Blight? Fire? Mother Nature? Climate change?

Newfoundland is green, green, green. Until it’s not. What is going on with all the dying trees? I wish Thompson was here; he would have told me immediately. Thompson, an entomologist, was my mother’s second husband. I would go on a nature walk with him and return transformed by all that he taught me to see that had been invisible an hour earlier. So, here is what I discovered about the Newfoundland evergreens: the trees pictured in the featured image are in the midst of a forest renewal caused by the budworm. Outbreaks of budworm occur about every 40 years and are part of a natural forest cycle. The death of mature trees releases nutrients and allows sunlight to reach the forest floor, stimulating a flush of fast growing vegetation. The dead trees also provide for species like woodpeckers. These disturbances create a tapestry of young and old forest patches across the landscape, adding diversity and resilience that is essential to the health of the ecosystem.