Module 3: How Lana's Work Helps the Forest

My name is Lana, and I help take care of a forest in Northern California. Forests are places with lots of plant life. The forest where I work has towering trees that are over 100 years old. It also buzzes with animal life. I have seen tiny hummingbirds sip nectar from flowers and giant black bears munch juicy berries. It is my job to make sure that the forest stays a healthy place for plants and animals to live in.

Most people do not live in forests. So why do we need to take care of them? Forests help people in many ways. Trees help keep the air clean. Streams that run through forests have fresh water for people to drink. People visit forests to camp and see wildlife.

We need forests to help make Earth a clean and happy place to live, but we also need the wood from trees to build things that we use every day. Look around you. Do you see anything made from wood? People cut down trees to get wood to make pencils, tables, and even houses. But cutting down too many trees can harm the plant and animal life in the forest. So, we need to be careful about which trees we cut down. And that’s why my job is important.

Part of my job includes working with loggers. I tell the loggers which trees are best to cut down. To start, I look for trees that might be sick. I look for trees that are sick because cutting down sick trees might stop an illness from spreading.

I also look for trees and plants that might be bad for the forest. Sometimes, plants that are harmful end up growing in a forest. These plants take up space that other, more helpful, plants should have. Cutting down harmful plants keeps the forest healthy, but it must be done carefully.

Another part of my job is to find where new trees should be planted. First, I note each spot where a tree was cut down. Next, I decide if too many trees have been cut down in one spot. If I think that too many trees have been removed, then I plant new trees that I know will grow well in that area. As the trees grow, animals return to the area, and smaller plants grow in between the trees. Finally, when the trees have finished growing the area looks like it once did.

Working in a forest doesn’t mean that I only take care of trees. I have also worked to clean up a stream that runs through the forest. This stream goes right through the middle of the forest, but it begins outside of the forest, near people’s homes.

I brought the neighbors together to talk about plants that help the stream. Many people who live next to the stream had cut down these plants. They thought they were weeds. We also talked about things that should be kept out of the stream, like garbage.

Thanks to the neighbors, the stream is cleaner today. There are also more frogs and toads living in the steam than there used to be. This lets me know that what we did worked!

My job isn’t easy, but I enjoy it! I have seen parts of the forest come back to life with just a little bit of help. It’s important we are careful now so that people can enjoy forests in the future.