What do you think?
Rate this book
Witness Tree: Seasons of Change with a Century-Old Oak
When our "witness tree" first rooted beside a low stone wall in rural Massachusetts, cars were just appearing on the roads. In the life of this one grand oak, we can see for ourselves the results of one hundred years of rapid environmental change. It's leafing out earlier, and dropping its leaves later as the climate warms. Even the inner workings of individual leaves have changed to accommodate more CO2 in our atmosphere.
Climate science can seem dense, remote, and abstract. But through the lens of this one tree, it becomes immediate and intimate. In Witness Tree, environmental reporter Lynda Mapes takes us through a year with the tree in the Harvard Forest. We learn about carbon cycles and leaf physiology, but we also experience seasons of change as people have for centuries, watching for each new bud, and listening for each new bird and frog call. Lynda takes us high into the oak's swaying boughs, cores deep into its heartwood, and digs into its roots and teeming soil. She brings us eye level with garter snakes and newts, and alongside the squirrels and jays devouring the oak's acorns.
Though stark in its implications, Witness Tree is a beautiful and lyrical read, rich in detail, sweeps of weather, history, people, and animals. It's an inescapable document of climate change, but also an environmental story rooted in hope, beauty, wonder, and the possibility of renewal in people and the world around us.
Climate science can seem dense, remote, and abstract. But through the lens of this one tree, it becomes immediate and intimate. In Witness Tree, environmental reporter Lynda Mapes takes us through a year with the tree in the Harvard Forest. We learn about carbon cycles and leaf physiology, but we also experience seasons of change as people have for centuries, watching for each new bud, and listening for each new bird and frog call. Lynda takes us high into the oak's swaying boughs, cores deep into its heartwood, and digs into its roots and teeming soil. She brings us eye level with garter snakes and newts, and alongside the squirrels and jays devouring the oak's acorns.
Though stark in its implications, Witness Tree is a beautiful and lyrical read, rich in detail, sweeps of weather, history, people, and animals. It's an inescapable document of climate change, but also an environmental story rooted in hope, beauty, wonder, and the possibility of renewal in people and the world around us.
240 pages, Hardcover
Published April 11, 2017
20 people are currently reading
861 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
February 7, 2024
Science and history are made dynamic in the style of a storyteller who uses language to draw readers in, as we follow her experiences spent a year in the Harvard Forest of research. She chose a red oak tree to focus her pursuit, all the while branching out to other trees and other scientists discovering all-encompassing wonders of trees and the lives of forests among human communities.
To those who pay attention, a tree is a storyteller, memoirist, teacher, and guide for how to survive on earth. The author was paying attention; her final chapter reveals the bottom line of how a tree can teach humans to live. The key to enduring is relationships; she discovered this while having climbed to the top of her tree, she witnesses how each leaf has its place in the sun, and how so many creatures live on and around this tree. All the while, the tree standing accepting and patient, does its life-sustaining work from roots to crown.
There are many fascinating aspects and stories in this book, as the author spends all seasons in the forest, along with researching many books and current studies by an array of scientists. She shares her personal delight as she learns and experiences life in the forest. Some things I found fascinating:
How a primeval forest in New Hampshire was allowed to remain untouched even when it was decimated by the hurricane of 1938, the strongest ever to hit New England, and how the forest was allowed to remain untouched even afterwards so that scientists could study the effects of recovery. The author visits this forest and gives her account of navigating the ruins of giants.
Also fascinating, the author's explanation of what we are doing when we burn fossil fuels: carbon that was buried millions of years ago has been resurrected and burned, thus adding ancient loads of carbon dioxide into the present quantities. She writes that if we could see and smell carbon dioxide, humans would definitely do something to eliminate this overload of heat production. She writes that "global climate warming is the greatest unintended consequence in human history."
And what of change? Forests regrow; the planet endures whatever changes occur. So what can and should humans do to live on earth at least as successfully as the author's Witness Tree? Realizing we are part of Nature is a good place to begin.
To those who pay attention, a tree is a storyteller, memoirist, teacher, and guide for how to survive on earth. The author was paying attention; her final chapter reveals the bottom line of how a tree can teach humans to live. The key to enduring is relationships; she discovered this while having climbed to the top of her tree, she witnesses how each leaf has its place in the sun, and how so many creatures live on and around this tree. All the while, the tree standing accepting and patient, does its life-sustaining work from roots to crown.
There are many fascinating aspects and stories in this book, as the author spends all seasons in the forest, along with researching many books and current studies by an array of scientists. She shares her personal delight as she learns and experiences life in the forest. Some things I found fascinating:
How a primeval forest in New Hampshire was allowed to remain untouched even when it was decimated by the hurricane of 1938, the strongest ever to hit New England, and how the forest was allowed to remain untouched even afterwards so that scientists could study the effects of recovery. The author visits this forest and gives her account of navigating the ruins of giants.
Also fascinating, the author's explanation of what we are doing when we burn fossil fuels: carbon that was buried millions of years ago has been resurrected and burned, thus adding ancient loads of carbon dioxide into the present quantities. She writes that if we could see and smell carbon dioxide, humans would definitely do something to eliminate this overload of heat production. She writes that "global climate warming is the greatest unintended consequence in human history."
And what of change? Forests regrow; the planet endures whatever changes occur. So what can and should humans do to live on earth at least as successfully as the author's Witness Tree? Realizing we are part of Nature is a good place to begin.
March 4, 2017
Richly detailed, important book. Chronicles the life of one oak tree in the Harvard Forest. A must read for fans of The Hidden Life of Trees or anyone concerned about our environment and world. I hope that is many of us. 5 strong stars.
September 27, 2017
I was fascinated by everything from the omniscient squirrels (who can detect the presence of a weevil in an acorn with 92% accuracy by a quick shake of the head) to the results of many of the studies conducted in this forest--they have a lot to tell us about climate change and the ability of some trees to cope with it. Oaks like this one are now growing much, much faster than they used to, and faster than any other tree species, which may or may not be a good thing.
I loved reading about the amazing studies being conducted in the Harvard Forest, where this tree has been growing for 115 years. Turns out that many of us amateur gardeners and nature lovers are phenologists, which means that over the course of many years, our notes and garden journals, in which we record changes in bloom time, the arrival of birds, and the onset of winter, etc., contribute in a small way to the picture of climate change. By doing this, we at least remain in touch with the seasons--a sense many Americans have lost.
If you live in Maryland and you need to plant a tree, a red oak is a very good choice--at least until globalisation brings some deadly insect from Asia to attack it.
I loved reading about the amazing studies being conducted in the Harvard Forest, where this tree has been growing for 115 years. Turns out that many of us amateur gardeners and nature lovers are phenologists, which means that over the course of many years, our notes and garden journals, in which we record changes in bloom time, the arrival of birds, and the onset of winter, etc., contribute in a small way to the picture of climate change. By doing this, we at least remain in touch with the seasons--a sense many Americans have lost.
If you live in Maryland and you need to plant a tree, a red oak is a very good choice--at least until globalisation brings some deadly insect from Asia to attack it.
November 6, 2022
Echoing another reader in that this book hardly mentions the "witness tree" in question. It also hardly mentions climate change. The author seems to have spent a lovely year in the Harvard Forest, but I didn't really learn much beyond that. There were lots of tangents about the people/researchers, as well as the history of the area, but the supposed focus of this book - the tree - feels more like a peripheral element.
This book could have been better suited just as an inquiry in how we study the environment. I found the most interesting parts to be how phenology among non-academics has shifted over time.
This book could have been better suited just as an inquiry in how we study the environment. I found the most interesting parts to be how phenology among non-academics has shifted over time.
October 24, 2017
One personal year with one tree – the oak – at the Harvard Forest. One topic was fairly new to me: the chapter, “The Language of Leaves” shows researcher John O’Keefe studying phenotypes in the forest, the appearance of leaves. This means looking in exquisite detail how leaves develop through the seasons. What he does is low-tech science, kind of old-fashioned natural history, but it’s a means of finding patterns and changes that other methods might miss. How buds emerge, develop; how one tree differs from another of the same species; when trees color up in the fall. It sounds simple, but of course it takes knowledge and attention to see these details. And it has surprising value: it’s a clue to climate change, a look at trees in time, in our time. Mapes writes her book as a personal account of her year in the forest, so it’s very readable, although I find her rhapsodic prose wearing.
For a different view, just as enlightening and impassioned, try noted scientist David Suzuki’s book “Tree,” in which Suzuki follows a hypothetical Douglas-fir through the centuries, at the opposite side of our continent.
January 31, 2018
i'm angry. when the author and/or editors realized that maybe 20 or so of the 224 pages were actually about the "witness tree"...it would have been honest and ethical to change the title to something like my fun year in the woods, the cool people i met, and my ramblings on climate change.
March 20, 2024
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I felt like I was spending time with Mapes, whose love of trees and fascination with the research at Harvard Forest shines through the narrative. I was very envious of her opportunity to spend a year looking over the shoulders of the researchers and having them show what how they see the forest on long walks.
I learned quite a few things. For instance, even though I had read several books on the ecological history of New England, I was surprised to learn that a large (twenty acres) old growth forest had survived the 19th century clear cutting only to be leveled by the hurricane of 1938.
However, the book is not without its flaws. First, very little of the book is about the titular witness tree. Although the taking of a core of the witness tree is described in some detail, the analysis of what the core showed it had witnessed is not mentioned. Also, there was only minimal preparation for the last section climate change. This is an extremely important issue, but the book does not lead up to it in any way.
I learned quite a few things. For instance, even though I had read several books on the ecological history of New England, I was surprised to learn that a large (twenty acres) old growth forest had survived the 19th century clear cutting only to be leveled by the hurricane of 1938.
However, the book is not without its flaws. First, very little of the book is about the titular witness tree. Although the taking of a core of the witness tree is described in some detail, the analysis of what the core showed it had witnessed is not mentioned. Also, there was only minimal preparation for the last section climate change. This is an extremely important issue, but the book does not lead up to it in any way.
February 2, 2018
This is a fantastic book. The author spent a year studying a century-old oak tree in the Harvard Research Forest, but this book is not only the story of the oak, but also its historical and natural context in great detail. The book is beautifully written in such a way that it makes you feel like you are there with the author soaking up the beauty of the forest. It'll make you want to go out hiking in the nearest forest regardless of the season! She does take on some pretty heavy issues. The chapter called "Carbon" deals with climate change, and truthfully, some of that stuff is pretty scary, but the book ends on a decidedly hopeful note. This book ought to be required reading for any politician making laws regarding our nation's stance on climate change. If you are curious about trees, ecosystems, climate change, or nature in general, or for that matter, if you are wondering why climate change is such a big deal, read this book!
January 2, 2018
Here's the Hedgehog Challenge: Write a full-length book exploring the vicissitudes of a red oak tree over the span of a single year. No car chases or flame throwers here; instead, Mapes lassos all her skills as an environmental reporter in collecting information through interviews, readings, and personal explorations to show her tree as the fulcrum, the pivot point for all things connected in nature.
At first, I skipped merrily along--her writing style is light, personal and informative, but what really made it a strong reading experience was my encounter with her two final chapters: Carbon and In This Together. Here case is emphatic about climate change, yes, she did this well but now I wish she would write a sequel about what she believes we need to do to avert the impending disaster.
[cf. Isaiah Berlin's essay, "The Hedgehog and the Fox."]
At first, I skipped merrily along--her writing style is light, personal and informative, but what really made it a strong reading experience was my encounter with her two final chapters: Carbon and In This Together. Here case is emphatic about climate change, yes, she did this well but now I wish she would write a sequel about what she believes we need to do to avert the impending disaster.
[cf. Isaiah Berlin's essay, "The Hedgehog and the Fox."]
December 9, 2019
This was a fascinating book for me because the Forest Mapes lives in and focuses on in the Northeast is one in part of second growth, regenerated after New Englander farmers abandoned the fields they had earlier cleared for more productive soils in the Midwest.
Similarly, I am working to restore 90 acres of clearcut forestland in the Pacific Northwest to natural habitat. Mapes writes beautifully of the magnificence and the resilience of nature, bringing in biology, botany, phenology and many other scientific approaches to forests with the New England and local history. She alternates between focuses on broad sweeps of natural history that have impacted forests to the life of a single tree in a single year. She touches on how trees are an essential partner in helping humans address climate change and ultimately brings everything together on an uplifting note.
Similarly, I am working to restore 90 acres of clearcut forestland in the Pacific Northwest to natural habitat. Mapes writes beautifully of the magnificence and the resilience of nature, bringing in biology, botany, phenology and many other scientific approaches to forests with the New England and local history. She alternates between focuses on broad sweeps of natural history that have impacted forests to the life of a single tree in a single year. She touches on how trees are an essential partner in helping humans address climate change and ultimately brings everything together on an uplifting note.
December 21, 2023
This book is a beautiful love letter to trees and forests wrapped around lessons in climate science. The author provides the scientific information in accessible language, with plenty of historical background and personal anecdotes from her time as a Bullard fellow in forest research at the Harvard Forest. With a focus on one particular tree, she personalizes humans’ relationships to trees and forests, and to Earth’s climate, demonstrating how it is changing faster than ever before in the history of the world. Those changes affect trees and the lives that depend on trees—including ours. There is much to worry about, but also hope because trees are amazing beings, and because humans might be smart enough to change our ways before it is too late.
Recommended for readers who also love trees and forests.
Recommended for readers who also love trees and forests.
January 3, 2019
The author spent one year observing, collecting information, studying and researching a 100+ year-old oak tree. She maintained a log, collaborated with other scientists, established observation capability, and built a valuable trove of information. With the help of another scientist, she built an electronic virtual observation capability so she could watch her tree even when away from her forest.
Her book is about her experience, collaborations, and her thoughts and feelings. I would have liked more scientific information--personal observations or data -- but that was not her purpose in writing The Witness Tree. This book is interesting to lay persons and would be helpful to another person who embarks on a lengthy observation/documentation project.
Her book is about her experience, collaborations, and her thoughts and feelings. I would have liked more scientific information--personal observations or data -- but that was not her purpose in writing The Witness Tree. This book is interesting to lay persons and would be helpful to another person who embarks on a lengthy observation/documentation project.
August 3, 2020
A fun read, diverting but down to earth, but also flowery and fanciful at times where Mapes' delight in natural things shines through and swells near to bursting. Her exhilaration in climbing a tall tree and seeing the landscape from a new perspective is also wonderfully evident. In places, it made me think back to The Overstory - a long, complex and immensely satisfying work that anyone not intimidated by a cinder block-sized volume should read - but the discussions of natural systems and the interconnectedness of things are more scientific and less mystical here. The focus on New England presented a landscape that's less familiar to me, along with a deep (or at least semi-deep) history of industry and ecology in the region, along with invocations, here and there, of Thoreau.
June 9, 2023
This book is awesome and has inspired me to volunteer for the Harvard Forest. Mapes, an environmental reporter for the Seattle Times, also reminds us of the crucial role that journalists are playing in explaining the scope and urgency of what is currently at stake here on Earth .
"Witness Tree" is especially a gift to we New Englanders from the author; she came to live with us and remind us who lived here for thousands of years before European settlement, and the many contemporary challenges to our forests from development, introduced species, the climate crisis, and other ecological threats.
Trees live longer than we do, if we let them. So trees take the long view; we should too.
"Witness Tree" is especially a gift to we New Englanders from the author; she came to live with us and remind us who lived here for thousands of years before European settlement, and the many contemporary challenges to our forests from development, introduced species, the climate crisis, and other ecological threats.
Trees live longer than we do, if we let them. So trees take the long view; we should too.
November 7, 2021
I was reminded once again, in reading this, how precious are our trees and forests. Lots of details and facts in this book - easy to forget over time, however. I give it 4-stars, not 5-stars, only because I wasn't so interested (my fault, not hers) in the backgrounds of all the people she interacted with at that forest. Trees are astounding life forms (as are all living thing - and even 'half-living' things [such as viruses] are.) If you like learning about forests, I'd also recommend "Reading the Forested Landscape" by Tom Wessels.
December 25, 2017
wonderfully engaging book about a year spent at the Harvard Forest, this is a story more than about just a single tree. mapes captures a story about our ecosystem and its constantly shifting and changing pieces. Through her story the landscape itself becomes alive. at times her story feels more like a collected set of news stories and the overall arch misses something to pull it together
March 8, 2018
This book is:
* A love story to trees
* An ode to the practice of phenology (the study of the change of seasons)
* Lovely nature writing
* Interesting and informative science writing (it is Lynda Mapes, after all) - I loved the descriptions of the many types of research she gets to take part in
* A recounting of how trees both show and are affected by climate change, and offer hope
* A love story to trees
* An ode to the practice of phenology (the study of the change of seasons)
* Lovely nature writing
* Interesting and informative science writing (it is Lynda Mapes, after all) - I loved the descriptions of the many types of research she gets to take part in
* A recounting of how trees both show and are affected by climate change, and offer hope
October 26, 2018
This is an important book to read as it deepens our understanding of how trees live and breathe and provide for us. Info on ecology, history, climate change, and modern techniques of phenology. Also, insights into the lives of forestry researchers.
Read this book along with The Overstory by Richard Powers and any book by Diana Beresford-Kroeger.
Read this book along with The Overstory by Richard Powers and any book by Diana Beresford-Kroeger.
January 22, 2018
There is no question that the author is knowledgable about trees. The writing style is quite good. My review is based solely on what I like to read and I would have preferred more story, less science. Not sorry I read and I did enjoy it.
June 22, 2018
this book was pivotal for me. i hope you will find a book about trees and read it. the author spent a year living near the tree examining the tree's surroundings and interaction with other trees. this tree in a forest studied by harvard was an ordinary one but each tree is important.
September 5, 2019
A great read. Mapes breaks down the science aspect in a very accessible manner. Established forests have soaked up 60 percent of our fossil fuel emissions from 1990 to 2007. It is amazing what trees silently and steadily do to preserve our world.
September 3, 2025
This is an excellent look at the world by measuring life from the point of view of an oak in Massachusetts. The author discusses life and the value of trees and other living things. This book is a great read.
May 20, 2017
I wish that there had been illustrations - especially photos.
June 18, 2017
Interesting, but a bit disappointing.
July 30, 2019
Beautifully written, but I thought I might learn more.
April 18, 2020
I'd like to watch the tree cam as spring arrives in Cambridge.
March 3, 2025
Absolutely fabulous what a lovely story of getting to know a tree ins and outs for a year. Really soothe My soul
May 27, 2025
Great look at trees in general and the Harvard forest in particular.
March 23, 2017
This was a lovely book about nature and people. It wasn't over-the-top technical or scientifically boring. It was an easy to read and enjoyable book. At times, it was almost poetic. Anyone who truly enjoys nature, the outdoors, trees, or just the way of life on planet earth will enjoy this book. I didn't want the book to end.
May 25, 2020
Harvard forest is such a cool place. This book only confirmed that (and how lucky was the author to get to spend a year living there to write?!). Most of the science in here about trees and climate change should be repetitive to anyone who graduated high school, which makes it somewhat boring at times, but always good to reinforce those basics :)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews