Secondary Succession Forest

As you walk along this trail, you will notice that most of the trees are young with very few mature trees. The lack of mature trees hints that the land was used for farming. Now that the land is no longer used for farming, it is slowly turning back into a forest. Sweet gum is one of the first trees to grow in a forest after a disturbance and is known as a secondary succession tree. You can see its spiky fruits, called burr balls or gum balls, all over the ground. Sweet gum seeds are food for many animals, like sparrows, finches, wild turkeys, squirrels, and chipmunks. The luna moth also lays its eggs on sweet gum trees.