#10
The trail passes here through a very young forest, dominated by
red maples with a diameter at breast height (dbh.) of less than
6 inches. These trees are probably
all less than 25 years old. The lack of tree diversity indicates
that when the land was allowed to revert back to nature after
human use, red maple seeds happened to arrive here in great numbers,
germinated quickly, and got a head start in growth to dominate
the site. Red maple is a common, widely distributed tree tolerant
of a substantial range of soil conditions, growing in habitats
as diverse as sand dunes and swamps.
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