My husband loves to find stands of aspen and one of our favorite ones is on the Mogollon Rim, near Forest Lakes. One summer when we drove by to admire it, we noticed that it was completely fenced. We talked to a park ranger who explained that deer love to eat the bark~it is "deer candy" for them! In order to preserve the stand, it was fenced off. We took the road with that stand of aspen and this past November, we found another stand further down the road. This one wasn't fenced (see the carving on the tree). And, we found it after a snowstorm hit the area. We drove down the road and investigated it. We love aspen in the fall, winter, spring, and summer and wherever we go, we look for aspen. Don't you like their stark beauty? Festival of the Trees for February, 2011.