Compare the forest behind you with that ahead. At your back, the jack pine ends and beyond lies a dark green horizon of black spruce.
Note the more open stand of jack pine. In contrast,
the spruce forest grows tightly together with branches
intertwined. There is lush vegetation beneath the drooping
spruce boughs compared with the almost bare ground under
the pines.
Imagine yourself an understory plant. Where would you get more sun? Where would you find more shade? Where would it be drier? Wetter? The variety of spaces provide for a diversity of species.
You are about to enter a "conifer swamp". Come and explore a world where staying wet is a way of life!