The Lost Forests of New England: Eastern Old Growth

The story of New England's ancient, old growth forests... what they once were, what changes have taken place across central New England since European settlers arrived, and what our remnant old growth stands look like today.

Features appearances by:

David Foster, David Orwig, Neil Pederson (Harvard Forest)
Tony D'Amato (University of Vermont)
Tom Wessels (Antioch University New England)
Peter Dunwiddie (University of Washington)
Bob Leverett (Native Tree Society)
Joan Maloof (Old Growth Forest Network).

Note: if you care to post a comment, please keep it on topic and relevant.

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[jeremiahsawyer]

I live in Northern Maine and our land has been in the family for 100+ years. Untouched and has many beautiful super old different types of tree's. We actually own many acres on the backside of Haystack Mountain. A number of acres were sold off by my father about 20 or so years ago, but thankfully the people just cleared enough land to put their house on. My son and I spend alot of time out at camp snowshoieng, camping, winter camping in the tents, and just playing around in the woods. We love it

[laerau]

Growing up, I spent nearly all my time in a forest like this in western Maine. If I wasn't in school, I was in the woods. I miss everything about it, the sounds, the smell, even the feel of the forest floor. It has always been perfection to me and very spiritual. I loved to just sit and enjoy the peaceful calm

[Ujvi]

Man, I love trees! I really wish to visit these old growth forests once in my life.

[RiptideGaming_GXT]

As a kid i grew up on a mountain top in Vermont. Had several areas of forests that I use to play in as a kid that were old growth. let me tell you...there is something very primal, eldritch about an old growth forest.

You spend enough time in one, and you start to feel like you, a human, doesnt belong in that forest. Its a very strange and unnerving feeling.

[davidrn]

In 1973 I was working at a high adventure summer camp, I taught climbing and the last week (of 3 weeks) was a backpacking trip. I took my group, and we met up with another group in the Presidential range of the White Mountains. The other leader had spent years in those woods, we were hiking along, and he stopped us, thought for 4 or 5 minutes, then said, lets go up this side trail. We were well off the beaten path, and I was surprised on why he wanted to go in that direction. We stopped at a hill side and there was a Birch tree that was big enough around that 3 of us were required to reach around that tree. It was an old growth Birch, but unable to be cut down a hundred + years ago (when all these areas were clear cut for hay) because of the steep hillside. Still remember that tree, never could find it again, if it is still there.

[theGentlemanCaller]

I love features like this. This is why YouTube was invented. Thank you.

[Jayamidon]

I hang out in a 120 year old forest that won’t be touched because it’s a fish hatchery in the Berkshires.
It’s truly a healing sanctuary.

[patdud]

Just took a hike up Mt Sunapee in new hampshire and at about 2200 ft you enter an old growth area of Red/Black Spruce and Balsam Fir. Its incredible to walk through these old forests because they just feel so natural and wild. the temperature drops like 10 degrees too, its amazing to see.

[bluewaterpines]

At 68 years i can tell many stories of old growth i encountered as a child who wandered the woodlands daily . In my front forested yard alone i had black walnut, hazelnut, and towering white pines as far as one could see. The quail, pheasant, red fox, and many other species were so abundant. Under one big pine grove i counted nearly 40 quail one day feeding. The wild blueberries filled our little pails and jack-in -the pulpit was always a favorite find. When i came upon a stand of chestnut or beech, my heart filled with 4 year old wonder. There i would lay with my black shepherd yogi and sleep away. Yes, i worried my mother terribly. Beech nuts are delicious.

[thomaszaccone]

Something so warm and comforting in a forest like that. Makes you want to snuggle up in a bed of leaves there and really relax. Its so comforting.

[chipworkhard]

There is indeed some amazing old growth in Harvard, MA and it’s surrounding towns of Bolton, Berlin, Lancaster etc. Spent much of my twenties getting lost in that vast web of trails and other conservation lands. So well kept and preserved by people who are committed to fighting this most noble fight.
Here is my little salute to them!

[antiNuetron]

Very interesting. I live in Maine and once in a while I'll come across a single big old tree in the forest.

[thomasjamison]

At one point in the 1990's, I bought an Audobon book on trees. It had profiles of all the different trees. Eventually, I came to realize that all the printed profiles of the trees in the book were only of very immature trees, all the truly aged ones being long gone. And as a side note, there exists outside of Philadelphia a state forestry building in the middle of suburbia. On the wall is a cross-section sample of a mature white pine that is eight feet in diameter.

[blakespower]

this was a great documentary, and this is what documentaries used to be about Science and nature

[josephboxmeyer]

I do not own a large forest here in central Pennsylvania (Penn's Woods), but now of advancing years I worry on how to protect it. Since moving here it has bothered me to see the condition of EVERY piece of woods that has been timbered. The soil is thin enough and by my estimate requires generations to accumulate mere centimeters. But after cat tracks have been everywhere to get the trees and access roads plowed all that is left is clay. The logging companies brag of "increased wildlife grazing and habitat" and "increased plant diversity" . Well, sure the weeds and stickerbushes are impressive. But I cannot imagine ever again seeing the huge oaks and other trees. And I already have the deer, bear, mountain lions, foxes, wild cats, etc. My brother has wisely, I think, recommended selectively cutting trees and having an Omishman haul them with a horse team. Those hooves don't move all the soil. It makes me nervous that men will buy land only to timber it and pay for the land with that timber. Not much left but clay and weeds. I welcome input. But you vultures I don't need to hear from.

[xeverettx]

Very, very, cool documentary!!! Being a fly fisherman, and a bow hunter I spend many an hours awood. To me paradise is finding an old growth Forest with a small to medium size mountain stream filled with with small native brown and brook trout. Average size probably 8-9 inches and as big as 12. Those beautiful bright orange yellow bellies and fin tips unlike trout that are farmed and then stocked. Those colors against the clear waters, blue skies, and the green of the white pines and cedars and the contrast it creates is truely a miracle of life. People always ask me how I spend hours on end chasing little fish that are only 10 inches and how it could possibly be any fun. Well if you nymph in small mountain streams you know exactly what it’s like and the thrill it brings. Just being n those old growth forests is like the perfect dream scape. To all the fisherman out there be it spinning reel or fly reel definitely look into getting a 2-3 weight 7ft. rod using a one pound tipit tied to your leader using beedhead nymphs with barbless hooks as to not damage these very delicate fish. It greatly decreases the risk to them and makes it more challenging and sporting for the angler. It’s equivalent to catching big 10 pound small mouth with a little 2 pound test ultralight on a 4’9 rod. Okay that was quite the digression but yes old growth equals amazing! New growth also equals beauty!! Get out in the forest and hike, fish, swim, hunt, just always remember to leave things the way they were. Pack out all gear and trash, don’t move around a lot of rocks and branches, basically try to the natural habitats exactly how you found them. Even if you pick up a rock on the bed of the stream to check what creatures are there that the fish would be feeding on so you know what fly to use just make sure to wet your hands and grip the rock on the edges as to not disturb any of the echo system clinging to the underside of that rock. Then place it gently back how you had found it. These ecosystems are a very delicate balancing act that effect from the smallest speck of a bacteria all the way to the top of a 200 year old white pine! Everything working in harmony. I know some of this stuff seems like over the top hippie bullshit but hey my forbearers introduced me to the woods and left it’s legacy to me to be a steward of so I feel we must do the same for the coming generations of so they may enjoy it like we did! And I don’t care how cool someone tries to act and if they say the forest is stupid and boring they are lying lol hahaha!!! 🌒🌕🌘🍂🍄🐌🦊

[joeisslow]

I lived in the Berkshires for 20+ years, I lived literally 3 minutes from one of the places in this video, Campbell's falls. Massive old growth hemlock are in that area. It is majestic to be in a forest that you know is so old !!

[keesdenherder]

Thank you very much for this story of the old forests, it gave me a number of new insights. I am from the Netherlands and we have changed most of our country several times in 500 years time, so we do not have old forests. The word Holland comes from Holt-land, which means Wood-land: 400 years ago most oaks were used for building sailing vessels and our forest became grassland. Now most people think a forest is old when the trees are 100 years old. Forest management in State owned forests is now concentrated on improving ecological value, f.i. by replacing firs (planted around 1900 for construction wood in the coal mines) by deciduous wood (oak, beech, chestnut etc.). Although old wood is often not removed any more from the forests, the forest very often looks young. Timescale of humans is so short that basically most people can't understand forests and trees. The new scientific findings about forest-ecology (the role of fungi !) are very important. Yes, most citizens are not interested in forests, they are not interested in ecology not even in the ecology of their own body. WIthin 20 years people in the USA and other western countries will understand why bacteria and fungi (mainly in our gut) are so important for our health and they will say goodbye to the Standard American DIet for that reason. That will be good news for the tropical forests in the Amazonas too, but what remains is not clear because of the enourmous scale of deforestation (for livestock and soy: cheap burger meat). The world looks like Isengard, using wood in our furnaces of "progress", so carry on with the good work of finding new scientific results about old forests.

[arielphf]

Omg, old home week! I was a graduate student in Forestry at UMass in the late 80's under Bill Patterson and the names of the interviewees and images (that Harvard diorama!) in this piece kept pricking my memory circuits! Then Peter Dunwittie came on and he was the burn boss on a prescribed fire we did on Martha's Vineyard ('88, I think). Too cool! I went on to work as a forester in central PA and have documented a couple of old growth remnants in Centre County. I'd love it if someone did a project like this in PA. Thank you! I am really enjoying the program.

[yankeewatchdog]

Me being an old NH boy, my family came to Dover, NH, in 1635. They were sawyers from the get go. I'm the 15th or 16th generation to be here. I'm also a wood worker. The house I grew up in, was at one time a sugaring business, back in the day. We had sugar maples with 40 inch trunks, all over the property.