Where did the forest go?

So i was enjoying a leisurely drive through the mountains on a snow and mud-covered off road trail when the forest suddenly disappeared... I looked to the sky to see if I had stumbled upon the remote landing pad for an alien mothership, or perhaps some top-secret government military project. In fact I found the problem to be far more simplistic.

I had come across one of the many clear-cut portions of land in the Lassen National Forest. I could have sworn that clearcutting was a thing of the past. But there was no mistaking the clean cuts, and fresh sawdust being something which removed the forest recently. I would guess the area was a nice rectangular area of about 10-15 acres. In the matter of a few feet, i went from pristine forest to a wasteland littered with unwanted stumps, branches and nothingness...

I am not much of an environmentalist activist (as you can tell by the fact I was out 4-wheeling in my gas guzzling SUV), but this can't be a good thing. At other points in the same day I traveled through areas which had been "thinned" by logging, there was significantly less trees, yet the forest still seemed healthy and in many ways more healthy than the surrounding untouched lands. Anyway, i suggest clear cutting has to go, Sign this petition to get our government to stop allowing the logging industry to clearcut our forests.

Oh yea, I must confess that the leftovers did make for one nice fire that night to read by, keep warm and roast an entire bag of marshmallows by.





Here is my fine self portrait:








UPDATE: I found a good satellite photo of the area... Look real hard to find the clearcut areas... I know it is hard they blend in well...