Here is a letter I wrote to "Wildlife in NC" the official publication of the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, in response to an Article in the December 2024 issue titled "When Disturbance is Good for Wildlife"

Your article about ecosystem disturbance in the December 2024 WINC was a timely reminder of the importance of fertile lands. I would like to share a few extra thoughts with people who value wildlife and the land fertility that supports it.

Disturbance is indeed something that natural systems are adapted to, and even take advantage of to increase production and diversity. Non-human disturbance such as storms, earthquakes, floods, and fires, are frequent enough that ecosystems have built-in mechanisms to deal with them, and sometimes even benefit from them.

The main difference between human and natural disturbance, is extraction—taking away very useful things of great value to the system. That is something that no natural lands are prepared for, and it creates infertile conditions long-term. The underlying rocks in most of NC are infertile as well, making it a slow difficult process to rebound from the theft of nutrients and fertility.

That is why I highly recommend NOT taking any materials out of our public lands ecosystems. Any trees that are cut should be left in place because they form the organic base of future soils. Mulching is fine, and laying trees and plants on the ground creates good cover, and also different shade and temperature conditions (aka microhabitats) that allow a diversity of species to thrive. The detritivore food web that recycles wood into soil, is a huge part of the overall productivity and life of any forest.

Also, and just as important, heavy equipment should NOT be used because it compacts soils. Soil compaction is a long-term problem with all our ecosystems, destroying fertility by eliminating necessary pockets that transmit and store water and air. This damages not only fertility, but also leads to more flooding, less aquifer recharge, and more surface runoff, eroding soils and dirtying streams. In addition to wildlife impacts, all of these results directly impact people and society.

Moreover, I highly suspect that extractive use, and the consequent loss of cover, organic soils, nutrients, detritivores, soil porosity, and water storage, are the real culprits in the dismaying decline of Bobwhite Quail (also mentioned in the same magazine) and other small game, and the decreasing fertility of NC public lands. The good thing: this is easy to fix—just stop extractive use on public wildlife lands.