The Dying of the Trees 

By Charles E. Little,  Penguin, 1997

From Publishers Weekly

In a thoroughly researched book, Little (Hope for the Land) documents the depressing state of U.S. forests. Individual trees are dying at unprecedented rates, numerous woody species are at risk of extinction and the country's forests are disappearing as intact ecosystems. The devastation stretches across the land and is eerily similar to losses observed in Europe. Although the immediate cause of death varies, Little and the numerous ecologists and foresters whom he interviewed argue convincingly that the best explanation is ultimately the environmental havoc humans have wrought. Acid rain, heavy metal contamination, smog, increased ultraviolet rays streaming through the growing hole in the ozone layer and atrocious management of forests? from clear-cutting to fire suppression? have so weakened individual trees, as well as ecosystems, that once-routine pests may now be responsible for destruction on an unprecedented scale. This book should significantly alter the way we think about our relationship to the natural world.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Caught as we are in a spell of denial and backlash, we're told that environmental concerns have been greatly exaggerated and we no longer need all those pesky laws and regulations. Not so fast says environmental journalist Little, everything is not okay--trees are dying all over the U.S. Little presents the terrible facts about such calamities as the extinction of the eastern dogwood, the toll acid rain has taken on trees from Vermont to North Carolina, and the human-caused plague killing California's ponderosa pine. He also explains how logging and fire prevention alter the composition of forests and lead to such fatal imbalances as the massive increases in regional populations of the tree-killing gypsy moth. Little traces the origins of all these forms of tree death to 150 years of full-throttle industrialization and then firmly reminds us that trees are essential to life on earth as we hope to live it. Sobering, responsible, and eloquent, this is an important book. Donna Seaman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Reviews

I may not have read a more important book in the last decade than this little collection of reports from the woods. It confirms what any more than casual observer of trees must have long suspected: there is not much hope -- for the forests or for us. Little talked to experts across the continent, and walked with them amidst the failing giants. From the sugarbush maples of New England, to Florida's palms, to desert saguaro's, to western Douglas Firs, to Alaskan spruce, to Midwestern oaks, to butternuts, beeches, birches, dogwoods, pines, hophornbeam, and hickory: they are dying. Together with the amphibians, the mushrooms, the bacteria and the birds that inhabit forest ecosystems: they are dying. If there is any hope whatever, it may lie in radical rethinking of the human endeavor. Can we halt all logging on all national lands? Can the automotive addiction segue to a bicycle economy? Can we stop making babies and restabilize at the 1950 world population? Or is the game up? I guess I'm gonna try. A powerful and powerfully sad book, I cannot recommend it highly enough.

This book has vital information that we need to take into consideration as we look at today's environmental situation. He is rather pessimistic, understandably so, and sad about the state of the forests in America let alone the rest of the world. Things look grim and he gives a very good case for seeing it that way. It is strange and kind of eerie that Little gives almost no solution to this problem and that any solution is almost hopeless. Everyone likes to think that they have all the answers a lot of times. Like Rachel Carson having all these nice solutions to the problem of pesticides at the end of her book. Some of them were definitely helpful but despite her warnings there is over twice the pesticide use as there was in 1962. I guess Little is telling us to get real. There is no simple answer to these problems and any complex answer is almost never put into action. The corporate world isn't about to do anything for the environment unless it is economically profitable and what's the chance of that happening? Unless we come up with energy which doesn't pollute a lot faster than what people are forecasting soon, we are in trouble. That is basically what he is saying. I think he got a little too upset about the government's denial and corporate denial about the issues. It doesn't seem to help much by getting ourselves all upset by others problems and obstacles in our fight to save the trees. In this regard I thought he should have remained a bit more objective and not let them get to him the way he did.

Everyone has heard about "Waldsterben" (dying forest syndrome) in Germany and we all assume that the forests are relatively healthy here. Charles Little shows that this is not the case at all! From coast to coast and border to border, from western forests to New England forests, the forests everywhere are dying due to weakened immune systems (!) and the resulting susceptibility to disease, pollution, bacteria, insects. It's a sad and frightening story.

Everyone should know about this book and the state of the forests. Some of the most interesting points that are raised: almost every acre of old growth that once existed in this country has been cut. The total surviving old-growth would fit in a square 49 miles on each side! It wasn't just in the West that there were big trees: the forests of Michigan were made up of huge trees. Those forests are gone and therein lies the biggest problem: in cutting the original forests so thoroughly we destroyed a balanced eco-system: the state of the trees today is most likely the result of the relentless destructions of one and two hundred years ago. This means there are no easy answers since we can't easily bring back the big trees. The same is true of the suppression of forest fires and the ensuing build-up in undergrowth that results in catastrophic fires: there is just too much undergrowth to even think of manual removal of it as an option.
This is a very sobering book and one that we all need to share with our concerned friends. There may not be any answers now--but we need to know how serious the situation is.