I just googled a story I had heard about, in which at the time a great hall in one of the East coast universities of America had been built using oak beams, but when they had to be replaced, no one would allow them to cut the trees to replace them. They would have to use something else. One of the members of the botany department got wind of the plan, and showed up with some old documents that said that the trees in a grove near campus were planted specifically at the time the building was built, for the purpose of having replacements when they were needed in 150 years.
It turns out that the actual story had been about Oxford, and it was 500 years instead of 150, and, as it turns out, it was a fake story anyway. It had never happened.
But wouldn't this be an awesome opportunity to start such a thing. The French government should set aside some land for an old growth forest nature preserve, with the provision that, 100 or more years from now, people could cut the trees if necessary to restore historical buildings, especially Notre-Dame cathedral. Call it the Notre Dame Nature Preserve. (Uhhhh…..except in French)
Well, I think it would be a cool idea, anyway. Can somebody call Macron and let him know about it? He can use the idea for free, but he has to provide the land for about 50,000 old oak trees. (You have to have spares so that when some of them are harvested in 2319, the ecosystem isn't destroyed.)
