Book Review: Dead Wood

September, 2026
by Becky Givens, Class of Spring 2024

I just finished a fabulous book that I highly recommend - Dead Wood: The Afterlife of Trees, by Ellen Wohl. (Wohl, 2022)

Ellen Wohl is Professor of Geosciences at Colorado State University, studies the physical-ecological interactions in river ecosystems, and has written about 20 books. (Ellen Wohl | Professor, Geosciences, n.d.)

Dead Wood is a very readable biography of the lives, and afterlives, of three magnificent trees: a 450 year old Engelmann Spruce in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, a 300 year old Western Redcedar in the Queets River Valley of Washington, and an 80 year old Balsam Poplar in the Kechicka River of Canada.

With wonderfully vivid language, Wohl describes the histories and ecosystems of the region each tree grows in, including everything from geology to climate, and the microorganisms, insects, plants, birds, and animals who live around or in the trees. She then details the tree’s birth, life, and death in the forest, and its trip down the river to the ocean… including the changing ecosystem in and around the tree at each stage of its journey. My only complaint about the book is that it is full of maps and photographs, but all in black and white. Note to publishers: I would gladly pay extra for color photos in a book like this!

Still, this is the next best thing to an in-person guided hike through a forest. I enjoyed all three sections, but in particular the Washington forest because I have been there and would love to go back. As I read Wohl’s descriptions, I could see the forests and beaches full of driftwood and longed to return to see them again through her eyes. If Iever do, I will take this book with me!

Dead Wood is the best kind of science book, a nature biography full of evocative and understandable language that helps you see the images in your head. You can get it free from the library (you might have to ILL it) or buy it through your local bookseller.

Ellen Wohl | Professor, Geosciences. (n.d.). Retrieved September 13, 2026, from

https://sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu/ellenwohl/

Wohl, E. E. (2022). Dead wood: The afterlife of trees. Oregon State University Press.