Essay collection doesn’t miss the forest for the trees

By BILL CHAISSON
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Woods Whys: an exploration of the forests and forestry

By Michael Snyder

Bondcliff Books (2019) 160 pp.

Woods Whys” is the name of a column that appeared quarterly in what is now called Northern Woodlands magazine between 1998 and 2015. Woods Whys is a sort of “Car Talk” about forests and trees instead of cars and driving, except it is, of course, nowhere near as funny as Click and Clack were. The title of each column is a question and Snyder’s answers are well under 1,000 words long. In other words, this is one of those books that you can leave lying around and pick up whenever you have an idle moment.

The nature of the questions varies from stuff that kids ask to some fairly nuanced queries that require a technical response. An example of the former: “Why are paper birches so white?” The answer has to do with the fact these trees are among the four species that range up to the northern limit of tree growth in North America. As it turns out the temperature swings at those latitudes are vast and having bark that reflects a lot of the sun’s energy is adaptive. Snyder goes on the describe the chemistry of that whiteness.

These explanations are offered in consistently clear prose that is never dumbed down nor overly academic. Snyder started his career as an Extension forester and then became the state commissioner of forests, parks and recreation under two governors (he is the current office holder). Snyder is not a desk jockey; he has spent a lot of time walking in the woods for both business and pleasure. In fact, his business is his pleasure and it shows in the way he writes about trees and forests.

It is also worth noting that he is a forester and not a forest ecologist or a mere nature lover. He does love forests, but he also knows how to measure them and he knows that that they are also a resource and part of the economy. One chapter is called “What is a forest stand (and why do foresters seem so stuck on them)?” This essay a veritable primer on the science and practice of forestry. “How small a woodland is too small for forestry?” is a perfect essay for all those people who live in towns with large minimum lot sizes and wonder if what they own is a forest or just a really large, wooded yard.

This is a good book for both beginners and for people who think they know a lot of natural history. For every topic that seems obvious, there are five more that you will find yourself thinking, “I always wondered about that.”