The local newspaper still gets delivered to Catskill Forest Association’s office in Arkville each week. I find myself reading the obituaries of strangers. A person’s obituary seems simultaneously sweet and yet so unfulfilling. On one hand is a concise stab at sweetly describing someone’s life from start to finish. On the other, a life can hardly be summarized into a brief paragraph. I can’t blame the paper or its writer. How does one describe a lifetime of experience?

The forest is unique in that both its obituary, decay and regeneration can all be seen simultaneously. In some forests, older trees dominate the canopy. Some are in varying stages of decay on the ground; some are standing dead. Perhaps young trees or seedlings are growing on the forest floor, preparing to take over the canopy after the taller, older trees have relinquished command of available sunlight.

If you look closer, perhaps you can still see these trees’ ancestors. Dead trunks half-decayed, lying on the forest floor. Some are “melting” into the soil where feeder roots of neighboring trees will bore into for life. On closer inspection are perhaps a subtle pit and mound where a large tree blew over from a microburst 300 years ago. The root-ball that turned on its side is now a subtle mound and its excavation a pit where some perennial herbs, sedges, and tree seedlings now reside. Though it can be overwhelming, it’s all there to read at once, the forest’s obituary, dominance, and regeneration.

Similarly, a newspaper’s obituary does try to capture one’s life, their demise, and regeneration. Often mentioned are those that predeceased them – normally their parents or a spouse – and those that have survived as well, including a spouse, children, or grandchildren. Also mentioned are loving friends, or the organizations they belonged to. The core of one’s life is usually described by where they put most of their energy into. Examples may include certain hobbies, activities, or their occupation. Sometimes mentioned is how they met their end. It is on this basis that we often judge the “health” of a life, however short it may fail to describe.

Assessing the Older Overstory

A similar assessment of health, or life of a forest can be read. Instead of cradle to grave, perhaps “crown to ground” is more fitting. Let’s start with the large trees dominating the upper canopy. How do their crowns look? Are they full of live branches with healthy leaves, or are there more dead branches? If the crowns are small compared to their main stem, then they are not healthy. These trees appear to be “q-tipped.” Sometimes you can tell if a tree grew in a forest versus in a field or open area. Open grown trees have more spreading branches and crowns.

The dominant trees can tell us about the past too. If shade-intolerant trees exist in the upper canopy, then we can assume that more open conditions occurred. For example, the presence of black cherry, aspen, or paper birch might indicate this forest was once pasture. If oak, hickory, and pitch pine are present, perhaps fire. If large sugar maple are present with outstretching branches, then perhaps a 19th century maple sugaring operation or sugarbush. If black birch and white ash, then maybe some forest cutting. Trees growing in clumps are old stump sprouts perhaps from firewood or sawlog cutting back in the day. If we find a lot of birch trees with “stilted” legs or roots, then perhaps a remnant of a barking operation. In the mid-19th century, hemlock trees were felled for their bark to make tannin from and used for leather-making. Trunks were left behind and served as nurse logs where birch would grow. Eventually the logs rotted away leaving these freaks behind.

A stand of white pine sometimes indicates a field that was once plowed for crops; White pine seems to favor these areas in some locations. Some trees are technically in the overstory but are standing dead or are snags. Snags can allow more sunlight to filter into the understory for other plants and eventually crumble to the forest floor starting the whole thing over. While standing, they can provide cavities for pileated woodpeckers, owls, flying squirrels and more. The upper canopy can tell us a lot about this forest’s past, and the experiences, disturbances, and culture it belonged to.

Assessing the Middle-Aged Midstory

Leaving the crown, we now scroll down to the midstory. These trees might be codominant or just beneath the dominant trees. Or they might be shorter, starving for sunlight and considered “suppressed.” If there is a small opening in the canopy, there might be a tree with a healthy enough crown in the midstory. Midstory trees can only make it to the top if a tree dies above it. Most likely, these midstory trees must be tolerant of shade and that means its most likely a maple, beech, black/yellow birch, hemlock, or ironwood tree to name a few. Some forests just don’t have a midstory. Midstories add to canopy stratum diversity and provide food and cover for a wide variety of birds. However, the forest isn’t without tradeoffs. A midstory can be bad for germinating seedlings and herbaceous growth growing on the forest floor that require more sunlight.

Assessing the Younger Forest Floor

That brings us to the forest floor or “regeneration” in the life of this forest. Who will the older trees be survived by? Overall, most areas have semi to mature trees growing. Some have a midstory, while others don’t. The forest floor – in my opinion – is probably the saddest part on the forest ledger. In a “healthy” forest we might see abundant tree seedlings that are “desirable.” You might wonder what is “desirable.” Oak or maple seedlings, for starters. Oak is great for wildlife and timber alike – an important tree to the wood products industry for sure.

Sugar maple is also two-fold in its benefits. It’s needed for making maple syrup and great for timber. However, both tree seedlings are heavily preferred and severely browsed by deer. Instead, only trees, shrubs, or plants that deer don’t like are left behind – Japanese stiltgrass, thorny shrubs, American beech, hay-scented fern, etc. Perhaps less noticed are the missing herbs. Spring ephemeral flowers like Dutchman’s breeches to perennial herbs like red trillium, American ginseng, blue cohosh, baneberry, to name a few. Lush forest understories containing a variety of plants are presently rare due to over deer browse, the absence of management, or mismanagement.

Still, the forest floor is where both living and dead plants can most be found. This is where the future forest is born and goes to die. From young seedlings to large dead trees providing coarse woody debris and habitat for amphibians, reptiles, insects, and more. Beyond large trees falling over are cyclical or seasonal shedding of plant life, like leaves each fall or twigs and limbs each snow or ice storm.

In any case, the next time you’re in the forest, try to read it from crown to ground. Start with the trees in the overstory and work your way down to the midstory, and then the forest floor. Assess each canopy stratum and draw your own conclusions on how this forest is living or has lived its life. www.catskillforest.org