Winter tree

Alice Waterhouse's book Water explores the role of trees in the life of a river.  An earlier post remembered that the shape of a river system mimics the branching of a tree.  Beyond the common design, trees feed the streams they live by. Ultimately, if given the chance every tree on a riverbank will find its way into the water, where a new career as food and home for uncounted creatures begins.

Barren winter trees form maps of river systems, like the one below, near the Ottauquechee a mile or so downstream.