WHEN THE FOREST BREATHES

A captivating journey into the deep woods.

Simard, a forest ecologist and author of Finding the Mother Tree (2021), has spent decades studying the landscape of British Columbia and the interaction between the plants and animals there. Most recently, she conducted an eight-year “Mother Tree Project” beginning in 2015 with a team of graduate students and members of the Indigenous communities of the province to study the effects of various forms of logging on forests. Simard clearly conveys the excitement of planning and carrying out her experiments, as well as the many obstacles to be conquered, including the difficulties of taking measurements of hundreds of tiny seedlings in the pouring rain, the need to outrun forest fires, and the struggles with deliberately obtuse logging company officials. Her gratitude toward and appreciation for the students— which include her two daughters—is touching, as they follow in her footsteps and come up with enticing new projects of their own. Alongside the stories of research run more personal memories of the time, including the death of one of her students in a skiing accident and the difficult process of helping her beloved mother with assisted suicide. She also spends time bemoaning the less-than-enthusiastic reception of her earlier book by fellow scientists. She presents mountains of evidence that clearcutting and the use of heavy machinery make it difficult for forests to regrow, as well as more optimistic insights into what happens when large trees are left in a landscape while smaller ones are harvested. Simard’s lyrical tributes to the creatures large and small that make up an ecological system, from fungi and moss to squirrels and bears to the largest and oldest of trees, add a dimension of heart to her more abstruse scientific musings.

A determinedly hopeful tribute to natural regeneration.