This month the Sacajawea Audubon Book Club will gather on February 19th at Hope Lutheran Church from 6:30 to 7:45 pm. You can find us in Room 123 mimicking birds at a feeder in the winter as we ingesting high-calorie snacks while chattering with excitement about the book at hand. This month the chatter will focus on Nature’s Temples: A Natural History of Old-Growth Forests, first publish in 2016 then revised and expanded by Joan Maloof (2023). If you would like to join the meeting remotely, contact Elisabeth Swanson (406-570-8325; elsswa@gmail.com) before the meeting.
Nature’s Temples is a slim volume of less than 200 pages, yet surprisingly substantial. The book provides overviews of the natural history of old growth forests in North America, and of the critical role these ancient forests in securing the wellbeing of Planet Earth and its myriad life forms. British naturalist Diane Farrar described Maloof’s book as the perfect “take along” reference to forest plants and fauna when traveling. Whether your interest is piqued by mosses, liverworts, snails, birds or the venerable trees themselves, and their ability to withstand centuries of destruction and provide the structural diversity essential for many species, Maloof’s book won’t disappoint.
The book is equally well-suited as a source of talking points about the value of old growth forests as carbon sinks, as wellsprings of biodiversity, and for human tranquility and wellbeing. Despite the overwhelming benefits accruing to forests blessed with expanses of old growth – bursting with seeds, insects and unrealized potential – only 2% of forests east of the Mississippi and 5% west of the great river are old growth. As a result, Maloof’s professional responsibilities as the founder of the national Old-Growth Forest Network include not only celebratory presentations as forests are folded into the network, but sadly she is often an invited speaker at locations where a verifiable old growth stand is on the cusp of being harvested. Maloof is never preachy and always the scientist, but passages from her forest elegies embedded in the book are deeply moving.
Abundant black and white drawings by Andrew Joslin – a naturalist, illustrator and professional tree climber – enhance the prose through their explanatory power and by creating a feeling that you have entered an old growth forest.
More about the author and illustrator –
Joan Maloof has a PhD in Ecology, is a science writer and founder of the Old-Growth Forest Network, a national interrelated system of old growth native forests with public access (https://www.oldgrowthforest.net). Her publications include the books Teaching the Trees and Among the Ancients, and numerous scientific articles.
