I wonder if some/most/all of that checkerboard is caused by the lumber harvesters deciding to harvest only half the checkerboard squares at one time, then wait some number of years before harvesting the other half. This wouldn't significantly reduce the harvest over a long enough time horizon, and it would ensure there's always some forest available for animals to live in.
The checkerboard looks too obvious to me to be just due to ownership.
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That checkerboard pattern is very visible on satellite imagery of western Oregon, where forest management changes between the public and private lots:
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.8725018,-123.0628546,81558m/...
I wonder if some/most/all of that checkerboard is caused by the lumber harvesters deciding to harvest only half the checkerboard squares at one time, then wait some number of years before harvesting the other half. This wouldn't significantly reduce the harvest over a long enough time horizon, and it would ensure there's always some forest available for animals to live in.
The checkerboard looks too obvious to me to be just due to ownership.
No, the actual ownership structure does the same thing - every other square in those checkerboards is BLM land.
They did that along the Canadian Pacific Railway as well when they acquired land to connect the coasts.
Basically the railway owned every other section and private individuals could purchase those in between.
Wow, I'm surprised. Here's a map[1]. Am I right that the reason is for making sure wildlife has some available area to live?
https://blm-egis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.htm...