o, such as malaria, tuberculsis, and the flu. The miners also bring in violence, which has killed over 1,500 members of one tribe in theAmazon. Many of the tribes leave their ancestoral homes to flee the noise and disruption of the miners (Smith 66). Certainly, these loggers and miners must not think of the areas they invade and destroy as a home. Consequently, invading the rain forest is no different than bullsdozers leveling out a suburb in the United States. The lifestyles in rain forestvillages and American towns are vastly different, but the two share one very important similarity: in these settlements live human beings with minds,families, and feelings. In fact, there is a way to limit deforestation of the rain forest: through forest conservation. The conservation of forest trees involves three fundamental principles. The first is protection of the growing tree crop from fire, insects, and disease. However, fire, once regarded as adestroyer of forests, is now recognized as a management tool when carefully employed. Some important timber trees actually require fire forsuccessful regeneration. The second principle concerns proper harvesting methods, ranging from removal of all trees (clear-cutting) to removal ofselected mature trees (selection cutting), and provision for reproduction,either naturally from seed trees or artificially by planting. The rate andfrequency of any cutting should aim for sustained production over an indeifinite period. The third principle of conservation is complete use ofall trees harvested. Technological advances, such as particleboard and gluing, have created such uses for branches, defective logs, trees too smallto be milled into boards, and so-called inferior trees (Cappon 89). Through forest conservation, the lives and health of the rain forest inhabitants can be preserved along with wildlife and their habitat. However, the lives and health of the tribes are not the only treasure being...
