| One type of forest that has suffered overcutting are the redwood forests. Redwood trees have been used by people for hundreds of years as wood for supplies. The Native Americans made canoes from the wood, and used the bark for the roofs of their houses. In the 1820's, logging of the redwoods for lumber began. By 1850, there had been many advancements in the logging industry, such as the invention of the water powered saw mill, and the circular saw. Redwoods steadily disappeared, first along the coasts, and eventually inland. From 1905 to 1929 about 500 million board feet of redwoods were cut down per year. The number rose to a billion board feet per year in 1947-1958. The amount of redwood being cut down has decreased, but the demand for the wood has not. Much of the timber being cut is not ancient forest but second growth trees. This is because the majority of the ancient forests have been cut down, and the small fraction left is protected. |
You can see the beauty of a natural redwood forest by watching the video of a walk through Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve, a redwood forest near the Russian River in Guerneville, California. Filmed by Julia Schultz, July 26, 1998. (800K, RealPlayer required) |
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