I am a nature lover and avid hiker. My time spent in contact with trees recharges my batteries. Thanks to our local SIerra Club chapter, I have had the privilege of taking walking tours of our historical capital city of Old San Juan where the focus has been the number or trees, centenary and otherwise, that adorn its streets. Urban Forests took me on a similar tour of how trees have shaped the history and landscape of several cities in the United States and now I want to take similar tours in other cities.

The book's strength, however, comes from the way it describes the plight of several native species that have been threatened and the valiant efforts made to bring them back from the brink of extinction.

A nonfiction book that describes itself as "a passionate, wide-ranging, and fascinating natural history of the tree in American cities over the course of the past two centuries". I'm about to take issue with that blurb, but first I want to say that I did enjoy reading it.

My main complaint about this book is that it's not particularly focused on urban forests. Out of 21 chapters, one is about the canker than killed off the American Chestnut, four are on Dutch Elm Disease, one on the Emerald Ash Borer (a bug that attacks ash trees), and two on Asian Long-Horned Beetles (which kill several types of trees, but are particularly fond of maples). These are all interesting stories, and Elms and Ash and Maples do sometimes live in cities, but cities are very much not the focus of these sagas of disease and resistance. Another chapter is on the discovery of the Dawn Redwood, a "living fossil" from the Cretaceous, whose only connection to the idea of "urban forests" seems to be that the discoverers were paid by Harvard University, which is in Boston, which is a city. There are also chapters on the (surprisingly contentious!) history of Arbor Day, Thomas Jefferson's tree collection, and the founding of America's various great arboretums (tree museums) including the New York Botanical Garden, the Arnold Arboretum, and the Morton Arboretum. All of which doesn't leave a lot of room for my poor street trees. "Historical Tree Diseases of the US" would have been a much more accurate title, but I suppose someone along the way decided that wouldn't sell as well.

I feel a bit churlish complaining so much though, because in the end the book is a fun read. Despite my proposed serious-sounding title, Jonnes is very much writing in the vibe of Mary Roach or Bill Bryson: she tells interesting stories in a familiar, entertaining way, and if they're a bit random and hang together more by virtue of their "cool to know" quality than their deep thematic connection, that's okay. The main point is to have fun. For instance, a chapter on how DC got its cherry trees is quite disconnected from the rest of the book, but is nonetheless a great story. I was most interested in the last few chapters, which finally got into the topic of actual urban forests, because that was what had attracted me in the first place, but they all were surprisingly engaging. I also have to be very grateful to Jonnes for introducing me to the NYC Street Tree Map, which actually allows you to zoom down onto any block in the city, click on a tree, and find out facts about what species it is, how big it is, how many pounds of air pollution it removes each year, and so on. I've had a lot of fun identifying the trees outside of my apartment.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2029610428

A comprehensive look at the history of urban trees and our relationship with them.
While I am not too keen on the history of human figures behind bringing in species of trees, it is fascinating to read about their love for certain kinds of trees.
Then, there is my favorite part of the book: invasive species and the fight against them. It was both terrifying and sad to read about human participation in bringing in these pests and being the solution to fend them off.
Trees have a long and complex relationship with humans- I would say we are their children. Urban Forests make the reasons clear to the reader.
This is one book to share with generations to come.
*i got a free copy in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley

Urban Forests offers a look at the historical and modern forests in our cities. Primarily focused on East Coast cities, the book makes fascinating reading for anyone who loves trees or horticulture.

The book begins with background on exotic trees and how many were imported to this country by wealthy plant collectors. Many of these men maintained large collections in their own personal botanical gardens. William Hamilton had 500 acres on which he had huge greenhouses. He even obtained, through President Thomas Jefferson, some seeds from the Lewis and Clark expedition, which he planted and grew into aspen trees. He also raised such trees as ginkgoes. Another man, Andrew Jackson Downing, became famous for not only his gardens, but publication of the first landscape gardening book, which became quite popular.

Downing advocated for the ailanthus, or tree of Heaven, as an ornamental tree to be planted in cities. It became very common in such places as New York City. Downing was commissioned to green the National Mall with trees, but was killed in a steamboat accident. However, in writings before his death, he had decried the ailanthus tree, and public sentiment toward the tree changed. So, ailanthus were cut down. Other trees were planted in their place. The trees we see on city streets today have gone through many changes over the years. And disease caused some big changes as well.

The first tree disease documented in the book is the chestnut blight. The story begins with the discovery of the fungus and how it killed the trees completely. The rapid spread of the disease is documented too. It reads like a novel, in that it has main characters who were involved in the science, as well as the villain, the chestnut blight, that kills trees. This is not just a boring story of tree disease. It’s the chronological telling of the unfolding of the crisis that was the death of the chestnut trees and the spread of this disease.

Arbor Day was begun in the late 1880’s. The story of Arbor Day is documented here and the history of mass tree plantings is shown. It is both a positive and negative story. Millions of tree seedlings were planted, which was a very positive step. However, the seedlings needed much care in early life if they were to survive to mature trees, but they often were forgotten once planted. So, unfortunately, although many trees were planted, some died from neglect, defeating the purpose. Arbor Day is still a good idea though. It’s always better to encourage the planting of more trees!

Other tree diseases or threats to trees are documented as well, all in the style of a chronological telling of the tale. But, this is not fiction. This really happened. We did lose the chestnuts to the blight, and we also lost the elms to Dutch elm disease, and then there was the emerald ash borer. The stories of how the scientists tried to contain these various threats, establishing perimeters and removing dead or dying trees, makes for exciting reading. You feel the loss of venerable old trees right along with the homeowners who loved them and had to watch city crews cut them down and chip them up. The photographs showing city streets before and after tree removal are stark and help you understand how the people who lived there felt when the diseases killed their beautiful shade trees.

This book raises some interesting points and could make for some very thoughtful discussion in a book club. It seems that there are never-ending threats to trees from so many angles. How can the trees survive? If we inadvertently import aggressive beetles like the emerald ash borer and the Asian long-horned beetle on wood from foreign countries, how will we protect our trees? What does the future hold for our urban forests with so many threats to tree survival? Is it possible to bring back a resistant elm species? Will this new genetically altered tree resemble the elegant American elm of the past?

I enjoyed the stories of the plant hunters and their expeditions to China and elsewhere to find rare trees. I loved reading the story of the discovery of the dawn redwood, a tree I first learned of when I worked in a redwood park. The plant hunters of those early days were among the most hardy and intrepid of explorers, often tramping miles over mountains and valleys to find rare trees. Their stories make entertaining reading.

This book is so full of information on trees and arboriculture, as well as the history of urban forests! It’s just packed with information. As a lover of trees and nature, I really got a lot out of this book. It was definitely geared more toward eastern forests, but that is due to the nature of the way urban forests emerged. Western states followed the example of eastern cities in planting trees along their streets. But, the innovation and original idea of urban forests came from large eastern cities.

Each chapter of this book held my attention and introduced me to names of people who you don’t often read about. The heroes of the tree planting days, those who saved the trees that were damaged by the 9/11 attacks, the arboriculturists who bred elm disease resistant variants of elms for the public to plant, and many more. Trees hold such a highly regarded place in everyday life and this book sure helped me understand the history of our urban forests in much better detail than I had ever known was available. I enthusiastically recommend this book to all botanists, plant lovers, naturalists, and anyone who just loves trees!

I thank the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.