The Mother Tree Project & Program (MTPP) is a research and outreach initiative housed in UBC’s Faculty of Forestry, rooted in the idea that forests are deeply interconnected systems, not just collections of individual trees.
At the heart of the program is the Mother Tree Project (MTP), established in 2015 by internationally acclaimed author and UBC Forest Conservation Sciences ecologist Dr. Suzanne Simard. MTP stands at the forefront of regenerative forestry research, addressing the urgent need to steward and safeguard British Columbia’s forests amid intensifying climate threats.
The Project also investigates how different forest management practices influence the survival and growth of natural regeneration and planted seedlings whose seeds are sourced from more arid climatic regions. By studying the responses of these seedlings to different levels of overstory tree retention, the project aims to identify what can improve forest recovery following disturbances such as clear-cutting, insect outbreaks, wildfires, and droughts in our changing climate.
A key focus of MTPP is working with First Nations in British Columbia to develop restorative and regenerative forest management practices rooted in Indigenous knowledge systems.
Indigenous stewardship has created the world’s most biologically diverse ecosystems, and Indigenous territories are home to 80% of global biodiversity.
By bridging ancestral wisdom with modern science, the Mother Tree Project & Program is advancing regenerative forestry solutions to help address global climate change.
