Old-Growth Forests: Snags

Old-Growth Forests: Snags. . , Snags provide essential nutrients and shelter for forest animals., All around you are indicators of this forest's great age. The standing dead trees are called snags, and they indicate that a forest has not been logged. Snags are important food sources and habitats for a forest's ecosystem. Birds such as woodpeckers feed on the insects abundant in snags. The great horned owls in this forest often nest in snags, and snags also provide habitat for animals such as bars, squirrels, opossums, and raccoons., Ultimately snags fall over, continue to decay, and process nutrients back into the ecosystem, This is a healthy part of the life cycle of an old-growth forest., This forest survived for thousands of years while nearly all of the historic woodland that once covered much of New York City was cleared for farms and settlements beginning in the 17th century. Today less than one percent of the woodland in the northeastern United States is considered old growth Old-growth forests, while subject to natural and human disturbances, are generally resilient., The Thain Family Forest is part of the Old-Growth Forest Network. Forests in the network will forever be protected from logging and open to the public.