It’s time to protect the older trees and forests by transplanting them to areas where trees are needed. There are machines which excavate the whole tree by its roots without damaging it, allowing it to be transported safely. Please let’s keep them alive instead of chopping them down.
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A noble idea, but it’s not as easy as you think. You can think of most trees as having a root structure similar in diameter to the “canopy” of the tree. So, an old growth Oak tree that is 20-25 foot in diameter and 50-55 feet tall is going to have a root structure also 20-25 feet in diameter, and potentially 15 or more feet deep.
There are machines for smaller trees, but nothing that can move a tree that size, it’s just not practical. Plus a mature tree like that is less likely to survive a transplant - so a tree may cost thousands of dollars to move might only live a year or two before it dies and has to be taken down anyway (About 25 years ago, I had an old-growth oak in my front yard that was hit by lightning, it survived for about 5 years before it was dead and had to be taken down).
Many of the areas where trees are cut down for logging operations are planned forests, with one species of trees, and are sustainable because the operators plant as many trees as they cut down. In those areas the trees only get to a specified age before they are cut, not reaching their full lifespan.
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