Something I have noticed over the years, with the help of my Father, is that not all natural areas yield the same level of biodiversity. It is exciting to be able to walk in the woods or parks and spot lots of wildlife, such as birds and deer, and see lots of different plants and trees. I’m not sure what the average American plantlife IQ is, but I’m guessing that most folks aren’t that interested in ‘plant identification 101′, or ‘name that beetle!’.

For those of us who are, I think it to be quite important to focus on diversity, or the lack thereof in our usual outdoor haunts. National and state forests and metroparks are managed environments, but they need to be managed for the health of the native plants, trees, animals, birds and insects, not the lumber organizations.

I have seen what happens when the lumber industry sprays herbicides over areas in an attempt to allow their stock trees to grow. The seedlings are usually of a variety that grows quickly, so that growth to maturity and harvest isn’t a very long cycle. The herbicides are there to control competing plants so that the seedlings get enough sunlight to grow. Follow this procedure for a while, indeed decades, and you have forests with a limited diversity, that which will produce enough pulp in relation to the cost of seeding and harvesting an area. Lumber management types like to blame deer for eating their seedlings, but, if no mast plants and trees are allowed to grow, the deer have little choice. What do mast plants, trees and bushes provide? Why, food of course. Oaks provide acorns, walnut trees walnuts, dogwoods provide berries, sumacs provide fruit, and so on.

This type of blind forest management has gone on long enough. We know better than this, as following this limited path may wreak havoc far, far beyond what the average person knows or expects. Genetic diversity is also part of the equation here, for if we allow our rich habitats to be simplified down to mere money-making ventures, then most of the ecosystem is dispensible, and we are left with far few types of trees, animals and plants.

Experienced naturalists know that all it takes is one aggresive attacker, be it an emerald ash borer, or the fungus that causes the blight in American chestnuts, and whole species can be wiped out, possibly forever. Preserving diversity means preserving the genetic material that fought so hard to suvive so many millenia to make it to the present day. These plants and animals are survivors, and as such are genetic treasure troves there for us to understand and appreciate and preserve.

Our lives likely depend on it, for this is also true for our food supply, as the diversity of plants and animals bred today is greatly reduced from even a century ago. Humans must come to understand why the vast pool of genetic diversity came into being in the first place. It happened for a reason. Wiping it out, as we are part of that system, may be among the last things we ever do.

• Wildlife Management

• Conservation and Management of Tree Genetic Resources