When the Forest Breathes: Renewal and Resilience in the Natural World

This passionate study from ecologist Simard (Finding the Mother Tree) reveals how preserving forests’ natural cycles of death and renewal is key to their longevity. When trees die and decompose, she explains, their rotting logs release nutrients into the soil and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which new seedlings then absorb. This process gets disrupted by industrial logging companies, which harvest trees by clear-cutting, a technique, Simard points out, that releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, destroys wildlife habitats, and increases the risk of wildfires and floods. The heavy machinery of the modern logging industry—some of which weighs up to 55,000 pounds—crushes and destroys the carbon-rich forest floor, and the acres of single-species trees (“uniform as picket fences”) planted to replace a clear-cut forest have just a fraction of their predecessors’ productivity and biodiversity. According to Simard and her colleagues’ research on clear-cut and undisturbed forests in British Columbia, a far better approach is one inspired by Indigenous respect for the interconnectedness of all living things and involves leaving the majority of the oldest trees, or “mother trees,” standing to help the forest rebuild. Throughout, Simard artfully highlights the importance of honoring natural cycles by reflecting on her daughter’s coming-of-age and her mother’s reaching the end of her life. The result is a resonant and urgent call for change. (Mar.)