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Title: Tree Spirit and Earth Repair Author: Anonymous Date: 1996 Language: en Topics: Earth First! UK, eco action, ecology, environmental restoration, green anarchy Source: Retrieved on September 22, 2010 from http://www.eco-action.org/dod/no5/tree_spirit.htm Notes: Published in ‘Do or Die! Voices from the Ecological Resistance’ (Issue 5), 1996.
“Environmental restoration may be the art form of the twenty-first
century”
— from Helping Nature Heal (Ten Speed Press, 1991)
Environmental restoration is the other side of the coin to much of the
activity that Earth First! has so far been engaged in — that is,
grappling with the toxic forces of ‘law’ and ‘order’ in a very overt
way. Such activity is the defensive work, a holding operation, crucial
in many ways and important for bringing people together as a group,
cementing the bonds between them in shared, often harrowing experience.
However it is important not to get hung up on the adrenaline and
peculiar glamour of such frontline situations.
Environmental restoration is proactive — whereby we set our own agenda —
as opposed to campaigns, which usually involve little more than reacting
to the latest state or business atrocity. Restoration therefore helps to
signal our ultimate indifference to politicians and the fleeting games
that they play. Restoration is less dramatic and more humble than the
preservation battles, but it does establish a vital new paradigm:
humanity as creator and healer — one who adds value or — makes
reparations to nature — rather than one who is unable to do anything but
destroy and despoil.
There is no immediate gratification, no overnight old growth forest or
pristine wilderness — rather a slow, cumulative process of getting to
grips with what surrounds you, and establishing an intimacy and a
rapport with a given area of land. There are strong personal and
spiritual repercussions: the realisation that you have set in motion a
process that will extend far beyond your lifetime leads you into a
deeper comprehension of nature, and the scale on which she works. Some
of you goes with the tree branches as they steadily rear up towards the
sky.
Earth repair work is becoming increasingly widespread in the US, India
and elsewhere, but is still relatively uncommon in Britain. We featured
Alan Watson’s visionary Trees for Life project in Do or Die #2 (Write to
the editorial address for a copy of that article), and a similar
project, albeit on a much more modest scale, is that run by the group
Tree Spirit on their newly acquired 24 acre plot at Maes y Mynach, near
Shrewsbury.
Tree Spirit exist to promote an appreciation of trees and the spiritual,
social and ecological roles that they fulfil. To this end, they publish
a newsletter, hold regular ‘tree moot’ gatherings, and campaign for the
preservation of woodland areas. On a more practical level they also
operate their own tree nursery, with stock largely drawn from commercial
nursery surplus. (A word of advice to EF!ers interested in tree rearing
with a view to clandestine or authorised planting: due to the exigencies
of the deranged market system that we live under, many nurseries are
forced to destroy thousands of perfectly good trees every year —
generally from March through to June. This is for no other reason than
to make way for the new stock (and to protect prices, of course). It is
therefore worth approaching your local nursery at this time of year —
you can take the trees off their hands, leave them with a clear
conscience, and acquire the raw materials for reforestation at little or
no cost.)
Another lesson to be learnt from Tree Spirit’s purchase of Maes y Mynach
concerns funding. The purchase was partly financed by the Forestry
Commission’s Woodland Grant Scheme, which is well worth looking into for
anyone contemplating such a project. Although the buying and selling of
land is obviously a complete absurdity, it is true to say that if you
buy land where it is cheapest — i.e. Wales or Scotland (Particularly
Scotland where there is currently a glut on the market as the big
estates are further dismembered) — and then reforest it under the
Woodland Grant Scheme, you actually stand to make a profit (Over, say,
about 10 years), which can then be reinvested in additional acquisitions
— this is Tree Spirit’s intention. And before you know it, your mighty
empire of reforestation has expanded, and the wildwood has returned...
NOT! (Ecological capitalism, any one?) Copies of the Woodland Grant
Scheme are available from ‘The Wilderness’, South Downs EF!, or you
local Forestry Commission office. Bear in mind the fact that, as the WGS
is an attempt by the Forestry Commission to restore an image tarnished
by decades of desecrating the landscape with conifers, the grants for
broadleaved tree planting are very generous. Even more incredibly the
grants for ‘natural regeneration’ are the most generous of all. For
non-interventionist EF! types, this has to be worthy of serious
attention. (A word of warning however. The Forestry Commission has
reportedly begun to revert back to type — plans are afoot to increase
funding for large scale conifer plantations, and to reduce it for
broadleaved planting, particularly if it is small scale. If true, I
guess it just goes to show that you can’t keep a bad institution down.)
Maes y Mynach is itself a former Forestry Commission plantation, and
part of Tree Spirit’s vision for the land involves rectifying the
environmental damage that such a plantation entails. Their aim is
twofold: firstly, to create a mixed woodland for ecological reasons — to
which end, a very wide range of trees are being planted: oak, ash,
birch, rowan, willow, lime, chestnut, hazel, hawthorn, wild cherry, bird
cherry, aspen, field maple, sycamore, yew and larch. Ultimately they
intend to encircle the entire plot with a good mixed hedge, which will
in itself be extremely valuable to wildlife.
Secondly there is the human element — acknowledging that we do have a
place in nature, and that we are not intrinsically hostile to the
natural world, as some strands in deep ecology seem to suggest. Tree
Spirit hope that Maes y Mynach will be “a place where people can come to
do practical conservation work, enjoy nature, relax and generally find a
little bit of peace and quiet... it will be a place where people can
stay for a few days without being told to move on or “get orf my land”.
However they emphasize that “it will not become a permanent encampment
for all and sundry. For those who have something constructive to offer
or who need a little time away from the madness of modern society, Maes
y Mynach will be accessible.”
To achieve these aims a tremendous amount of work is in order. Most of
the tree planting has been done, but some still remains — particularly
the hedgerows. Planting season is October through to April. Many paths
need clearing as there is still a great deal of felled wood strewn about
from the forestry operations. Tree Spirit want to create a pond, which
will serve as both a wildlife feature and as drainage for the main
track. Maes y Mynach also has a spring, which is currently being made
into a source of clean water. The most ambitious plan is to construct a
roundhouse, for which planning permission has already been obtained. It
will be 32 feet in diameter, 13 feet high at the central point and
crowned with a turf roof. It is envisaged that the roundhouse will act
as a workshop, storage space, communal gathering/celebratory venue, and
as a sleeping area. (Perhaps a future EF! gathering could be held
there.)
Anyone who is interested in helping out with this inspiring project
should contact Tree Spirit at:
Hawkbatch Farm, Arley, Nr. Bewdley, Worcs. DY12 3AH (Phone: 0299 400586)
OR: Shelley and Jeff Griffiths, 95 Anstey Rd., Perry Barr, Birmingham
B44 8AN (Phone: 021 356 2206)
As Tree Spirit say, in a phrase that could serve as a motto for all our
efforts: “Cooperation for mutual benefit and input of constructive
energies will go a long way.”