Over time, high grading gives rise to forest stands containing stems of lower timber quality. The reduced income from timber can make it harder to fund good silvicultural practices, thereby impacting the economy of non-timber forest products and other activities such as hunting, wildlife watching or hiking. The practice also has an ecological cost, with a direct impact in terms of biodiversity, genetic diversity and species mix. Finally, it may cause forest to become unsafe due to an excessive amount of unmanaged trees at risk falling in a storm.