I was recently walking in a woodlot located in Otsego County, NY and I noticed that the trees were growing in small clusters of 4-8 trees. I have attached a picture of two such clusters but they were everywhere. What might have caused the trees to have grown in clusters like this?
The possibility that occurs to me is that these trees were browsed pretty hard when they were seedlings. Based on the fairly flat slope, this woodland could easily have been a pasture or summer grazing lot for cows in the not-too-distant past. When seedlings get continually munched, they take on a bushy, multi-stemmed form. Once the pasture was abandoned, those multi-stemmed trees grew up to form these clumps.
Logging could be another possibility, since a lot of hardwoods produce stump sprouts. These trees could conceivably be the grown-up stump sprouts from larger trees that were cut down and removed. But I feel like in that case you would see some sign of the old stumps, so right now I'm leaning toward old pasture.
Logging could be another possibility, since a lot of hardwoods produce stump sprouts. These trees could conceivably be the grown-up stump sprouts from larger trees that were cut down and removed. But I feel like in that case you would see some sign of the old stumps, so right now I'm leaning toward old pasture.
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