About

The collecting of yamadori (wild trees) can be controversial and brings to light many ethical questions. Yamadori are a limited resource, whose value go far beyond anything monetary. The respect for the environment and the tree should be of the utmost importance. Many of these trees take, at minimum, decades to grow under wild conditions, with some being hundreds of years old. Collecting and caring for such a special living organism should not be taken lightly.

With that, collecting of trees should only be done if you have the landowner’s permission/a legal permit and are confident that you have both the experience and technical knowledge required to provide successful recovery of a tree. If you don’t know how, then a great way to learn is collecting “yardadori”, or urban trees out of the urban landscape, perhaps even your own yard. Even then, it is best to learn about collecting and tree recovery from those with experience, or to purchase a yamadori from an ethical collector.

In general, Kevyn does not share his collecting on social media, as he does not want to encourage others to do so without understanding the importance of the ethical collection of yamadori. Collecting spots are also highly guarded secrets due to the large amount of research and scouting that goes into finding them, so don’t ever expect a location to be shared and please respect this “gatekeeping”. It is both a protection of a large amount of work, as well as protection of these ecosystems.