cobble said:
Yeah, I guess I understand that to a degree. Where I live in New York, it is very rare to completely clear-cut. Most woods are well mixed, and when logged, are selectively cut.
When I lived in the Northeast Kingdom of northern Vermont, it was pretty much the same. Clear cutting was pretty much frowned upon.
The area where I own land in northern Michigan was - just a few years ago - a mix of "popple", soft maple, hard maple, white birch, cedar, red pine, etc. Some of the maples were pretty good sized. These are the lands that were recently completely stripped - every stick of every tree cut down. Now, maybe that's good for mono-cropping and growing poplars to sell to OSB mills, and also maybe good for temporary cover or grouse, et. al. Not good as I see it though. I've never regarded any sort of mono-cropping being good in the long run - regardless if for trees, vegetables, etc. As I understsand it though, the entire history of Michigan has been one of clear cutting. I suspect, due to that, some of the original diversity is gone in most woods.
Also - here around our mixed woods, we have grouse all over the place - so I guess our type of woods is also good for them.
I fully admit, I don't know much about tree growth in northern MI except for a few things I've read recently. The soil in the areas there that I own is pretty sandy and quite different then here in NY.
