A British Columbia forestry professorB次元官网网址檚 unique research and bestselling book mapping how trees are deeply connected communities has gained the attention of Hollywood.

Prof. Suzanne Simard of the University of B.C. says sheB次元官网网址檚 overwhelmed by the new-found celebrity status, but wants to continue her focus on saving the forests.

Simard said she expects to sign a deal within a few weeks to become an executive producer in a movie about her life and research after production companies backed by actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams won the film rights to her book,B次元官网网址滷inding The Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淎my Adams is going to play me, apparently,B次元官网网址� said Simard. B次元官网网址淭hatB次元官网网址檚 the plan. Yes, itB次元官网网址檚 kind of weird.B次元官网网址�

The movie, book and ongoing research will serve to broaden worldwide knowledge about the sophisticated relationships trees have with the environment and will build public concern about the threats they face, she said.

B次元官网网址淚 would rather not have my life splattered out on the movies, but IB次元官网网址檓 interested in helping us all move forward in a more sustainable way,B次元官网网址� Simard, 61, said in an interview from Nelson, B.C.

B次元官网网址淧eople are hungry for solutions, so thatB次元官网网址檚 what IB次元官网网址檓 hoping people will learn from this,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 transformational. ThatB次元官网网址檚 what IB次元官网网址檓 hoping for.B次元官网网址�

Simard said her book is a personal story of a decades-long journey that starts with her being a new hire at a B.C. Interior forest company in the 1980s, moves to her increasing concerns as a government researcher about clear-cut logging policies and then her determined pursuit as a university ecologist to prove forests are communities and mother trees are their lifeblood.

B次元官网网址淭heyB次元官网网址檙e actually like societies,B次元官网网址� Simard said. B次元官网网址淭hey have these deep relationships with each other, the trees do, and with all the other creatures in the forest. ItB次元官网网址檚 like this big interrelated community and there are all kinds of sophisticated ways that they communicate and interact with each other.B次元官网网址�

She said her work was often subjected to pushback by others who considered forests to be more competitive than co-operative environments.

But Simard said she was undaunted. Working in Douglas fir forests near Kamloops, B.C., she was able to produce a map showing trees are connected through underground fungal root systems that allow trees to share carbon, water and other nutrients.

Trees are also able to transmit information about potential disease and pest threats to other trees through this network, she said.

B次元官网网址淲hat we found in connecting this map is that pretty much all of the trees were connected together,B次元官网网址� said Simard. B次元官网网址淭hey had multiple linkages with each other and what emerged from the map is the biggest, oldest trees were the most highly connected.

B次元官网网址淭hatB次元官网网址檚 why we started calling it the mother tree, because all this convergence of information led us to realize that these old trees were really essential,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淭heyB次元官网网址檙e like the nucleus of the forest in regenerating the forest.B次元官网网址�

Simard leads UBCB次元官网网址檚 Mother Tree Project, established in 2015 to explore how tree connections and communication can influence forest recovery and better understand the impact of climate change on forests.

She said she has been consulting with major B.C. forest companies on initiatives designed to set aside more tracts of old-growth forest in areas slated for harvest to preserve more mother trees and biodiversity.

Her determined pursuit of her research in the face of peer criticism earned praise earlier this year from an unlikely source during an episode of the award-winning television show B次元官网网址淭ed Lasso.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淵ou know we used to believe that trees competed with each other for light,B次元官网网址� said a B次元官网网址淭ed LassoB次元官网网址� character during a scene about unheralded work eventually paying off. B次元官网网址淪uzanne SimardB次元官网网址檚 field work challenged that perception, and we now realize that the forest is a socialist community. Trees work in harmony to share the sunlight.B次元官网网址�

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Dirk Meissner, The Canadian Press

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