Finding the Mother Tree: Uncovering the Wisdom and Intelligence of the Forest

by Suzanne Simard

This was the opposite of the usual foresters’ expectations. They figured that fir roots free of birch interference would obtain more of the resource pie, as though the ecosystem worked as a zero-sum game—the adamant belief that greater total productivity cannot possibly emerge from species interactions. Even more surprising to me was that birch benefited from fir too. Not only did birches likewise grow at twice the rate when intimately connected with firs than when alone, but they also had fewer root infections. The birches that had delivered food and good health to the firs when they were young were now being helped in reciprocity by the bigger firs as adults. Although the birches were retreating as the firs grew skyward, as happens naturally with the aging of these forests, their roots were still deep in the soil, their legacy of fungi and bacteria intact, lifeblood painted indelibly into the canvas. At the next major disturbance—a fire or an insect outbreak or a pathogenic infection—the roots and stumps would sprout again, bringing a new generation of birches, as much a part of the cycle as fir.