As you say, humans can work with nature if they understand it.
For some years I worked as a volunteer in a local ancient woodland. It had been 'worked' (coppiced and managed) for centuries (it was mentioned in the Domesday Book). I recently talked to someone about coppicing and they came up with the typical modern response that it ruined the wood and we needed to leave the it alone to go 'wild'. I pointed out that properly coppiced woodland creates one of the most biodiverse ecosystems possible, as it comprises such a huge range of different stages of growth and habitats.
The lives of our ancestors depended upon these woods, so they did not see them as a short term money making thing to be clear felled for a quick profit. They wanted future generations to be able to depend upon them in perpetuity and the only way to do that was to understand and work with the wood.
What’s remarkable is that coppicing doesn’t just create a better habitat, it makes the tree itself live longer. An uncoppiced ash lives around 200 years. A coppiced ash stool can live over a thousand. Cutting correctly doesn’t take from the tree. It renews it, keeps the stool in a permanent state of youth instead of letting it age toward collapse. Just wild isn’t automatically healthier. Relationship can be.
Ah, I see we're on the same wavelength here. And making breaks in the canopy trees allows in the light, which awakens the dormant plants, which brings in insects, which brings in birds and animals etc etc. It's lovely to share this sort of understanding.
As you say, humans can work with nature if they understand it.
For some years I worked as a volunteer in a local ancient woodland. It had been 'worked' (coppiced and managed) for centuries (it was mentioned in the Domesday Book). I recently talked to someone about coppicing and they came up with the typical modern response that it ruined the wood and we needed to leave the it alone to go 'wild'. I pointed out that properly coppiced woodland creates one of the most biodiverse ecosystems possible, as it comprises such a huge range of different stages of growth and habitats.
The lives of our ancestors depended upon these woods, so they did not see them as a short term money making thing to be clear felled for a quick profit. They wanted future generations to be able to depend upon them in perpetuity and the only way to do that was to understand and work with the wood.
What’s remarkable is that coppicing doesn’t just create a better habitat, it makes the tree itself live longer. An uncoppiced ash lives around 200 years. A coppiced ash stool can live over a thousand. Cutting correctly doesn’t take from the tree. It renews it, keeps the stool in a permanent state of youth instead of letting it age toward collapse. Just wild isn’t automatically healthier. Relationship can be.
Ah, I see we're on the same wavelength here. And making breaks in the canopy trees allows in the light, which awakens the dormant plants, which brings in insects, which brings in birds and animals etc etc. It's lovely to share this sort of understanding.