As we approach the Day of the Dead, or El Día de Los Muertos, let’s celebrate how the dead can bring life. When we moved to Cornwall more than fifteen years ago, the front of our house was lined with stately maple trees. Over time, one of those maples first lost one limb, then another, then all of its limbs, with just its twisted, gnarly trunk remaining. Today
this “dead” stump actually hosts a small living universe of pileated woodpeckers, cardinals, lichen, fungi, native bees, wasps and other pollinators. According to Chittenden County Forester, Ethan Tapper, ‘In fact, research from the Pacific Northwest suggests that dead trees can harbor as much as quadruple the living biomass as living trees.” (from Keeping Dead Wood, https://northernwoodlands.org/articles/article/dead-wood). If you have downed trees or snags (dead-standing trees) on your property, leave them be—they will help improve soil health, will store carbon and will provide important habitat for wildlife. As I’ve mentioned in prior posts, Vermont’s newly passed law, H.697, should result in more of Vermont’s old forests being enrolled in the Current Use program, and hopefully more of this “dead” wood helping the living.
p.s. Wondering where the photo of the gravestone was taken? Cushman Cemetery in Ripton.
keeping snags and fallen trees in your forest (As long as they’re not a safety risk) will attract a lot of birds! Thank you for this. I didn’t know the value of dead wood until moved to Vermont Ten years ago!