We have some predominantly wooded acreage in the southern Adirondacks, now mostly beech, maple, hemlock and ash, with some nice stands of black cherry.
The ash is dead or dying, the beech is diseased but perpetually sprouting, and the hemlocks are magnificent but their adelgid doom is probably just a matter of time. Only the cherry and maples are truly thriving.
Eternal hope: There are some timber sized beeches with no sign of the bark disease, potentially resistant: I collect nuts from those trees and just dibble plant them as I hike. I'm hoping to plant American hazelnuts to help replace the beechnuts for the critters.
The area is locally referred to as Oak Mountain, but the oaks are long gone.
Air and water quality are excellent, amphibians and native pollinators (and dragonflies!) are thriving. I've spotted hard-to-find orchids growing along streamsides. I worry always about the large migratory bird population in these mistimed, shifting seasons, and the invasives that climate change and global trade have delivered.
Even the forests we aren't leveling are under heavy assault. I'm tired of watching trees die.
"If you can keep your head while those around you are losing theirs, you can collect a lot of heads."Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto.
-Terence
™ Version 4.2
