WILD CHILD: I Spy A Nurse Log

A child balances on some fallen birch logs. Another child peers closely at the log looking for the mini-creatures hiding under the rotting bark.

Have you ever seen a fallen rotting log while walking through the forest and wondered why it was left there?

That log is a home to hundreds of tiny creatures and equally many types of plants. It is a very important part of how a forest grows and stays healthy.

Nurse logs provide a habitat for creepy-crawlies, small amphibians and reptiles, and many types of fungi. They shelter little creatures from weather and predators. They act as a source of nutrients for little plants, which gives new seedlings a head start and a competitive advantage as they grow up on the crowded forest floor. When the log slowly returns to the soil, it leaves all the nutrients its roots pulled from deep underground on the forest surface for new organisms to use.

Allowing old and dead trees to stay in the forest is an important part of supporting the new life that helps the forest continue to grow and flourish over many years.

A rotting log lies beside dry and brown leaves on the forest floor. Tiny plants can be seeing sprouting out of the log.

This spring when you visit the forest see how many nurse logs you can spot and take a closer look. What do you see?

Written by Tandy Morton, WILD CHILD Playgroup Facilitator

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