Author of ‘Finding the Mother Tree’ to speak June 16

Trees live in societies, and “In those societies, there is so much going on,” said Suzanne Simard. “It’s complex.

“Trees have complex lives. They know what their neighbors are doing. They communicate with them through these webs of fungal filaments that travel through the soil. They also communicate by sending off chemicals through the air.”

Dr. Simard, author of Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, will speak in a free, virtual event to be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 16 by the Western New York Land Conservancy. 

The event is free to attend, but you need to register in advance. Any donations will go toward protecting the Allegany Wildlands.

Dr. Simard is known for her work on how trees interact and communicate using below-ground fungal networks. That has led to the recognition that forests have hub trees, or Mother Trees, which are large, highly connected trees that play an important role in the flow of information and resources in a forest.

Her current research investigates how these complex relationships contribute to forest resiliency, adaptability and recovery and has far-reaching implications for managing and healing forests from human impacts, including climate change.

Her work has influenced filmmakers (the Tree of Souls in James Cameron’s Avatar) and her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide.