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When I was 18, 18 years ago, I planted a few dozen oak, birch and other saplings on an area of moor edge / abandoned quarries near Keighley, Yorkshire, after digging them up from the sides of a nearby old railway cutting that was about to be filled in as a tip. I had a look there last time I was in the area, last summer, and quite a lot of them were alive and had grown, although the area is not yet the forest I had hoped it would have become. I think it's surprising how much unused land there is in Britain that could be surreptitiously reforested without anyone in power realising. I also know of a few places around Keighley where land has become naturally reforested.
However, I think one important aim of the environmental movement, which never seems to get addressed, should be reforesting Britain's uplands, ie. all the moors. It irritates me the way that so many writers (egs. Brontes, DH Lawrence, Thomas Hardy, Yeats) have spoken of the moors as representing nature, when they used to be forest, and they are a totally destroyed ecosystem. It is almost like a writer in 2,000 years talking about the beauties of the Amazon Basin scrub. I would like to see a massive reforestation of the north of England, Scotland and Wales, and reintroduction of bears, beavers and bison. I was annoyed at a Green meeting when people were actually talking about defending moorland sheep farming - I think one of the main problems is sheep farming - I live in Japan at the moment, and, although in many ways the Japanese environmental record is worse than the British, most of the country is forested, simply because there's never been any sheep farming, and there are still wild bears, pigs and monkeys. All the best, anyway, Richard (nori-tak@d8.dion.ne.jp)
The following is a bit long and self indulgent. Forgive me... As many of you know, I live in inner city Baltimore. About 9 years ago, our neighborhood, like many areas in this city, had very few trees. It should be noted, at that time there was a small group of active people who called themselves "Slum Busters." They were interested a greener neighborhood and were doing something about it. But I was new to the area, and hadn't met them yet. A good friend, Richard, lived one block from me. Richard had caught the "tree jones" from Slum Busters and wanted me to get involved. But I was busy trying to get hot and cold running water in my house. After several months, I had water and a flush toilet (deluxe!), a stove to cook on, and enough new joists in my floors so that they wouldn't collapse. Richard continued to whisper about trees... so early one February, we scheduled a Saturday walk around with friends, neighborhoods, and the Cooperative Extension to look at vacant lots, and discuss what we could do to make the place look a little better. Meanwhile, I was secretly talking to a nurser about leftover, live (root balled) Christmas trees. Before Christmas, they sold for $25. Mid January, he was willing to sell them to me for $20. The day before our "walk around," he wanted $12.50 for them; I talked him down to $10, and we had a deal. I bought five white pines and loaded them on the back of my pick-up. When the day arrived, we strolled through the hood with pen, paper, and a camera. Spirits were high, even though we were looking at piles of garbage, broken bottles, and other assorted dumpings. We chose five lots we wanted to work on--pretty ambitious to be sure. They were to become "pocket parks," even though we didn't know the term at the time. Somehow, we intuitively realized that if we took an interest, and started working on them, the dumping would stop... After walking a full circle around the neighborhood, the survey was done; I said, "Go home, get your shovels, put on your dirty cloths. I have five trees on the back of my truck!" With much joy and celebration, we re-grouped at the agreed upon vacant lot, and planted our "evergreen forest." That was Richard's and my first planting in Hollins Market. As always, he was the brains, and I was the brawn. We've made many mistakes over the years to learn from--"Before you graduate from the school of guerilla tree planting, you'll kill something; don't let it stop you!"--Our first mistake was on that first planting; we didn't know enough to check the PH balance of the soil--it was over nine, while evergreens like it below six. Luckily, we caught it in time and re-balanced the soil before it hurt the trees. (Now, I keep a PH meter on my truck at all times.) Over the years, we've planted an uncounted number of trees. Residents have worked together and change the appearance of our neighborhood--it get's more obvious each year as the trees grow. Every spring, when the leaves come out, is a celebrated time in the neighborhood. We're still planting and watering, and the first mulching of 1998 is Monday evening, March 2nd... -=G=-