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Arbor Day often receives less attention than holidays like Earth Day and Easter, yet celebrating and protecting ancient forests is just as important. If planting a tree isn’t an option for you this year, consider visiting one of the world’s oldest forests. These seven ancient woodlands stand out for their age, biodiversity and enduring beauty—reminders of why we must protect trees and their habitats. -
Tarkine Forest, in northwest Tasmania, contains stands of ancient pines and other trees that can be thousands of years old. This vast temperate rainforest is among the largest of its kind and feels like a walk back through deep time, with rugged landscapes and a unique fauna that includes the Tasmanian devil.
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Tongass National Forest in Alaska spans some 16.8 million acres of mostly temperate rainforest. Many individual trees here are centuries old. The forest supports rich wildlife—grizzly bears, salmon and numerous bird species—and stores more organic matter per acre than almost any other forest in the world.
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The Pando aspen grove in Utah is remarkable because its trees share a single extensive root system, making the grove essentially one organism. While individual stems are much younger, the interconnected root network may have persisted for thousands of years, making Pando an extraordinary example of longevity and resilience in a forest ecosystem.
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Kakamega Forest in western Kenya is a remnant of a once-vast ancient forest. Although it has diminished significantly over recent decades, Kakamega still preserves rare species and old-growth stands. Visiting helps raise awareness of the pressures these ecosystems face and supports conservation efforts to protect what remains.
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The lowland rainforests of Borneo are ancient ecosystems that support incredible biodiversity, including endangered orangutans and a variety of small mammals and birds. These forests are under severe threat from deforestation and habitat conversion, making conservation and sustainable management critical for their survival.
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The Amazon Rainforest is one of the most ancient and biodiverse regions on Earth. With an estimated tens of millions of species and an enormous variety of habitats, the Amazon plays a crucial role in global climate regulation and biodiversity. Protecting it remains a global priority.
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Australia’s Daintree Rainforest is often cited as one of the oldest continuous rainforests on the planet. It hosts thousands of species, many of them rare or endemic, and supports a remarkable variety of plants, insects, birds, frogs and mammals. The Daintree’s conservation is vital to preserving these ancient lineages.
