I am a snag.  

I live in the forest, or park, or maybe your backyard. 

At one time, I was a beautiful pine tree. My branches were thick with green needles and cones. The brown bark on my trunk swirled like puzzle pieces.

Then years ago, lightning struck my tallest branch and I died. Now I am a snag; a dead pine tree still standing. 

I no longer have green branches that sway in the breeze. My pointy needles are gone. My trunk has cracks and holes. I am gray and wrinkled. I no longer create fresh air or provide shade.

Yes, I am dead, but in many ways . . . I‘m still alive. Snags like me that are left to stand in your park or forest are helpful to the earth. 

Visit me sometime. I know I’m not pretty, but if you wait quietly, you will see my animal friends. They don’t mind that I’m dead.

Busy woodpecker, with his red crown, still pecks at the bugs living in my trunk.

Bushy-tailed squirrel and stripe-tailed raccoon still make cozy homes in the holes of my trunk. 

Soaring hawk still builds a nest at my highest point.

Sometimes bat and owl rest from their night hunts on my broken branches.

If you come close and peer at my trunk, you may see tiny beetles chewing on my soft rotted wood. Those little beetles loosen pieces of my bark that drop onto the soil. My bark is like a vitamin pill. It helps the soil stay strong and healthy. 

There is life inside and around my old gray trunk. Did you see it?

Not many things can say they are dead, yet still alive. But I can.  

I am a snag.

Photographs Copyright © 2008 Wikipedia

Text Copyright © 2008 Jody J. Little