Have you ever awakened on a beautiful sunny morning in the Southwest planning on going for a hike in the Cascade Mountains, but when you arrive at your destination there are only stumps? This is the result of clear-cut logging. The negative aspects oflogging, by far, outweigh the benefits. Clear-cut logging is the practice of harvestingall the trees in a specifically marked area. Another logging method is a selective cutwhich is the harvesting of some trees to open the canopy so the remaining trees cangrow faster. Last but not least, is the practice of salvage logging. This results in theharvesting of dead or dying trees, either in a selective or clear-cut method. Over time,clear-cut logging has been used for a variety of reasons. They include, but are notlimited to, generating revenue, the maximum production of wood fiber for its manyuses, and clearing land for houses and businesses. Clear-cut logging possesses somepositive outcomes and some negative outcomes. The positives of clear-cut logginginclude: The increased amount of jobs available, which in turn betters America’seconomy by generating revenue, the chance for prevention of catastrophic fires, andthe bettering of forest health. Another benefit is the production of wood products, andthe access provided to the public from the logging roads. On the other hand, thenegatives of clear-cut logging include the increased amount of sedimentation instreams and rivers, the increase in water temperatures, the degradation of fish andwildlife habitat, the increased chance for fires, and the soil compacting caused byheavy logging machinery.Clear-cut logging benefits America’s economy in several ways. First, there area variety of jobs created, like the everyday logger, the log truck drivers, helicopterpilots, mill workers, carpenters and the construction companies , to name a few. These jobs help our economy by increasing the money flow in society and decreasingthe nu...
