Finding the Mother Tree, by Suzanne Simard

Published in 2021, this fine book details the research of a Canadian woman whose family were foresters, and who in working with the Canadian Forest Service, conducted scientific experiments to determine why the seedlings planted in clearcuts were dying. Her studies led her to mapping the mycorrhizal (fungal) networks connecting root systems, helping her to see how the trees communicate, share nutrients, warn each other of disease – diametrically opposed to the notion of competitive growth, the zero-sum game, that the forestry old guard believed, which they have used to justify clearcutting and monocropping policies. 

Simard’s experiments and reports gained some attention, though the entrenched patriarchy gave her little credence. But she found unexpected allies, and the further she explored, the deeper her conviction grew that a forest is a network: cooperating, nurturing, protecting its members. And the Mother Trees are the great matriarchs of the forest, their mycorrhizal networks ranging furthest, their seeds scattered by birds and animals, by wind and water, nourished where they fall. 

In the face of climate change, with increasing stresses on plant communities, it is more important than ever to let the Mother Trees flourish, to retain old growth areas, to recognize their wisdom and awareness, their equality with humans. We assume we are superior to nature, which gives us the hubris to “manage” it – in many cases, to death – without needing to comprehend its capacities and vulnerabilities. Those days must end. Simard documents how forests heal, but that process cannot begin until we acknowledge the harm we are doing. 

She founded https://mothertreeproject.org/ to encourage broader understanding of these remarkable trees and the communities they anchor. It’s high time we fit ourselves into the web of life, rather than viewing it as something to be conquered. With a little humility, we just might learn from beings that have been around for centuries, and in preserving them, give ourselves a better shot at survival.