Woods Whys Archive
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Sugaring with Vacuum Pumps
Does Sugaring with a Vacuum Pump Hurt the Trees? Sap flows out of tap holes in sugar maples when the spring days are warm and the nights are freezing, because those conditions make the pressure on the sap inside the trees higher than the air pressure outside the trees. The bigger the difference between inside pressure and outside pressure, the… (more)
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What is a Climax Forest?
A climax forest is a good place to start an argument with an ecologist. To some, it is a nice name for forests that have escaped disturbance by outside forces like storms or diseases or logging long enough to have settled into a condition of relative stability. That is, the composition and structure of the forest don’t change much over… (more)
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What is DBH?
DBH is shorthand for the diameter of a tree’s trunk measured at breast height. Setting aside the interesting and potentially delicate new questions the latter two words raise, let’s first consider diameter. My geometry teacher told me it’s a line segment passing through the center of a circle, the maximum distance from one point on the circle to another. In… (more)
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Are All the Leaves On a Tree Pretty Much the Same?
Everybody knows that tree species vary in their ability to tolerate shade. It’s easy to find shady places in the woods where shade-tolerant species such as American beech and eastern hemlock outcompete shade-intolerant species such as quaking aspen and paper birch. Or picture an old field where pine trees still overtop maples. It’s a question of light. But what’s less… (more)
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Do We Have To Choose Between Tapping Maples For Sugaring Or Growing Them For Timber?
Any tree is better off without having holes drilled into its stem. Depending on their size and placement, stem holes can cause all kinds of problems for trees, from interrupting the flow of water, nutrients, and carbohydrates to allowing the entry of decay- and disease-causing microorganisms. Ultimately, none of these is good for the tree. Yet, from centuries of successfully… (more)
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Why does pin cherry appear when an opening in the forest is made, even if it wasn’t there before?
Trees that rapidly colonize forest openings made by recent cutting, fire, or wind throw are often called “pioneers.” Species such as aspen and paper birch, which produce millions of light, wind-disseminated seeds, are usually seen as the standard-bearers for the pioneer strategy. It is with good reason. Remember, space in the woods is at a premium. Create an opening in… (more)
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What Can You Do with Dense Thickets of Hardwood Saplings?
You can invest in them. The simplest investment would be time. There are many young hardwood stands dense with saplings the size of your finger or fist that need nothing more than time to develop quite nicely on their own. Often within 20 years they become heavily stocked stands of pole-sized trees of good form, well on their way to… (more)
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Can Your Woods be Too Tidy?
A landowner once phoned to ask me to visit his property to see all the good work he’d done extending his landscaping efforts from his yard into the surrounding woods. He was pleased with his work and eager for the county forester to see how well he had “cleaned up the woods” and “improved the health” of those woods by… (more)
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Are Ski Glades Bad for the Woods?
At their best, ski glades are forests with exceptional skiing possibilities. At worst, they are ski trails with damaged and dead trees in the way. They are very different from conventional ski slopes. Unlike those treeless mountainside swaths you can see from the highway, ski glades are mostly forested, with narrow, open lanes tacking among the trees. Some glades are… (more)