Fungus Castle
Formed around our beloved beech trees stump; this was gigantic!
From death, sprouts life.

#BWFri #ColorADay #fungus #beechtree #BNWPhotography #photograph #mono #oldgrowthtree #MaeMobley

A woods pathway covered with crunchy, pointy little beech seeds; they look like mini horse chestnut seed pods. This hidden beech is a baby to Mae Mobley the giant beech that caused us to buy this property- and yes, if it were not for the tree, we would not be here. There were two parcels of land broken off original property that were subsequently sold to a developer. Mae Mobley’s main root was hit and she died slowly. Although a tree, it was a painful death to watch. We had a friend who was schooled in trees, horticulture, check her constantly. Once her canopy showed signs of distress, we knew it was over. Yes, we could have bought that piece of property, but who can afford taxes in a city in Jersey to begin with; a daily regret, we often talk about it- even if it ment never retiring. Hidden tree is on another property line and its roots survived construction and a cut down by seconds by the ever vigil property manager. She is loaded with seeds this year; we love to hear them hit like rain on the cottage roof. Can you love trees?? Yes! Were the religions that held them sacred right in their beliefs… We believe so. There is a calculation that you can use to guess closely without cutting down the age of a beech tree; according to it, Mae Mobley was well over 250 years old. Her hidden baby is already over 100 feet tall, and doing very well. Oh the stories old trees could tell. I don’t believe a new cheaply constructed house could do the same! But… that is just an opinion, everyone has them. We used Mae Mobley’s wood for years in wintertime to keep us warm. Her giant trunk stump put on the most beautiful display of fungus as it decomposed ; photos that I will share here. Her spirit is still here, and so is one of her babies, we are blessed.

Hidden European Beech is dropping seed pods everywhere. The pathway in back woods is marvelously crunchy underfoot. Check ALT
#oldgrowthtree #EastCoadtKin #thicktrunk #beech #trees #atreetale #conservation #MaeMobleysbaby #hidden #protect #backwoods #photo #photography #texture

The painting designation means this old growth is a unit boundary tree. The orange also signifies it's a leave tree. Old growth trees, typically those over 24" DBH, are not cut during thinning projects. This area is being thinned to reduce hazardous fuels around a community in northern Arizona. Fire suppression for the last 150 years here has created overstocked forests that are more prone to disease and insects outbreaks and burn at high severity rather than the low severity every 5 -15 years that they are adapted to. Most wood from ponderosa pine is used to create pallets or or biofuel since it is a soft wood.

Biggest ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) I've found so far, taping at 36" DBH.

Don't panic, this old guy will not be cut. See alt text for more details.

#forestry #forest #pine #ponderosapine #nature #trees #arizona #northernarizona #hazardousfuels #oldgrowth #tree #oldgrowthtree