Walking along the lower trail, we pass beneath an extensive
stand of tall white ashes and a varying under-story of spice bush and witch
hazel. To our right a large American beech lays windthrown across the stream.
The roots of this tree form a twelve foot diameter mass onto which large amounts
of light colored sub-soil still adheres. As the roots decompose, this soil will
be spread across the surface of the top soil in a larger more extensive version
of the soil mixing we observed in the earthworm middens earlier along this
trail. Just past the bridging beech tree is a small, mounded "island" of
accumulated soil and rock in the middle of the stream. This island is very moist
and is, from spring though late summer, densely covered with the tall, dark green
leafed skunk cabbage. This island represents a small, wetland ecosystem. We hope
in the coming years to introduce a variety of wetland plants into this small,
isolated habitat.
....
Walking along the lower trail, we pass beneath an extensive
stand of tall white ashes and a varying under-story of spice bush and witch
hazel. To our right a large American beech lays windthrown across the stream.
The roots of this tree form a twelve foot diameter mass onto which large amounts
of light colored sub-soil still adheres. As the roots decompose, this soil will
be spread across the surface of the top soil in a larger more extensive version
of the soil mixing we observed in the earthworm middens earlier along this
trail. Just past the bridging beech tree is a small, mounded "island" of
accumulated soil and rock in the middle of the stream. This island is very moist
and is, from spring though late summer, densely covered with the tall, dark green
leafed skunk cabbage. This island represents a small, wetland ecosystem. We hope
in the coming years to introduce a variety of wetland plants into this small,
isolated habitat.
