Many letters have discussed outrage at the state logging large tracts of forest in and near the Quabbin and in state forests and elsewhere. This letter is to address one reason why we should select some large tracks of forest to be never logged or managed. The logging of forests keeps the forests young. Old forests, very old forests are required to generate a growth of fairies. People think fairies are mythical creatures but this belief itself is the myth. Fairies are real, but only occur in very, very old forests. The life cycle of a fairy begins in the cracks and crevices of very, very old tree bark in very, very old forests. The fairies emerge and then sprout wings and fly around. But unlike a caterpillar becoming a butterfly or moth, the fairy does not fly to reproduce. The flights of fairies express the joy of the forest itself. Fairies do not have reproduction the way we are used to thinking of it, birds and bees etc. Fairies represent a final step in the life cycle of a mature forest. A forest feels joy when the trees within it feel joy. Once a forest truly feels joy, can these flying tree parts emerge and fly about. And then we can study them properly. But a forest only feels joy if it is left alone for a very, very long time — perhaps 600 years?

John Walter

Shutesbury