The city that I live in recently bragged that it had planted its one millionth tree, an application of the so-called Urban Forest Plan. It seems like congratulations should be in order. But I'd be more enthusiastic if, over the same period it had not allowed, even encouraged, the bulldozing of as many or more mature trees in proper woodlands. Replacing full-grown trees with a million scattered saplings is better than doing nothing, I suppose, but just barely.
A forest, I do believe, is a much more complex thing than a group of trees. It involves many kinds of birds and insects and myriads of plants and fungi. I've been in red pine plantations where nothing other than red pines live. No birds, no bugs, no undergrowth. This is not a forest. This is a farm. It serves its purpose, to provide fiber for pulp mills, but it is as far removed from the busy life of a forest as a wheat field is from a meadow.
The trees of the city are not a forest either. They are pushed and pruned into tidy submission so they don't encroach on spaces wanted for other things, and they are surrounded by concrete and manicured grass. No waxwings live in the scattered branches, no delicate violets live in their shade. They are often denied access to surface water and are ruthlessly cut down when their roots invade sewers in their effort to survive. They are salted in winter and suffocated by exhaust fumes year round. They are often ill-suited to the climate they are thrust into. Their lives are typically short.
I doubt many people would say that living and working in urban areas without trees is preferable to living and working in areas with trees. Aside from the air filtering they provide, and the shade, and the noise reduction, and the storm water attenuation and all those things that can be counted and measured and assigned dollar values, an essential connection exists between people and trees. We need trees at a fundamental level. Maybe it harks back a million years to our arboreal ancestors. I don't know. But people are often kinder, gentler, happier among trees. I know that I feel better in my life for going out and communing with trees. I like a lot of them, in their native habitat. It needs to be a forest.
So while we're congratulating ourselves on our million trees, and hoping for a million more, let's not call it a forest.