Buddha means forest sage. So culturaly has a closer affinity with woods than a Christian religion. The Celts in the UK were pushed to the fringe Wales Ireland and Scotland by the Romans, who also liked clearing land.

Very interesting history.I wonder why Great Britain never reforested their poor looking landscapes.

Nataly. You ask a big question in a few words. Part of it is large landowners over the last few centuries using the land for grazing.

This is especially true for Scotland with the Highland Clearances. This is an unresolved political debate

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/scotland_clearances_01.shtml

Sheep come in at page 3

Then we have the preservtion of open moorland for shooting. Ecologically these are things like deflected seres or plagio climaxes.

When Foot and Mouth disease hit the UK in 2001, I sent this model of the outbreak to Prime Minister Tony Blair. He sent his thanks by return of post, as far as I have been made aware it was the only accurate modelof the outbreak available in the UK in March 2001. Media analysis might show this was the source which Ministers used to brief the media from the start of April 2001.

http://celticlion.wordpress.com/2008/01/15/foot-and-mouth-assessment/

Part of the answer to your question is perception. People think the UK landscape is ‘natural’ -a grazing ecosystem.

Some get really upset at the thought of shrub and tree cover returning. They don’t see that as ‘natural’. Its a cultural block, the lakeland poets described the fells, so people don’t now want trees.

This also links with commercial return on land use. Shooting on a moor will return more income than allowing it to revert to it’s natural mixed woodland/ forest climax.

The report to the PM covers land use and is a basic introduction to ecology etc and it’s relationship to post FMD economics. It is for the informed lay person eg a Prime Minister or Cabinet Minister could read it and be able to answer general questions from the media. It’s on a side resource blog I use.

hope its of some interest