Call of the Trees

This extraordinary book came into this world in the most unusual of ways.

Our story began in the fall of 2001 when Bunny Daubner of Bristol, VT, attended a
workshop given by Dorothy Maclean, one of the co-founders of the world-renowned
Findhorn Community in Scotland. At the end of the workshop, Bunny approached Dorothy
and told her: "I think Vermont is ready for you!" Returning home, Bunny distributed copies of Dorothy's most recent book, To Honor the Earth: Reflections on Living in Harmony with Nature, among her friends — and planted the seed of a Vermont visit.

One of those friends, Jonathan Corcoran, served on the board of Vermont Family
Forests, a learning organization founded in 1995 to explore and develop new models of forestry that are both community-based and ecologically sustainable.

Inspired by Bunny's vision, and especially by Dorothy's tree messages, Jonathan asked:
"We humans know what we want to take from the forests - but what if trees could talk? —
What would they say? I was really curious to learn more so I called Dorothy to see when she
might be able to come to Vermont." Jonathan spent the next 6 months organizing her visit.

On September 21, 2002, Dorothy made her historic visit to Vermont. A captive audience of
over 300 people (one of her largest audiences ever) attended her public lecture, "Nature Speaks Out" that Friday night in Middlebury. Bunny turned to Dorothy, "You see, Vermont is ready for you!"to which Dorothy replied, "Yes, but I don't know if I'm ready for Vermont!"

On Sunday, Dorothy shared her collection of tree messages with a smaller circle of community members at Vermont Family Forests. Jennifer Vyhnak attended that meeting and recalls that “one strong message from the trees really stood out for me. It implored Dorothy to spread the word far and wide - that humanity's quality of life and very survival on the Earth depended directly on the presence of the old-growth trees and the great forests which are the skin of the Earth."

When the meeting ended, Jennifer came up to Dorothy and asked her whether these tree messages had ever been published together in a single volume? No, they had not. Jennifer felt strongly that these messages not only needed to be urgently communicated to people everywhere around the planet but that they needed to be shared with the next generation. She offered to help Dorothy get the messages published. To her delight, Dorothy graciously agreed, but suggested Jennifer get some help from the group. Bunny and Jonathan stepped forward and so the collaboration known as Call of the Trees was born.

We are messengers. Our mission is to share these messages with you so you will spread them to others.