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--></style><title>Montana conservationists right about dead
trees</title></head><body>
<div>Montana conservationists have said that dead trees provide soil
nutrients needed for a future forest. Timber industry reps have said
that isn't so.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Meanwhile, research scientists have been studying the evidence on
what dead trees do. The following summary from the National Science
Foundation summarizes the evidence.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Excerpt from NSF summary:</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><font face="Verdana Bold" size="-1">Decomposing logs replenish
soils</font><font face="Verdana" size="-1"><br>
Scientists now know that some of the nutrients from a rotting log are
returned to the forest floor to replenish the soil almost
immediately.</font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana" size="-1"><br>
Before Harmon's study, foresters often spent considerable expense and
effort on removing dead trees and log debris. Now it's common for
loggers to leave downed trees in the forest, a practice Harmon calls
"morticulture."</font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana" size="-1"><br>
Doing so creates a more diverse landscape, leaves nutrients on site,
and provides habitat for species like bluebirds and woodpeckers that
nest in tree cavities.</font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana" size="-1"><br>
</font><font face="Verdana Bold" size="-1">Dead wood: an important
resource</font><font face="Verdana" size="-1"><br>
Dead wood was long considered a wasted resource and a hazard in forest
landscapes.</font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana" size="-1"><br>
But it performs a range of ecological functions: as habitat and food
sources for many terrestrial and aquatic species; seedbeds for plants,
including new trees; a source of water, energy, carbon and nutrients
for the entire forest; and an agent that controls stream structure and
function, reports Harmon in a 2013 paper in the journal<i> Forest
Ecology and Management</i>.</font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana" size="-1"><br>
Research on dead wood has since gone global. Dead wood is now a key
feature of understanding forest biodiversity and carbon cycling as
well as how stream systems function.</font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana" size="-1"><br>
Knowing the ecological value of dead wood influenced forestry
practices and development in the Pacific Northwest. That, in turn,
changed forest management plans throughout North America and around
the world.</font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana" size="-1"><br>
Today, many stream habitat restoration projects, for
example, focus on the reintroduction and maintenance of large
pieces of dead wood in channels to create habitat for species such as
salmon.</font></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>End excerpt, full summary here:</div>
<div
>http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=136524&WT.m<span
></span>c_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click</div>
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