News from the Woods

As you walk through the woods you notice you are not walking; you are crawling and climbing over broken branches and downed trees. The forest has changed. Not for the worst but for the best. Hurricane adapted forests need the dynamic effects of high level winds and A Studio In The Woods received the winds that it was waiting for. I’ve learned that these forests have adapted over time to take advantage of being in the hurricane disturbed zone of the Gulf Coast. Adaptation come in the form of how individual species overcome death of the species by opening gaps in the forest for their juveniles, seeds, and themselves.

Ecologists who study these types of disturbances have narrowed down the explanation of what is seen into five degrees of damage. These five descriptions are Tipped-up, down, snapped, branched, and leaning. Tipped-up means a individual tree has been blown down with its roots pulled out of the ground, and is considered the most intense damage. Down is similar, but the roots are not exposed and the tree may survive. Snapped is when the top of the tree has lost its crown completely. Branched is when the tree has lost large branches. Leaning is when the tree has been blown and now stands < 90 degrees.

As you walk through the gates of ASITW there is a large Pecan tree tip-up with its roots exposed in a huge round disc of roots and earth and a large hole dug out of the earth by the tipped-up disc of roots. The impact is striking and gave me a real idea of the power of the wind. As you look around you notice many trees that look like this, resulting in a “ Wow” feeling. Everywhere you look trees are snapped, branched, and leaning. The young hardwoods that I have spent the last year freeing from the grips of the privet now are bolting to the intense sun. ASITW will now have a midstory layer of trees and larger diversity in size class, in turn resulting in a more dynamic forest structure.

Throughout the coming months in this column we will talk about the changes in the woods and some of the intriguing results form Hurricane Katrina. Light gaps, the resprouting of snapped and branched stems, The Cut-leaf Grape fern, and many new surprises.

— David Baker