Odd Squares in western US forests?

What are these? Mapping related artifacts? Some kind of forest management?

Squares in western US forests.kmz (738 B)

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Hi Eddman,



Even for something like this, a PLACEMARK is appreciated by others, because it helps us see exactly what you are looking at. (I see you sort of did this with an empty folder and a high eyelevel view.) In the dense douglas fir forests of western Oregon and Washington, clear cutting is thought to be the most efficient way of timber harvesting and regeneration. Adjoining plots, often whole square mile sections are clear cut, sometimes with the use of sky crane helicopters. Seeds spread from the uncut sections. Try overlaying a map with legal description markings, and see how the squares match up.



CLEARCUTTING


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Attachments:

For eddman.kmz (1.21 KB)

Sorry, I'm new to this. I didn't even know how to make a kmz file. Will do better next time. Honestly, I thought it was quite obvious from the three attached images.

It's quite interesting to see this kind of clearcutting. It's looks almost exactly like a chess board.

On another note, that's a LOT of cut trees, something like 1/6, or more. It's actually kind of depressing to see so much of the forest gone.

Hi Edd and welcome to the community!
check THESE on oGEC too!
best,
g

I live in Montana. You would be surprised how quickly those clear cuts come back. They reseed naturally and come back thicker than ever. The elk and deer love them because of all the young new growth.

Jun 9, 2016 2:31:38 GMT eddman said:

What are these? Mapping related artifacts? Some kind of forest management?

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Clear cutting of forests (Deforestation Patterns).

Did you really mean, ET, to describe the clear cutting patterns that were the subject of eddman's question as deforestation, "the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a non-forest use"?



I believe you will find that in the Douglas Fir forests of western Oregon that clear cutting is generally thought to be the most efficient and ecologically sound method for harvesting and regenerating forest lands, and that few if any of the clear cut areas that he was talking about are not intended to be replaced by new growth forests.