Trees are one of the organisms that we New Yorkers take for granted, coming across hundreds of them, every single day, but not knowing how long they have been there, what types of animals inhabit them, or even what species they are. To our colonial ancestors, they were a constant source of wood for building ships, houses, factories, and tools, but we continue to deplete them today since they often get in the way of our development projects. They are just another example of the tremendous impact that we have on our environment just to fulfill our insatiable needs.
Our area used to be home to chestnut, beech, ash, linden, sycamore, maple, tulip-tree, and at least a dozen other different types of trees (McCully 116), many of which I have probably encountered but did not know what particular type they were. McCully does an excellent job at recounting the chronological history of the decline of forests, from colonial times to the revolutionary war and even time periods such as the Industrial Revolution with inventions like the steam engine. By doing this, she emphasizes how the rich biodiversity of our area was one of the main reasons colonists, especially from England and the Netherlands, decided to settle here.
McCully also interestingly compares their callous treatment of the forests to the reverence that the Native Americans showed by strategically burning areas to kill weeds and underbrush and leaving historic, sacred trees alone. However, I wish she would have included more about conservation techniques, which constitute only a few paragraphs on the last page of the chapter. It is important to identify that a problem exists with the environment, but rather than condemn our ancestors, I think it is also important to highlight the importance of trees to our lives, not just for clean air and resources, but since they are such relevant markers in time and space, with some very lucky ones lasting for more generations than we can count with our fingers.
