OK, I'll bite.... With hopes of distracting you all from this topic that has (at least for me) become boring and unlikely to actually reach a resolution, what are your thoughts of using "old growth" lumber for building canoes?
A couple schools of thought:
1. It's wrong to use old growth timber for a canoe (or anything else for that matter) because it supports the destruction of living old growth trees.
2. Its an honorable way (maybe the only honorable way) to display the beauty of the old growth lumber and ensure that it doesn't show up in some useless article such as a pallet as it was going to get cut down anyway.
Glen, can we add a new category for discussions on ethics?
Ethics
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Patricks Dad
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CD
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Bryan Hansel
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I'm all for saving the old growth. The issue isn't as simple as listed though. But, by not buying it, you don't add to the market force that contribute to the cutting of these trees. Many of the new green certified lumber programs address the issue directly, and what you could learn at their sites far outweigh anything that I could write here.
I think it was in George Dyson's Biadarka book: he describes finding an old growth log floating along a beach, so he tied it off and later came back a got it and then used the wood for his tree house or something like that. I thought it was an interesting way to harvest old growth at any rate. And if you haven't read his book, you should. It's absolutely fascinating where his takes the traditional baidarka.
Now on a local level: I think it would be a huge loss for Minnesota if the very little remaining virgin old growth was cut down and turned into anything including boats.
Nice try at a distraction from the other topic.
Bryan
This is the book:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/088240 ... e&n=283155
I think it was in George Dyson's Biadarka book: he describes finding an old growth log floating along a beach, so he tied it off and later came back a got it and then used the wood for his tree house or something like that. I thought it was an interesting way to harvest old growth at any rate. And if you haven't read his book, you should. It's absolutely fascinating where his takes the traditional baidarka.
Now on a local level: I think it would be a huge loss for Minnesota if the very little remaining virgin old growth was cut down and turned into anything including boats.
Nice try at a distraction from the other topic.
Bryan
This is the book:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/088240 ... e&n=283155
If saving old growth forests is an issue, write some letters to whatever government office is relevant with your thoughts and what you want to see happening wrt policy.
Here in Ontario, old growth gets some public attention with protest demonstrations in Temagami, newspaper articles on Algonquin logging, etc, so there's now a target of increasing the amount of old growth reserves. That doesn't mean the problem's solved, but progress is being made.
Contrary to what some say, letters from ordinary citizens do get taken seriously by governments and over the long term, letter-writing helps to shift politics in favor of parks creation and protection.
Take some time out from sanding and write a letter...
Here in Ontario, old growth gets some public attention with protest demonstrations in Temagami, newspaper articles on Algonquin logging, etc, so there's now a target of increasing the amount of old growth reserves. That doesn't mean the problem's solved, but progress is being made.
Contrary to what some say, letters from ordinary citizens do get taken seriously by governments and over the long term, letter-writing helps to shift politics in favor of parks creation and protection.
Take some time out from sanding and write a letter...