Who Cries For The Forest?

A baby rests on its side its feet kicking about. The mother is in the distance looking for it. I walk further into the woods. The canopy that once supported it safely in its nest is now gone. Several huge trees were injured others as they were thoughtlessly felled. This was created as a wildlife habitat over ten years ago.

Nearly 1,000 seedlings were planted by hand both for privacy and protection. To create a refuge against a world that won’t slow itself down. More money, more power, more greed. The buzzing of the saw. Now part of my little forest is on its side. Everything in its wake will soon die.

This was what I encountered after returning home from lunch with a dear friend. I saw a logger’s truck going down the street. It was full. I knew a neighbor was felling their trees above me.

Just the other day I walked the back of my land to ensure none of my trees would be removed as I knew the logger was working above me. The forest was pristine. I loved knowing that it was a refuge. But I wasn’t home yesterday to ensure that. To protect the forest and its inhabitants.

I did come home to numerous large trees cut down and left. Now this area is ripe for erosion, open, unprotected from the hacked away lots above it. The neighbor is an absentee owner. They did not supervise the work.

I called the Sheriff's Department to take a report and pictures. They agreed it was trespassing, vandalism and maybe a few other violations.

Last night a baby squirrel found its way into my garage and clung against the corner of my garage wall. Its mother was no where in sight. Most likely searching for it. Carefully I removed the baby and placed it on a hill which the mother frequents. This morning its tiny body is huddled together. It did not survive. I wonder how many others there were and if they survived. I keep searching.

I asked the neighbor to call me. Finally, last evening she did. We talked by phone. They say they want to clean this up and do what they can. I feel as though I am at a funeral and it doesn’t end. So much destruction. Thoughtless. And now death.

This morning the neighbor, a lawyer, phoned again. She said the Sheriff's Department advised her not to clean up the trees she had killed. She said I would need to release the complaint. How clever of her. A lawyer. I ended the phone conversation.

Who cries for the baby squirrels, and a mother searching for them? Who cries for the trees which only yesterday stood tall reaching toward the sky for the sunlight that would sustain them. The trees were providing a canopy, a shelter for the wildlife living under it. The vegetation. It is all part of an ecosystem divinely planned. An absentee home owner who was not here to ensure the proper trees were cut.

Now the trees and the wildlife that thrived in it are all dead.

Who cries for the forest?