These tree “cookies” were taken from two trees of the same species, same forest; in fact only a few yards apart. Can you guess which one is older?
This is a picture of Jamie Leary taken at our Nature Day Camp. Jamie did an excellent presentation at Day Camp on our forests. He works for the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) in the Bureau of Forestry. Jamie is the Service Forester for Northampton and Monroe couties. He wears various hats in that position, but one of his main duties is working with land owners. If you have questions about your woodlot or forested land, your first call should be to your Service Forester. His professional advice is free!
Jamie,
like the other Service Foresters, is a wealth of knowledge. Contact him if you are wondering what you can do to make your forest more attractive to wildlife, or yield more firewood, or if you notice a tree disease. Forest owners are often approached by loggers, and amazed at how much the timber is worth. But before you sign any contracts, contact your Service Forester. Remember his experience is free. Your Service Forester can walk you through the contract and help you make sure that the forest cutting is managed to your goals, and not the logger’s. Even if you never plan to harvest your timber, you should make an appointment to walk your woods with your Service Forester. They see interesting things that are important to your forest’s health. Besides, it is a lot of fun to walk through the woods with them, to see the forest through their eyes.
Back to the tree cookies. The smaller one is older. It was 29 years old; the bigger tree was 26 years old.
You will often hear people say that you need to cut out the big trees to let light in, so the younger trees can start growing. Not necessarily so. These two trees were about the same age, and one was much better at utilizing resources than the other one. Before you knew their ages, you might have cut the bigger tree to allow space for the smaller one to grow. But the smaller (older) tree will probably never reach its potential. If you leave the bigger one, it can drop acorns and pass its genes onto the next generation of forest. And I learned that from my Service Forester.
My thanks to Carole Mebus, who took these photos, and many more, to document our Nature Day Camps.