ABSTRACT
The history of human culture suggests that ‘the landscape’ is one of the earliest concepts for perceiving and describing our changing environment, and trees and woodlands have played a central role in this. Our early landscapes were ‘natural’ of course but human beings, being the creative and inquisitive creatures that they are, quickly engaged in changing their natural landscapes into ‘designed’ landscapes, in order to improve the quality and efficiency of their existence and accommodate the evolving demands expected of their landscapes. Thus change is, and always has been, an inherent aspect of human civilisation, and it is rarely comfortable.
