Vol. 81 No. 2s (2026): Conference Proceedings Old-Growth Forests and Ancient Trees: A Treasure of Nature, Life and Culture, Firenze 1 October 2025 / Vallombrosa 2-3 October 2025
Reviews

Saving space for the long now: old-growth forests and ancient trees in the Anthropocene

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  • Charles H. Cannon
Charles H. Cannon
Applied Research Center for Tropical Plant Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yunnan, China 666303.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/ifm-1260

Published 2026-10-06

Keywords

  • dendromorphism,
  • forest conservation,
  • deep time

How to Cite

Cannon, C. H. (2026). Saving space for the long now: old-growth forests and ancient trees in the Anthropocene. L’Italia Forestale E Montana, 81(2s), 40–49. https://doi.org/10.36253/ifm-1260

Copyright (c) 2026 Charles H. Cannon

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Old-growth forests and ancient trees embody a profound temporal and spatial otherness that stands in stark contrast to the accelerated, unmoored rhythms of Anthropocene human societies. This paper bridges dendrological science, environmental philosophy, and conservation policy to argue that arboreal life constitutes an irreplaceable form of non-human being requiring deliberate, multi-scale protection. It first distinguishes between old-growth forest ecosystems that form complex collective networks perceived culturally as both sacred sanctuary and forbidding wilderness and solitary ancient heritage trees, widely venerated as individual touchstones of deep time embedded often within human landscapes. Drawing on recent physiological research, the paper introduces the framework of dendromorphism: the modular, adaptive, indeterminate growth pattern of trees that escapes programmed senescence, accumulates heritable somatic mutations, and sustains a youthful living envelope over ancient structural biomass. This unique biology produces organisms that integrate centuries of environmental experience within a single permanently rooted existence. Situating the argument within a 4,000-year cultural arc from the Epic of Gilgamesh to the Long Now Foundation, the paper concludes with three actionable conservation strategies: strict old-growth forest preservation, systematic stewardship of ancient heritage trees, and intentional landscape-wide recruitment of successor tree cohorts to sustain arboreal deep time into future millennia.

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