Life is a balancing act. That applies to folk living in the city or in the countryside. That is a basic lesson we should have learned as children, and one that applies all through life. That is a fact of life that Mother Nature has taught for generations, a lesson that is of value to each of us throughout time. Build up capital. Live off the interest.

The big difference in society is man's perception. Nature thinks in the long term while man in 'his' thinking seeks short term gains. A 100 year old pine is a normal goal for Ma Nature. Next year's income is man's goal. But Nature compensates by allowing short term remuneration from our resource base, a lesson of which many landowners are unaware.

My close friend and colleague Mack Williams has spent his life developing a forest. My earliest forestry recollections include evenings thinning Mack's plantations in Oro Twp. In his retirement he can look over his maturing forest seeing the ecological benefits of well managed land clothed in large standing trees. He can also look back on rolling open farm lands which he planted with trees and which have provided incomes from several thinning operations, each providing money to continue sound management.

Mother Nature has continued to grow ever stronger, more valuable trees while also building up organic soil from leaf fall and other forest debris. An understory of shrubs and young trees is providing traditional habitat for a wide variety of forest flora and fauna. With the current public concern for atmospheric CO2 the farm is doing its share of storing carbon above ground in carbon sinks we call tree trunks as well as storing even greater quantities of carbon below ground. The continuing cover of tree crowns also keeps the surface cool and protected from wind, helping to minimize decomposition of stored organic materials and evaporation of water.

Mack's farm is by no means alone as an example of Mother Nature's largesse. A hardwood forest adjacent to our property had a significant proportion of merchantable trees. The owner felt it had reached a stage which could be harvested, capitalizing on his investment. On a marked tree basis, a very fine job of partial cutting resulted. Despite a sizeable harvest the forest 5 years later remains in good shape. It is a joy to walk through particularly in the spring when the trilliums are in bloom. Very little damage was done in harvesting.

A tour through forest operations in Guyana provided an eyeopening experience. From a 'forestry' perspective, harvesting of 1-3 greenheart trees per acre in rainforests appears to have been commercially profitable. Young greenheart seedlings were thriving in the openings created. Most important from an ecologist's point of view, with such a minimal cut a forest cover was maintained. As a forester I still question whether or not 'high grading' was positive.

Unfortunately sustainable 'forestry' does not appear to be the norm in the farm forests of southern Ontario. Often forests on the back 40 of farm lands seem to be held strictly in reserve instead of being managed as part of the farm business. Many areas were cut-over (high graded!) many years ago and the residual 'bush forests', while serving an ecological purpose, do not appear to be managed well in serving both ecology and the owner's livelihood.

The indication, with the current crisis in the economy, is that many who have moved to urban environments may have to consider returning to the land. Southern Ontario farms have a great deal to offer for the nation's economy. Forest ecology is beginning to look more and more promising with the potential for production of biofuels. A great deal more thought needs to go into forests as an economic base for landowners while nature struggles to meet the needs of mankind by improving the ecology. Mother Nature is capable of building forest capital as well as providing income from interest while enhancing forest lands to meet the ecological needs of the wider range of creation.