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Monday, May 24, 2021

Suzanne Simard, Mother Tree

I must leave in an hour or so to pick up a prescription, and especially to leave two large bags of accumulated cast-off's at the VFW station. Casting about for a little time filler, I went out to water the plants. To my joy, it seems to have rained overnight; the very air smells like damp dirt. I smelled it in until I was saturated!

Some time ago I mentioned a book I was reading, Finding the Mother Tree. Suzanne Simard grew up in a logging family in the Pacific northwest, and reading her story of her history immediately evoked the other logging and mettle classic, Sometimes a Great Notion. Simard grew up instinctively understanding the interconnectedness of the great fir and birch forests her family had logged and cultivated for two centuries.

Her understanding of the interconnectedness of trees grew, built on her successive degrees, from a biology under graduate degree to a PhD in interspecific carbon transfer in ectomycorrhizal tree species mixtures. In fir and birch forests, the two trees transfer carbon dioxide, nutrients and news throughout the year. When logging clear cuts are replaced by a new species of tree, intended to grow faster and better, that result does not occur and untold acres of bare earth blow away, wash away, yield scrub bushes rather than acres of replacement lumber and paper.

Simard learned literally from the ground up, measuring the transfer of carbon and nutrients between coniferous and deciduous in countless documented parcels of land, maintained and measured for ten, twenty, thirty years. Her work caused the Canadian government to revise its policy on clear cuts and replanting, to avoid the previous disasters and foster healthy replacement forests.

The heavy reading of nutrient exchanges, carbon transfers, electrical movement through synapses is lightened by the inclusion of Simard's life story throughout, including a terrible trip through breast cancer. She accumulated a vast network of students she involved, colleagues who supported her, and audiences she converted as she overcame a deep shyness and difficulty in speaking over men who refused to understand the trees needed understanding.

Every forest talks among itself, helps other trees become established, shares information about trouble and success. There are many stands of Mother Trees, that are the hub of the vast underground communication network. Simard has a web site; I've included the link.



37 comments:

  1. This sounds like an interesting book to this PacNorthwesterner. We've read several books about forests in my Book Club! They resonate with we Washingtonians since we love trees. :)

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  2. That sounds completely fascinating. Thank you. And drat you - my unread towers continue to grow.

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  3. She sounds like a fearless champion of the forests, overcoming her own difficulties in her quest. Thanks for this. Important reading.

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  4. The smell of fresh earth in the spring - is there anything more satisfying to the nature lover's soul?

    I read a review of that book recently and thought it sounded very good. Not sure I could wade through it right now; I need escapist fiction. But someday ...

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  5. Trees do seem to fascinate people. There's something intriguing about them... something more than just their physical connection to the earth. Even movies like Avatar seem to promote this feeling. I may have to read this book.

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  6. I. too, have been reading Simard's book. Wednesday at 1 p.m. (EDT) Diane Rehm will be discussing the book with several participants followed by a discussion with Simard. To participate or listen you need to register by 9 p.m. EDT on May 25. https://wamu.org/event/diane-rehm-book-club-finding-the-mother-tree-discovering-the-wisdom-of-the-forest/

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  7. Hari OM
    Clearly she has left her mark on you - I have bookmarked the link! YAM xx

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  8. I read something similar myself, the name of which escapes me. However it made me look at a forest with much respect.

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  9. Dear Joanne, thank you for sharing what is so clearly a fascinating book. I will see if the library has it as an e-book. Both books in fact. Like Sue, I feeling also a "drat it" within because my reading list just keep lengthening. So many of the blogs I follow are written by human beings who are interested in a vast array of topics and write in such a way that they draw me to books I never would have selected on my own. Thank you again. And by the way, did you ever get a 1,000?????? Peace.

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  10. Dear Joanne, we got only a bit of rain last night, but enough to get me out of bed to go outside in the dark. I inhaled the hydrated air and the world smelled like a spice cupboard. There is a reward in planting trees that enhances dreams. I went back to bed and slept well.

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  11. I might find her book as heartbreaking as a drive up to the mountain, the clear cuts , the greed and the lack of sensible harvest, if that is what one should call it. I absolutely loath the logging industry. If I find it in the bookshop I might thumb through deciding if my heart can take it or not. Can't be too careful these days.

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    1. I believe your heart could take it. She has changed the logging industry. Sadly, new policy won't be visualized in her lifetime.

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  12. She must have other people who agree with her as I've heard someone speak on this topic.

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  13. It is fascinating. All living things make it possible for all other living things to survive. What a concept.

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  14. So if the cleared land was planted with the original types of trees would they so better and grow as they should?

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    1. Yes, and some "mother tree" hubs must be spared, to talk to the new seedlings, and the tiniest bit of original earth must be left to spread the original knowledge to the new seedlings.

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  15. That sounds interesting. Another one of the books I will order in your recommendation.

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  16. I will check whether the library has this book. We never learn, do we? We are still clear cutting old growth forests.

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    1. I bet they do. It's become an important step in a major industry.

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  17. I hope we get rain. The ground is very hard.

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  18. Once again- because women's voices have been muted, silenced, so much of what we think we know is based on a completely male perspective which is so different from the perspective women would bring. As you said- the trees need understanding. It is not just a matter of not seeing the forest for the trees, it is also a matter of not seeing the trees for the forest. As with almost all things, there must be a balanced and thoughtful study before there can be understanding.

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  19. With the surname Simard, she must come from Quebecois (French Canadian) stock somewhere along the line.

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    1. Yes, and the book is peppered with her grandfather's Quebecois observations of life.

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  20. I also intend to (hope to) read the Simard book. Another very good book, a novel, is The Overstory by Richard Powers. A book about trees and so much more.

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  21. That's very interesting. I had no idea that trees can swap carbon dioxide and nutrients and introducing a new species of tree can be disastrous. Now I wonder what's going on between the trees in our garden....

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  22. Thank you for this - I had no idea.

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  23. Thanks for the book, I requestd it through our library and now am on the wait list.

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  24. as long as humans think they are the only conscious beings on the planet, the planet will suffer.

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  25. Thank you so much for this. We need to rethink so much.

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  26. Sounds like we can learn a lot from the trees but why would we want to do that when we can chop them down to built identical subdivisions that further deplete our natural resources. I am glad the Canadian government listened to Suzanne Simard. Thanks for sharing. The books sounds amazing.

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  27. "...interspecific carbon transfer in ectomycorrhizal tree species mixtures" - wow that's a mouthful. It was only recently that I learned that trees do communicate through chemical/nutrient ways. Nature is very interconnected so clear cutting messes up the natural system. Hopefully (I do wonder) more groups and companies will learn from the many mistakes we have inflicted on nature.

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