The concern over tree felling in the Aberdare forest and other critical water towers goes beyond whether the trees are exotic or mature. It is about the future of these landscapes. Where is the corresponding urgency to restore degraded areas with indigenous tree species, support natural regeneration, and protect what remains? The public deserves to see the full picture: how much land is being harvested, how much is undergoing indigenous ecosystem restoration, and how successfully those areas are recovering especially whether the trees are surviving and the forest is regenerating. Seedling numbers alone cannot tell us that. Calling an area a commercial plantation should not place its future beyond question. Where these plantations occupy ecologically sensitive parts of our water towers, we need a funded plan to gradually restore native ecosystems, while supporting timber growing on suitable land elsewhere and protecting affected livelihoods. These catchments sustain rivers, farms, livelihoods and water supplies. The returns of which have way much more socio economic cost benefit to a wider public audience compared the returns from timber. Their management must put those functions first. We cannot keep postponing ecological recovery while treating timber harvesting as urgent.