Logging In Appalachia

The environment and the natural world have been of interest in the recent times. Appalachia is no exception to this but, most of the information regarding negative effects on the environment was about mining and the removal of mountain tops and there would probably be countless research papers done on that aspect of the ecology in the southern highlands, but it seems many people tend to neglect the negative impact industrial logging has had on Appalachia. The aspects of logging that will be covered in this paper are what small scale logging in Appalachia looks like, how the logging industry in Appalachia began, and the negative environmental impacts of logging. Before industrial logging came to Appalachia the logging that was conducted was …show more content…
One picture is of a canal that filled with white cedar that had been logged. The part of the canal that is caught in the picture is several hundred yards long and is filled with timber from end to end. It truly shows the gravity of how industrial logging can cripple an environment. Though the act of removing all the trees from an area is obviously detrimental to environmental all in itself but, the process in which it is done causes a lot issues as well. The equipment brought in by industrial logging is far more destructive to the environment than anything that is used small scale. As mentioned earlier, industrial logging required at the turn of the century saw many new developments in the technology that was used, such as the invention of the band mill and innovations with timber loaders. Appalachia especially was very much new to this equipment as well as other equipment that had been employed for some years, but not in the Appalachian region. One particular type of equipment that was relatively new to the southern highlands is the wheeled skidder which came about …show more content…
Industrial logging is has historically been very hard on the environment. This is no different for southern Appalachia. The southern highlands were once full of virgin woodlands that rested on the steep mountainsides. It stayed that was for centuries until southern Appalachia was discovered by industrial logging. For years leading up to the late 1800s the only logging that was done in Appalachia was, for the most part, small scale and not as nearly as detrimental to the environment as industrial logging is. It has a heavy use of machinery such as skidders and bulldozers, which tear up the land, it easy to how why it is so detrimental. The erosion that is caused by the use of this heavy equipment has caused numerous problems for the environment all in itself, with its polluting of mountain streams and the washing of key nutrients from the soil. With all of these problems caused by the early industrial logging it is easy to see why the National Forest Reservation Commission was formed and why we have the national forest and parks we have to day. Perhaps things will continue to lead towards the better and these organizations and others like them will be able to continue

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