Would You Like to Save This Forest? Sherwood!

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Groups band together to save Sherwood Forest

Posted at 3:44 PM on 05 Nov 2007

After the daily grind of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, a current-day Robin Hood might want to find a hideout other than his beloved Sherwood Forest, which has shrunk to less than 0.5 percent its historical size. Merry men (and women) in more than a dozen British organizations are banding together to make a rescue plan for the forest, which is home to rare and endangered ancient oaks. Some of the trees are so beloved as to have been given names, such as Medusa, Stumpy, and Twister. What, no Maid Marion?

source: Associated Press

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Comments: (4 comments)

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0.5%?!!!

How did England let Sherwood Forest be reduced to 0.5% of its original size? How can you just pave over your history and culture?

As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields. -Leo Tolstoy

by iprefertherain at 11:36 AM on 06 Nov 2007

I'll bet

I'll bet that most people didn't even know that was happening. I'll definitely bet most Americans did not know about that. Goes to show the importance of covering an issue.

As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields. -Leo Tolstoy

by iprefertherain at 11:38 AM on 06 Nov 2007

0.5%, and anti-gray-squirrel xenophobia

In many ways, e.g. regarding capital punishment, and the invasion of Iraq, the Brits, by and large, are considerably more enlightened and morally advanced than us in the US. But their record is far from perfect.

That the remnant of Sherwood Forest that survives is no more than 0.5% of its traditional greatest extent, seems shocking, yes, but paradoxically is not so shocking, given that Nottinghamshire is in the industrial heartland of the country in which the Industrial Revolution took off.

Also shocking, given the reputation that Brits have for being animal-lovers, is the strange way that some of them have of showing their love for native British red squirrels: by catching and slaughtering gray squirrels, successful immigrants from North America that in some places seem to be out-competing the reds. See the article in the Sunday New York Times Magazine of October 7, 2007.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 2:20 PM on 06 Nov 2007

more questions

The destruction of 99.5% of Sherwood forest isn't unique. 100% of the passenger pigeons in the US went extinct. ditto for dozens of other species. There are less than 2,000 of old growth forests left in the Midwestern US. I don't know how many acres there are in the Midwest but a lot less than 0.5% of old growth remain. English history on this regard seems pretty strait forward. Some rich guys got greedy and nobody had the power to stop them. It's good to see that somebody is trying to reverse that.

by hikerreese at 2:36 PM on 07 Dec 2007

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