Can't see the forest for the trees

Much of the rainforest in Central America and South America we see today is far from being untouched; it has been greatly altered by previous human populations. We don't really know what the forest would be like if it was truly pristine.

"The idea that the Amazon is not an untouched wilderness but the product of extensive management by large human populations sharply contrasts with long-held views that the region was sparsely populated by tribal groups who peacefully coexisted with the apparently hostile environment that surrounded them." Amazon Stonehenge suggests advanced ancient rainforest culture

In Belize, where I garden and farm, the same thing is true. One thousand years ago, the Maya so extensively farmed the hillsides that the most of the rainforest was removed. As the theory goes, fewer trees caused less humidity and moisture in the air, which, in turn, triggered a massive drought, and the Maya civilization collapsed (see Mayan Mysteries.)

The trees returned. But the trees that had greater advantage in the reforestation were those that the Maya found valuable and had planted everywhere. Thus the cohune (valuable palm oil for fuel and cooking) forest (like where my farm is) may really be a remnant of past farming orchards. The same has been said for the "natural" stands of mahogany that have been logged in Cental America in the last 200 years. There is a lot of evidence that these were trees deliberately planted by the Maya and were not so frequent in occurrence naturally(the forest in these areas has some 40+ species of hardwoods.)

This re-thinking of the rainforest brings up some difficult questions. Do we know what kind of forest we are attempting to preserve? Do we know the "natural" ratio of frequency of species? To me, these are serious questions that must be answered before any realistic management plan of rainforests can be implemented.

Any preservation is speculative, especially since the "new world" has little written history to draw from, to know who brought what to where. We can at best look back 1500 years at anecdotal evidence, to hypothesize what plants where there before man. How long does a species need to survive in one area to be considered native?

Your blog continues to be thought provoking and informative. Thanks for the latest Belize info.

Maybe we can learn from the Mayans and not wipe ourselves out by clearcutting like maniacs?

You make a good point about "pristine wilderness" and the idea that we're messing with ancient forests.