Forest

Analog forestry mimics a forest to create an economically productive and ecologically diverse landscape
It’s afternoon and wisps of clouds have already enveloped the Sora Muni shrine that keeps watch over Sri Lanka’s Horton Plains massif. Here, Tamil workers of the Thotulagalla tea estate in Haputale offer a sacrificial goat to the deity following the annual pruning of tea bushes.

It is ironic to see principles of analog forestry being piloted in a tea plantation. In its intent and design this silvicultural practice cocks a snook at the country’s monocultural plantation economy, a vestige of the colonial landscape.

Analog forestry attempts to create an economically productive and ecologically diverse tree-dominated landscape ‘analogous’ in structure and function to the nearest stable forest. It draws inspiration from the home gardens of rural Kandy which are highly productive, intensively farmed small plots that produce food throughout the year.

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