A book about discovering the wisdom of the forest by Suzanne Simard
Suzanne Simard is a Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of British Columbia and grew up in and around a forest. She knew then that a forest isn’t just about trees, but it is a whole living biome with each organism contributing to the health of each other. As an adult, she set out to prove this through the research for her doctorate in Forest Ecology at Oregon State University. One of her findings countered the old belief that in a forest, trees compete with each other for a limited amount of light and nutrients. She showed that trees cooperate with each other via the network of mycorrhizal fungi in the soil through which nutrients, water and anti-bacterial agents are shared among the connected plants.
Simard wrote a book about her findings, Finding the Mother Tree. The newsletter of the Solano County UC Cooperative Extension, Under the Solano Sun, features a review of this book by Master Gardener Brenda Altman. Click here to read her review. If you’re not sure you would be interested in reading a 368-page book, it might be worthwhile to check out Simard’s Ted Talk.