Understory

Understory

A patch of woodland over sixty years, one decision per decade. Plant, thin, coppice, leave alone, let the deer in, take the deer out. Trees compete for light on a real canopy model — a fast pioneer shades out an oak seedling, but dies at forty and leaves a gap. Nothing you do shows its result for two decades, which is the whole point. At the end you get the wood you made, drawn in section, and an honest account of what it will be at a hundred years.