A little way along the trail you will come out into a clearing with scattered black cherry and apple trees. This is a wildlife habitat management practice that kills the affected tree, to allow smaller trees to grow towards the opening canopy, and leaves the dead tree standing to create den and nesting sites for cavity-dwelling animals. Woodpeckers, flycatchers, porcupines, and raccoons all find refuge in these skeletal snags. Follow the trail out into the old orchard. Here again trees have been girdled and brush cleared to allow the survival of the apple trees against the ever-encroaching white pine.
Old orchards are wonderful places for wildlife.
Birds like the Scarlet Tanager and Indigo Bunting nest in such places, often singing together from the tops of the apple trees. White-tail deer and foxes come to feed on the fallen fruit in the fall, as do migrating thrushes and catbirds. The summer brings an army of dragonflies hawking for mosquitoes on the warm afternoons when the scent of pollen is thick and the grasses are veiled with a million tiny spiderwebs that drift on the breeze. This is an artificial pond created by the damming of Smith Brook. The pond area totals just over 36 acres, with an entirely undeveloped shore line.