Summer Sale 📚 Buy 2 Books ~ Get 1 FREE

The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Book Cover for: Trees in Trouble: Wildfires, Infestations, and Climate Change, Daniel Mathews

Trees in Trouble: Wildfires, Infestations, and Climate Change

Daniel Mathews

Critic Reviews

Good

Based on 4 reviews on

BookMarks logo

A troubling story of the devastating and compounding effects of climate change in the Western and Rocky Mountain states, told through in-depth reportage and conversations with ecologists, professional forest managers, park service scientists, burn boss, activists, and more.

Climate change manifests in many ways across North America, but few as dramatic as the attacks on our western pine forests. In Trees in Trouble, Daniel Mathews tells the urgent story of this loss, accompanying burn crews and forest ecologists as they study the myriad risk factors and refine techniques for saving this important, limited resource.

Mathews transports the reader from the exquisitely aromatic haze of ponderosa and Jeffrey pine groves to the fantastic gnarls and whorls of five-thousand-year-old bristlecone pines, from genetic test nurseries where white pine seedlings are deliberately infected with their mortal enemy to the hottest megafire sites and neighborhoods leveled by fire tornadoes or ember blizzards.

Scrupulously researched, Trees in Trouble not only explores the devastating ripple effects of climate change, but also introduces us to the people devoting their lives to saving our forests. Mathews also offers hope: a new approach to managing western pine forests is underway. Trees in Trouble explores how we might succeed in sustaining our forests through the challenging transition to a new environment.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Counterpoint LLC
  • Publish Date: Apr 27th, 2021
  • Pages: 304
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.20in - 5.40in - 0.90in - 0.80lb
  • EAN: 9781640094666
  • Categories: • Global Warming & Climate Change• Agriculture - Forestry• Ecosystems & Habitats - Forests & Rainforests

More books to explore

Book Cover for: The Atlas of Disappearing Places: Our Coasts and Oceans in the Climate Crisis, Christina Conklin
Book Cover for: The End of Ice: Bearing Witness and Finding Meaning in the Path of Climate Disruption, Dahr Jamail
Book Cover for: We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast, Jonathan Safran Foer
Book Cover for: The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed, John Vaillant
Book Cover for: On Time and Water, Andri Snær Magnason
Book Cover for: Twelve Trees: The Deep Roots of Our Future, Daniel Lewis
Book Cover for: The Quickening: Antarctica, Motherhood, and Cultivating Hope in a Warming World, Elizabeth Rush
Book Cover for: Ever Green: Saving Big Forests to Save the Planet, John W. Reid
Book Cover for: Planting an Idea: Critical and Creative Thinking about Environmental Problems, Jerry Apps
Book Cover for: Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World, John Vaillant
Book Cover for: Nowhere Left to Go: How Climate Change Is Driving Species to the Ends of the Earth, Benjamin Von Brackel
Book Cover for: The Big Thaw: Ancient Carbon, Modern Science, and a Race to Save the World, Eric Scigliano
Book Cover for: Climate Chaos: Lessons on Survival from Our Ancestors, Brian Fagan
Book Cover for: The Climate Book: The Facts and the Solutions, Greta Thunberg
Book Cover for: The Climate Book: The Facts and the Solutions, Greta Thunberg

About the Author

Daniel Mathews is the author of Natural History of the Pacific Northwest Mountains, Rocky Mountain Natural History, and Cascade-Olympic Natural History. During a career of writing about the natural history of western North America, he has backpacked far and wide, watched for fires from Desolation Peak Lookout, witnessed a forty-inch-thick fir crash onto his family's house in a storm, and lived for several years in a forest cabin without electricity, heating with firewood and writing by kerosene lamp. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

More books by Daniel Mathews

Book Cover for: Rocky Mountain Field Guide: A Trailside Natural History, Daniel Mathews
Book Cover for: Cascadia Revealed: A Guide to the Plants, Animals, and Geology of the Pacific Northwest Mountains, Daniel Mathews
Book Cover for: Crossword Puzzle Books For Adults: 100 Crossword Puzzles For Adults & Seniors - Volume 1 (Crossword Puzzle Books For Adults), Daniel Mathews

Critics’ reviews

Praise for this book

"The appeal of Mathews' evaluation of these valuable conifer forests may skew slightly to the more scientifically minded reader, yet his deeply personal connection to the land and its majestic trees makes this equally suitable for any tree lover and everyone concerned about the state of the planet."--Booklist

"A walk in the woods with an environmental journalist and natural-history writer reveals that the forested world is in grave danger . . . His book sounds a timely warning to pay more heed to the health of the woodlands. Thoughtful environmental reportage suggesting that the fate of trees is the fate of all life." --Kirkus Reviews

"Natural historian Mathews vividly relates the complex environmental situation facing America's western pine forests in this fascinating account . . . Eco-conscious readers, even those unversed in this seemingly niche subject, will be intrigued and enlightened by Mathews's thoughtful work." --Publishers Weekly

"Lays out challenges facing today's pine forests that inspire new respect for their strength and resilience-and for the dilemma they're in." --Amy Wang, The Oregonian

"Trees in Trouble, the work of a self-avowed tree lover, is no environmentalist screed. Daniel Mathews has written a comprehensive, deeply informed, and personally anguished call of alarm about the great conifer forests of the dry American West. He takes you to the sites around the region where scientists have been collecting data and building a grave prognosis: some major forests are dead, some dying, many in danger. The fires grow more intense every year. Yes, global warming has a hand in it, but the tragically misguided management practices of the twentieth century bear most of the blame. There is hope, says Mathews--you can't hang out with old trees and not feel hope--but the strong medicine our forests need will not please aesthetes or wilderness purists. It involves preempting fierce fires with cooler ones and considerable work with chain saws. Trees in Trouble is crucial reading for anyone who cares about the Mountain West." --John Daniel, author of The Trail Home and Rogue River Journal