This activity allows students to see and identify an "ancient edge", which is now a part of the existing forest.
1) Students are taken to an existing edge, with drawing tools, and are asked to sketch the trees which are close to the edge. Students should give special attention to the low, spreading branch structure of trees, like oaks, which develop along the edge.
2) Students are taken to the interior of a mature forest, and again asked to sketch their view of the trees.
3) The instructor will identify a location within an existing forested area that includes several levels of succession, one of which would be an "ancient edge". Students are again taken to the area, asked to draw the trees present, and try to reconcile what they know about edge trees and interior trees. Why do these trees, located deep in the interior of the forest, exhibit the low, spreading branches of edge trees?