As California tries to come to terms with the largest and deadliest fires of 2018, attention falls on forests. Logging companies want more clear-cuts. Donald Trump says the forest floor should be cleaned with rakes.
Indigenous elders and visionary foresters say that nobody is asking the trees what they want and need. Especially now as the heat is rising, water becomes scarce and winds are fiercer.
Peter Wohlleben is the author of: “The Hidden Life of Trees: What they Feel, How they Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World”. He is a German forester who became disenchanted by the technologies he was expected to employ. He now manages a 4000 year old beech tree forest in Germany. He was interviewed by Steve Paikin on The Agenda in October, 2016.
Wohlleben referred to research by colleagues and scientists that he benefitted from. Important among them is Suzanne Simard, professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia. She has tested theories about how trees communicate with other trees.
Simard also helped identify something called a hub tree, or “mother tree”. Mother trees are the largest trees in forests that act as central hubs for vast below-ground mycorrhizal networks.
CREDITS
This program is made up of short clips from the Steve Paikin interview of Wohlleben, a clip of Simard from an interview by Dan McKinney, followed by quotes from her frequent presentations on TED talks.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:59 — 19.9MB)
