Imagine That, A Chance to Invest in a Future Forest
There are three ways you can do that:
- Contribute to the Woodworking Masterclasses Forest by giving through this form
- Buy a calendar and a portion of the profits will be contributed by us
- Go directly to the Sylva website and sponsor your own plot
I don’t know about you but an open field seems an invitation to something in the future rather than area used for annual cropping. One over-sown with wild flower seed to preface land destined to become a new forest, well, it just does something to you. In the case of the new Sylva forest planting project it’s an invitation to catch hold of a vision. I love that it’s more an unselfish act made possible for as many as want to to invest in a future forest you might otherwise never have been able to do alone and so you go, “What? You mean I can adopt something here? You’re saying name your spot, your plot?” Well that’s it, it’s exactly that and I would love to see us close out the year with as many plots closed out and adopted as possible. At the time of posting we need only to raise another $334 to reach our goal for 6 plots. We will update this post when the goal is reached.
Around the world sizeable lots are owned by individual landowners and you don’t really influence what grows or anything to do with it. You can’t plant it, walk on it, nurture it and future proof it for a new age of an emerging generation. This Sylva project results from an entrustment with acreage to create an intentional forest and create a localised woodland as an example for others to catch the vision. When I heard of the venture I said to myself, “Whoah! What a thing to do.”
We’ve invested and adopted 6 lots through our company and others have joined in too by contributing to a fund we’ve set up to support Sylva in planting the forest. Trees are going in as I type.
There are many reasons for people adopting their plots; dedication to loved ones, commerce influencing change by local investment, supermarkets wanting to provide woodlands for children to grow in and learn from. Join with us to tie up the loose ends. Donate to the cause. With only a few lots left you can still take part. Do this directly to Sylva, work through us or enjoy one of my 2017 calendars of which a percentage will always go to the cause of change.
I have had numerous requests for money to plant trees over the years and each time my mind goes back to the mid eighties In 1983 the slogan was.
Plant a tree in eighty-three, then plant some more in eighty four.
to this some wag added eighty five bearly alive, and by eighty six
All dead sticks. This is probably true of most planting schemes
due to lack of after care.
Most of my time and money goes to maintaining and enhancing neglected Ancient Woodland. Thus maintaining a habitat for the unique flora and fauna they contain
I think this is a more sensible approach No matter how many trees you plant
you will never replace the Ancient woodland that is being lost, much of it just by neglect
I respect what you are saying and your point of view, John. We all have our opinions, but I trust Sylva, it’s staff, its volunteers and its vision for something new yet to grow too. Go back in history and you will find woodlands planned and planted in the 1600s that are now ancient woodlands for our benefit. These people, people like John Evelyn back in the mid 1600s I believe, who’s research became a well respected work for over 300 years to date, a work then published by the Royal Society in 1664, was the world’s first comprehensive study of trees. These people were indeed visionary scientists in their own right and so too are those who established The Sylva Foundation who have proven skills in both the ancient and the new. In my view it’s not an either or as beside this new woodland stands another new work with sequential plantings that are still thriving after a 25 year span. Thousands of people walk through the trees today where a field once stood. The neighbours who did this, Earth Trust, could have had the same view as you do and decided not to plant, but thank goodness they decided to take the risk and a woodland stands for generations of wildlife and people yet to come.
Sorry, John, as I said, you have the right to your opinion, but those sayings are sayings I too remember. I stayed with the first two and rejected the rest because now I have seen too many trees planted and thrive to understand where your point of view comes from. As I said, it’s not at all an either or but both. Why can’t one thrive alongside another as the Sylva woodland will I am sure?
I might add that the work of Sylva and its staff and volunteers is indeed to advise owners of all woodlands, old and new, on good woodland management too. As I said, it’s both, not an either or. Keep up the good work you are engaged in thus far though.
I can remember reading this story by Gregory Bateson in the Next Whole Earth Catalog (1980) back when I was a college student. I’m not sure if it’s true or not, but it’s a nice story nonetheless.
The Oak Beams Of New College, Oxford
“New College, Oxford, is of rather late foundation, hence the name. It was probably founded around the late 16th century. It has, like other colleges, a great dining hall with big oak beams across the top. These might be eighteen inched square, and twenty feet long.
“Some five to ten years ago, so I am told, a busy entomologist went up into the roof of the dining hall with a penknife and poked at the beams, and found that they were full of beetles. This was reported to the College Council, who met in some dismay, because where would they get beams of that caliber nowadays?
“One of the Junior Fellows stuck his neck out and suggested that there might be on College lands some oak. These colleges are endowed with pieces of land scattered across the country. So they called the College Forester, who of course had not been near the college itself for some years, and asked him about oaks.
“And he pulled his forelock and said, “Well sirs, we was wondering when you’d be askin’.”
“Upon further inquiry it was discovered that when the College was founded, a grove of oaks had been planted to replace the beams in the dining hall when they became beetly, because oak beams always become beetly in the end. This plan had been passed down from one Forester to the next for four hundred years. “You don’t cut them oaks. Them’s for the College Hall.”
“A nice story. That’s the way to run a culture.”
This is such a nice story, we wish it to be true!
Indeed it is with more and more reverence I use hardwood with the passing days, for it might come the day when there will be none to be used.
Thank you for your visions on forest conservation efforts!
If that ever does happen then neither will we be here either, Luis. Keep planting.