FORESTS, FOR LIFE
SPECIAL ISSUE: SAVING FORESTS DESPITE SEEING the forest for the trees, Suzanne Simard once faced harsh criticism for her groundbreaking work. The professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia bucked the prevailing theory that a forest’s trees were isolated individuals. Her experiments showed that trees live interdependently, sharing resources via belowground networks. Simard’s essay “Lives Depend on Forests” (page 15) emphasizes how ecosystems rely on those connections, a truth that’s at the root of this special issue. Forests keep our world in balance. They’re the “lungs” of the planet, drawing in carbon dioxide and breathing out oxygen. They provide habitat for countless species. And in a warming world, they’re our best chance for survival. Yet our forests are at risk. “It’s a tough time to be a tree,” senior environment writer…