Crowded Oak Trees

The oak trees in Glömda Skogen (the Forgotten Forest) are located in a clearing. Once upon a time, this was a hill with pastures. The oak trees were able to spread out there and grow very large. But when the forest was allowed to grow freely, the oak trees became crowded and other trees began to grow under the crowns of the oak trees. But oak trees don’t like that!  They get weakened when they don’t have enough space, and there is a risk that they will become so weak that they die. A clear sign that an oak tree is too crowded is that it has no branches lower down on the trunk. An oak tree that has been allowed to spread out as it pleases has thick branches even further down.