Not Clear Cut? Thoughts on Selective Logging

Torn out rootball from after a selective cut in the Pacific Northwest.

Operating an excavator with no protective glass is not a typical recreation. Nor is it a necessary one. However, when your uncle asks for your help in the removal of stumps, how could you refuse?

A clearcut in logging means no discrimination on which trees to take. In Washington State, a road can abruptly transition from beneath the deep shade of tall evergreens to an exposed wasteland of tree stumps and dirt mounds. These cuts greatly contrast my uncle’s decision to selectively log his land. He removed some profitable timber while preserving most of the larger trees and all of those with historical and sentimental value. His example stands out from most selective logging processes because it sustained the health of the forest. Most loggers remove only the most healthiest and most profitable trees, and they damage the forest’s diversity in the process.