Clear-cut

I had just been telling Julian (the French hitchhiker) about clear-cutting practices in the United States. I told him about a lumber company which had put up a public relations billboard years ago that informed the public how the company replanted trees after they dramatically clear cut huge areas of the forest, thereby “replenishing” the forest. Supposedly it made everyone feel better.

Unfortunately for the company, the billboard showed a very UN-natural young forrest with perfectly aligned trees. This only succeeded in emphasizing how they were altering the natural landscape. Granted, it wasn’t a huge public relations nightmare, but humorous and ironic, nevertheless. Ah, PR gone bad.





Only a few hours later, I ran across the exact same thing on the south island. The first image shows areas that have been clear cut. To the right of that image is a replanted area. The second image is a detail of that exact same spot. The last image is another part of the forest a few miles further ahead.

It seems to me it would be far less work to plant trees more randomly, or at least stagger them a bit, than it is to perfectly align the trees like a crop of corn.

Oh, well.