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We are indebted to friends and colleagues for advice,

encouragement, and much needed criticism—from the project’s

inception to the final book sequence, we would like to thank

Dagmar Apel, Niki Berg, Andrew and Andrea Borowiec,

Martin Brading, Tinna Kvaran, Lynn Levine, Stu Levy, Eric

Paddock, Chris Rauschenberg, Willie Russe, Bob Sacha,

Regina Shrambling, Sage Sohier, Janet Stein, Nina Subin, Chad

Truemper, Brooks Walker, Eliot Weinberger, and Stan and

Marlynn Wolkoff. A special thank you to Bob Shamis and Lila

Garnett, whose astute visual judgment we could rely on at all

hours. Also, big thanks go to David Griffin for his early support

and aesthetic guidance. And our appreciation goes to Nancy E.

Wolff for legal advice.

We must acknowledge the local experts who helped us

with every aspect of making the photographs and writing the

stories. We are deeply appreciative of the generosity of these

individuals.

For help with the amazing trees in Japan, thanks to

Shigeo Otsuka and Hiromi Ishii (

National Geographic Japanese

Edition

, Tokyo), Hiroko Omori (our guide in Atami), Shuji Oka

(our guide in Tokyo), Kunio Kadowaki (our fixer in Kyoto), Nori

Akashi (Japan National Tourism Organization, New York), Aki

Hirai (Tokyo Convention and Visitors Bureau, New York), Asuka

Kondo (Tokyo Convention and Visitors Bureau, Tokyo), and Yuki

Taniguchi (Nagasaki Prefecture Tourism Association, Nagasaki).

Thanks to Karen Lee Brofee and Sandy Reber from the

Friend’s Meeting House in London Grove, Pennsylvania, who

granted us permission to photograph the William Penn Oak—and

to Scott Wade for his champion tree expertise. Special thanks to

Brenda and Tom Macalusa for generously loaning us an original

copy of

Penn’s Woods

to read—and for “holding us in the light.”

In Colorado, thanks to Celinda Kaelin, who shared her

scholarship and guided us to numerous Ute prayer trees, and

also Harold Kaelin for hosting our stay in their lovely cabin. Also

thanks to Nancy Beers.

Thank you to Sanctuary Forest in Humboldt County,

California, for your stewardship of Luna, and the redwood forest

surrounding the tree that Julia Butterfly Hill saved with her

extraordinary tree-sit. Special thanks to Stuart D. Moskowitz,

who guided us twice up the steep and slippery slopes to Luna.

Also we are grateful to Ari Samuel Watson Alter, who helped

with our gear and became an integral part of our picture when

he sought shelter from the rain.

And many thank to the generous scholars Down Under,

who shared their research debunking the “prison” mythology

of Derby Boab Tree: Kim Akerman, adjunct professor of

archaeology, University of Western Australia; Chris Dawson,

writer and historian; Dr. Elizabeth Grant, architectural

anthropologist, University of Adelaide; and Dr. Kristyn Harman,

senior lecturer of history, University of Tasmania.

For their assistance with the Hiroshima Bonsai at the

United States National Arboretum in Washington, DC, thanks to:

Richard D. Olsen, director; Scott Aker, head of horticulture and

education; and Jack Sustic, curator, National Bonsai & Penjing

Museum.

In Germany, we owe much appreciation to Helga and

Siegfried Dressel, caretakers of the Tanzlinde in Peesten, and to

Bernd Auer, our friend and fixer extraordinaire, who knows that

having great coffee is essential to making better photographs.

For their help with the Half-Way Tree in Brodhead,

Wisconsin, we wish to thank John Bernstein, vice president of

the Brodhead Historical Society, and Nancy Carney, keeper of

the tree.

For assistance with access to the Lawrence Tree in New

Mexico we thank Dianne Anderson and Gary Smith, University

of New Mexico, Albuquerque.