Virgin Forest, Felled Forest, Burnt Forest

Voice-over

Cutting trees for the timber industry is big business. The logging companies sometimes influence politicians to change laws so they can harvest large trees from virgin forest.

Since the large trees in old forests are economically valuable, loggers hunt them aggressively. 

There is a conflict of interest between the short term economic goals of loggers and the longer term objectives of environmentalists.

Virgin Forest

The ecologist explains…

A virgin forest is an old forest that hasn’t been disturbed by human activity.

It is an ecosystem with a biodiversity of large and small trees, multi-layered canopies, fallen timber and woody debris.

Felled Forest

This provides material for microhabitats allowing mosses, fungi and seedlings to grow. Since it can take hundreds of years for a forest to recover, biodiversity is lost.

Cutting trees for the timber industry is big business. The logging companies sometimes influence politicians to change laws so they can harvest large trees from virgin forest.

Burnt Forest

And sometimes local people just burn off the forest so they can grow food.

(From Endangered Orchids, 2013)