Relative Something

For all the glorious trees we get to enjoy in our woods, there are plenty that are far from thriving. It can be frustrating to watch a tree year after year and not see healthy growth. I try to console myself with the fact that they haven’t completely died yet, but the way they linger for years without new signs of vigor just ends up being a long, slow slide toward eventually disappearing.

There are a couple of pines in our north loop field that serve as examples of what I am talking about.

In both cases, look at the fullness of the trees behind them. These scrawny trees are missing something the other trees are getting. I don’t know whether all the pines in this area were intentionally planted years ago, but I suspect most of them were, and I believe many of them were put in the ground with the roots poorly arranged. We’ve lost quite a few that looked like the trees were strangled by their own roots.

This field is also heavily trafficked by deer. They can be pretty ruthless on small trees. The little tree in the image above has a big portion of its middle munched. I’ve decided to gamble on letting the deer have some trees and hoping there will be enough other sprouts that grow past the most vulnerable stage and become future contributors to an overhead canopy I envision happening in our north loop field someday.

I don’t expect to have any ash trees being a part of that future.

If you’ve never seen the damage caused by the emerald ash borer beetle, we’ve got plenty of evidence for exhibit A.

There are probably as many ailing trees in our woods as there are healthy ones. A forest certainly isn’t a static system. Birth and death are happening constantly, so I never try to think of it as needing to exist in one specific way. I feel good about trying to help the more desirable trees flourish and being conscientious about controlling any takeover by invasives.

I’m choosing not to fight to avoid losing some types of trees and hoping that whichever trees successfully adapt to the warming climate and increasingly destructive storms will make for an inviting forest to visit for many years after I’m gone.

If we keep seeing occurrences of stunted growth like the pines in the north loop, that future forest I’m envisioning will just take a longer time to happen.

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