Facts:

• The harvesting of tree allows new, young, vigorous plants, shrubs and seedlings to flourish in areas where larger, more mature trees had prevented their growth.  This is due to increased sunlight reaching the forest floor.
• Increased sunlight allows West Virginia's hardwood forests to "regenerate" naturally by stimulating growth in "sapling", sprouts and seeds stored in the forest litter.
• More than one million tree seedlings were planted on surface mined land in West Virginia in 2000.
• Forest management makes use of natural biological processes to even out the "up and down" cycle and ensure a long term, continuous supply of wood, water, wildlife, and recreation.