Ecologist Suzanne Simard on understanding the wisdom of forests

The roots of ecologist Suzanne Simard’s love of forests are multiple generations deep.

Her family relied on forestry for their livelihood, and she was one of the early groups of women to carve out space within the logging industry.

But her experience didn’t mirror her family’s. As the scale of the industry’s business grew, Simard’s concern about the implications for the ecosystem around it eventually evolved into a new career path. 

Simard is now a professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia and is working to reframe conversations about conservation.

In her new book “Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest” she writes, “This is not a book about how we can save the trees. This is a book about how the trees might save us.”

Thursday morning, Simard talked with host Kerri Miller about what humans can learn from the way trees cooperate and communicate with other plants.

Guest:
Suzanne Simard is a professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia. Her new book is called “Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest.”

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