The Trees Are Speaking: Dispatches from the Salmon Forests

“What is being wrought in our forests... is an apocalypse of hot drought, fire, bugs, pestilence, and death,” according to this chilling warning. Examining the delicate relationships within coastal forest ecosystems, Seattle Times environmental reporter Mapes (Orca) explains that salmon die after spawning, transferring nutrients from their bodies to the soil where they’re drawn up by trees, while fallen logs in turn “provide hiding, resting, and feeding places for salmon.” Lumber farms threaten this equilibrium, Mapes contends, suggesting that clearing forestland to plant expansive tracts of individual tree species leaves the land more susceptible to wildfires and doesn’t produce the biodiversity required for a flourishing ecosystem. Mapes highlights the work of individuals striving to prevent such destruction, describing how University of British Columbia ecologist Suzanne Simard’s research has shown that cutting down natural forests makes it more difficult for new trees to grow by disrupting the subterranean fungal networks that trees rely on to distribute nutrients to one another, and how Dan Kusnierz, a resources manager for the Penobscot Nation, cleans up pollutants spewed into Maine’s Penobscot River by paper mills. The enlightening ecological discussions highlight the delicate balancing acts that undergird thriving forests, and the profiles provide reason for optimism. Nature lovers will be galvanized to stand up for more robust forest protections. Photos. Agent: Elizabeth Wales, Wales Literary. (Apr.)