How to recognise an old-growth forest: a field checklist

You recognise an old-growth forest first by its deadwood: standing dead trees and fallen trunks in every stage of decay, left exactly where they died. Add trees of very different ages growing side by side, a few true giants, uneven ground from uprooted trees, and a rich layer of fungi, mosses and lichens, and you are almost certainly in a forest that has been left alone for a very long time. Cut stumps, straight rows and uniform tree sizes point the other way.

Old-growth, primeval, natural: a quick reminder

An old-growth forest is a late stage of forest development. It can be primeval (never used) or a forest that was used long ago and then left. Most ‘old’ forests that visitors see in Central Europe are of the second kind. The difference is explained on our overview page Europe’s last old-growth forests. The checklist below works for both.

The field checklist

1. Deadwood in all forms

• Standing dead trees (snags), some with broken tops.
• Fallen trunks from freshly fallen with intact bark to soft, moss-covered and almost turned to soil.
• Thick deadwood, not just thin branches. Large trunks lying on the ground are the clearest sign that nobody harvests here.

2. Many ages and sizes

• Seedlings, young trees, middle-aged and very old trees in the same stand.
• Gaps where an old tree has fallen and young trees crowd into the light.
• A canopy with several layers rather than one even ‘roof’.

3. Giant and veteran trees

• Trees with very thick trunks and wide, heavy crowns.
• Signs of age: hollows, broken limbs, bark pockets, fire scars in pine forests, cracks from lightning.

4. Uneven ground

• Pit-and-mound relief: when a tree is uprooted, its root plate tears up soil, leaving a hollow and a mound that persist for centuries.
• Root plates standing upright like walls.

5. Fungi, mosses and lichens

• Bracket fungi on living and dead trunks, for example the tinder fungus on beech.
• Mosses and liverworts covering logs.
• Lichens hanging from branches or growing on old bark. Some, such as lungwort lichen, are typical of old, undisturbed forests with clean air.

6. Animals that need old trees

• Woodpecker holes of different sizes, especially in dead or dying trees.
• In some regions, specialised woodpeckers such as the white-backed or the three-toed woodpecker, which depend on large amounts of deadwood.
• Beetle exit holes and frass in decaying wood.

Signs of a managed forest

Sign	What it means
Cut stumps with flat saw surfaces	Trees were harvested
Trees in straight rows	The stand was planted
All trees of similar size	One age class, usually after clear-cutting and replanting
Skid trails and wide forest roads	Machines extract timber
Painted marks or numbers on trunks	Trees selected for felling or monitoring
Little or no thick deadwood	Wood is removed
Non-native species in stands	Planted for timber

Some of these signs also appear in national parks, where former forestry is still visible decades later. Old roads in particular stay in the landscape for a long time; we explain the consequences in why roads drive forest loss.

Typical mix by forest type

• Beech forests (Carpathians, German UNESCO sites): closed canopy, few shrubs, many fallen trunks, tinder fungus. See Carpathian beech forests.
• Mixed lowland forests (such as Białowieża): many tree species, wet hollows, very large oaks and limes.
• Mountain spruce forests: standing deadwood after bark beetle outbreaks, dense regeneration, boulder fields.
• Boreal pine forests: open, old pines with fire scars, lichens on the ground.

How to look without causing harm

Recognising old-growth is mostly about slowing down. Stay on the trail and look from there; most signs are visible from the path. Don’t climb on rotting logs, don’t peel bark and don’t take fungi or wood from protected areas. Our leave-no-trace guide has more on this. If you want to turn the observation into a calm walk, try the exercises in our practical guide to forest bathing.

A note on certainty

No single sign proves that a forest is primeval. Scientists use historical maps, tree-ring data and detailed surveys for that. As a visitor you can, however, judge quite reliably whether a forest has been left alone for a long time. If you see several of the signs above together, you are in one of Europe’s most valuable forest types.