The Forest JourneyA Foundational Conservation Story Revived Ancient writers observed that forests always recede as civilisations develop and grow. The great Roman poet Ovid wrote that before civilisation began, "even the pine tree stood on its own very hills" but when civilisation took over, "the mountain oak, the pine were felled." This happened for a simple reason: trees have been the principal fuel and building material of every society over the millennia, from the