  D. Wilson~\cite{[Wi]} in the 1990's described a simple and efficient
algorithm based on loop-erased random walks to sample uniform spanning trees
and more generally weighted trees or forests spanning a given graph. This
algorithm provides a powerful tool in analyzing structures on networks and
along this line of thinking, in recent works~\cite{AG1,AG2,ACGM1,ACGM2} we
focused on applications of spanning rooted forests on finite graphs. The
resulting main conclusions are reviewed in this paper by collecting related
theorems, algorithms, heuristics and numerical experiments. A first
foundational part on determinantal structures and efficient sampling procedures
is followed by four main applications: 1) a random-walk-based notion of
well-distributed points in a graph 2) how to describe metastable dynamics in
finite settings by means of Markov intertwining dualities 3) coarse graining
schemes for networks and associated processes 4) wavelets-like pyramidal
algorithms for graph signals.
