Can natural selection and succession bring the lost “wilderness” back to the Adirondacks?

Although relying on nature to fix itself takes centuries, I believe bringing back “what it used to be,” is possible.

Discussing the lost forests of the Adirondacks due to wildfires and loggings in last week’s class evoked my recent experience in the woods: I joined a summer school to immerse ourselves in nature. During my time there, we visited Tadami forest, currently registered as “Tadami Biosphere Reserve” by UNESCO (UNESCO, 2020), to witness the forest that is apparently closest to “real nature” in Japan.

I think it’s no exaggeration to say that it was one of the most beautiful forests I’ve ever seen (figure 1); the trees were thriving – they looked genuinely happy being there!

However, such breathtaking woods of Tadami have their history too.Today, Tadami Town is 94% dominated by forest and mountains, and its forest is roughly divided into three types of woods: the primary forest of beech, the secondary forest of Japanese oak and the man-made forest of Japanese cedar.

As soon as we started climbing the mountain, it was very fascinating to see this complete division of the oak on the left and cedar on the right across the small trail we followed. According to the guide, the reason why the forest is divided is that Tadami Town’s primary industries were (and in fact, they are still) agriculture and forestry. Since Tadami was so rich in trees, logging for firewood prospered until the late 1940s (UNESCO, 2020). Initially, this deforestation began as the town was so remote and it was one of the very few jobs and resources available for the people of Tadami.

However, as the demand for lumber rapidly grew due to postwar reconstruction and economic growth, large-scale logging was initiated by the forestry office (THE FUKUSHIMA MINYU SHIMBUN, 2008). More than 40ha of woods were clear-cut every year. Consequently, Tadami Town suffered heavy flood damage caused by torrential rain, worsened by excessive logging. After this disaster, the people strongly protested logging and the forest is preserved today as a result of their persisting effort.

Now, I think you are starting to see some similarities with Adirondack’s history.

But the difference is that due to the increase in demand for trees in postwar times, while logging by forestry office was going on, the coniferous trees such as cedar were actively planted too, replacing the original dominant species of beech, for more intense harvesting since cedar was much more economically beneficial. Beech suffered a steep decline in its population until 2002 when a petition of over 26,000 people saved and protected them just before going into extinction (Tadami Biosphere Reserve, n.d.).

When I visited the Tadami forest, I noticed and was told that due to successful beech preservation policies, a gradual succession has been taking place: protected beech trees, which originally have higher shade tolerance, were becoming predominant in the forest and outcompeting oak that prefers brighter environment.

The forest was changing, and it was hope that we saw.

What’s more interesting is the mechanism of gap dynamics – a pattern of plant growth that occurs following the creation of a forest gap, a natural disturbance that results in an opening in the canopy (Wikipedia, 2021) (figure 2).

The gap created by a big fallen tree can promote germination of the soil seed bank (often dormant seeds that are naturally stored within the soil) by letting sunlight reach the ground, and thus, further process of succession (figure 3).

This also indicates that we can even take advantage of the consequence of excessive logging has brought to the forest to encourage succession, and help it thrive again by strengthening the preservation policies and making sure nature is left free to do whatever it’s got to do out of human’s hands.

 

Citation

Tadami Biosphere Reserve, n.d. 企画展 守りたい！ 只見の野生動植物. [Online]
Available at: http://www.tadami-buna.jp/panel-kasidasi/29-2_mamoritai_tadaminoyaseidoubutsu(p1-5).pdf

THE FUKUSHIMA MINYU SHIMBUN, 2008. 身近な森守る機運高く. [Online]
Available at: https://www.minyu-net.com/serial/kankyo08/kankyo4-1.html

UNESCO, 2020. Tadami Biosphere Reserve, Japan. [Online]
Available at: https://en.unesco.org/biosphere/aspac/tadami

Wikipedia, 2021. Gap dynamics. [Online]
Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gap_dynamics