Perhaps the best known visual signs of old-growth forests are their truly enormous trees. You can accelerate large tree growth in your woods by finding your healthiest “legacy trees” and removing competing trees around them so the big trees can grow faster.

We hear a lot about how valuable old-growth forests are for wildlife, but what makes them such great places for animals? Once you know that, you can mimic those same traits in your own woods.

If your woods are short on snags (standing dead trees), you can create some of this valuable wildlife habitat by girdling trees. Girdling kills a tree while leaving it standing so it can become a snag.

True old-growth forests have greenery at every level from the forest floor to the top of the canopy. You can start some new growth on the ground using small patch cuts, which remove every tree from an area less than an acre.

Tree cavities and dead trees are important wildlife habitats that are often missing in many woodlots. Locate these features in your woods to find out if you have enough of these wildlife havens.