Have you heard of a thing called a living tree stump?
In 2008, my son Mitch and I took a road trip to Southern California for two weeks to visit Legoland. Along the way we took a swing east and drove through Crater Lake and down to Ashland. Crater Lake Highway or State Route 62 that runs below Crater Lake National Park follows the Rogue River Gorge and there are several places to get out and walk along it.
A kiosk on the trail along the river gorge is where I first read about the phenomena of living stumps. Yes, a tree can live after it has been cut down. From an article in Science Daily:
New research details how surrounding trees keep tree stumps alive, possibly in exchange for access to larger root systems. The findings suggest a shift from the perception of trees as individuals towards understanding forest ecosystems as ‘superorganisms’.
It was alive because before it was cut, its roots had intertwined with the Douglas Fir next to it. Now without branches or needles, it lived because it was in connection with another tree. I didn’t take a picture on that trip but that stump had made powerful impression on me. To have that much resiliency, nature never ceases to amaze.
In November of 2020 on a road trip through Oregon with my husband, I made time to revisit the Rogue River Gorge and check in on that stump. Turns out, the stump still lives:
I have been reminded often about this stump when I think about the trauma we endure in our lives, specially the children I have worked with. When the worst possible things happen to us, we know that if we are connected and intertwined with at least one other life-giving person, we too can live on.
Some will call this resiliency, something that I have written about on the blog before. Since writing that post, I have learned that we have to be careful not to rely just on teaching or believing in the ability to bounce back or carry on after hardships but also work to eliminate systems that create these situations in the first place. Yes, trees can be damaged through natural causes but much is the result of human action. Such is the same with the adversity we face as human beings in society, especially for our children. There is much work to be done…
A little while after visiting that stump in Oregon, I was hiking in Forest Park here in Everett, WA, and realized that I had been walking past a living stump right here in my own neighborhood.
Once you know what they are and the process that goes into creating them, you too may find yourself spotting them while out and about in the forest. Seeing this one I was reminded that living tree stumps may be abnormal but they are unfortunately not rare, just like the number of children and people around me who have suffered difficulties and come out on the other side.
My hope is that sharing this with you, you may appreciate what nature can accomplish after what should be a life-ending event. Just like for living tree stumps, being connected to others can be the difference between life and death.
And the beauty of it is, we benefit both from having that connection with someone else and being that connection for someone else.
Editor’s note: if you would like to read a wonderful book on the interconnectivity of nature, I highly recommend Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book, Braiding Sweetgrass. For example, replanted forests do not have the same networking as old growth forests and the implications this has for our planet’s future. And if you want to learn more about overcoming childhood adversity based on the A.C.E.’s research, this is a good place to start. This Ted Talk is also worth watching.
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