"High-Grading" is the act of harvesting the very highest value trees in a forest. Over multiple generations, the forest shifts toward less valuable species and within each species, toward forms that are deformed, knotty and prone to rot.
From one generation to the next, there is very little change in the amount of rain or sunlight that falls upon the ground but the value of the timber harvested (and the benefit to society) first drops slowly...and then quickly.
Entire species become extinct from the tract. The loss of ecological niches impoverish the flow of energy through ecosystem. Often, erosion increases. Morphology changes from timber-types to weedy, high-seed-production forms.
Easter Island
Jared Diamond discusses Easter Island in one of the chapters in his book Collapse.
"High-grading" is a recurring theme in that chapter. The degradation of the forests was so gradual that the changes spanned several (human) generations and normalcy bias made it easy for people to be in denial.
High-grading also occurred in the oceans. Even with the easing of harvesting pressure in modern times, beds of shellfish closest to the island still contain very high levels of dwarf and "runty" individuals as the most robust specimens were harvested for food leaving behind the less thrifty individuals.
Lessons for modern people?
It is easy for us to dismiss this as not applying to us. After all, we have tools for measuring tree canopies (LIDAR) and standing biomass. We can measure CO2 emitted from soil. We have statistics for monitoring the health of shellfish.
The pathological interplay between producers, harvesters and consumers caused the catastrophic "high-grading" that led (in part) to the collapse of Easter Island's society.
But if Knowledge and Information are the currency of modern life, rather than Cowrie shells, are we really monitoring what is important?
Are there pathological interactions within the education system, the nominal arbiters of all things knowledge? From the standpoint of society, what benefit is there in keeping highly disruptive students in high school? What benefit is there is sending students with an IQ of 90 to the University to get degrees in Psychology or Liberal Arts? How is it even POSSIBLE for somebody with an IQ of 90 to attain a Bachelor's degree unless the quality of the material has been substantially diminished over time, just like the height of the trees on Easter Island and the complexity of the species mix?
And if people with IQs of 90 can attain Bachelor degrees, then why not people with IQs of 85...and 80....and 75?
We have been high grading for a thousand years. Large oaks for ships in Continental Europe, all coal, iron and oil, fish in the sea - all have been high graded for millennia.
ReplyDeleteThat may explain why we are where we are.
Europe would have gone down hill much faster without inputs from overseas colonies.
DeleteSome countries, for example Spain, it made a bigger impact than others.
Jonathan
My grandparents set up a greenhouse for growing flowers. Grandma sold the prettiest flowers and left the ones that looked 'poorly'. Three years later they had no nice flowers to sell.
ReplyDeleteZane Grey noted that the wild horses of the West had the same problem. Escapees from humanity, they improved in their generations under survival pressures, then cowboys went after them to catch and break for riding. The cowboys kept the good ones and let go the ones they couldn't sell. By the time barbed wire had tamed the West, what wild horses were left were sorry specimens indeed.
A distinction should be added: while we CAN measure canopy, CO2, etc, many of those making the decision to take trees don't even consider those variables.
ReplyDeleteJonathan
Is that an argument for clear cutting?
ReplyDeleteIt can be. Aspen and birch are pioneer species that do not tolerate shade and the lightweight seeds cannot punch through forest-duff. They disappear under selective cutting.
DeleteFunny, when I go blackberry picking I always throw some of the prettier one's along side the trail. Those seeds will grow and in 2 years I can harvest MORE berries with the desirable genetics. It's hard throwing the big plump juicy one's on the ground when you've got nothing but little runty dried ones in your basket, but... that's how you take care of your berry patch for future years. You throw the prettiest berries on the ground.
ReplyDeleteFred in Texas, civilization depends on men planting trees in whose shade they'll never sit. Gotta plan for the future. It's a mindset. Joseph selectively culled his sheep. The knowledge has been around for a long time. But short-sighted men (and women) make decisions that affect the here and now. "That's their problem" has been causing problems for millennia.
ReplyDelete