‘Finding the Mother Tree: Uncovering the Wisdom and Intelligence of the Forest’
by Suzanne Simard
Reviewed by Emily Fawcett
Suzanne Simard was born in British Columbia into a family who had been foresters for generations. As a child she ate soil and rummaged among roots, finding curious rainbow coloured threads joining trees and plants together.
During the ’80’s and ’90’s forestry became more and more mechanised and chemicalised, the product being the ultimate goal regardless of the health of the forest it came from. Suzanne, heartbroken by the callous new approach that was replacing the old regenerative practices of her forbears, took on the global industry in a selfless one-woman mission to prove the beneficial relationships that exist underground in a thriving natural ecosystem.
Finding the Mother Tree is a compelling story of rigorous science and the personal journey of a woman finding her voice in a world of fixed, profit-driven assumptions. Suzanne Simard, along with the Lorax, truly speaks for the trees. This is rewilding and re-connection on a grand scale, from microbes to ecosystems to corporations. It’s an awesome read.