The reality of imagination: Integrating the material and cultural values of old forests

Abstract

The material benefits of forests – for example, the production of wood and environmental services – are often characterised as tangible, or ‘real’. In contrast, the cultural and spiritual significance of forests for people is often characterised as intangible, or ‘imagined’. Old forests are particularly valued for both their ‘real’ and ‘imagined’ values. In contemporary Western societies, the distinction between these values for old forests is frequently strongly drawn, and the two sets of values are generally represented as largely incompatible. We draw from empirical and psychological research to suggest that such a division between the ‘real’ and ‘imagined’ values of old forests is less clear or helpful than is often presumed. There is empirical evidence that these values can coexist, for both individuals and societies, and psychological research suggests that the ‘imagined’ values of forests can be just as ‘real’ as their material values. However, there are very real difficulties in assessing and representing the ‘imagined’ values of forests in terms compatible with criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management that emphasize quantification and objectivity; this is a significant constraint to fully incorporating these values into forest management decisions. We identify this as an area requiring further research and development to inform management of old forests. We concur with others that proper recognition of the ‘imagined’ values of old forests does not necessarily lead to unambiguous choices about their management, and suggest that neither the ‘real’ nor the ‘imagined’ values of forests should necessarily be privileged above the other in the management of old forests.

Introduction

Old forests, and their constituent old trees, have been important to people since the beginning of human history. This case has been made by historians, such as Perlin (1989) and Schama (1995), by philosophers such as Cronon (1995a) and Plumwood (2002) and by foresters such as Westoby (1989) and Sands (2005). As human societies have developed, as particular civilisations and technologies have risen and fallen, and as the impacts of people on forests have increased from local to global scales, the values accorded old forests have changed; as Mather (1990) notes, “attitudes to the forest have rarely been neutral”. In many contemporary Western societies, old forests have assumed an iconic status (e.g. Dargavel, 1995, p. 203); old trees might be described as “charismatic megaflora”, paralleling the longer-established phenomenon of “charismatic megafauna” (e.g. Petersen, 1999).

Both historical and contemporary discourse about old forests are shaped and informed by diverse ways of understanding and valuing forests and trees. These understandings and values reflect not only peoples’ lifestyles and access to technologies (Mather, 1990) but – for the particular case of forests – a manifestation of the fundamental relationships between nature and culture (e.g. Glacken, 1967, Schama, 1995), and between science and religion (e.g. UCSB, 2003a), and how these relationships are interpreted and articulated by particular societies at particular times.

This paper reviews the history of relationships between societies and old forests, situates these relationships in the context of the nature–culture nexus, and draws from psychological insights to explore the importance of old forests and old trees to contemporary society. The emphasis of our discussion is on social significance of forests in Western societies, reflecting the background and experiences of both authors; we acknowledge, but do not explore, perspectives from other traditions. We conclude with some observations on the implications of these perspectives for the management of old forests and old trees.