The Mother Tree/The Wood Wide Web
Cover of the August 1997 issue of Nature, where the term “wood-wide web” was coined in reference to the paper “Net transfer of carbon between ectomycorrhizal tree species in the field” by Simard et al. [Image & text from https://suzannesimard.com/research/]
Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest (BOOK)By Suzanne Simard, 2021. Published by ALLEN LANE (A division of Penguin Canada), 350 pages
– Selected publications by S. Simard “The Mother Tree Project builds on the decades of research by Suzanne Simard and her lab, which has produced numerous journal articles, book chapters and conference presentations on tree communication.
– A Tale of Nature’s Collaboration – 40 Years of Simard’s Scientific Research -The Wood-Wide Web
“Keys and Excerpts of Simard, Suzanne. Finding the Mother Tree. Canada: Allen Lane 2021. 350 pp.” Document prepared by Norris Whiston 2022-11-01
The Controversy
“The concept of the wood wide web originated in a series of scientific papers led by the forest ecologist Suzanne Simard. Her 2021 book, Finding the Mother Tree, cemented the hypothesis as a global phenomenon. No one can blame an academic for framing their work in terms the layperson can understand, even if some precision is lost along the way. But trouble arises when a scientific theory gains a life of its own, becoming culturally relevant in a way that ignores, simplifies, or contradicts the facts that birthed it.
“This is what has happened in the case of the wood wide web. In 2023, three scientists, led by Justine Karst at the University of Alberta, published a paper in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution arguing that the wood wide web theory had gone too far. Their language was measured: it was not that these mycorrhizal networks didn’t exist, they said, but rather that the claims about what they did outstripped the evidence. More research was needed…” – From
The ‘wood wide web’ theory charmed us all – but now it’s the subject of a bitter fight among scientists by Sophie Yeo in The Guardian, July 9, 2024
Mar 14, 2026:
– My ideas are a little revolutionary’: ecologist Suzanne Simard on intelligent forests, the climate and her critics
Sophie McBain for The Guardian “Her research popularised the idea of the wood wide web, but the scientific backlash was brutal. As the author of The Mother Tree returns to the forest in a new book, she discusses her battle to reimagine our relationship with nature…While foresters have traditionally adopted the “masculine” lens of dominance and competition, Simard says her research helped introduce the missing “feminine perspective”. “The forest has got all of these connections and relationships, which women understand really well, and we nurture and honour these things. Men are sometimes, you know, blind to that.” She says that while the scientific community has often had a “harder time” absorbing her ideas, her work aligns with indigenous wisdom on how forests work and tends to make intuitive sense to lay people, too. People often write to her to tell her how her work resonates with them because, “they understood from their hearts that of course forests are social places … so it’s their intuition, their deep wisdom,” she says… When the Forest Breathes by Suzanne Simard will be published by Allen Lane on 31 March.”
Related – View Mycorrhizal network on Wikipedia. and therein: “This article’s factual accuracy is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help to ensure that disputed statements are reliably sourced”
When the Forest Breathes
When the Forest Breathes: Renewal and Resilience in the Natural World (BOOK)
By Suzanne Simard, 2026. Published by ALLEN LANE (A division of Penguin Canada), 313 pages
– When the Forest Breathes | Dr. Suzanne Simard | Official Book Trailer
Mother Tree Project & Program Channel on YouTube, April 2026
– Suzanne Simard | When The Forest Breathes
YouTube Video posed by Real Organic Project, posted April 2026
– The Scaffolding of Life” Cyclical Structures of a Forest (Audio)
An Interview with Suzanne Simard. www. emergencemagazine.org, April 20, 2026
“The forest is an intelligent system. It’s got the genetic knowledge in it to rewire itself, to be healthy going forward. And I think that we need to be paying attention. We need to listen to the forest.” Suzanne Simard
“Forest ecologist Suzanne Simard returns to talk about her latest book, When the Forest Breathes, and her decades-long Mother Tree Project, which seeks to reimagine how we harvest forests. Integrating Western science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge, she shares her team’s landmark findings on what the forest is telling us about the role elder trees, carbon stocks, salmon nutrients, and the relational networks between plants play in its survival. Suzanne challenges us to begin working with the intelligence of the forest and to see Mother Trees as models of generational resilience.”
‘The forest is crying out to us through fires, floods, and hurricanes. It’s a cry for help’: A conversation with forest ecologist Suzanne Simard
Joan Baxter in the Halifax Examiner, May 4, 2026. Subscription may be required. Full text posted on Friends of Goldsmith Lake (FB Page)