries, a new hardwood forest is growing in Tygarts State Forest. The grant also will be used to plant American Chestnuts, which were once the most common tree in America but were nearly destroyed by blight. Now new chestnut forests are growing throughout the U.S. A program to protect and preserve the endangered Indiana bat and to create new wetlands also will be funded through the grant.
The Division of Forestry hopes to eventually harvest the oaks it recently planted. While logging is a recognized part of good forest management, efforts to cut down trees growing on public lands always is controversial. However, harvesting the trees planted just a week ago is a controversy for a future generation, not ours. By 2080, public attitudes about logging many have changed.