Conifer casualties

Some before/after pictures can illustrate forest management work on our hill.  The first duo of pics shows a baby sugar maple (on the right front of the pic), with a red maple on the left.  Behind the two trees are a bunch of conifers (all balsam fir).  With the bowsaw and big loppers, the conifers were removed to make more room for the maples, as seen in the after pic. 

Back up the slope a bit, some birches benefited from additional conifer cutting this afternoon.

Before

After

Now, the two paper birches in the front of the pic and the yellow birch in back have lots more space to grow while soaking up the sun.