Summary

In “When the Woods Come Down”, Roach explores human mortalities resulting from arboreal accidents. In some cases, the trees’ decay leads to falling limbs that kill humans while others kill “in the normal course of life” (140). McMillan Provincial Park, in British Columbia employs a team of tree assessors who identify hazardous trees and mitigate falling limbs. Dean McGeough combs the forest for decrepit limbs and trunks and flags them for future removal. While their work ensures the safety of visitors and effectively expedites the decomposition process, Dean and Dazy are faced with criticism from protestors, who feel that their work interferes with the trees’ natural life cycles. Roach notes that each persona has an “emotional connection to certain branches of the tree of life, and for some that branch is trees” (149). She observes that people are more...