The Forest Does Speak

As I have said before, I have always been drawn to the outdoors. Whether it’s sitting on a beach chair basking in the sun or an all-day hike, this girl is ready. Thankfully, since I am living in Georgia right now I have a lot more time outside. I have a good head-start on prepping my garden and working on some landscaping and it brings up some facts I have learned in a book called, “The Hidden Life of Trees” by Peter Wohlleben. My favorite book ever. As I go around inspecting my flower beds, I am reminded of how everything in nature communicates with eachother.

When I was growing up, I remember watching certain areas of the forests in Pennsylvania being clear-cut or selective-cut. For those of you who may not be familiar with the two terms, clear-cut is when someone picks some acres and says, “Okay, destroy it all!” and selective-cut is when someone picks some acres and says, “Take the biggest, strongest, nicest trees you can find and leave all the scaps!” For decades upon decades Foresters (people who are supposed to know whats best for the environment) have said these types of things are good because they allow for new growth and blah blah blah. However, in the book I mentioned previously, Wohlleben talks about how mostly everything in the forest is connected and communicates in some sort of a way. One of my favorite examples he gives is when he describes how the Acacia trees in Africa do the nature speak. When a tower of giraffes (yes a group of giraffes in called a tower, GO LOOK IT UP) go to eat their favorite meal, which are acacia leaves, the first few trees go into defense mode and start pumping toxic substances through their leaves and they become bitter so the giraffes move on. Now these trees aren’t greedy jerks and say fend for yourself fellow trees, no, they are nice neighbors; so while they are pumping the toxins to their leaves they also release a pheromone into the air that can be carried seventy yards downwind to other acacia trees so they can start pumping the toxins too. IS THIS NOT INSANE? If this was the kind of stuff I would have been taught in science class, I swear I would have studied my ass off!

Another more relatable scenario since I realize probably no one reading this is enjoying an African safari at the moment; would be the connection between a mature tree and its saplings. (I am unsure if the type Walleben discusses is an oak or beech tree, it might be both but I will go back through and reread and let you know the definite answer on my next post.) He states that certain types of mother trees have a connection to their young. That once a seed gets established and becomes a sapling the mother tree will send nutrients to the younger tree to support its growth. If one becomes ill, she will send extra nutrients to help the young sapling try to survive. Another point to make about this is, the smaller trees aren’t actually being choked out by the taller older trees. Now yes I realize invasive species, I know but that’s not what I am talking about right now. Back to the point, the smaller trees are in a stage called the “waiting mode.” This means that they are in a state waiting for the mature tree to become too old or to break during high winds or a storm. If this happens, all the young trees rise to the occasion to fill the spot where their mother used to be because they have been saving and storing up nutrients to do so. A majority of Foresters think that it is better to space trees far apart to allow more sunlight and ensure the trees to do have to “fight” to stay alive. While this does have some sort of merit, it reduces the trees life by an exponential amount. Some types only reach reproduction age after four or five decades and if they die before then well there goes the diversity of that particular lines of trees in the forest which brings up another problem. A willow tree refuses to inbreed. It realizes if it only has brothers and sisters around it and it will refuse to bloom until a viable suitor bestows pollen to them. This produces healthier stronger offspring.

The final topic I think is just awesome in this book is how Wahlleben discusses the sounds in the woods. Have you ever heard a creak sound from a tree while wandering through the woods? If you have, then you might have heard another form of how trees communicates with one another. Trees respond to sound waves made by other trees. Unfortunately, it has not been researched enough in depth yet so that is all I can say right now. However, next time you’re in a secluded part of a forest and you happen to heard a crack or creak sound, the tree may be speaking to you. Not really, but it’s still cool! Okay, I feel my topic is coming to a close as I hope your minds are exploding with excitement to take a walk through the woods and witness a way of life that is so similar to our own but one very few people know. This is why I make my work to represent different types of ecologies. I want people to enjoy being outdoors and reap its health benefits by just being encased with mother nature. With all my hope going to making them see that we need to care for it, protect it, and stop mistreating it. Nature is indeed alive! Wander.