Old growth forest
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Old growth forest, also called primary forest, ancient forest, virgin forest, primeval forest, frontier forest or (in the UK) Ancient Woodland, is an area of forest that has attained great age and so exhibits unique biological features. Old growth forests typically contain large live trees, large dead trees (sometimes called "snags"), and large logs. Old growth forests usually have multiple vertical layers of vegetation representing a variety of tree species and age classes.
Forest regenerated after severe disruptions, such as clear-cut or fire is often called second-growth or regeneration until a long enough time passes that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. Depending on the forest, this may take anywhere from a century to several millennia. Hardwood forests of the eastern United States can develop old-growth characteristics in one or two generations of trees, or 150-500 years.
Old growth forests may be home to rare species which depend on this now-rare habitat, making them ecologically significant. Biodiversity may be higher or lower in old growth forests than in second-growth forests depending on specific circumstances. Logging in old growth forests is a contentious issue in many parts of the world.
www.catpress.com/planet/Native Americans have always had a close relationship with all the creatures of the Earth. Did you get closer to their view of life through your experience? Have you been in contact with any Native American tribes since then? I know, for example, that you are involved in the campaign for Leonard Peltier's liberation.
Julia Butterfly:
Yes, Leonard Peltier is a Native American who has been in prison for 25 years for a murder he did not commit. Like other people who have been wrongly imprisoned, he is paying for standing up for what he believes in and for defending the rights of a minority. I have been in contact with two Native American tribes in particular: the Lakota from Pine Ridge, South Dakota, and the Dineh Navaho from Big Mountain, Arizona. The Lakota of the Pine Ridge Reservation are the poorest people in the US. The unemployment rate is 98% there. With the Circle of Life Foundation we are working to improve their conditions.
http://juliabutterflyhill.wordpress.com/
All of the indigenous tribes knew how to live as one with nature. They taught about the three S's, that is Sovereignty, Subsistence and Spirituality. Sovereignty is the ability to self-govern by living according to the laws of nature. Among the Natives, the rules for humans patterned the rules of nature. Subsistence is about seeing the difference between needs and wants -in other words not to destroy what we need because of what we want, because of greed. Spirituality is about recognising that every life is sacred. Every time they take a life for food, the Natives ask for permission first, and then they give thanks.
The Lakota have really taught me a lot. For example, in the Lakota language there is no word for mitigation. Mitigation is the word we use when we are trying to clean up the streams we have polluted. The concept does not exist in the minds of the Lakota because they do not make a mess in the first place, so they do not need to clean up. The Lakotas have so much to teach us. Unfortunately these three ways of living have been undermined and destroyed in every possible way, but the Natives who hold on to their spirituality are so much richer than the wealthiest people in America.
