Scanned copy, if there are errors, please e-mail me with corrections:
Page - - Mississauga News, Jan. 30/94 Letter - Pity the woodlot Dear Editor: I was saddened to read the article "Cawthra Woodlot to be thinned out" (Mississauga News, Jan. 20, 1994). The removal of 450 trees to install a watermain has been deemed "necessary" but the "management program" is only adding insult to injury. The Woodlot has been there for 10,000 years, so why does it suddenly need our help? Dead and dying trees are an important part of any forest. When they fall naturally, in their own time, others will grow to fill in the gap using nutrients from the decaying logs. The removal of dead and damaged trees is nothing short of habitat destruction. Aside from the loss of homes for squirrels, woodpeckers, raccoons, bats and countless thousands of invertebrates, there will be soil compaction and damage to undergrowth, roots and forest floor species, both plant and animal. The Woodlot may recover from this human intervention, but it will never be the same. Hopefully, someone from the CVCA will read this letter, but it will do no good. The "experts" have forgotten their high school science lesson on ecological succession. The only real experts are the ones that live in the Woodlot. Clint Field Mississauga
[COMMENTS BY DON B. - ]
|