Did they not know or just not care?

They probably never thought they would destroy almost all of it. Did they know? Did they not care? Surely the vast bottomland forests seemed almost infinite. They stretched all over the south. What now remains is only a tiny fraction of what was. The remaining fragments are impressive for us...But we never saw the original tracts of ancient trees. HUGE TREES by what we know today. There are still small remnants here and there...Some were not worth cutting, some were fairly inaccessible and some, so it seems were looked over, and others were fought for by people with foresight. If you have never seen an old growth Cypress swamp then you are missing out on a truly magnificent community. So, when you are wondering what your next adventure might be, take the time to research the bottomland forests of the southern U.S. Try the Cache river in Arkansas, Dagmar WMA for example will leave your head spinning. Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina and Mississippi all have good chunks to check out...If your thinking that I'm a tree huggin' hippy, I guess your right. But who wouldnt be? While most of it is long gone, some of what remains was here and viable when Christ was born. Wanna see a 2000 year old tree? How about a 3000 year old tree? Check out the "Senator" in central Florida...3500 years and still kickin it...

"Old growth style"

[note: The tree pictured is not the senator-it was shot in Mississippi] ©