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Over a relatively short human history, we've managed to rise to the top of the species list (at least from our own perspective). But, with our success, our numbers have inflated wildly, creating huge demands for resources and dangerous overconfidence in our knowledge. We've become highly disconnected from and destructive of that which underpins our existence. Civilizations have come and gone, many of which have exploited forests to the point where the forests disappeared, followed quickly by the civilizations.
The over-exploitation of global forests is ongoing. More and more land is being degraded and deforested, putting it on the descent toward non-forest and even desert-like conditions. The Amazon rainforest. The Congo Basin. Parts of the Americas. Even boreal forests are coming down.
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| Pristine stream in old-growth forest |
Forests give us life, but not just any forest is good enough. To keep Earth as a place where we can continue to live in relative comfort requires regions of Nature-managed, old forests around the globe. Only time creates forests where natural biological, evolutionary processes can recover and play out. These forests created
livable terrestrial conditions over eons in the first place, and evolved forests are the only thing that we know is capable of maintaining those conditions. Evolution cannot be planted, but tree plantation "forests" and “working” forests are useful in providing resources. They are not adequate for sustaining complex life - they are never given the chance to evolve in place over generations. They lack the genetic "wisdom" of a forest community.
Scientists are not unaware of all this, and many recognize that a growing trend toward managing and manipulating everything must be reversed, without delay. We don't want to (and can't) stop harvesting all forests; but it's essential that we recognize that we need forests for the life-sustaining conditions without which we cannot survive. Large, contiguous old forests bring fresh water to land from the oceans; they provide oxygen; they keep streams and rivers flowing; they cool, regulate, and moderate the climate and keep heat-trapping gases out of the atmosphere; they regulate winds; they are wildlife habitat; and much more.
In 2019 a new scientific term was coined to describe the simple concept of allowing some forests to grow old (and thereby provide us with their benefits)... "proforestation". It's not a complicated idea; it just means "letting forests be managed by Nature, to adapt and evolve as they always have". There can still be "working" forests, where we manage them for the resources we need. But we have just as great a need (actually... greater) for substantial areas of natural, unmanaged forests, including in the Northeast. Proforestation of the Adirondacks since the late 1800’s is a remarkable example of temperate forest recovery still underway, and happens in any area that is managed with an intent to prioritize natural processes in the forest, i.e. a “Wildland.”
We have just completed a new film that explores this topic, titled "Proforestation: Letting Forests Grow Old." It features some of New England's remaining old-growth forests. Three scientists speak on the subject: an ecologist, and two co-authors of the term "proforestation".
You can view the film on the New England Forests Youtube channel.
