Page 20 - Tạp chí bonsai cây cảnh BCI 2016Q2

did, and the American bison nearly did. And during
the shimpaku juniper craze of the late 19th and early
20th centuries, nearly every wild juniper was removed
from the mountains of Japan by bonsai collectors.
That’s right, by people like us. Today, collecting them
is prohibited. But it’s too late, since the trees are al-
ready gone. What a shame.
To avoid a similar legacy of disgrace here, we should
develop a code of ethics for ourselves now, so that in
the future tree collecting is still possible and legal. And
so that in the future bonsai is seen as the true envi-
ronmental art that it is, a mixing of humanity, nature
and beauty; rather than as something more akin to
poaching ivory.
Take your backyard with you
Your own backyard is the best place to start. What
I’m going to suggest is that you start taking your
backyard with you everywhere you go. Just roll it up
and stick it in your shirt pocket—it won’t take up any
room. But when you get to your collecting site, unroll
What I’m going to it and spread it out. No matter what size yard you have
behind your house you’ll find that now it’s limitless in
suggest is that you size and depth.
start taking your If some strangers came to you and asked if they
backyard with you could dig some trees for bonsai from your backyard,
everywhere you go. what would your answer likely be? In most cases the
Just roll it up and answer would be “no.” You’d say there are only a few
stick it in your shirt trees there and you want all of them to stay where they
are. They are more important to you in the ground
pocket—it won’t than in a pot.
take up any room. That answer applies everywhere. Collecting trees is
not appropriate in most locations, even though there
may be good trees there. A beautiful potential bonsai
Top; Junipers on a mountain in tree growing in a wilderness area should be left grow-
Wyoming. ing right where it is because wilderness values, and
Bottom; A pine with amazing
deadwood in the Black Hills of the law, dictate that the landscape be as untouched as
South Dakota. possible by humans. But the very same tree growing
in the middle of a timber sale area, or an area that was
Facing page top and middle; going to be prescribed burned or thinned, could be
Pines growing in rock crevices, collected as long as the proper permit or permission
Black Hills. was obtained first.
Facing page, bottom; Ancient So the first thing to consider is not the tree, but
juniper in Wyoming. where the tree is growing. Many areas will be off limits
to collecting because the landowner or the land man-
agement agency does not want to allow collecting.
This is their right and it should always be respected.
Taking a tree without permission is theft. And that
will eventually harm the whole bonsai community.
Where can you collect in the USA?
There are many areas where collecting will never,
or almost never, be allowed. These include national
parks, national monuments, wilderness areas, wildlife
preserves, most state parks and recreation areas, spe-
cial natural, historic or archeological sites, areas near
hiking trails, campgrounds, main roads, lakeshores,
and, of course, most private lands. In other words, any
area where the highest use of the land is something
other than tree collecting is likely to ban it or severely
restrict it.

18 | BCI | April/May/June 2016