Well well. That was nice.
So, here's the deal. We're loggers. Appalachian, usually economically mature timber, steep ground. We do some roadless harvesting, some nearly roadless harvesting. We make or open and improve serious roads where we have them, but they are very few and far between. We definately stay below 10%, probably below 6%, of our tracts get any significant disturbance (i.e. roads)
It can be easily argued that if we got rid of the humans, mother nature can and would take care of herself. On a more realistic path, we mimic natural processes and manipulate the time frame of these processes to our economic advantage. We apply sound silviculture to our harvesting, so we can sleep at night. It costs my boss income to do this. But, we are regional leaders in quality. Thats why I work for him, we do things right, and at a scale where we can afford to do this, rather than the typical idyllic po-dunk loggers, horse loggers,and hobby loggers who espuse there super selective harvesting as env. sensitive, who espouse retention of the canopy when anyone knows that its high-grading, a real dirty word.
Helicopters burn 500 gallons PER HOUR. We use them too. We cut, they log it for us. But its not for environmental reasons, its cause of access, like slowP said. Arguable, but I'd say skylining is the most environmentally sensitive harvesting. 6 gal. fuel per hour.
We log. We do it because we love the work, but we couldn't do it without product demand. Do-nothing is an option, but its an unrealistic alternative and a pointless arguement. We do it in a manner that best fulfills environmental, silvicultural, and societal demands. What else can we do?
Want to argue about the term economically mature, that its a stupid term, a stupid concept? See, thats where you jump when not necesssary. There was no mention of pros or cons, its is term, with a definition, and a reality. Discussions are useful, but arguing non-issues is just annoying.
I'm 33, a pro timberfaller, got some other things on my resume, and I like to drink beer and jug wine, and coffee.
Scooting the butt ends down to the dozer on the road worked via the dumped stem. Its a team effort out there. Increase production and decrease the labor. Hooray!