| The Trees in My Forest | 
 enlarge | Author: Bernd Heinrich
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 87698
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.9
ISBN: 0060929421
Dewey Decimal Number: 577.309741
EAN: 9780060929428
ASIN: 0060929421
Publication Date: October 1, 1998
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Product Description
Winner of the
New England Book Award Best
Nonfiction Award
and the Franklin Fairbanks
Award of the Fairbanks Museum In a book destined to become a classic, biologist and acclaimed nature writer Bernd Heinrich takes readers on an eye-opening journey through the hidden life of a forest.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 The real meaning of "ecology" February 1, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Bernd Heinrich's abilities in acute perception are well portrayed in this book. He possesses extensive scientific training and research in natural conditions - having published on bees, ravens and geese. This account ties much of that research to a wider view of those animals' home territories. It's a study of the patches of woods surrounding his home. What trees are growing there, and why? Which animals and birds are attracted to the area, and what keeps them away? What's the value of a forest fire, and is "machine logging" more destructive to the forest environment than the more traditional felling and dragging? All these and more questions are addressed here with deep insight and related with Heinrich's fine expressive powers. It may not be too much to say that if you own but one book on trees and forest environments, this is the one to have.
Raised in rural Maine, Heinrich returned in 1977 and restored a 122-hectare bush near his early home. Heinrich describes himself as "partly arboreal", but adds to that a weighty talent for patience. As he has demonstrated in other books, he can sit for hours observing birds and insects. Trees require a different sort of patience; one that needs the additional dedication to record changes over lengthy time periods. He studies their growth and how they spread their offspring around the land. Which trees are shade-tolerant and which need extensive sunlight? Which ones encourage certain insects or birds, and how. Which ones attract them and how? He describes the way trees draw water from the ground - a molecule at a time at the leaf end, not "pumped" from below. Consider the evolutionary steps that led a species of pine to retain its seeds until very special conditions ensue. The cone housing them pops open and disperses them only when the temperature reaches 60 degrees - heat that can only be generated by a forest fire.
We all abhor the destructive force of a forest fire, but that's only because we fail to consider the forest from the tree's longer perspective. As trees die and fall, new patches of soil are exposed to the sun, bringing in species competing for resources. Fire is the only way to cleanse the forest floor and eliminate some trees shading others. As recovery species emerge, moose and other browser species again populate the forest. More birds and small mammals also arrive, extending the diversity but also acting as tree predators. Heinrich's account of how trees control predation is enlightening. One is tempted to ask whether a tree "thinks". As he makes clear, however, the control is part of the co-evolutionary process of a tree and its environment.
Logging is another intrusion on forests and Heinrich is scathing at how the industry handles the forest. Centred on the ubiquitous white pine, lumbering his area goes back to the early colonial period. At one time Bangor, Maine, was the greatest lumber shipping port in the world - in thirty years its population jumped from 277 to over fourteen thousand. "Clear-cutting" does more than just remove trees. It destroys the foundation of mycorrhizal fungi that are part of the tree's nutritional network. The replacement of felled trees by plantations of single types denies the development of the proper ecological balance a true forest requires to flourish. The next generation of trees is shorter and less robust than those first taken. On the other hand, Heinrich notes the differing impact on the forest when trees are felled and removed by horse, dragged out on a skid or both felled and removed by a huge mechanism. The giant "cutter-buncher" was the least environmentally damaging!
Heinrich's prose style, which, translated into classroom lectures surely keeps attendance high, gives the reader a sense of being right in company during his wanderings and watchings. Under his deft touch, the word "ecology" rises above the status of "environmentalist" buzzword. Without ever using the term, he demonstrates the importance of understanding the interacting of all the parts of a forest, from microbes to arboreal giants. The reader isn't overwhelmed by technicalities, but the science of his account permeates every page. Add to that expressive ability, the detailed drawings, images of trees and their components, capped by sweeping aerial photographs all provide the panorama a forest requires to tell its story completely. Heinrich provides the narrative, but it's the forest itself dictating the account. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
 The trees and the roots and the way things work November 27, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This thoughtfully entertaining volume reports a close look at three hundred acres of Maine -- a forest ecosystem and the many lives it contains and impacts. Just over two decades before this writing, Heinrich returned to his native state and bought an old farm near his boyhood home. The grown scientist revisits childhood memories, seeing the whole and the parts with deeper understanding. He shares profound insights into biology and interdependence, evolution and population dynamics. Each essay follows a different strand of the web of lives: mice, mushrooms, sapsuckers, giant trees and tiny clubmosses each held up for a closer look. Heinrich seems more resigned to "progress" than I will ever be, and more optimistic about the future of our forests, but his lucid observations deepened my appreciation of the subtlety of natural systems and their ability to adapt. I could not agree more with his observation that "a vision of eco-system as life is a common thread that, if taught and encouraged, could unite all of mankind."
Introduction to the Science of Trees November 7, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book is an informal introduction to the science of trees. Heinrich, known for his studies on animal behavior, originally trained in forest ecology. In this book, he provides a general introduction to many aspects of forest ecology. Starting from the acreage surrounding his cabin in Northern Maine, Heinrich considers many different aspects of the trees he encounters there, from the overgrown apple orchards to oaks and pines, from tree evolution to tree geometry and tree reproduction. In addition to the trees, he also examines other elements of the forest ecosystem, including fungi, birds, and insects. End material includes a checklist of trees found in Northern Maine and an extensive list of references. The book is illustrated with black-and-white drawings and a set of color plates, all drawn by Heinrich. This is an excellent introduction to forest ecology suitable for general readers and beginning naturalists alike.
Great Book October 22, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book does not disappoint. It is written in Mr Heinrick's usual style which puts complex scientific information into language the average person can understand. He doesn't dumb it down; he explains how a process works by giving first hand observations and his opinions. It was as if I was sitting with him in his woods. He explained the science behind our ordinary observations-why some trees are tall and other not, how they grow from center and lateral buds and how that can show age for example. This is a very enjoyable book for the nature/outdoors reader. I learned much from it and had a good time doing it.
Very entertaining-- different from others in the genre October 17, 2004
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
Heinrich has devoted an entire book to the acres of forest surrounding his home, examining them from a variety of different viewpoints and extrapolating from them in order to impart information about trees and forests everywhere.
Writing:
I found this to be a very interesting book, with Heinrich's ongoing experiments and insightful observations taking center stage. His insertion of self into the story of the woods is distracting, except for when he relates his actual activities impacting the forest. To clarify: I want to hear how he makes his forest an economically beneficial entity by planting and culling trees, but I don't want to hear about a moonlit trek through the forest on snowshoes for the sole purpose of stringing together a bunch of pretty adjectives on the off chance that he will engender compliments as to his literary talents.
What I learned:
A lot about trees, of course. One thing that was of particular interest was the way that trees grow to cope with their immediate environs. For example, a tree will point its branches upward so that ice won't form near the tips, and thereby rip the branch from the tree through sheer weight. The tree doesn't do this on purpose, of course, but any poorly-designed branches are ripped out over time, so you wind up with a tree perfectly suited for its particular locale. Another interesting bit of news was the way that trees develop a symbiotic relationship with certain species of insects, such as ants. The ants can eat a minimal amount of foliage without really hurting the tree, and the tree in turn is guarded by the ants from other, more harmful browsers.
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