A review by jazzyinthewild
Finding the Mother Tree: Uncovering the Wisdom and Intelligence of the Forest by Suzanne Simard

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

After discovering the mycorrhizal networks that lie beneath our feet, connecting the trees to one another through their root systems, Simard dedicates her life to understanding these connections & what it means for the future of our forests. 

She discovers that through this fungal network (‘wood wide web’) trees share water, nitrogen and carbon with each other. The ‘Mother Trees’ being the oldest and largest in the forest, can tell which seedlings are their own kin and nurture them throughout their life, providing them with food and water - exactly like us humans.

‘These old trees are mothering their children’

‘The Mother Trees’

Throughout the book she recounts her field experiments and her findings, explaining everything really thoroughly and in a way that is so easy to follow.

Along the way she battles logging policies, like the ‘free to grow’ method, proving them ineffective & unnecessarily damaging to the ecosystem. She shares the sexism she was faced with, being a woman in a male dominated sector trying to tell the men they were doing it wrong, and how most of the men were incapable of listening to her despite her solid research.

Simard also shared her struggles of being a mother, going through divorce & fighting off cancer whilst dedicating her life to her research, always longing to be amongst her trees. She finds herself learning important lessons from the Mothers, guiding her to better connect with family, deal with her illness & pass on her wisdom to her two daughters. 

‘When Mother Trees die, they pass their wisdom to their kin, generation after generation, sharing the knowledge of what helps and what harms, who is friend or foe, and how to adapt and survive in an ever-changing landscape. It’s what all parents do.’

Simard’s work has completely changed the world’s view on trees & forests. Her research has and will continue to allow us to take a deep dive under the humus, through the soil and down into the fungi coated roots of our Mothers to learn from them & for them. 

Finding The Mother Tree is such a beautiful book. I would say it’s a cross between a nature memoir, a scientific journal & a love letter to the trees - similar to Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

The whole feeling of the book transported me into the depths of a Douglas Fir forest sitting around a campfire on mossy rocks (keeping an eye out for bears), with Simard chatting me through her life working in the trees adding in little snippets of her family life & heritage. 

This book has changed the way I view trees, and I will never be able to walk through a forest the same way again. I recommend this to everybody, nature lover or not.
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