What looks like a healthy tree standing alone after its neighbour was removed is often a tree in slow crisis — its grafted roots still feeding the stump, its wind shelter gone, its fungal network frayed, its body shaped for a forest that no longer exists around it.

What looks like a healthy tree standing alone after its neighbour was removed is often a tree in slow crisis — its grafted roots still feeding the stump, its wind shelter gone, its fungal network frayed, its body shaped for a forest that no longer exists around it.

There’s a particular kind of tree we’ve all driven past without a second thought. It stands alone at the edge of a field or a cleared lot. Full crown, good colour, the last one left after the others came down. It reads as a survivor. Something about a single big tree holding its ground looks like strength, like self-sufficiency. The catch is that a tree can look healthy long after real trouble has set in, especially underground where you can’t s…