From the Long Now post: > As we walked from arch to arch, Maholo explained that the forest here had historically been used exclusively to harvest timbers for a

From the Long Now post: > As we walked from arch to arch, Maholo explained that the forest here had historically been used exclusively to harvest timbers for all the shrines, but over the last millennia they had been harvested too heavily for various war efforts, or lost in fire. Since the beginning of this century the shrines’ caretakers have been bringing these forests back, and expect them to be self-sustaining again within the next two or three rebuilding periods — 40 to 60 years from now. Part of this is also a preservation of skills. It ensures that the artisans who work on it have a consistent demand for their skills.