Silent forests
What happened to all our song birds? When we wake up in the morning the silence is deafening. No birds chirp outside the window to begin our day. A walk in the forests bring similar results. Our forests are silent and lifeless. Compared to years ago, there are few birds left. The only birds we see are humming birds, which we feed.
What happened in our environment to cause our birds to disappear? I have a theory. It is not chemicals or man-made pesticides but simply a scarcity of food. The death of small farms was the beginning. People have had a symbiotic relationship with wildlife since thousands of years. Plowed fields provided an ideal spot for birds to find worms. Food for farm animals was shared by birds. Oats and hay seed were plentiful. Swallows and other birds left when farms closed.
Abandoned farms have gone back to nature. What was once open fields where wild flowers and nutritious grass could grow have returned to forest. Birds and animals need more than tress to have a healthy environment something which many tree huggers don’t seem to understand or won’t admit.
Another major reason was policies put in place by urban environmentalist and municipal governments. Their lack of knowledge in the way that government policies can affect wildlife is astounding. At one time all our food waste was composted behind people’s houses. A great feast for wildlife. Today all food waste is sent to a central location and birds go hungry.
Federal and provincial governments have set up national parks and large protected areas where all trees, regardless of age, are protected. The ground under these forests are barren and dead. No animal or bird can survive for long in such a dead environment.
When we protect only trees, all other wildlife must pay the price. With no meadows or wide-open places, wildflowers and other vegetation can’t survive. No food for birds or bees. With no new forests, we have no saplings, which provide food for moose and deer. No new forests, no thickets where rabbits can hide. No rabbits and fox, coyotes, lynx and bob cat starve.
Protecting trees only has led to many unintended consequences. All protected parks and protected areas will eventually become death zones for wildlife and birds.
Governments at all levels must act and act soon. If they continue to promote the above policies there will come a time in the not too distant future when most wildlife, birds and bees will be a distant memory. Lawrence Barron Ingonish Harbour, Victoria County