Last fall or winter (maybe it was two years ago), an old Bigleaf Maple tree split in half. The tree forked near the base and had become rotten inside. Half of it is still standing and being propped up by other trees. The other half was leaning towards the trail, so for safety, the arboretum cut it down. This opened up the canopy allowing the sun to reach into the forest that was mostly in the shade. As a result, numerous sprouts have started to emerge from the trunks of these Bigleaf Maples that were growing next to the Grandmother maple. It will be interesting to see how these new shoots develop and the landscape fills back in over the next 20 or 30 years.
