I’ve been thinking more about this topic lately after a hike I took through burned white pine areas(Massachusetts).
My question would be: “Is there any difference between dead trees left standing compared to those that are cut, but left on site?”
I would assume birds can’t utilize them for nesting. I wonder if leaving large, half-burnt pines all over the place would increase the likelihood of a more intense blaze. Or do they absorb enough moisture to resist?
We need more data on this here in the northeast US! Thanks for talking about this topic Hart!
So glad to see someone writing about this in detail! As a Forester, being pro-tree also means being pro-dead tree! Here in the UK, in our highly managed urban woodlands, we actually have to manually create deadwood. I tend to lean towards leaving wood from selective thinning on site as ‘habitat piles’ or even strapping bits of deadwood to resilient, large living trees as habitats for birds like Willow Tit. In an ideal world, I’d be ring-barking trees to create a little bit of standing deadwood, but following two serious incidents of trees falling on people recently, it’s out of the question for the moment. An even more ideal situation would be for deadwood to be created naturally through browsing and wildfires- in such cases people be grateful for your lovely deadwood!!!
Deadwood is so crucial for many species that cannot survive elsewhere. Some even need a particular species of dead tree. I think it is so often underestimated!
The whole biomass thing is such a ludicrous scam. I can’t believe anyone is still calling it ‘renewable’. It really matters that people understand forests more deeply than just the tropes put out by profit focused forestry services.
I’ve been thinking more about this topic lately after a hike I took through burned white pine areas(Massachusetts).
My question would be: “Is there any difference between dead trees left standing compared to those that are cut, but left on site?”
I would assume birds can’t utilize them for nesting. I wonder if leaving large, half-burnt pines all over the place would increase the likelihood of a more intense blaze. Or do they absorb enough moisture to resist?
We need more data on this here in the northeast US! Thanks for talking about this topic Hart!
Good questions. I think you’re in the right track.
So glad to see someone writing about this in detail! As a Forester, being pro-tree also means being pro-dead tree! Here in the UK, in our highly managed urban woodlands, we actually have to manually create deadwood. I tend to lean towards leaving wood from selective thinning on site as ‘habitat piles’ or even strapping bits of deadwood to resilient, large living trees as habitats for birds like Willow Tit. In an ideal world, I’d be ring-barking trees to create a little bit of standing deadwood, but following two serious incidents of trees falling on people recently, it’s out of the question for the moment. An even more ideal situation would be for deadwood to be created naturally through browsing and wildfires- in such cases people be grateful for your lovely deadwood!!!
Thank you for sharing. This is good to hear and very informative.
Deadwood is so crucial for many species that cannot survive elsewhere. Some even need a particular species of dead tree. I think it is so often underestimated!
The whole biomass thing is such a ludicrous scam. I can’t believe anyone is still calling it ‘renewable’. It really matters that people understand forests more deeply than just the tropes put out by profit focused forestry services.