The more I observe human behavior as it relates to this forest, the more I realize that profit has repeatedly been one of the strongest motivations. There are several tall 100-foot, straight pine trees here that are economically worthwhile to cut, chip, or removed by some other means. They are accessible and can be conveniently felled. Someone could easily earn…
People love the scent of a balsam fir tree on a hot summer day or when they chop it down to become their annual Christmas tree. If people concentrate, they can probably pick up additional scents when hiking in the forest. Compared with many forest animals, the human sense of smell is extremely limited. The forest air is awash with…
Looking at the largely barren post-glacial landscape, scientists call it tundra. Yet, it is really a nascent forest. At first glance there isn’t much to see. No trees. No towering canopy. Nothing most people would recognize as a forest. Yet the land is teaming with life. Microorganisms are rapidly reproducing. Fungi are spreading, forming partnerships with the earliest plants, helping…
The answer is one. Lifetimes are relative. In the forest every living individual is destined to be born and die within its own “life time”. Yet, the forest itself carries on. The forest doesn’t really have a lifetime. Without any catastrophic disturbances a forest just continues growing, developing, and evolving. Every individual organism in it will eventually die and be…
Of all the forest denizens, fungi may be the most misunderstood. Many people wrinkle their noses at the thought of them. People see mold on bread or infections on skin. Yet, they are indispensable partners that have quietly sustained the forest for centuries. “Over 90% of plants are dependent on Mycorrhizal symbiosis between plants and fungi and this process also…
Most people today have very little appreciation of the massive destruction that once ravaged this little forest. Hundreds of trees were cut down, stones were dug up and piled in lines, and millions, no billions – wait make that – trillions of other living things were instantly killed, starved, or disrupted. They were replaced by flocks of sheep. The farmer…