THE Swedes, known to have a scalpedearth policy for a long time, have now come up with a ecologically sound way of logging which is also profitable. Earlier, the woodcutters used to bare almost 300 ha of the vegetation completely. But the new 'ecological cuts' have brought it down to merely 3 to 30 he. The trees are growing faster; some sick trees are recovering and the need for expensive reforestation is being min- innised as the outcome. In addition, 150 to 400 trees per ha which are left without being chopped, is serving as an 'umbrella' for the young plants - protecting them from frosts. The 20,000 varieties of animals and plants in the forests of the country have also been well-served, Without the threat of extinction.
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