The Mother Tree Project was launched in 2015 by world-renowned forest ecologist Dr. Suzanne Simard, who authored the New York Times best-seller, Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest. The Mother Tree Project is a groundbreaking, long-term research project designed to identify future forest management practices that will help our forests remain productive, diverse and resilient as the climate changes.
This project builds on Dr. Simard’s extensive research and novel finding that elder trees, also called Mother Trees, facilitate the recovery of forests from disturbances, such as fire and logging, by transmitting information through below-ground root and fungal networks. This Wood Wide Web, as Dr. Simard has coined it, can share nutrients and send messages to younger trees to help them survive and grow. Dr. Simard’s research has transformed how ecologists around the world view forests. Instead of only a collection of competing trees, forests are now also seen as an interdependent web of organisms in a complex adaptive system.
Your donation will support Dr. Simard’s ongoing research to identify effective and robust approaches to manage forests for resilience and the mitigation of catastrophic disturbances from wildfire. With your help, Dr. Simard and her team can research and implement the best practices of forest harvesting and regeneration treatments to successfully balance wood production, carbon storage, biodiversity and other ecosystem services in pursuit of the long-term health and vitality of British Columbia’s forests and the planet.