The Woods in Transition

 I have learned  much from hiking through and studying our woods.  

They are somewhat metaphorically a reflection of the world in general, I think.  There's no doubt about it, our woods are in a transitional phase and have been for decades.   But, it seems that this process is happening at a faster rate right now.

There was a day when our woods were filled with pines and hemlocks, ash, chestnut, elm, oak, maple, hickory, poplar,  beech, birch, and many more species.  The forests of old were quite diversified.  Sadly, over the years we have lost species.  

No longer do the American chestnuts, or the elm trees, or the ash populate our local forests.  They have fallen prey to globalization - attacked by insects and fungi from other continents.  The American chestnut met its demise via a fungus originating in Asia and Japan.  Elm trees fell prey to Dutch Elm Disease, caused by a fungus that originated in the Netherlands that spread across Europe.  Ash trees are dying as a result of the emerald ash borer, a beetle native to North East Asia.

In the past several years, we have witnessed the critical loss of the hemlock trees in our woods.  These trees have been infected by yet another invader from Asia, the wooly adelgid.  We are also witnessing the death of many of the oak trees in our woods.  Oaks here in the East are succumbing to oak wilt fungus.

It is not uncommon to walk our woods and find a new tree that has merely snapped in half, falling dead to the ground.  It certainly pains me to see these mammoth trees reduced to moss, lichen, and fungus fodder.  Although, I wonder if this may be the reason why our woods are so filled with a variety of fungi.  There is much work to be done in the decomposition of all of this wood.

I am heartened to see seedlings grow into saplings - noting, however, that the trees that are replacing these old giants are beech and birch (species that are not tasty to foraging white-tail deer).  Yes, our woods are transitioning from old species to new.  Who knows what this land will look like in another 50 years!

And yes, we are a global community now.  There are benefits and sacrifices that go along with being so.  To discuss them would lead us down an unending rabbit hole.

Watching Mother Nature's resilience through change reminds us of the importance of our own adaptations to our ever-changing world.  There is one thing in life that is certain : nothing stays the same.

A few months ago we found this particular tree in the woods... an oak tree that had snapped in half.  The base of the tree stands, broken, on the right side of the trail - while the top of the tree is leaning on another tree on the left side of the trail.   The yellow line below shows the path that the top of the tree took as it fell.

 Apparently, when the top snapped off, its top dove itself right into the ground across the trail.  This week Jack had a little help to cut down both halves of this tree.  The resulting logs will give us another year's worth of firewood. 

 We have spent a little time each morning taking gator-loads of wood to the large indoor arena where it will spend a year drying out.

I often speak of the joy of sitting beside a roaring fire.  

All of our firewood is sourced from dead trees within our wooded acreage.  And though it saddens us to lose the ash and the oak, we make good use of the trunks for firewood (they burn quite hot and very efficiently in our fireplace.  And though burning wood adds to the particulate matter in our air, we have a fireplace that contains a smoke re-burner that reduces particulate matter by a hundred-fold.  It also contains a catalytic converter that removes toxic chemicals from the smoke.  Our fireplace reduces our need for electricity during the winter months and allows for our solar panels to meet the rest of our energy needs.

And speaking of the fungi in our woods... I did a little compilation of my fungi photos...  You can view it here on YouTube, if it doesn't load below.