A good show, Reg and Martin!
In addition to habitat value, a thick, 5m snag like that, along a road, will have as much affect on people as it would if intact and 200'+ tall, as the roof of the vehicle will block out the bulk of the tree, and most people rarely look up, unlike tree people who probably look up a weird percentage of the time. There are lots of roadside snags at Mt. Rainier, and driving up the road, you have to really look up to see which are which, at 30 mph.
Root disease is a major player in our area.
The common root disease affecting doug-fir is endemic to the Northern Oregon, Washington and Southern BC. They keep re-naming the causal organism, but keep calling it Laminated Root Disease. Largely affecting Doug-fir and Grand Fir, and drought-stressed Western Hemlock.
The fungus moves through the soil, naturally. and I suspect sometimes, somehow is moved by animals. Fruiting bodies basically/only show up on uprooted trees, and is not that easy to find.
It seems they have changed the Family name, recently, having changed the Genus name within about the last 5-7 years. 2 other names before that, that I know of.
Velvet-top fungus/ cowpie fungus. Pretty conks when they're fresh.
A big player in older hosts.
friggin' park rangers, not foresters.....
condemning and breaking up whole networks of the area. But looking busy. Looking important in uniforms and badges.
I might know about mismanagement by putting decisions in the hands of park rangers that they clearly can't handle. In WA, you have to have a college degree to be a Parks ranger...I think one had a performing arts, maybe it was history, degree!