Clear Cutting: Boon to Builders, Disaster for the Environment

Every day on my commute I drive by a brand new development of well-appointed and pleasingly designed houses. I often glance over at the yards of these houses while shaking my head in a “What’s wrong with this picture?” kind of way. And what’s wrong is that there are no trees around the houses: they look almost forlorn and out of proper context just as if they had been airlifted down from a helicopter. It’s no secret that this is how developers build these days. It’s called clearcutting. Like so many other things today, it’s all about efficiency and the bottom line. Stately and beautiful trees that have been around for 50 or 100 years are sacrificed so that the builder can make some additional profit. To those of us who care about trees, preserving green spaces, and restoring the environment, it’s a travesty. How can these kinds of practices change? As with many things, it starts with education. Ruth Seward, the Executive Director of the Worcester Tree Initiative, says that she gets a lot of questions about this topic: “One thing that people have been asking me is: do trees prevent flooding? The short answer is yes.”, Ruth noted. Clear-cutting makes little aesthetic or environmental sense. Mature trees serve many purposes. They are a source of oxygen, add beauty to the environment. and clean our increasingly polluted air. Pollution, in fact, was recently identified by a prominent global health organization as a major source of health problems. Mature trees have importantenvironmental functions. They act as anchors for the soil with their extensive root systems, thereby preventing erosion and soil damage. In addition, on rainy days, the leaves slow down the rate that water falls to the ground. These characteristics help prevent the kind of flooding increasingly seen in over-developed areas. According to the Oregon Forest Resources Institute (OFRI), clear-cutting can have a large number of deleterious effects including but not limited to:

• Habitat Loss
• Changes in CO2 Levels
• Erosion and Soil Damage
• Natural Disaster Risk
• Aesthetic Concerns

According to the Institute, “The degradation of soil is one of the most pressing environmental issues facing society at present, and clear cutting only contributes to it. “ They also point out that replanting, sometimes done as a palliative measure, does not generally undo all the damage that clear-cutting can cause. The good news is that some towns and municipalities are wrestling with how to make changes to stem this practice. For example, last October the city of Englewood, New Jersey passed a law that provided harsh penalties for builders who cut down too many of the city’s trees. According to an article on northjersey.com, “Englewood will now require contractors to deposit funds with the city as insurance against clearcutting and submit copies of their tree-removal licenses to allow the city to more easily report violations to the state. The city has been reworking its tree ordinance over the past year to address resident concerns over the large-scale destruction of trees in construction lots.” Citizens can also accomplish a lot by simply resisting this practice. Anyone building or buying a new house should talk with the builder about ways to preserve as many trees as possible. Putting pressure on local governments to enact similar statues is another effective way to initiate change. Attitudes towards the environment are continually evolving so letting local governments know how important green spaces can be to the quality of life in your community is an important first step. ​ — Tom Valovic Tom Valovic is a volunteer with the Worcester Tree Initiative and a journalist. He has written for “The Boston Globe”, “The San Francisco Examiner”, “Annals of Earth”, “The Whole Earth Review”, and many other publications. Tom is the author of “Digital Mythologies”, a book of essays that explores the relationship between technology and the natural world. He can be reached at [email protected].