A journey into the “microverse” of New Brunswick’s Mount Carleton Provincial Park | Canadian Geographic
The smallest inhabitants of New Brunswick’s Mount Carleton Provincial Park are its biggest asset
Story and photography by Jenn Smith Nelson
It’s easy to lose track of time in Mount Carleton Provincial Park, N.B. Autumn light filters through layers of fir, birch and spruce draped in lichens, and the occasional breeze sends yellow leaves drifting downward. Looking down reveals an intricate microverse. Fallen logs, softened by decades of decay, support a patchwork of lichens, fungi and seedlings, while insects disappear into crevices in bark and leaf litter.