MOTHER ASPEN

A celebration of the Wood Wide Web that connects an aspen grove with its forest community.

LeBox explains how an aspen sprouts “children” from “her” roots. The entire stand is actually one organism, which has “lively conversations” with other types of trees thanks to an underground mycelial network that consumes, stores, and shares water and sugars as conditions and needs change. Meanwhile, as depicted by Smith’s lush and lovely digitally painted woodscapes, the forest also shelters and feeds a host of wildlife from bears to butterflies. Mushrooms grow in profusion, and aspen leaves turn golden, all in their proper seasons; a longer cycle completes itself at last when the Mother Tree “takes her last breath,” falling in a storm to become a decomposing nurse log. Though the book ramps up the anthropomorphism, it’s nevertheless an enticing introduction. In her afterword, the author decries the obliteration of complex forest ecosystems by commercial lumber interests and pays tribute to the work of naturalist Suzanne Simard in discovering many of these subtle, hidden natural connections. She also supplies useful lists of print and video resources for readers drawn by the glowing art and prose to dig further into the subject.

Lyrical and intriguing, if heavy-handed on the personification.