California History Deforestation

Deforestation is a significant issue in to be examined in California’s history because we are destroying what is left of the natural beauty of this great state by cutting down trees in our forests. Before us the current residents or California took over a vast majority of California was once blanketed by towering trees and they seemed to be endless from what most people saw. But as most of us Californians see it now we have cut down a majority of trees and instead of the natural trees we once had covering California we have replaced them with concrete trees, and these trees are all the skyscrapers, business, stores, and homes. This is a growing problem since the population in California seems to keep getting bigger as time progresses and what do we do when we run out of space. We go out to the forests and cut down more trees to accommodate the population growth and with those trees we build more homes and businesses. And to protect what is left of our diminishing forests, environmentalists have been protesting and petitioning and even in some extreme cases chained themselves to trees and blocked roads from loggers who go and try to cut more trees down just to protect what is left of our forests. When people like the environmentalists step in and do this they gain the public’s eye and gain nation attention and others states do the same thing to protect our nation’s natural beauty. And when all this attention goes around the government is forced to change its policies and regulations to fit the needs of its citizens. Logging companies can’t go around cutting down trees when they feel like it anymore they have many regulations they have to meet now. But even with all of these regulations there will always be flaws. Even though the loggers are logging way less than they used to they are still doing it more than they need to. Why are we not more like the Native Americans they believed in a circle of life you only take what you need you never over harvest and

Cited: in Forest Dispute,” New York Times, 4/12/1964, p.86). This quote from the governor depicts the struggle between the environmentalists and loggers. It shows how people are so willing so cut down anything in there path just to get from point A to point B faster. If we just keep letting this happen who will stop them before our state becomes bald. But even while this is going there is some good starting to pear its way through. Regulations start coming into effect such as the one in this article “When the senate committee that is studying the national problem of reforestation reaches California in September, it will find that the lumbermen of one of the most heavily timbered districts in the United States are committed to reforestation of their lands as they are cut over and the adoption of a policy of permanent lumbering operations” (“Permanent Lumbering,” New York Times, 715/1923, p.RE2). With this policy in effect it became better known to at least better to plant a tree to replace the one you cut down. But it is still not good enough since it takes a very long time for a tree to grow back to what it once was. Also there have been state parks created to help preserve some of the trees in our state. There has been a lot of good coming from these people petitioning and protesting. We got some of the necessary regulations we need to help preserver our forests and this holds true for this lumber company according to this quote “After more than 90 years of turning ancient redwoods into lumber, the largest old-growth sawmill in the world has shut down, a casualty of environmental regulations, protests and a scarcity of old trees” (T-i-m-b-e-r for giant sawmill / Pacific Lumber Co. shuts old-growth redwood plant,” San Francisco Chronicle, 5/13/2001, p.A.4). This states that some of the regulations that have been put in place from the early 1900s have also been working in more recent times and helping shut down the largest sawmill in the world. But you can say it still hasn’t changed from before since some companies still continue to over log as seen in this article information “Pacific Lumber Co., having rejected a $480 million government offer for Headwaters grove, left the door open Saturday to salvaging a deal to preserve the old-growth redwood forest” (“Headwaters deal not yet dead and buried,” San Francisco Chronicle, 2/28/1999, p.D.1). Even after having these regulations set in place some lumber companies still have the leverage to refuse the governments offers at buying the trees for the state. And if they are able to continue logging they will eventually use up all of the trees they have left. But even if we are using all the lumber we cut down for housing and furniture to accommodate the growing population we are still destroying the land to progress further in our society (“The Price of Progress,” California Dreams and Realities, 2005, p.382). Still the price of progress is to great sometimes. We lose a lot of the lands natural beauty when we progress this far. Even through all of these events deforestation is still a significant issue in California. Our great state went from an endless view of towering green trees to a plain view of homes and skyscrapers. We have protested, petitions, and created regulations to help prevent this deforestation from further advancing. Yet this day it is still going on it may be going at a slower pace of what it once went but it is still going on and no one can stop it from happening because even if we want to stop it we have to live somewhere, so what do we do just and watch everywhere get over populated. No, we end up cutting more trees down for the land and using those trees for the homes built on that land. So in the end we can’t stop it from happening we just have to enjoy them now while we still can.