By Travis Newbill // To the untrained eye, the ponderosa forests of Shambhala Mountain Center have never been anything less than pristine wonderlands. But to experts in the field of conservation forestry, these ecosystems have actually been unhealthy for many years. That’s according to SMC’s Master Planner Mac McGoldrick, who came onboard in 2017 with an eye not only for pretty landscapes, but truly healthy ecosystems — two values which can be in opposition sometimes. When Mac first laid out the plans for Phase 1 of the SMC Forestry Project back in 2018, he got a lot of pushback from people who didn’t want to see what they regarded as precious trees cut down. While that sentiment is certainly understandable, says Mac, it amounts to a classic case of missing the forest for the trees. “Our forests had become overgrown, homogenous, and crowded,” he says, “and what happens when those circumstances are present is that tree health suffers, understory growth suffers; we start to eliminate habitat for living beings, and we are possibly impacting watershed, …