@mekkaokereke @Littlebobbytables @jobyIf you want to see what monocultures of timberland can look like, I recommend visiting the German #Harz mountains.
The Harz was a mining region for centuries, and for centuries the miners planted fast-growing fir trees, since that was what they needed for the mines.
And after #WWII the British essentially cut down most of these forests as war reparation, in the manner they were accustomed from their colonial empire. The locals then were, of course, in a hurry to replant those forest - with more fir trees.
The bill came due in the last few years as there was a massive drought - which in turn led to a massive explosion of the bark beetle population. More than 90% of the fir tree population of the Harz range is now _dead_, and the landscape looks like this as a result.
The local forestry offices are now trying for more mixed forests while managing the regrowth, and in a few decades down the road the forests should look very different than what they used to. Still, that was an expensive lesson.