Snags in Point Pleasant Park (HRM) |
Food in the freezer
Some people don't like the "snags", the standing dead trees that dot much of the park's landscape as a reminder of the over-mature forest it was before the hurricane. After the hurricane, they were left to provide habitat for birds and animals while the forest recovered, but they are also part of the food chain.
If they were cut and laid on the ground now, they would immediately begin to rot and their contribution to the store of nutrients would soon be used up. If they stand as long as they would in a natural forest, they will not start rotting until they fall, thus making nutrition available over a longer period.
Think of them as food stored in the freezer for the future; a future which contains a long period when there will be no old trees to fall and rot. Remember also that one reason why the forest was in such poor shape before the hurricane was that for many years it had been "tidied" every time a tree fell, so no nutrients were added to the soil.
This is, however, a forest managed for people, and I am told that snags near the paths are regularly monitored for safety and taken down when necessary. Real forests are not tidy places: nature is not a tidy lady. I believe that the foresters of HRM are doing a very good job of returning our forest to us as quickly as possible.
The snags and the woody debris are part of the plan, not an unsightly and dangerous mess, and I am told that the park is constantly monitored by staff for potential fire safety issues. As you walk through the park, focus on the 100,000 beautiful young trees planted since the hurricane and the countless equally beautiful trees, shrubs and flowers which have regenerated themselves in that period.
Anne West is a former Point Pleasant Advisory Committee member & park advocate.