Activity 2C

I Can See Clearly Now

Learner Objectives

After completing this activity, learners should be able to:

• Compare and contrast deforestation in tropical areas with periodic forest harvest and management in the United States.
  
  
• Select and defend a point of view based on information.
  
  

Preparation

You may wish to replay the second section of the Tropical Deforestation video "Protecting and Using Forests" before discussing student points of view. This will give students more background information with which to form opinions.

Doing the Activity

This activity can be done by individuals or teams of two. Hand out Activity Sheet 2C.1. Ask students to read each statement about the common effects of harvesting in tropical forests. Participants should then rate the extent to which they think the same thing happens to U.S. forests.

Find, or let the group find, the mean (average) for each question. Discuss the results.

Some background information about management of U.S. forests for your discussion is as follows:

Throughout the 20th century, the United States passed laws to protect forests and living things within them. For example, logging was outlawed in federally designated wilderness areas. The Endangered Species Act prohibited habitat change where protected animals and plants were found. In addition, the forest products industry adopted a series of increasingly restrictive "best management" guidelines. Still, between 1966 and 1999, enough timber was harvested from U.S. forests to build 56 million new homes, remodel millions of others, and provide paper for myriad uses. During the same period, the total amount of wood in forests increased by almost 20 percent. Forests are helping to meet national and global demands for wood.

Forest management in the United States is different than in tropical areas. In many tropical rainforest locations, a shortage of highly skilled loggers, coupled with the inavailability of state-of-the-art logging equipment, results in extensive damage to soils and residual trees and other plants during logging. In U.S. forests, voluntary guidelines help protect soils. Loggers and foresters also are better trained, and modern harvesting equipment is used, so there is less damage to remaining trees during harvesting.

U.S. forests do have problems with forest fires. Managers struggle to figure out what role fire should play in forests. However, we don't have the same situation as tropical forests, where people are continually lighting ablaze tracts of land to clear them for farming.

In our country, trees are still "high-graded" although this is less of a problem than it was several decades ago. This happens when the best timber is cut, leaving fewer valuable species to reproduce, Unlike the tropical rainforests, most tree species in our forests are valuable, making economical management of the forest easier to achieve.

Does this mean everything is perfect in U.S. forests? No! Many people are concerned that more forest harvesting will continue to lead to the loss of large, old trees and the unique biodiversity that occurs in areas where these trees are found. Other people are concerned that planting trees in natural forests will change what the forest is like. And still others are not happy with how a recently harvested area looks. They want to see less timber harvested.

Evaluating Results

Were students able to give concrete reasons for their opinions? Were they anecdotal (story like, or the result of casual observations) or research based (with facts and figures supporting their opinions)?

Extension

Let students find the median and range for the data. Ask them to describe, in their own words, what they think most students believe for each question. Do they think the group is typical of all seventh and eighth graders in the United States? Would the data change if older people were polled? Younger people? People in different regions? How and why would the data change if these different groups were surveyed?