Local Forests Are Failing To Produce The Next Generation Of Trees

From DCist:

In forests in the eastern U.S., it can be easy to miss the fact that things are going awry. Elsewhere, in places like the Rocky Mountains or the Sierra Nevada, the signs may be more obvious: a whole hillside dotted with dead pines or oaks, for example. But here, the lush greenery can obscure what’s going wrong.

Even though much of the D.C. region’s forests are in protected parklands, they are at risk of disappearing in the coming decades and being replaced by invasive shrublands. Forests are under attack by numerous threats, including climate change, invasive insects, and diseases. The biggest problem though, is that forests are failing to regenerate.

“This forest looks healthy, perhaps on a quick look, but if you look behind you, you see a tree that has fallen, cracked in half and fallen,” says Liz Matthews, a biologist with the National Park Service, walking along a popular trail in Rock Creek Park’s northern flood plain.

To see how an eastern deciduous forest is doing, don’t look up at the mature trees – look down at the ground. That’s where you’ll find the next generation of the forest. A generation that is in big trouble.