Continuing along the path we pass through a spice bush
thicket and after walking past a fallen American beech tree that was cut and
removed from the trail, we pass between two, very large, white ash trees and
enter an extensive witch hazel thicket. The trail has become very damp and may
even be quite muddy. There are numerous springs in this section of the trail
that continuously seep to the surface and form a sheet of slowly running water
that contributes to the flow of our stream. Earthworms living in this damp soil must frequently re-dig their
fragile burrows. These worms cast the ingested soil up onto the soil surface in
"midden" piles of uniformly sized soil aggregates. These earthworm burrows are
very important aeration channels into the dense, damp soil and help to facilitate plant
root growth and survival. Also, the surface cast soil aggregates are enriched
with organic matter and microorganisms and are very stable and erosion resistant
in water.
....
Continuing along the path we pass through a spice bush
thicket and after walking past a fallen American beech tree that was cut and
removed from the trail, we pass between two, very large, white ash trees and
enter an extensive witch hazel thicket. The trail has become very damp and may
even be quite muddy. There are numerous springs in this section of the trail
that continuously seep to the surface and form a sheet of slowly running water
that contributes to the flow of our stream. Earthworms living in this damp soil must frequently re-dig their
fragile burrows. These worms cast the ingested soil up onto the soil surface in
"midden" piles of uniformly sized soil aggregates. These earthworm burrows are
very important aeration channels into the dense, damp soil and help to facilitate plant
root growth and survival. Also, the surface cast soil aggregates are enriched
with organic matter and microorganisms and are very stable and erosion resistant
in water. 
