Life Continues on a Dead Log

We are at the VIC (Visitors Interpretive Center) in the Northern Adirondack mountains at Paul Smith’s College. On one of the many trails that lead through the woods and down to the water, we found this nice marshy area. Here a tree had fallen into the water and was floating and many types of plants were now growing out of it.  The ferns, moss and lichens were quite content to live here. This bog or marsh was teeming with life and much of it was stunted like the tiny 10-12 foot tall Tamarac and Black Spruce trees in the background. Many of these were 40-50 years old but were stunted by the brown, acidic tannin bog water.