Nurse Log in Bartlett Cove

This nurse log now supports several trees larger than itself

NPS Photo

Smaller, weaker trees with shallow root systems are especially susceptible to wind gusts. But they may help other trees survive by becoming "nurse logs”, which play an important role in forest ecology. On the forest floor, the dense cover of ferns can impede the growth of new trees. Downed trees can provide an excellent perch for seedlings to take root. Also, by falling the dead tree opens up space in the forest canopy allowing light to reach the forest floor. As the logs decay, their accumulated nutrients become available to young trees and moss that also grows on the log helps retain water. Eventually nurse logs will rot away altogether, but by then the younger trees growing out of them may have extended their roots into the soil so they can survive on their own. In some places you will find rows of trees growing around seemingly hollow spaces where nurse logs once existed.