clearcuts

Strips all timber

Clearcuts are areas of forest where all or nearly all trees have been felled at once, leaving bare or stubbled land.

The term carries environmental weight—clearcuts represent the most aggressive form of timber harvesting, criticized for destroying habitat and causing erosion: The hillside was a patchwork of clearcuts and regrowth.

As a verb, to clearcut is to harvest timber this way.

logging

timber

Wood for construction

fellingDowning standing timber
chainsawMotor-driven cutting tool
lumberjackProfessional tree cutter

sawmill · skidder · bucking · slash · stumps · harvest · woodlot · forester · girdling · yarder

landscape

barren

Unable to produce

scarredMarked by healed wounds
exposedOut in open
stumpsCut tree bases

muddy · rutted · debris · stark · denuded · open · sun-bleached · regrowth · brush · fireweed

ecology

erosion

Gradual wearing away

fragmentationBreaking into smaller pieces
runoffExcess water drainage
recolonizationOccupying territory again

succession · regeneration · windthrow · blowdown

Categories

forestrysilviculture, forests, forestry, reforestation, timber
loggingloggers, lumberjacks, chainsaws, chainsaw, felling
Pacific NorthwestAlaska, Seattle, Oregon, Vancouver, Washington
public landsnational park, public lands, public land, national forest, state park
firebreaksfireline, fire lanes, fire road, fire roads, fire trail
landscape connectivitywildlife corridors, connectivity, corridors, habitat fragmentation, dispersal

Opposites

harvesting method selectivity

clearcutsselective logging

Cutting only certain trees

sustainable forestry · thinning

forest preservation state

clearcutsold-growth forest

Long-undisturbed mature woodland ecosystem

virgin forest · untouched wilderness · forest preserve · nature reserve · mature forest

forest condition

clearcutsold-growth forest

Long-undisturbed mature woodland ecosystem

virgin forest · primeval forest · ancient woodland · dense forest · standing timber

Family

clearcut, clearcutting

Familiarity: Top 500,000
Profile: Used worldwide · Timeless · Concrete · Negative · Rated G