They call it a Slash.

 I did some more digging into logging forests and the messes that are left behind. The loggers only take the logs that will earn them money. The tops are cut off and left lay. Other trees are damaged by the logging and are left standing. Trees that are cut and discovered hollow are also just left to lay.

They call it Slash.

The mess can serve a purpose. The logs decay providing nutrients to the soil.  The debris can prevent erosion and will provide cover for animals. 

[To me this didn't seem as though it would prevent erosion...however....]

The tree tops apparently provide food for deer as they are browsers and will eat the ends of the branches.

Yet I keep thinking that the people who own the land are not conservationists. I doubt there will be any replanting of the trees, but one can hope that trees will grow back. Well trees would grow back IF there were seeds left behind or saplings untouched.

The damage done to the oaks may be permanent and spread as Oak Wilt is an issue in our area.

I imagine that in a few years, this forest will produce amazing fungi and slime molds as well as a some sort of transformation. 

Yesterday afternoon I got a text from Glen the Hunter. He leases the part of the forest I photo'd and the woods all the way through the valley. Glen is a bow hunter and only hunts the land for a few weekends a year. He parks often at the edge of our property to hunt. We made an agreeable arrangement for access to the meadow about 6 years ago.

He always texts me to let me know when he is coming to check cameras or when he is hunting. He is from the Kenosha area of Wisconsin where I used to live. He generally stops and visits a bit each year. 

I texted back, asking him to give me his opinion on the logging on the land he'd leased for hunting. At the end of the day I got a text back with an apology for not stopping out to visit. 

"It is a mess!" His ATV broke down while checking on cameras and he said they had a terrible time dragging it out. If one could read through the lines of short texts...he was as shocked as I was. A bit later he texted me back and said that the owner ... said they would 'clean it up'. The emoji sent with it was a figure shrugging. 

I replied that the only cleaning up of that magnitude would be by bulldozer. My opinion.

Glen then asked if I'd keep an eye out for property for sale, as he sold property in Kenosha and was looking for property in our area.

We talked a bit. I'll skip over most of it. Glen then offered to purchase my place and let me live here. Bold move by text, but his heart sounded like it was in it thinking he'd help me out by a huge influx of money.

This was the third time someone had expressed wanting to purchase my place this past week.

I of course wouldn't do such an arrangement. I would be a tenant in my own house and there would be too many variables that could occur.

I think Glen was rather shocked at the condition of the land that he has leased now for the past few years. He leased it because of the amazing forest. I doubt he will lease it after this year.

Last night I was trying to get to sleep and I couldn't help but think about the forest to the east of me.

Can you imagine the fire danger if we have a drought?
Yeah. I should just pretend the forest next to me no longer exists.

Slash can be cleaned up with forest mulchers which are machines with large grinders. It can also be cleaned up with bulldozers which pile the Slash for burning.

I highly doubt that the absentee owner of the land will put that kind of effort and money into cleaning up nearly 500 acres of forest after it is logged.

I learned something new today. 

Slash.

It seems an appropriate word for this kind of logging.

Never thought of it in this manner.