Somewhere along the GDT.
The thought crossed my mind before dawn. I trampled my way through thickets of bushes led by my headlamp while Poncho, my dog, scoured through the underbrush with joy. Can forests be planted? I suppose this is more of a philosophical question than one of science, although, with some set criteria, it certainly could be.
The answer would depend on what one’s definition of a forest is. Is it a plot of land dominated by trees? How many acres must the land be in order to be considered a forest? Does there need to be diversity among the habitants? After the initial thought of “What is a forest?”, the definition becomes more complex.
I stand on the side of; No, a forest cannot be planted.
To say a forest can be planted is to limit its inherent ability to be wild. We can plant one aspect of the forest, the vertical structure, trees, but we cannot apply the details that make forests so special. We cannot force the birds to return, the mammals to roam, nor the insects to crawl. We can, however, invite them.
Aldo Leopold says in his famous essay The Land Ethic that there is an “A-B Cleavage” or a division between perspectives of what a forest is. Group A is happy to grow a forest like cabbages, viewing its inherent value in the volume of cellulose, while group B sees forests as fundamentally different than agronomy because it employs natural species and manages a natural environment. Group B considers other functions of a forest such as: wildlife, recreation, watersheds, and wilderness areas. Aldo finishes the paragraph by writing “Group B feels the stirrings of an ecological consciousness.”.
Humans can facilitate the return of species by creating a viable habitat, as said in the film Field of Dreams “If you build it, he will come”. It is commonly misquoted as “If you build it, they will come”, which is the example I prefer to use here. Planting native flora allows a forest to begin, but it is not ultimately established until it supports life and provides habitat for local citizens of the wild.
Sebastião Salgado and his wife Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado, have been establishing a forest that now provides habitat to wildlife. Sebastião’s family land had been decimated, hardly a tree in sight, and rather than mope about the situation, he and his wife chose to change it. Their goal was to reforest the land, and they have done just that. By planting over 4 million native saplings, they have created an ecosystem that now thrives with life.
“You need forest with native trees, and you need to gather the seeds in the same region you plant them or the serpents, and the termites won’t come. And if you plant forests that don’t belong, the animal population won’t grow, and the forest will be silent.” - Sebastião Salgado
Following their philosophy of native planting, they have successfully created habitat for several species not previously documented on their land. There are now over 170 species of birds, 33 species of mammals, 293 plant species, and 15 species of amphibians.
A satellite time lapse of the land reforested by Sebastião Salgado and Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado. credit: Insituto Terra
Beau Miles, a contemporary YouTuber, known for crazy, off-the-rails local challenges chose to plant 1,440 trees in 24 hours and for those of you who are quick at math, know that this is a tree a minute, for 24 hours. The feat itself is incredible and the video is entertaining as always (Video is here), but I challenge the notion that he planted a forest.
Beau will have to wait for his forest to exist, he has laid the foundations, which is all we can do as humans. The land he planted the trees on would not be classified as a forest, it is missing…. something, which is why I say forests cannot be planted. There is a touch of life that is exclusive from human intervention which completes a forest. The touch of wilderness, of life completely independent from our own that completes a forest ecosystem. Without it, we have just planted crops.
Beau will have to wait as there is nothing more he can do to hurry the process of transforming his tree plantation into a forest, the process is reliant on nature now. He will undoubtedly appreciate watching his plantation transform into a forest, the gradual noticing of new species, and the splendor of watching the change he set in motion.
Planting a forest is a theoretical statement, it is up to each individual to determine if the task can be done. Unlike the structures we create, a forest is not complete once the last nail is hammered in, nor the final tile laid. Time is baked into the creation of a forest, free from the influence of humans and our hurried ways. Forests contain immense wonder and beauty because they are an expression of the processes of the earth, a dynamic mystery subtly changing day by day.