Dead #trees are not wasted timber dollars - they are sources of food for literally thousands of beings in a #forest #ecosystem, from tiny microscopic beings to insectivorous birds. Standing dead trees are known as snags, while a fallen dead trees are nurse logs. A cut or natural stump can serve the same #ecological function as a #NurseStump.

Nature wastes nothing. If there is a nutrient source to be had, there is a being to benefit from it. Nurse logs, standing snags & nurse stumps play hosts to all sorts of mosses, lichens, fungi, insects & arthropods, many hidden deep inside, as well as other living beings that prey on them.

Nurse #stumps are still deeply rooted; new plant, tree & fungi life grows out of their tops. Nurse stumps & dead stumps that have no new growth atop are like anchor systems for living trees growing in forests. You destabilize the ecosystem when you remove them from their natural #environment.

#NaturalistNotes #Educational #VancouverIsland #nature #wilderness #GetOutside #photography #PacificNorthwest #PNW #Cascadia #VanIsle #mosstodon #Wsanec #CommunityForest #ForestStewardship #ForestProtection #Saanich #VictoriaBC #VancouverIsland #YYJ #ProtectTrees #SaveForests #StopDeforestation #StopEcocide #BCForestryReform #Degrowth