Hibdon Hardwood, Inc.

Items of Interest

Ecology in Belize | Belize Rain Forests | Kiln Drying Methods

"Rain Forest Chopping Block in Belize"

Recently, an article by Mary Jo McConahay appeared on the net with the above title.

The biggest problem with this article is that the central premise ( i.e. that the Columbia rain forest is "on the chopping block") is false.

Less than 5% of trees will be harvested including trees taken out by roads -- this is the contractual agreement between the government of Belize and the Malaysian sawmill.
Most rain forest timber has no market value. Timber companies in Belize never clear cut the rain forest because 95% of the wood can't be sold to anyone (local or otherwise) at a profit.
After logging is complete in an area, the results are barely visible from a small plane at slow speed.

From the article:

"The situation comes into focus in this village of 1200 alongside the Columbia River Forest Reserve, 103,000 acres of old-growth tropical hardwood forest."

The wildly exuberant growth (a Balsa tree, ochroma pirimadale, can grow to 30" in diameter and 80' tall in 5 years) renders oxy moronic a term like "old growth rain forest" -- very few trees reach 100 years. Normally, "old growth" means the 2,000+ years of the California Redwood or the 1,000 to 1,500 years of the Cedars of the Western and Eastern U.S. To abuse a term like "old growth" in this manner is simply propaganda.

"Maya in the region are subsistence farmers, using slash and burn methods and rotating fields in a careful, sustainable way."

To say that slash and burn is done in a "careful, sustainable way" is tantamount to saying Attila the Hun dispatched his victims with thoughtful sensitivity. Slash and burn is not a life-style of choice, but one of desperation. To suggest otherwise is either naive or cruel. Every single person now engaged in subsistence slash and burn farming, often going hungry, drinking stagnant water, and having kids dying of measles because of no roads and no money, would take a sawmill job in a New York second.

The real issues here are much more complex and difficult than presented in the article. Ms. McConahay suggests that if only the evil loggers can be stopped everything is then OK but is that true?

If the logging is stopped:

The forest will be nibbled away by slash and burn farmers whose ever-increasing numbers are augmented daily by refugees from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
The burned areas will very quickly merge to become "fincas", small ranches, where cattle graze amid charred stumps.
Without the protective canopy of the forest the compacted soil, always thin, will wash away after 3 or 4 rainy seasons.
The resulting wasteland will be of no interest to North American eco-tourists who will look elsewhere for the "old growth rain forests" of their dreams.

What can be done that is truly useful in the Columbian rain forest?

Short term:

Make sure the Malaysians live up to their contracted agreement to:
- protect streams and water sheds
Do this by observing and, if necessary pressuring the government of Belize and foreign embassies.
Stop putting obstacles in the path of sustained yield harvest.
Try to stop the clear cutting of any forest for any reason.

Long term:

Promote use of little-known species in the market.

Push for downstream development of plywood and veneer plants, dry kilns, furniture plants etc.

Support efforts to minimize overpopulation.

Use more biodegradable materials like wood, especially types not currently used.

Use fewer throw-away, non-biodegradable items like plastic, metal, or glass.

Lose the arrogant, colonial attitude that Northern American/European people know best and that the world should be preserved just as it is -- for our benefit and enjoyment.

Protect your own species -- put people before animals or plants.