A Walk In The Woods

 

I love to read.  My earliest memories, before the age of nine, is going to the library in Lebanon, Ohio.  Once we moved to Pinellas Park, Florida one of my favorite places to hide from working in the family grocery store was the local library. 

Over the years my taste in material has switched from fiction to non-fiction…. whatever strikes my interest.  A good portion of my reading is in history, but it wanders off to everything.  Sometimes it’s into science, like Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, by Neil deGrasse Tyson.  Somewhat over my head but I did learn a lot and actually enjoyed the book.

Currently I’m reading Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest by Suzanne Simard.  This book came to me unexpectedly.  In our Scrabble group we share books, and this one was making the rounds.  It too is sometimes over my head, but …. here’s the important part…. there is so much to think about as you read it.

Suzanne Simard was raised in a forestry family in British Columbia.  Her family harvested trees the old-fashioned way, before the big corporations took over with their clear-cutting practices.  As she grew to adulthood her love of forest remained steadfast and her love took her to an education in forestry and eventually to a job in the forest service.

As a scientist she was very observant and quickly came to question forest service practices of clear-cutting, replanting, use of Roundup, and other steps of repopulating the forest for the pure sake profit.

Her journey of research and discovery led to findings contrary to policymakers and foresters’ practices that put her at odds with her peers and her employer.  She was fired from the British Columbia Forest Service and went on to become a professor of forest ecology in the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Forestry…and of course her research continued.

So, you have to ask, “if the book is over your head, what are you getting out of it Hallsted?”  The answer is …. OMG!!!...while the scientific lexes is beyond me, how she weaves the story together and shares her findings and her personal story is intriguing.

Let’s take her personal story first.  First and foremost is that her style and skill at story telling is excellent.  She weaves throughout the scientific jargon and findings her story: the story of her brother’s death, her marriage, the birth of her two daughters, her divorce, her struggle with cancer and on and on.  All well told within the context of her work. 

Once she starts sharing her results, the first thing that came to my mind is the famous quote of one of my heroes, John Muir.  Somewhere in his writings he said, “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” and that is exactly what Suzanne Simard proves regarding trees in her research.  What her research shows is that clear-cutting is a sure way to ensure that the forests can never come back to their original grandeur.  Depending on site and climate, clear-cutting and reseeding is sure guaranteed failure of the ‘plantations’.

As her research moves forward over the years she even comes to prove that trees, across species, shares vital information and resources between themselves, a sharing and community that ensures their continued growth and survival. 

You have to read the book to get the details.  I know, I know, I am definitely a book nerd.  Most folks, if they are readers at all, would rather read a mystery novel or a romance novel. 

Me?  Give me a good eye-opening, thought-provoking non-fiction any time.  This one for instance, has given me a whole new perspective of my walks in the woods. 

Thank you Ms. Simard.