clearcutting

Forest-wide tree removal

Clearcutting is a logging practice where all trees in an area are harvested at once, leaving the land bare.

The method is efficient for timber production but controversial for its environmental impact—destroying habitat, causing erosion, and leaving stark landscapes: The hillside was scarred by clearcutting.

Also spelled clear-cutting.

forestry

silviculture

Forest cultivation practice

timberWood for construction
thinningReducing density or number
reforestationReplanting depleted woodlands

forester · cutover · logging · felling · lumbering · harvest · rotation · replanting · plantation · pulpwood

deforestation

logging

Recording system events

timberWood for construction
fellingDowning standing timber
chainsawsMotor-driven cutting tools

bulldozers · clearance · destruction · habitat · erosion · rainforest · woodland · treeless · stumps · slash-and-burn

ecology

biodiversity

Range of life forms

ecosystemInterconnected organisms and surroundings
fragmentationBreaking into smaller pieces
wildlifeUndomesticated natural organisms

watershed · runoff · sedimentation · microclimate · old-growth · monoculture

Categories

environmental harmair pollution, water pollution, pollution, oil spills, acid rain
deforestationillegal logging, selective logging, timber harvesting, timber harvest, tree felling
environmental threatshabitat loss, deforestation, pollution, climate change, invasive species
forestrysilviculture, forests, forestry, reforestation, timber
loggingloggers, lumberjacks, chainsaws, chainsaw, felling
lumber industrysawmill, logs, timber harvesting, logging, lumber yards

Opposites

harvesting selectivity

clearcuttingselective logging

Cutting only certain trees

coppicing

ecological impact

clearcuttingforest conservation

Protecting wooded ecosystems systematically

forest preservation · sustainable forestry · forest stewardship · habitat conservation · agroforestry

land use philosophy

clearcuttingforest preservation

Protecting extensive tree ecosystems

forest conservation · forest protection · wilderness protection · rewilding · reforestation

Family

clear, cutting, unclear, clarity, clarify, cutter, clear-cut, clearcut, clearcuts

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