how many trees in a forest?

Harold, in Harold and the Purple Crayon "made a very small forest, with just one tree in it."  We have eight in our front yard and are having three cut down.  Will I still be able to call the area my woodlands garden?

Both Pook and Bug have requested that I play photojournalist, taking photos of the tree cutters at work.

Trees in Georgia are tall.  Pine trees here are amazingly tall before they even have their first branches. Unless you've seen them I'm not sure they can be adequately described.  Let's just say that we have a two story house with a kinda pointed roof, and the pines about to hit the dust (compost) are considerably more than twice the height of the house.

To cut them, they must climb them and cut bits at a time and lower those bits down.

The "Before" picture was taken one of the (many) days the guys didn't cut the trees.  The sky wasn't the great backdrop that it was for the rest of the photos, taken Tuesday.

The climber and his chainsaw begin to prune away the lowest branches.  He was held up there with a rope/pulley sort of contraption and didn't use spikes on his shoes at all.

The first tree looked like a telephone pole when he finished pruning all the branches away.  Then he began to cut lengths of the trunk from above his head.  The pine to the right of the climber and the smaller one behind him were also removed.  At least one of them had been attacked by pine beetle.  We couldn't justify keeping the one closest to the house, and the small one didn't add much to the overall yard.  Additionally we had the big oak pruned back by several lower branches. 

The "After" photo shows a sunnier area. The oak looks more balanced from the street than from the driveway. That's the only good thing I can say about it right now. Soon it will have leaves and the branches will be noticed less.

Mess of my "Woodlands Garden"-- plants broken, dug up and trampled.  It took is taking many deep breaths to cope with that side effect.  I finally closed the blinds so that each time when I heard that heavy 'thud' from an eight foot chunk of tree falling into my plants I wouldn't freak out. 

But plants rebound and spring has only just begun.  I expect everything to look lush and happy in a few months.  And, some of it will grow better since there will now be some sun getting in.  Something this yard hasn't had much in the past.