I'm writing a book!
It's time I finally just come out and say it.
Good day, everyone
I am coming at you from the tiny desk in my room where for the last several months I have been typing away on my newest and most exciting project to date: a real dang book! With pages and words and everything.
Now, this isn’t that normal kind of book that you’d expect, no no. It’s not a novel or a non-fiction in the traditional sense, but rather a tree identification guide for the common trees of our cities and towns here in the Great Pacific Northwest. I pitched the idea to Mountaineers Publishing out of Seattle, and those kind folks found it compelling enough to give it the go-ahead, and I am just tickled about it.
As most of you know, I often teach tree identification courses through the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture, as well as with Hoyt Arboretum. Heck, I even do it with friends or companies on the side (ahem, just saying if you’re in the market, I offer fabulous pricing and can be reached using the “reply” function on your smart phone, tablet, or computer). One thing I noticed during all these courses and talks is that there is just no good resource for people to turn to when they’re first learning to identify trees. When asked about a good book to start with for the trees in our area, I simply had to reply, “Well, we don’t really have one.”
Until now.
Ok, not exactly now, but there’s one in the works that will ultimately come out sometime in the middle of 2025. We’re still working on the name, but a fine working title for the moment is A Field Guide to Common and Local Trees: Pacific Northwest. Straight to the point, baby. Although other fun ideas I’ve had include Take Me with You! A guide to the trees outside your door or Backyard Trees of the Greater Pacific Northwest. Regardless of the name, the whole point of the book, its raison d'être, is to cover all the common trees in the towns and cities within our lovely PNW region and show how to identify them. In fact, it’ll cover how to identify any tree at all, explaining the whole process of tree identification from start to finish.
What ultimately sets this guide apart from others you may have heard of, or perhaps own, is that this one is geared for our region specifically, and it covers the trees you’re actually likely to run into in your backyard or local park or along your street. Not just native trees (in fact probably less than half of the native trees will make into the book because they don’t make into our towns) and not just ornamental trees, but whatever tree from wherever that we’ve brought into our towns with us (or who have found their way in against our will).
My goal is to bring tree identification to the masses, share all the secrets that most students of tree identification learn in college courses or specialized workshops. Tree identification isn’t just random. There are techniques and tricks, very specific attributes to consider and look for that will tell you exactly who a tree is or who it is not. My little guide should hopefully be the cheat sheet for anyone trying to identify their trees because not only will I tell you the tricks and tells for a given species or genus, but I’ve also narrowed down your choices to make it that much easier.
One of the biggest issues with other guides that are not geared towards our region’s common trees is that they don’t help you figure out which trees are even around you and which are simply not found. When you’re just starting out, knowing the full palette to choose from is a key part of learning your trees and building your skillz. Rather than narrowing down the species of pine in your backyard from all those native to North America, my guide will start you off with only the pines common in our little neck of the woods, and even more specifically those that are found around where you live. This way you can be sure of your ID when you get there.
So, I hope you’re as excited as I am for this new identification guide. I am so thrilled to be working in it and very excited to see it out there in your hot little hands, turning your eyes upwards and finally seeing your trees with a confident and understanding eye.
Now of course I’ll let you know when it comes out and when you can pre-order it and all that. But, if you want to give me some support in the meantime, I would be more than thankful for anything. It’ll be a while before it actually goes up for sale what with all the editing, reviewing, and printing, so fingers crossed groceries, coffee, and beer don’t get too much more expensive before then.
