Treesong

A lifetime of appreciation of the natural world, and especially the part which trees contribute to our lives and in the environment has provided David Dean with the constant enrichment of wonders and study. His initial childhood years were spent on the mostly treeless plains of northwest Kansas where he saw the destructive arrival of Dutch Elm disease and the death of many American elm trees. He spent the rest of his childhood growing up on a farm in central Iowa and saw more than half of the trees on his parent's farm die as the Dutch elm disease continued to cause a dramatic change in the plants, insects, birds and other animals which had been a part of the forest ecosystem around him. As time has passed, he has watched as other tree diseases such as Scotch Pine Wilt Nematode and, more recently, the Emeral Ash Bore insect, as they have killed countless other trees. But instead of just watching, over the years he has left behind him a trail of trees to do what little he can to partially repair the damage the destructive insects and diseases have caused. The book Treesong is his simple tribute about trees with the message that even planting just one tree makes a difference in the world in many ways.