WikiFur:This week's featured article/Week 40, 2006

The Forest is an island simulation in Second Life. Created on 12 January 2005 by Spade Richelieu, it was sold in April 2005 to Anshe Chung, a well-known Second Life land baron, and it became part of their collection of connected island simulations, Dreamland. It was operated for over a year by members of the Second Life furry community. The Forest's officers, known as Forest Guides, included Eirinn Overdrive, Ron Overdrive, Walter Faddoul and Yiffy Yaffle.

Shortly after The Forest passed into Anshe Chung's possesion it was mysteriously erased. This, along with the move of Club Fur to FurNation Worlds led to a spontaneous spasm of rebuilding in which The Forest was reinvented as a woodland-themed furry sim. Many people, both furs and humans, took part in the rebuilding.

A new pub was being built at the end of May 2006 when a crisis arose. Anshe demanded 1/4 of the area of The Forest be rezoned for commercial development, and when the officers failed to make a choice she wiped the southeastern quarter clean, including the new tavern and several residential properties.

Protest was swift, in the form of large black banners and buttons from Alazarin Mondrian. Most of the content of the sim was returned to its owners in the early hours of 29 May, and a previous version of it was restored. Around 80% was owned by its designer, Yiffy Yaffle, who promptly removed it, rendering the sim bare of trees, housing and decoration, including the Forest Store. A mass exodus to Wolf Valley ensued.

The Forest remained very bare at the start of June. Meanwhile, the former Guides moved to a new sim, Serenity Woods, created less than a week after their departure. The Forest has since been rebuilt, but it remains significantly less busy than Serenity. (more...)