"In this classic work of ecology, Chris Maser traces the growth of an ancient forest in Oregon's Cascade Mountains from its fiery birth in the year 987 to the present. A unique "biography" of an ecosystem, Forest Primeval portrays a diverse fabric of plants, animals, and microorganisms working in unison.".

"Maser details the lives and events of the burgeoning forest: the deer mice that help reseed the burned earth, the symbiotic associations between fungus and tree root tips that stimulate growth, the constant predation among wildlife. He reveals how over the course of a millennium, microbes and fungi change a forest just as surely as a raging fire, only inconspicuously and more slowly.".

"Maser's observations unfold against the backdrop of human history, a chronology of struggle that is paralleled in the life of a 1000-year-old Douglas fir. In taking this millennial view, Maser shows how the forest represents our own spiritual and historical roots. Arguing that our survival is as intertwined with the forests as the interlocking life cycles that created them, Maser makes a plea for the immediate global implementation of restoration forestry."--BOOK JACKET.