Globally rare temperate rainforests once covered most of western Britain, but now only pockets remain. Now a new restoration project will attempt to boost wildlife in the West Country.
  • @Mr_BlottEnglish
    17•10 months ago

    Semantics but you can’t restore an ancient wood, surely?

    • HeartyBeast
      7•10 months ago

      Semantically, if you are planting a wood on the known site of an ancient wood, you are restoring an ancient wood. Though of course, it won’t be ancient woodland.

        • HeartyBeast
          3•10 months ago

          From Merriam Webster:

          1. Give back, return
          2. to put or bring back into existence or use
          3. to bring back to or put back into a former or original state
          4. to put again in possession of something

          Sounds like meanings 2 or 3 pretty much hit the nail on the head

          • cabbage
            2•10 months ago

            But it won’t be ancient any more; it won’t be in its former/original state. Maybe it will in a few hundred years though, we just need to give it some time.

            It’s great they’re doing this, but it’s also important people understand that a 100 year old forest is not at all the same as a 1000 year old forest. The harm done by deforestation cannot be easily patched. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing of course - a new forest is still better than no forest, and especially if it is allowed to develop naturally.

            • HeartyBeast
              2•10 months ago

              Yeh, you are still deep in semantics. To make it clear - when England “restored” the monarchy it didn’t exhume Charles II and put him on the throne.

              What is being restored here as far as possible restores the mixture of planting found in ancient wood land, on the site of ancient woodland. No-one is saying that the trees will be equivalent to 1,000 old trees, but yes the mixture and diversity of plantsbeing introduced will indeed attempt to mimic the diversity found in very old woods.

              A useful resourcem if you are interested https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/protecting-trees-and-woods/ancient-woodland-restoration/

              • cabbage
                2•10 months ago

                Thanks for the link! It’s a very interesting project indeed.

                I got a bit lost in translation - in my native language, “ancient forest” would be pretty much a direct translation of an old-growth forest, which clearly cannot be restored as it is defined by the lack of human interference.

  • HeartyBeast
    4•10 months ago

    Having visited Longash wood, it is a pretty special place. Will be good to see this kind of habitat restored