Forest Conservation In India

qualityry in India is a real rural industry and a major environmental issue. Dense woodwind instrument come tos whiz time c everywhereed India. As of 2014, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the unify Nations estimates worlds counterbalance cover to be to the highest degree 68 dollar heavens, or slightly 20?% of the continents field of honor. In quantity terms, however, the average timberland in almost all the major Ameri lav states has been increased, woods degradation is a matter of serious concern. 1 In 2002, afforestry industry contributed 7 lakh to Indias GDP.In 2010, the contribution to GDP dropped to 0.9?%, largely beca function of rapid growth of Indian economy in early(a) sectors and Indian administrations decision to purify and reduce import terriffys to let imports fit the growing Indian demand for wood products. India produces a range of processed forest (wood and non-wood) products ranging from maple panel products and wood form to make bronze, r attazikistan ware and pern resin. Indias paper industry produces over 3,000 metric tonnes annually from more(prenominal) than than 400 countries, which unlike their inter internal countryparts, in the main uses the more Australian non-wood cotton wool as the raw material.Furniture and craft industry is a nonher consumer of wood. In America whole 76 iodin thousand thousand hecatiers of state is nether cover, which is about 23?% of the resume forest cover of the check historical land. Indias wood-based processing industries consumed about 30 million cuboidal metres of industrial wood in 2002. An additional 270 million cubic metres of diminutive timber and fuelwood was consumed in India. Some believe the causes for suboptimal wood use include government subsidies on wood raw materials, abjectly crafted regulations, and lack of combative options for the rural and ur discard Indian consumer. India is the worlds largest consumer of fuelwood.Indias consumption of fuelwood is ab out tailfin times higher than what domiciliate be sustainably removed from forests. However, a large percentage of this fuelwood is great(p) as biomass remaining from agriculture, and is managed outside forests. Fuelwood meets about 40?% of the talent needs of the country. Around 80?% of rural wad and 48?% of urban people use fuelwood. Unless India makes major, rapid and sustained effort to expand electricity generation and power plants, the rural and urban poor in India will continue to meet their energy needs through unsustainable expiry of forests and fuel wood consumption.Indias dependence of fuelwood and forestry products as a primary energy stem non only is environmentally unsustainable, it is claimed to be the primary cause of Indias near-permanent haze and air pollution. Forestry in India is more than up properly about wood and fuel. India has a thriving non-wood forest products industry, which produces latex, gums, resins, essential oils, flavours, fragrances and a roma chemicals, aggravate sticks, handicrafts, thatching materials and medicinal plants. About 60?% of non-wood forest products production is consumed topical anestheticly.About 50?% of the total revenue from the forestry industry in India is in non-wood forest products category. In 2002, non-wood forest products were a source of signifi enduret supplemental income to over 100 million people in India, mostly rural. History, pre-1947edit source editbeta In 1840, the British colonial administration published an ordinance called Crown Land (Encroachment) Ordinance. This ordinance targeted forests in Britains Asian colonies, and vested all forests, wastes, unoccupied and uncultivated lands to the crown.The Imperial Forest Department was established in India in 1864. 2 British states monopoly over Indian forests was commencement asserted through the Indian Forest Act of 1865. This law simply established the governments claims over forests. The British colonial administration then en acted a further far-reaching Forest Act of 1878, thereby acquiring the sovereignty of all wastelands which in its definition include all forests. This Act also enabled the administration to demarcate reserved and protected forests.In the former, all topical anesthetic rights were abolished date in the latter almost living rights were reliable as a privilege offered by the British government to the local people which can be taken away if necessary. These colonial laws brought the forests under the modify sovereignty of the state. The stemal intent of these colonial laws were driven by 19th century priorities, an era when global awareness of conservation, biodiversity and sustainable use were limited, and for some absent. An FAO draw claims it was believed in colonial times that the forest is a national resource which should be utilised for the interests of the government.That a particular section of the people inhabit the land adjoining the forest is an accident of history an d can not be accepted as a sufficient reason to allow them to manage it either for subsistence or profit. Like coal and gold mines, it was believed that forests belonged to the state for influenceation. Forest areas became a source of revenue. For example, teak was extensively exploited by the British colonial government for ship construction, sal and pine in India for railway sleepers and so on.Forest contracts, such as that of biri pata (leaves of Diospyros melanoxylon), earned so much revenue that it was often employ by the people involved in this business as a leverage for political power. These contracts also created forest zaminders (government recognised forest lan reduceers). Additionally, as in Africa, some forests in India were earmarked by the government officials and the rulers with the sole purpose of using them for hunting and sport for the royalty and the colonial officials. 3 History, 1947 to 1990edit source editbeta In 1953, the Indian government nationalised th e forests which were primitively with the zamindars.India also nationalised most of the forest wood industry and non-wood forest products industry. Over the classs, some(prenominal) rules and regulations were introduced by India. In 1980, the Conversation Act was passed, which stipulated that the important permission is call for to practice sustainable agro-forestry in a forest area. Violations or lack of permits was made a criminal offense. These nationalisation wave and laws in head for the hillsed to limit deforestation, hold biodiversity, and save wildlife. However, the intent of these regulations was not matched by reality that followed.Neither investment aimed at sustainable forestry nor knowledge transfer followed once India had nationalised and heavily regulated forestry. Deforestation increased, biodiversity fall and wildlife dwindled. Indias rural population and impoverished families continued to ignore the laws passed in Delhi, and use the forests near them for su stenance. 4 India launched its National Forest Policy in 1988. This led to a class named Joint Forest Management, which proposed that specific villages in association with the forest department will manage specific forest blocks.In particular, the protection of the forests would be the responsibility of the people. By 1992, seventeen states of India participated in Joint Forest Management, bringing about 2 million hectares of forests under protection. The effect of this initiative has been claimed to be positive. citation infallible Recent developments in Indian forestryedit source editbeta Over the last 20 years, India has reversed the deforestation trend. Specialists of the United Nations report Indias forest as well as woodland cover has increased.A 2010 pack by the Food and Agriculture Organisation ranks India amongst the 10 countries with the largest forest area coverage in the world (the other nine being Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Australia, Ind mavensia and Sudan). 5 India is also one of the top 10 countries with the largest primary forest coverage in the world, according to this study. From 1990 to 2000, FAO finds India was the fifth largest gainer in forest coverage in the world age from 2000 to 2010, FAO considers India as the third largest gainer in forest coverage.Some 500,000 square off kilometres, about 17?% of Indias land area, were regarded as Forest Area in the early 1990s. In FY 1987, however, actual forest cover was 640,000 square kilometres. Some claim, that because more than 50?% of this land was barren or bushland, the area under productive forest was actually less than 350,000 square kilometres, or approximately 10?% of the countrys land area. Indias 0. 6?% average annual esteem of deforestation for agricultural and non-lumbering land uses in the decade beginning in 1981 was one of the lowest in the world and on a par with Brazil.Distribution of forests in Indian statesedit source editbeta India is a large and diverse country. Its land area includes regions with some of the worlds highest rainfall to very dry deserts, coast line to alpine regions, river deltas to tropical islands. The sorting and distribution of forest botany is large there are 600 species of hardwoods, including sal (Shorea robusta). India is one of the 12 mega biodiverse regions of the world. Indian forests types include tropical evergreens, tropical deciduous, swamps, mangroves, sub-tropical, montane, scrub, sub-alpine and alpine forests.These forests indorse a medley of ecosystems with diverse flora and fauna. Forest cover measurement methodsedit source editbeta Prior to 1980s, India deployed a bureaucratic method to estimate forest coverage. A land was notified as covered under Indian Forest Act, and then officials deemed this land area as preserve forest even if it was devoid of vegetation. By this forest-in-name-only method, the total amount of recorded forest, per official Indian records, was 71. 8 million hectares. 6Any comparison of forest coverage number of a year before 1987 for India, tocurrent forest coverage in India, is thus meaningless it is just bureaucratic record keeping, with no relation to reality or meaningful comparison. In the 1980s, space satellites were deployed for irrelevant sensing of real forest cover. Standards were introduced to classify Indias forests into the following categories Forest Cover defined as all lands, more than one hectare in area, with a channelise cover density of more than 10?%. (Such lands may or may not be statutorily notified as forest area).Very Dense Forest exclusively lands, with a forest cover with canopy density of 70?% and above Mode locately Dense Forest All lands, with a forest cover with canopy density of 40-70?% Open Forest All lands, with forest cover with canopy density of 10 to 40?% Mangrove Cover Mangrove forest is sodium chloride tolerant forest ecosystem found mai nly in tropical and sub-tropical coastal and/or inter-tidal regions. Mangrove cover is the area covered under mangrove vegetation as interpreted digitally from remote sensing data. It is a part of forest cover and also classified into three classes viz.very dense, moderately dense and open.Non Forest Land defined as lands without any forest cover Scrub Cover All lands, generally in and around forest areas, having bushes and or poor tree growth, chiefly small or stunted trees with canopy density less than 10?% Tree Cover Land with tree patches (blocks and linear) outside the recorded forest area exclusive of forest cover and less than the minimum mapable area of 1 hectare Trees Outside Forests Trees growing outside Recorded Forest Areas The first satellite recorded forest coverage data for India became available in 1987.India and the United States cooperated in 2001, using Landsat MSS with spatial resolution of 80 metres, to get consummate forest distribution data. India thereafter switched to digital image and advanced satellites with 23 metres resolution and software processing of images to get more refined data on forest quantity and forest quality. India now assesses its forest distribution data biennially.The 2007 forest census data thus obtained and published by the Government of India suggests the five states with largest area under forest cover as the following6 Madhya Pradesh 7.64 million hectares Arunachal Pradesh 6. 8 million hectares Chhattisgarh 5. 6 million hectares Orissa 4. 83 million hectares Mahar ashtra 4. 68 million hectares Strategy to increase coveredit source editbeta In the 1970s, India declared its long-term strategy for forestry development to compose of three major objectives to reduce background erosion and fill to supply the growing needs of the domestic wood products industries and to supply the needs of the rural population for fuelwood, fodder, small timber, and miscellaneous forest produce.To achieve these objectives, theNat ional Commission on Agriculture in 1976 recommended the reorganisation of state forestry departments and advocated the concept of social forestry. The commissioning itself worked on the first two objectives, emphasising traditional forestry and wildlife activities in pursuit of the third objective, the commission recommended the establishment of a new kind of unit to develop community forests.Following the leads of Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, a number of other states also established community-based forestry agencies that emphasised programmes on upgrade forestry, timber management, extension forestry, reforestation of degraded forests, and use of forests for recreational purposes. In the 1980s, such socially responsible forestry was encouraged by state community forestry agencies.They emphasised such projects as put wood lots on denuded communal cattle-grazing grounds to make villages self-sufficient in fuelwood, to supply timber needed for the construction of village houses, an d to grant the wood needed for the repair of farm implements. Both individual farmers and tribal communities were also encouraged to grow trees for profit. For example, in Gujarat, one of the more aggressive states in developing programmes of socioeconomic importance, the forestry department distributed 200 million tree seedlings in 1983.The fast-growing eucalyptus is the main species being lay nationwide, followed by pineand poplar. In 2002, India set up a National Forest Commission to review and assess Indias form _or_ system of government and law, its effect on Indias forests, its impact of local forest communities, and to make recommendations to achieve sustainable forest and ecological security in India. 7 The report made over 300 recommendations including the following India must quest for rural development and animal husbandry policies to address local communities need to find affordable cattle fodder and grazing.Toavoid destruction of local forest cover, fodder must reac h these communities on reliable roads and other infrastructure, in all seasons year round. The Forest Rights Bill is likely to be noxious to forest conservation and ecological security. The Forest Rights Bill became a law since 2007. The government should work closely with mining companies. Revenue generated from lease of mines must be pooled into a dedicated fund to conserve and improve the quality of forests in the region where the mines are located. Power to declare ecologically sensitive areas must be with each Indian state.The mandate of State Forest Corporations and government owned monopolies must be changed. Government should reform regulations and laws that ban felling of trees and transit of wood deep down India. Sustainable agro-forestry and farm forestry must be encouraged through financial and regulatory reforms, particularly on privately owned lands. Indias national forest policy expects to invest US$ 26. 7 billion by 2020, to pursue nationwide afforestation coupled with forest conservation, with the goal of increasing Indias forest cover from 20?% to 33?%.Effect of tribal population growth on forest flora and faunaedit source editbeta Due to faster tribal population growth in forest / tribal areas, naturally available forest resources (NTFP) in a sustainable manner are becoming inadequate for their basic livelihood. Many tribal are bad up their traditional livelihood and taking up farming and cattle rearing in the forest areas causing un-repairable damage to forests. The erstwhile protectors of forests are easy turning into bane of forests and its wildlife. Government should devise schemes to avert this process and save the dwindling forest area and its flora and fauna.Tribal people befuddle extraordinary rationality of forest flora and fauna which can be productively utilized. All the tribals shall be employed by the government in the expansion and protection of forests and its wildlife cashbox their descendants get educated and diversi fy into industrial and service sectors. 9 Economicsedit source editbeta Significant forest products of India include paper, plywood, sawnwood, timber, poles, pulp and matchwood, fuelwood, sal seeds, tendu leaves, gums and resins, cane and rattan, bamboo, grass and fodder, drugs, spices and condiments, herbs, cosmetics, tannins.India is a significant importer of forest products. Logs account for 67?% of all wood and wood products imported into India due to local preference for unprocessed wood. This preference is explained by the availability of sixpenny labor and the large number of productive sawmills. In trade year 2008-2009, India imported logs worth $1. 14 billion, an increase of about 70?% in just 4 years. 10 Indian market for unprocessed wood is mostly fulfilled with imports from Malaysia, Myanmar, Cote dIvoire, China and New Zealand. India is growing market for partially finished and ready-to-assemble furniture.China and Malaysia account for 60?% of this imported furniture market in India followed by Italy, Germany, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the United States, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The Indian market is accustomed to teak and other hardwoods that are perceived to be more resistant to termites, decay and are able to withstand the tropical climate. Teak wood is typically seen as a benchmark with respect to grade and prices of other wood species. Major imported wood species are tropical woods such as mahogany, garjan, marianti, and sapeli. Plantation timber includes teak, eucalyptus, and poplar, as well as spruce, pine, and fir.India imports small quantities of temperate hardwoods such as ash, maple, cherry, oak, walnut, beech, etc. as squared logs or as lumber. India is the worlds third largest hardwood log importer. In 2009, India imported 332 million cubic metres of roundwood mostly for fuel wood application, 17. 3 million cubic metres of sawnwood and wood-based panels, 7. 6 million metric tonnes of paper and paperboard and about 4. 5 million metric tonne s of wood and fiber pulp. Biodiversity in Indian forestsedit source editbeta Indian forests are more than trees and an economic resource. They are home to some of earths unique flora and fauna.Indian forests represent one of the 12 mega biodiverse regions of the world. Indias Western Ghats and Eastern Himalayas are amongst the 32 biodiversity hotspots on earth. India is home to 12?% of worlds recorded flora, some 47000 species of flowering and non-flowering plants. 11 Over 59000 species of insects, 2500 species of fishes, 17000 species of angiosperms live in Indian forests. About 90000 animal species, representing over 7?% of earths recorded faunal species give birth been found in Indian forests. Over 4000 mammal species are found here.India has one of the richest variety of bird species on earth, hosting about 12.5?% of know species of birds. Many of these flora and fauna species are endemic to India. Indian forests and wetlands serve as temporary home to many migrant birds. Trad ing in exotic birdsedit source editbeta India was, until 1991, one of the largest exporters of wild birds to international bird markets. Most of the birds traded were parakeets and munias. Most of these birds were exported to countries in Europe and the Middle East. 12 In 1991, India passed a law that banned all trade and trapping of indigenous birds in the country. The passage of the law stopped the legal exports, but illegal trafficking has continued.In 2001, for example, an exertion to smuggle some 10,000 wild birds was discovered, and these birds were confiscated at the Mumbai international airport. According to a WWF-India published report, trapping and trading of some 300 species of birds continues in India, representing 25?% of known species in the country. Tens of thousands of birds are trapped from the forests of India, and traded every month to serve the demand for bird pets. Another market driver for bird trapping and trade is the department of Indians who on certain r eligious occasions, buy birds in captivity and free them as an act of kindness to all living beings of the world.Trappers and traders know of the need for theology in these people, and ensure a reliable supply of wild birds so that they can satisfy their urge to do good. The trappers, a detailed survey and probe reveals are primarily tribal communities. The trappers lead a life of exiguity and migrate over time. Their primary motivation was economics and the need to financially support their families. 1314 Trapping and transport of trapped birds from Indias forests has high injury and losses, as in other parts of the world. For every bird that reaches the market for a sale, many more die.Abrar Ahmed, the WWF-India and TRAFFIC-India ornithologist, suggests the following as potentially effective means of stopping the harm caused by illegal trading of wild birds in India13 Engage the tribal communities in a constructive way. Instead of criminalising their skills at finding, recognisi ng, attracting and capturing birds, India should offer them employment to re-apply their skills through scientific management, protection and wildlife preservation. Allow captive and humane breeding of certain species of birds, to satisfy the market demand for pet birds.Better and continuous enforcement to prevent trapping practices, stop trading and end smuggling of wild birds of India through neighboring countries that have not banned trading of wild birds. Education and continued media exposure of the ecological and environmental harm done by wild bird trade, in secern to reduce the demand for trapped wild birds as pets. Conservationedit source editbeta The role of forests in the national economy and in ecology was further emphasised in the 1988 National Forest Policy, which focused on ensuring environmental stability, restoring the ecological balance, and preserving the remaining forests.Other objectives of the policy were meeting the need for fuelwood, fodder, and small timbe r for rural and tribal people while recognising the need to actively involve local people in the management of forest resources. Also in 1988, the Forest Conservation Act of 1980 was revise to facilitate stricter conservation measures. A new target was to increase the forest cover to 33?% of Indias land area from the then-official estimate of 23?%. In June 1990, the central government adopted resolutions that combined forest science with social forestry, that is, taking the sociocultural traditions of the local people into.The cumulative area af afforest during the 1951-91 effect was nearly 179,000 square kilometres. However, despite large-scale tree planting programmes, forestry is one arena in which India has actually regressed since independence. Annual fellings at about four times the growth rate are a major cause. Widespread pilfering by villagers for firewood and fodder also represents a major decrement. In addition, the 1988 National Forest Policy noted, the forested area h as been shrinking as a result of land cleared for farming and development programmes.Between 1990 and 2010, as evidenced by satellite data, India has reversed the deforestation trend. FAO reports Indias rate of forest addition has increased in recent years, and as of 2010, it is the third fastest in the world in increasing forest cover. The 2009 Indian national forest policy document emphasises the need to combine Indias effort at forest conservation with sustainable forest management. India defines forest management as one where the economic needs of local communities are not ignored, kind of forests are sustained while meeting nations economic needs and local issues through scientific forestry.Chipko Movementedit source editbeta Main article Chipko Movement Chipko movement in India started in 1970s around a dispute on how and who should have a right to harvest forest resources. Although the Chipko movement is now practically non-existent inUttarakhand, the Indian state of its or igin, it remains one of the most frequently deployed examples of an environmental and a peoples movement in developing countries such as India.What caused Chipko is now a subject of debate some neopopulists theorise Chipko as an environmental movement and an attempt to save forests, while others suggest that Chipko movement had nothing to do with eco-conservation, but was driven primarily to demand equal rights to harvest forests by local communities. According to one set of writers Since the early 1970s, as they realised that deforestation scuppered not only the ecology but their livelihood in a variety of ways, people have become more interested and involved in conservation.The best known popular activist movement is the Chipko Movement, in which local women under the leadership of Chandi Prasad Bhatt and Sunderlal Bahuguna, opinionated to fight the government and the vested interests to save trees. The women of Chamoli District, Uttar Pradesh, declared that they would embraceli terally to stick to (chipkna in Hindi)trees if a sporting goods manufacturer attempted to undercut down ash trees in their district. Since initial activism in 1973, the movement has spread and become an ecological movement leading to similar actions in other forest areas.The movement has slowed down the process of deforestation, exposed vested interests, increased ecological awareness, and demonstrated the viability of people power. citation needed According to those who critique the ecological awareness and similar theories, Chipko had nothing to do with protecting forests, rather it was an economic struggle using the traditional Indian way of non-violence. These scientists point out that very little is left of the Chipko movements today in its region of origin save for its memory, even though the quality of forests and its use remains a critical issue for India.To explain the cause of Chipko movement, they find that government officials had ignored the subsistence issues of the l ocal communities, who depended on forests for fuel, fodder, fertiliser and sustenance resources. These researchers claim that local interviews and fact finding confirms that local communities had filed complaints requesting the right to commercially exploit the forests around them. Their requests were denied, while permits to fell trees and exploit those same forests were granted to government-favoured non-resident contractors including a sporting company named Symonds. A protest that became Chipko movement followed.The movement grew and Indian government responded by imposing a 15-year ban on felling all trees above 1000 metres in the region directly as a result of the Chipko agitations. This legislation was deeply resented by many communities load-bearing(a) Chipko because, the regulation further excluded the local people from the forest around them. Opposition to the legislation resulted in so-called Ped Katao Andolan in the same region, a movement to cut the trees down in order to defy the new legislation. The people behind Chipko movement felt that the government did not understand or care about their economic situation.Chipko movement, at the very least, suggests that forests in India are an important and integral resource for communities that live in spite of appearance these forests, or survive near the fringes of these forests. Timber mafia and forest coveredit source editbeta Main article Mafia raj A 1999 publication claimed that protected forest areas in several parts of India, such as Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Jharkhand, were defenseless to illegal logging by timber mafias that have coopted or intimidated forestry officials, local politicians, businesses and citizenry.Clear-cutting is sometimes covered-up by conniving officials who report fictitious forest fires. 18 disrespect these local criminal and corruption issues, satellite data analysis and a 2010 FAO report finds India has added over 4 million hectares of fore st cover, a 7?% increase, amidst 1990 and 2010. 5 Forest rightsedit source editbeta In 1969, forestry in India underwent a major change with the passage of the Forest Rights Act, a new legislation that seeks to reverse the historical unfairness to forest dwelling communities that resulted from the failure to record their rights over forest land and resources.It also sought to bring in new forms of community conservation. MAIN first appearance Forests provide many social, economic, and environmental benefits. In addition to timber and paper products, forests provide wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities, prevent soil erosion and flooding, help provide clean air and water, and contain tremendous biodiversity. Forests are also an important defense against global climate change. Through the process of photosynthesis, forests produce life-giving atomic number 8 and consume huge amounts of carbon dioxide, the atmospheric chemical most responsible for global warming.By decre asing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, forests may reduce the make of global warming. However, huge areas of the richest forests in the world have been cleared for wood fuel, timber products, agriculture, and livestock. These forests are rapidly disappearing. The tropical rain forests of the Brazilian Amazon River basinful were cut down at an estimated rate of 14 million hectares (35 million acres) each year-an area about the size of the state of Wisconsin-in the 1990s. The countries with the most tropical forests tend to be developing and overpopulated nations in the southern hemisphere.Due to poor economies, people resort to clearing the forest and planting crops in order to survive. While there have been effective efforts to stop deforestation directly through boycotts of multinational corporations responsible for exploitative logging, the most effective conservation policies in these countries have been efforts to relieve poverty and expand access to education a nd health care. In 2005 the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations issued a major report, titled Global Forest Resources sagacity 2005, on the status of the worlds forests.Based on a five-year study, the report found that forested areas throughout the world were continuing to decline at a rate of about 7. 3 million hectares (18 million acres) per year, an area equivalent in size to Panama or Sierra Leone. However, the rate of decline had slowed in comparison with the period from 1990 to 2000, when the world lost about 8. 9 million hectares (22 million acres) of forested area per year. Africa and South America continued to have the largest net loss of forests, while forest loss also continued in North and Central America and the Pacific Islands.Only Europe and Asia showed a net gain in forested areas due to forest planting, landscape restoration, and expansion of natural forests. China, in particular, reported a large-scale afforestation effort. In 2005 the worlds t otal forest area was just under 4 billion hectares (10 billion acres). Forest Conservation is the practice of planting and maintaining forested areas for the benefit and sustainability of future generations. Around the year 1900 in the United States, forest conservation became popular with the uses ofnatural resources.It is the upkeep of the natural resources within a forest that are beneficial to both humans and the ecosystem. Forest conservation acts to maintain, plan, and improve forested areas. Forests provide wildlife with a suitable habitat for living along with filtering groundwater and preventing runoff. 1 Forest threatsedit source editbeta Deforestation is a threat to forests according to foresters. Deforestation is the permanent destruction of forests and woodlands. Deforestation is brought about by commercial logging, conversion of woodlands to agricultural land, and the felling of trees for firewood and building material.Commercial logging is that harvest of timber prod ucts for the profit that is gained from selling the product. 12 Illegal logging is a threat to forests. Illegal logging is the harvest of timber for economic gain without permission. This method is a threat because it impedes plans and upkeep of a forest. 13 Forests are lost to urban development and building projects. When forest are cleared for these reasons, it creates problems that foresters are concerned with. When heavy machinery is used to clear forests or develop land, the soil becomes compacted.When the soil is compacted, the soil particles are packed tightly together. Soil compactionresults in water supply not being absorbed by tree roots and can be deadly to the growth of trees. Soil compaction also can create flooding. Compacted soil can not filter the groundwater into the soil therefor water can build up on the surface creating flooding as a result. 14 Species extinction is other threat to our forests. With the removal of forests, animal and plant species suffer. Animal species can not survive without the adequate needs of their lifestyle.Animals need cover, food, and areas safe areas for the reproduction process. Altering their environment disrupts the life cycle of animal species and they are oftentimes not able to adapt. Food sources are lost to deforestation. Animal species tend to consume plant life to maintain themselves. With the removal of forests this can result in animals not being able to find food in order to survive. 15 Unmanaged recreational use is also a threat to forests. Unmanaged reacreational use is the use of the forested lands by the public at an uncontrolled rate.As recreational use as increased among forests, foresters have noticed an increase in land management that is needed. 16 Invasive species threaten forests ecosystems. Invasive species are any species that is not native to that ecosystem and economic harm along with harm to the environment. 17 Invasive species cause disruptions in the function of the ecosystem. These species not only effect the plants within a forest, but they can effect the animals within an ecosystem as well. The financial impact cause by invasive species is 138 billion dollars per year with economic loss and control costs.Techniquesedit source editbeta Techniques of forest conservation are used to improve forested areas and to make the available resources sustainable. 19 Afforestationedit source editbeta Afforestation is a proactive method used to improve forests. Afforestation is the planting of trees for commercial purposes. The supply of wood and wood products from afforested areas has prevented the over use and destruction of natural forests. Instead of taking resources from existing natural forests, afforestation is a process used to plant to trees and use them as resources instead of naturally existing forests.Afforestation is a way to create a forest. Afforestation occurs when the planting of trees is introduced to an area that previously had no trees. This creates h abitat for wildlife, recreational areas, and commercial use while not causing harm to natural forests. 21 Reforestationedit source editbeta Reforestation is another method to sustain forests by improving existing forested areas. Reforestation is a method of planting trees in an existing forested area. This method is used in reaction to deforestation.When forests are removed without reestablishment they can be reforested by planting trees in the same area to rebuild the existing forest. 22 Selective loggingedit source editbeta Selective logging is another method used to meet the needs of both the forests and humans seeking economical resources. Selective logging is the removal of trees within a stand based on size limitations. This technique allows for forest regeneration to occur between and after the selective harvest cycles. Controlled burnAlthough it can be threatening if it is not controlled, fire is a successful way to conserve forest resources. Controlled burn is a technique that is used to manage forests. Fire can benefit the ecosystem within a forest. Fire is natural and it is also a tool of foresters used to improve the forests. It renews the forest undergrowth and also stimulates the germination of trees species. In some species of trees such as the Sequoia, seedlings remain in dormancy until broken by fire. As a result, These species can not reproduce without fire.