Is it possible that trees are sentient beings, rather than simply the source of timber and pulp? For decades forest ecologist Suzanne Simard has been exploring the complicated, interdependent communities that are forests. She discovered that trees communicate their vitality and vulnerabilities to other trees through an underground fungal network, living communal lives similar in many ways to our own.
On this episode of Locus Focus we talk with Suzanne, who has just published an autobiography Finding the Mother Tree, about a new paradigm shift that will not only protect and nurture our forests, but also ourselves.
Suzanne Simard is a Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the leader of The Mother Tree Project. Her research focuses on the complexity and interconnectedness of nature and is guided by her deep connection to the land and her time spent amongst the trees. The Mother Tree Project translates her scientific studies into practice, investigating forest renewal practices that will protect biodiversity, carbon storage and forest regeneration as climate changes.
- KBOO