Celebrating the "Tree of the Year": Meanwhile, Our Forests Are Being Carved Up

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On January 15th, the winners of the Tree of the Year competition will be announced. While it’s crucial to appreciate ancient trees, it is equally important to combat the industrialization of forests.

The “Remarkable Tree” That Overshadows the Forest

On Thursday, January 15th, our colleagues from the League for Bird Protection (LPO), Wild Earth, and the A.R.B.R.E.S. association, in collaboration with the National Forestry Office (ONF), will reveal the Tree of the Year. Celebrating the beauty of trees may seem beneficial, but we must ensure that this ceremony does not merely act as a smokescreen to obscure the tough battles for plant life preservation, nor should it be cheaply used by the ONF management to disguise its productivism and social plans.

As we praise the branches of these exceptional trees, what is happening within our forests? As we honor these ancient natural monuments, what is the fate of the common trees and our forested areas?

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The Paradox of Our Times

Our era is marked by a paradox. We have never celebrated trees more, yet we’ve never been more detached from them. With the climate disaster and the intensification of forest industrialization, the danger has never been greater. Several statistics remind us of this reality: 80% of trees in France are less than 100 years old, barely at the adolescent stage. Logging has increased by 20% in ten years with the arrival of harvesters. 77% of forest ecosystems are now in an unfavorable state of conservation. Since the election of Emmanuel Macron, the National Forestry Office has lost nearly 1,000 employees, and its privatization is accelerating.

While we might be moved by photographs of incredible large beech trees, touched by the uniqueness of a sycamore maple, or feel the pulsating life force reaching up to the canopy, we must not forget what is essential. We need to repoliticize our attention to living beings and the sources of our wonder.

The Legacy of Botanist Francis Hallé

We cannot be satisfied with a few trees preserved under glass nor content with the scraps left by forest extractivism. We cannot separate contemplation from struggle. Perhaps this is the most precious legacy left by our botanist comrade Francis Hallé, who passed away just two weeks ago. He also urged us to outrage and commitment. Beauty makes no sense from merely a plastic or aesthetic viewpoint; what matters is how this feeling transforms us and prompts us to action, to better cherish what we defend, and to strive for a life less detached, connected to the elements.

Remarkable trees are not exceptional cathedrals or nature’s follies. They should be the norm around us, if capitalism and our lifestyles allowed space. Remarkable trees are rare only because we have made them so. They are survivors who have escaped the axe and concrete, a distant reminder of a world freed from predation, a sketch of a desirable future filled with the scent of flowers and humus.

The Need to Defend Emerging Trees

If it is essential to admire old trees today and to protect them at all costs, it is even more crucial to defend the upcoming ones. In every sprout, we should see the promise of ripe fruit and a sign of possible greatness. Every tree is potentially a monument; it just needs to be allowed to grow and breathe. Our role is simply to silence our machines and learn humility.

Compared to the forces of life, industrial forestry is incompetent. It only knows how to produce ersatz, plantations sustained on fertilizers and phytosanitary products, which are cut down after just 35 years. The Douglas firs it grows in France are mere shadows of themselves. In their natural habitat, these trees from the great forests of British Columbia, Canada, can live for 1,000 years, reach heights of 100 meters, and have a circumference of 13 meters.

Emmanuel Macron calls for “repairing nature,” but there is nothing to repair except our relationship with it. Nature is not a broken machine. It is a flow we have walled up, a tsunami we have tried to contain in a jar.

It is ironic today to see some actors in the forestry industry capitalize on the popular appeal of trees, inventing contests and ceremonies that distract us from the real issues. It’s not just the tree we should observe but the ecosystem it is part of, the network it forms with all other life forms around it. By focusing only on the individual tree, we perpetuate harmful practices.

We sanctify a few individuals to better devastate the rest. Like national parks, we protect a few bits of territory while allowing deserts to grow just beside them. We also splendidly ignore interspecies exchanges or mycorrhizal solidarities (the enduring association between a fungus and a root). A tree never grows alone but is accompanied by a host of other beings, and it is this entire ecosystem dynamic that we must defend and cherish.

The urgency is clear! We must not be deceived by the beauty of a tree, but rather allow forests to grow, fight for their free evolution, and advocate for gentle forestry methods. We must battle to stop clear-cutting and see in every dormant seed the potential for a monument. It is life that is remarkable, with all its generosity, exuberance, vitality, and brilliance.