“Here is a book that sees the forest as a dynamic biological entity, a perspective that must always be kept in mind as we deliberate over the future of the last untouched wilderness.”
- David Suzuki

Seeing the Forest Among the Trees is a personal statement, reflecting Herb Hammond’s love and knowledge of the forest and his disillusionment with current forestry practices. It presents a wide ranging discussion of many aspects of forests—such as ecology, economics, politics, and spiritual values—and examines these issues in a format readily understandable to the lay reader. Essentially a forest ecology text, it contains basic information about forests, not just as groups of trees, but as a living whole...as a complex web of interacting organisms.

Herb Hammond’s concept of wholistic forest use stems from a belief that the forest and all its inhabitants—the environment and everything dependent on it for survival—must be viewed as one unit, and that a single resource cannot be exploited at the risk of endangering the others. “Wholistic forest use puts the forest back on center stage and moves human beings to a supporting role,” Hammond says. “The key priorities of this approach are first, protect the whole forest. Second, ensure balanced uses across the forest landscape. Any use must be ecologically responsible, maintaining the integrity of the whole forest in the short and long term.”

Herb Hammond is a Registered Professional Forester with a B.Sc. in forest science and forest management and a M.F. in forest ecology and silviculture, with over 25 years of experience in applied research in soil and water degradation and practical planning systems, as an industry forester, as an instructor of silviculture and forest ecology, and as a consulting forester working with First Nations, environmental groups, and communities.

Winner of the 1992 Roderick Haig-Brown BC Book Prize for the book which best contributes to the understanding and appreciation of British Columbia, Seeing the Forest Among the Trees discusses a land ethic that also applies to the rest of Canada and, indeed, the world. Comprehensive and thoroughly illustrated with over 300 photographs, 40 graphs and charts, and 15 illustrations, Seeing the Forest Among the Trees is the definitive blueprint for ecologically responsible forest use. The book also won “Best in the Fair” at the 1992 Bumbershoot Book Fair in Seattle, Washington.