![Illustration in comic-style of red leaves on a blue sky.](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/40c37a4/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2160x1440+0+0/resize/2000x1333!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F28%2Fbf%2F874f91504f30b80e2b513c6bcb1e%2Foverstory-comic.header.jpg)
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![Illustration of red leaves. "This past fall, the new owners of the house next door cut down a healthy old-growth tree."](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/ee91ce6/2147483647/strip/true/crop/969x1415+0+0/resize/2000x2921!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F7b%2F32%2Fa926c1704bf2b16b1d7986c073eb%2Foverstory-comic.final.P1.jpg)
![Illustration of a tree. "We had come to think of this magnificent copper beech located feet from our property as our own"](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/a12592c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/982x1416+0+0/resize/2000x2884!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F61%2Fe5%2F4c3f0194480c9f2965855cefd218%2Foverstory-comic.final.p2.jpg)
![Illustration of leaves. "Judging from the flurry of text messages from neighbors we were not alone in this feeling"](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/168cf93/2147483647/strip/true/crop/966x1419+0+0/resize/2000x2938!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F64%2Fc4%2F8fa785a6444891b74e664ccab468%2Foverstory-comic.final.p3.jpg)
![Illustration of a chopped tree. "The thing that most surprised me was how sad and angry it made my family and me feel"](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/0e5aa25/2147483647/strip/true/crop/966x1420+0+0/resize/2000x2940!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F7e%2F04%2Fab231a6347e2b17f13a1f0c91926%2Foverstory-comic.final.p4.jpg)
![Man reading at a tree. "In 'The Overstory' by Richard Powers he tells stories of individuals connected to particular trees"](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/e1193dd/2147483647/strip/true/crop/997x1424+0+0/resize/2000x2857!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F5b%2F1c%2Ffe8441eb46519bf9dff6947650ff%2Foverstory-comic.final.p5.jpg)
![Neighbors in an overgrown yard. "The book set me thinking more deeply about biodiversity and 'rewilding'"](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/33f3518/2147483647/strip/true/crop/960x1413+0+0/resize/2000x2944!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fbb%2F15%2F069920ad418285ca781e7fd83d3c%2Foverstory-comic.final.p6.jpg)
![Hands on a laptop. "I had been given a copy by my sister-in-law and we wrote to each other during her cancer treatment"](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/abecd25/2147483647/strip/true/crop/962x1401+0+0/resize/2000x2913!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fbd%2F73%2F6732653f4a0794338e7a8d2812c0%2Foverstory-comic.final.p7.jpg)
![Hands of a patient. "It inspired a promise made to her just before she died - that we would plant a tree in her honor"](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/c6d860d/2147483647/strip/true/crop/987x1411+0+0/resize/2000x2859!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F32%2Ff4%2F70e5e7bf4037a738b0c8e6050a6d%2Foverstory-comic.final.p8.jpg)
![Illustration of a newly planted tree. "This spring we have space to plant a tree even more meaningful than the one we lost"](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/2805e8a/2147483647/strip/true/crop/957x1404+0+0/resize/2000x2934!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F12%2Fa3%2F72a21bcc45d485561a50f8551a03%2Foverstory-comic.final.p9.jpg)
Kevin C. Pyle is an illustrator and the author of several graphic novels and nonfiction books, including “Migrant: Stories of Hope and Resilience.”
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