Meet your guide
Dr. Meg Lowman
Global pioneer in forest canopy ecology. Arbornaut. Author. Educator. Known the world over as CanopyMeg.
Dr. Margaret Lowman, known as Meg Lowman and CanopyMeg, is a forest canopy ecologist, author, and educator, and one of the world's first arbornauts. She pioneered the rope techniques, walkways, and field methods that made the treetops accessible to science, and she coined the word arbornaut. Her work spans 50+ countries across 7 continents. She has written or edited 16 books and 200+ scientific publications, and has served as a National Geographic Explorer for 27+ years. She founded TREE Foundation (Tree Research, Education and Exploration), a nonprofit that builds canopy walkways to advance tree research, education, and exploration toward global forest conservation. She holds a Ph.D. in Botany from the University of Sydney, was a Fulbright Senior Specialist Scholar in India and Ethiopia, and has an asteroid, (10739) Lowman, named in her honor. She is based in Osprey, Florida.
I entered science at a time when women were rarely welcomed into field research, especially the physically demanding, high-risk work of the forest. But the questions I was asking couldn't be answered from the ground. I needed a different vantage point. So I climbed.
What I found was a habitat science had written off as unreachable, holding roughly half of life on land. Studying it required methods that did not exist yet, so I built them.
“What matters most is not what I have done. It is who climbs next.”
Dr. Margaret Lowman, known as CanopyMeg, is a forest canopy ecologist, author and educator, one of the world's first arbornauts and founder of TREE Foundation.
A life in the treetops
“One of the best ideas to conserve biodiversity.”
E.O. Wilson
A word I gave the field
Arbornaut.
arbornautar·bor·naut
arbornaut
- An explorer, scientist, or researcher who studies the forest canopy, the upper layer of trees.
- Literally, “one who sails in trees.”
Origin
arbor, Latin, tree + naut, from Greek naútēs, sailor or traveller.
Why it mattered
Naming it mattered. A field without a word for its practitioners has no way to recruit them. I coined the term while I was still inventing the methods it describes, and there are arbornauts working on every continent now because there was a name to grow into.
The method I invented
I welded my own slingshot, sewed my harness from a seat-belt, and borrowed caving rope. That is how the canopy opened.
The through-line of my career
Opening access, not for a few, but for all
When the treetops were largely unreachable, I designed the tools and systems (rope techniques, walkways, and new field methods) that made the canopy accessible for scientific research, education, and conservation.
That access unlocked discovery, revealing forests as complex, interconnected systems essential to life on Earth.
But my work has not only been about access for a select few. For over four decades, I have mentored generations of diverse scientists, women, girls, mobility-limited students, underrepresented communities, and millions of kids online around the world.
Through hands-on learning and storytelling, I have worked to ensure that the future of forests belongs to the people who will protect them.
Why I built an organization
To ensure that access to the canopy didn't end with my own climb, I founded TREE Foundation, short for Tree Research, Education and Exploration.
In my own words
A life, in order.
From a cigar-box egg exhibit to 200 papers and 12 books. Every card here is mine, in my own words. The gold ones are the stories I tell at dinner. Pick a phase, then follow the line.
A collector before I was anything else
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Inventing a way up
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From one climber to a global field
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On the shelf
Sixteen books, and counting.
Field methods for scientists, a memoir, and picture books for kids who want to know what's up there. They live with my videos now.
Field science, for everyone
Women, girls, mobility-limited students, and whole communities, in the field, doing the work.
Two ways in
Join Us and Support the Work
The coalition
Women of the Eighth Continent
Women and girls standing behind the biggest, oldest trees on Earth. Members carry the coalition seal. Referral and invitation only.
Join the coalitionThe Fund
The Eighth Continent Fund
Walkways, training, and stewardship in the world's most biodiverse forests. Contributions are handled by TREE Foundation — this site takes no payment.
Donate to the Fund ↗
enjoy nature!
Dr. Meg Lowman · The Eighth Continent