HI Joseph, Thanks for this as I did not know of the extent of this areal spraying, sounds horrific and from the many articles I have read glyphosate has more ongoing effects on the soil biota than the company wishes to acknowledge. We should also do a study on rates of decay of leaf a mixed forests compared to the monoculture of acid rich hydrophobic pine litter, and when mixed forests burn do they create rain bearing systems due to their higher water content and lower burn temperatures? these may even prove a fire will be suppressed naturally.
My experience is that conifer forest floor litter decays slower than deciduous forest floor litter. There have been times where I have pondered if the higher flammability of conifer species is by design by Nature, to aid in the combustion of forest floor litter and there-by accelerating the recycling of organically bound up nutrients. This idea underscores the hypothesis that regular low intensity fires act to rejuvenate forest bio-diversity and productivity.
My Thoughts are that conifer species probably adapted to the steeper slopes and more northern areas where water is scarce and the plant is the most exposed to the cold, hence the need for the more volatile chemicals to stabilize it during the extremes.( fire probably used to be rare as well but your idea of recycling may be viable this far north)
Thank you Joseph. You have articulated my own conclusions on the use of herbicides in forests open to harvesting. I think that this practice has not been subject to long term evaluation and the adverse health consequences, in particular, of widespread use have not been adequately studied. Glyphosate use for promoting rapid ripening/drying is now widespread in grain production with analogous economic justification by reducing costs of handling and risk of weather related losses.
I fear that these applications are indeed a case of improved economic equations in the short term but will prove to be at the expense of externalized costs, both financial and health-wise, within a generation. I don't think that prohibition of such uses of glyphosate by the EU is overly cautious.
The relevant authorities and educational forestry departments should be collecting data to be able to determine the differences in forest fire incidence, comparing not only historic deciduous treatment vs herbicide-treated plots, but also naturally regenerated plots in unlogged areas of parks, etc. This is admittedly a large, long and complex task.
The fact that Quebec rejected Round-Up in controlling is leaf bearing species in replanted areas should serve as a useful baseline.
One of the reasons round-up is used so much in the Prairies to ripen crops is that the use of reapers or cutters have gone into decline as combines have become more pervasive.
Before, farmers would first mow their crops before threshing and winnowing. This two stage process ensured uniform moisture content in the grain.
Likewise, it is extremely useful to be able to control the pace of ripening when farmers continuously live with a total lack of control over weather. This factor alone saves massive quantities of product from being wasted.
I can also attest to the value of boots on the ground vegetation management. I would not know how hard hard work is, unless I spent a summer pruning Christmas trees when I was in college.
I thought roundup was only sprayed on utility line right of ways for veg management. That seems somewhat reasonable, but to do entire stands of timber is crazy.
HI Joseph, Thanks for this as I did not know of the extent of this areal spraying, sounds horrific and from the many articles I have read glyphosate has more ongoing effects on the soil biota than the company wishes to acknowledge. We should also do a study on rates of decay of leaf a mixed forests compared to the monoculture of acid rich hydrophobic pine litter, and when mixed forests burn do they create rain bearing systems due to their higher water content and lower burn temperatures? these may even prove a fire will be suppressed naturally.
Many thanks
My experience is that conifer forest floor litter decays slower than deciduous forest floor litter. There have been times where I have pondered if the higher flammability of conifer species is by design by Nature, to aid in the combustion of forest floor litter and there-by accelerating the recycling of organically bound up nutrients. This idea underscores the hypothesis that regular low intensity fires act to rejuvenate forest bio-diversity and productivity.
My Thoughts are that conifer species probably adapted to the steeper slopes and more northern areas where water is scarce and the plant is the most exposed to the cold, hence the need for the more volatile chemicals to stabilize it during the extremes.( fire probably used to be rare as well but your idea of recycling may be viable this far north)
Thank you Joseph. You have articulated my own conclusions on the use of herbicides in forests open to harvesting. I think that this practice has not been subject to long term evaluation and the adverse health consequences, in particular, of widespread use have not been adequately studied. Glyphosate use for promoting rapid ripening/drying is now widespread in grain production with analogous economic justification by reducing costs of handling and risk of weather related losses.
I fear that these applications are indeed a case of improved economic equations in the short term but will prove to be at the expense of externalized costs, both financial and health-wise, within a generation. I don't think that prohibition of such uses of glyphosate by the EU is overly cautious.
The relevant authorities and educational forestry departments should be collecting data to be able to determine the differences in forest fire incidence, comparing not only historic deciduous treatment vs herbicide-treated plots, but also naturally regenerated plots in unlogged areas of parks, etc. This is admittedly a large, long and complex task.
The fact that Quebec rejected Round-Up in controlling is leaf bearing species in replanted areas should serve as a useful baseline.
One of the reasons round-up is used so much in the Prairies to ripen crops is that the use of reapers or cutters have gone into decline as combines have become more pervasive.
Before, farmers would first mow their crops before threshing and winnowing. This two stage process ensured uniform moisture content in the grain.
Likewise, it is extremely useful to be able to control the pace of ripening when farmers continuously live with a total lack of control over weather. This factor alone saves massive quantities of product from being wasted.
A complex cost vs benefit relationship.
I can also attest to the value of boots on the ground vegetation management. I would not know how hard hard work is, unless I spent a summer pruning Christmas trees when I was in college.
I thought roundup was only sprayed on utility line right of ways for veg management. That seems somewhat reasonable, but to do entire stands of timber is crazy.