In response to “Tree Cutting” which ran in the May 9 issue of North Country This Week, the removal of trees and replanting is a complicated thing. While I don’t know the practices of the logger who buys timber; I assume they are running a home sawmill or selling firewood. Forest management by properly trained loggers and foresters will result in more valuable forests and healthy ecosystems. Trees don't just grow. Forests left on their own don't automatically result in a healthy environment. Weed trees like tartarian honeysuckle and European buckthorn tend to fill in and choke out everything else in forests, while providing no habitat value for any wildlife. Trees also don't live forever, nor do all trees provide the same habitat value. Ruffled Grouse is a bird who likes dense sapling size poplar stands that grow in after logging, this regeneration supports these birds, while a mature stand of poplar provides no food for them at all. Poplar is also very short lived, reaching maturity in 20 years, and usually dying off at 30 years. Harvesting trees will create regeneration, there usually is no need to replant unless you want to grow something else. When a forest is cut it creates an opportunity for seeds and seedlings already present to start growing. Poplar for example will not survive under any shade and the trees inadvertently kill their own seedlings. As for trees on the roadside being removed, there is often a need to remove trees on the roadside for safety from time to time.