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FORESTS :)

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WHY THEY’RE VALUABLE AND YOU PROBABLY GET SOME USE OUT OF THEM IN YOUR DAILY LIFE

They provide water and other cool things you need to live like oxygen
They’re basically air filters for carbon (booooo) and make them become fresher better air you can breathe (wooooo)
They help prevent flooding and erosion, also helping when there’s snow and water runoff
Animals live there and without forests it would kinda suck for them
You can hike there and get exercise if you’re scared of gyms (like me)
They provide for TONS of jobs
They’re cool :)

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HOW CLIMATES AND OTHER THINGS AFFECT THE FORESTS WE ALL KNOW AND LOVE

Lots of things affect forests such as...
Shape of the land
Location
Annual rainfall
Soil
Temperature
Climate in general

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THE ICONIC GIVE AND TAKE SYSTEM STARRING THE ANIMALS AND GENERAL SHRUBBERY OF THE FOREST

Cool diagram on the left ISN’T IT COOL??
Benefits:
The forest is overall healthier with due to the ecosystems within
Cute animals get to exist so go ecosystems wooo
Only con is that it’s easily disrupted due to humans

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EXTRA TREE KNOWLEDGE YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOU NEEDED

Forests can reach a peak in their growth where they basically can’t get any better
When that happens, they get a cool new name, calling them a climax forest
On their way, they’re in a stage called succession
Literally just tree puberty

Trees can get classified by height and other factors (watch out short people)
Tall ones that block out most of the light and are the bosses are dominant trees
Co-dominant trees are the mediums and grow in between the dominant ones to get as much sunlight as they can from the cracks
Intermediate are smaller, but still bigger than suppressed trees which are at the very bottom and are likely babies

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FOREST MANAGEMENT AND LAND USE (FOR NERDS)

Clearcutting

Selective cutting

Seed-tree method

Shelterwood regeneration

Regular planting and seeding

Thinning

Lots of different ways to manage your very own forest!

-Clearcutting: cutting all the trees down in a specific area in order to make sure that the area is growing good desirable trees. Big timber output. When done carelessly it can cause a lot of damage though

-Selective cutting: Individual or small groups of trees are cut down regularly to make space for more desirable trees in their place. Less timber harvested than clearcutting

-Seed-tree method: This includes clearing a large area then leaving the best trees that will spread seeds evenly spaced to grow a forest on it’s own. This can only be done with tree species that regenerate by releasing lightweight seeds to the wind.

-Shelterwood regeneration: this is basically seedtree regeneration but more trees. this allows more trees to stand to reseed the area and to protect the new seedlings. Both seedtree regeneration and shelterwood regeneration will take a long time as it’s basically waiting for the forest to grow itself.

-Regular planting and seeding: Just planting tree saplings or seeds by hand or machine. This has the advantage of being allowed to choose exactly what trees are in which area. Planting seeds only is often used in areas where it’d be too rough to machine-plant. Good for when a forest needs to regrow nice and strong since you can pick genetically superior seeds and saplings.

-Thinning: Taking out the weaker and poor quality trees to make room for better ones. The remaining trees become stronger and have more room to grow and become bigger and better.