They Carry Us With Them: The Great Tree Migration – Emergence Magazine

What do these changes to our forests mean? What are the trees taking with them and what is arriving in their wake? What is the relationship between the trees’ migration and the ecological systems and human communities that they are leaving behind? What does the movement of these beings reflect back to us in the present and foreshadow for the future... See more

But underlying these facts is an assumption that trees are commodities.Underlying these facts is a human view of time.As the forests shift, can we find opportunities to shift our own understanding?As the trees are pulled into the new patterns of a warming planet, can we learn to embark on our own migration—our own pilgrimage—a journey that slows us... See more

In other words, stepping back and allowing trees to arrive naturally on their own time is, in many places, not an option.

How do we bear witness? How do we bid farewell?

“Working with the brown ash is very sacred for me,” says Richard. “For one thing, it’s very spiritual. When I’m working on a basket, I’m using something that’s very sacred to all the Wabanaki people. Our creation story is that the Creator put Glooscap on the Earth, and the Earth was barren, and Glooscap created the trees and the grass and also crea... See more

The external factors that affect the health, makeup, and movement of forests are as complex as the forests themselves. The phenomenon of tree migration arises from interrelated and overlapping causes, such as changes in climate, past and present land use and management, the proliferation of native pests and plants, the introduction of non-native sp... See more