Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest

This volume should stand as the magnum opus text of forest ecologist Suzanne Simard. It's hard to estimate the relative proportions of narrative memoir and silvicultural science here, in part because one of Simard's themes is to challenge mechanistic-exploitative science divorced from narratives recognizing the agency of trees and forests.

The book's most obvious theme is cooperation as a paradigm for forest growth and health. Simard communicates this idea very effectively. Despite her decades of efforts to get this perspective to inform policy and industrial practices, she still struggles for it to have traction in forestry management. She has been more successful among academics and the general public. It's clear that there are actual show more elements of competition in natural ecology, but the conceptual exclusion of cooperative mechanisms is a debilitating fault that Simard's work has consistently sought to address. (She doesn't much bother to explain, but it is hideously obvious, that this feature in her field is derived from industrial capitalism and entrenched in neoliberal outlooks that create analogous damage on many other levels as well.)

On the philosophical level--again, inextricable from the memoirist content--I was reminded of Haraway's Staying with the Trouble, although the emphasis here on unrecognized complexity and interdependence strikes me as more sophisticated than Haraway's slogan of "Make kin, not babies." Simard's trees seem to understand that they need to make kin (in Haraway's sense) in order for their babies to thrive, and to make babies in order to perpetuate their constructive relationships with their kin.

The key (but far from only) scientific takeaway of the common mycorrhizal network as the material stratum of a forest's collective intelligence is pretty thrilling. In other venues, she has referred to this collaborative vegetable-fungal matrix as an "underworld." It is easy for me to imagine cultural evolution of local humans to appreciate this reality without the benefit of the sort of alienating experimental science that Simard has needed to use in validating and justifying her hypotheses. She claims that First Nations lore tallies with her discoveries.

After reading the book, I watched one of Simard's successful TED Talks on YouTube, where I saw her rehearse some of the powerful anecdotes included in this book. She's an adequate public speaker, although she confides in writing that she finds it an unpleasant ordeal. What holds the attention is the awareness she has to impart, and for me, the book medium was more effective. Not only did it supply a fuller explanation of the scientific ideas, but it also put her personal stories into the context of a life arc of professional challenges, intimate relationships, personal survival, and family affections. show less

Susanne Simard's glorious, groundbreaking book is written on many levels, and I enjoyed them all.

At the same time, it's about cutting-edge science, about family, about a life growing up in 1960s British Columbia, about becoming a professor and a mother, about how she researched the ecology of forests and discovered how interconnected their plants and creatures are. It's about how Simard tries to change the ways that old-boy-networks of government foresters, logging company executives, and politicians viewed their jobs. It's about the need for forest stewardship, and stewardship of the planet in this time of climate crisis.

Parts of the book tell, in some detail, how she and her assistants carried out years-long studies involving plots show more of land in forest that had been clear-cut, testing the many ways new tree seedings could be isolated or connected to other species, and the effects on the health of the seedlings and the forest itself.

I had to decide just how much of the botany, the different species, the scientific measuring equipment, the statistics that I wanted to read in detail. It was all well told, but I did find I could pick and choose how much of those parts I read, without losing either her interesting life story or the gist of the scientific breakthroughs she made.

The final chapter "Passing the Wand" summarizes much of Simard's love of forests, and her philosophy of dealing with them. It should be required reading for politicians and voters. show less

Part memoir and part science book, Suzanne Simard's “Finding the Mother Tree” (2021) tells readers how it was learned that trees are actually social creatures.

Born into a forestry family in Canada, Simard's early jobs included "weeding" new forests that had been replanted after clear-cutting. The idea was that other trees, like birch, competed with the trees foresters wanted for future harvesting. This didn't make sense to her, and as she got her education and eventually became a college professor, she completed numerous experiments showing that, in fact, trees don't so much compete as cooperate.

Trees exchange carbon and water, as needed, to benefit each other, she found. Mother Trees, as she calls older trees, nurture younger ones, show more especially their own kin. Thus, neither clear-cutting nor removing birch or other unwanted trees actually encourages forest growth. Instead, planted trees are likely to grow more slowly or die from disease without older trees nearby to help them along.

Convincing the forestry industry of the truth of her findings proved difficult until other scientists duplicated and supplemented her findings. Eventually this troublemaker became a hero.

Along the way, Simard had an up and down life. She tells about the tragic death of her rodeo cowboy brother, her marriage and divorce, her daughters and the breast cancer that resulted from the Roundup she applied years before to kill those "weeds." show less

This book surprised me — I was delighted to discover that this is the book that talks through the decades of research and science that are referenced in The Hidden Life of Trees. It almost felt like I should have read this one first, but since this one is more of a deep dive, the order worked for me.

I also wasn’t really expecting it to be as autobiographical as it is, but that delighted me as well — I think the frame and context of Simard’s life adds a lot to Simard’s work — as of course it must, and the moments in the wild forest that she shares are deeply evocative.

Why isn’t the whole world talking about this research? Why aren’t the debates over saving ancient trees over? I hope that more will learn and more will show more change, so that both our beautiful planet and our rapacious species survives. show less

My love of nature and curiosity of how nature works, attracted me to this book. I see trees as precious and majestic so I was excited to learn more about these amazing creatures. My husband is responsible for planting an endless amount of trees on our property, so I was interested to learn more about what we may be cultivating. Suzanne Simard’s book, Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, was much more than I expected. Suzanne intelligently shares the science of how forests function, which she learned through extensive study and her own research. Her book also reads like a memoir, which really made me connect to her life-long work.

The book opens with Suzanne talking about her upbringing in which her family was show more involved in the logging business. I don’t know anyone who cuts down trees for a living, but I presumed such people didn’t care much about replanting trees or the damage this caused the environment. This presumption does not apply to the Simard family. Suzanne’s time spent cataloging trees instilled her appreciation for trees, and her attention to the forest in which the trees grew led her on an amazing scientific and personal journey. She helped me remember that we need to log trees for our sustainability, while also replanting trees for the sustainability of the forests. What we take, we must give back.

I loved the vulnerability Suzanne shared about her life. Her love for her work with trees and her personal life of family, marriage, and children are completely intertwined. She experienced devastating loss and amazing highs as she worked hard to change the minds of policy makers. The entire book is wonderful. My favorite part of course, is her discovery of the mother tree and how it correlated with her significant life events. Suzanne’s writing is emotional and powerful. This book left me feeling hopeful, sentimental, and proud for her and her life’s accomplishments.

I purchased the audiobook of Finding the Mother Tree from Audible. Narration by the author, Suzanne Simard, was perfect. A book this magnificent can only be read by the author.

I have photos and additional information that I'm unable to include here. It can all be found on my blog, in the link below.
A Book And A Dog show less

Simard presents her scientific findings in an accessible way, combining science and autobiography. This work provides fascinating insight into forest ecology and the ways the forests are interdependent ecosystems, in addition to showcasing the problems with capitalist modes of production that prioritize money over ecological wellbeing - as Simard notes, the forest companies priorities is making money, not leaving healthy trees where they are. Furthermore, we gain insight into the challenges of a woman working in forestry - the attitudes she experiences from male colleagues, and the difficulties in balancing family and career. This can provide intriguing feminist analysis as well. Although this is a scientific work and autobiography, it show more can also strongly appeal to those with socialist, environmental and feminist inclinations. show less

In [Finding the Mother Tree], Suzanne Simard describes her lifetime of research in the forests of British Columbia, which led to discoveries about how trees communicate, collaborate, and care for one another. Our forests are under threat, and the reduction in forested land has contributed to climate change. Simard began her career in the 1980s as one of very few women working in forestry. This book effectively combines scientific research with autobiographical detail, as we see Simard struggle for her work to be recognized and considered credible. Even if I did get lost in some of the scientific terms from time to time, I found both the science and the autobiography quite interesting. Simard has made an important contribution that, show more fortunately, others are now beginning to recognize and build upon. show less