The Orphaned Forest, Building for a Time Without Yourself
A friend of mine was once an alderman in a medium-sized city. In his portfolio: Spatial Planning. And in his city: an orphaned forest. A bleak piece of nature. Wedged between highways, a residential area and an industrial estate.
No squirrel could stand it there. No walker liked to come there. Trees fell with every spring storm. Branches were left lying. Paths slowly disappeared under chaos.
A forest that was of no use to anyone.
My friend made plans. Big plans.
A park. A swimming pond. A theatre. A playground. A building perhaps with his name on it.
Until one man stood up.
The forest man.
An activist, operating alone, completely dressed in hunting clothes, with a beard, a pine branch in his hair and a banner in the council chamber.
Nobody took him seriously.
Especially not when he was talking about wolves. In the year 2000.
My friend went to talk to him anyway.
What turned out?
The forest man had a plan.
Not to build up the forest, but to connect it. Via an old viaduct. With nature reserves in the distance.
A utopian idea.
My friend went with him into the forest. What seemed dead turned out to be very much alive. Unique plants, old mouse species, historic paths, owl holes, trees that had stood for decades.
And yes… far away was that old viaduct. With a lot of imagination perhaps one day to connect.
Then my friend asked him the question:
“What timeline does this correspond to?”
The answer was overwhelming:
“At least 200 years.”
There he was. An alderman with plans for a term of office. And a man with plans for two hundred years from now.
A man who worked for a time he would never experience.
That changed everything.
My friend became an advocate of the Bosman plan. He called in Staatsbosbeheer. Rijkswaterstaat. He had people go on expeditions. Planted trees. Let sheep graze.
Long story short:
Today, that forest is a beautiful nature reserve. The old viaduct is one of the most successful ecoducts in the world.
The wolves? They aren't here yet. But the door is open.
Anyone who wants to build the future must learn to look further.
Beyond your term.
Beyond your career.
Further than you will live.
And beyond all of us here will exist.
The space between the words is where insight arises.
Until next week when our thoughts touch again.
Hans Ruinemans, Boardroom Monk ☯️