As Australia gears up for a summer of bush fires, it is not only property which is lost. Lovingly nurtured gardens, and great tracts of our forests, the trees and the birds, insects and animals they house are also consumed, and with the intensity of the fires they’re often burnt beyond regeneration.  This program is a meditation on the human connection with trees, and is in part your response to a call out for your stories of trees you’ve loved.  We found a multi- branched and leafy passion for trees in the 550 contributions, which came in from all directions all around the country - uploaded to our website, emailed, face-booked and good old fashioned snail mail. The relationship between trees and people goes right back to the forests of the first humans, and our ambivalent relationship with trees can be traced through to the here and now, via fairy tales, mythology, and science, as producer Gretchen Miller, and sound engineer Russell Stapleton found. The program today was written by Gretchen Miller, Jackie Jay, Ian Holland, John Bennett, Tini Cook, GC Smith, Jutta Pryor, Fiona Vaughan and Cameron Semmens. The striking 'war' music at the end of the program is by Michael Atherton from his Ankh cd. And thanks to Maureen Clifford and Jutta Pryor for all their support of trees contributors.
more beautiful short stories of tree connections here: https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/earshot/features/trees/