When a tornado ripped through some areas of Westmoreland County in June 2012, John Wenzel, executive director at the Powdermill Nature Reserve, saw opportunity within destruction. When it comes to salvage logging after windstorms, ecologists debate whether it is better for the forest to remain as is or if it is better to remove fallen timber.
“John was able to see this was a big issue,” said Dr. Walter Carson of the University of Pittsburgh. “He had the foresight to say, ‘Hey, we can step in and address this issue of salvage logging in maybe the most rigorous way ever done.”
At Powdermill Nature Reserve, Wenzel, Carson and Pitt graduate student Michael Chips are teaming up with scientists, graduate students and undergraduate assistants from throughout the country to examine the impact of salvage logging on biodiversity. Additionally, their experiment will take a look at the effect of deer browsing on the forest.
“We do want to know whether logging has a negative impact on the forest, but we also want to know the degree that that negative impact depends upon the history of browsing over the last 50 years and browsing today,” Carson said. To conduct the experiment, about 15 acres of the “blow down” area were logged while another 15 acres were left untouched. Approximately $15,000 gained from the timber sale, Chips said, is helping to fund the experiment. In addition, he is applying for grants.
Within the 30 acres, the team has sectioned off 64 different 20-by-20-foot plots to examine the forest’s changes in the coming years. Thirty-two plots are open to allow deer-browsing, while 32 are fenced in with what are known as deer exclosures to prevent browsing.
From TribLive.com: https://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourligonier/6675530-74/experiment-forest-logging#axzz3IIPoIfHq