According to the article, Sarawak Rainforest Depleted By Logging, “The rate of rainforest destruction in Southeast Asia is the highest in the world--much higher than in the Amazon, which one hears so much about. In the Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia, most of the commercially valuable forests have been entirely cut down.” I think there should be less logging because it is negatively affecting our ecosystem, water quantity and quality, and wildfire risk.

First off, logging has a negative effect on our ecosystem. According to the article, Logging and its Effects on the Ecosystem, “Logging potentially removes habitat for birds and other wildlife that use trees for cover, nesting habitat, or food.” This proves that logging harms our ecosystem and the wildlife in it. According to the article, Logging Impacts, “ The open spaces and edges created during logging operations inhibit movement by many wildlife species that were otherwise at home in the preexisting forest landscape.” This proves that logging can affect wildlife by ruining their habitat and making it not useful to the animals that previously lived in it. According to the article, Logging Impacts, “In the Sierra Nevada, a species such as the American marten or Northern flying squirrel will have a difficult time adapting to and recovering from a logged forest which has reduced the forest characteristics required for their survival.” This proves that logging these areas causes important aspects of the forest to these animals to decrease which causes less of this species to survive because they don't have what they need to survive.

Secondly, logging is negatively affecting our water quantity and quality. For example the article, Logging Impacts says, “Logging removes large trees that normally fall into streams and provide shelter and thermal cover, raises water temperatures and pH, and degrades the chemical and ecological conditions and food webs that fish need to survive.” This proves that logging changes a lot of things for a stream or body of water that is important to keep that area of water healthy. According to the article, Logging Impacts, “Logging and the roads created to facilitate logging also significantly degrade stream ecosystems by introducing high volumes of sediment into streams, changing natural streamflow patterns, and altering stream channel morphology. Areas that have been logged are far more likely to suffer from major landslides and erosion events that deposit abnormally high levels of sediment into area streams.” This proves that by logging you are doing lots of damage to these streams and causing more unneeded dangerous situations such as landslides which could potentially hurt people that live around the area. According to the article, Assessment of the Effects of Logging, Forest Fires and Drought on Lakes in Northwestern Ontario, “Wildfires, windthrow, and timber harvesting have been shown to increase catchment erosion, thereby altering mineral and nutrient input into aquatic systems.” This proves that logging along with other things has increased things in aqua systems that are not supposed to be increased.

Thirdly, logging increases the risk of wildfires. The article, Logging Impacts states, “According to the Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project's (SNEP) report in 1996, "Timber harvest, through its effects on forest structure, local microclimate, and fuel accumulation, has increased fire severity more than any other recent human activity.” This proves that logging has caused more wildfires than anything else humans do. According to the article, Logging Impacts, “Plantations that are planted with densely packed, single species conifers after clearcut or salvage logging also contribute to additional wildfire risk.” This proves that areas that have trees closer together and get logged have a higher risk of wildfires to happen. According to the article Logging Impacts, ” Fire intensity and expected fire spread rates thus increase locally and in areas adjacent to harvest.” This supports my opinion that logging causes wildfires because the fire spread rates are high near logged areas.

In conclusion, I feel logging isn't very good for forests and ecosystems and it does more harm than good. It hurts our ecosystems, the quality of water in an area, and the amount of water, and it makes wildfires more likely to occur. I think we should do something about this because it is a serious problem that could majorly affect our world in the future and it won't be good for us humans.