Having worked/studied these patches, intentional and ecologically informed treatments would hugely benefit these areas. This is mainly because the state’s forests have 1 or 2 dominant age classes in the canopy. Eastern old growth is characterized by a complex structure and high amounts of large fallen deadwood in addition to large old trees. UVM actually developed a forestry treatment called “Structural Complexity Enhancement” to help forests get on a better trajectory to old growth structure. It’s been very successful and used on public & private land in Vermont. It’s widely understood by land managers that if you clear cut, you will get a stand of unmarketable beech and red maple growing up. Thus there’s a desire for more complex and sustainable silviculture.

funny phrasing, because by definition a forest isn't a patch and a patch isn't a forest.

This spring, my buddy and I were hiking snake mountain and talking about how much we’d like to walk through some old growth, only to read later there’s some on the back of the mt. Oh well, next time!