When you stroll through the Fort Point area The Greenway near Trillium Beer Garden, you may notice a tall, weathered tree trunk standing proudly amid the other plantings. This is our “Greenway Snag”—and while it may look like just a dead tree, it plays a vital role in supporting the health and biodiversity of the surrounding landscape.
At the Greenway Conservancy, we know that every stage of a tree’s life has value. Leaving this snag in place is an intentional choice, one that celebrates the vital role that aging and dead trees play in sustaining our living ecosystems.
Why We Keep Snags Standing
In natural forests, standing dead trees—called snags—are essential. They provide food, shelter, and structure that living trees alone can’t offer. By leaving a snag in this area of the park, we’re helping to create a small but thriving ecosystem right in the heart of the city.
Snags of all shapes and sizes are important to our environment because they offer safe habitat for native birds, insects, and small mammals. Cavities in the trunk become nesting sites, peeling bark shelters beneficial insects, and decaying wood provides nutrients to countless tiny life forms. Over time, as the snag slowly decomposes, it also returns valuable organic matter to the soil, enriching it for future plant growth.
In this way, what might look like loss is actually an opportunity for renewal. Snags show us that even in death, a tree continues to give back to the landscape.
The Secret Life of Roots: How Trees Talk to Each Other
When it comes to trees, what happens beneath the surface is just as important as what we see above ground. In forests, through intricate underground networks formed by their roots and mycorrhizal fungi, trees are constantly sharing resources and information in ways scientists are still discovering.
Through their connections, trees can send nutrients to nearby neighbors, warn each other about pests or diseases through chemical signals, and support seedlings and weaker plants by redistributing water and energy. As snags and other decaying wood (like mulch in gardens) break down, they continue to feed this hidden network, cycling essential nutrients back into the soil.
A Living Classroom in the Heart of the City
Urban parks like The Greenway provide rare opportunities to witness the natural cycles that sustain life. By leaving the Greenway Snag standing, we invite visitors to slow down and observe the connections between life, death, and renewal.
If you look closely, you might spot small holes from woodpeckers, clusters of fungi colonizing the bark, or native insects making their home in the crevices. These signs of life remind us that biodiversity depends on more than what is green and growing. Healthy landscapes thrive on balance—between living and decaying, above ground and below.
Growing a Resilient Urban Ecosystem
The Greenway Conservancy is committed to cultivating a resilient, diverse urban tree canopy that supports people, pollinators, and the planet. The Greenway Snag is just one example of how we design our landscapes intentionally, caring not only for what grows today but for the systems that will sustain life here for years to come.
Next time you visit this area of The Greenway, pause for a moment by the snag. Listen for birdsong, notice the pollinators buzzing nearby, and imagine the unseen conversations happening underground. What may appear to be a “dead” tree is, in fact, a vital part of a much larger story—a living reminder that in nature, nothing goes to waste.
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