Think Twice About Cutting Down Trees

~ beetleypete

I found this photo online. It made me even more convinced that we need to think twice about cutting down trees that were not deliberately cultivated for timber.

This tree was felled in America, in 1891.

It started growing in 550 AD.

Before Mohammed was born.
Before The Battle of Hastings
Before America was discovered.
Before the Declaration of Independence.
Before The Battle of Waterloo.
Before the US Civil War.

Compared to that tree, we humans live our entire lives in the blink of an eye.

71 thoughts on “Think Twice About Cutting Down Trees”

  8. Indeed, I remember reading that in the last century we (humans) chopped down about 1/3 of the primary forests. Just like this wonderful ancient tree, these are not easily replaceable. Sadly, it feels like we are acting in a very short sighted manner?

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      1. If only we (as humanity) were wise enough to learn our lesson, we wouldn’t be in any of the 10 messes we’re in now… Your comment reminded me of The Giving Tree. Yes, it may be an extremely touching mother-child story, but it can be looked at as a sad lesson in this context, too?

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  9. I’m reminded of bristlecone pines, a rare species (only found in the high elevations of California, Nevada, and Utah) that is protected by law. Raintree, the oldest one in Nevada, is over 3,000 years old. Despite the many switchbacks, the trail to Raintree, which is surrounded by younger bristlecones, is physically exhausting. One has to climb 1,529 feet in just 2.62 miles of trail (466 meters in just 4.2 km of trail). But it must be worth the effort—I’ve made the “pilgrimage” a half dozen times.
    Older bristlecone pines can be viewed in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in California, which I’ve visited a number of times in the past despite being located roughly 200 miles (320 km) from Las Vegas. However, I haven’t been privileged to see Methuselah, a 4,853-year-old bristlecone pine that is the world’s oldest non-clonal tree, because its exact location is kept a closely guarded secret.
    The tree in the photo at the top of this blog page must be a sequoia. Sequoias are neither the oldest nor the tallest species of tree, but they are magnificent. Standing, as I have on multiple occasions, in a grove of towering giants in Kings Canyon National Park or neighboring Sequoia National Park, one can’t help but be overcome with awe. Sequoias have weathered climate changes and forest fires throughout the centuries. Today, they are mostly threatened by the smog that drifts in from Southern California.

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  11. So very true, Pete. We have trees even older than that on our west coast, that’s only one reason why I worry about those fires every year. (of course my blogging friends that live out there are first).

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  12. I agree with you, Pete. When I visited Cape Town a few years ago we saw a 363 year old Saffron Pear tree in Company’s Garden [garden planted by the Dutch East India Company to supply the passing ships] and in Graaf Reinet on our recent road tour, we saw the oldest grape vine in South Africa, a Black Acorn grapevine planted by Charles Murray in 1870. Pretty amazing.

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  15. A pleasure to read your characteristically thoughtful post, yielding many informative and wise comments from your followers. I wish we had a Swedish tree policy in our benighted land.

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  17. Our ‘yard’ is all natural scape – trees galore. But the big trees that that once grew in these mountains are long gone. I have newspaper articles that tell stories about how large the trees were. It breaks my heart.

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      1. Our ancient forests were swept away in the Colonial Era (Manifest Destiny) and all that rot. What are being cut down now are the forests that reclaimed the land over the early farmers overworked the land and abandoned it.

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  21. There was a law protecting trees over here in Poland but it was abolished about 4 years ago and they have even started to cut down a world heritage site ancient forest, despite fines from the EU for doing so. I would hate the ruling government for this alone. but this is not their only crime!

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  25. There is more awareness now of the necessity to preserve biological diversity, not least in trees, but sadly, commercial imperatives still often override environmental concerns; I think the native American adage which ends by saying that you can’t eat money is increasingly pertinent. I thought it was amusing that the graphic in the photo refers to the coast on which Leif Ericson [sic] landed as “American”, but I suppose there wasn’t room for a more accurate description 😉 Cheers, Jon.

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  28. Wow! That image truly brings home the magnificent life of a tree and what a travesty to fell it. Having worked in the timber trade I had difficulty at times in making people understand outside the business the difference between trees grown for commercial purposes and the illegal and horrendous felling of beautiful trees like this. In Sweden there is now more land to forest than for centuries, over 70%, all well-managed and when trees are cut down after about 40 years the area is immediately replanted with new tiny saplings.

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