Becoming tree, becoming memory Social-ecological fabrics in Pewen (Araucaria araucana) landscapes of the southern Andes

Trees are rooted in a myriad of biocultural landscapes worldwide (Watkins 2016; Holmgren and Scheffer 2017). They play key ecological roles such as the creation of microhabitats for biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and the maintenance of hydrological, nutrient, and energy cycles (Lindenmayer and Laurance 2017). Trees have also long been symbols within complex bodies of human knowledge, practices, and beliefs, as they provide tangible goods (resin, bark, flowers, wood, fruits, medicines, and seeds) and intangible values (aesthetic, artistic, and religious character) (Hageneder 2009; Kohn 2013). These roles are continually unfolding in situated social-ecological systems, in which properties of the system emerge from localized interactions that contribute to the specific fabrics of differing landscapes’ milieus (Filotas et al. 2014; Ibarra et al. 2020b). These principles speak through the poet Leonel Lienlaf (1989) when he states: La vida del árbol invadió mi vida. Comencé a sentirme árbol y entendí su tristeza.
Empecé a llorar por mis hojas, mis raíces, mientras un ave se dormía en mis ramas esperando que el viento dispersara sus alas. Yo me sentía árbol porque el árbol era mi vida. The life of the tree invaded my life. I started to feel like a tree and I understood its sadness. I started crying through my leaves, my roots,
while a bird was falling asleep in my branches waiting for the wind to scatter its wings. I became a tree because the tree was my life. (Lienlaf 1989).