April first was such a beautiful warm day that we decided to take advantage of the weather and visit one of our favorite places, Goll Woods, in northwest Ohio. We've written several times about this place, celebrating the wildness and beauty of it.
But what we found on our last visit was sobering. I'm not sure if the damage was from the February ice storm, or if tornado winds did some of the damage, but many, many trees were on the ground. Here's a sample of what we saw.
As you can see, it looks as if some of the trees were just snapped off pretty high off the ground. Some of the trees were rather large in girth.
It's a little awe-inspiring to know that wind and water did this kind of damage. But not all the trees that were stressed were killed. I found this younger tree that braced against a neighbor and appears to still be living.
All in all, every tree fall gap in the forest provides a way for new growth, as more sunlight reaches the forest floor. And even more inspiring was the view straight up--thousands of trees are still standing, still purifying the air and and water and providing homes to a vast population of wildlife.
But what we found on our last visit was sobering. I'm not sure if the damage was from the February ice storm, or if tornado winds did some of the damage, but many, many trees were on the ground. Here's a sample of what we saw.
It's a little awe-inspiring to know that wind and water did this kind of damage. But not all the trees that were stressed were killed. I found this younger tree that braced against a neighbor and appears to still be living.
All in all, every tree fall gap in the forest provides a way for new growth, as more sunlight reaches the forest floor. And even more inspiring was the view straight up--thousands of trees are still standing, still purifying the air and and water and providing homes to a vast population of wildlife.
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beautiful
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