The Rise of Industrialized Clear Cutting | American Forest Fires Clip | EarthX - video Dailymotion

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EarthX Website: https://earthxmedia.com/    In the postwar era, the United States was growing, as was demand for timber. To meet demand, the market was introduced to an unlikely supplier: the U.S. Forest Service.    About American Forest Fires:  Are government policies and bureaucracy the REAL fire starters in America? Are answers to a major crisis staring us in the face? Learn what brought us to this point, and the innovative solutions which could keep disaster from setting nature ablaze.    This clip comes from Season 1, Episode 1: "Burning Down the House"    EarthX  Love Our Planet.  The Official Network of Earth Day.    About Us:      At EarthX, we believe our planet is a pretty special place. The people, landscapes, and critters are likely unique to the entire universe, so we consider ourselves lucky to be here. We are committed to protecting the environment by inspiring conservation and sustainability, and our programming along with our range of expert hosts support this mission. We’re glad you’re with us.     EarthX is a media company dedicated to inspiring people to care about the planet. We take an omni channel approach to reach audiences of every age through its robust 24/7 linear channel distributed across cable and FAST outlets, along with dynamic, solution oriented short form content on social and digital platforms. EarthX is home to original series, documentaries and snackable content that offer sustainable solutions to environmental challenges. EarthX is the only network that delivers entertaining and inspiring topics that impact and inspire our lives on climate and sustainability.      EarthX Website: https://earthxmedia.com/    Follow Us:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/earthxtv/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/earthxtv  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/earthxtv    How to watch:   United States:   - Spectrum  - AT&T U-verse (1267)  - DIRECTV (267)  - Philo  - FuboTV  - Plex  - Fire TV       #EarthDay #Environment #Sustainability #Eco-friendly #Conservation #EarthxTV #EarthX

Transcript

00:00After 1910, we had lookout towers come in systematically across the landscape.

00:07A person could be in a lookout tower, so you had telephone service to the tops of all these peaks,

00:12and they would spot the fires, and they became really good at systematically putting the fires out.

00:19From 1952 until 1987, we only had one major fire in western Oregon.

00:26For years, the Forest Service successfully kept fire out of the forest,

00:30and with fire controlled, established sustainable timber yields.

00:34At the time, it seemed like a success, but without fire, the fuel loads in the forest kept building.

00:41Then, war started.

00:43Wood products, everything from PT boats to a lot of our planes use wood products,

00:55so there was a significant increase in the amount of cutting.

01:00Before 1940, the National Forest produced about 2% of timber in the U.S.

01:06The rest came from private land.

01:08But the incredible demand from war and the post-war rebuilding quickly exhausted the private supplies.

01:14The Forest Service had to step in.

01:17After World War II, you had the post-World War II housing boom.

01:24And that's when the Forest Service got into the timber business.

01:29After World War II, we were America's breadbasket for lumber, the National Forest work.

01:37Timber's output on Forest Service lands increased around 1 to 3 billion board feet in the 1940s

01:43to over 10 billion by the 60s and 70s.

01:47The American dependency on timber grew as the country expanded,

01:50and the practice of clear-cutting was a growing concern.

01:54In response, a new movement, environmentalism, was about to add another player to the drama in the forest.

02:01You look at big trees like this, and you can see them as potential lumber on the stump,

02:07or you can see this as habitat and home.

02:10And all the other natural resources, the ecosystem services of clean air, clean water, all kinds of things,

02:17that gets eliminated when they just look at, you know, timber.

02:23It was ground zero in the timber wars.

02:31From the 1950s to the 1980s, they were clear-cutting at an accelerating and unsustainable pace.

02:40We were running out of this beautiful forest ecosystem.

02:44Industrialized clear-cutting was a method of cutting down trees by completely stripping an area using heavy machinery.

02:52Yeah, in terms of the practices at the time, it was very efficient to be able to take your machinery,

02:57go in and just take out all the trees.

03:00The demand for more lumber meant a more efficient way to extract it.

03:05We really see the U.S. Forest Service transition from more of a custodial, protective agency

03:13to ramping up their production of lumber to feed that economic boom after World War II.

03:20When we hit the 70s into the early 1980s, timber production off of national forest lands

03:26accounted for between 25 and 30 percent of all domestic lumber consumption.

03:32By the 1980s, the public once again became aware of their disappearing forests.

03:38But this time, the Forest Service that was originally touted as the savior of the forests

03:43was being viewed by some as the very agency leading to their destruction.

03:48The timber wars really flared up in the 1980s. It became, you know, like another culture war.

03:54For many environmentalists, the timber wars started in 1989 in the Willamette National Forest,

04:01prompted by the U.S. Forest Service controversial timber sale known as the North Roaring Devil.

The Rise of Industrialized Clear Cutting | American Forest Fires Clip | EarthX

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