‘Earth’s Essential Forests’ was written for Maria Lord-Kniveton, a bassoonist raised in Papua New Guinea and currently based in Detroit. This piece celebrates the essential forests of the world, and how they are vital to our life here on earth. The three movements describe the three general types of forest biome: temperate, boreal, and tropical. The musical material describes the types of trees, other vegetation, and species in each forest as well as the climate and space that the forests currently occupy.