Into The Woods

[Lalwendë]

I've had something on my mind lately that troubles me about both Middle-earth and Beleriand. Where are all the woods?

It might seem odd, as one of the things readers associate with Tolkien is woodlands. But the maps tell a different story. One of those 'given' facts that we all know about the world in the pre-modern years was that the woodlands were extensive. Even in the UK right up until the late medieval period, much of the land was covered with trees - from low lying areas to mountains. A small population does not need to cut down trees. And Middle-earth has a small population. But if you look at maps of both Middle-earth and Beleriand there are actually few woodlands marked.

There are also immense swathes of the western regions of Middle-earth that seem well...barren. Beleriand is less denuded of woodland, but even here there are huge areas with no woodlands marked on the map, and you would think there would be much more.

Does this seem a bit strange to anyone else? Treebeard gives some clues but I'm still left wondering:

They always wished to talk to everything, the old Elves did. But then the Great Darkness came, and they passed away over the Sea, or fled into far valleys, and hid themselves, and made songs about days that would never come again. Never again. Aye, aye, there was all one wood once upon a time from here to the Mountains of Lune, and this was just the East End.
"Those were the broad days! Time was when I could walk and sing all day and hear no more than the echo of my own voice in the hollow hills. The woods were like the woods of Lothlorrien, only thicker, stronger, younger. And the smell of the air! I used to spend a week just breathing."

He then sings his song and lists all the different woodlands he has known. Mostly woodlands of Beleriand. What happened to all the woodlands, especially those in the west of Middle-earth, where there was a scanty population and Sauron and Saruman hadn't an influence. It's possible that many woodlands were ruined by Morgoth, or maybe drowned in the waves when Numenor was broken, but even so, new woodlands would have grown up. Were the woods kept cut back as they were a threat - as it seems the Old Forest was?