Beneath the silvered remains of a dead oak forest, two New Forest ponies graze with rhythmic ease. These skeletal trees are a stark visual reminder of the environmental pressures facing the park, including Acute Oak Decline and other pathogens that have increasingly stressed these ancient "architects of the forest." As the ponies move along the bank of the winding stream, their presence signals the endurance of the local ecosystem despite the changing health of the canopy above.