There was a tree up on the hill above us that was making all of this noise for a week or so. These loud cracks could be heard in intervals, and at first it sounded like a large animal fooling around up there in the forest. Well, finally the tree fell with a massive crash, revealing itself.
When I got to the shattered stump, it seemed to tell a story. The stump was twisted and splintered in a way that suggested that gravity was pulling the tree downhill. In its weakened state, it was twisting downhill and vulnerable and stressed parts of the grain were supposedly snapping with a loud crack in intervals, until after the final snap, the entire tree twisted off its base and fell with a crash downhill.
After a certain point, the weakened tree's own massive weight sheared it against itself, and nothing it could do could prevent it from leaning and turning against itself and eventually snapping against itself and falling. One could imagine that fateful second when one loses balance, and no attempted compensation can arrest the fall.
There is plenty going on in this foreboding metaphor, whether in the individual instance or the macro trend, as the falling trees seem to be increasing with frequency. Apparently the hemlocks in particular have been afflicted with some sort of disease (pests are another issue), and are falling in droves. It is not as apparent with the alders, but something is going on with them too.
