Forests vs. N Forests

If there's one thing I've learned on this trip, and there is, its the difference between forests and National Forests. Forests are living ecosystems, filled with multiple species of plant critter, insect, fungus, everything else. You can see it in the differently-sized trees, you can see it in the health of the loam and the plants covering the ground.

I've walked through a lot of national forests, and they are not forests. Plenty of trees, but all of one species, one age and trimmed and spaced to identicality (not a word, but you get it). They creep me out, walking through rows upon rows of trees without character, a whole environment without any definable features. This is agriculture, a tree farm, and never has the difference between a forest and a tree farm struck me across the face so blatantly. Hiking through a national forest, you are struck by how devoid of beauty this treed area is.

I don't write this to rail against National Forests. They are absolutely vital to our way of life in the US. We use wood for paper, houses and countless other vital products. I write this to ward you against optimistic statements such as: the US is 20% more forested that it was 15 years ago! I've heard statements to this end before (although my numbers are made up) and have been encouraged by them. However, to truly evaluate the situation, you need to look past the "forested" lands and examine how much of our healthy forests with functioning ecosystems survives today. I'd wager that number is a lot lower than the former.